Stadia Bluetooth

thejason40

Now that Stadia is dead and Google has given everyone the ability to unlock the Bluetooth functionality on the controllers I thought I'd connect mine to my retropie.

It connects but as soon as I leave the Bluetooth configuration menu it disconnects and I can't get it to connect again. Anyone else tried / managed this?

mitu

Not here, but on the RetroPie reddit's there were a few successful reports with the new Bluetooth firmware (Stadia controller FTW).

jdriscol

@thejason40
I managed to get my Stadia working on RetroPie in the midst of breaking the functionality of my standard USB gamepads.

If you haven't already, you'll need to use Google's tool for converting the Stadia to "bluetooth mode", using this site for instructions.

You'll then need to go to EmulationStation > RetroPie > Bluetooth submenu to connect up your Stadia controller. There's an option in this menu, "Configure bluetooth connect mode", that I had to change to "Background" from its original "Bluetooth stack default".

After that, you just need to configure your gamepad. I've attached my config file if you want to use that as a shortcut (copy to /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/autoconfig) and a diagram showing my button layout.

Stadia Config File
Stadia Button Layout

martinbailey74

@jdriscol Hi, I got my Stadia controller to connect, but then had trouble with re-connects. If I rebooted my Pi - it totally forgot the connection - device just did not seem to exist in paired/ connected devices list.

I had set the connection mode as background .. if you dont mind sharing, what security mode did you select (1-5) when pairing?? What controller driver packages do you have installed?

Thanks

jdriscol

@martinbailey74
The only gamepad driver I have installed is xpad. I picked option 1 - DisplayYesNo for the security mode. I did have some trouble on the initial connection, so you'll want to select the background option under the Configure bluetooth connect mode. Once you have that, try connecting the Stadia again. Whether it connects or not, select to remove a bluetooth device, pick your Stadia from the list, and then re-connect after that.

I'm not sure why this would work for any reason, but these are the steps I took and it works for me now, and pairs right up after a reboot when ES is done loading. One other thing to think about is if the Stadia is pairing to something else before the RetroPie grabs it.

What color light are you getting on the Stadia when you're having difficulty connecting after a reboot?

**Update: I recently had some trouble with connecting my Stadia, so I changed the connection mode to "default", which seems to have fixed it. You can try both modes and see if one or the other works for you.