Hi miroof,

what a great idea! I just tried it but can’t get it to work:
after typing npm install
I get two warnings:

npm install
npm WARN package.json virtual-gamepads@0.0.1 No repository field.
npm WARN package.json struct@0.0.8 'repositories' (plural) Not supported. Please pick one as the 'repository' field

And sudo node main.js throws an error:

sudo node main.js
module.js:338
    throw err;
          ^
Error: Cannot find module 'connect'
    at Function.Module._resolveFilename (module.js:336:15)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:278:25)
    at Module.require (module.js:365:17)
    at require (module.js:384:17)
    at Object.<anonymous> (/home/pi/node-virtual-gamepads/node_modules/express/lib/express.js:5:15)
    at Module._compile (module.js:460:26)
    at Object.Module._extensions..js (module.js:478:10)
    at Module.load (module.js:355:32)
    at Function.Module._load (module.js:310:12)
    at Module.require (module.js:365:17)

Do you know what I did wrong?

Zombiebraut

That is a very fascinating concept! generally speaking I think it might be more viable for games with more simple controls but a genius idea nonetheless. great work!

Also- I think this would be a really useful thing to add to the wiki under advanced configurations.

https://github.com/retropie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki

Once I get time I’ll try and test it out for myself and try and add it to the wiki if you don’t beat me to it.

For anyone who was having an issue with this, this is what I did to get it working from a fresh install (it’s a little easier than the above methods):

#Install Node.js first:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

wget http://node-arm.herokuapp.com/node_latest_armhf.deb

sudo dpkg -i node_latest_armhf.deb

# must be run as root
su
git clone https://github.com/miroof/node-virtual-gamepads
cd node-virtual-gamepads
npm install
# The following steps are to get it to run everytime when the pi boots up
# Install globally pm2
sudo npm install pm2 -g
# Launch virtual gamepads application with pm2
sudo pm2 start main.js
# Configure pm2 to launch at startup
sudo pm2 startup
# Save the current state of pm2 
# to reload all current applications at startup
sudo pm2 save
#Then switch back to user pi to start up emulationstation and configure controller
su pi
#Once in emulationstation configure it like you would any other controller.
emulationstation

type your IP address into your web browser: e.g. 192.168.0.110

then configure your controller like you would any other controller in emulationstation and with retroarch configs and voila away you go.

see source code at https://github.com/miroof/node-virtual-gamepads

You’re a genius Miroof!

btw Miroof- is there any way to get this to load automatically on boot or will I have to do this every time I want to play games with my android?

@Miroof: everything works fine :) Thank you for your help. Great project!

Question: Is it possible for the configurations to be saved? I have to reconfigure it every time that I reboot (at least for emulationstation, I haven’t yet tested retroarch configs)

It is possible it has something to do with the latest SD image- I’ll do more testing when I’ve got some time- its not a super huge deal as it only takes a couple seconds to do.

**EDIT upon further review the issue with saved configurations is a completely separate issue. It has nothing to do with the virtual game pad so disregard the previous post- your project works fine.

Petrockblog is working on a thing called inputstation that is basically an all in one controller configuration- it looks and works like the controller configuration for emulation station except it has more options and configures controls for retroarch as well. I’ve tested it with your virtual gamepad and it doesn’t quite work with it yet, but once input station is more stable I want to make sure your project works with it.

https://github.com/petrockblog/InputStation/tree/master

https://github.com/retropie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/InputStation

BTW, I added it to the Wiki: https://github.com/retropie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Virtual-Gamepad

I am having issues with this. I am able to follow the steps up until entering su and password. When I enter su it prompts for a password. I try raspberry but it fails to Authenticate. A little research shows a command to set root password. I can access root but get an error when trying to install npm. Any Suggestions. I have tried this with several various builds including the latest RetroPie3.2.1. Below is what I get. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

pi@retropie ~ $ su
Password:
su: Authentication failure
pi@retropie ~ $ sudo passwd root
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
pi@retropie ~ $ su
Password:
root@retropie:/home/pi# git clone https://github.com/miroof/node-virtual-gamepads
Cloning into ‘node-virtual-gamepads’…
remote: Counting objects: 191, done.
remote: Total 191 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 191
Receiving objects: 100% (191/191), 3.05 MiB | 1.68 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (81/81), done.
root@retropie:/home/pi# cd node-virtual-gamepads
root@retropie:/home/pi/node-virtual-gamepads# npm install
/usr/local/bin/node: /usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libstdc++.so.6: version `GLIBCXX_3.4.20′ not found (required by /usr/local/bin/node)
/usr/local/bin/node: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.16’ not found (required by /usr/local/bin/node)
root@retropie:/home/pi/node-virtual-gamepads#