Video guide for PS3 wireless controller on RetroPie 3 final

[Floob]

This guide should help if you have any issues trying to get a wireless PS3 controller working with RetroPie 3.

[ninjatool]

Floob – great video. I’m a complete newbie but have gotten my raspberry pi set up and working due to your videos (and so many others posting on the forums). I added a PS3 controlled to an already working Nintendo USB and it works on everything but mame4all, which is what I really want it for. When the PS3 controller is connected, my keyboard won’t work in mame4all either, to hit Tab and map the joystick, but when I pull the bluetooth out, it does again. Have you tested the PS3 wireless with mame4all? Cheers!

[Floob]

I’ll try that out and see what happens, have you tried lr-mame4all or lr-fba as an alternative?

[ninjatool]

so I transferred a couple ROMs into FBA but they don’t load, so I’m probably doing something wrong there and I can’t see where the emulator is for lr-mame4all (or how it’s different from mame4all. I test more I am able to move through the ROM menu in mame and even select a game using the PS3 controller wireless, but once it loads I can’t enter credits or start, (or press TAB on the keyboard, seems like keyboard is completely disabled), and did confirm it works on sega and nintendo emulators.

[ramirezjd1313]

I was able to get 2 wireless PS controllers connected, however when I start a game, neither game pads work. It seems if the button mapping is messed up. right trigger is the start button and the select key is the A button… I just updated to retro pie 3 this morning….

[Floob]

What version were you on before updating to RetroPie 3 final?
Can you attach your controller config?
It should be in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads/

[Anonymous]

Hmm, i followed you guide to the letter and when i remove the usb cable from the pad and press the PS button on the pad the pad vibrates and all 4 lights flash and then the lights stop flashing and stops vibrating and doesnt connect!. Any ideas?

EDIT: I have a Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) btw. The ones that are black and have the small semi-circle design.

[retroco]

Same problem, can pair the PS3 controller just fine, Emulation Station works fine, SNES emulator works proper with controller, NEOGEO doesn’t respond to any input (FBA). Even the keyboard does not respond to insert coin (or anything).

Clean Flashed, same problem. Install Retropie 2.6, working controller. looks like input is blocked on 3.0 with PS3 controller (bluetooth). Changed hotkeys, configs and what not, but no joy

[Floob]

@retroco That sounds like a very different problem to blockaboots. You say you can pair yours. If you are using pifba that wont use the retroarch controls so it may just be a config issue. If you are using lr-fba, check this to set the credits:

FBA Retroarch core – coin controls

[ninjatool]

I should have said I was on a beta version so tonight I wiped my SD card and re-imaged with Retropie 3. Had the PS3 controller working with NES, Sega, and Mame4all via wired connection wonderfully. Then followed video to go to wireless and it works wirelessly with NES and Sega, but not at all with Mame4All.

[retroco]

@ Floob, I can change the corresponding buttons in fba2x.cfg, but none of the changes seem to have impact at all, even the USB keyboard doesn’t respond.

Clean installation of RetroPie 3, enable SSH, Expand File System, Copy NEOGEO ROMS (4 of them), Copy SNES ROM (SMW), Pair PS3 Controller. Nothing more nothing less, so any further advice would be appreciated.

[Floob]

@ninjatool If you try lr-mame4all that should work as it would pick up retroarch settings. Thats more a controller config issue that pairing PS3 via bluetooth, so you should be good to go there.

@retroco Now you are on RetroPie 3, which *specific* emulator are you having an issue with? Do none of them work with your PS3 controller at all – does it pair as per the video? If the pairing works fine, please open a new thread and confirm which emulator isnt working for you.

[retroco]

@Floob Thanx, Pairing is done and succesfull as per video, SNES emu works fine, Emulation Station works fine. The NEOGEO (default emu) has this problem, will open the thread.

[ninjatool]

@floob I’ll gladly give that a try, but dumb noobie question- is lr-mame4all included as part of the retropie image or do I need to load it separately? I don’t see an emulator folder called lr-mame4all to place ROMs into for testing. Appreciate the help and replies.

[glitch]

Hi everyone! I tried the guide to set up my Dual Shock 4 with my RetroPie and once I get to the step where it asks you to connect your controller via USB, my controller is simply not detected. Now, I realise the guide is for PS3 controllers, but is there anything I can do to make a Dual Shock 4 work wirelessly, or is it simply not supported currently?

To be clear, the controller works great when connected via USB in both EmulationStation and in the emulators I’ve tried (NES, SNES, Genesis), so I’m not sure why the script doesn’t find it, though I guess it’s probably looking specifically for a PS3 controller??

Any help or nudges in the right direction appreciated, as I am a complete newbie at this. :)

Thanks!

[Floob]

@ninjatool Yes, thats included – as you start the game/rom you get about 2 secs to press “x” which takes you to the menu to choose the default emulator for that system. The roms will go in the same folder as mame4all.

[ninjatool]

@Floob – awesome-just tried that at lunchtime and it worked, at least with one game I tried (Donkey Kong). Other games I tried (ms Pac man, DKjr,) it would not insert credits or start the game but I’ll mess with it more tonight

EDIT-messed around some more last night. Very weird, in lr-mame4all the wireless controller only works with the DKONG ROM, i tried 10 other ROMS and nothing-can’t get insert coin or start to work. Re-did the retroarch congif and still no change. also, the sound bits were missing from dkong in lr-mame4all, even though I have the audio files in the samples folder and it works in mame4all. Changed back to mame4all as default emulator and PS3 wired works great. all games, including sound, so, for now I’m just going to use my PS3 controller wired. Not sure why the other ROMS didn’t work or had missing sound in lr-mame4all but I’m pushing my technical capabilites limits already and just going to keep gaming. Maybe PS3 wireless for mame4all will get figured out in the future.

Ultimately, the video is great and my PS3 controller does pair wirelessly, just have the issues with it working with the mame4all emulator.

[kamovsky]

Hi guys,

can you help me to set up my PS3 controller.
I’m following the guide step by step but when I pull out the USB cable and press PS button on PS3 controller all 4 LEDs start lighting quickly and stacked just for a half seconds and then continuous lighting an-till goes off and controller not detected.
I have tried 2 Bluetooth dongles with bluetooth version 2 and 4 but nothing append.
My retropie system:
Raspberry Pi2
Retropie 3 final
USB Bluetooth v2 and v4 dongles
PS3 controller

thank you!

[darktrooper]

Oh glad I found this thread….this is my experience so far with MAME.

So, I have RetroPie 3 up and running with a wireless PS3 pad following Floobs video. It didn’t quite go according to the video, but the end result was the same….basically it paired….eventually.

Anyway, the MegaDrive and Genesis emulators work 100% fine with no issues at all.

MAME on the other hand isn’t quite going to plan. My RetroPie 2.6 build worked great with MAME. Just hit Tab on the keyboard and configure all the Player 1 controls and away you go.

With this 3.0 version tho, the up/down/left and right movement defaults to the left analogue stick. That is easy to fix by again re-configuring the controls via the menu after pressing Tab. But then for reasons unknown, the X and O buttons on the controller CANNOT be used for any of the firebuttons. This issue occurs in both MAME4ALL and AdvMAME.

I’ve briefly tinkered with the libretro MAME but don’t know (yet) how to configure the controls. I know SELECT and TRIANGLE bring up the emulator menu but I couldnt figure out how to set a pad input to Insert Coin or Start.

Anyone having similar issues or knows of a work-around?

[wack]

Hey guys,
These videos have been brilliant. I wouldn’t have been able to get up and running without them.

Unfortunately I’ve hit a bit of a snag here. I can use my PS3 controller (same serial as floob’s) via usb cable quite happily and the buttons are configured. I followed this video to the letter to try and get wireless to work but to no avail. I’m using the same BT adapter as floob too so I should’ve been in the best possible place to follow along with it.
I can get as far as the end of the setup and the controller’s lights flash as described and then it settles on being controller one – so it will pair. Then if you restart (and even with the pause) it never pairs with the bluetooth adapter again after the setup screen.
I’m using retropie 3 and grabbed the latest setup script too.

Any thoughts?

[Floob]

You could try using the retropie menu to remove the PS3 setup, then re-install, it shouldnt make a difference, but for some reason it seems to sometimes.

Also, I find if I press the PS button as soon as the Pi is turned on it had more luck pairing than waiting a few seconds into the boot process.

[jaymzwise]

Hi !

I have a problem with my PS3 controller. I followed each step of the video, change the emulationstation script but each time I reboot my PS3 controller is not recognized anymore.
How can I fix this problem ?

Thanks !

EDIT : After a reboot, if I restart sixad and then press PS Button my controller is recognized.

[haroldcakington]

Hi Floob,

I’m having a weird problem with my PS3 controller set up. I run the script as in the video, followed all the instructions. It recognises my bluetooth adapter, but when it asks to insert my PS3 controller via USB, it can’t find it.

I’ve used lsusb and it detects it fine. It also see’s my USB dongle fine.

Grabbing the log shows that I’m missing a file:

<snip>

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Building 'ps3controller' : Install/Pair PS3 controller
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.7/arm-linux-gnueabihf/./bits/os_defines.h:40:0,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.7/arm-linux-gnueabihf/./bits/c++config.h:414,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.7/iostream:39,
                 from main.cpp:1:
/usr/include/features.h:356:25: fatal error: sys/cdefs.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
rm -f *~ bins/*
mkdir -p bins
g++ -O2 -mcpu=cortex-a7 -mfpu=neon-vfpv4 -mfloat-abi=hard -pipe -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions sixad-bin.cpp bluetooth.cpp shared.cpp textfile.cpp -o bins/sixad-bin <code>pkg-config --cflags --libs bluez</code> -lpthread -fpermissive
In file included from /usr/include/stdio.h:28:0,
                 from /usr/include/bluetooth/bluetooth.h:33,
                 from bluetooth.h:21,
                 from sixad-bin.cpp:18:
/usr/include/features.h:356:25: fatal error: sys/cdefs.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
In file included from /usr/include/stdio.h:28:0,
                 from /usr/include/bluetooth/bluetooth.h:33,
                 from bluetooth.h:21,
                 from bluetooth.cpp:18:
/usr/include/features.h:356:25: fatal error: sys/cdefs.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
In file included from /usr/include/unistd.h:26:0,
                 from shared.h:21,
                 from shared.cpp:18:
/usr/include/features.h:356:25: fatal error: sys/cdefs.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
In file included from /usr/include/c++/4.7/arm-linux-gnueabihf/./bits/os_defines.h:40:0,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.7/arm-linux-gnueabihf/./bits/c++config.h:414,
                 from /usr/include/c++/4.7/cstdlib:43,
                 from textfile.h:21,
                 from textfile.cpp:18:
/usr/include/features.h:356:25: fatal error: sys/cdefs.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.

I’ve tried searching how I can get this file, but I can’t seem to make head or tail of it.

I’m using Rasp v2, Retropie v3.0 (Using NOOBS and OpenElec) with only the dongle and USB cable connected, along with ethernet for updates, and an HDMI TV (Not that I’m using it, as I’m doing everything via SSH)

Anybody seen this before, and got any ideas what package I need to download to get the cdefs.h file?

Cheers

[tronkyfran]

@retroco I’ve got EXACTLY the same problem as you. Working fine everywhere except neogeo pifba. Tried the .cfg solution and nothing. And the keyboard is not working neither…

[mayki]

I installed the new version RetroPie_OpenELEC_Dual-Boot_v7_SS, I proceeded according to this video https://www.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/video-guide-for-ps3-wireless-controller-on-retropie-3-final/ but my PS3 wirelles gamepad works only in the menu, does not in any ROM (Megadrive, PSX, Nintendo) is not working. The previous installation Retropie 3.0 RC everything worked OK.
In /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads/PLAYSTATION(R)3Controller.cfg

input_device = "PLAYSTATION(R)3 Controller"
input_driver = "udev"
input_b_btn = "14"
input_y_btn = "15"
input_select_btn = "0"
input_start_btn = "3"
input_up_btn = "4"
input_down_btn = "6"
input_left_btn = "7"
input_right_btn = "5"
input_a_btn = "13"
input_x_btn = "12"
input_l_btn = "10"
input_r_btn = "11"
input_l2_btn = "8"
input_r2_btn = "9"
input_l3_btn = "1"
input_r3_btn = "2"
input_l_x_plus_axis = "+0"
input_l_x_minus_axis = "-0"
input_l_y_plus_axis = "+1"
input_l_y_minus_axis = "-1"
input_r_x_plus_axis = "+2"
input_r_x_minus_axis = "-2"
input_r_y_plus_axis = "+3"
input_r_y_minus_axis = "-3"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "0"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "3"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "12"
input_load_state_btn = "10"
input_save_state_btn = "11"
input_reset_btn = "14"
input_state_slot_increase_btn = "5"
input_state_slot_decrease_btn = "7"

EDIT: Problem solved
https://www.petrockblock.com/forums/topic/retropie-openelec-kodi-dual-boot/page/7/

[m1k3yg]

hey guys I wanted to let you know RetroPie 3 ROCKS! it has been set up beautifully. I do have a question I had it set up then my Micro SD card corrupted and then when I re-imaged it and reconfigured my PS3 controllers they are now showing up as controller 3 and 4 before the corruption they worked flawlessly as 1 and 2. is there a way to manually configure them back to 1 and 2 ?

[robertus]

[quote=105653]hey guys I wanted to let you know RetroPie 3 ROCKS! it has been set up beautifully. I do have a question I had it set up then my Micro SD card corrupted and then when I re-imaged it and reconfigured my PS3 controllers they are now showing up as controller 3 and 4 before the corruption they worked flawlessly as 1 and 2. is there a way to manually configure them back to 1 and 2 ?

[/quote]
Have you tried to delete from retropie set-up, all bluetooth controller and reconfigure it only before to put reset botton under controller?

[kooftness]

[quote=104020]This guide should help if you have any issues trying to get a wireless PS3 controller working with RetroPie 3.

<span class=”embed-youtube” style=”text-align:center; display: block;”>

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCq6drv5wbE?version=3&rel=1&fs=1&autohide=2&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&wmode=transparent%5D

</span>

[/quote]

Floob,
I followed your tutorial, but I am stuck at the following step. when I type lsusb I see the following usb devices:
keyboard
PS3 controller
Standard Microsystems Corp.
Standard Microsystems Corp.
Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub.
But I do not see the Bluetooth Dongle that is plugged in?

The light on the dongle is on solid blue.

The initial setup scrolls by so fast I can’t tell if there is any errors.

Here is the dongle I am using:

http://www.sabrent.com/category/accesories/BT-USBT/

Any information would be great! Thanks in advance.

[Author]

Posts