[Update] Using ANY Controller via Steam Link is a Problem

[OutColed]

EDIT: So I've kept tinkering. And now, after hours of undoing what I had done, I have made this whole thing even worse. Now, when running Steam's Big Picture mode either natively or streaming over the Steam Link, NO CONTROLLER INPUT will be detected by any emulator launched through Big Box. I have managed to definitively narrow this down to Steam at the very least. Big Box run directly without any Steam influence is fine. Controllers will be detected as expected. But now, anytime I launch ANY emulator through Big Box using Steam Link, there is no controller support. The controller will be detected and work within the Big Box interface, however, which makes this even more confusing.

So after hours trying to get my favorite controller to work here, I have now managed to destroy any kind of controller working and effectively dug a hole straight down into the center of the earth. I am praying that somebody on this forum can tell me what to do because clearly I can not figure it out.

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Original Post:

Hello all! I've spent the majority of this beautiful Saturday trying to get my Nintendo Switch Pro Controller to work ideally through Big Box over Steam Link. I've run into a million issues with my specific set up and managed to clamber over them thanks to a little ingenuity and a lot of searching on this forum. But this final wall has got me stumped.

My Set-Up:

• Dual-monitor PC in an office. One screen is 3440x1440, the other is 1920x1080 (that was a headache to get streaming correctly but I pulled that off)
• A 1080p TV in the living room.
• The actual Valve Steam Link box connected to the TV, wired via ethernet.

Whenever I run RetroArch, it detects my controller fine and I can set the various bindings how I like to get that "Nintendo layout." But running anything else, specifically Dolphin and PCSX2, my controller isn't being detected at all OR when it is detected, the buttons are all screwy. For example, when I was testing Ape Escape 2 on PCSX2 and the Pro Controller was recognized, the face buttons were all mixed up. When I tried Soul Calibur II on Dolphin, start was mapped to the right stick click. NO IDEA how that happened.

BUT HERE'S THE WEIRD PART. Even if the game detects button presses from the controller, I cannot remap the controller correctly. I thought that if I launched the emulator via Big Box while it was running, then whatever weird way it was reading the controller inputs from the Switch Pro would be detected as they were happening and I could slowly remap them to the correct placements (so no more RS-clicking for start because I'm not an insane person).

I've tried remapping the controller in those emulators and in Steam's Big Picture mode, neither to any effect. I've tried using a wrapper like x360ce to get the Switch Pro recognized as xinput to no avail. I've even tried directly hooking the Switch Pro into the PC over USB to reset mapping that way but that didn't work either. I've been racking my brains on this for hours trying to get this to work because I love this stupid controller so much but I'm about to put my head through a wall.

IS there a way to get this to work? Am I just too desperate for that Nintendo feel controller? Should I just get an Xbox One pad and suck it up? Please help me LB experts, because I've done everything I can think of.

 

I should also mention that I am aware of this thread from 2019. But the method described did not produce the same results.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by OutColed

[OutColed]

Going to bump the thread with an additional update. Despite RetroArch claiming to recognize Xbox One controllers, it continues to not. At least, not properly. I have somehow managed to get button presses to register, though they are being picked up as dinput buttons (I think). So a press of the A button on the Xbox One pad is seen as "Button 1" in RetroArch. I don't know why, I don't know how, but it is at least functional. For now.

[OutColed]

Bumping again after more work. I've reinstalled both Steam AND Launchbox. Where I'm at now is:

1. Controllers are properly recognized within Steam Big Picture mode on both the host PC and Steam Link when running a native Steam game (tested extensively).
2. Controller are properly organized within BigBox and all emulators launched from it IF being run on the host PC WITHOUT the Steam Link involved at all.
3. As soon as I add the Steam Link to the mix, buttons aren't working once an emulator is launched. Pressing B closes emulators. Pressing Select closes emulators.

I hate to keep bumping and being a pain but I keep finding old threads of people reporting issues with BigBox and Steam Link and they have all ended without solutions. What is happening here? There's clearly something up with the Steam Link itself, process of elimination tells us that, so this isn't a Launchbox problem. But I know enough people use (or at least used to use) their Steam Links for BigBox that this seems like a definite issue. Am I alone here? What's happening with that stupid little box that screwing everything up?

[sonuckles]

I may have found a fix for this just now. The tl;dr is if you haven't used the core that your game is running from before, you need to configure your controller for it in RetroArch. 

The longer story is I was attempting to play a NES game from my Steam Link using Retroarch (NEStopia) via Big Box with a PS4 controller, and having the same problem where the controller worked for everything but the game. I found I was able to get to the RetroArch menu by loading the game up in BigBox, then hitting my RetroArch menu combination (L1+R1+Down+Square), then I scrolled over to the History area of RetroArch and found the game I was attempting to play. When I selected the game, I was able to either Resume, or do a number of different things. I went down to the Controls section and changed "User1DeviceType" from "auto" to "Gamepad" then backed out and re-hit my RetroArch menu combination (R1+L1+Down+Square). The game went back to normal and my controller worked.

So here's my step-by-step fix.

1. Load up a game via Steam Link > Big Box > RetroArch
2. Hit your RetroArch menu combination on the PS4 controller (L1+R1+Down+Square, or L3 + R3, or Select + Start, etc.)
3. Move over to the history section and find the game you currently have paused in the background
4. Select the game and scroll down to Controls
5. Change the "User1DeviceType" from "Auto" to "Gamepad"
6. (Optional) Configure the rest of your controls from this screen
7. Back out to the main RetroArch Menu
8. Hit the menu combo from step 2, and play the game.