I got the DolphinBar after good reviews describing it as a good sensor bar in a room setting. Just reporting my workarounds to the limitations I found, while using it.
I understand that the recent firmware turns off the IR LEDs to prolong their life, while not connected, but this makes the bar useless for Dolphin BT passthrough using another USB BT (as Dolphinbar's is not exposed to the system). Please read advanced usage in Bluetooth passthrough on Dolphin wiki, I used a generic EasyPC USB BT V2.0 adapter with VID 0A12 and PID 0001.
The KB and Mouse modes 1 & 2 are shaky while mode 3 has pointer input only when a nunchuck is connected and still no motion input despite the manual stating that there is gyro input in this mode.
I recommend using xpadder or Joy2Key to remap mode 3 for a quick fix to the odd default mapping of modes 1 or 2.
Mode 4 works in Dolphin with continuous scan on real Wiimote option and turning off speaker data, don't forget to run Dolphin as admin for this use - never could find this little info on the forum, only by trial and error.
I couldn't get a second Wiimote to connect in Dolphin on mode 4 using the Dolphinbar but I did work around it, using mode 3 and losing motion input in the process.
The github project touchmote was a better alternative to the factory set modes making mode 4 a substitute to modes 1 or 2 or even 3 and adding XYZ rotation input from the Wiimote and nunchuck to the emulated X360 or mouse and KB controller, while supporting multiple connected Wiimotes.
In conclusion, the closest thing you get to a real Wiimote experience with the DolphinBar as far as I experienced is a single-player mode 4 in Dolphin, which is a dated connection method, considering the emulated Wiimote has been largerly replaced by BT passthrough method. If you know any other workaround I missed please add as I found this bar to have very poor documentation. Thanks.
Edit: I have one original Wiimote plus and another third party one. This may be the cause of Dolphinbar rejecting my second remote. Anyway BT passthrough doesn't make a fuss about it and connects both no problem. The adapter does have trouble remembering pairing, so I tied BT sync to "~" key in options>hotkey setting>wii and wii remote tab, I don't mind long pressing to reset pairing on game start then another press to accept the remotes again when their sync buttons are pressed.
I understand that the recent firmware turns off the IR LEDs to prolong their life, while not connected, but this makes the bar useless for Dolphin BT passthrough using another USB BT (as Dolphinbar's is not exposed to the system). Please read advanced usage in Bluetooth passthrough on Dolphin wiki, I used a generic EasyPC USB BT V2.0 adapter with VID 0A12 and PID 0001.
The KB and Mouse modes 1 & 2 are shaky while mode 3 has pointer input only when a nunchuck is connected and still no motion input despite the manual stating that there is gyro input in this mode.
I recommend using xpadder or Joy2Key to remap mode 3 for a quick fix to the odd default mapping of modes 1 or 2.
Mode 4 works in Dolphin with continuous scan on real Wiimote option and turning off speaker data, don't forget to run Dolphin as admin for this use - never could find this little info on the forum, only by trial and error.
I couldn't get a second Wiimote to connect in Dolphin on mode 4 using the Dolphinbar but I did work around it, using mode 3 and losing motion input in the process.
The github project touchmote was a better alternative to the factory set modes making mode 4 a substitute to modes 1 or 2 or even 3 and adding XYZ rotation input from the Wiimote and nunchuck to the emulated X360 or mouse and KB controller, while supporting multiple connected Wiimotes.
In conclusion, the closest thing you get to a real Wiimote experience with the DolphinBar as far as I experienced is a single-player mode 4 in Dolphin, which is a dated connection method, considering the emulated Wiimote has been largerly replaced by BT passthrough method. If you know any other workaround I missed please add as I found this bar to have very poor documentation. Thanks.
Edit: I have one original Wiimote plus and another third party one. This may be the cause of Dolphinbar rejecting my second remote. Anyway BT passthrough doesn't make a fuss about it and connects both no problem. The adapter does have trouble remembering pairing, so I tied BT sync to "~" key in options>hotkey setting>wii and wii remote tab, I don't mind long pressing to reset pairing on game start then another press to accept the remotes again when their sync buttons are pressed.