Feature request: Native Switch Pro controller support?

[Reonu]

Hey!

So, using the Switch Pro controller is easier than ever by adding Dolphin as a non-steam game on Steam and all that. But I was wondering, what are the chances of adding native support to Dolphin so that we don't depend on Steam? Just like native support for wiimotes etc. It's a great replacement for the old Wii classic controller, and it's super easy to pair to Windows. It even works wired via USB without bluetooth.

Thanks for reading

[KHg8m3r]

Wiimotes are just passing the data directly to the game, which isn't the same as writing a driver interfacing controller for a non-Wii/GC based controller

[Helios]

This gets brought up every now and then for various controllers, so I'll just summarize what the general problems are.

1. Dolphin really isn't in the business of writing drivers or SDL wrappers (Or whatever Steam does) for controllers to work with Dolphin. That's pretty out of scope and just more to maintain

2. Maintaining drivers/wrappers/whatever for various controllers sucks, and opens up the flood gates of "hey, you merged in support for the Switch Pro Controller, why won't you support my MemeBox Controller 4200?? It has gyros!"

3. Writing this to support all the OSes we support is pretty difficult, and we already have bits of Dolphin that don't work well in one OS but works flawlessly (usually Linux lol) in another.

4 (and most importantly). Nobody has expressed interest in coming up with the code and a plan to maintain all this.

[Reonu]

Wiimotes are just passing the data directly to the game, which isn't the same as writing a driver interfacing controller for a non-Wii/GC based controller

This gets brought up every now and then for various controllers, so I'll just summarize what the general problems are.

1. Dolphin really isn't in the business of writing drivers or SDL wrappers (Or whatever Steam does) for controllers to work with Dolphin. That's pretty out of scope and just more to maintain

2. Maintaining drivers/wrappers/whatever for various controllers sucks, and opens up the flood gates of "hey, you merged in support for the Switch Pro Controller, why won't you support my MemeBox Controller 4200?? It has gyros!"

3. Writing this to support all the OSes we support is pretty difficult, and we already have bits of Dolphin that don't work well in one OS but works flawlessly (usually Linux lol) in another.

4 (and most importantly). Nobody has expressed interest in coming up with the code and a plan to maintain all this.

Understood! I didn't realise that the support would be more complicated than with real Wiimotes, I thought the process would be similar. If it can't be, it can't be. Thanks!

[Helios]

What you can do though, is find a way to wrap the Switch Pro Controller into an xinput device, and then Dolphin can use it natively without Steam's SDL wrapper. I think x360ce can do that? No idea if it works with Dolphin though.

[Rare White Ape]

I use a PS4 controller pretty seamlessly with Dolphin, but that is thanks to a spearate program that does the whole Xinput wrapper thing (Input Mapper).

If you want Switch ProCon support it’s probably just easier to add Dolphin in Steam *shrug*

[Grimish]

XharosHey!

So, using the Switch Pro controller is easier than ever by adding Dolphin as a non-steam game on Steam and all that. But I was wondering, what are the chances of adding native support to Dolphin so that we don't depend on Steam? Just like native support for wiimotes etc. It's a great replacement for the old Wii classic controller, and it's super easy to pair to Windows. It even works wired via USB without bluetooth.

Thanks for reading

Greetings. Just incase this still gets read. There is a "Nintendo Switch Pro Controller" driver that is available in linux kernel patches and will be mainlined soon it appears. Its available as a HID Nintendo Kernel Patch if you can't wait for a merge. I'll also add that the Joycon controllers are included but I have not tested those.

I compiled the hid kernel patch into arch linux as of 5.5.4. I don't have good bluetooth (which is why I haven't tried the joycons) but tested with USB. It appears to work perfectly in terms of inputs. gyro/accel are functional as well within dolphin. Tested motion input with "Zelda Skyward Sword" and as for experience with that game in Dolphin its beat all the previous attempts. Hope this helps because i've been waiting forever for a good solution - and this definitely is it!

Here is the modinfo if you are curious about the internal pudding:
$ modinfo hid_nintendo

filename:       /lib/modules/5.5.4-arch1-3-custom/kernel/drivers/hid/hid-nintendo.ko.xz

description:    Driver for Nintendo Switch Controllers

author:         Daniel J. Ogorchock <djogorchock@gmail.com>

license:        GPL

srcversion:     053B2F951FC297C89D32683

alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000057Ep00002007

alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000057Ep00002006

alias:          hid:b0003g*v0000057Ep0000200E

alias:          hid:b0005g*v0000057Ep00002009

alias:          hid:b0003g*v0000057Ep00002009

depends:        hid,ff-memless

retpoline:      Y

intree:         Y

name:           hid_nintendo

vermagic:       5.5.4-arch1-3-custom SMP preempt mod_unload

sig_id:         PKCS#7

signer:         Build time autogenerated kernel key

sig_key:        02:87:60:FF:B5:17:AE:19:BA:90:3E:6F:86:82:F8:B47:82:6D:0E

sig_hashalgo:   sha512

signature:     

[RagingFire]

Is the last post just a huge block of text for anyone else?