GC Controller Inputs via named pipes

[leolam]

Not a developer here, but…

You don't have to (and imo, you simply shouldn't) create the Pipes directory in the global system directory; you could just create it in your local, user-specific .dolphin-emu (located at ~/.dolphin-emu normally).

So to create the pipe:

Code:

mkdir ~/.dolphin-emu/Pipes
cd ~/.dolphin-emu/Pipes
mkfifo pipe

According to comments left in the code by spxtr, valid commands are as follows:

Code:

// To create a piped controller input, create a named pipe in the
// Pipes directory and write commands out to it. Commands are separated
// by a newline character, with spaces separating command tokens.
// Command syntax is as follows, where curly brackets are one-of and square
// brackets are inclusive numeric ranges. Cases are sensitive. Numeric inputs
// are clamped to [0, 1] and otherwise invalid commands are discarded.
// {PRESS, RELEASE} {A, B, X, Y, Z, START, L, R, D_UP, D_DOWN, D_LEFT, D_RIGHT}
// SET {L, R} [0, 1]
// SET {MAIN, C} [0, 1] [0, 1]

So for example, you would do echo "PRESS X" > pipe to press the X button, "RELEASE X" to release it. Your syntax was incorrect, which is why Dolphin ignored your commands.

Also, merely creating the pipe is not enough: you have to go in the Controllers settings, and configure them to use the Pipe device as the controller device. Make sure to check Background Input or Dolphin won't take input from the pipe unless it is focused.