Skyward Sword's Terrible Motion issues

JoshCanuckIV · 10-10-2022, 12:12 AM #1

I feel like I'm losing my mind with trying to play this game on Dolphin.

First of all I am using the real officially licensed Nintendo Wiimotion Plus controller with nunchuk

I have gone a fair bit through the game putting up with the terrible motion controls. I have this game on my real Wii, and yes I am aware even on the actual console, in Skyward Sword, you have to re-center the cursor by pressing down on the directional pad, either it being in the middle of using a inventory item (ie. beetle, slingshot, bow), the map or the collection screen. But I have played and beaten Skyward Sword SEVERAL times over the course of the years. If i had to throw a number out there to my best estimate, I might have to re-center the cursor almost 100 times. (Maybe 70 or 80).

But I am about to get the final song on Dolphin Skyward Sword and I have already had to re-center the the cursor maybe 600 times and i might be being conservative. I have a $10 usb sensor bar I have bought off Amazon. I have seen in several other forums (and believe me i have checked and checked for answers all over the internet) that it's recommended to use the Mayflash Dolphinbar. I just don't feel like spending $40 almost $50 on a sensor bar right now.

I have somehow managed to get through the game fine for the most part despite having to constantly re-center the pointer. But then you get to parts like playing the harp at The Lumpy Pumpkin, Heart-pounding mine cart mini-game (going for 100% in the game; piece of heart), and now the one that is the most frustrating: Fledges mini game throwing pumpkins to shoot at with your bow trying to get 600 points for a piece of heart... I can't even get to 100 points because the wiimote is constantly getting out of line and the target cursor is shaky and moves in random spots all over the screen constantly keeping me from hitting the target... Just to make sure im not leaving anything out here, the cursor on the screen doesn't feel as smooth as the console version of the game. It seems a bit... laggy is the best way i can describe it and the cursor will move on it's own despite me keeping still when i look at my map for example... I re-center the pointer on the map, keep it still and cursor will just start moving on it's own.

I have went through the configuration settings, and clicked on "Wii" tab and switch my sensor bar from top or bottom of screen, i even played with the sensitivity settings and it doesn't make a difference it seems. I am about 7 ft from the sensor bar, so that checks that box that it has nothing to do with being too close.

There was even a forum i found somewhere the other day where someone said change the batteries. Strangely enough this works but it doesn't work for long before it goes off center quickly again. I even struggle trying to horizontally slice let's say a deku baba's mouth. i would go to my map, and re-center and i got one shot at cutting it's mouth horizontally before it's already out of alignment again.

Now finally I decided to go to the Dolphin Discord server and asked for help there. And someone was nice enough to start a thread with me titled it "Skyward Sword Shenanigans" (lol). At first it seemed like they fixed my issue. What they told me to do was update the Wii menu by going under "tools" then click update. For context I never used the Wii menu on dolphin before, this was my first time. They told me to recalibrate the motion controls through the settings there where you have to put the two white dots in the middle of the screen. What is strange is the Wii menu cursor worked like wonders, very smooth, no jitters nothing but Skyward Sword it constantly goes out of alignment.

So at this point, I feel like I have tried everything i can think of to get this to work as it should and nothing seems to be working. I am desperate, is there any fix to this at all? I would love to know. Maybe this game is better on a Switch emulator with Skyward Sword HD? Please give me some suggestions. I feel im going crazy lol. I really hope i don't have to end up buying the Dolphinbar but maybe that's my only option right now. Maybe internal Bluetooth connecter that comes with my computer sucks, perhaps a bluetooth usb dongle? and if so, is there a certain type i need to make this work correctly? Thanks.

PS. completely forgot mention and before anybody asks. I was told through the Dolphin discord server to take a picture of my sensor bar so you can see if the lights are on correctly. I'll attach a screenshot for reference as well. Thanks again.

**mbc07** · (This post was last modified: 10-10-2022, 09:41 AM by mbc07.)

From your report, there's two things that seems off: the first one is that you might have a crappy sensor bar. From the picture you attached, your sensor bar seems to have just 3 LEDs pointing straight forward at each side, with a somewhat big gap between them, while the official Sensor Bar has 3 LEDs pointing forward with a very small gap, as well as 2 additional ones at a 45° angle, so no matter how you're pointing the Wiimote, it will be able to see at least two of the LEDs (the Dolphin Bar LEDs accurately mimics the placement of the official one -- here's a comparison, Dolphin Bar at the top, Nintendo at the bottom). You don't necessarily need the Dolphin Bar, but you might want to try another sensor bar with the full cluster of 5 IR LEDs (3 straight, 2 at 45° angle) instead of cheaper ones with fewer LEDs.

The second thing is: the gyro from your Wiimote seems to drift way more than normal. Do you have any other Motion Plus enabled game you could test? That could help determine if something is malfunctioning on your Wiimote (uncommon, though), or if it's something that happens only with Skyward Sword. Also keep in mind the cursor from Skyward Sword differs from most other Wii games since it's derived from the accelerometer and gyroscope readings, while everything else (including the calibration screen at the Wii Menu Settings) just uses the position of the IR LEDs from the sensor bar. Another thing is that Skyward Sword constantly recalibrates itself based on the sensor bar readings, so if you hold it still, it should recenter itself shortly, without needing to press D-Pad down. If it's not doing that, it's another flag that something is off with the Wiimote...

JoshCanuckIV · 10-11-2022, 12:48 AM #3

(10-10-2022, 09:40 AM)mbc07 Wrote: From your report, there's two things that seems off: the first one is that you might have a crappy sensor bar. From the picture you attached, your sensor bar seems to have just 3 LEDs pointing straight forward at each side, with a somewhat big gap between them, while the official Sensor Bar has 3 LEDs pointing forward with a very small gap, as well as 2 additional ones at a 45° angle, so no matter how you're pointing the Wiimote, it will be able to see at least two of the LEDs (the Dolphin Bar LEDs accurately mimics the placement of the official one -- here's a comparison, Dolphin Bar at the top, Nintendo at the bottom). You don't necessarily need the Dolphin Bar, but you might want to try another sensor bar with the full cluster of 5 IR LEDs (3 straight, 2 at 45° angle) instead of cheaper ones with fewer LEDs.

The second thing is: the gyro from your Wiimote seems to drift way more than normal. Do you have any other Motion Plus enabled game you could test? That could help determine if something is malfunctioning on your Wiimote (uncommon, though), or if it's something that happens only with Skyward Sword. Also keep in mind the cursor from Skyward Sword differs from most other Wii games since it's derived from the accelerometer and gyroscope readings, while everything else (including the calibration screen at the Wii Menu Settings) just uses the position of the IR LEDs from the sensor bar. Another thing is that Skyward Sword constantly recalibrates itself based on the sensor bar readings, so if you hold it still, it should recenter itself shortly, without needing to press D-Pad down. If it's not doing that, it's another flag that something is off with the Wiimote...

Okay, so based on what I am reading, I definitely need to try a sensor bar with more IR lights (3 straight with 2 at a angle). Something tells me it's not the Wiimotion plus controller that I own because I just played my physical copy version of Skyward Sword on my Wii console maybe a little over a year ago and it worked just fine. So i guess this means it is my sensor bar after all knowing now that 3 straight forward IR lights on each side is not ideal. (Can't pretend I knew how this works but now I know, thanks). I'll look at Amazon for this specific type of IR sensor bar.

I could try other games that require wiimotion plus, I would have to look for which games requires it. Cause as far as I know, Skyward Sword is the only required game that I have ever played. I played Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 but as far as I can recall it doesn't need Wiimotion plus.

Thank you for getting back to me, and giving me some education on how these sensor bars work. I didn't know the specifics of 3 straight and 2 at a angle. Now that I know, I know exactly what to look for.