Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Full Version: Input lag with Bluetooth passthrough
You're currently viewing a stripped down version of our content. View the full version with proper formatting.
I followed recommendations in the Bluetooth passthrough article on the Wiki to set this up. I picked one of the few "green" options from the Bluetooth adapter chart -- the IOGear GBU421, which is supposed to be one of the best options short of the Wii Bluetooth module soldering project.

Bluetooth passthrough is touted as the best option for Skyward Sword controls, but my experience with it has not been good. Link's movements do seem to better mirror my motions, but with a variable delay/input lag. Sometimes the lag is so bad that I'll (for example) let go of the analog stick (on the Nunchuk) to stop running but Link will continue running for a second or two in whatever direction he was moving before I let go of the stick.

Maybe there's some setting or tip/trick I'm missing to make this work better? Or maybe the GBU421 shouldn't be listed as a "green" option in the compatibility chart? If this is how Bluetooth passthrough works with the "green" modules from the compatibility chart, then it seems nothing is really usable other than the actual Wii module.

Any help/advice would be appreciated, especially if somebody else got the GBU421 to work well with Skyward Sword.
The bluetooth signal probably isn't strong at longer distances. It's just an issue with how the Wii's able to amplify the signal. Try to reduce the number of things obstructing your Wii Remote and the Bluetooth. Another thing you can do is turn off Wii Remote audio in teh game's settings... hopefully it stops sending audio altogether and that could free up bandwidth in case signal quality is the issue.

And, another thing to note is that the Wiki is run by the community so there can be errors in it. It's kinda a pain to get approved on it due to all the spam issues we had but, if you post in teh wiki subforum for an approved account (if you don't have one) you could edit it yourself. Wiimotion+ tends to use more bandwidth, and it's possible whoever reported it didn't test every game.
JMC47 -- Thank you for the reply. The Bluetooth adapter is plugged into a front USB port on my Dolphin PC, facing me, about 6 feet away with literally nothing but air between the Wii remote and the adapter. The signal should be more than strong enough.

I'm not sure how to turn off the Wii remote audio in the game's settings -- there's literally nothing in Skyward Sword's properties dialog box that relates to Wii remote sounds. I can turn the speaker volume to zero in the Wii Remote Settings for Dolphin, but would turning down the volume actually prevent the audio from using Bluetooth bandwidth?
Most pc has high amount of EMI interference.

Try to use a usb cable to separate bt dongle from at least 20cm from your computer. It will improve performance and signal strenght.
For the record (in case others with the same problem find this thread), here's where I am now:

This particular problem (input lag) seems to have gone away on its own. I didn't change anything, but the next day the problem was gone. All that happened in between is that I powered down the computer that night, and powered it back on the next day. Note that I had rebooted previously as a troubleshooting step and it hadn't helped.

I now have a different problem with Bluetooth passthrough mode, which I am going to make a new thread for because it's a different issue entirely.