Dolphin, the GameCube and Wii emulator - Forums

Hey all,

I'm going to do a SFF build soon and have some questions related to Bluetooth passthrough.

1) Does anyone know if it is possible to have a Bluetooth adapter with the libusb driver installed AND another, Bluetooth adapter with standard Windows drivers so that I can continue to connect standard bluetooth devices but use the other adapter specifically for Dolphin? I know normally if you have two Bluetooth receivers normally in Windows that one will be marked as conflicting and effectively be disabled, but I'm hoping that since the other will have the libusb drivers that this won't occur. The wiki page describes the situation as "WARNING: While a libusb driver is installed, other programs/devices will not be able to use your Bluetooth device" which does make it sound like that only that one adapter will be effected (which makes sense since its driver bound), I just don't know if windows will ignore the one with the libusb drivers and use the other as the normal receiver. My ITX motherboard has built in Bluetooth which is what I'd use for regular connections and would like to have a separate/dedicated adapter that is know to fully work with the passthrough feature for Dolphin.

2) Can anyone recommend any readily available Bluetooth adapter that 100% works with the passthrough feature that they've used? I know that the Wii's original adapter is the best and I have no problem soldering a USB cable to it, but I was hoping for something a lot less clumsy/more sleek. The sides of my case are custom cut acrylic instead of the stock metal ones, so perhaps if I did use the real Wii adapter and put it inside the case it would look clean and work decently since the case wouldn't be acting as a Faraday cage. Regardless, a small USB adapter would be preferring. The issue is that there are only a few "green"/100% compatible adapters that have been reported on the wiki and almost all of them have issues. Most seem to be no longer sold, one is some weird bulky adapter with a lighting connector, one is a WiFI/Bluetooth combo card that I can't and don't want to use since I'll have an ITX board, and one is an unreasonable 40 dollars.

The only one I can find to buy that is on the list and is green is the "Orico BTA-403" adapter. It is on Amazon and quite cheap, but uses some different moniker in the listing (though it clearly is by Orico so that may just be a model name or the like) and doesn't list compatibility with Windows 10. While it will probably still work I obviously won't know until I try. Obviously it would be preferable to get one that someone can vouch for in terms of compatibility and function.

In general I don't mind testing either of these things myself (that specific adapter for the 2nd question), but I figured it wouldn't hurt to see if anyone has experience with these situations here first.

Thanks.

EDIT:
This is the table I was talking about - https://wiki.dolphin-emu.org/index.php?t...st_results

Hello

(01-30-2020, 04:21 PM)oblivioncth Wrote: [ -> ]1) Does anyone know if it is possible to have a Bluetooth adapter with the libusb driver installed AND another, Bluetooth adapter with standard Windows drivers so that I can continue to connect standard bluetooth devices but use the other adapter specifically for Dolphin?

Yes, that works. You can have Windows using one BT adapter normally while the other has libusb drivers for Dolphin.

(01-30-2020, 04:21 PM)oblivioncth Wrote: [ -> ]2) Can anyone recommend any readily available Bluetooth adapter that 100% works with the passthrough feature that they've used?

Other than a modded Wii BT Adapter, that's a little tricky. I recently bought an Orico BTA-403 which seems to work flawlessly from some limited testing I did with two Wiimotes connected simultaneously to it. There's also a table with testing results on the wiki, if that helps.

(01-30-2020, 05:08 PM)mbc07 Wrote: [ -> ]Hello

Yes, that works. You can have Windows using one BT adapter normally while the other has libusb drivers for Dolphin.

Other than a modded Wii BT Adapter, that's a little tricky. I recently bought an Orico BTA-403 which seems to work flawlessly from some limited testing I did with two Wiimotes connected simultaneously to it. There's also a table with testing results on the wiki, if that helps.

Ok cool, I was hoping that was possible.

Yes, I've seen that table. It was what I was referring to in the OP when I was mentioning how the adapters weren't sold anymore or were odd/overpriced. The Orico BTA-403 is the only one I could find that could be bought easily and that had a good price so I'm glad to hear it seems to work well. That's really enough for me to try it myself even if your testing was limited as its dirt cheap and I can always replace it if I end up having trouble.

Just to be clear, by limited I meant I tested only with two Wiimotes, and with two Wiimotes it worked flawlessly. However, I can't guarantee that it works fine with 3 or 4 Wiimotes, as I don't own that many controllers and some BT Adapters are known to exhibit issues in BT Passthrough only when multiple Wiimotes are connected (e.g. the Bluetooth portion of Intel WiFi cards -- flawlessly with only 1 Wiimote, supper buggy with 2 or more Wiimotes)...

(01-31-2020, 09:15 AM)mbc07 Wrote: [ -> ]Just to be clear, by limited I meant I tested only with two Wiimotes, and with two Wiimotes it worked flawlessly. However, I can't guarantee that it works fine with 3 or 4 Wiimotes, as I don't own that many controllers and some BT Adapters are known to exhibit issues in BT Passthrough only when multiple Wiimotes are connected (e.g. the Bluetooth portion of Intel WiFi cards -- flawlessly with only 1 Wiimote, supper buggy with 2 or more Wiimotes)...

Ok good to known, thanks for the clarification. For my use case that should be good to know anyway.

(02-02-2020, 02:08 PM)oblivioncth Wrote: [ -> ]Ok good to known, thanks for the clarification. For my use case that should be good to know anyway.

Whatever you do: Do not get an ASUS BT-400, that one doesn't work with Passthrough at all.

(02-05-2020, 07:03 AM)mstreurman Wrote: [ -> ]Whatever you do: Do not get an ASUS BT-400, that one doesn't work with Passthrough at all.

That's not right, considering that I'm currently using one. I have the 0B05:17CB variant and it mostly works. The VID and PID have to be manually specified in Dolphin's config, and it seems to occasionally have an issue locking up before getting in-game with some games (I have to reconnect the Wii Remote when it happens). During gameplay though, it's fine.

That being said, I am looking for something better that doesn't have the locking up issue.