Tried to use Controller4all and btstacks with retroarch and when you have c4a turned on and then go to open retroarch it crashes the phone and boots it into safe mode. Can anyone help me too get a controller working for retroarch on the iphone using anything?
C4A hasn’t been updated for iOS 8.3 yet, so it will cause any controller-supported game to crash to Safe Mode. You could use RetroArch’s native BTStack controller features with a Playstation 3 controller, but it’s not as reliable as C4A.
After checking this site for months and months, waiting for the release of the iOS-version I felt like a little boy on christmas morning when I finally read that the cydia repo is back up! Again: Thanks for all of your hard work!
As a little support to you and fellow RetroArch-Lovers, I wanted to state some issues I personally encountered concerning the PS3 Controller. Hopefully it will help somewhat in getting the iOS-version to the “Epic-Status” it deserves!
To use a PS3-Controller (bluetooth) for iOS it is and was inevitable to install “Controllers for All” and “BTstack” from Cydia. (For Mac you also need the App “SixPairMac” to connect PS3 to the iDevice)
Here is what I found out for the RetroArch-Version 1.0.0.2:
Ofcourse everyone, like me, fired up “Controllers for All”, connected the PS3-Controller and afterwards opened RetroArch (1.0.0.2).
In the Setting-Menu, when trying to bind the inputs etc. all of us had to cope with the issue that some of the buttons did not work:
- “Select”-Button
- “Start”-Button
- “PS3”-Middle-Button
- “Left-Analog-Stick”-Press (Pushing/Pressing the stick down)
- “Right-Analog-Stick”-Press (Pushing/Pressing the stick down)
I read hundreds of posts and visited hundreds of websites to find a solution but found NOTHING.
Pre-Post: Finally, after fiddling with RetroArch etc. for weeks I found out how to have all (!!!) buttons work.
The “Solution” worked on all of my devices running version 1.0.0.2: iPhone 5s & 6, iPad mini 4, iPad 3, iPad Air 1 & 2.
This is what I did… Finally the Solution for all (my) Devices running 1.0.0.1 & 1.0.0.2:
STEP 1. Close all Apps and restart the iDevice.
- 1.1 Connect PS3-Controller and the iDevice to Mac vial USB.
- 1.2 Use “SixPairMac” to connect both to “get to know each other”
- 1.3 Unplug both (PS3-Controller and iDevice) from Mac. Wait until PS3-Controller stops “blinking” the red LED.
- 1.4 Optional: Check If both are (really) connected. I switched OFF iOS Bluetooth and switched ON “BTstacks”, “Controllers for All” and afterwards the game “LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga”. When my PS3-Controller seemed to work I continued to Step 2.
STEP 2. Turn OFF both “Controllers for All” and the “internal” iOS-Bluetooth function! (YES, SWITCH THEM OF!)
- 2.1 Leave “BTstack” turned ON
- 2.2 “Close” iOS-Settings (also from Dock!) wait for a couple of seconds. Make sure PS3-Controller is OFF and the the red LED is not “blinking” etc. Also make sure the iOS-Bluetooth"Logo" up to the right on the iDevices is “grayed out” and not “black” and “thick”!
STEP 3: Turn ON RetroArch.
3.1 Press the PS3-Middle-Button (with the PlayStation-Logo) and wait until both the red PS3-Controller LED lights up Player 1 and the “grayed” Bluetooth-Logo on the top right corner becomes “black and thick” 
STEP: 4. Enter the RetroArch Input-Settings. Make sure “w/ Analog” is checked in Device-Type and the Left Analog stick is select. Also the “Device Index” should be set to the “Controller with Analog Sticks”. 4.1 Start to bind all Keys.
- ENJOY RetroArch (1.0.0.1 & 1.0.0.2 with PS3-Controller) and ALL BUTTONS AND ANALOG-STICKS WORKING!
Solving Issues: I did have issues but (how stated above) got it working on ALL(!!!) my iDevices. If it won’t work for you (1.0.0.1 & 1.0.0.2) DON’T STOP. It WILL work! The good thing with me was to know that it DID work at least once on my iDevice so I never gave up. I KNEW it could work so I just tried to find “the issue”.
At the end I found out that the following workflow always “helped” to fire back up everything again if issues start (mostly when the iPad lost battery):
-
Close all Apps (also from the dock)
-
Restart the iDevice.
-
Turned iOS-Airplane-Mode ON and OFF
-
Followed STEP 2 to STEP 5
As for now with iOS-RetroArch-Version 1.2.2 (Early Nov. 2015) the above Workaround sadly does NOT work anymore… (Somebody wrote this is because Apples “Controllers-MFI” is not supported anymore…?)
I hope this somehow helps the Dev-Team in understanding how to get things working concerning the PS3-Controller. Since i’m not a developer I don’t know what to make up with that information. 