One controller detected as two - MacOS

jclarke0000 · 14 April 2020 21:27

I’m having an issue where one connected controller is being detected as two in RetroArch. This happens with a knock-off Chinese PS3 dual shock controller, wired or wireless, and with a genuine Sony PS4 wired (I didn’t try wirelessly with the PS4 controller as I did not want to unpair it from the console, but I am going to guess I’ll have a similar problem).

Sometimes RetroArch correctly detects a single device and assigns it to player 1, but usually a second one is detected and assigned to player 2. Either way, the second I start a game, the controller is assigned to both player 1 AND player 2, controlling both players simultaneously (if the game supports simultaneous play)

I have found a similar issue here, but I think it was for another OS, and as such I couldn’t figure out how to investigate on my Mac.

This is on Mac OS High Sierra 10.13.6 and RetroArch 1.8.5

If I run a standalone Mac program called “Controllers Lite” I can see the connected controller. Only one is listed, so I don’t think MacOS thinks there are two controllers.

I’m guessing this has something to do with RetroArch’s auto config. How can I turn off auto config and instead add controllers manually, one at a time?

Or am I off base here? Any other ideas?

All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Jeff

hunterk · 14 April 2020 21:38

It’s probably not a result of autoconfiguration, exactly, but you can turn it off in settings > input > autoconfig OFF. You can also go to settings > input > port 2 binds and set the device index to ‘disabled’

jclarke0000 · 14 April 2020 22:08

I already tried turning off binding to controller 2, which worked with a single controller connected, but when I connected another controller, the duplicate for controller #1 was assigned to controller 3. I suppose I could then turn off binding on three, but I’d rather try and figure out why controllers aren’t being detected twice.

Also, seems to only be a problem with PS3/PS4 controllers. Connecting an 8Bitdo NES30 seems to work properly.

I’ll try turning autoconfig off and see if that changes anything.

jclarke0000 · 15 April 2020 10:19

I don’t seem to have the ability to turn off autoconfig, or at least I didn’t find the option under Settings > Input. Is this something unique to the mac version of RetroArch?

hunterk · 15 April 2020 13:09

No, it might be considered an advanced setting, in which case you need to go to settings > user interface > show advanced settings ON.

jclarke0000 · 15 April 2020 13:28

Thanks! Found the option. Unfortunately it didn’t fix my issue. Retroarch is still detecting multiple controllers when only one is connected. I’m going to try using an older version of RetroArch. I swear I once had this working – same machine, same controller, but an older version of retroarch.

Will report back my findings.

jclarke0000 · 15 April 2020 18:09

Sadly reverting version 1.7.5 of RetroArch didn’t fix my issue. I also tried completely nuking my Bluetooth settings and re-pairing the controller, but I still have the problem.

jclarke0000 · 16 April 2020 07:58

I can confirm that this problem happens with the genuine PS4 controller as well, wired or wirelessly. Problem does NOT happen with 8BitDo controllers.

Zardozer · 17 April 2020 16:12

I’ve used Retroarch for a few years on Windows, and just started using it on MacOS recently. I’m at stable 1.8.5 for both, and I’m definitely seeing this double-controller issue with the PS4 controller. It shows up as ‘Wireless Controller Configured in Port #0’ and #1. I’ve only been playing single-player games on MacOS, so I just disable the second controller, but the first time I tried a 2-player simultaneous game, the one controller mirrored all inputs for player 2. I have several other types of controllers I can test, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.

jclarke0000 · 17 April 2020 16:25

Glad I’m not the only one with the issue! Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this!

Zardozer · 18 April 2020 18:54

I did a test connecting an 8bitdo SN30 Pro+, and it did the same thing (showed up as wireless controller #0 and #1). It’s exactly the same whether connected through USB or bluetooth. What’s weird is that the first time I tried to connect it while Retroarch was running, it briefly showed up as a Pro Controller. But nothing worked. It wasn’t until I unplugged it and replugged it, after holding down start+A (this is what 8bitdo says you should do to connect to MacOS), did it start to work. But it has the same issue as the PS4 controller: works but shows up twice. Otherwise, it works perfectly.

jclarke0000 · 19 April 2020 09:20

Try connecting the 8BitDo controller in Android mode instead… does that work?

I didn’t connect my controllers using START-A, and they’ve just worked fine, but I have older NES30 controllers, not the newer SN30 Pro

jclarke0000 · 19 April 2020 12:59

I can confirm that if I pair my 8BitDo controller in Mac mode (START+A) Retroarch sees two controllers. But if I instead pair the controller in Android mode (Just hold START, or START+X on newer controllers) then Retroarch see a single controller. I tried this several times and I got consistent results.

Interestingly, When I pair the controller in Android mode, it gets recognized by MacOS as “8Bitdo NES30 GamePad”, but if I pair it in Mac mode, MacOS sees it as “Wireless Gamepad.” Not sure if this adds any insight to above?

jclarke0000 · 19 April 2020 13:52

A bit more on this. I also tested Open Emu. All controllers were detected as single controllers – no double counting like I am seeing in RetroArch. But what I found more interesting was that if I pair my 8BitDo controller in Mac mode (START+A), Open Emu sees the controller as a PS4 Controller.

So maybe RetroArch also sees the 8BitDo controller as a PS4 controller when paired in Mac mode? Maybe this narrows the problem down to handling of just PS3/PS4 controllers in RetroArch on MacOS?

Zardozer · 27 April 2020 20:47

I recently did a firmware update to the SN30 Pro+, but I’m not sure it changed much. Interestingly, MacOS seems to have support for Pro Controllers, d-input (the setting for Android), x-input, and the normal mac mode… at least every mode on the SN30 Pro+ seems to be able to pair with bluetooth.

On the SN30 Pro+, Start-X is x-input mode, Start-B is d-input (Android), Start-Y is Pro Controller or Switch mode, and Start-A is the mac mode. Every mode except for Start-A will register as one input in Retroarch. However, it seems that analogue triggers only seem to work in Start-A mode. It does seem to be identical in layout as to how PS4 controllers are laid out, but the OS just calls it “Wireless Controller”. If I check Dolphin standalone, both PS4 and Start-A mode are reported as “Wireless Controller”, and the bluetooth app calls it that, too. So, more likely it’s not specific to PS3/4 controllers, it’s just that it will do that with any controller that connects as “Wireless Controller”. It is interesting that OpenEmu calls it a PS4 controller, but who knows how it comes to that.

apt · 30 April 2020 21:44

I’ve just come across the same issue with a newly installed version of 1.8.5 on MacOS Mojave. My PS4 controller (Wired in) is being detected as controller #0 and #1.

hunterk · 30 April 2020 21:51

Have you guys tried with the 1.8.4 (or earlier) stable to see if this is a longstanding bug?

EDIT: I opened an issue for this on github for better tracking: https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch/issues/10546

Zardozer · 30 April 2020 22:44

Hi hunterk, I tried it on 1.8.0 and 1.8.4, and I get the same thing, so it’s probably been there for a while.

jclarke0000 · 30 April 2020 22:47

I tried with 1.7.5 (I believe… it was the oldest one I could download) and I had the problem with that version too.

freecodecampster · 30 May 2020 14:15

Just wanna add I have the same problem. RetroArch v1.8.8 on macos Catalina 10.15.5. When I connect my wiimote it’s detected as controller #0 and #1. The same wiimote works perfectly with openEmu.