joycontrol

Branch: master->amiibo_edits->amiibo_writing->V12_fixes

Emulate Nintendo Switch Controllers over Bluetooth.

Tested on Raspberry 4B Raspbian, should work on 3B+ too and anything that can do the setup.

Features

Emulation of JOYCON_R, JOYCON_L and PRO_CONTROLLER. Able to send:

• button commands
• stick state
• nfc data read

Installation

• Install dependencies

Raspbian:

sudo apt install python3-dbus libhidapi-hidraw0 libbluetooth-dev

Python: (a setup.py is present but not yet up to date)

sudo pip3 install aioconsole hid crc8

• setup bluetooth
  • change MAC to be in Nintendos range (starts with 94:58:CB)
    for raspi 3B+ and 4B you can use sudo ./scrips/change_btaddr.sh
    rerun after every reboot
  • disable SPD
    change the ExecStart paramters in /lib/systemd/system/bluetooth.service to ExecStart=/usr/lib/bluetooth/bluetoothd -C -P sap,input,avrcp
  • change alias
    sudo bluetoothctl system-alias 'Pro Controller'
    Joycons are untested yet, might work might not....

Command line interface example

• Run the script

sudo python3 run_controller_cli.py PRO_CONTROLLER

This will create a PRO_CONTROLLER instance waiting for the Switch to connect.

• Open the "Change Grip/Order" menu of the Switch

The Switch only pairs with new controllers in the "Change Grip/Order" menu.

After pairing the switch will most certanly just disconnect for some reason. Use the reconnect option to avoid this afterwards.

Note: If you already connected an emulated controller once, you can use the reconnect option of the script (-r "<Switch Bluetooth Mac address>"). This does not require the "Change Grip/Order" menu to be opened. You can find out a paired mac address using the "bluetoothctl" system command.

• After connecting, a command line interface is opened. Note: Press <enter> if you don't see a prompt.

Call "help" to see a list of available commands.

• If you call "test_buttons", the emulated controller automatically navigates to the "Test Controller Buttons" menu.

Issues

• Some bluetooth adapters seem to cause disconnects for reasons unknown, try to use an usb adapter instead
• Incompatibility with Bluetooth "input" plugin requires a bluetooth restart, see #8
• It seems like the Switch is slower processing incoming messages while in the "Change Grip/Order" menu. This causes flooding of packets and makes input after initial pairing somewhat inconsistent. Not sure yet what exactly a real controller does to prevent that. A workaround is to use the reconnect option after a controller was paired once, so that opening of the "Change Grip/Order" menu is not required.
• ...

Thanks

• Special thanks to https://github.com/dekuNukem/Nintendo_Switch_Reverse_Engineering for reverse engineering of the joycon protocol
• Thanks to the growing number of contributers and users

Resources

Nintendo_Switch_Reverse_Engineering

console_pairing_session

V12 Issues thread