Joycontrol Switch

Joycontrol
General
Author	mart1nro
Type	PC Utilities
Version	2020
License	GPL-3.0
Last Updated	2020/12/19
Links
Download
Website
Source

Emulate Nintendo Switch Controllers over Bluetooth.

Tested on Ubuntu 19.10, and with Raspberry Pi 3B+ and 4B Raspbian GNU/Linux 10 (buster).

Features

• Emulation of JOYCON_R, JOYCON_L and PRO_CONTROLLER.
• Able to send:
  • button commands
  • stick state

Installation

Install dependencies:

• Ubuntu:
  • Install the dbus-python and libhidapi-hidraw0 packages
  • sudo apt install python3-dbus libhidapi-hidraw0
• Arch Linux Derivatives:
  • Install the hidapi and bluez-utils-compat(AUR) packages

Clone the repository and install the joycontrol package to get missing dependencies:

• (Note: Controller script needs super user rights, so python packages must be installed as root).
• In the joycontrol folder run: sudo pip3 install .

Consider to disable the bluez "input" plugin, see #8.

User guide

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.
• 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.

Resources

• Nintendo_Switch_Reverse_Engineering
• console_pairing_session

Known 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 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.

Credits

• 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.

External links

• GitHub - https://github.com/mart1nro/joycontrol