Multiple controllers on multiple controllers

Submitted by steve1977 on #1

I am thinking to create a more complex setup. Some of my questions are specifically related to Virtualhere and some adjacent. Appreciate your thoughts.

I am thinking to set up several Raspberry Pi devices as light gaming devices. In order to get the controllers passed through to my gaming server, I'd need to use virtualhere. I used to do this on my Raspberry before and it worked well. No idea whether it works though with several raspberry devices:

1) Can I pair one Xbox One S controller (bluetooth) with several Raspberry Pi (bluetooth dongle). I tried to google this question and it doesn't seem clear. Basically, I'm interested to pair one controller with several dongles. Not at the same time, but sequential (when moving from one room to another).

2) Can I attach two dongles to a RPi and then even pair up to 8 controllers (4 per dongle)?

3) If I pair controller 1 with two 2 raspberry and pass them through via virtualhere. Does my server identify this controller as the same one (i.e., is there some form of controller ID that VH passes through). This is relevant as I need to set up the controller on my windows server and it would need to identified as one and the same from both raspberry pi.

4) How many and which licenses would I require? Let's assume 3 Raspberry Pi (2 with 1 dongle, 1 with 2 dongle). That means that I am passing through up to 4 USB dongles from 3 devices. Would this require me to have 4 licenses?

Thanks in advance!

Submitted by Michael on Sun, 2019/06/30 - 21:45

#2

1. Probably, but im not sure if they will conflict with each other. Its just like paring a XBox controller with several laptops.

2. Sure

3. Yes i think it will pair as the same device because the MAC address of the bluetooth adapter in the xbox controller is the same

4. The license is based on the number of physical USB devices that are plugged in. So 1 bluetooth dongle is one device, it doesnt matter if you pair to to multiple controllers.

Submitted by steve1977 on Mon, 2019/07/01 - 01:33

#3

Thanks a lot. I gave it a go, but seem to fail. Not sure whether this is a VH or a RPi issue. And most likely it is a user error.

I have installed virtualhere on my RPi. It seems to identify it in windows (showing Raspberry-BCMxxxxxx in VH). "Use this device" is shaded in grey, so I cannot pair any devices. Where to look for a solution?

Submitted by steve1977 on Mon, 2019/07/01 - 02:16

#4

I tried a few things and seemed to make it worse. I ignored th BCMxxxx device and now cannot get it unignored.

Submitted by Michael on Mon, 2019/07/01 - 14:09

#5

Its shaded because you are auto-using everything on the pi. Uncheck that option the right click menu for the server. Stop using everything and then just use one bluetooth dongle at a time. I dont think windows supports multiple bluetooth dongles simultaneously, so just use one at a time

If you have the latest client/server you can unignore by right clicking on the server and select Properties->Ignores

Submitted by steve1977 on Mon, 2019/07/01 - 22:53

#6

Thanks. I am only using one bluetooth device as a starter, Unfortunately, it does not seem to show up in Windows and doesn't show in use by VH. It shows though, so it seems it is passed through.

Let me look into unignoring. This needs to be done in Windows, right?

Submitted by steve1977 on Mon, 2019/07/01 - 23:31

#7

It seems to work now. No idea what I have done differently. Let me watch things and revert.

Submitted by steve1977 on Tue, 2019/07/02 - 11:28

#8

Mmh... I just realized that Windows may prevent my desireds setup.

If I understand you correctly, I can only setup one bluetooth dongle. I am planning to have several Raspberry with each one bluetooth dongle.

I don't want to use the bluetooth dongles in parallel, but would need both to be identified in Windows (without going every time in the device manager and activating / deactivating respective dongles).

Any thoughts?

Submitted by Michael on Tue, 2019/07/02 - 14:42

#9

Yes im pretty sure windows doesnt support more than one bluetooth controller (I sometimes have to disable my laptop on-board bluetooth to test a bluetooth dongle via virtualhere) because it doesnt really make sense, as normally a user would just have one bluetooth system and use that. Thats why i was hoping if you disable all other bluetooths except the one you want to use then it would work. Its a bit of a pain but i disable my on-board bluetooth using Windows Device manager, right click on the bluetooth and select Properties->Disable in the driver.

Submitted by steve1977 on Wed, 2019/07/03 - 02:44

#10

I tried with two. You are indeed right. I can use either one sequentially, but only if disabled one of them. Once both are enabled, I need to go in the device manager.

I am thinking hard, but cannot think of any way to fix this issue? Except running two Windows instances, which may be an option.

Submitted by Stanyz on Tue, 2019/07/30 - 16:42

#11

Just FYI the new xbox wireless adapter can pair up to 8 controllers on one adapter.