Emulator Compatability Suggestion

[ThatHornsGuy]

First and foremost love the Steam Link so far, everything I could have hoped for from this piece of tech. The one thing that I hope gets patched in is the ability for the steam link to update the "devices and printers" list (and Mac/Linux equivalent) with the currently connected peripherals.

The reason behind this idea is that I play Dolphin emulated games through steam as non-steam games (To learn how to do this go here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/1fif09/howto_add_nonsteam_game_shortcuts_of_emulated/). When I launch one of these games through the link it takes me immediately to the desktop (which is to be expected). However when I then try to configure a controller in order to play, the emulator cannot find any controllers connected to the steam link. I am relatively certain that Dolphin (and other emulators) finds the controllers through the "devices and printers" list and then displays them as available choices when configuring controllers.

If the steam link could add its peripherals to this list everybody could play their emulators through the steam link. This was the only problem I have had with the steam link but I guess I am trying to do something different from its original purpose. Let me know what you guys think and hopefully this gets added at some point. Thanks!

TL;DR Steam Link currently doesn't support emulated non-steam games but I believe it can be patched in.

[Chargeit]

Try setting up the controller on the host rig before playing on the client.

Might need to hook up a controller to both systems.

[Greg]

I've yet to try it using the steam link though I have done it with in-home streaming. I ran into the same exact issue, what I found though is if I connected the controller after dolphin started and then refreshed the list, it would appear. I imagine the steam controller complicates things a bit. I'm going to check it out tonight though.

[mjhcsta]

I've just tried streaming PPSSPP, PCSX2, Dolphin, KODI, PLEX, VLC you name it and nothing worked...the controller regardless if its a xbox 360 controller or a steam controller would act up and for parts work as a mouse but then other times a controller and even then the controls are all messed up and changing mappings didn't work...

real shame at how bad the steam link is for streaming anything that isn't steam exclusive

[Greg]

I actually managed to get the steam controller working with dolphin (a couple of times) but it was really spotty and I couldn't make it happen consistently. Seemed like it had something to do with putting the host into big picture mode before launching the game, but that was far from 100%.

In all cases where it "failed" the controller still worked fine but the mappings would not work. Meaning I was stuck using the controller as a mouse and keyboard.

[ThatHornsGuy]

Originally posted by < Greg:

I actually managed to get the steam controller working with dolphin (a couple of times) but it was really spotty and I couldn't make it happen consistently. Seemed like it had something to do with putting the host into big picture mode before launching the game, but that was far from 100%.

In all cases where it "failed" the controller still worked fine but the mappings would not work. Meaning I was stuck using the controller as a mouse and keyboard.

Yeah, that's what I had working as well. I checked to see if there was a way to change the steam controller button configuration to be just a controller when big picture wasn't open but couldn't find anything in the settings. Maybe it will be added in the future. Hard to say but I will keep meddling and see if I can get something to work besides mouse/keyboard.

[aquagiraffe]

I used Ice (google: Ice steam) to add all my roms as games into steam and the link works fantastic with them controller and all. All I have to do is set the emulators inputs up with my ps3 controller and then when I get in game through steam I set the steam controller as gamepad and it works right away.

[Greg]

I can also confirm dolphin works just fine with a PS3 controller over streaming. It still seems to have steam controller issues though

[Zombeaver]

While I don't have a Link yet, I've been messing with In Home Streaming in the meantime which should be functionally identical. I wanted to make sure I was able to get these to work properly before purchasing one (I ordered one this morning).

I've been able to get ePSXe, PCSX2, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, Project64, and CCS64 to work flawlessly through in-home streaming with a 360 controller, with a bit of work. I haven't tried Dolphin with IHS yet but am planning to do so soon.

So there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind with emulation through IHS. The main one is that, for best/hassle-free results, your emulator of choice needs to have Xinput compatibility and you need to be using a 360 controller. There are a number of additional specific steps involved with some of the emulators (specific launch commands) but Xinput is priority number 1. PCSX2, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, Project64, and (surprisingly enough) CCS64 (a Commodore 64 emulator) all support Xinput out of the box so you're good to go there. Dolphin also supports Xinput so it should work.

ePSXe does not support it by default but it can be added in via 1 of 2 methods:

1) ePSXe “Shark” enhancement[ngemu.com] - this is a mod that adds in a couple additional features on top of the base ePSXe, one of which is pad plugin support, including Pokopom’s Xinput Pad Plugin[ngemu.com] which is the one you want. The only issue with Shark is that it causes issues when used with Launchbox[www.launchbox-app.com] - an emulation frontend that I highly recommend. The base version is nice and it’s free. Big Box, however, is what’s really sweet. It basically gives you Kodi/Plex style navigation of your entire emulation collection. Big Box is $20, but totally worth it in my opinion. In any case, Shark and Launchbox don’t get along (Shark seems to be a little buggy in my experience) so I don’t use this method.

2) The good news is you don’t need Shark - you can still use Pokopom’s plugin with the help of the PeteOpenGL2Tweak[ngemu.com] plugin. The bad news is it’s not quite as intuitive to setup. Once you’ve downloaded Pokopom’s plugin, put it in ePSXe’s plugin folder, then you need to download this[api.viglink.com], open it up and navigate to the “Release” folder and drop the contents into ePSXe’s plugin folder as well. Then, when you load up ePSXe you need to select the PeteOpenGL2Tweak plugin under GPU plugins, and you should be good to go.

For PCSX2, there are a couple of things that need to be done to get it to work correctly. I can’t remember if it has Xinput enabled by default, but it’s an option under the controller configuration. You’ll want to turn that on and turn the direct input option off. Then just configure your controls however you want.

You’ll also want to turn off the console window from the main screen because if you don’t the stream usually won’t pick the correct window and you’ll get choppy video. You’ll also need to launch your games via shortcut with the command line parameters --fullscreen and --no gui. Without --no gui the PCSX2 interface will have partial focus for the stream and you will again have choppy video and additionally your controls won’t work correctly because IHS will view it as a window rather than a normal fullscreen application (so hitting “B” on your controller will actually stop the game because it thinks you’re hitting “ESC”). You have to setup the shortcuts so that they’re something like “--fullscreen --nogui "Drive:\folder\game.iso”. Launchbox lets you setup custom launch commands for all your games (and even lets you setup default launch commands for specific emulators, so that PCSX2, for example, would always use --fullscreen and --nogui).

I’d also recommend checking out this thread for some useful information. According to it, they got Dolphin working as well. I’ll mess around with Dolphin streaming when I get home tonight and report back.

From what I recall, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, and CCS64 basically all worked right off the bat once you enabled Xinput. The only thing I remember having to do for Project64 was enabling the “On loading rom go to fullscreen” option.

I hope this helps!

[TreY]

hmm i have a problem with KEGA Fusion, it works without problems on the host machine in BPM but over the steam link i does not recognize controller input. any suggestions? Snes9x works fine though.

[Freyar]

I don't think ValvE will make this a priority.. since even discussing emulation is a frowned upon.

[pierinolartista]

Originally posted by Zombeaver:

While I don't have a Link yet, I've been messing with In Home Streaming in the meantime which should be functionally identical. I wanted to make sure I was able to get these to work properly before purchasing one (I ordered one this morning).

I've been able to get ePSXe, PCSX2, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, Project64, and CCS64 to work flawlessly through in-home streaming with a 360 controller, with a bit of work. I haven't tried Dolphin with IHS yet but am planning to do so soon.

So there are a couple of things that you need to keep in mind with emulation through IHS. The main one is that, for best/hassle-free results, your emulator of choice needs to have Xinput compatibility and you need to be using a 360 controller. There are a number of additional specific steps involved with some of the emulators (specific launch commands) but Xinput is priority number 1. PCSX2, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, Project64, and (surprisingly enough) CCS64 (a Commodore 64 emulator) all support Xinput out of the box so you're good to go there. Dolphin also supports Xinput so it should work.

ePSXe does not support it by default but it can be added in via 1 of 2 methods:

1) ePSXe “Shark” enhancement[ngemu.com] - this is a mod that adds in a couple additional features on top of the base ePSXe, one of which is pad plugin support, including Pokopom’s Xinput Pad Plugin[ngemu.com] which is the one you want. The only issue with Shark is that it causes issues when used with Launchbox[www.launchbox-app.com] - an emulation frontend that I highly recommend. The base version is nice and it’s free. Big Box, however, is what’s really sweet. It basically gives you Kodi/Plex style navigation of your entire emulation collection. Big Box is $20, but totally worth it in my opinion. In any case, Shark and Launchbox don’t get along (Shark seems to be a little buggy in my experience) so I don’t use this method.

2) The good news is you don’t need Shark - you can still use Pokopom’s plugin with the help of the PeteOpenGL2Tweak[ngemu.com] plugin. The bad news is it’s not quite as intuitive to setup. Once you’ve downloaded Pokopom’s plugin, put it in ePSXe’s plugin folder, then you need to download this[api.viglink.com], open it up and navigate to the “Release” folder and drop the contents into ePSXe’s plugin folder as well. Then, when you load up ePSXe you need to select the PeteOpenGL2Tweak plugin under GPU plugins, and you should be good to go.

For PCSX2, there are a couple of things that need to be done to get it to work correctly. I can’t remember if it has Xinput enabled by default, but it’s an option under the controller configuration. You’ll want to turn that on and turn the direct input option off. Then just configure your controls however you want.

You’ll also want to turn off the console window from the main screen because if you don’t the stream usually won’t pick the correct window and you’ll get choppy video. You’ll also need to launch your games via shortcut with the command line parameters --fullscreen and --no gui. Without --no gui the PCSX2 interface will have partial focus for the stream and you will again have choppy video and additionally your controls won’t work correctly because IHS will view it as a window rather than a normal fullscreen application (so hitting “B” on your controller will actually stop the game because it thinks you’re hitting “ESC”). You have to setup the shortcuts so that they’re something like “--fullscreen --nogui "Drive:\folder\game.iso”. Launchbox lets you setup custom launch commands for all your games (and even lets you setup default launch commands for specific emulators, so that PCSX2, for example, would always use --fullscreen and --nogui).

I’d also recommend checking out this thread for some useful information. According to it, they got Dolphin working as well. I’ll mess around with Dolphin streaming when I get home tonight and report back.

From what I recall, SNES9x, KEGA Fusion, and CCS64 basically all worked right off the bat once you enabled Xinput. The only thing I remember having to do for Project64 was enabling the “On loading rom go to fullscreen” option.

I hope this helps!

I see and follow the second method for play with xbox360 controller but at launch see error about PeteOpenGL2Tweak, what wrong?
I hope can help me.

[Killertoe2]

i'm using the steam link with Dolphin and a ps3 controller but when I hit circle it wants to close the game as if i were hitting the ESC button on my keyboard

[pierinolartista]

Originally posted by Killertoe:

i'm using the steam link with Dolphin and a ps3 controller but when I hit circle it wants to close the game as if i were hitting the ESC button on my keyboard

Same too with "B" button for Xbox360 gamepad. Any solution?

[Wheelbarrow]

I see this is an old thread but since some of you have gotten it to work i cross my fingers that one of you can help me out.

What I'm trying to do is play Wii and GameCube games in Dolphin, with Xbox 360 controllers connected to the steam link.
I've already used Ice to get the games added to the steam library, and starting them works fine.

Now to the problem. When the game have started the controller does nothing.

I can not configure Dolphin to use the Xbox controllers since they are connected to the link and not the pc, so they don't show up as devices.
Do I have to connect the controllers to the pc first to setup the controls in dolphin beforehand?