Multiplayer How-To?

[GeBeCluck23]

How does multiplayer work on the Pandora? (By "multiplayer" I mean each person having their own controller,) I have a couple USB controllers, and Wii Remotes, which I know are both supposed to work, but I can't figure it out! I plugged the USB controllers in, (one at a time of course) enabled USB, and went to different apps/emulators with no luck. I tried the Wii Remotes as well, but I could only get them working on Android. I even used the Pandora app, (for Wii Remotes) but I couldn't figure that out either...

 

[drock]

Are the USB controllers 1 or 2.0? The main Pandora plug only supports 2.0.  You could try typing lsusb at the command line to see if it is detecting the controller.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Oh, I'm not sure...I'll try that when I get the chance. Wii Remotes still aren't working though.

 

[drock]

Ive never used a bluetooth controller.  Multiplier also has to be supported in the game or emulator you are using

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Tl;dr

  I'm too much of a noob to get multiplayer to work on the Pandora, and I want to figure out how to.

  I'm not sure if I should bring back this 3-month old post, but I wanted to try Multiplayer again, and I figured it was better to keep this post open, rather than open up another one.

  So...bottom line is, I just want multiplayer. Rather I have to use USB Controllers, Wiimotes, or another Pandora (which I did try, using Master Control, but it either didn't work for emulators, or if it did work, it only accepted one button at a time, so no running or jumping well in Super Mario Bros...) I've tried different things, but I just can't get it to work, I even went on the wiki, but it was so confusing I didn't understand it, with the 1.1, and the 2.0, and the oh, and the oo, and the oh boy... :unsure:

  Something I'd really like to do, is have Pandora controls, and the same controls copied onto a controller/other Pandora, if that makes sense. Think of the Gameboy Player for the Gamecube where you could plug multiple controllers in, and they all act as player 1. That way, I could play Nintendo DS games single/multiplayer, like Bowser's Inside Story, where one person presses "A" for Mario, the other presses "B" for Luigi. (Speaking of which, amazing job Exophase for making such a great app, the latest update plays everything I throw at it full-speed, seriously!) Traditional P1 and P2 would be nice too, (P1 Mario, P2 Luigi on Super Mario Bros. for example) but the ".emu" PND's already do that fine with wiimotes, because it has a specific feature for it.

  ...Wow, I think I might've been a bit too specific, aaanyway, I finally typed in "lsusb" in the terminal while I had a USB Controller plugged in like drock said, and this is what showed up:

Spoiler

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

 

[ekianjo]

You need to put a USB hub in your USB port in between the controller and the Pandora. 

Most controllers are USB 1.1. and the Pandora only supports the hi-speed of 2.0 and you can't just plug controllers like that. 

So : Pandora - USB Hub - USB controller 

is what you need at first. 

Once you get there I'll explain the rest.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

  Oh okay, cool. Alright, a quick Google search brought this up Link, although it looks a little clunky... Although the added USB ports is an advantage. Would they all work, or will it only read one? Oh, here's a smaller one, Link.

  Oh, I see Link's shop has one as well, which is good because I live in California, although his looks a little clunky as well...Link.

 

[ekianjo]

  Oh okay, cool. Alright, a quick Google search brought this up Link, although it looks a little clunky... Although the added USB ports is an advantage. Would they all work, or will it only read one? Oh, here's a smaller one, Link.

  Oh, I see Link's shop has one as well, which is good because I live in California, although his looks a little clunky as well...Link.

It's probably better to order through Link as he has probably tested the ones which work with the Pandora. This being said all the hubs I tried did work for me directly. 

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Okay, I could order from him, but that mini one I linked is pretty cheap, it says it supports USB 1.1 and 2.0, also it has a data transfer rate of up to 480Mbps; is that good? Do you think all three of those I linked will work? If so, I'll probably go with the cheapest. I can always buy Link's afterwards if I have to.

 

[ekianjo]

Okay, I could order from him, but that mini one I linked is pretty cheap, it says it supports USB 1.1 and 2.0, also it has a data transfer rate of up to 480Mbps; is that good? Do you think all three of those I linked will work? If so, I'll probably go with the cheapest. I can always buy Link's afterwards if I have to.

Why would you need super fast data transfers anyway ? You are talking about plugging controllers right?

 

[thatgui]

...it has a data transfer rate of up to 480Mbps; is that good?

This is the theoretical limit for USB2 devices

 

[GeBeCluck23]

  Oh okay, so it's not only the max, but also irrelevant? Like I said, I'm a noob when it comes to USB Controllers. I wasn't sure if you had to have a certain speed for it to work or something. Anyway, I bought the Mini 4-port USB Hub, so I'll post back here as soon as I get it in so I can find out what to do with it.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

  Okay, I got the hub, now what do I do?

 

[GeBeCluck23]

  Hello, I'm not trying to be rude here, but I still would like someone to help me figure out what to do... Could I PM someone who can help me, if no one wants to reply here? I want to be reasonable, but I really don't know how to do multiplayer, and I'd really like to! :unsure:

 

[TrashyMG]

Generally this is the order of how you need to do things.

Plug Controllers into the hub, then Plug Hub into Pandora. (Needs to be that order, sometimes if you plug an empty hub into the pandora it crashes the USB host)
Turn on the USB Host.. if your using XFCE it's in the tool tray. should be somewhere in system on minimenu..

After this it should be working, you will need to go to what ever emulator/game and setup the controller by binding the keys to the controller buttons and such..

 

[GeBeCluck23]

  Great, thanks! I didn't think it was that simple! I tried it earlier and it didn't work, I think I did put the host in by itself at first... Wait...never mind, it only partly worked. It didn't seem to pick it up at first, but after a minute or two it did, (I knew because when I moved the control stick, it moved the mouse) however, I went to Qjoypad, but no matter how many times I tried, it won't pick it up...I tried using the controller in PicoDrive, (without Qjoypad active) and it worked fine, as I imagine it will for PanMAME and any other applications that pick up devices, but what about DS/random Pandora games? Is there something other than Qjoypad I can use for this purpose? Or am I just doing something wrong?

 

[worzyl]

Is it okay to have this stickied?

I attempted to do the same but my joypad needs drivers and I think it's windows only:/

 

[GeBeCluck23]

Hello? Can someone please help? I'm desperate, come on man! I don't know how much more of this I can take! *Crawls into a corner and starts sucking thumb while rocking back and forth.*

 

[drock]

It's only going to work on games or emulators that support multiplier like the ones you mentioned.  I have never used qjoypad, but it should let you use the controller in games that only support keyboard inputs by design.  If the creator of the game or emulator did not design it to support multiplier there is not a whole lot you can do.

 

[GeBeCluck23]

What? So you mean it can't work? Is there ANY possible way that Pandora controls can be mirrored to any other device? Keyboard or otherwise? Because I'm not gonna lie, Two-player RPG DS games would be sweet! If not, I think I might ask if DraStic's developer(/s) could add support eventually...