8BitDo controller input in MonoGame (and Steam)

And you thought this blog was dead? I’m back 🙂

To business: I recently bought two 8bitdo Nintendo Controllers (8Bitdo Crissaegrim NES30 PRO)  to use with RetroPi (works like a charm by the way).

However, to get them to work on my computer was something else.

The controllers don’t talk very nicely with your PC, so Steam and Monogame basically say ‘$$$$ you’ when you try to use the controller. However, the solution came in the form of this nifty tool: x360ce.

Ok, now what? Play steam games?!

The thing to know with x360ce is that you need to place the executable in each folder of the game(s) you’d like to play with your computer.

Paste the exe there, launch it, let it create the necessary files, test the controller and presto: you can now launch the game (from within steam if you also want your steam controllers to work) and the games will now detect your controller as if it were an Xbox 360 controller. (protip: this also works if you’re using the controller wireless, even with two of them connected without wires)

Monogame as well?

Yup, the same trick here. Simply put the x360ce exe in your debug/bin folder, launch it, and suddenly you can type fancy code such as (source) :

 if (capabilities.IsConnected)
            {
                // Get the current state of Controller1
                GamePadState state = GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One);

                // You can also check the controllers "type"
                if (capabilities.GamePadType == GamePadType.GamePad)
                {
                    if (state.IsButtonDown(Buttons.A))
                        Exit();

Hooray for this. On to toying around with this sweet nostalgic controller