Motion evdev

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Revision as of 10:53, 4 December 2021 by Infirit (talk | contribs) (typo)
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Dolphin supports the motion evdev devices but setting it up is a bit awkward. Nintendo controllers (JoyCon and Pro controller) are supported through the hid-nintendo driver. Sony DualShock4 and DualSense through hid-playstation.

The HID kernel driver exposes 2 (or more) evdev devices, one for the buttons and another for the accelerators/gyroscopes. Do note that Joy-Cons will have 2 devices each (4 in total). The hid-nintendo driver exposes the motion axis on an IMU device while hid-playstation named it "Wireless Controller Motion Sensors". Do note that Nintendo Joy-Cons will have 2 devices each (4 in total).

You may need to add the users to a specific group to be allowed access. On Arch linux this group is "input".


It took me a bit of time figuring out which axis corresponds with the right motion control in dolphin. These axis might change in the future when evdev standardizes them.

Dolphin motion Evdev axis HID Nintendo Evdev axis Sony DualSense
Accel Up Accel Z+ Accel Y+
Accel Down Accel Z- Accel Y-
Accel Left Accel Y+ Accel X-
Accel Right Accel Y- Accel X+
Accel Forward Accel X+ Accel Z-
Accel Backward Accel X- Accel Z+
Pitch Up Gyro Y- Gyro X+
Pitch Down Gyro Y+ Gyro X-
Roll Left Gyro X- Gyro Z+
Roll Right Gyro X+ Gyro Z-
Yaw Left Gyro Z+ Gyro Y+
Yaw Right Gyro Z- Gyro Y-

As the default buttons are all wrong reset all buttons in the Wii Remote configuration. To configure the motion controls you have to use the advanced config window. Right click on each motion button in the Wii Remote configure window. Select the appropriate IMU device at the top in the device selection.

Select imu device.png

Select the corresponding Accel or Gyro axis, select it and click ok. For example for "Accel Up" in dolphin you need to select "Accel Z+". The end result should look like below.

Advanced config result.png

Repeat this for every motion.