Games in dolphin emulator run slow if controller is connected via bluetooth

[Bleuzen]

@keybreak

Maybe he meant like emulate xbox controller.

I tried that. Installed xboxdrv from aur, started the service and run this command (same as from link you posted, but only with device path changed to point to the wireless controller):

xboxdrv \
  --evdev /dev/input/js2 \
  --evdev-absmap ABS_HAT0X=dpad_x,ABS_HAT0Y=dpad_y,ABS_X=X1,ABS_Y=Y1,ABS_RX=X2,ABS_RY=Y2,ABS_Z=LT,ABS_RZ=RT \
  --evdev-keymap BTN_SOUTH=A,BTN_EAST=B,BTN_NORTH=Y,BTN_WEST=X,BTN_START=start,BTN_MODE=guide,BTN_SELECT=back \
  --evdev-keymap BTN_TL=LB,BTN_TR=RB,BTN_TL2=LT,BTN_TR2=RT,BTN_THUMBL=TL,BTN_THUMBR=TR \
  --axismap -y1=y1,-y2=y2                          \
  --mimic-xpad                                     \
  --silent

however output is:

xboxdrv 0.8.8 - http://pingus.seul.org/~grumbel/xboxdrv/ 
Copyright © 2008-2011 Ingo Ruhnke <grumbel@gmail.com> 
Licensed under GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html> 
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. 
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; see the file COPYING for 
details. 


-- [ ERROR ] ------------------------------------------------------
Invalid argument

@keybreak

to me that looks like some bug which needs to be determined and fixed

Sure, would like to inform some arch maintainer at some point so they can fix it. But currently still don’t know which package is causing this, so don’t know whom to contact.

[keybreak]

@Bleuzen

Sure, would like to inform some arch maintainer at some point so they can fix it. But currently still don’t know which package is causing this, so don’t know whom to contact.

@jonathon is probably not somebody who is into bluetooth / PS5 controllers (i assume), but he’s deeply into Arch and hopefully could help to take a guess at debug / contact

[jonathon]

@Bleuzen

• Using LTS kernel does not make a difference

Well, I’m confused. Any idea what else to try?

This kind of sounds like a kernel regression, e.g. having the Bluetooth controller connected is creating some sort of interrupt storm.

Could you try linux-lts54 and see if that works? If so, it might narrow the regression window somewhat.

There’s also 5.13.1 in testing, though that still has issues (and 5.13.3 was just released upstream).

[Bleuzen]

@jonathon

Could you try linux-lts54 and see if that works?

I have tested kernel 5.4, but on Manjaro, because they provide older kernels with the nvidia module and I don’t have to compile from source and mess with dkms drivers.

Kernel 5.4 is a little different. The problem is still there.
But while on newer kernels I get performance problems only while the controller is connected and they instantly go away when I disconnect the controller, on 5.4 the problems stay until I reboot.
So if the controller was once connected, on 5.4 even after disconnect, moving the mouse freezes Rocket League and dolphin emu still runs slow.

@jonathon

There’s also 5.13.1 in testing

Don’t want to switch to testing on my main system, but tried kernel 5.13 also on Manjaro. There is no difference compared to 5.12.
Can try again on eos when 5.13 hits stable.

[jonathon]

@Bleuzen

I have tested kernel 5.4, but on Manjaro

Just for reference, Unofficial repo for older LTS kernels

@Bleuzen

on 5.4 the problems stay until I reboot

Hm. Do you have game-devices-udev installed on either distro?

[Bleuzen]

So I just made a fresh eos install for testing. Also installed the kernel 5.4 from your repo that you linked here:

@jonathon

Just for reference, Unofficial repo for older LTS kernels

Kernel 5.4 acts the same on eos as on manjaro.

However while reinstalling, I found out something new by accident. To make the controller fully work, the driver (hid-playstation) is required.
This is included since kernel 5.12, but for older kernels I always installed this aur package:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/hid-playstation-dkms/

This time I forgot to install it. Started the dolphin emu on the new system, connected the controller… and it stayed smooth. No lags.
Of course, some controller features do not work, but without that hid-playstation driver I can play in the dolphin emu just fine, without lags, even with the controller connected via bluetooth.

So to confirm I installed the driver afterwards. Let dolphin run while doing that. It run smooth, until I loaded the driver:

modprobe hid-playstation

The second I executed that command, dolphin started to lag.
So it is the new hid-playstation driver causing this all.

@jonathon

Hm. Do you have game-devices-udev installed on either distro?

On EOS no, on Manjaro yes. Both show same behaviour, so this does not make a difference.

[Bleuzen]

Tested again on kernel 5.10 (official linux-lts package). Same here. Dolphin runs smooth until I install and load the hid-playstation driver.

Now question is why does only Arch suffer from this, while Fedora which is also using kernel 5.12 with this driver included is fine?

[keybreak]

My guess is that it has to be reported to whoever deals with hid-playstation, probably Arch is just faster and Fedora haven’t catched up to it…or it’s exclusive Arch bug, which i don’t know really…Could be, wonder what @jonathon would advise in terms of who to contact, since you’ve detemined the cause

[Bleuzen]

@keybreak

probably Arch is just faster and Fedora haven’t catched up to it

Both use kernel version 5.12.5 currently. Only differences could be the patches they apply and different build options I guess.

@keybreak

or it’s exclusive Arch bug, which i don’t know really…Could be

Also a possibility I think about is what if hid-playstation itself is fine but only acts as a trigger for buggy code that could be in another system component.

[Bleuzen]

So today I applied system updates as usual and also went through my package list and compared it to my Fedora system. I uninstalled some packages that sounded useless / I don’t need anymore to keep my system clean.

After this (and a reboot), THE PROBLEMS ARE GONE!

So I tried to replicate what I did on my second eos test install. I updated the packages one by one. No update made a difference. Then I went through the packages again and removed them one by one.

Turned out:
After removing tlp the lags are gone. No problems anymore with connecting the controller via bluetooth!

Now I know why this worked on Fedora. It does not come with tlp preinstalled, but both EOS and Manjaro do.

Btw., just as a side note, I usually had lagging problems also on the desktop. Lately it felt like KDE Plasma was dropping frames every now and than. I just got used to it because I don’t need the smoothest desktop, so I ignored it.
After uninstalling tlp, the desktop and animations in general also feel a little smoother

Also this is not the first time I had problems with tlp. Already had them on my old machine. It caused lags and wifi problems.

Maybe this buggy thing shouldn’t be preinstalled by default. It is nice to save a little battery, but this is not needed on non-mobile devices and only causes problems, so users should be aware of it. Having this preinstalled causes users to experience some weirdness in some cases without knowing why. Possibly make it clear in the installer that tlp will be installed. Could be a checkbox in the what packages to install page in Calamares (where one can select which desktop to install).

[keybreak]

@Bleuzen

After removing tlp the lags are gone. No problems anymore with connecting the controller via bluetooth!

Oh man!
How the hell we missed tlp!!

Usually simple rule for device exclusion is enough, but since it’s desktop anyway…

Generally it’s not buggy at all, but for some devices you just need to exclude some things, and it really saves a lot of battery for laptops, so it’s good idea to pre-install by default still…

Problem is not many people are aware of it’s existence and that some tweaks might be needed