Shield Pro, VirtualHere, 8BitDo USB adapter (1st), 8BitDo Pro 2, please help

Hi all,

After tinkering for over 2 hours last night, I couldn't get VirtualHere to play nice with my Shield Pro and Windows 11 PC. I've bought the license, of course. (And have tried to refund it, because of this, haha).

The following happens on my Shield Pro:
- The 8BitDo USB adapter seems to connect to either the VirtualHere server or the Shield Pro itself. Sometimes, I can navigate the menus with my controller. That shouldn't be possible, right? As a test, I've connected the same gear to my Pixel 4a, and I can only use the online gamepad testers in browsers then (on PC) to see my controller respond.
- Moonlight was also being a hassle last night, but on my phone I seem to have figured it out. Would love to hear from you guys if this is correct: whenever I enable one of the two controller drivers, Moonlight asks for control of the USB device. I should say no, right? Or just disable the two drivers? The last one seems best, since my Pixel 4a has input in the game then, via my PC. I know this, because the rumble via Moonlight is laggy and way too strong. By connecting via my PC, it's exactly how I want it to be.
- I put the server on my Pixel 4a on "Keep awake" as a test. Is this an important setting? On my Shield Pro, input never works or stops working quickly. Is it because the server gets disabled or goes in a power saving mode without that specific option?

After work, I'll try the following, and please tell me if anything is wrong what that path: install VirtualHere on my Shield Pro again, tick the boot option and "Keep awake". Afterwards, add the license again to my PC, since I've reset the settings again. Click auto-use on my 8BitDo there. (The program is already in the startup folder, so should be ready to go whenever, right?). Then everything should already be good to go right? Connect my controller, see my input appear on a gamepad tester website. Afterwards, disable all controller drivers on Moonlight, and it should still function thanks to VirtualHere. Am I missing something? I think that's how I got it to work on my Pixel 4a.

#2

Sorry im not too familiar with moonlight but basically what you are saying is correct. You need to be able to forward via virtualhere and then if you open joy.cpl on the windows client pc then it should show the 8BitDo there. Do you see it listed there? You should also be able to see the 8BitDo listed in Windows Device Manager. In Device Manager, click View By Connection and then look for VirtualHere USB 3 eXtenstible Host Controller and do you see the 8BitDO listed under there?

There is an extra setting you can try to see if we can make it work. In the virtualhere client right click on the 8BitDo device and select Custom Event Handler and paste exactly this line in:

onReset.$VENDOR_ID$.$PRODUCT_ID$=

Then press OK. Now unplug and replug the 8bitdo and the try to use it again via virtualhere.

Another thing to try is to turn off Windows USB Selective Suspend. Find the 8BitDo listed under the VirtualHere USB 3 eXtensible Host Controller and right clic kon it and if it has a Power Management Tab UNcheck allow windows to turn of this device to save power.

#3

Hm. I think I made it work, but I didn't use any of your tips yet. Could the simple "Keep awake" option be the culprit? I remember the controller acting very weird last night, and not staying connected for more than a couple of minutes. I was also messing around with Moonlight and its drivers (and disabled them all now). And, last but not least, before I ticked "Auto-use device" again today (Windows), the controller was navigation-capable on the Shield Pro again. I did tinker with all these options last night, but maybe in another combination?

Also, joy.cpl now shows "Controller (8Bitdo) Receiver". I take it I won't have to follow up on any of your other tips if things are working right now, haha? If you hadn't told me no in that email this morning, I wouldn't have bothered to try out these things again. ;)

For future users: I think reinstalling everything from scratch, and just enabling start on boot and keep awake functionality in Android's app; just tick the auto-use option for your USB dongle in the client (and decide whether you want to start it on boot or not); and not starting the controller until the server asks for control of the dongle after a Shield Pro reboot, is everything that I needed to do. Or am I missing an important step here, Michael?

#4

I'm not sure if the controller stuff in Moonlight would make a difference. Moonlight passes through the controllers that are connected to the Shield. But, with VirtualHere, I don't believe the controllers are ever connected to the Shield.

#5

ok I'm glad you got it working...if it's working don't tweak anything else:)