@OyyoDams Wow, I think that you nailed it !
I finally managed to get the SFC30 working after a firmware upgrade (my version was 2.67, since your URL stops at 2.62 I looked around - and found version 3.0 here: http://download.8bitdo.com/Firmware/GamePad/)

Everything worked like a charm: I could start the pad with Start (only), pair it, configure it and use it in a game.
I'm now doing the same with the SNES30, a priori I can use the same firmware. There is no reason this should fail.

So THANKS A LOT to both of you, @Substring and @OyyoDams for having taken the time to help me. I hope this post will help other users as well.

Keep up the excellent work !

@pmroyo did you try with the 'manual' way ?
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Connect-bluetooth-controller-manually-(EN)
What works and what does not?

@OyyoDams Wow, I think that you nailed it !
I finally managed to get the SFC30 working after a firmware upgrade (my version was 2.67, since your URL stops at 2.62 I looked around - and found version 3.0 here: http://download.8bitdo.com/Firmware/GamePad/)

Everything worked like a charm: I could start the pad with Start (only), pair it, configure it and use it in a game.
I'm now doing the same with the SNES30, a priori I can use the same firmware. There is no reason this should fail.

So THANKS A LOT to both of you, @Substring and @OyyoDams for having taken the time to help me. I hope this post will help other users as well.

Keep up the excellent work !

@oyyodams quoting my post above I have one SNES30 (the one looking like a US pad with purple buttons) and one SFC30 (the one looking like a JP / EU pad with colored buttons). These are 'classic' pads (regular SNES pads, not the Pro version with the sticks). Same problem with both pads. They both worked well before v 4.1 when started with R+Start.

@Substring ok, so maybe that's a specific issue ?

I start them with R+Start, exactly as I did on the previous version(s) of Recalbox, and as described here: https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/8bitdo-on-recalbox-(EN).

Just to make sure, I tried to use keyboard mode (mode 2) but unsurprisingly this failed as well. I also checked that using the stick in USB mode works perfectly.

How can I check what retroarch sees? Where does it (and other emulators) read info about configured pads? What is weird is that several emulators fail, could there be a mishap upon the saving of the pad configuration (e.g. at the end of the configuration step) ?

For info, I just configure up, down, left, right, A B X Y L1 R1 Start Select and Hotkey (on Select), leaving all the rest empty. This worked well in Recalbox 4.0.

Alternatively, does anyone reading this successfully use a 8bitdo on 4.1 or am I the only one so far?

Some more progress...

1- Huzzah for rolling updates ! I updated the box before following the steps you proposed, @Substring.

2- I did the following: delete 99-8bitdo,rules, update box, forget controllers, reboot.

When pairing first device ( @OyyoDams : SFC30), I could pair and configure via the GUI. I can go through the ES menus with the pad and start games, but the pad is not recognized by the emulator (at least the SNES one says something along the lines of 'SFC30 gamepad not configured'. For the record, the emulator also says that my X-Arcade is not configured but I can use it properly so maybe this is a false lead.

When trying to pair my second device (SNES30), I saw it in the pair list but when selecting it, it said 'unable to pair'. However, after a reboot the pad was instantly paired when switched on. I could use it to go through the menus, I could configure it via the GUI, but as for the other one, it is not recognized (at least by the SNES emulator, maybe I should test other emulators and see if it's the same there [EDIT] Same thing for other emulators (GameBoy, Genesis) [/EDIT]).

Bottomline: the pads are paired and configured, can be used for menu navigation but not for playing games.

Hope this helps, looking forward to any further tips. My .rules files now has 3 times the SFC pad and 2 times the SNES pad...

Okay, I made some progress.

After messing-up quite a bit with diverse commands, I finally managed to pair and configure one of my 8bitdo (mostly through the GUI). But for some reason, as explained in my first post, I can pair my second 8bitdo but I cannot configure it - it is not detected on the 'configure a controller' screen?

Extra detail, possibly useful:

My /recalbox/share/system/udev/rules.d/99-8bitdo.rules was completely clogged-up with the same entry over and over. I created the file anew, now I just have my 2 gamepad mac addresses in there.

I'm wondering whether it's due to line 508 in /recalbox/scripts/recalbox-config.sh ?

But in anycase, what I did not find is how pads are being detected at the configure controller screen. I don't think I did anything special, so I may have been lucky with my first controller. @substring if you have details about this script I may be able to troubleshoot it?

Uh... so if I understood correctly:

• if you do not activate the security option, you are in 'insecure' mode
• in 'secure' mode you get a one-time random password

I see the intent, even if I'm not convinced by the approach.
Questions:

• in the system.security.enabled=0 what else is auto-reset? In other words, how valid are the security tips valid for 4.0 and above written here https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Security-(EN) ?
• do you have documentation somewhere about what happens when you enable security? Namely, does it affect the Wifi password storage or the retroachievement password storage?

I volunteer to write a new document on the wiki for 4.1 if you provide the info

@substring I guess I did start the controller the right way (keep right shoulder button pressed while pressing START), it worked perfectly with the previous version(s) of recalbox.
I created a support archive, will send it to you via private message since it contains my retroachievement login and password

I used the 'forget paired devices' command, then tries again.

• The pad is seen and I can pair it (pairing successful)
• But I cannot configure it (not detected on the 'configure device' screen)

If I switch pad off and on again, pairing does not work automatically (I need to repeat the pairing step).

It's as if it pairs but the pairing is not persisted. Which file is updated upon successful pairing? Maybe the file is not writable for some reason?

First: yay for v 4.1 ! Thanks for all the hard work.

I updated to 4.1, and tried to pair my 8bitdo devices anew.

• I can pair from the GUI but even once paired I cannot configure them (does not show up in the list, and when I press a button on the ' press the button of the pad to configure' then nothing happens
• I tried to pair manually, as explained here: https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Connect-bluetooth-controller-manually-(EN)
  • method #1 did not work, my devices are not detected
  • method #2 works (after solving a 'Failed to start discovery' issue, I updated the wiki)

But again, my pads are paired, but they don't show up in the configure controller GUI.

What shall I do? Restarting did not help, my devices are just not in the list of devices I can configure.

Help would be greatly appreciated !