Homebrew HID to VPAD - Unofficial Command Line Network Client

[lagonauta]

Hello everyone!

I am using this thread to announce my new project, an unofficial HID to VPAD network client focused on being used through the command line! Especially made to be used with a headless RPi4.
It is not as full featured as the official client, but should be good enough for most people.

You can download it from here. More information on the README.

Why now?

I got some new controllers and wanted to use them on my WiiU as I got back to playing it, however I did not want to keep my computer turned on. As my RPi is always online, connected through an ethernet cable, and is near my WiiU, it is the perfect alternative. But there is a problem... the official client uses a lot of memory and (seems to) require a graphical interface to run. Not ideal in a RPi.

Some features:
- Predictable latency
- Configurable controller polling rate
- Low memory footprint (usually less than 2MB)
- Easy to use
- No need to add new mappings on the WiiU, even for new controllers.

I hope someone also find it useful, Mario Kart 8 is great on an Xbox Series controller
My WiiU is connected through WiFi and my RPi through ethernet, I am sensitive to latency and did not noticed any. Try it out

 

[Maschell]

Very nice job!

 

[Jimbox]

Does it work for the raspberry pico?

 

[lagonauta]

I haven't tried as I don't have one, but certainly not as is.
Someone would need to compile it for the Pico, shouldn't be too difficult thanks to how rust (the programming language) works but someone still have to do it.

 

[Deleted member 571007]

Does it work for the raspberry pico?

Try it and see.

It obviously supports RPi, supported by the fact the OP states their usage of it on theirs, and the README which clarifies its low memory usage in deployments such as an RPi.

There are precompiled binaries in the releases section. Just grab the arm binary, and run it via CLI (assuming the format works for it). Worst-case scenario, you'd need to compile it yourself.

I personally don't have a Pico, but it works on my other Pi devices.

 

[andrewg87]

Is there instructions for running this? i have a pi 3b with raspbian lite 64bit on it, and i have installed rust. I am sorry for my shortcomings on this one. :: Edit. I used Perplexity to help me figure it out, Thanks! Good tool!

 

[andrewg87]

Is there instructions for running this? i have a pi 3b with raspbian lite 64bit on it, and i have installed rust. I am sorry for my shortcomings on this one. :: Edit. I used Perplexity to help me figure it out, Thanks! Good tool!

Ok Still having issues, I would like to use it headless, like plug it in, it autostarts, and pairs, I was thinking:
sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/network-client.service

[Unit]
Description=Network Client Service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/home/andrewg/network-client-arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf 192.168.0.38
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10s
StartLimitIntervalSec=60s
StartLimitBurst=5

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

it appears that the network-client service is starting successfully but then immediately exiting.