​

(v1.1 + New Client released!)
sys-hidplus: a brand new sysmodule that allows you to emulate controllers over the network

sys-hidplus is a sysmodule that allows you to emulate up to 3 controllers (and probably more in the future) over the network from a PC to a Nintendo Switch.
The objective of this is to allow services such as Parsec to be usable on the Switch without having to buy $100 worth of accessories to emulate a single controller.
Currrently, the sysmodule still has some bugs, but it's usable and, most importantly, playable and enjoyable.
You can check more details on the github repository and any kind of feedback is welcomed!

​

If anything here sounds familiar, is because I'm the same developer a hid-mitm-plus, a unstable fork of hid-mitm with the same objective, but it has been rewritten from scratch due to the crashes and bad performance.
So, yeah, this not a fork or an update, this is, in fact, a brand new sysmodule with newly written code and functionality too (such as experimental joy-con emulation)!
(just in case, development of hid-mitm-plus has ceased and won't be coming back, use this instead)​

Requirements:

• Atmosphere (ReiNX and SX OS are untested)
• sys-hidplus (sys-hidplus (github.com))
• sys-hidplus Client (SwitchSysHidplusClient (github.com))
• .NET 5.0 for sys-hidplus Client
• Python 3 ONLY if you want to use inputs_pc.py (Not recommended for v1.1+)
• 10.0.0-11.0.1 FW Version for v1, 12.0.0+ for v1.1
• If you want to use a streaming service such as Parsec, you'll need either:
• a) A capture card such as Elgato HD60 S or Pro; or
• b) SysDVR (https://gbatemp.net/threads/sysdvr-stream-gameplay-directly-to-a-pc.550616/)

Instructions:

(This tutorial has yet to be updated for v1.1, please be patient!)
First, copy the contents of the "nswitch" folder in the build zip file to the Switch microSD card. Make sure to use Atmosphere because this sysmodule isn't tested with other CFWs.

After that, make sure you have Python3 installed and open cmd on the location of the extracted "pc" folder from the build zip file and execute

py -3 -m pip install inputs

(you'll have to do this step only once). Once inputs is installed, you can then connect to your switch by using

python3 input_pc.py {SWITCH IP}

replacing {SWITCH IP} with the IP address of your Switch (You can check it by going to Settings > Internet on your system) (Note: if using "python3" gives an error/prints an empty line, try using "py" instead. If that also gives issues, try reinstalling python making sure "add to paths" is enabled. If not even that works, try using the python3 path instead of using "python3" or "py".

If you did all the steps fine, your switch should now detect your controller as a Kirby colored Pro Controller (or a JoyCon, more details below).

You can modify the behaviour of the controller emulation on the python file by changing the conType values. If you set it to 0, you'll be able to disconnect the controller (useful if the Switch disconnects the controller for some reason). If you set it to 1, you'll be able to emulate a Pro Controller. If you set it to 2 or 3, you'll be able to use the experimental sideways joycon emulation, it has some issues but in some games such as Clubhouse Games, it'll be playable.

If for some reason you enter to the "Change Grip/Order" menu or when entering a game your controller is disconnected on the Switch, modify the python script, set the conType value of the disconnected controller to 0, execute the python script once, change the value back to 1 (or 2/3) and the controller will be functional again!​

Links:

• sys-hidplus releases: https://github.com/PaskaPinishkes/sys-hidplus/releases/
• sys-hidplus source code: https://github.com/PaskaPinishkes/sys-hidplus/
• Parsec: https://parsecgaming.com/

​

Special Thanks to:

• jakibaki - base and inspiration for this sysmodule (hid-mitm), a lot of the code comes from it
• cathery - helping me with my dumb questions and issues
• ReSwitched Discord Server - help in the support channels
• Everyone using this sysmodule - thanks a lot!

 

[Papito2111]

Do you have in mind update to FW 12?

 

[nachuz]

Do you have in mind update to FW 12?

Hello, sorry for not posting in a while!
I had a lot of stuff to do for school, but being honest, the biggest reason of why I didn't release an update yet was procrastination, laziness and demotivation, I'm very sorry for that
It's finished though, and I'm going to test it really soon before releasing it
For now though, use the build made by @RednaxelaNnamtra (thanks a lot )

I'm going to delay this update by a bit.
It'll include some new features though, such as 4 player support and a brand new client with probably an UI made in C# (to replace the python one)
(For Mac/Linux users, @kenesu_h is working on a client in Rust too! If you want to make a client too, you're welcomed to do so :3)

 

[nachuz]

It's here!
It includes 12.0+ support and 4 player support, just like the build shared previously in this thread, so if you are using that, there's no need for you to update the switch side of things.
I also released sys-hidplus Client! I made it to replace inputs_pc.py to make everything easier. Make sure you have .NET 5.0 installed if you want to use it though. (Tutorial on the main thread will be updated soon)
The design is a bit eh, but I'll soon remake it on WPF to have a good design.
This client also:
-Doesn't require for you to restart after connecting or disconnecting a controller, it's all automatic now
-Includes "Anarchy Mode", where all players use the same controller.
Enjoy!
A release that took more than it should have! v1.1! · PaskaPinishkes/sys-hidplus (github.com)
Release 0.1.0 (Beta) · PaskaPinishkes/SwitchSysHidplusClient (github.com)

 

[Deleted User]

Is it just me that many times when waking from sleep, my internet doesn't work and thus my PC controller on Switch won't work? I have 5G 400 download internet.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

It's here!
It includes 12.0+ support and 4 player support, just like the build shared previously in this thread, so if you are using that, there's no need for you to update the switch side of things.
I also released sys-hidplus Client! I made it to replace inputs_pc.py to make everything easier. Make sure you have .NET 5.0 installed if you want to use it though. (Tutorial on the main thread will be updated soon)
The design is a bit eh, but I'll soon remake it on WPF to have a good design.
This client also:
-Doesn't require for you to restart after connecting or disconnecting a controller, it's all automatic now
-Includes "Anarchy Mode", where all players use the same controller.
Enjoy!
A release that took more than it should have! v1.1! · PaskaPinishkes/sys-hidplus (github.com)
Release 0.1.0 (Beta) · PaskaPinishkes/SwitchSysHidplusClient (github.com)

View attachment 271613

Thank you for this it does make it easier. One small request would be autoconnect but other than that perfect.

Edit: Well that and support for the home button to make it absolutely perfect. Still doesn't seem to work for me.

 

[kenesu_h]

Is it just me that many times when waking from sleep, my internet doesn't work and thus my PC controller on Switch won't work? I have 5G 400 download internet.

I can't give too much insight for this...

Well that and support for the home button to make it absolutely perfect. Still doesn't seem to work for me.

...but I've been working on my own client for this (like @nachuz mentioned earlier) and also taken a look at their code, so I can try to address this point. The problem with this is that libnx - a library of code that sys-hidplus relies on to provide its functionality - doesn't seem to give any way to "emulate" the home button. While we'd love to implement home button support, it doesn't seem like we can do much until the libnx developers add a way to do so.

@NoSomeBody feel free to stop reading after this point, I figured I'd also use this post to update @nachuz and @RednaxelaNnamtra (since I recall we discussed this in another thread) about what's been going on with my client.

While I haven't made an official release of my Rust client, I've been hard at work testing it out - I've managed to smoothly do 1v1s in Smash over Parsec - and trying to implement support for 8 controllers.

I mentioned to @RednaxelaNnamtra that XInput limits the amount of controllers connected to just 4. GilRs, the gamepad input library I primarily use for my client, reads from XInput and pretty much corroborates with this; I had 5 Xbox controllers plugged in and I was only able to receive input from 4 of them at a time. I also mentioned that using a different gamepad API was a way to get around this controller limit, with RawInput being one of them. There was only one Rust library that supported RawInput though, and I found that it liked to drop inputs and barely supported XInput controllers. C# might have more resources available in terms of RawInput support, but overall, I found working with it to be frustrating at best.

I eventually resorted to using SDL, which is a cross-platform library that's used for multimedia applications (including games), and happens to also be used for receiving controller inputs. I used a Rust binding (rust-sdl2) that gave controller support for both XInput and non-XInput controllers, which yielded some game-changing results:

• Performance was much better than the RawInput library and felt as if I were using GilRs (edit: no dropped inputs as far as I could see).
• PS4 controllers seemed to be supported natively instead of needing DS4Windows.
  • Parsec's virtual PS4 controllers fall into this, which is HUGE.
• Most of all, I could have more than 4 controllers.
  • My client still has a hard limit of 4 controllers - and will stay that way until the sysmodule itself supports 8 - but I could see that I could receive input from a 5th Xbox controller. In the end, I had 5 Xbox controllers, 1 PS4 controller, and 1 GameCube controller (albeit mapped into an Xbox controller using Delfinovin) all plugged in at the same time, and I'm pretty sure I was actively receiving input events from all of them.

I've still yet to test the stability of 4 simultaneous controllers, and it will be impossible for me to test more than that until 8-controller support comes along. I'm also not sure how extensive and cross-platform-friendly C#'s SDL bindings are, but if anything, I think implementing SDL into our clients is a critical step to achieving 5-8 emulated controllers.

I do want to test out my client more and reorganize/clean up large parts of my code before I end up officially releasing it (which could be a while lol), but I hope this update at least gives you guys a good idea of what I've been trying to do behind the scenes. Also @nachuz, if you're open to working with SDL too, I'd love to hear how that goes.

 

[nachuz]

I can't give too much insight for this...


...but I've been working on my own client for this (like @nachuz mentioned earlier) and also taken a look at their code, so I can try to address this point. The problem with this is that libnx - a library of code that sys-hidplus relies on to provide its functionality - doesn't seem to give any way to "emulate" the home button. While we'd love to implement home button support, it doesn't seem like we can do much until the libnx developers add a way to do so.

@NoSomeBody feel free to stop reading after this point, I figured I'd also use this post to update @nachuz and @RednaxelaNnamtra (since I recall we discussed this in another thread) about what's been going on with my client.

While I haven't made an official release of my Rust client, I've been hard at work testing it out - I've managed to smoothly do 1v1s in Smash over Parsec - and trying to implement support for 8 controllers.

I mentioned to @RednaxelaNnamtra that XInput limits the amount of controllers connected to just 4. GilRs, the gamepad input library I primarily use for my client, reads from XInput and pretty much corroborates with this; I had 5 Xbox controllers plugged in and I was only able to receive input from 4 of them at a time. I also mentioned that using a different gamepad API was a way to get around this controller limit, with RawInput being one of them. There was only one Rust library that supported RawInput though, and I found that it liked to drop inputs and barely supported XInput controllers. C# might have more resources available in terms of RawInput support, but overall, I found working with it to be frustrating at best.

I eventually resorted to using SDL, which is a cross-platform library that's used for multimedia applications (including games), and happens to also be used for receiving controller inputs. I used a Rust binding (rust-sdl2) that gave controller support for both XInput and non-XInput controllers, which yielded some game-changing results:

• Performance was much better than the RawInput library and felt as if I were using GilRs (edit: no dropped inputs as far as I could see).
• PS4 controllers seemed to be supported natively instead of needing DS4Windows.
  • Parsec's virtual PS4 controllers fall into this, which is HUGE.
• Most of all, I could have more than 4 controllers.
  • My client still has a hard limit of 4 controllers - and will stay that way until the sysmodule itself supports 8 - but I could see that I could receive input from a 5th Xbox controller. In the end, I had 5 Xbox controllers, 1 PS4 controller, and 1 GameCube controller (albeit mapped into an Xbox controller using Delfinovin) all plugged in at the same time, and I'm pretty sure I was actively receiving input events from all of them.

I've still yet to test the stability of 4 simultaneous controllers, and it will be impossible for me to test more than that until 8-controller support comes along. I'm also not sure how extensive and cross-platform-friendly C#'s SDL bindings are, but if anything, I think implementing SDL into our clients is a critical step to achieving 5-8 emulated controllers.

I do want to test out my client more and reorganize/clean up large parts of my code before I end up officially releasing it (which could be a while lol), but I hope this update at least gives you guys a good idea of what I've been trying to do behind the scenes. Also @nachuz, if you're open to working with SDL too, I'd love to hear how that goes.

Sure, I'll give it a try
The client I just released uses SharpDX which, although it does the work, development of it has been abandoned years ago, so using another library might be a good idea

 

[Deleted User]

kenesu_h I wonder why Mayflash Magic NS lets you hit the home button with almost any controller out there because it's compatible with almost any controller out there. Is there a way to look at their code? Maybe not.

 

[kenesu_h]

I wonder why Mayflash Magic NS lets you hit the home button with almost any controller out there because it's compatible with almost any controller out there. Is there a way to look at their code? Maybe not.

As a person who's taken a look at similar projects (but haven't worked on them), adapters like the Magic NS work on a hardware level, which means that their circuit boards have been specifically programmed to send inputs to the Switch through USB. libnx though is running at a software level, which I think in a homebrew/sysmodule/whatever context means it's running on top of the Switch's firmware; because of this, it's not directly connected via USB and might not be able to "fake" controller inputs in the same way.

There's no way to look at the MagicNS's code since it's not open source, but there's other projects I've seen - mostly Arduino-related - that successfully "fake" a Switch controller connection, not much unlike how libnx tries to do things. If you're interested in the project names (I can't link since I'm still new on GBATemp), VinDuv/switch-arduino-controller and wchill/SwitchInputEmulator on GitHub are worth looking at.

If you're not a code person though, essentially I've noticed that they both have home button support, but the way that they use to achieve it is a bit different from how libnx does buttons. Basically, the Switch seems to use binary numbers to communicate with a controller. In these two GitHub projects, the decimal number 1 is mapped to Y, and 4096 is mapped to the home button. It's not the same on libnx though; 1 is mapped to A and 4096 to d-pad left instead. In fact, the home button doesn't seem to be mapped to anything. Again, this is probably because libnx is running on a software level, so it might not have access to the same information as a circuit board connected via USB, and if it does, the information might mapped differently. I haven't looked at how it actually does things though (tbh I'm kinda scared to lol), but that's my guess. I'll keep digging for more info on this but I can't promise anything.

 

[Kemosahbee]

It's here!
It includes 12.0+ support and 4 player support, just like the build shared previously in this thread, so if you are using that, there's no need for you to update the switch side of things.
I also released sys-hidplus Client! I made it to replace inputs_pc.py to make everything easier. Make sure you have .NET 5.0 installed if you want to use it though. (Tutorial on the main thread will be updated soon)
The design is a bit eh, but I'll soon remake it on WPF to have a good design.
This client also:
-Doesn't require for you to restart after connecting or disconnecting a controller, it's all automatic now
-Includes "Anarchy Mode", where all players use the same controller.
Enjoy!
A release that took more than it should have! v1.1! · PaskaPinishkes/sys-hidplus (github.com)
Release 0.1.0 (Beta) · PaskaPinishkes/SwitchSysHidplusClient (github.com)

View attachment 271613

Hi, this is an awesome sysmodule! I know that the 1.1 guide hasn't been edited yet but it seems pretty straightfoward with the new pc client replacing the python file. I know this is still very beta but I'm having issues with the part of whoever I have on the other side of Parsec connecting their controller. I can connect my controllers connected to my PC to the switch using the client and sysmodule, but it is very hit or miss with Parsec. Am I missing something or is it still something that needs to be fixed in a future update?

Edit: So I just found that the controllers will connect automatically once you start a Parsec session but if you go to Change Grip/Order it will cause you to be completely unable to reconnect and need to restart Parsec. Seems to be the same behavior of the previous version.

 

[kenesu_h]

Edit: So I just found that the controllers will connect automatically once you start a Parsec session but if you go to Change Grip/Order it will cause you to be completely unable to reconnect and need to restart Parsec. Seems to be the same behavior of the previous version.

I knew that Change Grip/Order prevented you from reconnecting controllers (I'd also like to mention that the Disconnect button in Smash does the same thing), but I didn't know restarting Parsec worked - I usually had to restart my whole Switch to get everything to work again. Thanks for the edit. To answer your question though, this seems like an issue that'll have to be fixed in a later update, but it's not clear (at least to me) what exactly's causing this yet. I can only guess based off the work I've done that it's Switch-side (the sysmodule itself) rather than client-side.

 

[kenesu_h]

This took a lot more time than I initially thought, but I finally made a release of my client. However, it's a beta and is intended to be a little bit more experimental in terms of features, so expect bugs here and there. There's only a Windows release for now. I also don't have a Mac to build releases for it, so contact me directly if you use one and are willing to help out with that. There's currently no Linux release either, but I'll edit this post when I feel like getting a VM going and manage to build it on there.

For a few differences from Nachuz's client, mine is a command-line application and will attempt to fully disconnect gamepads from the Switch, either when their respective controllers are disconnected or exiting the client. You also press right bumper to assign controllers to the first available slot. There's a couple more minor differences as well, but they aren't really worth mentioning. You'll unfortunately be missing out on a GUI and anarchy mode though.

Either way, here's the link to the release:
https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.0.0-beta.0

 

[Deleted User]

This took a lot more time than I initially thought, but I finally made a release of my client. However, it's a beta and is intended to be a little bit more experimental in terms of features, so expect bugs here and there. There's only a Windows release for now. I also don't have a Mac to build releases for it, so contact me directly if you use one and are willing to help out with that. There's currently no Linux release either, but I'll edit this post when I feel like getting a VM going and manage to build it on there.

For a few differences from Nachuz's client, mine is a command-line application and will attempt to fully disconnect gamepads from the Switch, either when their respective controllers are disconnected or exiting the client. You also press right bumper to assign controllers to the first available slot. There's a couple more minor differences as well, but they aren't really worth mentioning. You'll unfortunately be missing out on a GUI and anarchy mode though.

Either way, here's the link to the release:
https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.0.0-beta.0

Sorry if dumb question but even after reading your post I don't quite understand why this is an necessary alternative to sys-hidplus? Is assigning the controllers with the right bumper the main difference or is there something else?

 

[nachuz]

Hi, this is an awesome sysmodule! I know that the 1.1 guide hasn't been edited yet but it seems pretty straightfoward with the new pc client replacing the python file. I know this is still very beta but I'm having issues with the part of whoever I have on the other side of Parsec connecting their controller. I can connect my controllers connected to my PC to the switch using the client and sysmodule, but it is very hit or miss with Parsec. Am I missing something or is it still something that needs to be fixed in a future update?

Edit: So I just found that the controllers will connect automatically once you start a Parsec session but if you go to Change Grip/Order it will cause you to be completely unable to reconnect and need to restart Parsec. Seems to be the same behavior of the previous version.

Thanks for reporting it!
On the next version, I'll make sure to add a button to reconnect all controllers in case they get disconnect by the Switch

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

This took a lot more time than I initially thought, but I finally made a release of my client. However, it's a beta and is intended to be a little bit more experimental in terms of features, so expect bugs here and there. There's only a Windows release for now. I also don't have a Mac to build releases for it, so contact me directly if you use one and are willing to help out with that. There's currently no Linux release either, but I'll edit this post when I feel like getting a VM going and manage to build it on there.

For a few differences from Nachuz's client, mine is a command-line application and will attempt to fully disconnect gamepads from the Switch, either when their respective controllers are disconnected or exiting the client. You also press right bumper to assign controllers to the first available slot. There's a couple more minor differences as well, but they aren't really worth mentioning. You'll unfortunately be missing out on a GUI and anarchy mode though.

Either way, here's the link to the release:
https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.0.0-beta.0

That's pretty cool, congrats!
Once I update the tutorial, I'll make sure to add a tutorial to use this client as well

 

[kenesu_h]

Sorry if dumb question but even after reading your post I don't quite understand why this is an necessary alternative to sys-hidplus? Is assigning the controllers with the right bumper the main difference or is there something else?

Nah don't worry, I don't think it's a dumb question. I typed the post in a hurry so I seriously skimped out on a ton of details.

It's not quite a necessary alternative to sys-hidplus itself or Nachuz's existing client, but rather another option for people who aren't on Windows (Nachuz suspected their client might only be compatible with it) and kind of a testbed for implementing experimental features. There's a number of differences, but I'll try to be short about them. One of the main differences is that their client currently uses XInput, which I mentioned in one of my long posts (sorry lol) only supports up to 4 controllers, and usually only Xbox controllers. This means PS4 controllers and such are not natively supported. I managed to get around this by using SDL in my client, which seems to support more than 4 controllers - though we can't actually use more than 4 until sys-hidplus is updated to do so - and natively supports PS4 controllers and I think Switch Pro controllers. To be honest though, it required a frustrating amount of experimentation with different input libraries...

Another difference I totally forgot to note is that you can give the individual controller slots varying amounts of artificial input delay. One of the things I felt bad about while testing was that I as the host didn't have the same input delay as my clients, so I implemented a feature where you could say, give the first controller slot 3 frames of lag or something, and the second slot 60 frames (lol).

The rest of the differences are honestly kinda minor in comparison though. The right bumper thing was intended to give users more control over which controller went into which slot. There are a couple of other differences meant to help cleanly disconnect all the controllers in the event that the client abruptly ended, or was closed in the middle of a connection - btw I actually tested this just now @nachuz and it seems that closing the GUI during a connection doesn't seem to entirely disconnect them (edit: from the Switch). Either way though it's mostly just QOL stuff.

I've gone on long enough, sorry, but I hope all that answered your question. tl;dr, my client mostly just plays around with ideas and is meant to cover all operating systems as opposed to just Windows.

 

[Kemosahbee]

Thanks for reporting it!
On the next version, I'll make sure to add a button to reconnect all controllers in case they get disconnect by the Switch

Great news! I cannot express how much I wanted this exact thing to come to the Switch homebrew community. Thank you!

 

[kenesu_h]

So I made a fork of the sysmodule with experimental 8 player support. I don't have enough controllers and USB ports to see if I could fill all 8 slots, but I managed to connect 6 controllers so that's... something? It didn't feel like there was lag, though granted I only really tested one controller at a time. In any case, I'd appreciate it if anyone was willing to test it since I'm worried about its stability - preferably with 4+ people, but I'm also curious about how well in runs in general.

You can find the release for the fork at https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus/releases/tag/1.2-alpha.0.

You'll also need my client since Nachuz's client doesn't support 8 controllers yet. You can find the release for it at at https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.1.0-alpha.0, but if they release an update for the aforementioned support, feel free to use that instead.

If you're willing to try it out, be wary of input lag, and please report any issues you find.

 

[kenesu_h]

I just released a quick hotfix for my client, which you can find at https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.1.0-alpha.1.

Copy and pasted from the release page:

This release is a hotfix to 1.1.0-alpha.0 that addresses a panic (crash).

• rust-sdl2 panics when an unmapped button is pressed. The touchpad for PS4 controllers is one of these unmapped buttons.
  • The client should no longer crash from this panic.
  • For more technical details, the panic is caught and ignored when reading from the input adapter.

There is no need for you to delete your config.toml for this release.

Special thanks goes to @Kemosahbee for testing the latest releases and bringing this panic to my attention. He's also confirmed that 8 controllers can be connected!

 

[kenesu_h]

Another release for my client; this might be the last major one for a while. You can find it at https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.1.0-alpha.2.

I won't copy and paste the change log from the release page since there's an insane amount, but to summarize, you're now able to manually specify deadzones for controllers' analog sticks, and controller mapping bugs have been fixed. The analog stick buttons should be mapped now and controllers' face buttons should now be correctly mapped according to position.

Again, thanks to @Kemosahbee for frequently communicating with me about testing and bringing these bugs to my attention.

 

[kenesu_h]

Here's a minor update that adds home button support to my client: https://github.com/kenesu-h/sys-hidplus-client-rs/releases/tag/1.1.0-alpha.3.

The new home button support should work as long as the controllers aren't set to JoyConLSide.

 

[Chrisssj2]

Thanks for reporting it!
On the next version, I'll make sure to add a button to reconnect all controllers in case they get disconnect by the Switch

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


That's pretty cool, congrats!
Once I update the tutorial, I'll make sure to add a tutorial to use this client as well

I look forward to the GUI version!