Using a PC *as* a Nintendo Switch controller.

[nphuracm]

I want to emulate a PC and use its attached keyboard to play on my Nintendo Switch.
I have seen possible solutions before, but many of them do not suit my goal, mainly because of the following reasons:
- Some of them require dedicated hardware;
- Some of them are too hacky or known to not work with me. (eg. Joy-Con Droid + Scrcpy)
- Some of them require custom firmware.
One possible expectation of the implementation is a piece of software, that allows users to assign keyboard and mouse input as Pro Controller keys, preferably with the functionality to switch between multiple preconfigured keymaps, and then use the system's own Bluetooth capabilities to emulate the system as a Pro Controller so that the emulated keystrokes could be sent to the Switch console for use with games. The whole process should only involve the PC and the Switch.
Is there a good implementation for this? I would be appreciated for any suggestions given.
The PC I am going to use is on Debian GNU/Linux 11 i386 / Windows 10 32-bit x86.

 

[gaberilde]

unlikly to be possible with just a pc but you never know maybe theres something out there
i know someone that does it by using a custom board that connects to the switch
if there is some way with just a pc it might be tricky to setup you will probally need like you said some kind of bluetooth mod and have the switch acccept and pair the controller that way

 

[binkinator]

Your requirements exclude large swaths of options to the point of there being nothing left…

No custom hardware (eliminates arduino solutions)
No CFW (eliminates homebrew)
Not hacky (eliminates just about everything else)
32 bit PC (eliminates almost all hope in 2023)

To come up with something that allows you to do something the manufacturer never intended you’re going to have to relax some of the limitations you’ve put on yourself.

 

[r1vver]

I bet it will be epic input lag

 

[krakenx]

Save up a couple of bucks and buy a dongle that converts keyboard and mouse into controller inputs.

For example: hxxps://www.amazon.com/Keyboard-Mouse-Adapter-Nintendo-Switch/dp/B082XYX8RW

 

[nphuracm]

No custom hardware (eliminates arduino solutions)

Is it possible to use a Raspberry Pi as a substitute for the custom hardware part, then? Because I do have one on hand.

 

[binkinator]

Is it possible to use a Raspberry Pi as a substitute for the custom hardware part, then? Because I do have one on hand.

This might do what you need:

https://github.com/Brikwerk/nxbt

I’m curious about the use case you are trying to solve.

 

[nphuracm]

This might do what you need:

URL blocked by GBAtemp systems due to user role

I’m curious about the use case you are trying to solve.

Okay, so I checked this repo's README, and it seems like that it can be gotten working with any Linux systems with ease, so I tried on this laptop first.
However, my Switch failed to detect my laptop. I ran the demo after navigating my Switch to the Change Grip/Order screen, but nothing interesting happened. Part of this might be the Bluetooth version (my laptop is 2.0), but considering Joy-Con Droid failing on other devices with newer Bluetooth revs as well [Raspberry Pi (5.x), multiple phones with BT 4.2 and 5.0], and notably considering the method has been failing for long, it could be a restriction that Nintendo has put through on newer Switch firmware. My Switch's software version is 15.0.1.
If that is the case, I'll have to ask about more advanced way like connecting the emulated Pro Controller to the Switch via USB, using a special Linux kernel. The reason of me coming up of this path is by searching about emulating an Android phone as a USB keyboard and people has been talking about kernel modifications.
EDIT: I found a spare computer, an Intel Compute Stick with Bluetooth 4.0 on it, and it run flawlessly with reasonable input delay.

Use case: Better multiplayer I guess, or maybe Tetris 99.

 

[binkinator]

Okay, so I checked this repo's README, and it seems like that it can be gotten working with any Linux systems with ease, so I tried on this laptop first.
However, my Switch failed to detect my laptop. I ran the demo after navigating my Switch to the Change Grip/Order screen, but nothing interesting happened. Part of this might be the Bluetooth version (my laptop is 2.0), but considering Joy-Con Droid failing on other devices with newer Bluetooth revs as well [Raspberry Pi (5.x), multiple phones with BT 4.2 and 5.0], and notably considering the method has been failing for long, it could be a restriction that Nintendo has put through on newer Switch firmware. My Switch's software version is 15.0.1.
If that is the case, I'll have to ask about more advanced way like connecting the emulated Pro Controller to the Switch via USB, using a special Linux kernel. The reason of me coming up of this path is by searching about emulating an Android phone as a USB keyboard and people has been talking about kernel modifications.

Use case: Better multiplayer I guess, or maybe Tetris 99.

I’ll try it on my rPi later today and see if I can get the BT working.

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2023

I’ll try it on my rPi later today and see if I can get the BT working.

I got sudo nxbt webapp working flawlessly on my rPi 4 running Ubuntu 22.10.

These were helpful:
https://github.com/Brikwerk/nxbt/issues/58
https://github.com/Brikwerk/nxbt/issues/94
https://github.com/Brikwerk/nxbt/issues/98

Post automatically merged: Jan 14, 2023

I bet it will be epic input lag

And yes…it’s laggy af. You won’t want to playing any FPSs like this, that’s for sure.

 

[AlanLC]

 

[thesjaakspoiler]

And I want a pony!