XBMC Xbox Controller

Control XBMC using an original Xbox controller

Installation

First, install Node.js. Then run:

[sudo] npm install -g xbmc-xbox-controller

Linux

Everything should work out of the box, no extra work is needed

Mac OS X

You need to install the Xbox HID controller driver

If you are running Mountain Lion, Mavericks, or higher, you will need to install the latest version of this driver found in this blog post by using this direct link http://xhd.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/xhd/xhd/Release/xhd_2_0_0.dmg?revision=1.3.

How To

After you have installed Node.js, this program using npm, and the necessary HID driver, you can fire up the program and everything should work automatically.

$ xbmc-xbox-controller
one controller found
opening device: USB_045e_0285_fd121000
connected to XBMC, ctrl-c to quit
^C

All events generated by the controller will be forwarded to XBMC over 127.0.0.1:9777, the EventServer API and will conform to gamepad.xml found in keymaps/ of XBMC.

If you have more than one controller, or xbmc-xbox-controller didn't automatically detect your controller you can get a list of all HID devices found on your machine with

$ xbmc-xbox-controller -l
USB_05ac_0252_fa120000: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
USB_05ac_8242_fd110000: Apple IR
USB_045e_0285_fd121000: Xbox Controller
USB_05ac_0252_fa120000: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
USB_05ac_0252_fa120000: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
USB_05ac_0252_fa120000: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

And then call this program with the correct device path

$ xbmc-xbox-controller USB_045e_0285_fd121000
opening device: USB_045e_0285_fd121000
connected to XBMC, ctrl-c to quit
^C

Add 1 or more -v arguments to get very verbose logging (by default no events are logged)

$ xbmc-xbox-controller -vv
one controller found
opening device: USB_045e_0285_fd121000
connected to XBMC, ctrl-c to quit
{"button":"dpadup","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"dpaddown","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"dpadleft","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"dpadright","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"start","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"back","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"leftthumbbutton","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"rightthumbbutton","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"A","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"B","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"X","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"Y","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"black","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"white","map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"leftanalogtrigger","amount":0,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":0,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"leftthumbstickleft","amount":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"leftthumbstickright","amount":0,"down":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG"}
{"button":"leftthumbstickup","amount":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"leftthumbstickdown","amount":0,"down":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG"}
{"button":"rightthumbstickleft","amount":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"rightthumbstickright","amount":0,"down":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG"}
{"button":"rightthumbstickup","amount":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG","down":false}
{"button":"rightthumbstickdown","amount":0,"down":0,"axis":1,"map":"XG"}
24 updates sent in the last second
{"button":"dpadright","map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"dpadright","map":"XG","down":false}
2 updates sent in the last second
{"button":"X","map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"X","map":"XG","down":false}
2 updates sent in the last second
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":6144,"map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":8448,"map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":9216,"map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":11776,"map":"XG","down":true}
{"button":"rightanalogtrigger","amount":12032,"map":"XG","down":true}
^C

Usage

usage: xbmc-xbox-controller [HID path]

control XBMC using an original Xbox controller

  -d, --deadzone <percent>      [env XBOX_XBMC_DEADZONE] deadzone for analog sticks, defaults to 25
  -h, --help                    print this message and exit
  -H, --host <host>             [env XBOX_XBMC_HOST] host on which to listen, defaults to localhost
  -l, --list                    list all HID devices found and exit
  -p, --port <port>             [env XBOX_XBMC_PORT] port on which to listen, defaults to 9777
  -v, --verbose                 increase verbosity
  -V, --version                 print the version number and exit

License

MIT License