Bliss-Box Bridge
The Bridge Connects a 4-play in single mode or Gamer-Pro and sends controller data to a console. The Bliss-Box Gamer-Pro and 4-Play are USB devices that are intended for a USB host. However in the same way the BlisSTer works, all Bliss-Box devices can speak a universal protocol over two wires. The communication can take place over the USB lines without disturbing USB hardware. When you connect the Bliss-Box Bridge to a Gamer-Pro or 4-Play, it begins sending controller data at a fast rate of 500us per request. That is twice as fast as the fastest USB poll-rate. The Bridge takes this data and then speaks to the console. The console now controls the polling rate (typically 16ms) and while the console waits for the next poll, the Bliss-Box gathers the payload.
So what does this mean? It means you can use any controller you want, on any console... It's like the cronusmax for retro controllers.
Please know that there are limitations, if for example a game wants to spam the real controller for data, and does not relax, the Bliss-Box will not have time to reply (its not a real controller, it's emulating it). This is never really needed on a console without good reason (i.e. light guns). Though we have seen this happen in some menus and in some the games like Game cube's 007. Up to this point, games tend to poll regularly, so no issues during game play. It this does occur, this will prevent the Bridge from working, thus peripherals (i.e light guns) can not be emulated. If a compatibility chart is needed, it will be hosted here. So far, in beta, this has not been a concern.
Getting Started
So you have a Bridge, a Gamer-Pro or other LLAPI device, and ton of dongles and controllers now what? Well, here is what, lets play! The first thing you need to ask yourself is are you an old school gamer or a new school gamer. There are two main ways to use the Bridge 1) Console mode or 2) USB mode. Obviously some older console use USB but we had to draw the line somewhere. The Bridge can not hold all USB information on its tiny chip but It can for non USB console. So first pick one. You can always re-flash if so desired.
Console mode
In this mode it's a detection process like the Gamer-Pro. Plug in the controller to a LLAPI device like the Gamer-Pro, then plug it in to the Bridge flashed with the console code. Now you can use it on a console. When you plug it in to a console it powers up, and does its logic. Power-on->Detect controller-> detect console-> emulate... Give it a few seconds to do this before you go pressing buttons ? three should do it. Note the special modes below in this documentation.
USB mode
As of now there are some pre set modes. The Ps3 mode is a HID device. It works on most all usb devices. Xinput is also a flashable mode, and there are special modes for many devices like; Play-Station-Classic, Switch, Xbox, and mode. With USB you need to pick the one you want.
Changing modes.
At this time you must use a command line tool. The firmware links will be listed below. As well as the tool. Plug in the Bridge via the provided dongle. Press the boot loader button once and let go, then erase and flash.
Example erase command c:dfu_programmer atmega32u4 erase
Example flash command c:dfu_programmer atmega32u4 flash myflash.bin
FLASHING via comand line.
At this time the flash files are kept here. Always use the latest version unless you want to experiment or are having issues. the DFU page for command line flashing is here If you have problems with the DFU let us know. We do not maintain it.
To flash, plug in the provided HDMI dongle. Plug the USB end in to a computer with the flash tool. finally press the white button on the side of the Bridge.
You only need to know two commands erase and flash. you must erase before you flash.
examples:
C:dfu-programmer atmega32u4 erase
C:dfu-programmer atmega32u4 flash bridge.hex
Using the GUI flasher tool from Bliss-Box.
Alternitivly there is a graphical interface to the DFU. Itis the same process using the same executable but it called via the GUI flash tool. This is found on our download page.
General Usage
The Bridges is powered up by the console unless otherwise specified. When first plugged in (if using a non USB console) it will detect the console. During this time you should not be using the controller. Otherwise, the Bliss-Box may mis-detect its controller. The best rule of thumb is to wait 3 seconds after you plug it in. If something does not work, unplug the Bride for the console and plug it back it waiting 3 seconds.
Supported Consoles: (Note this list will grow as consoles are added to the firmware)
|
USB based |
Non USB based -download- |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Planned |
Latest for the following found here
Planned |
The console code will be one firmware file and the USB will be one for each type. The Bridge includes an HDMI to USB. Like the Bliss-Box adapters, the universal connector will be HDMI and labels Bridge.
NOTE: The USB harness requires impedance balancing. It is not recommended to be handmade. This harness will be included with the Bridge perchance.
The D.I.Y cable info
Any breakout board should work and we will keep a list of option here.
The image reference will be of this type:
In all cases the power line is the highest voltage provided form the console. For example PlayStation has both +3 and +7 or GC has both +3 and +5. The yellow wires (if needed) will be the secondary power, almost always 3 volts.
User documentation.
The Bridge is intended to be used with any LLAPI compatible device. When used with Bliss-Box adapters you do have all the Bliss-Box adapter features such as turbo buttons, button swapping, alternative mapping, and more.
Mapping modes.
The Bliss-Boxadapters have built in alternative mappings modes that the Bridge can use. You can also change between them if desired. Refer to the adapter documentation for more information. The Bridge knows the console, and also the controller you are using. When you swap out a controller or first plug in the Bridge to a console it will look for the controller type. For example, if a diamond controller is detect and a 3/6 button console is in use, it will auto activate the alt mappings mode. If L and R are present, the north most button on the diamond controller becomes the middle top 3rd row. L is the first and R is the 3rd. The West, South, and east button are mapped to 456. This images shows the mapping arrangements
Console Specific Information
NES: The NES should treat all game pads as if it were a NES pad. For Arklanoid paddle mode, it looks for movement from one of the analogs. Note that the console requires that game pad to be in the player 2 port for paddles to work. No Gun, R.O.B, or Power pad support at this time.
SNES: The SNES will treat all game pads as if it were a SNES pad. For SNES Mouse games, the Bridge detects movement from one of the analogs. The Right most stick is for low sensitivity games. It also reacts to the absolute position. If you stop moving the analog stick the mouse will stop moving. The Left stick is for higher sensitive moments such as Arkanoid. If the stick is all the way left the game will think the mouse is still moving left as with right movement to prevent stalled movment. The L and R button suppress analog reading. So if you only want to read from the left stick and not have the right stick interfere, hold down the left trigger (like-wise; use the right to suppress the left analog). A is set to the mouse left button, and start is set to mouse the right button. If a controller is in digital mode, or has no analog sticks or dials, the game will not look for the analog data and assume its a SNES pad
N64: At this time the game assumes a N64 pad is being used. Future peripherals may be added. Any digital controller will output the D-Pad to full analog movement. If you are using a 4 button controller the button at west and north ( y,x) can be used to change the D-Pad operation. If west (y) is being pressed the D-Pad is mapped to the N64 D-Pad, if north (x) is being pressed it's mapped to c-buttons. When a 6 button controller is in use the layout is the same as a N64 (3 top buttons, 3 bottom buttons) and D-Pad is not used.
3D0: When connected via a d-pad only controller, the Bridge will emulate an a digital mode. When an analog controller is plugged in, it does the same but if the left stick is exercised it become an analog controller. If you need to kick back out of analog mode, use the Bliss-Box reset. If the controller has a digital analog mode, you can use that to toggle back and forth. Most all 3d0 games will ignore inputs if you attach an analog controller. So it is for this reason, that the default mode is digital. There is no mouse support as there is no clear advantage. Using any analog stick to output as a mouse will have the same effect as outputing as a Analog device. Mouse support could be added but didnl't seem relevent.
GC: At this time the game assumes a game cube pad is being used. Future peripherals may be added.Note some games like 007 may poll the controller so fast the the Bridge has a hard time keeping up. It is normal to see some glitching in menues where that occurs.
Saturn: When connected via a d-pad only controller, the Bridge will emulate an a digital mode. When an analog controller is plugged in, it does the same but if the left stick is exercised it become an analog controller. If you need to kick back out of analog mode, use the Bliss-Box reset. If the controller has a digital analog mode, you can use that to toggle back and forth. Many Saturn games will ignore inputs if you attach an analog controller. So it is for this reason, that the default mode is digital. For mouse operation There are 3 modes; forced, dials, and dedicated. Any controllers such as the pippin, wii uDraw tablet, or DJ HERO, are assumed a mouse and will only work for mouse games. Controllers that have a dial or slider control (such as a paddle) will assume to be a mouse, and any analog controller can use force mode. To enter force mode, press A.B.C and then dpad down. Once that 4 button combo is seen, you are in mouse mode. If you want to exit this mode, reset the Bliss-Box, unplug the controller, or toggle to digital controller mode. Emulating the mouse with a analog stick, although possible, is quite difficult and not recommended. Both modes (dial, and force), watch for max limits. When you hit the limit of motion (stick/paddle all the way left, or all the way right) it tells the game your still moving the mouse. Otherwise the controller would stop moving mid way in the game. The dedicated mode (listed above) does not have limits. Note about digital pads: most all controllers do not have 6 face buttons with an L and and R like the Saturn does. Most all Saturn games use A,B, ad C. The current mapping are a 4 face button controller maps Saturn A,B,X,Y respectively leaving out C and Z. So C and Z are accessed via L and R. in "most" Saturn games L and R are secondary buttons so to access them, use d-pad up and C for R and dpad up and Z for L Some controller have no select so it was not used. Here is a mapping example.
Sega Gen: At this time the game assumes a game Sega pad is being used. Future peripherals may be added.
Wii: Support for the wii mote and all Nintendo based mini consoles are supported. Nintendo did not intend for the consoles to use more then 3.3 volts or much greater poll then 20 mA. As such, the controller port can not always power the devices for the Bridge setup. Cables may need to be made with an external power source. The wii firmware supports all the analog features of the enhanced (hi-res) wii protocol. the older non enhanced mode is not supported at this time. A cable Key is required for this mode if you are making your own cables.
Atari/7800/arcade/SMS: The Bridges has support for 7800 and atari consoles. The cable does require a key and there is a force no paddle mode via jumpped wires. The force no paddle mode is for the atari flash back consoles that detects paddles. In this mode 7800 button will act is always on (turbo) and it recommended not to be used or unplayable in this mode on a 7800 console. With this mode you can also connect the bridge to a arcade cab with up to 12 buttons. This also includes Atari 2600 and Sega Master System. These are both just like an arcade, one button or direction per wire. The jumper (force no paddle mode ) is required for SMS as indicate above. When in SMS mode and using any analog stick you can operate the paddle. To do this, just press and hold any trigger button like L or R shoulder buttons. This tells the game to read the analog stick ( both right and left will work). If you attached a paddle, it will detect and work like the HPD-200.
PlayStation 1/2: The Play Station mode will detect if the console can support DS2 or DS1 and the console can set the analog digital mode. At this time all 4 pads are supported (DS1,DS2,Digital,Flight). Future release may support other peripherals. Chaning the inout modes or controller will act like pressing the analog button on the PS1/2 pad.
Jaguar: At this time the only support for Jaguar is the normal digital pad. Many attempts to emulate the rotary were made but because of CPU limitations, there is no support. Multi threading will be required to allow reading. Sadly interrupts do not match the required rise-time to emulate the multiplexer. There is no planned support at this time. Keypad and all buttons are fully supported. Analogs are converted to digital so you can use pads like the 5200. NOTE: Not all games use the same mechanism to gather data from the controller. As such, every game had to be tested. A game compatibility list maybe up shown here in the future.
TG16 / PCE: This is a digital pad only console. Both 2 and 6 button modes are supported. When you press the extra buttons, the Bridge tells the console you changed it. So if you play a game that does not support a 6 button mode, pressing a 3rd, 4 ,5 , 6th button will also not work. Though for any 6 button game this worksout fine. Both PCE and TG16 use the same code. There are adapters on the net for converting the connector types. They will work with the TG16 cables. Analog controllers are converted to digital. So you may use analog controllers.
Intellivision: This is a digital pad only console. It has a full keypad, 2 buttons on each side ( 3 actions two are shared ), and a 16 directional disc. The keypad is supported using any other keypad controller. The top buttons are the same physical button and both left and right buttons work ( so 3 total). The 'enter' maps to the lower right keypad or the start button. The 'clear' maps to the lower left keypad button or select. All 16 directions are supported via any analog controller. when using a D-Pad, only 8 are used.
Atari 5200: All keypad keys and side buttons are supported, as well as the analog stick. This mode forces UDLR mode as it would be useless with digital controller otherwise. This means d-Pad will work.
General Usage: The Bridge is first loaded with the firmware of choice. USB consoles have their own respective firmware and the non USB base consoles are all under one firmware. Once that is loaded simply plug a capable LLAPI device in to the USB female plug on the Bridge and then plug the Bridge into the console of choice. The white button on the Bridge is a toggle from operation to bootloader. One press puts you in boot loader operation. This will not work on a console and will cause the device to stop functioning. The bootloader mode is for firmware uploads via a PC. the only way to reset the Bridge when running in his mode, is to unplug it and plug it back in. The LLAPI device works as it is intended, independent of the Bridge but the Bridge does know if it is unplugged. They communicate over LLAPI. If you are having issues with the controller, consult the LLAPI device operation. The Bridge is a pass-thru so if you are having issues it may not be the cause of the problem. If the LLAPI is in question, first test it on its own USB mode.