Setting up emulation of a PS2 controller

Supplies

• A controller built using one of the other guides

• A microcontroller

  • The Pi Pico 1, Pi Pico 2, or microcontrollers based on them, are currently the only supported microcontrollers. Previous versions of santroller did support other microcontrollers, and information about that can be found below.

    Legacy microcontrollers

    • The following microcontrollers are only supported by v10.1.188. They are no longer supported by recent versions of Santroller, and bug fixes and features from newer versions of Santroller will not be ported to them.
      • Sparkfun Pro Micro (5v)
        • The 5V Pro Micro will work fine for direct wiring, but being that it runs at 5V, it will require voltage conversion to build Wii adapters and PS2 adapters and turntables.
      • Sparkfun Pro Micro (3.3v)
        • If you want to build an adapter for a Wii or PS2 guitar, this will be easier to use than any of the 5V microcontrollers. Due to the lower voltage, these do run at half the speed of the 5v variants, a. Clones of the Pro Micro are quite cheap but will need to be purchased from eBay or AliExpress, real Pro Micros are expensive, but there isn't much of a difference. 3.3V arduinos will poll a Wii guitar slightly slower than a 5V Arduino but in practice this doesn't end up being important as there are a lot of other delays involved when communicating with a Wii guitar.
      • Arduino Micro
        • This is essentially the same thing as a Pro Micro 5V, except that it is officially made by Arduino. This causes it to be more expensive compared to a Raspberry Pi Pico.
      • Arduino Leonardo
        • The Arduino Leonardo is essentially a 5V Pro Micro, except it has the layout of an Arduino Uno. You can find clones of these, but they are still more expensive then a Pro Micro or a Raspberry Pi Pico.
      • Arduino Uno (r1/r2/r3)
        • The Arduino R1, R2, and R3 controllers are actually two microcontrollers in one, and they work in tandem to provide a working controller. This has its disadvantages, as code needs to keep these controllers in sync, and this can result in issues if a bad configuration is programmed, and generally results in requiring more complicated and optimised code to work. Unos do still get 1000hz, but if you are buying a new microcontroller, we recommend against purchasing them. Note that some clone Arduino Unos are actually missing the second microcontroller, and these ones will NOT work at all. If you see an Arduino Uno listing that mentions "ch340g" or something similar, do not purchase it. Due to this, they are harder to purchase and since they require more parts, they are more expensive than a Pro Micro or Pi Pico.
      • Arduino Mega 2560
        • These are in the same situation as the Uno, however the main microcontroller has a lot more pins. They also end up being more expensive due to the amount of parts that are needed to make one.
    • Incompatible microcontrollers
      • Arduino Uno R4
        • This is the latest entry to the Arduino Uno line of products. The Arduino Uno R4 is unsupported due to using a different microcontroller.
      • Arduino Mini or Nano or Pro Mini or Pro Nano
        • These do NOT work, as they are essentially Unos that lack the second micro controller that allow for custom USB device emulation.
      • ESP32
        • Currently this is not supported due to the base ESP32 not fully supporting USB. There are some ESP32 models that have USB support, but these end up being more expensive than the Pi Pico, and thus it does not make sense to support these.

• A Schottky diode (a 20A diode should be plenty for this application, just needs to handle a >10V maximum reverse voltage)

  • While this isn't strictly necessary, it will protect you from plugging in both the PS2 and USB at the same time, and frying your PS2.

• A PS2 controller plug

• Some Wire

• A Soldering Iron

Steps

1. Connect pins according to the below table.

   For beginners we provide a recommended pinout below for each microcontroller. If these pins don't work for you, you can use one of the advanced pinouts below. Note that the Pi Pico has multiple channels, and SCK, MOSI and MISO need to be from the same channel.

   

   Microcontroller	SCK / Clock / Blue	MOSI / Command / Orange	MISO / Data / Brown	Acknowledge / Green	Attention / Yellow
   Pi Pico (Recommended)	GP6	GP4	GP3	GP7	GP10
   Pro Micro, Leonardo, Micro (Recommended)	15	16	14	7	10
   Uno (Recommended)	13	11	12	2	10
   Mega (Recommended)	52	51	50	2	10
   Pi Pico (Advanced)	Any	Any	Any	Any	Any
   Pro Micro, Leonardo, Micro (Advanced)	15	16	14	Any	Any
   Uno (Advanced)	13	11	12	Any	Any
   Mega (Advanced)	52	51	50	Any	Any

2. Connect the V_CC on the microcontroller to the V_CC on the plug, through the diode

   • On the Pi Pico, use V_SYS
   • On the 3.3V Pro Micro, use V_CC

3. Connect the gnd pin to the gnd on your microcontroller.

Programming

1. Start Santroller with your microcontroller plugged in.
2. Hit Configure
3. Click on Add Setting
4. Find PS2 Controller Emulation in the dropdown and add it
5. For the Pi Pico, set your SCK, MOSI, and MISO pins
6. Set your Acknowledge and Attention pins