/NintendoSwitchController

🤖 An ATmega32U4 Leonardo Board w/ a Serial Converter to control a Nintendo Switch over USB. (Working as of 9/5/2019)

Primary LanguageCGNU General Public License v3.0GPL-3.0

Switch-Controller

An ATmega32U4 Leonardo Board w/ a Serial Converter to control a Nintendo Switch over USB.

Where and what did I use?

Shinyquasire23's Proof of Concept - SwitchFightstick Pimanrules's Youtube Plays Series LUFA Library Teensy USB UART Example

What do you need?

I accomplished this using a few Amazon purchases minus the fact I had previously purchased other things to attempt the same thing.

  1. A UART Serial to USB Converter
    1. Make sure to check the comments, I have seen some people get non-soldered pins on some.
  2. A ATMega32U4 Leonardo Micro Board
    1. You will have to solder the pins on this board if you need them.
  3. Any Micro USB Cable that has Power, Ground and Data Lines.

Requisites

Since this project is based off of the Switch-Fightstick example, most of this process is the same all around the boards using the LUFA Library.

Windows Users! You will need the latest AVR toolchain from the Atmel site.

Linux Users! (or Windows Users using the Linux Subsystem) You will need to run this command if you are running Ubuntu 8+ or your respective package manager's command!

sudo apt-get install gcc-avr binutils-avr avr-libc

Mac Users! You will need to find the AVR CrossPack or try to install avr-gcc with brew or try adding the osx-cross/avr repository.

Just type:

brew tap osx-cross/avr
brew install avr-gcc

How 2 Build 4 The Arduino Micro.

If you are using a Teensy 2.0 ++ board, you will need the Teensy Loader Application.

If you are using a Arduino UNO R3 Board, you will need to set your Arduino in DFU mode and flash its USB Controller with a dfu-programmer. See the switch-fightstick information.

If you are using a Arduino Leonardo Board with a ATMega32U4 or related chip, follow along.

  • Go ahead and clone this git library.

  • (Already Included in This Repo) Grab the UART Example Library (Version 1.1) from here. Place the two files uart.h and uart.c in the main directory of this project.

  • Grab the LUFA Library at the bottom of this page LUFA Library Download Location

We need the subfolder LUFA inside of this ZIP Package. Place this in the root directory of this project as our makefile requires it.

  • Depending on what board you are compiling this project for, you may need to change the makefile setting for MCU. See the below table for help.
Board Setting
Arduino UNO R3 MCU = atmega16u2
Teensy 2.0 ++ MCU = at90usb1286
Arduino Micro MCU = atmega32u4
Arduino Leonardo MCU = atmega32u4

  • Compile this using your terminal by issuing make in the same directory of your makefile.

    • When this finishes without any errors, you may continue.

  • Get the latest Arduino IDE from here. Try not to use the Windows App Store version as it has caused issues in the past.

    • Open the IDE and navigate to File -> Preferences and check Show verbose output during: upload and slap the OK button.
    • Proceed to upload any sketch (the default one works) and watch the verbose output.
    • Find the line with a avrdude command and copy the entire line with the options into a terminal.
      • It may look something like this: C:\"Program Files (x86)"\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/bin/avrdude -CC:\"Program Files (x86)"\Arduino\hardware\tools\avr/etc/avrdude.conf -v -patmega32u4 -cavr109 -PCOM4 -b57600 -D -Uflash:w:C:\User\Admin\Desktop\Switch-Controller\Joystick.hex:i
    • Replace the everything after the -Uflash:w: besides the :i at the end with the path to the location of the Joystick.hex created when we ran make.
    • Make sure that -P is the Communication Port your Arduino Micro is currently communicating on. (The micro may show up on a different port when in programming mode!)
    • Go ahead and prepare that command and quickly press Enter after pulling the RST or Reset Pin to ground twice on the Arduino Micro to enter a programming mode.
    • Eventually, avrdude should report a success and store the command in a safe location to avoid the previous mess.

  • After a successful flash, you can unplug the Micro Board and attach the UART Converter.

    • You will only need three jumpers.
      • Ground to Ground
      • TXD to RXD
      • RXD to TXD
    • Power will be handled by the Adapter and the Micro Board itself.

  • Go ahead and plug your spare micro usb cable into the micro, and plug the other end into your Nintendo Switch. Your switch should recognize it and add it as a USB controller.

  • The UART Serial Converter can now be plugged into any IoT Device with a USB Port. Use one of the examples in the examples folder to test your recreation!