RetroArch input and joypad drivers¶

RetroArch makes use of two input systems in order to support the full range of input devices available across RetroArch's supported platforms.

• Input Drivers provide access to keyboards, mice, and mouse-like devices such as lightguns, spinners, steering wheels, etc.
• Joypad Drivers provide access to gamepads and joysticks.

Absolute mouse devices in the tables below refers to input drivers which support mouse-like devices such as light guns, air mice, and Wiimotes that use 'absolute' coordinate systems. Certain input drivers only support mouse devices with 'relative' coordinate systems.

Linux¶

udev is the most full-featured Input Driver and Joypad Driver for Linux.

Linux Input Drivers

• linuxraw
• sdl2
• udev
• wayland

Linux Joypad Drivers

• hid
• linuxraw
• sdl2
• udev
• xinput

udev input driver¶

udev is the newest input driver and uses the evdev joypad interface at /dev/input. It supports hotplugging and force feedback (if supported by device). udev reads evdev events directly and supports keyboard callback, mice, and touchpads. libudev is used to discover devices and support hotplugging.

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
Yes	Yes

Required packages¶

TThe libudev and libxkbdcommon packages are required. udev does not require X, but udev does depend on X11 keyboard layout files being installed.

Setting up udev permissions¶

Most Linux distributions prevent users from capturing keyboard/mouse information by default. Only root and users in the group "input" are able to access raw input. This is a security feature in case the system is used by multiple users.

The easiest way to gain access to this input is to:

• Step 1: Add your user to the group "input" with the command: sudo usermod -a -G input `whoami`
• Step 2: Log out, and then log back in

If adding your user to the input group does not succeed, you may also set up a udev rule which makes this input accessible to non-root users:

• Step 1: Add to /etc/udev/rules.d/99-evdev.rules the following text: KERNEL=="event*", NAME="input/%k", MODE="666"
• Step 2: Reload the rules with sudo udevadm control --reload-rules.
• Step 3: Reboot

linuxraw input driver¶

The older linuxraw driver is available which uses the legacy joystick API at /dev/input/js*. The linuxraw driver requires an active TTY in order to read keyboard events.

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
No	Yes

wayland input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
-	-

sdl2 input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice*
No	No

hid joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

linuxraw joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

sdl2 joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

udev joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

xinput joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

---

Windows¶

Windows Input Drivers

• dinput
• raw
• sdl2

Windows Joypad Drivers

• dinput
• hid
• sdl2
• xinput

raw input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
Yes	Yes

dinput input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
No	No

sdl2 input driver¶

-To be written-

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
-	-

dinput joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
No

hid joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

sdl2 joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

xinput joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

---

Android¶

Android Input Drivers

• android
• linuxraw
• udev

Android Joypad Drivers

• android
• hid
• udev

android input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
-	-

linuxraw input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
No	Yes

udev input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
Yes	No

android joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

hid joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

udev joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

OS X¶

OS X Input Drivers

• cocoa

OS X Joypad Drivers

• hid

cocoa input driver¶

-To be written-

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
-	-

hid joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-

sdl2 joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
Yes

---

DOS¶

DOS input driver¶

Features¶

Multi-mouse	Absolute mice
-	-

DOS joypad driver¶

Features¶

Rumble
-