Pairing broken on macOS Ventura up to (including) macOS Sequoia

[Bryceshaw06]

Continuation of issue #456 (I don't think I can reopen an issue unless I closed it myself? Sorry, I'm not too familiar with GitHub.)

Thank you for looking into it! It looks like that fixed the problem of detecting the wrong MacOS version (The [PAIRING OSX] No need to add entry for OS X before 10.7. message no longer appears), but unfortunately I still can't get my controller to pair. I suspect that it may have to do with the mac address of the controller being written to the com.apple.bluetooth.plist file in /Library/Preferences/ , is it possible that file it needs to be written to changed in recent MacOS versions? I'm thinking that because none of my other bluetooth devices are in that file, in fact, there's not much data there at all. Just a guess though, you would have a much better idea of what's causing the problem than I would.

One thing that I think is worth noting is the controller works well with the example scripts when it's plugged in over usb, the issue is just pairing over bluetooth.

Here is a video of me trying to pair the controller to my Mac, in case you notice anything strange there.

Log from terminal:

bryce@Bryces-Air build % sudo ./psmove pair
Password:
Connected controllers: 1
[PSMOVE WARNING] Magnetometer in 04:76:6e:0f:0a:18 not yet calibrated.
PSMove #1 connected via USB.
[PAIRING OSX] Detected: macOS 13.1
[PAIRING OSX] Entry for 04-76-6e-0f-0a-18 already present.
Pairing of #1 succeeded!
Controller address: 04:76:6e:0f:0a:18
Calibration data available and saved.
bryce@Bryces-Air build % 

[thp]

Let's mark this as broken in Ventura for now.

[Bryceshaw06]

Hey Thomas, I just came across something that might be worth looking into related to this problem. I dug around a bit and noticed that all of my bluetooth devices had their information and mac addresses stored in different files like /Users/bryce/Library/com.apple.bluetooth.services.cloud/CachedRecords/DeviceRecord/01:23:45:67:89:10

I am still not even sure if this is what should be looking for in order to help get this issue solved. I would like to help however I can, I just don't know what I should be doing. If you can tell me how to can help you best, I'd be more than happy to do whatever!

[Krish120003]

I'd love to have this solved as well, currently on Sonoma and can't pair my controller. If there's any pointers on how to start implementing a fix, I'd love to help!

[clemon79]

Same issue in Sequoia. Really want to get this working again. I note JSJ is finding the controllers and making the appropriate entry files in .psmoveapi in my home folder via its own setup process, it's just the BT setup on the Mac side that is not working.

[thp]

Hey Thomas, I just came across something that might be worth looking into related to this problem. I dug around a bit and noticed that all of my bluetooth devices had their information and mac addresses stored in different files like /Users/bryce/Library/com.apple.bluetooth.services.cloud/CachedRecords/DeviceRecord/01:23:45:67:89:10

It seems like these only store Apple devices? At least I only see my keyboard and trackpad, but not any other Bluetooth devices I have connected to my Mac? (you can use plutil -p <filename> to print the files' contents).

As for how to resolve this, one nice way would probably be to get a Pi Pico W to talk BT Classic to the PS Move controller, and have the Pi Pico W talk to macOS over HID or something else. This would also provide an avenue to have multiple BT controllers connected (just connect more Pico W devices to your host) and also provide an easy way to have pairing working independent of OS.

[thp]

If someone wants to have a play with the Pi Pico W, there's example code here:

https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples/blob/master/pico_w/bt/hid_host_demo/CMakeLists.txt
https://github.com/bluekitchen/btstack/blob/master/example/hid_host_demo.c

Alternatively, running PS Move API on Linux on any Raspberry Pi device and using moved to export that device to the macOS host would also work (or use a USB Bluetooth dongle, forward the USB device to a VM running Linux, and run PS Move API inside that VM).

[Bryceshaw06]

I don't know at this point about the files, but I would've only mentioned it if the Mac Address from my PSMove controller showed up. I don't have my controllers anymore unfortunately.

The Pico idea is actually a pretty good one. It would be a good alternative to some of those Bluetooth adapters you'd have to use anyway.

[thp]

Possibly this already exists: https://github.com/juan518munoz/PicoSwitch-WirelessGamepadAdapter