python/pygame not responding to xbox elite series 2 presses

[vdegenne]

Version of xpadneo

v0.10-pre-259-gfc1b13a

Controller Model

• Xbox One S controller
• Xbox Elite 2 controller
• Xbox Series X|S controller
• Other:

Connection mode

• Bluetooth connection
• USB cable (not yet supported by xpadneo)
• Xbox Dongle connection (not yet supported by xpadneo)

Installed Software

None

Protocol Information

Please help us identify at which layer the problem can be found if you want
to report mapping errors or if the controller fails to be detected:

• Steam Proton games are having issues
• Steam Linux-native games are having issues
  • I don't use Steam or did not try
• games running through Lutris, wine and/or Bottles are having issues
  • I don't use Lutris, Bottles, wine or did not try
• Linux-native games are having issues
  • I don't use native games or did not try
• Other software is having issues (describe software and issues below)
• Running evtest is showing issues (describe the issues below)
  • Keep in mind that BTN_NORTH and BTN_WEST are intentionally swapped
• Running jstest is showing issues (describe the issues below)
  • I don't have this tool or don't know how to use it
• Running gamepad-tool is showing issues (post console output below)
  • I don't have this tool

Please describe how it is failing below in the next sections.

Severity / Impact

• I've read the docs and the bug reporting instructions
• I've applied the latest firmware update to the controller
• I've tried disabling or running without above mentioned software
• It does not work at all
• It used to work in a previous version
• It mostly works but sometimes it doesn't
• I found a work-around
• I probably didn't figure it all out but it's too early to give up
• I don't know how to ...
• It's too complicated
• Fantastic work but ...
• I can code and I want to help

Describe the Bug

Ok so previously I had an xbox series x and I have a python script I used with pygame to control parts of my system. It was both working wired and wirelessly.

Recently I acquired an xbox elite series 2. I did use bluetoothctl to connect it, but no rumbles, no buttons detection etc. (though my python script was showing Controller connected: Xbox One Elite 2 Controller but wasn't working either). That's when people advised me to install xpadneo, which I did. After that, I had rumbles, the gamepad were detected and I could play steam games normally, great but my python script is not working anymore, though now it shows Controller connected: Xbox 360 Controller (not sure why).

So everything is working (evtest shows correct mapping etc...) except for pygame which doesn't respond to presses at all but seems to recognized an xbox controller is plugged in and capture the event when it's disconnected also.

Steps to Reproduce

• Install the latest version of xpadneo drivers (reboot)
• save the python snippet below to a file

import pygame
import time

pygame.init()
pygame.joystick.init()
time.sleep(0.5)  # wait for device to be ready

for i in range(pygame.joystick.get_count()):
    js = pygame.joystick.Joystick(i)
    js.init()
    print(f"ID {i}: {js.get_name()}")
    print(f"Number of axes: {js.get_numaxes()}")
    print(f"Number of buttons: {js.get_numbuttons()}")

running = True
while running:
    for event in pygame.event.get():
        if event.type == pygame.JOYDEVICEADDED:
            js = pygame.joystick.Joystick(event.device_index)
            js.init()
            print(f"Controller added: {js.get_name()}")
        elif event.type == pygame.JOYDEVICEREMOVED:
            print(f"Controller removed: {event.instance_id}")
        elif event.type == pygame.JOYBUTTONDOWN:
            print(f"Button {event.button} pressed")

• connect xbox elite 2 series controller using bluetooth.
• run the python script

Expected Behavior

presses detected

System Information

# uname -a
Linux fedora 6.18.9-200.fc43.x86_64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Fri Feb  6 21:43:09 UTC 2026 x86_64 GNU/Linux

# xxd -c20 -g1 /sys/module/hid_xpadneo/drivers/hid:xpadneo/0005:045E:*/report_descriptor | tee >(cksum)
00000000: 05 01 09 05 a1 01 85 01 09 01 a1 00 09 30 09 31 15 00 27 ff  .............0.1..'.
00000014: ff 00 00 95 02 75 10 81 02 c0 09 01 a1 00 09 33 09 34 15 00  .....u.........3.4..
00000028: 27 ff ff 00 00 95 02 75 10 81 02 c0 05 01 09 32 15 00 26 ff  '......u.......2..&.
0000003c: 03 95 01 75 0a 81 02 15 00 25 00 75 06 95 01 81 03 05 01 09  ...u.....%.u........
00000050: 35 15 00 26 ff 03 95 01 75 0a 81 02 15 00 25 00 75 06 95 01  5..&....u.....%.u...
00000064: 81 03 05 01 09 39 15 01 25 08 35 00 46 3b 01 66 14 00 75 04  .....9..%.5.F;.f..u.
00000078: 95 01 81 42 75 04 95 01 15 00 25 00 35 00 45 00 65 00 81 03  ...Bu.....%.5.E.e...
0000008c: 05 09 19 01 29 0c 15 00 25 01 75 01 95 0c 81 02 15 00 25 00  ....)...%.u.......%.
000000a0: 75 01 95 04 81 03 05 0c 0a b2 00 15 00 25 01 95 01 75 01 81  u............%...u..
000000b4: 02 15 00 25 00 75 07 95 01 81 03 05 0c 09 01 a1 01 0a 85 00  ...%.u..............
000000c8: 15 00 26 ff 00 95 01 75 08 81 02 0a 99 00 15 00 26 ff 00 95  ..&....u........&...
000000dc: 01 75 04 81 02 15 00 25 00 95 01 75 04 81 03 0a 81 00 15 00  .u.....%...u........
000000f0: 26 ff 00 95 01 75 04 81 02 15 00 25 00 95 01 75 04 81 03 c0  &....u.....%...u....
00000104: 05 0f 09 21 85 03 a1 02 09 97 15 00 25 01 75 04 95 01 91 02  ...!........%.u.....
00000118: 15 00 25 00 75 04 95 01 91 03 09 70 15 00 25 64 75 08 95 04  ..%.u......p..%du...
0000012c: 91 02 09 50 66 01 10 55 0e 15 00 26 ff 00 75 08 95 01 91 02  ...Pf..U...&..u.....
00000140: 09 a7 15 00 26 ff 00 75 08 95 01 91 02 65 00 55 00 09 7c 15  ....&..u.....e.U..|.
00000154: 00 26 ff 00 75 08 95 01 91 02 c0 05 0c 09 01 85 0c a1 01 0a  .&..u...............
00000168: 9e 00 15 00 26 ff 00 95 01 75 08 81 02 0a a1 00 15 00 26 ff  ....&....u........&.
0000017c: 00 95 01 75 08 81 02 0a a2 00 15 00 26 ff 00 95 01 75 08 81  ...u........&....u..
00000190: 02 0a a3 00 15 00 26 ff 00 95 01 75 08 81 02 c0 c0 05 01 09  ......&....u........
000001a4: 06 a1 01 85 05 05 07 19 e0 29 e7 15 00 25 01 75 01 95 08 81  .........)...%.u....
000001b8: 02 95 01 75 08 81 03 95 06 75 08 15 00 25 65 05 07 19 00 29  ...u.....u...%e....)
000001cc: 65 81 00 c0                                                  e...
2376472410 2192

Controller and Bluetooth Information

Additional Context

[kakra]

Please capture a dmesg -w while turning the controller on.

[vdegenne]

@kakra Sorry I just realized I forgot to join the files in the issue.
Here's the log of dmesg

xpadneo-dmesg.txt

[kakra]

Okay, this looks good:

[  +0.000003] xpadneo xpadneo_welcome_rumble start
[  +0.000002] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: testing weak motor: sustain 50ms release 50ms loop 2 wait 30ms
[  +0.330303] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: testing strong motor: sustain 50ms release 50ms loop 2 wait 30ms
[  +0.330367] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: testing trigger motors: sustain 50ms release 50ms loop 2 wait 30ms
[  +0.330319] xpadneo xpadneo_welcome_rumble took 991ms
[  +0.000008] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: Xbox Wireless Controller [78:86:2e:78:38:88] connected
[ +15.674995] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: mapping profiles detected
[  +0.000007] xpadneo 0005:045E:0B22.0028: switching profile to 3

Did the controller rumble upon connection?

The controller is set to profile 3 which may have custom mapping overrides. Click the middle icon until no LED is lit nearby it, it should say "profile 0" in dmesg then. Then try again with testing the buttons.

Next check if the buttons are showing while running evtest.

[vdegenne]

I confirm I have rumble upon connection, and xpadneo gets loaded.

I switched to profile 0 (wasn't sure what the middle leds was for...) and tried evtest, it reacts to buttons, here's a snippet.

Event: time 1771165964.437083, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 1 (ABS_Y), value -964
Event: time 1771165964.437083, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.445688, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 1 (ABS_Y), value -1118
Event: time 1771165964.445688, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 4 (ABS_RY), value -629
Event: time 1771165964.445688, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.452585, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 4 (ABS_RY), value -1839
Event: time 1771165964.452585, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.459604, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value -1720
Event: time 1771165964.459604, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 4 (ABS_RY), value -1951
Event: time 1771165964.459604, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.481648, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value -1642
Event: time 1771165964.481648, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.489630, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value -1578
Event: time 1771165964.489630, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.504617, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value -1562
Event: time 1771165964.504617, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------
Event: time 1771165964.571663, type 3 (EV_ABS), code 3 (ABS_RX), value -1482
Event: time 1771165964.571663, -------------- SYN_REPORT ------------

But the python program is not working still,

14|py-cont | Controller connected: Xbox One Elite 2 Controller
14|py-cont | Controller disconnected
14|py-cont | Controller connected: Xbox 360 Controller

It shows "Xbox 360 Controller".
"Xbox One Elite 2 Controller" is when I plug the controller back to its cable (in which case the python program works again). What's weird is that sometimes if I plug and unplug the python program works wirelessly, but if the controller turns off from inactivity and I turn it on again the program doesn't respond to presses again.

My controller works in most program, here's a screenshot of gamepad tester online

[kakra]

So as far as the driver is concerned, everything works perfectly and you are probably also not seeing permission problems. This may be a problem inside pygame itself.

I can at least give you one more hint because you mentioned that it no longer works if the controller turns off and you turn it back on, and that it "sometimes" works when re-plugging the controller, then you're most likely seeing a race condition in pygame. At least in xpadneo in combination with games using SDL, there is a documented race condition of how games detect rumble support while hot plugging the controller. Maybe pygame has a similar behavior? In that case, try disabling the connect rumble notifier:

# /etc/modprobe.d/xpadneo-no-notify.conf
options hid-xpadneo ff_connect_notify=0

After a reboot, the rumble during connect should be gone, and it tightens timing enough for said SDL games to detect rumble capability most of the times. Maybe it fixes pygame for you. But that said, I fear this is a third party problem and not ours to solve.

[vdegenne]

@kakra Thanks for your help. Appreciate it.
Unfortunately I tried disabling the connect notify but the script still doesn't work. It sometimes (rarely) works when the system starts up or as I said when I plug/unplug the controller.

Also in cases it doesn't work, I tried to run this python script

from evdev import InputDevice, list_devices, ecodes

function_name = "Xbox Wireless Controller"

def find_xbox_controller():
    for path in list_devices():
        dev = InputDevice(path)
        if dev.name == function_name:
            return dev
    return None

device = find_xbox_controller()

if not device:
    print("Xbox controller not found")
    exit(1)

print(f"Listening on {device.path} ({device.name})")

for event in device.read_loop():
    if event.type == ecodes.EV_KEY and event.code == ecodes.BTN_SOUTH:
        if event.value == 1:
            print("A button pressed")
        elif event.value == 0:
            print("A button released")

Using evdev the buttons are detected correctly. I could just migrate my script to evdev but since it's a huge script I was hoping to make it works as-is.

If you have ideas of what I could write in my original python script to extract info and debug, please share.
Maybe pygame is sometimes not picking the correct interface/input (especially if SDL is switching the mappings, but I'm not sure to know what I'm talking about..). Could there be a neat trick?

[kakra]

Does pygame use SDL?

[vdegenne]

Yes.

14|py-control | pygame 2.6.1 (SDL 2.32.64, Python 3.14.2)

[vdegenne]

Here's some context that could help to understand more what is going on, I made this little python snippet

import pygame
from evdev import InputDevice, list_devices, ecodes

def find_xbox_gamepad():
    for path in list_devices():
        dev = InputDevice(path)
        caps = dev.capabilities()
        if "Xbox" in dev.name and ecodes.EV_ABS in caps:
            return dev
    return None

def main():
    pygame.init()
    pygame.joystick.init()

    clock = pygame.time.Clock()
    running = True

    evdev_device = None

    while running:
        for event in pygame.event.get():

            if event.type == pygame.JOYDEVICEADDED:
                evdev_device = find_xbox_gamepad()
                if evdev_device:
                    print("Connected (evdev):", evdev_device.name)
                else:
                    print("Controller added but not matched")

            elif event.type == pygame.JOYDEVICEREMOVED:
                if evdev_device:
                    print("Disconnected (evdev):", evdev_device.name)
                    evdev_device = None

        clock.tick(60)

    pygame.quit()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Trying to make pygame and evdev coexist together.
On first execution pygame detects a controller (JOYDEVICEADDED) and find_xbox_gamepad() (evdev) returns the xbox controller.
But if I disconnect and reconnect the controller, JOYDEVICEREMOVED is called and JOYDEVICEADDED is called again but this time the find_xbox_gamepad() can't find the xbox controller and returns nothing. So probably pygame detects the controller too early even though it's not fully initialized in the input space.

[kakra]

I switched to profile 0 (wasn't sure what the middle leds was for...)

Profile 0 (no LED) hardwires the back paddles to buttons A,B,X,Y. The other 3 profiles (LED 1-3) by default do not map the paddles, so by default they will can be seen individually by user space. Thus, if you want to use the paddles as independent buttons, use profile 1-3, if you want to map them to A,B,X,Y, use profile 0. If you remapped the buttons and paddles previously in Windows, profile 1-3 should work as desired by the mapping profile.

If evtest sees the inputs (you could also try libinput debug-events), pygame most likely uses the wrong device node. xpadneo spawns multiple device nodes, only one of them is the gamepad itself. Can you determine which device is used by pygame? If I read your source code correctly, it could be easily changed to show the device path (/dev/input/event...). Compare that with evtest.

Maybe find_xbox_gamepad() cannot match xpadneo device? pygame is open source, you can look at the source of that function to see how it detects gamepads.

Update: I just realized that find_xbox_gamepad() is a simple heuristic implementation by yourself. Maybe log all detected device by name, ID, path and capabilities and whether it matches your filter or doesn't.

Also, your heuristics matches the first device named "Xbox" by name but then only checks if there is an ABS axis. That heuristic may be too weak: It could match another different controller first, or even select one of the xpadneo sub-devices which aren't the gamepad (it may still validate the capabilities of the upper compound input devices and thus not select the correct event device).

If you use udev instead, chances may be better to select a gaming input device by filtering for flags and properties.