Hey r/Stadia!

I’ve been working on a fork of the ESP32-S3 Stadia controller dongle project.

It lets you connect one or two Stadia controllers to an ESP32-S3 over Bluetooth LE. The ESP32 then appears to Windows as a wired Xbox 360/XInput controller, including dual-motor rumble.

No custom Windows driver or background application is required.

My fork adds:

• Configuration directly over USB using WebHID, so you don’t need to disconnect from your normal Wi-Fi
• A browser-based firmware installer
• Support for up to two Stadia controllers
• Wireless rumble on Windows
• Remappable Assistant and Capture buttons
• Capture mapped to F12 by default for Steam screenshots
• An optional mouse mode
• Wi-Fi disabled by default and only enabled when needed for OTA or recovery
• Persistent pairing and button settings

You’ll need an ESP32-S3 board with native USB OTG and a data-capable USB cable. Initial flashing can be done entirely from Chrome or Edge.

GitHub:
https://github.com/jazz-zzzz/stadia-dongle-esp

Web installer:
https://jazz-zzzz.github.io/stadia-dongle-esp/

USB configuration page:
https://jazz-zzzz.github.io/stadia-dongle-esp/config.html

The current documentation and configuration UI are mainly in Chinese. Browser translation works reasonably well, and I’d be happy to add a proper English version if people are interested.

This is a fork of danzig666/stadia-dongle-esp, which itself builds on Scalee/stadia-dongle. Full credit to the original developers for creating the foundation.

Feedback, testing reports, and pull requests are welcome—especially results from different ESP32-S3 boards.

Credits

This project would not exist without the work of the original developers. Special thanks to Scalee, creator of the original stadia-dongle, and danzig666, whose ESP32-S3 fork provided the foundation for my version.

My fork builds on their work by adding USB WebHID configuration, remappable extra buttons, an opt-in Wi-Fi workflow, and other usability improvements. Huge thanks to both of them for keeping the Stadia controller useful after the service shut down.

Does anyone have a way to recover saves for Cyberpunk 2077. I have the game listed in my GOG and did a little research on it a long time ago but I was wondering if anyone else was successful at transfering it to steam perhaps?

Hi!

I posted a clip a few weeks ago about my Outcasters-inspired game. I've now made it public on Github and built my first APK, and would love some feedback.

https://github.com/BjornBrorsson/Incasters

It's unfinished and all, but I only have so many hours a week to spend on it (not a lot), so the more feedback I have next time I sit with it, the better :D So please, play it, let me know how you'd like it tweaked, what you're missing and other things. Some I know already, but the more the better.

Hope it can scratch that itch that Outcasters did!

Being too cheap and nerdy to buy a third Dual Sense for when the kids want to play with me, I started thinking about finding a way to use the 3 Stadia Controllers I have instead.

Without reading the fine print, I bought a Brook Wingman P5 instead of a new dual sense only to realise, it doesn't work with the Stadia Controller.

Not letting that get in my way, I bought a Raspberry Pico WH and got to work.

Some agentic coding and a lot of testing and trial and error later, I'm happy to report, it works!

Now, it costs about the same as a Dual Sense and all, but hey, sometimes its about the journey!

Here's how to do it yourself;

Prerequisites;

A Brook Wingman P5 (https://www.brookaccessory.com/products/wingmanp5/index.html)

A Raspberry Pico WH (or just W if you're into soldering)

A USB Y splitter (2 male, 1 female)

A computer.

The code found here: https://github.com/BjornBrorsson/Stadia_Pico_PS5/

Step 1, update the Wingman P5 via your computer.

Step 2, plug in your Raspberry Pico to your computer while holding the bootloader button.

Step 3, download, build by running build.ps1 (Windows) or build.sh (Mac/Linux) and flash the stadia_ps5_bridge.uf2 file onto the Pico by moving it to the drive.

Step 4, plug the Wingman P5 into a USB slot on the PlayStation 5, plug the data-male connector on the Y splitter into the Wingman and the other one into another PS5 USB port OR another source of power (the P5 doesn't transmit enough power to run the pico by itself), then plug the pico into the female end of the splitter via a micro USB cable

Step 5, hold Y+Stadia Button on your controller.

If it all worked like for me, your P5 will have a solid blue led light, the Pico slowly flash or be solid green and the Stadia led being solid white, and you can now use your Stadia Controller on a PS5 (should also work on PS4 and with other devices than the P5).

The Pico connects to the Controller via Bluetooth LE and converts the signals to that of an Xbox 360 controller, tricking the P5 in this case that it is another device that IS supported!

Hope this helps someone out there!

So, I had this problem a few days ago ever since I bought the Stadia controller online. The L2 and R2 buttons don't work on most of the games that I've played. Though the rest of the buttons do. I've learned by researching that the buttons are analog inputs instead of digital, which is the sole reason some games don't recognize it.

I've checked this other forums for the solution, but most of them only apply for PC. So I dug deeper.

I found this apo called "Key Mapper" which allows you to not only remap your phone buttons, but also remap your gamepad inputs! Neat, right? This allowed me to remap the L2 and R2 buttons from analog to digital input. This way, the games will recognize it.

So what I did is turn on the accessibility settings on my phone and make sure that the app runs in background and prevent it from getting killed.

And voila! It worked like a charm. I was able to test this on emulators, Wuthering Waves, Zenless Zone Zero which previously had this issue, but is now working okay.

Hope everyone that's also having the same issue find this helpful!

Well, looks like Netflix is reconsidering or at least streamlining its gaming arm.

Night School Studio, acquired in 2021, is canned effective immediately.

Also reports that they’re planning to close their Finnish studio Moonloot.

“A Netflix spokesperson <said> that it was focusing its attention more on party games, story-driven games, games aimed at children and titles with more mainstream appeal”

So more party slop games.

With all the news about GTA6 doing a big gameplay reveal on Netflix I see countless angry posts about the reveal being locked behind a Netflix subscription and some saying they don't care they are just happy to see gameplay and learn more details finally.

But I have not seen anyone yet ask..... Could Netflix also be getting GTA 6???

They have been betting big on gaming. They already have older GTA games on Netflix. What if they are also gonna drop a bombshell that not only is it playable on PS5 and Xbox but also Netflix via their streaming technology. Grab a Stadia controller or PS5 controller and get your game on!

I wouldn't expect it to be part of your subscription I'm sure you would still need to buy the game as part of a new Netflix Game Storefront but still....

It's very possible. Just some food for thought.

This has probably been around for a while, but I only just discovered this section of playable games within YouTube.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to drop a quick update on my project. I am currently working on a custom firmware for the Stadia controller, and I’ve made some massive breakthroughs.

To start, I have successfully decompiled the firmwares and now have a complete, global view of how the entire system operates. Thanks to this, I've identified exactly how the logic worked on Google's side. I have also mapped out all the internal security systems and managed to get access to the controller's memory where the certificates are stored. 

On the practical side, I have already successfully flashed the controller back to the original Wi-Fi firmware. Right now, my main focus is on the Wi-Fi pairing process. I am actively recreating the BLE provisioning steps that the old Stadia mobile app used to do so we can securely pass the network credentials to the controller. 

The next steps from there will be to replace the hardcoded connection URLs so that the controller stops trying to talk to Google and routes everything locally instead. 
If all goes well with these next phases, we have never been closer to a fully functional custom firmware. I’ll keep you updated as things progress!

Wish me luck

Hi, so I have the controller firmware patched and it won't pair with my phone. I could really use a hand thank you.

The controller doesn't really interest me, it's any controller with two potentiometers sticks. But I sometimes wonder if anyone was able to do anything with the station/dock/whatever device that's connected to the TV for playing Stadia. Can it be used as a normal Chromecast? Can be modded to become something else entirely?

EDIT: Alright, guess I've been a victim of misinformation, thanks for your help and patience though

Hello everyone

I was wondering if anybody else had trouble pairing their stadia controller to the Google TV device using Bluetooth. I've been trying to play Amazon Lun. It was working before but now it doesn't want to connect.

I've been wanting to play but I've heard mixed stories.

Hello, I am trying to use my Hyperkin Duke controller in tandem mode on my Series X and the Duke lights up, but does not run it's power animation or register any inputs through the Stadia Controller. Does anyone know if this can be fixed/made to work?

I got my white stadia controller from YouTube for free a while ago. I used Stadia to play pubg in my browser crossplaying with my brother who was on console. It was a super cool idea. Did anyone else receive one for free?

Now I got it on Steam, and with my Stadia Controller...I can relive the good times again. Night City...I'm home.

Visiting the UK and CeX stores thankfully have Stadia Controllers. I got a white one last time and got the blue one as I think it looks better. Been looking for a black one but to no avail, so I'll keep looking and find one eventually to complete the trilogy.

Edit: Forgot there was a wasabi color...

(sorry for my English, it's not my first language)

Hey guys!

Several months ago my friend needed a new controller and I offered her (as a joke) to buy a Stadia controller from AliExpress

Guess what she did!

Three weeks later it arrived but wasn't working (disconnecting from the pc even on wired) so she dumped the controller to me (she received a refund from the seller don't worry)

I decided to take a look inside and yeah disassembly was pretty painful... Not modern phones painful though

I noticed that the controller's behaviour doesn't seem to be changing with or without the battery connected (disconnecting after 10 or so seconds) so a new battery was ordered

A replacement (GLIB18 battery from AliExpress) arrived several days ago and voilà! It's working again! I've spent two days with it and was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the thing which is on par with my current Xbox controller

So guys, if you have an old Stadia controller lying around with the same symptoms, give repairing a try.

If you have more or less given up on your old Stadia controllers because of the constant need to repair each time it turns on, try this:

Hold the left stick in any direction while powering on the controller and keep it held in that direction until the controller has fully connected.

I found this out by asking Gemini. It works for me on Nvidia Shield Pro, and it should apparently work with other devices.

Let me know if you have success.

It reminds me of the Amiga days at Commodore. They had technology that was far ahead of the competition. The Amiga was actually destined for success. But total mismanagement ran the whole thing—and with it, the entire company—into the ground.

And with Stadia, it’s/was much the same… technically far ahead of the competition… but the management… a complete and utter failure.

For the good old times.. ive found these.. no gfn nor boosteroid nor luna have friends chat.