HowTo: Frets on Fire with Wii Guitar

[kiwi_bird]

I have only tested this with Ubuntu, so good luck trying on any other distros.

You need:


Wiimote
Guitar Hero III guitar
some kind of blue-tooth adapter


Now you have to install some packages first:

sudo apt-get install libbluetooth2 bluez-utils original-awk bison flex libbluetooth2-dev autoconf mouseemu libgtk2.0-dev


With all that installed you can now install the actual Wiimote drivers:

sudo apt-get install libcwiid0 libcwiid0-dev lswm wmgui wminput


Now you could already use your Wiimote as a mouse! Just type:

sudo wminput


Or to get it working with the IR sensor:

sudo wminput -c ir_ptr


Once that's setup we can go onto installing the script to get the guitar to work.

sudo gedit /etc/cwiid/wminput/gh3



Add:
# Wii Guitar profile for Frets on Fire
Classic.Down=KEY_ENTER #Strum
Classic.Dpad.X = ABS_X
Classic.Dpad.Y = ABS_Y
Classic.LStick.X = ABS_HAT0X
Classic.LStick.Y = ABS_HAT0Y
Classic.RStick.X = ABS_HAT1X
Classic.RStick.Y = ABS_HAT1Y
Classic.A = KEY_F1 #First Fret starting at top of wiiguitar
Classic.B = KEY_F2 #Second Fret
Classic.X = KEY_F3 #Third Fret
Classic.Y = KEY_F4 #Forth Fret
Classic.Minus = BTN_SELECT
Classic.Plus = BTN_START
Classic.Home = BTN_MODE
Classic.L = BTN_TL
Classic.R = BTN_TR
Classic.ZL = KEY_F5 #Fifth Fret
Classic.ZR = BTN_TR2

Save.



To let the guitar connect to your computer hold down the buttons 1 and 2 on your wiimote (which is attached to the guitar) and in the command line type
sudo wminput -c /etc/cwiid/wminput/gh3

Now you just have to install Frets on Fire!
sudo apt-get install fretsonfire fretsonfire-game

This didn't work on my laptop, so I had to download the file from the FOF website (http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/), extract it and then just double click on "FretsOnFire".
Your now ready to rock! If you are wondering where all the songs are, they should be under "/FretsOnFire/data/songs". If not, well: "argh"....

[gskarin]

You are a god! Thank you so much!

:guitar:

[onesojourner]

nice write up. Now if only the guitar hero 3 controller was less than 80 bucks...

[leonardoxiao]

Now the gh3 guitar controller is less than 80 bucks. You probably can get it around $50-%60.
Time to get one?

[maino82]

This is awesome, thanks!

Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably priced bluetooth adapter to use with this? I don't have one yet and am trying to figure out a decent one to get that will work well with Ubuntu without breaking the bank.

[Schendje]

Wow! It really worked! This is so cool! :lolflag:

Ubuntu couldn't find libcwiid0 and libcwiid0-dev though, I had to change them to libcwiid1 and libcwiid1-dev. Maybe this is a Hardy thing? I don't know. I'm just happy it works. Thanks! :)

[maino82]

Does anyone else have a problem with Frets on Fire hanging after you try this how-to when you load a song? It tells me "Tuning Guitar..." when I try and use the wii guitar controller and I have to do a ctrl-alt-backspace to get out of frets.

[Azzco]

Does anyone else have a problem with Frets on Fire hanging after you try this how-to when you load a song? It tells me "Tuning Guitar..." when I try and use the wii guitar controller and I have to do a ctrl-alt-backspace to get out of frets.

It has nothing to do with this tutorial.
This tutorial makes the guitar fake some keys, like F1-5 and enter, the "Tuning Guitar..." part actually has nothing to do with the input device it's just a text instead of "Loading..."
RF-Mod has random phrases so it really can't be that. ;)

Anyways I was just wondering..sudo wminput -c /etc/cwiid/wminput/gh3
Do you really have to be root for that?
Could you just edit the post and remove sudo from that line please? And great thanks for sharing it would take me some time to dig up this info on my own. :)

Edit:
I also just noticed that this thread was started on my birthday :O
(Didn't want to add to my postcount for something as small as this :P)

[yztlyrn]

The wiimote works as a mouse, but when I apply the gh3 config file nothing happens. The command line reports the following 2 errors.

Wiimote write error
Extension initialization error

Please help.

[Darkade]

It kindda worked for me. It's just that mouseemu "kidnaps" my keyboard. by that I mean that when I install mouseemu my keyboard doesn't work properly:
>The caps/numlock/scrolllock lights won't work
>sometimes my mouse won't work either

do you know a workaround for this? is there a way to prevent it from automatically start?
thanks:lolflag:

[LitusMayol]

Oh my god!

Really nice and so helpfull! Thanks dude!

[ilowman]

I just saw this great post yesterday and managed to set everything up first time so thanks!
I did find that the version of fretsonfire from the website ran lot smoother than the one using apt.
I've changed the config file a bit so that you can strum up or down and also use the d pad on the Wii to navigate the menus in the game and go back by pressing the + button.


# Wii Guitar profile for Frets on Fire
Classic.Down=KEY_ENTER #Strum
Classic.Up=KEY_ENTER
Classic.Dpad.X = ABS_X
Classic.Dpad.Y = ABS_Y
Classic.LStick.X = ABS_HAT0X
Classic.LStick.Y = ABS_HAT0Y
Classic.RStick.X = ABS_HAT1X
Classic.RStick.Y = ABS_HAT1Y
Classic.A = KEY_F1 #First Fret starting at top of wiiguitar
Classic.B = KEY_F2 #Second Fret
Classic.X = KEY_F3 #Third Fret
Classic.Y = KEY_F4 #Forth Fret
Classic.Minus = BTN_SELECT
Classic.Plus = KEY_ESC
Classic.Home = BTN_MODE
Classic.L = BTN_TL
Classic.R = BTN_TR
Classic.ZL = KEY_F5 #Fifth Fret
Classic.ZR = BTN_TR2
Wiimote.Left= KEY_LEFT
Wiimote.Up= KEY_LEFT
Wiimote.Down= KEY_DOWN
Wiimote.Right= KEY_DOWN

[webbut]

im new to Ubuntu and Linux. Im running Ubuntu 7.04 i was trying this how to and i ran into some trouble 1 sudo apt-get install libcwiid0 libcwiid0-dev lswm wmgui wminput
returns an error saying that it cannont find the libwii0 so tried a few more times and skipped it. i got the wiimote working as a mouse both tilt and IR but when i did sudo gedit /etc/cwiid/wminput/gh3 and placed the commands in the empty file and tried to save it i got another error message saying that it could not save the file because cwiid/wminput/gh3 did not exist

[pmsumner]

Thank you for this guide, it pretty much worked straight away on Intrepid, couple of things didn't (the apt-get libwiithingie returned a "not found" error), but thank you!

[meirm]

Hi there,
all works ok on intrepid using the wiimote and nunchuck, but it fails to detect my wii guitar from Nyko.
I went back to the store and it works ok on Wii.
using wmgui, it says that there is no extention and therefore I do not see any feedback from the guitar.
I would love to make it work with FoF.

A diffence I found with the how-to is that on intrepid I have libbluetooth3 instead of libbluetooth2
and libcwiid1 libcwiid1-dev instead of libcwiid0 libcwiid0-dev

[tonyr1988]

Hi there,
all works ok on intrepid using the wiimote and nunchuck, but it fails to detect my wii guitar from Nyko.
I went back to the store and it works ok on Wii.
using wmgui, it says that there is no extention and therefore I do not see any feedback from the guitar.
I would love to make it work with FoF.

A diffence I found with the how-to is that on intrepid I have libbluetooth3 instead of libbluetooth2
and libcwiid1 libcwiid1-dev instead of libcwiid0 libcwiid0-dev

I'm using Jaunty RC, and I'm getting the same problem. Everything with my Wiimote and bluetooth work (wmgui works flawlessly), but the guitar does nothing. In wmgui, it shows "No extension" when the guitar is plugged in, and clicking the guitar buttons does nothing.

I used libbluetooth3 instead of libbluetooth2 and libcwiid1* instead of libcwiid0*.

Any ideas? I'd love to get this working...

P.S. I'm using the guitar hero guitar that came with the GH:WT game for Wii.

[NullHead]

I'm using Jaunty RC, and I'm getting the same problem. Everything with my Wiimote and bluetooth work (wmgui works flawlessly), but the guitar does nothing. In wmgui, it shows "No extension" when the guitar is plugged in, and clicking the guitar buttons does nothing.

I used libbluetooth3 instead of libbluetooth2 and libcwiid1* instead of libcwiid0*.

Any ideas? I'd love to get this working...

P.S. I'm using the guitar hero guitar that came with the GH:WT game for Wii.

I found that the GH:WT guitar doesn't work. You need to use an older guitar.

I just use my Aerosmith guitar.

[tonyr1988]

I found that the GH:WT guitar doesn't work. You need to use an older guitar.

I just use my Aerosmith guitar.

Yeah, that kinda sucks that GH:WT guitars aren't supported (and I don't have any other Wii guitars).

I'm actually using WiiRemoteJ now. It's just a Java library, so you have to write your own "apps", but the API is extremely straightforward and feature-rich. It supports GH:WT guitars (even the touch pad buttons!), drums, etc.

[piratekingdan]

Is it possible to post more details, or upload exactly which files you're using?

I only have a Nyko and GH:WT guitar, as well as a drum set, and as of right now none of them work.

Please post your results.

Currently running Ubuntu Studio: Jaunty.

[marshmallow1304]

I followed this guide. Every time I press a button on the guitar controller, I get a black screen and get kicked back out to the login screen. (Edit: It seems that it restarts gmd (same as "/etc/init.d/gdm restart")) It happens even when I'm not in the game. The Wiimote by itself works fine. It also doesn't happen when I connect with wmgui.

GH3 Controller
Jaunty 64-bit

[tonyr1988]

I followed this guide. Every time I press a button on the guitar controller, I get a black screen and get kicked back out to the login screen. It happens even when I'm not in the game. The Wiimote by itself works fine. It also doesn't happen when I connect with wmgui.

GH3 Controller
Jaunty 64-bit

That's a crazy bug -- it completely kills X? Like I said, I'm using the WiiRemoteJ library now, and it's working beautifully with my GHWT guitar, but I'm sure I can make some tweaks to get it to work with the GH3 guitar. I'm not sure it will work on a 64-bit machine, but I'll look into it.

Are you just wanting to use this with Frets on Fire? Are you using FoFiX (or similar), or just vanilla FoF?

I'll try to get back with you in a few days and we can start experimenting with different things to get this working for you -- feel free to send me annoying PMs to remind me if I haven't contacted you by this weekend. :)

[marshmallow1304]

Are you just wanting to use this with Frets on Fire? Are you using FoFiX (or similar), or just vanilla FoF?


I was trying to use it with FoFiX.
I used the second version of /etc/cwiid/wminput/gh3 on this thread.

I tried it again with the GH3 guitar with the same result.
I tried it with the GHWT guitar. The buttons on the guitar didn't cause the crash, but the buttons on the actual Wiimote did. The guitar buttons didn't seem to do anything at all. wmgui shows no extension.
I have yet to test the GHWT drums.


Edit: I fixed the issue by removing the following two lines
Classic.Dpad.X = ABS_X
Classic.Dpad.Y = ABS_Y
See post 6 on this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1219645) for more info.

[piratox]

The guitar from GHWT can be used on linux. Just build the latest revision of cwiid :). This topic http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/linux-wii-balanceboard/ explain how.