u/Cultural_Sand_9323

Title is self explanatory I would think.

Keeps player interaction at the current 'non-existent' but also allows people to go look up those weird and wonderful gimmick teams (oops All Char. Grampa Brigade, Wall of Zam, Zaku Patrol, etc etc.)

I forget where I found this other than the page was non-english, and i want a full squad of the little goofballs.

Well that's sorted. Lemme know if there isn't enough.

Sub's kinda under construction. Doing what I can to bring it up to snuff.

Because honestly? that one was pretty swanky. Turned out to be the big bang before the end.

Be a shame to lose it.

Disclaimer: This was AI-assisted/generated. I understand enough Python to modify things and debug them, but I am very much not an expert in Wayland, waydroid, Android input, or Linux input subsystems. I spent roughly a long throwing diagnostics at this problem until something finally worked because I wanted to play a game and the problem is above my pay grade.

OS: Linux Mint 22.1 (experimental wayland rendering engine)
Physical hardware:
Haswell Era i5
RX550
16gb ram

Problem I wanted to solve: Apparently Waydroid just tells liniage 'OK this is a mouse' and liniage goes 'OK I can work with that.' And for most things that works. F-Droid, Google play store, PiePipe, Gems of war, a few other things I tossed in to test. Gundam G Eternal? 'No I refuse to recognize this 'mouse' device.

I have accidentally built (For a given definition of 'built' given AI involvement) a mouse-to-touchscreen bridge for Waydroid, and I would like someone smarter than me to explain why the hell it works.

TL;DR: I have a game running under Waydroid that doesn't properly respond to normal mouse input. Waydroid's native Wayland mouse handling produces bizarre/inconsistent touch coordinates in this particular game.

So I wrote a Python script that:

• reads the physical mouse through evdev
• asks Cinnamon Wayland where the actual mouse cursor is via D-Bus
• keeps a persistent Waydroid shell open
• converts left-clicks into Android input tap X Y
• converts click-and-drag into Android motionevent DOWN/MOVE/UP

And... it works.

It works well enough that I can actually play the game. I can click things, hold things, and drag the game map/diagrams around.

The weird part is that Waydroid's own pointer handling was giving me a completely different result.

Here's the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import subprocess
import threading
import time
from evdev import InputDevice, ecodes


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Configuration
# ------------------------------------------------------------

MOUSE_DEVICE = "/dev/input/event2"

# How long the mouse button must remain down before movement
# is considered a drag rather than an ordinary click.
DRAG_DELAY = 0.15

# Minimum time between Android MOVE events.
# Prevents the mouse from flooding Waydroid.
MOVE_INTERVAL = 0.03


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Mouse
# ------------------------------------------------------------

mouse = InputDevice(MOUSE_DEVICE)


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Persistent Waydroid shell
# ------------------------------------------------------------

print("Starting persistent Waydroid shell...")

waydroid = subprocess.Popen(
    [
        "sudo",
        "waydroid",
        "shell",
    ],
    stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
    stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
    stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
    text=True,
    bufsize=1,
)


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Cinnamon cursor position
# ------------------------------------------------------------

def get_cursor_position():
    try:
        result = subprocess.run(
            [
                "gdbus",
                "call",
                "--session",
                "--dest",
                "org.Cinnamon",
                "--object-path",
                "/org/Cinnamon",
                "--method",
                "org.Cinnamon.Eval",
                "global.get_pointer()",
            ],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
            timeout=0.2,
        )

        # Expected result:
        #
        # (true, '[497,872,16]')
        #
        text = result.stdout.strip()

        start = text.find("'[")
        end = text.find("]'", start)

        if start == -1 or end == -1:
            return None

        coords = text[start + 2:end]
        x, y, _ = coords.split(",")

        return int(x), int(y)

    except Exception:
        return None


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Android input helpers
# ------------------------------------------------------------

def android_command(command):
    try:
        waydroid.stdin.write(command + "\n")
        waydroid.stdin.flush()
    except (BrokenPipeError, OSError):
        print("Waydroid shell connection lost.")


def android_tap(x, y):
    print(f"CLICK {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input tap {x} {y}"
    )


def android_down(x, y):
    print(f"DOWN {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent DOWN {x} {y}"
    )


def android_move(x, y):
    print(f"MOVE {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent MOVE {x} {y}"
    )


def android_up(x, y):
    print(f"UP {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent UP {x} {y}"
    )


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# State
# ------------------------------------------------------------

button_down = False
dragging = False

press_time = 0
last_move_time = 0

last_x = None
last_y = None


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Startup
# ------------------------------------------------------------

print(f"Listening to: {mouse.name}")
print("Cinnamon-cursor Waydroid mouse-to-touch bridge running.")
print("Left click -> Android tap")
print("Hold + move -> Android touch drag")
print("Ctrl+C to stop.")


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Main event loop
# ------------------------------------------------------------

try:

    for event in mouse.read_loop():

        # ----------------------------------------------------
        # Mouse movement
        # ----------------------------------------------------

        if event.type == ecodes.EV_REL:

            # Ignore movement unless left mouse button is down.
            if not button_down:
                continue

            # Get the actual Cinnamon cursor position.
            position = get_cursor_position()

            if position is None:
                continue

            x, y = position

            # If this is the first movement after pressing,
            # determine whether we've crossed the drag threshold.
            if not dragging:

                if time.monotonic() - press_time >= DRAG_DELAY:

                    dragging = True

                    android_move(x, y)

                    last_x = x
                    last_y = y
                    last_move_time = time.monotonic()

                continue

            # ------------------------------------------------
            # Already dragging
            # ------------------------------------------------

            now = time.monotonic()

            if now - last_move_time < MOVE_INTERVAL:
                continue

            # Don't send redundant coordinates.
            if x == last_x and y == last_y:
                continue

            android_move(x, y)

            last_x = x
            last_y = y
            last_move_time = now


        # ----------------------------------------------------
        # Mouse buttons
        # ----------------------------------------------------

        elif event.type == ecodes.EV_KEY:

            # Left button pressed
            if event.code == ecodes.BTN_LEFT and event.value == 1:

                position = get_cursor_position()

                if position is None:
                    continue

                x, y = position

                button_down = True
                dragging = False
                press_time = time.monotonic()

                last_x = x
                last_y = y

                # We don't immediately send DOWN.
                #
                # This lets a normal click continue using
                # Android's reliable "input tap" command.
                #
                # If the button is held long enough and the
                # mouse moves, we start a real touch sequence.

            # Left button released
            elif event.code == ecodes.BTN_LEFT and event.value == 0:

                if not button_down:
                    continue

                position = get_cursor_position()

                if position is None:
                    position = (last_x, last_y)

                x, y = position

                hold_time = time.monotonic() - press_time

                # ------------------------------------------------
                # Ordinary click
                # ------------------------------------------------

                if not dragging:

                    android_tap(x, y)

                # ------------------------------------------------
                # Drag release
                # ------------------------------------------------

                else:

                    android_up(x, y)

                button_down = False
                dragging = False


except KeyboardInterrupt:

    print("\nStopping...")


finally:

    try:
        waydroid.stdin.close()
    except Exception:
        pass

    try:
        waydroid.terminate()
    except Exception:
        pass

    print("Stopped.")

So my question is:

This works. Can someone with two functional brain cells that know Python, Wayland, and/or Android input explain WHY it works?

And, more importantly:

How would you make it better?

Things I'd especially like to understand:

1. Why does asking Cinnamon's global.get_pointer() give me a better coordinate than Waydroid's native Wayland pointer handling?
2. Why does input tap X Y work reliably when Waydroid's normal pointer input doesn't?
3. Why does motionevent DOWN/MOVE/UP let me drag game areas even though ordinary Android scrollbars don't seem to respond?
4. How should the mouse-down/mouse-up timing ideally be translated into touchscreen events?
5. Is there a better way to obtain the Wayland cursor position than going through Cinnamon's D-Bus API?
6. Is there a cleaner way to maintain the Waydroid connection than what I've hacked together?
7. How portable is this outside Cinnamon/Wayland?
8. And finally: how badly have I reinvented something that already exists?

I'm not claiming this is good code.

I'm claiming it works, which is currently winning the argument.

Disclaimer: This was AI-assisted/generated. I understand enough Python to modify things and debug them, but I am very much not an expert in Wayland, Android input, or Linux input subsystems. I spent roughly a long throwing diagnostics at this problem until something finally worked because I wanted to play a game and the problem is above my pay grade.

OS: Linux Mint 22.1 (experimental wayland rendering engine)
Physical hardware:
Haswell Era i5
RX550
16gb ram

Problem I wanted to solve: Apparently Waydroid just tells liniage 'OK this is a mouse' and liniage goes 'OK I can work with that.' And for most things that works. F-Droid, Google play store, PiePipe, Gems of war, a few other things I tossed in to test. Gundam G Eternal? 'No I refuse to recognize this 'mouse' device.

I have accidentally built (For a given definition of 'built' given AI involvement) a mouse-to-touchscreen bridge for Waydroid, and I would like someone smarter than me to explain why the hell it works.

TL;DR: I have a game running under Waydroid that doesn't properly respond to normal mouse input. Waydroid's native Wayland mouse handling produces bizarre/inconsistent touch coordinates in this particular game.

So I wrote a Python script that:

• reads the physical mouse through evdev
• asks Cinnamon Wayland where the actual mouse cursor is via D-Bus
• keeps a persistent Waydroid shell open
• converts left-clicks into Android input tap X Y
• converts click-and-drag into Android motionevent DOWN/MOVE/UP

And... it works.

It works well enough that I can actually play the game. I can click things, hold things, and drag the game map/diagrams around.

The weird part is that Waydroid's own pointer handling was giving me a completely different result.

Here's the script:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import subprocess
import threading
import time
from evdev import InputDevice, ecodes


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Configuration
# ------------------------------------------------------------

MOUSE_DEVICE = "/dev/input/event2"

# How long the mouse button must remain down before movement
# is considered a drag rather than an ordinary click.
DRAG_DELAY = 0.15

# Minimum time between Android MOVE events.
# Prevents the mouse from flooding Waydroid.
MOVE_INTERVAL = 0.03


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Mouse
# ------------------------------------------------------------

mouse = InputDevice(MOUSE_DEVICE)


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Persistent Waydroid shell
# ------------------------------------------------------------

print("Starting persistent Waydroid shell...")

waydroid = subprocess.Popen(
    [
        "sudo",
        "waydroid",
        "shell",
    ],
    stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
    stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL,
    stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
    text=True,
    bufsize=1,
)


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Cinnamon cursor position
# ------------------------------------------------------------

def get_cursor_position():
    try:
        result = subprocess.run(
            [
                "gdbus",
                "call",
                "--session",
                "--dest",
                "org.Cinnamon",
                "--object-path",
                "/org/Cinnamon",
                "--method",
                "org.Cinnamon.Eval",
                "global.get_pointer()",
            ],
            capture_output=True,
            text=True,
            timeout=0.2,
        )

        # Expected result:
        #
        # (true, '[497,872,16]')
        #
        text = result.stdout.strip()

        start = text.find("'[")
        end = text.find("]'", start)

        if start == -1 or end == -1:
            return None

        coords = text[start + 2:end]
        x, y, _ = coords.split(",")

        return int(x), int(y)

    except Exception:
        return None


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Android input helpers
# ------------------------------------------------------------

def android_command(command):
    try:
        waydroid.stdin.write(command + "\n")
        waydroid.stdin.flush()
    except (BrokenPipeError, OSError):
        print("Waydroid shell connection lost.")


def android_tap(x, y):
    print(f"CLICK {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input tap {x} {y}"
    )


def android_down(x, y):
    print(f"DOWN {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent DOWN {x} {y}"
    )


def android_move(x, y):
    print(f"MOVE {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent MOVE {x} {y}"
    )


def android_up(x, y):
    print(f"UP {x},{y}")

    android_command(
        f"input motionevent UP {x} {y}"
    )


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# State
# ------------------------------------------------------------

button_down = False
dragging = False

press_time = 0
last_move_time = 0

last_x = None
last_y = None


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Startup
# ------------------------------------------------------------

print(f"Listening to: {mouse.name}")
print("Cinnamon-cursor Waydroid mouse-to-touch bridge running.")
print("Left click -> Android tap")
print("Hold + move -> Android touch drag")
print("Ctrl+C to stop.")


# ------------------------------------------------------------
# Main event loop
# ------------------------------------------------------------

try:

    for event in mouse.read_loop():

        # ----------------------------------------------------
        # Mouse movement
        # ----------------------------------------------------

        if event.type == ecodes.EV_REL:

            # Ignore movement unless left mouse button is down.
            if not button_down:
                continue

            # Get the actual Cinnamon cursor position.
            position = get_cursor_position()

            if position is None:
                continue

            x, y = position

            # If this is the first movement after pressing,
            # determine whether we've crossed the drag threshold.
            if not dragging:

                if time.monotonic() - press_time >= DRAG_DELAY:

                    dragging = True

                    android_move(x, y)

                    last_x = x
                    last_y = y
                    last_move_time = time.monotonic()

                continue

            # ------------------------------------------------
            # Already dragging
            # ------------------------------------------------

            now = time.monotonic()

            if now - last_move_time < MOVE_INTERVAL:
                continue

            # Don't send redundant coordinates.
            if x == last_x and y == last_y:
                continue

            android_move(x, y)

            last_x = x
            last_y = y
            last_move_time = now


        # ----------------------------------------------------
        # Mouse buttons
        # ----------------------------------------------------

        elif event.type == ecodes.EV_KEY:

            # Left button pressed
            if event.code == ecodes.BTN_LEFT and event.value == 1:

                position = get_cursor_position()

                if position is None:
                    continue

                x, y = position

                button_down = True
                dragging = False
                press_time = time.monotonic()

                last_x = x
                last_y = y

                # We don't immediately send DOWN.
                #
                # This lets a normal click continue using
                # Android's reliable "input tap" command.
                #
                # If the button is held long enough and the
                # mouse moves, we start a real touch sequence.

            # Left button released
            elif event.code == ecodes.BTN_LEFT and event.value == 0:

                if not button_down:
                    continue

                position = get_cursor_position()

                if position is None:
                    position = (last_x, last_y)

                x, y = position

                hold_time = time.monotonic() - press_time

                # ------------------------------------------------
                # Ordinary click
                # ------------------------------------------------

                if not dragging:

                    android_tap(x, y)

                # ------------------------------------------------
                # Drag release
                # ------------------------------------------------

                else:

                    android_up(x, y)

                button_down = False
                dragging = False


except KeyboardInterrupt:

    print("\nStopping...")


finally:

    try:
        waydroid.stdin.close()
    except Exception:
        pass

    try:
        waydroid.terminate()
    except Exception:
        pass

    print("Stopped.")

So my question is:

This works. Can someone with two functional brain cells that know Python, Wayland, and/or Android input explain WHY it works?

And, more importantly:

How would you make it better?

Things I'd especially like to understand:

1. Why does asking Cinnamon's global.get_pointer() give me a better coordinate than Waydroid's native Wayland pointer handling?
2. Why does input tap X Y work reliably when Waydroid's normal pointer input doesn't?
3. Why does motionevent DOWN/MOVE/UP let me drag game areas even though ordinary Android scrollbars don't seem to respond?
4. How should the mouse-down/mouse-up timing ideally be translated into touchscreen events?
5. Is there a better way to obtain the Wayland cursor position than going through Cinnamon's D-Bus API?
6. Is there a cleaner way to maintain the Waydroid connection than what I've hacked together?
7. How portable is this outside Cinnamon/Wayland?
8. And finally: how badly have I reinvented something that already exists?

I'm not claiming this is good code.

I'm claiming it works, which is currently winning the argument.