So, you bought a pair of cheap joycons, and couldn't believe how lucky you were to find them so cheap! Until you realized they are not... well, legitimate. It would proooobably be fine if you wanted to use them with a Nintendo Switch, but you can't get Natural Locomotion to detect them. Or, if you do, they keep vibrating and the motion calibration is completely off.

If you thought "hey, that's what happened to me!", then this guide is for you.

Before we start, though, here are a few key points to have in mind:

• This guide will lead you to change some windows configurations and install certain software. Only continue if you know what you are doing, and is certain you will accept any negative consequences that may come by doing so. I am not responsible for any damage it may have on your system or other peripherals;
  
• There are MANY, MANY brands of alternative joycons. This guide will describe what worked for me, and it may not work for you, unfortunately. Maybe I can expand it with more tips from other users in the future;
  
• NaLo didn't have any support for alternative brands joycons in the past, and I really don't know if they added some kind of support in the latest versions. Regardless, I couldn't make my joycons work, and this guide reflects what worked for me. It is possible some other brands of joycons work without any need for tweaking;
  
• If your joycons are working fine with other games on your PC, except with NaLo, please be careful when you follow this guide, because they may stop working on the other games (see the Bonus section for tips on using them as both feet trackers and regular controllers for other games)!
  
• In the future, avoid buying "alternative" products. You only hurt the industry by doing that, and it will only give you trouble.

• The pair of joycons you probably regret buying
  
• Bluetooth dongle
  
• This joycon "driver": https://github.com/Davidobot/BetterJoy

• It's also a good idea to remove any trace of previous pairing attempts. Bluettoth settings -> Joycon (L/R) -> Remove device
  
• If your joycons manual provided you with some sort of driver, only try to follow this guide after removing said driver.
  
• If your joycons manual told you to connect them to your computer using cables, connect them again, go to the windows Device Manager, and remove them/uninstall drivers.
  
• In short, make sure your computer is "clean", like it was before you ever tried to connect your dirty off-brand joycons to them.

Okay, so after you gathered all that you need, and cleaned your computer of any trace of the joycons, it is time to start having some fun!

These are the basic steps to get them working:

1. Be absolutely certain that your bluetooth dongle is working with other devices;
   
2. Pair the joycons with your computer, using the Windows Bluetooth manager. It doesn't matter if they turn off shortly after;
   
3. If they didn't turn off, turn them off now;
   
4. Download and unpack the BetterJoy application into a folder of your choice;
   
5. Install the driver from the Drivers folder (ViGEmBus_Setup);
   
6. Actually, take some time to read the application documentation, and the README in this folder;
   
7. Open BetterJoyForCemu.exe. You might have to run that as admin;
   
8. Turn the joycons on by pressing any button on them (normal buttons, not the pair button);
   
9. Wait for a while. Mine vibrate for ~10 seconds before stopping. After that, they should be ready (and appear in the BetterJoy interface);
   
10. If your joycons have any calibration function, do that now;
    
11. If you see a "Calibrate" option in BetterJoy, do that.

If BetterJoy was unable to detect your joycons, close the program, remove the joycons from the Bluetooth device list (unpair), and try to pair them again while BetterJoy is open.

Ok, now your joycons should be ready to use with Cemu. But that's not what we want, right? To get them working with NaLo, now follow these steps:

1. Close BetterJoy;
   
2. DO NOT turn the joycons off!
   
3. Connect your VR headset, turn your motion controllers on, Start up SteamVR and NaLo;
   
4. Start the desired profile;
   
5. Select Feet tracking;
   
6. Your joycons SHOULD be there now.
   
7. Activate NaLo calibration when the joycons are safely strapped to your feet, and take a few standing steps. This might not be necessary, but will probably result in a smoother in-game experience.

If you were able to get NaLo to recognize your joycons before, but the calibration was chaotic, or they kept vibrating, you should see that they are smooth now, and their motion is accurately detected by NaLo.

When BetterJoy detects your joycons, it creates virtual XBOX controllers for use in any other program. I, however, had a problem where the analog sticks calibration was completely bonkers, and had no luck trying to calibrate them on windows controllers control panel. Guess why that happened? Yeap, because my joycons were not official.

BetterJoy version 6.4 have some support for non-official joycons, but it didn't work for me, neither for a lot of people, according to the Github issues page. Luckily, they have a newer test version available there: https://github.com/Davidobot/BetterJoy/files/5434135/TestV2.zip
Please notice that the link above links to the same github page. This is not a scam! For more info on this, see the issue[github.com] page.

You can read this topic, and the ones linked to it, to understand what you have to do, but here is a short version:

1. Download the TestV2 version from the link above;
   
2. Unpack in any folder you would like (you can delete the other version if you'd like);
   
3. Open the BetterJoyForCemu.exe.Config with notepad;
   
4. Find the line that starts with <add key="NonOriginalController"
   
5. Replace the entire line with: <add key="NonOriginalController" value="disabled" />
   
6. Save the file;
   
7. Open BetterJoy, and turn the Joycons on as usual;
   
8. After they are ready, close BetterJoy, but DO NOT turn the controller off!
   
9. Return to the config file;
   
10. Now change that line to <add key="NonOriginalController" value="DefaultCalibration" />
    
11. Reopen BetterJoy;
    
12. Wait. This will take longer than an usual connection. You should see two "Joycon Pro" or something, detected by the application;
    
13. Go to windows controller control panel, and perform a calibration OF BOTH XBOX controllers you now see there. You only have to do this once;
    
14. Enjoy!

It is a pain, but it works with most games I tried! Steam, and many modern games might still not recognize them, though... That's where the HIDGuardian come in. You may have noticed its folder on the Drivers folder of BetterJoy. Simply run the installation bat as admin, and on the BetterJoy config file find the UseHIDG line and set the value to true. Restart BetterJoy, and Steam, as well as modern games, should now recognize the joycons as an XBOX controller!
Be careful, though, as NaLo will stop working if HIDG is enabled. To use the joycons with NaLo again, you have to set the HIDG value in the config to false, AND also uninstall the HIDG driver (run the uninstall bat as admin).

Well, that's it! I hope I was able to help you with this guide, and I hope you learned something today: The cheap options often end up being more expensive.

I think it is important to remind you that this guide describes the steps that worked for me, and it may not work for you. Sadly, I don't think I will be able to help you if you run into trouble, but I can certainly try, so feel free to use the comments section if you run into any trouble!