[Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update

dankcushions

@majin-wamu said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

@dankcushions Since this is a new option, should we add some instruction to the wiki? I am assuming it is the community who updates the wiki, or is it is a select group?

yeah! well, anyone can edit the wiki - updates welcome!

@caver01 wrote an excellent trackball/spinner guide here: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Spinners-and-Trackballs - I think this is where new instructions should go (?)

markwkidd

@caver01 I just started on on a new section for the RetroPie docs about multi-mouse configuration. Does what I have written here match your experience? https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Spinners,-Trackballs,-Lightguns,-and-other-Mouse-Devices#configuring-retroarch-emulators-for-multi-mouse-use

caver01

I gotta say, assuming I can get this working (it sounds like @Majin-Wamu has it working) this is actually GREAT NEWS! It means we can, with minor configuration effort, setup a matrix of mouse inputs. There will be plenty of questions and feedback from users, but the net result is a lot more flexibility.

@dankcushions said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

you will now have to set up cfg overrides for each game, setting the right mouse device as player 1.

I am definitely OK with individual overrides, since my indices would have to change from ROM to ROM. This is perfect, actually, as I like having direct control over the setting. Since I do see the mouse devices in my log file, the only question I have is: what exactly to I add to my .cfg file? I am imagining it is something like player_x_mouse_index = or something like that.

@markwkidd Great write-up and addition to my trackballs/spinners wiki. The only addition I would include is whatever the answer is to my question above.

markwkidd

@caver01 Below is the relevant section of my retroarch.cfg. I will add something like this to the wiki.

input_device_p1 = "0"
input_player1_joypad_index = "0"
input_libretro_device_p1 = "1"
input_player1_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player1_mouse_index = "0"
input_device_p2 = "0"
input_player2_joypad_index = "1"
input_libretro_device_p2 = "2"
input_player2_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player2_mouse_index = "1"
input_device_p3 = "0"
input_player3_joypad_index = "2"
input_libretro_device_p3 = "1"
input_player3_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player3_mouse_index = "2"
input_device_p4 = "0"
input_player4_joypad_index = "3"
input_libretro_device_p4 = "1"
input_player4_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player4_mouse_index = "3"
input_device_p5 = "0"
input_player5_joypad_index = "4"
input_libretro_device_p5 = "1"
input_player5_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player5_mouse_index = "4"
input_device_p6 = "0"
input_player6_joypad_index = "5"
input_libretro_device_p6 = "1"
input_player6_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player6_mouse_index = "5"

caver01

@markwkidd Excellent. SO, I will add some lines to a per-rom config--for example, I will need to setup acameltry.zip.cfg to force the change to another mouse index so it looks at my spinner interface instead of the trackball for that ROM

I am very curious now about how the Split X/Y core option will affect something like Blasteroids which was working great the old way. @dankcushions alludes to this above, but I will test with a similar blstroid.zip.cfg, as this title will also need to use the same index as Cameltry. Obviously, there will be others.

One statement that will have to be made in the wiki is that the indices might be different for each of us. Case in point, @Majin-Wamu's trackball was failing, while mine was working--something I attribute to index order of the mouse devices. It's probably not random, but with all of the hardware possibilities in the world, there's no way to predict how one build will behave with respect to the actual controls. In other words, there is nothing that would connect Index 1 to a trackball--it's all mouse inputs and your index order may differ from mine.

I allude to that somewhat in the wiki as it applies to AdvanceMAME. It has been a while since I read through it, but there might be language in that section that we can use to emphasize this nuance.

markwkidd

@caver01 said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

I allude to that somewhat in the wiki as it applies to AdvanceMAME. It has been a while since I read through it, but there might be language in that section that we can use to emphasize this nuance.

Thanks for this pointer -- I just found the language you mentioned, tweaked it a little bit, then slotted it into the wiki.

caver01

@markwkidd Looks good. There will need to be some re-writing of what I originally put in there for lr-mame2003, but we need to test the outcome of the Split X/Y core option. I can do that tonight, as I have hardware use case where my spinners are not on the automatically mapped index (plan to make that config adjustment on ROMs that need it) and I definitely use the Split X/Y.

It might be nice to keep the lr-mame2003 section as an example of a libretro core that will use the index details above, but to include an updated description of Split X/Y, depending on how/if it still works. <EDIT> I mean to say--I know it still works, as I was using it in Blasteroids (albeit with a trackball!) but I mean, if it works when you push mouse input to another index.

Majin Wamu

@caver01 I was pretty excited to finally get it working. Now my single trackball works for both player one and two! I knew there had to be a fix somewhere because my thought was since at least one your mouse inputs was working, mine must be able to work somehow too. Sorry if it seemed like I was going in circles earlier on, but I was trying to figure things out.
Thank you for all your help!

caver01

@majin-wamu Heck, if it wasn't for you, I might not have noticed the same issues for a lot longer. I am really happy with the outcome, as this is how I imagined it might one day work in Retroarch emulators. I still need to setup my configs and test them, but your success is promising.

Majin Wamu

@caver01 Thank you. That is nice of you to say. I will try to get involved with these forums and github and help others if I can. I don't get involved enough online which is a bad thing for a software engineer. The only forum I have been involved with is Open Pandora, not sure if you heard of them. Another open source linux based project.

caver01

I am happy to report that during the past couple of hours I went through the ROMs I have loaded on my setup and I was able to make custom configs for those that used the spinners. They all work great, even the ones that split X/Y between players with that core option. Games like Blasteroids, or Super Sprint, Off the Wall (Sente) all work fine now. Thanks so much for the details, and especially, for the update. This is actually better than before I think.

Majin Wamu

@caver01 Yeah! I bet that is pretty awesome to have that option. Now each player can have their own trackball or spinner. Something I kind of wanted to do for a future arcade I build.

caver01

@caver01 Well, I tried updating the brief lr-mame2003 section of the wiki page I created and for some reason github flagged my account! Does that happen to everyone? oh well. I had a few corrections to make, but perhaps some one in support will get me sorted soon.

caver01

@majin-wamu said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

@caver01 Yeah! I bet that is pretty awesome to have that option. Now each player can have their own trackball or spinner. Something I kind of wanted to do for a future arcade I build.

Yeah, now we can all build that 3-trackball Rampart cabinet and forego AdvanceMAME.

Majin Wamu

@caver01 The only issue I have is it would be expensive. Unless there is somewhere else we can go to get a good trackball for cheap, the one I got was around $100 or so; but I must say, it works really well. Much better than others I have played at arcades which sometimes seem to only move under a lot of force.
The trackball on your roadcase looks beautiful though.

markwkidd

One other update which was merged into RetroArch yesterday also allows for modern lightguns like Wiimote/Dolphinbar (tested) and Aimtrak (not yet tested).

For my next personal project, the holy grail has been multiple light guns in Lakka with mame2003 which is within reach :D (Now I need to start getting serious about a cabinet...)

markwkidd

@majin-wamu said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

@caver01 The only issue I have is it would be expensive. Unless there is somewhere else we can go to get a good trackball for cheap, the one I got was around $100 or so; but I must say, it works really well. Much better than others I have played at arcades which sometimes seem to only move under a lot of force.

I don't own this trackball myself, but there are a lot of them out in the world: https://shop.xgaming.com/collections/arcade-parts/products/x-arcade-trackball-assembly-usb

caver01

@markwkidd said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

https://shop.xgaming.com/collections/arcade-parts/products/x-arcade-trackball-assembly-usb

That's a great price for a full-sized heavy-duty 3" trackball that looks to be (and reviews confirm) a very good option for arcade cabinets. It is almost have the price of my U-Trak. The one thing the U-Trak has going for it is that it stands very proud in its shell making it a lot easier to flush mount without carriage bolt heads showing.

In some respects, I kinda wish I had opted for a smaller trackball, but the 2.25 versions tend to be even pricier.

caver01

@herb_fargus Is there a trigger to flow the contents of the github wiki pages into the "fancier CSS" versions used in the Docs links, or do you have to transcribe the content manually? I think I recall this was something you had to do.

We have some very good edits in the Spinners and Trackballs (and now lightguns!) wiki that should be enjoyed by folks trying to make recent updates in lr-mame2003 work with their analog gear. It has been several weeks and I think the dust is pretty much settled as far as edits/updates for this to move over into the Docs.

Thanks!

MrJordaaany

@majin-wamu said in [Solved] Trackball not working after 4.3 update:

@dankcushions @caver01
Edit: Okay thanks to dankcushions' explanation, I found a way to fix it! So this might help you too Caver.
Solution:
Go to the retroarch menu, go to inputs, select the user binds you want to change, go to mouse index and change it until you have found the working index! For me it was 2. If you have multiple mice, you can change them appropriately. I set both user 1 and user 2 to the same mouse index since I only have one trackball plugged in.

I hope this helps others who might be having this issue as well.

@majin-wamu @caver01

Goddam I can't believe that was the f**king solution. I just blew away my arcade setup trying out fresh installs to get to the bottom of this.

I KNEW it was working fine in 4.2, and something had clearly changed in 4.3. Reading this thread you guys reckon its something to do with the way retroarch handles udev drivers or something like that?

I was doing all the testing I could think of but didn't think to change the device index from inside of retroarch when the game was running.

Little tip for people wanting to test there mouse/what I did for testing:

Plug in a keyboard and hit F4 to go to the command line.

type
cd /dev/input then ls -la to list all devices

you can then run: cat mouse0

Moving the trackball around should show input on the screen (repeat for any index it may be).

I NEVER would have guessed that it was changing index when launching a rom, since I could see it was mouse0.

In game, mine was also index 2.

I can see this page has been updated with the info in here to determine the index of your mouse as well:
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Spinners,-Trackballs,-Lightguns,-and-other-Mouse-Devices

I should have thought to enable verbose logging with rom launching. The answers are always in the logs...

Thank you all for this great thread.

F**k me time to redo my arcade again...