Retroarch/NES diagonal issues with USB Gamepad

[ThaDoctor72]

I have searched, streamed, and sifted through every dpad/diagonal/retroarch/usb issue I could find, and no solutions were able to solve my problem, hence the new post with a seemingly common issue:

Issue:
Diagonal dpad input cancels all previous input. (i.e.: Pressing right on a platformer will be interrupted causing the character to stop if right+down or right+up is detected) This makes moves like Super Mario sliding or duck-jumping near impossible. God forbid Contra diagonal shooting and running.

This pi is an NES only box, so we're only talking about retroarch and nes core.

Retropie 4.1 on Model 3 Pi, using GizmoJunkies USB NES controllers.
AC is 5.25v 2a, no voltage/heat warnings

Controllers:

pi@retropie:~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0079:0011 DragonRise Inc. Gamepad
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0079:0011 DragonRise Inc. Gamepad

These controllers, even though they look and feel just like the OEM NES controllers, use an axis rather than hat switch for the dpad motion. JSTEST shows +32767/-32767 as the range, and emulator accepts -0/+0 and -1/+1 respectively. I've tried udev and raw, both of which have the same affect. I've also tried input_player1_analog_dpad_mode = "1" which also did nothing. I have seen YouTube videos modifying the controller's plate a little bit to fix the issue, but these controllers are different, and don't use buttons as dpad triggers, but actual axis input.

I'm accustomed to emus on Windows boxes, and in a case like this I would be using MESS and simply map the diagonal controls to their respective natural positions, but Retroarch doesn't seem to have that option. I know there are others with this issue, but I am apparently not using the right vernacular or syntax to search for a previously posted issue.

I appreciate the help.

"Doc"

[edmaul69]

@thadoctor72 said in Retroarch/NES diagonal issues with USB Gamepad:

are you saying the dragonrise uses an axis and not a hat? is your joystick an analog joystick? if your joystick is not an analog stick then you should be using the hat on the dragonrise if it has it.

[ThaDoctor72]

This is the controller in question.

Although it SHOULD behave like a hat, the dpad is actually axis. I had problems with full size arcade builds with similar issues, but that was just an 8way stick trying to play 4way games without a restriction plate. This little guy just has a simple contact/membrane type of setup when opened up.

[edmaul69]

@thadoctor72 yeah most controllers that only have a dpad have an axis. No biggie there. The controller is probably just an absolute piece of junk.