Running xboxdrv from runcommand-onstart not working

mitaholo

I've been trying to map my DualShock 4 to be read as a keyboard with xboxdrv. Otherwise it works great but if I run xboxdrv before opening an emulator or from runcommand-onstart.sh, the emulator will ignore the keypresses unless I kill xboxdrv and run it again. After that the mapping works normally.

Example case:

Emulationstation is on and I run my xboxdrv command from a SSH terminal (A): Your Xbox/Xbox360 controller should now be available as: /dev/input/js2 /dev/input/event4
I open evtest in a second SSH session (B) and it reads event4 inputs as keyboard presses. Emulationstation's configure input screen does the same.
I run Metal Gear on Emulationstation and it opens on lr-bluemsx.
Evtest (B) still reports the event4 virtual keypresses correctly but the emulator ignores them completely. Pressing space in the "Press Space" screen does nothing. (An actual keyboard does work correctly)
I interrupt and close xboxdrv in terminal A and run it again with the same command. Like before, it creates a virtual device in js2 and event4. Evtest (B) closed automatically with the earlier virtual device so I run it again.
Now the game answers my input correctly even though according to evtest nothing has changed.

The same happens if the xboxdrv command is run from runcommand-onstart.sh. Any idea what causes this?

My xboxdrv command is: https://pastebin.com/nkpcKFC7

mediamogul

@mitaholo

It sounds like you've got everything working well on the xboxdrv side of things, which is usually the hardest part. Looking towards RetroArch, have you tried adding

input_libretro_device_p2 = "3"

to /opt/retropie/configs/msx/retroarch.cfg? This is usually required for lr-bluemsx to get keyboard support of any kind. Something else that comes to mind is that RetroArch will ignore the virtual keyboard xboxdrv creates unless a udev rule is created. You can find more info on that at the tail-end of section 3a of the guide found here.

Edit: Best version of 'Metal Gear' BTW. If you haven't played it before, you're in for an outright masterpiece.

mitaholo

@mediamogul said in Running xboxdrv from runcommand-onstart not working:

Something else that comes to mind is that RetroArch will ignore the virtual keyboard xboxdrv creates unless a udev rule is created. You can find more info on that at the tail-end of section 3a of the guide found here.

SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTRS{name}=="Microsoft X-Box 360 pad - Keyboard Emulation", GROUP="users", MODE="0666", ENV{ID_INPUT_KEYBOARD}="1"

Thank you so much, this worked!

There still seems to be a problem with the name of the virtual device. According to the guide it should be Microsoft X-Box 360 pad - Keyboard Emulation but at least in in /proc/bus/input/devices it's just plain Microsoft X-Box 360 pad.

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=045e Product=028e Version=0110
N: Name="Microsoft X-Box 360 pad"
P: Phys=
S: Sysfs=/devices/virtual/input/input6
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=sysrq kbd event4 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=200003
B: KEY=1690 7b800 7b000400 10000002
B: FF=1 3f870000 0 0

I bypassed the problem for now by using the same name in the udev rule but that doesn't seem like the smart solution. Is there something I can add to the xboxdrv command to get the name to change aside from forcing it with --device-name? I already have the usual suspects like --mimic-xpad and plenty of --ui-buttonmap.

Edit: Best version of 'Metal Gear' BTW. If you haven't played it before, you're in for an outright masterpiece.

I have played it before and was using it for testing because it's one of the very few MSX games I know. It's a good game for it's time but I think MG2 has stood the test of time much better (aside from some pacing issues and "Guide Dang It!" -moments).

mediamogul

@mitaholo said in Running xboxdrv from runcommand-onstart not working:

I already have the usual suspects like --mimic-xpad

It might be --mimic-xpadthat's forcing the name. I would try it without and see.

I think MG2 has stood the test of time much better

I agree. Hideo Kojima's work was downright cinematic. Even before his later CD-ROM games.

mitaholo

@mediamogul said in Running xboxdrv from runcommand-onstart not working:

It might be --mimic-xpadthat's forcing the name. I would try it without and see.

Without that option the controller is finally given the - Keyboard Emulation suffix, but now the full name is Xbox Gamepad (userspace driver) - Keyboard Emulation... I think I'll just use --device-name "DS4ToKeyboardThingy" option and be done with it.

mediamogul

@mitaholo

I always make a unique name for mine anyway. Glad to see everything's working now.

mitaholo

@mediamogul
Everything works perfectly, for now at least. Thank you very much!