Setting up New Controller Without Any Configured Gamepads

LuckyTom

Hello all, This is my first post and I have read all the rules, so I hope I am doing this properly.

Here is the situation. I set up a Raspberry Pi 3 with the newest version of RetroPie. I put all kinds of good stuff on it and sent it far away to my brother with an unopened controller. He hooks it up and the pi starts up properly. However, when he plugs in the unconfigured controller, he is not prompted with the "Hold down A" message. So, he currently has no way of configuring that controller.

Therefore, I am wondering if there is a workaround for configuring this new controller, or does he need a keyboard? Also, can this problem be fixed simply with a new keyboard or does it have to be the one that I used to set up his retropie originally?

Please keep in mind that I am fairly new to all of this.

Thanks,

CyberDon83

Regular usb keyboard will work just fine. Here are the default keyboard inputs from the wiki:

A = X
B = Z
Y = A
X = S
Start = ENTER
Select = R-SHIFT
Shoulder left = Q
Sjoulder right = W
D-pad left = left
D-pad right = right
D-pad up = up
D-pad down = down

I “believe” pressing the “1” key on the top row of the keyboard will open the menu. Arrow down to “configure input”, press enter. It will then ask if you’re sure, say yes and configure the new controller as normal.

LuckyTom

@cyberdon83 thanks! This is very helpful!

CyberDon83

@luckytom
I’m still very new at this, so as long as it works, then you’re very welcome. If it doesn’t... well... then I’m sorry lol.

mitu

@cyberdon83 Configuring a controller is easy - just follow the steps on https://retropie.org.uk/docs/First-Installation/#configure-controllers and it should be fine.
When the systems boots up and and it hasn't any controllers, it shows the screen your brother seens, but note that 'A button' is actually 'press a button' as in 'any button'. As long as presses and holds down a button, the input configuration should pop-up and he should be able to configure the controller.
There are countless videos on how to do that - including on the docs page -, find one and tell your brother to follow the steps in the video.

LuckyTom

@mitu thank you for your response. I’m not concerned about configuring the controller. The issue is that he has the controller plugged in and he has tried holding down each button individually for a considerable amount of time. however, the input configuration menu doesn’t pop up. He even happened to have a usb nes controller that also didn’t pop up the menu.

On a side note, when the RetroPie is in sleep mode, the controller can bring it out of sleep mode, but can’t do anything else...

mitu

@luckytom Then the controller might not be compatible with Linux and it's not detected. What controller is it ?

LuckyTom

@mitu the controller is the same one I use on mine. The Logitech Gamepad F710.

simonster

I think you are saying that you set it up, with your own controller and then sent it to him with a different controller.

If this is the case, you need to delete the controller configuration.

Plug in a usb keyboard then press F4 to close Emulationstation.
run sudo ~/RetroPie-Setup/retropie-setup.sh and go to Emulation Station configuration via

Manage Packages -> Core Packages -> emulationstation -> Configuration or
Configuration / Tools -> emulationstation

and choose the option to Clear/Reset Emulation Station input configuration

Then exit all the way back out of the menu, make sure you have connected your controller and at the command prompt do sudo reboot and the controller configuration window should appear when it starts up.

LuckyTom

@simonster yes, that is exactly the problem. Thanks for the walk through!