xboxdrv - 2 zero delay encoders. Best way to determine p1 vs p2

mediamogul

@dsstrainer said in xboxdrv - 2 zero delay encoders. Best way to determine p1 vs p2:

To use xboxdrv as the driver for both ZD players but for player 2, 2 of the buttons will map to keyboard commands, thus allowing me to use keyboard hotkeys from the player 2 encoder.

I have a few use cases where I do this.

I could use
sudo xboxdrv --evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.2:2.0-event-joystick
But I'm surprised this isn't a larger issue for others.

It affects me directly, as I use two Logitech Rumblepad 2s and the same issue arises. I've been using by-path for nearly a year now and it's worked out well for my needs.

Alternatively I could write some bash code to go through each device in
cat /proc/bus/input/devices
and find which one gets assigned "js1" and which is assigned "js2" on the fly during startup and assign that way.

Like I said above, I'm pretty happy with my setup, but I really like this idea. If you follow through with it, definitely post the details of how it worked out.

mediamogul

@psyke83 said in xboxdrv - 2 zero delay encoders. Best way to determine p1 vs p2:

You could write a udev rule to do what you want

I really like that too. I experimented with using a udev rule for this at one time and although I didn't see it through, it looked like it would work well.

psyke83

@mediamogul said in xboxdrv - 2 zero delay encoders. Best way to determine p1 vs p2:

@psyke83 said in xboxdrv - 2 zero delay encoders. Best way to determine p1 vs p2:

You could write a udev rule to do what you want

I really like that too. I experimented with using a udev rule for this at one time and although I didn't see it through, it looked like it was going to work.

It will work if the rule is correctly implemented. I'm using precisely the same method for my sixaxis service: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/pull/2263

One annoyance, as I said, is that hyphens get mangled during udev <-> systemd communication. I workaround that problem via a simple function in the script, however.

mediamogul

@psyke83

Very nice.

spud11

@dsstrainer I have 4 DragonRise usb zero delay joysticks and use the by-path method to mimic keys on a keyboard, accompanied by an appropriate udev rule. Like mediamogul, I've been using this set up for more than a year and haven't had any issues. I also use meleu's retropie-joystick-selection tool which is very handy too.

dsstrainer

Thanks for all the advice. Oddly though, my initial first test did not work.
I decided to start small. Since I was only trying to get the player 2 encoder to have 2 buttons send out the 2 keys I have mapped to Save "]" and Load "6", I only used xboxdrv for those 2 buttons on that input.

I mapped the 2 buttons on the encoder and started it with --detach. Then I was able to visually see that when I hit those buttons on the command line, it indeed typed out ] and 6
I also have a keyboard plugged in and it also types out ] and 6
But when I goto the game and hit those buttons, nothing happens. But if I use the keyboard, it works fine.

I don't have the exact command line at the moment as I am not home but I'll paste that later. Still was surprised it didn't work.

dsstrainer

ok here is the command line I used to test quickly:

sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv --detach --daemon --evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.3:1.0-event-joystick --evdev-keymap BTN_BASE=l2,BTN_BASE2=r2 --ui-buttonmap l2=KEY_RIGHTBRACE --silent

So this is Joy number 2 (in the 1.3 usb port)
I set the button which turns out to be BTN_BASE to L2
Then I map the buttonmap of L2 to the "]" key which is KEY_RIGHTBRACE in xboxdrv

On the command line, when I hit that button, I see it outputting the "]" key
When I hit that key on my keyboard I also see the "]" key
When I start a game and hit that mapped button, it doesn't nothing
But if I use the keyboard, it works fine.

So where is the disconnect with it in the game?

psyke83

My guess is that xboxdrv is creating a unique virtual uinput device node to emit the emulated keystrokes, but the emulator is only observing the actual keyboard's input event node? I have never used this daemon so I can't be sure.

dsstrainer

Well you are right.. I do see virtual devices. I will try without the daemon and see if that works

dsstrainer

@psyke83 So how do you handle multiple joypads without running as a daemon? Just run multiple instances of xboxdrv process?

spud11

@dsstrainer That is correct.