What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet

[harrybc89]

Hi all,

I was just playing a game and was confused as to what buttons I was pressing, is it possible that during the game, or before loading, a controller map could be put up showing both a (default) picture of your controller and a controller for said console where the buttons are somehow matched to help the user identify the buttons on the controller they should use. Perhaps they could be highlighted on what can be pressed in game.

Any ideas?

[KN4THX]

@harrybc89 Cool idea, I definitely see where that would be handy for new players and guests, especially if it's a system used at a group gathering. If it's just for you, Retroarch will show you the buttons assigned per emulator in the Select + X menu under controls.

[mitu]

@harrybc89 said in What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet:

Perhaps they could be highlighted on what can be pressed in game.

The problem I see with this is that each user has another controller type or another controls/button mapping, or has more than 1 controller so how should the system handle that ?

[Lurker]

This is a challenge and the various solutions depend on your time, skill and funds.

The cheap but timely solution for those who know little to no computer speak.
Make paper or cardstock overlays that have the button labeling for your favorite games and or systems.
The card would have holes so they align with the buttons.
Laminate them and give them fun artwork if you want. You could even put a thin spacer under the buttons to raise them the thickness of the overlay card so it sits more flush on the deck.

This allows you to make cards that match your layout for a specific game like Streetfighter or a general console Like Sega Genisis.

Down side to this plan is that you have to make all your cards, store them and switch between for the game/system you a playing.

The expensive option that I have yet to see in actual practice with retropie;
RGB led buttons that light up specific to the game being loaded.

This is great in that the buttons for the game are lite and you can even color them.
Down side it is expensive and though there are options I have seen people refer to I have never seen this actually built into anyone's cabinet.

As you can guess there are a number of in between solutions including onscreen overlay images or a physical cheat sheet page etc. etc.

On eother high end solution idea I have come across but again never seen in use is an acrylic deck with small rgb displays by each button that configure to label the buttons. Just like the LED button except different execution and the display can show "Punch"

I think size wise it can only fit the "P" for punch and "F" for fire and so on.

Me? My ghetto cabinet that I tack things onto to see if I like it just has the R,L,X,Y,A,B written below each button in marker.

My nicer builds have the same either in the button or under the deck more artfully done. It only takes a few second to sort out what the buttons do in the game and you can quickly reset if one button was a rare special move. In addition to that I try to Use the buttons I assigned to A and B as game A and B buttons and so forth.

[chipsnblip]

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/runcommand#adding-custom-launching-images

[johnodon]

@chipsnblip said in What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet:

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/runcommand#adding-custom-launching-images

You can also set how much time this will be displayed before launching the game. What would be a nice option is if you could set it to stay onscreen until a button is pushed. I don't think this is available today.

John

[johnodon]

@lurker said in What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet:

The expensive option that I have yet to see in actual practice with retropie;
RGB led buttons that light up specific to the game being loaded.

1. This is what ledblinky does, correct? (https://www.ledblinky.net/ledblinky.htm)
2. If so, is there a is there a Debian-based alternative?

EDIT: Quick google search found this: http://forum.attractmode.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=XfnsMorYezbxfu2eDjYeZ3&topic=889.msg6776#msg6776 I have not tried it so YMMV.

EDIT#2: And this... https://gist.github.com/savetheclocktower/c7644597c9c4c3990b7fee363d5f03c1

[chipsnblip]

@johnodon said in What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet:

@chipsnblip said in What buttons should I press? A controller cheat sheet:

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/runcommand#adding-custom-launching-images

You can also set how much time this will be displayed before launching the game. What would be a nice option is if you could set it to stay onscreen until a button is pushed. I don't think this is available today.

John

pressing q or escape on the keyboard will close the image and launch the game, then you can set image_delay to a high number of seconds. the only thing left to do would be map one of those 2 keys to your controller, but i'm unsure if this would require any changes to the scripts in ~/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/runcommand/