Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings

PMac10000

@Riverstorm @grant2258
Wow, quite a few responses. @grant2258 first of all, thanks for your coding work and in no way am I trying to complain. Rather, I'm happy to do any testing and submit any PRs that may help.

I'm using a Dragonrise USB controller (standard cabinet build with 8-way native joystick, 6 buttons per player). Very similar to @spud11 's setup, who has been very helpful... but I just can't seem to get his xboxdrv 4-way approach configured correctly. Everyone seems to agree xboxdrv 4-way logic is a huge improvement for old-school gameplay.

But the lr-mame2003-plus option seems much more user-friendly to me, if it accomplishes the same thing. I only want to use it for a few old-school games with 4-way joysticks, for better control and less frustration.

I understand the predicament of predictive vs last-direction, when the inputs don't exist... in my current gameplay... using lr-mame2003 (not plus) with the 4-way emulation active, I'm often finding (for example) Pac-Man coming to a complete stop at an "L" or "T" shaped junction, when it "feels" like I made the choice to go in a certain direction before I got there. I guess you'd call it a dead spot. I'll keep playing a few different games and provide feedback. I also need to make the cfg deletions and legacy remapping described above, before proceeding

Thanks all for their contributions.

grant2258

@PMac10000 I am using a dragonwise controller with a sanwa joystick. The good news is you can move the restrictor plates in these to make the do a real 4 way.

The problem with the standard restriction plate in these joysticks is there is a long throw (the gap between up and right when you are mid way wanting to choose one). I have a circular restriction in mine now took a while to get used to but plays a lot nicer all with a shorter throw a lot better for shot em ups ect specially is you add a stronger pin in it.

for swapping the the standard sanwa to 4 / 8 way do this.

even with 4 way the throw is long but the restriction helps a lot with any deadzone.

@Riverstorm the code was for the bigger community if they have any better ideas they are 100% more than welcome to try improve things there are many people here that can code just pointed the code out so they can see whats happening if they have a better idea to implement it. I can only see someone trying to implement a analog reader to make a choice unfortunately it wont work on snes and arcade joysticks as they are digital. Well the sanwa can run analog but it still onlly full on or full off

PMac10000

@grant2258

Thanks for the tip. I'm aware of the 4-way restrictor possibility, but of course the drawback is that I'd have to take apart my cabinet each time I wanted to play an old 4-way game.... I need 8-way mode for most of the others. So I'm looking for a decent SW solution as opposed to a brute-force HW solution... hopefully one that's easier to implement than xboxdrv. Your work on lr-mame2003-plus seems like the closest thing for my purposes so far.

grant2258

you should try it at least once to see how a 4 way plays on you joystick its not that fantastic to begin with try kung fu master it 4 way does take a bit of getting used to when you are familiar with 8 way. I dont think any software solution will get it 100% analog position tracking can get closer but again no use in an arcade joystick or dpad where you just have a button on or off there is no way to track how far they are in between.

mediamogul

@grant2258 said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

so if you go right then press right/up you will keep on going right )or last direction pressed until you commit to another direction.

This seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, but for whatever reason, the xboxdrv 4-way restriction doesn't seem to behave this way. With it, control is very precise on quick turns without any necessary forethought on how to to adapt to a new control behavior. The result feels very close to an actual restriction plate. All that said, I have no idea what is used in xboxdrv to accomplish this.

spud11

@PMac10000 Hi. I'm just wondering whether you followed @mediamogul's xboxdrv guide from scratch. My code will definitely help you, but may not be 100% for your purposes (eg your buttons might be wired up differently from mine and therefore be "named" differently from mine). From a troubleshooting point of view, where did it fall down for you? I might be able to help.

grant2258

@mediamogul said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

@grant2258 said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

so if you go right then press right/up you will keep on going right )or last direction pressed until you commit to another direction.

This seems like a perfectly reasonable solution, but for whatever reason, the xboxdrv 4-way restriction doesn't seem to behave this way. With it, control is very precise on quick turns without any necessary forethought on how to to adapt to a new control behavior. The result feels very close to an actual restriction plate. All that said, I have no idea what is used in xboxdrv to accomplish this.

Your probably using it on an analog stick. try it on a none analog device analog is easier to track. digital only has 8 positions so this analog logic won't work on a sanwa or dpad tgat is what mame addresses

mediamogul

@grant2258 said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

Your probably using it on an analog stick.

I am indeed and you're completely right. I don't remember if it's come up in conversation before, but MAME actually had it's own implementation of software 4-way restriction at one time. I believe the reason for its removal was that no one could agree on the best way to implement it effectively. While it might not be perfect, you're solution may very well be the best solution for most situations.

grant2258

@mediamogul the biggest problem is people using a square 8 way restriction plate that why i use circular one now less throw for shoot em ups as well. so you use the joystick rather than ride the restrictor. I would recommend a hexagonal you need help with finding you up/right ect. It is personal preference at the end of the day.

PMac10000

@spud11
Hard to say exactly where it went wrong, but I had modified so many scripts, cfg files, and parameters (xboxdrv, retroarch, mame) that I had to surrender and start over. I'll have a go again with a clean slate, and lean on your troubleshooting skills. Would it help to know how my particular buttons are wired as xboxdrv sees them? for example I can correlate THUMB2 with jstest value with X/Y/A/B, and so on...

Since your setup is so similar to mine, I'm wondering if you've had a chance to try out the built-in 4-way emulation in lrmame2003, and compare and contrast the gameplay experience with the xboxdrv approach. Thanks

spud11

@mediamogul Hi mediamogul. I've come across a problem I haven't been able to solve. I've manually compiled/installed the GSplus emulator (Apple IIGS) for my Jessie-based Rpi3B. GSPlus's internal joystick configuration doesn't work well, but most games have keyboard commands. I'm using xboxdrv to "tie" my DragonRise arcade joysticks to the keyboard. However, Gauntlet, for example, uses 8 keys for 8 directions (including diagonals). I'm not sure how to replicate that with xboxdrv. At present, I can only move left/right/up/down, not diagonally. I wonder whether you could help please.

Is there a way to get --ui-axismap X1=KEY_LEFT:KEY_RIGHT,Y1=KEY_UP:KEY_DOWN \ to reflect diagonal directions too?

Thanks.

Player1_appleIIGS="sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv >> /dev/shm/runcommand.log 2>&1 \
--silent \
--detach-kernel-driver \
--deadzone=4000 \
--deadzone-trigger 15% \
--force-feedback \
--mimic-xpad \
--trigger-as-button \
--ui-buttonmap lb=void,rb=void,tl=void,tr=void,guide=void,lt=void \
--evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.3.3:1.0-event-joystick \
--device-name "Player_1" \
--evdev-absmap ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1 \
--ui-axismap X1=KEY_LEFT:KEY_RIGHT,Y1=KEY_UP:KEY_DOWN \
--evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_PINKIE=b,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_BASE5=rt \
--ui-buttonmap a=KEY_OPTION,b=KEY_KPDOT,x=KEY_UNKNOWN,y=KEY_UNKNOWN,back=KEY_UNKNOWN,start=KEY_UNKNOWN,rt=KEY_ENTER,rt+back=KEY_F4 \
--ui-buttonmap back+rt=exec:/opt/retropie/configs/all/gsplus_exit.sh \
--ui-buttonmap lt+rt=exec:/opt/retropie/configs/all/SoundToggle.sh"

mediamogul

@spud11

I'm pretty sure axis input can't be mapped in that way. To my understanding, you could really only map eight arbitrary keys to a DPad, making use of the --dpad-as-button argument and then combo mappings such as du+dl=KEY_W.

spud11

@mediamogul Thanks for that. That puts me on the right track. This zero delay arcade encoder has a "mode" button which apparently switches the joystick from analog to digital. I hadn't bothered to hook up a button to "mode" so far, so I'll investigate that and see whether I can get the joystick into digital mode and then have a crack with those xboxdrv settings you have suggested.

mediamogul

@spud11
One other thing worth mentioning is that you might want to map the two possible combinations for all four diagonals to avoid any dead input. So if you mapped du+dl=KEY_W, you would also map dl+du=KEY_W. That way, no matter which direction you happened to hit first in the combo, the intended action would still take place.

spud11

@mediamogul Thanks for that. That really helped. I attached a button to the "mode" port and, using xboxdrv, I can now switch between analog and digital on the fly with the code being:

sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv >> /dev/shm/runcommand.log 2>&1 \
--silent \
--detach-kernel-driver \
--deadzone=4000 \
--deadzone-trigger 15% \
--force-feedback \
--mimic-xpad \
--trigger-as-button \
--ui-buttonmap x=void,y=void,lb=void,rb=void,tl=void,tr=void,guide=void,lt=void \
--evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.3.3:1.0-event-joystick \
--device-name "Player_1" \
--evdev-absmap ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1 \
--ui-axismap X1=KEY_LEFT:KEY_RIGHT,Y1=KEY_UP:KEY_DOWN \
--evdev-absmap ABS_HAT0X=dpad_y,ABS_HAT0Y=dpad_x \
--dpad-as-button \
--evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB2=a,BTN_PINKIE=b,BTN_BASE3=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_BASE5=rt \
--ui-buttonmap du=KEY_M,dd=KEY_I,dl=KEY_J,dr=KEY_L,du+dl=KEY_N,dl+du=KEY_N,du+dr=KEY_COMMA,dr+du=KEY_COMMA,dd+dr=KEY_O,dr+dd=KEY_O,dd+dl=KEY_U,dl+dd=KEY_U,a=KEY_OPTION,b=KEY_SPACE,x=KEY_UNKNOWN,y=KEY_UNKNOWN,back=KEY_UNKNOWN,start=KEY_UNKNOWN,rt=KEY_ENTER,rt+back=KEY_F4 \
--ui-buttonmap back+rt=exec:/opt/retropie/configs/all/gsplus_exit.sh \
--ui-buttonmap lt+rt=exec:/opt/retropie/configs/all/SoundToggle.sh

mediamogul

@spud11

Very nice.

spud11

@mediamogul Hi. I was wondering please whether you could help. I've got what I thought would be a fairly simple problem, but can't find a solution. For my various MAME setups, I press the lt button on my arcade and it will effectively press the 5and 1 keys and start a single player game. If I press the rt button, it presses the 6 and 2 keys and starts a 2 player game. It's a nice and simple setup.

I'm trying to do the same with the libretro FBA cores using the back button, but for some reason, it will not work. Pressing the back button should insert Coin 1 (right shift) and start Player 1 (enter) automatically. However, I find that I have to press the back button twice to achieve this instead of only once.

sudo /opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv >> /dev/shm/runcommand.log 2>&1 \
--silent \
--detach-kernel-driver \
--deadzone=4000 \
--deadzone-trigger 15% \
--force-feedback \
--mimic-xpad \
--trigger-as-button \
--ui-buttonmap lb=void,rb=void,tl=void,tr=void,guide=void,lt=void,rt=void \
--evdev /dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.3.2:1.0-event-joystick \
--device-name "Player_3" \
--evdev-absmap ABS_X=x1,ABS_Y=y1 \
--evdev-keymap BTN_THUMB=a,BTN_TOP=b,BTN_PINKIE=x,BTN_TRIGGER=y,BTN_THUMB2=back,BTN_TOP2=start \
--ui-axismap X1=KEY_DOWN:KEY_UP,Y1=KEY_RIGHT:KEY_LEFT \
--ui-buttonmap a=KEY_Z,b=KEY_X,x=KEY_S,y=KEY_A,back=KEY_RIGHTSHIFT+KEY_ENTER,start=KEY_P+KEY_I,start+back=KEY_SPACE+KEY_F1,back+start=KEY_SPACE+KEY_ESC \

I've also tried using a macro instead using

--ui-buttonmap back=macro:/opt/retropie/configs/all/fba_start_player1.macro \

and the macro:

send KEY_RIGHTSHIFT 1
wait 500
send KEY_ENTER 1

Strangely, the macro produces no result at all when I press the back button.

Would you have any idea please what might be the problem or other things I could try?

mediamogul

@spud11

I'm not sure if I've ever run into that exact specific issue myself, but I seem to remember that assigning a hotkey combo shared with the 'insert coin' function could get a bit squirrely with some of my various arcade setups in the past. I don't think I ever overcame the issue, as none of my current setups include 'insert coin' in a key combo.

spud11

@mediamogul said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

@spud11 said in Guide: Advanced Controller Mappings:

One other possibility I was thinking...

I'm almost certain xboxdrv can't bind keyboard keys with other keys/key combinations, but if you could find an outside solution to handle that part, it should work well.

I thought I'd let you know that I finally figured out how to exit Moonlight at both ends using xboxdrv - server and client side. (It may be that Moonlight has been updated since I last posted on this so this is now a non-issue, but my version of Moonlight and Retropie are quite old).

I've got a macro set up in my xboxdrv configuration:

--ui-buttonmap back+rt=macro:/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/steam/MS_exit.macro \

The macro has the following content:

wait 100
send KEY_ESC 1
wait 100
send KEY_ESC 0


send KEY_LEFTSHIFT 1
send KEY_LEFTALT 1
send KEY_LEFTCTRL 1
send KEY_Q 1
wait 100
send KEY_LEFTSHIFT 0
send KEY_LEFTALT 0
send KEY_LEFTCTRL 0
send KEY_Q 0

This first sends the ESC key and then sends Shift+CTRL+ALT+Q to fully exit Moonlight, on both client and server sides, effectively using one button press instead of the 2 we were using when using the "cycling" technique.

spud11

@mediamogul I've also solved my problem with the libretro FBA cores by using a similar technique. I can press 1 button and it will both insert a coin and start the game without having to press a second time. The macro looks like this:

wait 100
send KEY_RIGHTSHIFT 1
wait 100
send KEY_RIGHTSHIFT 0
wait 100
send KEY_ENTER 1
wait 100
send KEY_ENTER 0