Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds

tjayhawk32

@mitu Buddy, this is an incredible response. Excited to get to work on it tomorrow. Everything has gotten a fresh update from the source.
One thing you said that clicked with me, I did change the save configuration thing in RetroArch at one point.
But also, the option for the max # of gamepads in RetroArch (which is 5), do I need to make a change there somehow"?

Also I am using Joystick Selection tool, absolutely critical. But I have not tried by name. Will do that.

stoney66

oh man the joystick selection tool seems awesome, I was always wondering if there was a way to order the sticks per system.

@tjayhawk32 I assume if you have 12 gamepads and the joy selection tool sees all 12 then you just put the top 4 or 5 for the system you want to bind it to (what games have 5 players?).

mitu

@tjayhawk32 said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

But also, the option for the max # of gamepads in RetroArch (which is 5), do I need to make a change there somehow"?

I think you need to change it in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg, but I see now the default might be higher. It's commented out, but if you need to change it, just remove the # and modify the value accordingly.

# Maximum amount of users supported by RetroArch.
# input_max_users = 16

tjayhawk32

@stoney66 I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without that tool.
I ended up having to install it from command line for some reason, but it's fantastic.

When you have the tool, go to RetroPie Settings from the main Emulation Station menu, and Joystick Selection is a new option there.
From there you can select global control ports or individual consoles.
So go into the individual consoles, select each player port and select the desired controller from the list.

It works like magic for the most part. I'm about to try the other method @mitu mentioned.

Also, general update, i bought like 5 different brands of USB hubs. The original 16-port hub that I had would work with the 3 or 4 adapters plugged in, but if I did a 'stress test' and plugged in like 9 or 10, then the crashes would start again.

Some brands don't register at all (a larger Anker). A couple of others seemed to work no problem.
So just to mitigate that as a potential issue, I'm going to get a different multi-port one that's hopefully better quality than the 16-port one I was initially using.

tjayhawk32

That Retroarch max of 16, is that a literal max?
I need something like 38 ports if I'm going to go all-out with my plan.

In total it would be about 51 controllers.
Sounds crazy I know...

tjayhawk32

Ok @mitu , I changed the ports to the named thing and while I think this is going to be useful, it didn't solve the problem.

I'm burned out. I have revolving problems that just keep popping up.

And the main problem, no matter what combination I do (I tried one, two and three USB hubs at a time tonight), once I go over a certain number of controllers...like 4 or 5, certain emulators stop loading ROMs. I tested them all with only one controller plugged in and every emulator loaded.

RetroArch just doesnt open from the RetroPie settings sometimes.

The change to use names in joystick selection was a nightmare also, with an error i got for a couple of hours saying several permissions were denied. At times it would seem to go through and show that it was 'on' but after restarting or simply closing the selection tool and reopening it, it would be back to off.
After the 10th uninstall, refresh operation...it seems to be staying on now.

But the unfortunate ending of a long night is the exact same issue.

I changed the number of max users in the Retroarch file (can you clarify which you were talking about to be sure, I did it in two places), and I can't make direct adjustments in the RetroArch XMB because I can't open the thing...

Also, Mitu, if you're up for it, I would be eternally grateful if you would have a second to video chat or something to really just blaze through the issue. I've really drained a lot of time into it the last few months, and I think it's possible to reach an end on what is or isn't possible.
tjayhawk@live.com

mitu

@tjayhawk32 Without any logs to spot an error, it's hard to understand where the problem might be. Get a verbose log from RetroArch when the 'ROMs stop loading' and post it on pastebin.com. You can enable the verbose logging from the Runcommand launch menu , then get the /dev/shm/runcommand.log file and post it on pastebin.com

I changed the number of max users in the Retroarch file (can you clarify which you were talking about to be sure, I did it in two places), and I can't make direct adjustments in the RetroArch XMB because I can't open the thing...

Which files did you modify ? One file should be enough - /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg.

And the main problem, no matter what combination I do (I tried one, two and three USB hubs at a time tonight), once I go over a certain number of controllers...like 4 or 5, certain emulators stop loading ROMs. I tested them all with only one controller plugged in and every emulator loaded.

Are the USB hubs powered or you're just powering them from the RPI USB port ? With so many controllers, you need a separate powered hub.

Also, Mitu, if you're up for it, I would be eternally grateful if you would have a second to video chat or something to really just blaze through the issue. I've really drained a lot of time into it the last few months, and I think it's possible to reach an end on what is or isn't possible.

I'm doing enough support for my real job, so I don't think that's going to happen.

EDIT: it seemed an interesting question, so I searched how many USB devices could possibly run on an USB connection - http://www.yoctopuce.com/EN/article/how-many-usb-devices-can-you-connect. You might be hitting some physical limits on connecting so many USB devices on a single USB hub.

If the USB connection is having problems talking to so many devices, you could get some info about it in the system's log - run dmesg when you connect more than 4-5 devices and see if you notice any errors being reported.

tjayhawk32

@mitu Thanks for the reply, I hear you on time.

This paste is an attempt to load Sega Genesis after plugging in several controllers. In MC, many of these lines are in red, but I wasn't able to copy it over like that. Not sure if it matters, but they were almost all in the Retropad section.
https://pastebin.com/tAnNk48h

/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg is the correct file that I changed. But I don't know if 16 is what it's telling me is the max or if it's just a default setting.

I have both powered and unpowered USB hubs here, and both 3.0 and 2.0. All have the same issue. What I tried earlier is splitting the controllers between 3 powered hubs (plugged into different ports on the pi), and got the same result.

Here is the result of dmesg..
https://pastebin.com/HKKeYf3e
The article was an interesting read and now I'm curious about how much the 'full-speed' of the device matters. But I haven't sifted through this one yet...

tjayhawk32

And I just looked up the error at the end of the crash info..

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/11221/runcommand-segmentation-fault-after-update-today/11

I did consider going through and listing everything that was 'unset' to 'disabled'....think that might be it?

mitu

@tjayhawk32 said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

This paste is an attempt to load Sega Genesis after plugging in several controllers. In MC, many of these lines are in red, but I wasn't able to copy it over like that. Not sure if it matters, but they were almost all in the Retropad section.
https://pastebin.com/tAnNk48h

You've used the 'Save/Reset Configuration' from RetroArch - despite my advice not to so - and your BIOS dir doesn't exist anymore

[WARN] SYSTEM DIR is empty, assume CONTENT DIR /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/megadrive/Sonic The Hedgehog (USA, Europe).md
[INFO] Environ SYSTEM_DIRECTORY: "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/megadrive/".

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/11221/runcommand-segmentation-fault-after-update-today/11

I did consider going through and listing everything that was 'unset' to 'disabled'....think that might be it?

I don't know if that old topic's info applies to your error, from the log file you're either missing the BIOS (which is understandable, since your BIOS folder is unset) or the ROM is not correct.

I have both powered and unpowered USB hubs here, and both 3.0 and 2.0. All have the same issue. What I tried earlier is splitting the controllers between 3 powered hubs (plugged into different ports on the pi), and got the same result.

Your dmesg output shows USB bus disconnects, so the configuration is clearly not working because of USB connection getting reset.

tjayhawk32

@mitu said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

You've used the 'Save/Reset Configuration' from RetroArch - despite my advice not to so - and your BIOS dir doesn't exist anymore

I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.. I didn't use RetroArch to do anything recently. In fact, I just reinstalled from source last night. BUT I can't open the GUI still for Retroarch. That crashes also, from the RetroPie Setup screen.

As for the BIOS or the ROM, they all work. If I only plug in a couple of controllers, every single ROM and emulator works.

I'll take a closer look at dmesg, but what I was doing right now is reading about segmentation faults, which appears to be pretty widely varied.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1673/lr-pcsx-rearmed-runcommand-sh-line-804-5728-segmentation-fault-since-3-8/5

I am going to try to turn off auto-config and/or RetroResolution's fix here, real quick.

mitu

I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.. I didn't use RetroArch to do anything recently. In fact, I just reinstalled from source last night. BUT I can't open the GUI still for Retroarch. That crashes also, from the RetroPie Setup screen.

On a default install the SYSTEM_DIR is set to /home/pi/RetroPie/BIOS, your log shows otherwise.

EDIT: if you manually modified the retroarch.cfg, you shouldn't remove the already existing settings.

I'll take a closer look at dmesg, but what I was doing right now is reading about segmentation faults, which appears to be pretty widely varied.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1673/lr-pcsx-rearmed-runcommand-sh-line-804-5728-segmentation-fault-since-3-8/5

Segmentation fault means RetroArch crashed. It's usually a ROM or BIOS issue, but your case it might be related to the joypad connections.

tjayhawk32

@mitu
https://i.imgur.com/1wMJx7x.jpg
https://imgur.com/a/IqH7ZhW

The BIOS directory is there, with a last modified of May 9th.
Something I need to move or change there?

mitu

@tjayhawk32 said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

The BIOS directory is there, with a last modified of May 9th.

I think you misunderstood what I said - you've modified the retroarch.cfg (either editing or using Reset) and RetroArch doesn't know about this folder to search for BIOS files. Look at my previous reply - where I've outlined the lines from the log showing that.

tjayhawk32

@mitu Apologies, I follow.

The reason I said a few lines back that I didn't know 'which' retroarch.cfg to go into might have something to do with this.

I have one here
https://imgur.com/81FbkC3
which is at /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

And this much more complete one
https://imgur.com/DWuZAeA
Which is at /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/retroarch.cfg

Is this unimportant or does the second one need to be a directory back?

EDIT: Also, I'm going to double check this but I am 95% sure this issue of too many controllers = emulator no longer loads is exclusive to the libretro emus, so far with the exception of DGEN which just went to a red screen and paused there.

mitu

@tjayhawk32 said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

And this much more complete one
https://imgur.com/DWuZAeA
Which is at /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/retroarch.cfg

That file is not used by RetroArch on a normal RetroPie installation, only the former.

tjayhawk32

@mitu Ah, so it's at least supposed to be there.

Does the first one look wrong or that it's missing something? Not totally sure what to to next.

tjayhawk32

Here's what I think I'm gonna do today later...
I ordered an external hard drive that I'm going to use for ROMs instead of the SD card I have in there to be able to get more stuff on there.

I was going to try to clone it, but if I just do a complete fresh install, would that fix this controller issue in your reasoning?

And do I need to clear the SD card first? (I have all the ROMs on another external drive...scraping again will suck though.)

And @mitu , I see how many times youre reaching out on here to guys in need of help. You're an all-star, thank you.

mitu

@tjayhawk32 said in Almost finished home RasPi 3B, Issue with Controllers, Need fresh minds:

I was going to try to clone it, but if I just do a complete fresh install, would that fix this controller issue in your reasoning?

Unlikely, this seems like a hardware limitation - but don't take my word for it, since I'm not an USB expert. Out of curiosity, did you try this combination on a PC ? Do all USB controllers get detected and working all at once ?

DetroitKp

@mitu Hi Mitu. Why does 'Save Configuration' in RetroArch or 'Save Configuration on Exit' mess up the controller config? I think that was one way to make controller modifications.