Help! Lr-Mame2003 Coin Buttons Not Mapping

BrockBoyts

Pi Model: Rasp 2
RetroPie Version Used: 3.8.1
USB Devices connected: 2 player Xin-Mo Arcade

Hi everyone. I hope you guys can help.

Goal: I can add coin/credit in a game when I hit my LED coin drop buttons on my arcade cabinet. I want to use Lr-Mame2003 so I can do some custom overlay bezels with Retroarch.

Problem: I am able to map all my inputs in Lr-Mame2003 (when hitting tab) except my coin buttons. When I hit ENTER in the input menu for coin I hit my coin button and nothing happens. Nothing gets assigned as if it isn't detected. I know they are wired properly because I can successfully map them in Mame4All.

I read that retroarch normally maps coin/credit to the select button. However, I am using "select/start" to exit game. Does this mean I will not be able to assign coin/credit to my coin buttons?

A picture of my control panel is below. One of my joysticks is broken so ignore that. The four white buttons on the front are for navigating ES. Player 1 coin button is connected to the #9 pin on player 2 side of the Xin-Mo board and player 2 coin button is connected to the #10 pin on player 2 side too.

Let me know your thoughts if you have any.

Thanks,
Brock

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts buttons can be more than one thing. select can insert coin, and be the hotkey (so can exit the game in combo with the start button).

do you have separate buttons for start/select and coins? this can work, but you'll need to bind the button to something that retroarch understands, but that you don't use for anything else. maybe you could bind player one insert coin to the 'R3' button on the abstracted retropad controller? could you give more info on what your insert coin appears as to the system when pressed? a keyboard button? a joypad button?

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

Thank you for your speedy reply.

I have separate LED buttons for start/select and coins. If you refer to my attached photo in the post, the four white LED buttons on the front of the panel are used for navigation only. I use the two left white LED buttons as "exit emulator" function. I press one (its labeled "mode") to activate the hotkey and the other (labeled "exit") to activate the exit function.

I am using a 2 player Xin-Mo board which is USB. When running jstest player one controls are listed as js0 and each button is represented with a number. Player two controls are listed as js1 and each button is represented with a number. Both coin buttons are connected to the player 2 side (js1) because it has enough available pins.

Where would I go to bind/configure the coin buttons to work with Lr-Mame2003 and Lr-FBA-Next?

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts any libretro core will only see buttons that have been mapped to a 'retropad' button. in retropie, this is done during the initial input configuration when you start it up for the first time. you need to do that and get your insert coin buttons as some otherwise unused buttons (I suggest R3 and L3). then you can map them in mame2003 via the tab button interface.

dankcushions

here's the link for how to repeat the configuration process: https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/RetroArch-Configuration#autoconfigurations

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

Hi. Thank you for your reply. I read through that article before and I am still trying to wrap my mind around about how to do it exactly.

So I will need to located the autoconfig file under configs/all or under configs/mame-libretro and edit it by assigning each coin button to R3 and L3? What would that script look like exactly?

Would editing the configs/all effect every system globally? I don't remember seeing a mame-libretro folder in configs. Do I make one if it is not there?

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts you shouldn't need to edit anything manually - just use the autoconfig in emulationstation described in the linked section :)

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

Hi. Again, thank you for your help. I navigated to where the autoconfigs should be and there are none.

This is what I have:
pi@retropie: /opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch
assets bin overlays retroarch.cfg shader share

In the example video in the link you sent by Floob, he navigated to: /opt/retropie/emulators/RetroArch/configs
and listed all of his game controllers autoconfigs. There he opened the configs and assigned custom hotkeys etc.

Where do I find those configs on my pi (v 3.8.1) and is that the correct place to customize buttons like my coin button?

I currently have my 2 player Xin-Mo configs in the config/all directory (starting on line 490) so it is more of a hardcode way of doing it. Would it be best to delete that and put it in the autoconfig for the Xin-Mo controller? If so, I can't seem to find it.

Thanks!

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts

Retroarch controls have been integrated into EmulationStation and will be the first thing you see when you boot from the RetroPie SD image the first time. You can also access it from the start menu within emulationstation under the configure input option

just do this :) bind your coin buttons as R3 and L3, then open mame2003 and bind insert coin for p1 and 2 via the tab menu.

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

When I hit the start button in ES and access the Main Menu, I go to "Configure Input" and there is no R3 or L3. It only lets me assign to these controls:

D-Pad Up
D-Pad Down
D-Pad Left
D-Pad Right
Start
Select
Bottom
A
B
X
Y
Left Bottom
Right Bottom
Left Top
Right Top
Left Thumb
Right Thumb
Left Analog Up
Left Analog Down
Left Analog Left
Left Analog Right
Right Analog Up
Right Analog Down
Right Analog Left
Right Analog Right

I tried to assign the coin buttons to Left Top and Right top but the buttons were still not being detected in the tap input menu in Mame.

Thoughts?

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts sorry, yeah it's "left thumb" and "right thumb". it doesn't really matter what buttons you pick just as long as it isn't something you already use for your other buttons.

top left (L1) and top right (L2) should be detected, though. not sure what's going on there.

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

Hey. I assigned the coin buttons to "left thumb" and "right thumb" and when I went into Mame to configure under Tab the buttons were still not detected.

I am at a loss too.

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts very strange! can you not reassign insert coin to any of your other buttons via TAB? like the various arcade buttons? (I know this isn't what you ultimately want to do, but it might help troubleshoot)

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

The coin buttons do nothing when I try to assign them in the tab menu for Lr-mame2003. Doesn't matter what button.

I bought a button kit from GameRoomSolutions.com. There is a guide on how to setup the config files to work with their button kit. When I followed these steps everything worked great except the coin buttons. The xin-mo buttons end up being hardcoded in the config/all file which I think might cause issues if I want to use usb snes controllers in the future too.

Do you see anything in this setup that could cause the issue with the coin buttons not able to be assigned in RetroArch/Lr-mame2003?

Link: https://gameroomsolutions.com/raspberry-pi-3-retropie-setup-easy-guide/

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts oh for sure. in fact, manually adjusting the config like that is the wrong thing to do for retropie - the automatic config i linked is the way to do it. now you're left with something of a mess.

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts said in Help! Lr-Mame2003 Coin Buttons Not Mapping:

@dankcushions

The coin buttons do nothing when I try to assign them in the tab menu for Lr-mame2003. Doesn't matter what button.

also, that's not quite what I asked. you need to try other buttons (not the coin buttons). can you assign those as insert coin in mame? if so, that shows that it's your config adjustments being wrong for your insert coin buttons only and not some mame issue.

dankcushions

ok here's the problem - that guide says nothing about your extra 2 insert coin buttons. in the pictures and config it only lists 10 buttons for each player. if you want to add an extra one for each player, and make it behave with this horrible approach they have, you need to add to the config. eg:

input_player1_r3_btn = 10
input_player2_r3_btn = 11

now, I don't know what your setup is - whether these insert coin buttons are isolated to each player (like the face buttons) in which case the number would be the same for each, or whether they are just extra buttons for player1 (like the admin buttons) in which case they will be different numbers for each. I also don't know what number they would be.

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

To better answer your question, I CAN assign other buttons to insert coin in the tab menu in mame. So it isn't mame but my config that is the problem.

I have no desire to stick to gameroomsolutions button setup if it creates problems. In fact, last night I deleted those configs and restored the original default configs when installing retropie 3.8.1. I am starting from scratch and want to do it right.

I am attaching a picture. The numbers in the picture corresond to the pins on the xin-mo board. When I run a jstest on the xin-mo the #1 button is actually listed as #0 button on the raspberry pie. So button 3 is listed as button 2 on the raspberry pie. I hope that makes sense.

If this is the case, would I need to put the config from GameRoomSolutions into the automated config file for each xin-mo (js0 and js1)? I ask because when I do the automated setup on the start menu in ES I don't have any options to setup my 4 navigation buttons.

BrockBoyts

@dankcushions

UPDATE
Good news! I guess I did not delete the es_input.cfg that I made via GameRoomSolutions guide. I deleted the retroarch config and I thought I deleted both but I guess not. Once I deleted it I was good to go.

Now that I have the coin buttons working, where do I map my navigation and hotkeys for my four white LED buttons. I liked how I could bring up menus, exit games and use the mode button for hotkeys like load, save and volume control.

Would I do that in the auto config files?

dankcushions

@BrockBoyts
autoconfigs won't matter if you've got overrides in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg - autoconfigs are used in the absence of any manual configuration. don't change anything - let's work with what you have.

if the two coin buttons are (according to your diagram) player 2 buttons 9 and 10, which come back as player 2 8 and 9 in jstest, then you need to add this to retroarch.cfg, along with all the stuff that you've already added according the guide:

input_player2_r3_btn = 8
input_player2_l3_btn = 9

then they should be bindable in mame, if I'm reading it right!