Zero Delay Encoder, USB Hub, Random /dev/input/js*

elarson

I've debated about getting rid of the individual encoders and going with something like an ipac-4, then I wouldn't need the hub. What's another $65? I could save the individual encoders for a bartop. It'd be nice to get this working though.

mitu

@elarson Since all of them have the same Vendor/Product ID AND Name, there is no way to distinguish between them. RetroArch auto-configuration doesn't support other means of assigning a configuration other than these 2 filters.

One way of doing that is by:

identifying the USB port they're connected
start xboxdrv to rename the controller based on the port you're using (like you've already discovered) and use --detach-kernel-driver to mask the original controller (so you don't have duplicates).

The trick is finding out which /dev/input/js* is Port X and run xboxdrv for the Port X configuration with the appropriate name, so the joysticks detection order done by the OS doesn't affect the mapping. You can see in the 2nd output you posted the Phys line which should get the port # (well some sort of numbering), that would be persistent.

elarson

So in my testing this afternoon, I've broken xboxdrv and the joysticks no longer register as "Joystick Red" etc. when configuring them in Retroarch.

Hopefully xboxdrv wasn't the route route to take. Not sure what I did to get it using xboxdrv last night. I guess that's the problem with staying up till 1 AM trying things.

I've commented out the xboxdrv commands to register the joysticks and removed the xboxdrv driver for now.

elarson

@mitu

I was using the devpath to create symlinks for the encoders, which I think was being consistent, but I haven't tested enough to be positive, but I think it is.

KERNEL=="js[0-9]*", SUBSYSTEM=="input", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0079", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0006", ATTRS{devpath}=="1.1.3.3", SYMLINK+="input/js_blue"

for xboxdrv, I was finding the device by its path

"/opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv" --detach-kernel-driver --evdev "/dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.1.3.3:1.0-event-joystick" --device-name "Joystick Blue" --evdev-keymap "BTN_BASE=a,BTN_BASE3=b,BTN_BASE5=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_TOP2=black,BTN_BASE4=y,BTN_BASE2=x,BTN_PINKIE=white" --evdev-absmap "ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1" --axismap "" --mimic-xpad --silent

elarson

so figured out why xboxdrv wasn't working today. it was a copy-and-paste error.

Got it working with one controller and it loads the game. Going to try two now.

elarson

So xboxdrv seems to be working, but my ROM crashes when I have all four joysticks configured. If I have three of them configured through xboxdrv, it works. But if I add a fourth, the ROM crashes.

You can see the output of my previous runcommand.sh up above.

#red
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv" --detach-kernel-driver --evdev "/dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.1.3.1:1.0-event-joystick" --evdev-keymap "BTN_BASE=a,BTN_BASE3=b,BTN_BASE5=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_TOP2=black,BTN_BASE4=y,BTN_BASE2=x,BTN_PINKIE=white" --evdev-absmap "ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1" --axismap "" --mimic-xpad --silent --device-name "Joystick Red" &

#blue
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv" --detach-kernel-driver --evdev "/dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.1.3.3:1.0-event-joystick" --evdev-keymap "BTN_BASE=a,BTN_BASE3=b,BTN_BASE5=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_TOP2=black,BTN_BASE4=y,BTN_BASE2=x,BTN_PINKIE=white" --evdev-absmap "ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1" --axismap "" --mimic-xpad --silent --device-name "Joystick Blue" &

#green
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv" --detach-kernel-driver --evdev "/dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.1.3.4:1.0-event-joystick" --evdev-keymap "BTN_BASE=a,BTN_BASE3=b,BTN_BASE5=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_BASE4=y,BTN_BASE2=x" --evdev-absmap "ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1" --axismap "" --mimic-xpad --silent --device-name "Joystick Green" &

#yellow
"/opt/retropie/supplementary/xboxdrv/bin/xboxdrv" --detach-kernel-driver --evdev "/dev/input/by-path/platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.1.3.2:1.0-event-joystick" --evdev-keymap "BTN_BASE=a,BTN_BASE3=b,BTN_BASE5=back,BTN_BASE6=start,BTN_BASE4=y,BTN_BASE2=x" --evdev-absmap "ABS_X=y1,ABS_Y=x1" --axismap "" --mimic-xpad --silent --device-name "Joystick Yellow" &

mitu

Can you try by disconnecting the keyboard and the mouse and leaving only the joysticks connected ? I've seen a similar report sometime ago when RA crashes with lots of gamepads connected, I wonder what's the magic number before it crashes.

elarson

@mitu

Unhooking the keyboard and extra gamepad keeps it from crashing.

But not all the joysticks are working in the game. In the lower left, while the ROM starts up, it shows it's initializing the controllers.

DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick
Joystick Red
Joystick Yellow
Joystick Green
Joystick Blue
DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick
DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick

It may have done a fourth DragonRise, maybe I missed two that were back-to-back.

Only players two and four worked, which were Blue and Green respectively. I suspect it used DragonRise devices for players one and three. These are consistent though. It always seems to be players two and four, but it did it with Red and Green on a different boot.

When I configure devices through Retroarch, it shows my xboxdrv names I gave them. I thought the --detach-kernel-driver might help it from registering the DragonRise controllers, but they still register. It'd be nice if I could get rid of these somehow.

mitu

@elarson said in Zero Delay Encoder, USB Hub, Random /dev/input/js*:

When I configure devices through Retroarch, it shows my xboxdrv names I gave them. I thought the --detach-kernel-driver might help it from registering the DragonRise controllers, but they still register. It'd be nice if I could get rid of these somehow.

I had the same impression, but it looks like it's not hiding them. What happens if you remove the .cfg file for the DragonRise controllers , so that only the named controllers are auto-configured ?

elarson

@mitu

It still registered them during initialization of the ROM. Players two and four were still controllable, but this time by yellow and green.

mitu

Well, since all your controller get detected (and configured, it seems), you can re-order them using @meleu's joystick reordering tool - https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-joystick-selection. It can re-order them by name, so you can push back the DragonRise controllers and have your named controller be P1-P4.

But it's getting a bit complicated and I'm not sure if plugging in more controllers wouldn't complicate things further.

elarson

@mitu

Thanks, I had forgotten about that tool. I hadn't used it since I got xboxdrv to rename the inputs.

That works. The only problem I have now is that player 1 (red), when I hit the start button it, it exits the game. Verbose logging has the following once I hit that button, nothing too exciting. Outside the game (I've tried multiple games, all do the same), hitting the red start button brings up the main menu, just like the other players. I've tried reconfiguring red.

[INFO] Unloading game..
[libretro INFO] [MAME 2003] saving mygame.hi hiscore memory file...
[INFO] Unloading core..
[INFO] Unloading core symbols..
[INFO] Saved core options file to "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg"
[INFO] Threaded video stats: Frames pushed: 1919, Frames dropped: 1.

mitu

@elarson said in Zero Delay Encoder, USB Hub, Random /dev/input/js*:

The only problem I have now is that player 1 (red), when I hit the start button it, it exits the game

That seems like a you've not set the hotkey for that controller and start maps to the exit hotkey. Post the .cfg auto-configuration file for that controller.

elarson

@mitu

That's what I was thinking too. I compared it to my blue joystick, which works fine, and they're identical (other than input_device name). I wired each of the controller sets up to the encoders the same way, skipping spots if they didn't have a particular button. But blue and red have the same buttons.

If I take out input_exit_emulator_btn, then it doesn't exit the emulator when I press red's start. But it also doesn't exit when I press both Select + Start. If I take it out of red's, but leave it in the others, it was exiting the emulator when I pressed Start on another controller (only tried one, not all of them)
input_exit_emulator_btn = "7"

input_device = "Joystick Red"
input_driver = "udev"
input_l_btn = "5"
input_load_state_btn = "5"
input_start_btn = "7"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "7"
input_down_axis = "+1"
input_r_btn = "4"
input_save_state_btn = "4"
input_right_axis = "+0"
input_state_slot_increase_axis = "+0"
input_select_btn = "6"
input_left_axis = "-0"
input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "-0"
input_up_axis = "-1"
input_a_btn = "0"
input_b_btn = "1"
input_reset_btn = "1"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "6"
input_x_btn = "2"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "2"
input_y_btn = "3"

input_device = "Joystick Blue"
input_driver = "udev"
input_l_btn = "5"
input_load_state_btn = "5"
input_start_btn = "7"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "7"
input_down_axis = "+1"
input_r_btn = "4"
input_save_state_btn = "4"
input_right_axis = "+0"
input_state_slot_increase_axis = "+0"
input_select_btn = "6"
input_left_axis = "-0"
input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "-0"
input_up_axis = "-1"
input_a_btn = "0"
input_b_btn = "1"
input_reset_btn = "1"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "6"
input_x_btn = "2"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "2"
input_y_btn = "3"

elarson

@mitu

I may be able to live with it. I over did it with the buttons and can wire a dedicated exit button. I can wire the exit button to player one and modify the config files to not have an exit button.

If you have any other suggestions, I'd be open. But otherwise, thank you for all your help with this!

mitu

The mapping is ok, so Start+Select should exit - I don't know why it wouldn't work. P1 is the only one able to exit or toggle the menu - that's how RetroArch works - but there might be some confusion on the RA's part because of duplicate inputs from the original controller and the virtual (xboxdrv) one.

mitu

One idea - to hide the original controllers - is to change the permissions on the /dev/input/eventX files corresponding to the original controllers - removing the input group read/write permissions on those devices.
That would work only if you start xboxdrv as root.

dsstrainer

@elarson
Go with Xarcade's encoder. https://shop.xgaming.com/collections/arcade-parts/products/x-arcade-build-your-own-arcade-control-panel-kit
It's a keyboard encoder and has a proper harness. $35 (for the 2018 model) and supports a full keyboard of keys which would give enough for 4 players as you can simply map up to 101 keys to movements. It's the same one used in their Tanksticks.

But don't use the xarcade userdriver found here as that just converts it into a joystick instead of keyboard, but retroarch doesn't allow as many features with joypads as it does with keyboards so its pointless and de-features it. Plus you can default keyboard as the primary device and it won't get confused as "just another gamepad" and get out of order. I did one of my units with that encoder and it's the best encoder I've used.

My second unit was with 2 ZD's and they work great normally.. its just when plugging in 2 additional gamepads... rpi gets confused suddenly one which is supposed to be index 0 and 1.

elarson

@dsstrainer

How can you hook up 101 inputs? There are only 54 (by my count) male connections, and 11 of those I assume are daisy-chained grounds.

elarson

@mitu

But the /dev/input/event* are random so I can't script it to disable those. I could probably do it for testing. Or if I was better a Linux...