Need help with EG STARTS 2 player joystick/button controllers

smilker

Hello,
I cannot get my EG STARTS 2 player controllers to work in retropie.

This is the controller I purchased on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/EG-STARTS-Joystick-Illuminated-MIX/dp/B01N09SO20

Both player 1 and 2 controllers are working in EmulationStation and are configured fine there. It’s when I try to map the controls in arcade (Mame) emulators when I run into the problems and cannot get player 2 to work. I can get player 1 to work but not player 2. I want 2 player for games like mortal kombat, Pac-Man, Rampage, terminator 2, all the retro games.
Another issue I have seen... there are times where I will see the lightning bolt low power warning indicator for retropie. Is this because the led buttons need more power? Is the low power the source of the problem? Do I need to purchase a powered usb hub for the raspberry pie because my buttons are LED and need more power?
Does anyone have good directions or videos on the internet to follow that you could share with me?
I have found some good resources and I am so close to finding a solution but need help.

Attached is a photo of what I have built so far out of poster board and hot glue, I’m trying to figure out where I want to place all my buttons, joysticks, trackball, etc. Eventually I will build my control board in mdf board and then one day a cabinet. But for now I just want to get up and running so I can do more retro gaming.
Thanks in advance for any help.

mitu

@smilker said in Need help with EG STARTS 2 player joystick/button controllers:

Both player 1 and 2 controllers are working in EmulationStation and are configured fine there. It’s when I try to map the controls in arcade (Mame) emulators when I run into the problems and cannot get player 2 to work. I can get player 1 to work but not player 2. I want 2 player for games like mortal kombat, Pac-Man, Rampage, terminator 2, all the retro games.

Which arcade emulator ? There are several arcade emulators in RetroPie - some of them are running under RetroArch (lr-mame2003, lr-mame2010, lr-fbneo), some are standalone (advmame, mame4all).

If the gamepads are recognized and configured in EmulationStation, they should also be automatically configured in RetroArch. Do they appear as 2 gamepads or just one ?

Another issue I have seen... there are times where I will see the lightning bolt low power warning indicator for retropie. Is this because the led buttons need more power? Is the low power the source of the problem? Do I need to purchase a powered usb hub for the raspberry pie because my buttons are LED and need more power?

Not sure if the LEDs are what's causing the voltage warning, but the under-voltage warning (the lightning flash) means you need a better power source. What are you using right now ? You didn't give any indication of what hardware are you using (besides the controller) - please add more info as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

tackett1980

@smilker

@mitu gave you solid information.

I have a few inklings of the issue some simple some not so much but it’s hard to really say without more details.

Where are your encoder boards plugged into on the pi? There Are assigned ports for them.

1,2
3,4

I believe. I’m not 100-% sure at the moment.

Try changing your player 2 USB port on the pi until it works.

smilker

@mitu thank you for your response, for the arcade emulator I believe lr-mame-2003 is the emulator. Most of the ROMS which are retro games that I play are in the arcade folder.
I will have to try plugging player 2 into another port like you suggested thank you. According to your diagram my Player 1 encoder board is plugged into 1, player 2 encoder board is plugged Into position 3 directly below 1.
1 2
3 4

The power source I am using is from Vilros, looks to be 2.5A
https://vilros.com/products/vilros-raspberry-pi-3-model-b-b-plus-retro-arcade-gaming-kit-with-2-gamepads-fan-cooled-retro-gaming-case

If you have any good videos or tutorials you suggest I will follow them, I did find some but not sure if they are good resources.

smilker

@tackett1980 thanks for your response, wow I did not know the encoder boards needed to be plugged into a specific USB port on the pie. I found this video on YouTube and they labeled the ports
0 2
1 3

I wish this would be more straightforward. Do you suggest any tutorials/videos that I should follow? Thank for your assistance.

Here are some more videos I found but not sure they are good resources.

tackett1980

@smilker

I mean you can just futz with it and see if it works.

Turn a game on like Mortal Kombat or something where you know the player 2 encoder board isn’t working.

Then just keep sticking it in different slots to see if one of them works.

When you go to configure inputs does it detect the encoder board?

smilker

@tackett1980 thank you I will try the other slots, I believe retropie can see the second controller but maybe it thinks that it’s a duplicate? I wish this was more straightforward and I had some good directions to follow its very time consuming but I always wanted a retro arcade.

Did you follow any good tutorials/videos?

tackett1980

@smilker

I mean you really don’t need a tutorial, I think your making it more difficult than it needs to be.

Plug player 1 one encoder up to port 0
The player 2 in Port 1

If the player 1 controller is working and you set it up right on initial boot, then all you need to do is hit either select or start (can’t remember which one) and go down to configure inputs.

It will say 2 controllers detected, hold a button on the player 2 controller and set that one up like you did the player 1 controller.

That’s really all there is to it.

rabanks51

@smilker Hi there. I am having similar issues with EGSTARTS joystick and buttons. Actually, you have made it much further. I am still not able to get even one controller to map properly.

Do you mind sharing where you found info on getting these set up? The EmulationStation configuration seems to work to some extent, but doesn't work properly for me in games.

Thank you.