USB Encoder Mapping

bpm009

I think I'm making some progress, I came across another thread using jslisten to run a script on button press. I think combining this with dedicating the "1 button controller" as P4 always I should be able to create a workaround. Where do I find the RetroArch exit script so I can use it in my script? If this works I'll post the entire solution in one reply.

mitu

@bpm009 said in USB Encoder Mapping:

Where do I find the RetroArch exit script so I can use it in my script? If this works I'll post the entire solution in one reply.

Look in the topic that I linked.

bpm009

I see that the script has to be created. In the topic they require a "Pause" command which looks to be "Pause_Toggle". What is the command for "Exit Emulator"?

bpm009

Just as a test I also tried the setup you mentioned in the linked post and I also was unable to get P to pause the game. I did check with systemctl that the service was running on startup.

mitu

@bpm009 said in USB Encoder Mapping:

I see that the script has to be created. In the topic they require a "Pause" command which looks to be "Pause_Toggle". What is the command for "Exit Emulator"?

The command is QUIT (full list of commands is here).

Just as a test I also tried the setup you mentioned in the linked post and I also was unable to get P to pause the game

Does it work if you run the script manually ?

bpm009

Run the pause script manually? I know that I can return to emulation station through the terminal but can I start a game in an emulator, enter the terminal to run the script and return back to the game? If so I'm not sure on the process sorry. I'm willing to give it a shot if I can find out how.

mitu

@bpm009 You can use SSH to run commands on the PI, without needing a keyboard.

bpm009

Ok, using SSH I ran the script and it did not send a pause command to the game running.

Just to clarify, I went into the SSH terminal to the directory and entered ./pause-ra.sh which I believe is the correct method.

I used the code you explained in the other post shown below for the pause-ra.sh script.

#!/bin/bash
echo -n "PAUSE_TOGGLE" | nc -d -u -w1 127.0.0.1 55355

mitu

@bpm009 OK, did you modify the retroarch.cfg file to enable network input, like explained in the post ?

bpm009

Yes, I added the following line to the end of the retroarch.cfg file.

network_cmd_enable = "true"

mitu

@bpm009 said in USB Encoder Mapping:

#!/bin/bash
echo -n "PAUSE_TOGGLE" | nc -d -u -w1 127.0.0.1 55355

Modify the script to

#!/bin/bash
echo -n "PAUSE_TOGGLE" | nc -u -w1 127.0.0.1 55355

I think I added an extra parameter that doesn't do what it should.

bpm009

Still no luck when running the script directly.

mitu

Works for me - are you sure you're running a RetroArch emulator ? What game are you starting and what emulator appears in the launch command message ?

bpm009

Not 100% sure.I am running super mario kart and the SNES9X emulator.

mitu

When you start the game, there's the launch command 'splash', displaying the game and the emulator run:

What does it say when you start yours ?

bpm009

Mine says Super Mario Kart (USA) lr-snes9x2010.

mitu

Then it's using lr-snes9x2010 as emulator, which is a RetroArch core. I don't understand why it's not working - you can try adding the RetroArch network input config to \\retropie\configs\snes\retroarch.cfg, just in case you saved the configuration from the RGUI.

bpm009

Ok, good to know. I added the network input config to the snes config file. That still shouldn't have mattered when running the pause-ra.sh script in the terminal because isn't that simply running the PAUSE command the same as if I were running it in the game?

Edit: Ignore what I said above, that did the trick, I must have edited some configuration through the RGUI as you mentioned. You are awesome mitu. Can confirm everything from running in the terminal to pressing the P key does what it should do.

bpm009

Now for my usecase I need to find a way to replace KEY_P 1 with a controller button that I want to have linked to a dedicated P4 or P5 (if possible) position. If I assigned the KEY_P to say "button 11" which no other controller of mine has, that should work right?

mitu

It should work, though you'll have to find out the event that triggers that. To find out the the right event, you need to:

get the event device for the controller. Run cat /proc/bus/input/devices and note the /dev/input/eventX device of the controller you want to use. Let's say is /dev/input/event2.
run thd --dump /dev/input/event2 from the terminal. Press the button and the event shold be shown on the screen:

thd --dump /dev/input/event2
EV_KEY  BTN_B   1       /dev/input/event2
# BTN_B 1       command

Press Ctrl+C to stop.
The event name is shown on the 2nd (commented) line - BTN_B, since I pressed the B button on my gamepad. Replace the KEY_P with the corresponding BTN_ event and it should work. Make sure to restart the service after re-configuration (sudo systemctl restart triggerhappy).