How can I make the controller send keypresses?

WesleyBidsnipes

I followed instructions on how to set up gnash to play Flash games. And I was a little surprised when I got it to work... Trogdor comes up and I see the opening screen and hear the music.

However, it was always a keyboard-based game (as many of the Flash games are, the rest probably being mouse-based).

Is there a way to have the controller send key presses? I'd need to have the d-pad send arrow keys, and maybe the start button to send the space keystroke.

Also (and I don't know if this is a related problem), but when I try to exit out by pressing the start+select, it will not exit out of gnash (unlike with the other emulators). What should I check for that?

mitu

@WesleyBidsnipes Probably using xboxdrv - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Universal-Controller-Calibration-%26-Mapping-Using-xboxdrv/

WesleyBidsnipes

I've been able to get xboxdrv installed... and I think I understand which command line switches I need for this.

But it can only run once X is up and running (not a problem, gnash needs it too). My emulators.cfg looks like this:

gnash = "sudo xinit -e 'gnash %ROM% -j 640 -k 480 --hide-menubar' -- :0"
default = "gnash"

But I don't know how to have this run after X has already started. Simply appending it to the command with a semicolon fails (X probably hasn't initialized yet, and it flunks out). What would be the best way to do this?

mitu

Running sudo with a X is a bad idea - you certainly don't need it in order to make it work. With a recent version of RetroPie, prefix the command with XINIT: and runcommand will take care of launching the game properly, starting X beforehand.

gnash = "XINIT:gnash %ROM% -j 640 -k 480 --hide-menubar"
default = "gnash"

But I don't know how to have this run after X has already started.

How are you running xboxdrv ? Is it running as service/demon or via onstart/onend ?
Try adding the xboxdrv command to $HOME/.xesssionrc and make sure you're adding a & at the end (background execution).

WesleyBidsnipes

@mitu .xsessionrc doesn't seem to execute. Does it need to be chmod +x? I've got the game up on the screen now, and when I do ps ax I don't see the xboxdrv process... and it's not showing in the /dev/shm files either.

The XINIT: prefix seems to work though, it will still bring up the game at least as well as it did before.