DOSBox games with Thrustmaster USB

shaun57

Does anyone have experience of using a Thrustmaster USB flightstick with DOSBox games (such as F-117A, F-19 Gunship 2000 etc) ?

I cannot get any game to recognise the stick at all.
I've confirmed that Retropie recognises the stick and and it can actually be configured as a joypad in Emulationstation's "Configure Input"
It also shows up normally with "cat /proc/bus/input/devices" in Putty...

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=07b5 Product=0316 Version=0110
N: Name="Thrustmaster, Inc. USB Game Controllers"
P: Phys=usb-0000:01:00.0-1.1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.1/1-1.1:1.0/0003:07B5:0316.000B/input/input21
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event6 js1
B: PROP=0
B: EV=1b
B: KEY=f 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=30007
B: MSC=10

I've tried editing the .conf file and changing "joysticktype" to "FCS" instead of "auto" as suggested but still nothing.
Also tried using the "control F1" keymapper from within the games

any ideas would be most welcome

quicksilver

@shaun57 what specifically isn't working? The joystick won't calibrate? None of the buttons are detected? Try setting the "timed" setting in the dosbox.conf to "false".

shaun57

Nothing is recognised.

For example, when F-117 loads, it immediately asks "do you have a joystick?", answer "y", then "press button 1 on the stick". I tried pressing every button, nothing.

I'll try your suggestion with the timed setting

shaun57

..just tried that, it didn't help unfortunately

quicksilver

@shaun57 can you reset your keymaper and try again? Does the keymaper detect your button presses?

shaun57

@quicksilver The keymapper detects mouse and keyboard button presses, so for example I can select joystick 1 x- and "add", but then nothing when I move the stick or press any of it's buttons

how do I reset the keymapper ?

quicksilver

@shaun57 I think you can just delete the .map file from your PC folder. Do you have any other controllers connected to your pi?

shaun57

@quicksilver Thanks, I've just tried that and it didn't help.

I do have another controller. JS0 is my arcade cabinet controller..

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=16c0 Product=05e1 Version=0110
N: Name="xin-mo.com Xinmotek Controller"
P: Phys=usb-0000:01:00.0-1.3/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3/1-1.3:1.0/0003:16C0:05E1.0001/input/input1
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=event1 js0
B: PROP=0
B: EV=1b
B: KEY=1fff0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=30027
B: MSC=10

the Thrustmaster is JS1. Just tried jstest /dev/input/js1 and I can see all it's buttons, hat and axis are showing up when I use them

shaun57

Not sure if it helps, bur here's the runcommand.log from when I launch F-117A..

Parameters:
Executing: bash /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/+Start\ DOSBox.sh "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0.conf"
/etc/timidity/fluidr3_gm.cfg: No such file or directory
timidity: Error reading configuration file.
Please check /etc/timidity/timidity.cfg
DOSBox version SVN
Copyright 2002-2019 DOSBox Team, published under GNU GPL.

CONFIG: Loading primary settings from config file /home/pi/.dosbox/dosbox-SVN.conf
CONFIG: Loading additional settings from config file /home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc/F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0.conf
ALSA:Client initialised [128:0]
MIDI: Opened device:alsa
Using joystick xin-mo.com Xinmotek Controller with 4 axes, 13 buttons and 1 hat(s)
Using joystick Thrustmaster, Inc. USB Game Controllers with 3 axes, 4 buttons and 1 hat(s)
timidity: no process found

..I have my game .conf files in ROMS/PC and the actual game roms in a seperate folder - ROMS/PC-ROMS
So a game is launched from it's own .conf file with the autoexec entry..

mount C "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/pc-roms/F-117A Nighthawk Stealth Fighter 2.0"
c:
cls
f117.com
exit

quicksilver

@shaun57 I read that dosbox when set to fcs joystick will only recognize the first controller.

shaun57

@quicksilver Thanks, yeah, I tried all the joysticktype settings including 2axis, which is supposed to allow two controllers. Didn't help.

However, this morning I tried renaming the default dosbox-SVN.conf in retropie/configs/pc. I then ran DOSBox again from +Start DOCBox.sh and the screen looked different and the keyboard started generating invalid characters. I quit out and DOSBOX had recreated a new dosbox-SVN.conf. I renamed that one and reinstated the original one then ran it again. All of a sudden the Thrustmaster is recognised ! No idea what has changed. I guess forcing it to recreate a dosbox-SVN.conf must have also caused it to update some other setting file.

Anyway, I'm happy it's working now. Thanks quicksilver for your suggestions.