NES Zapper Config - cant replicate between two images.

icebear81

Pi4 / RretropIe v4.71

OK .. Im feeling REALLY stupid. Ive built two images up from scratch. One is working how I'd like, the other is not. Maybe someone will give me that lightbulb moment.

On one image, when I go into DuckHunt, the trigger STARTS the game. This is what I want. On the other image, the trigger changes the GAME MODE [the trigger does work once in the game]. The PI is the same, just swapping the SD card.

I thought I had the basics of Retroarch decent. Ive verified that the main Retroarch config, the game over-ride config, as well as the remap file are the same

/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg
/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch/config/FCEUmm/'Duck Hunt (World).cfg'
/opt/retropie/configs/nes/FCEUmm/Duck\ Hunt\ (World).rmp

More than likely I poked something on the woking one, and I can't quite figure out what it is. Am I missing another config file somewhere? The ~/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg is also the same.

I know I can just copy the working card. I'd like to unravel this and learn a little more about the intricacies of all these configs.

Thanks a lot! ..

YFZdude

@icebear81
I think this is related to a RetroArch core setting about Lightgun Mode or Zapper Mode wherein there are some choices. You should be able to choose mouse, touchscreen or zapper.

I think what happens is when you have mouse/touchscreen selected, you can use a mouse or other input and move the on screen cursor and it works about like you expect.
But if you have zapper selected, the cursor is not registering its proper coordinates and acts as if it is "off screen" or pointed away from the TV.

icebear81

@yfzdude Thanks for the reply.

They are both registered as ZAPPER -- I will def. double check this.

I thought about this as well, and I tried to set all the offscreen settings as disabled. That wasnt happy either.

Will check the mode setting, but thought they were the same

YFZdude

@icebear81
To clarify, I was able to sit down in front of my machine to get a more specific list of what I meant in case you are still working on this.

Quick Menu -> Options -> Zapper Mode is what you should look for. It can be set to lightgun, mouse, or touchscreen (at least in lr-fceumm). If this is set to lightgun, it would probably cause the symptom you are describing where it can select game modes but never start the game.

The other option inside Quick Menu -> Controls -> Port 2 Controls -> Device Type can either be left on Auto or set to Zapper. Both should work.

EDIT: The config file where this gets saved appears to be /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg

icebear81

@YFZdude Thank you - and sorry for the slow reply. I just was able to get in front of the PI and checked the config on both images.

Quick Menu -> Options -> Zapper Mode is set for lightgun on both.

For the life of me, I can not find where the difference is between these two configs. Its really frustrating. Thank you for the ideas!

YFZdude

@icebear81
What device are you using as your zapper?
I've only used a mouse before and to do that properly I had to change the setting to mouse.

One config file I didn't see you mention is
/opt/retropie/configs/nes/retroarch.cfg
so maybe check that one for a system override.

icebear81

@yfzdude using a SINDEN lightgun .. works great on the one config, but cant figure out the magic bit I flipped to get the trigger to START ... I think I just need to chaulk this up to RETROARCH kicking my ass

YFZdude

@icebear81
Nice. I want to get a Sinden lightgun sometime. I guess I'm out of ideas since I haven't used one before. I thought I read on his site that you have to install some custom software or driver to make it work with the border around the screen.

Maybe someone else who has one might have some ideas. To me it sounds like there is some configuration specific to the way the lightgun detects whether it is pointed at the screen or not. On the original NES Zapper it would select game modes if pointed away from the screen and start one if it was pointed at the screen.