Mame button mapping conflicting with Retroarch button mapping

xman1

Has anyone found a fix for retroarch button mapping conflicting with MAME button mapping? I have to disable the Retroarch button mapping to get things to work right.

Example in Asteroids Deluxe. I hit the shield button, but it also engages thrusters because mame has it mapped to thrusters and Retroarch has it mapped to shields.

I have searched Google looking for an answer. I can't be the only one with this problem.

dankcushions

@xman1 please provide all the info requested here when seeking support: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

xman1

@dankcushions Sorry as I didn't think it applies as I am getting no error and it is not Raspberry Pi version specific so didn't include anything beyond MAME as that is really the issue.

Adding the requested info:

The Pi I have is a 4B 4GB

Emulator was mentioned previous MAME and all versions of the LR MAME

Let me add Retropie 4.7.1 - The Pi 4B version of it.

Controller was the keyboard

xman1

I think the simple solution would be a quick way to disable all the controls for MAME at one time and use only the Retropie configs. Is there a way to do that?

My thought is that Retroarch should override the MAME controls that MAME defaults to, but apparently it does not.

dankcushions

@xman1 said in Mame button mapping conflicting with Retroarch button mapping:
the info is always relevant for all support questions.

Controller was the keyboard

this is the issue. many mame cores still take in the raw keyboard inputs, as well as what you have bound as retropad buttons during initial setup.

with mame2003 you can adjust this via a core option: Input interface - changing it to retropad will mean only your keyboard keys bound to the retropad mapping will work, and setting it to keyboard will mean only mame will read the keys directly (and the bindings are then adjusted via mame menu. you probably want it set to retropad

lr-mame2003-plus probably works the same way, but other mame cores are a mixed bag and probably will only work right if you nul all your retropad bindings for them.

xman1

@dankcushions Thanks. That is exactly what I was looking for.

dankcushions

@xman1 said in Mame button mapping conflicting with Retroarch button mapping:

I think the simple solution would be a quick way to disable all the controls for MAME at one time and use only the Retropie configs. Is there a way to do that?

My thought is that Retroarch should override the MAME controls that MAME defaults to, but apparently it does not.

i agree with you there. IMO the core option should default to 'retropad' as the current default of 'simultaneous' is only useful for those who had a keyboard and are using retroarch without any retropad bindings, who surely are outnumbered by those who have both, like yourself.

(i'm even more hardline - i would disable the old mame bindings and force retroarch cores to use retroarch bindings... but that's another story!)

mahoneyt944

@dankcushions we had a lot of users complain that the tab key on the keyboard wasn't working, so simultaneous is enabled as default. Ideally I'd like to only enable retropad but allow tab still.

Riverstorm

@dankcushions said in Mame button mapping conflicting with Retroarch button mapping:

Input interface - changing it to retropad will mean only your keyboard keys bound to the retropad mapping will work

Not necessarily true. You still have to consider Retropad to core remap. It can nul the input if configured incorrectly.

other mame cores are a mixed bag and probably will only work right if you nul all your retropad bindings for them.

It seems you could just as easily nul the MAME remaps and stick with the Retropad bindings.

the current default of 'simultaneous' is only useful for those who had a keyboard and are using retroarch without any retropad bindings.

Not true at all. I would think the same here for simultaneous, you could nul your MAME maps and use Retropad bindings only. The benefit is if you have a specific game that uses sticks, dials, wheels, paddles, pedals, etc., or whatever is unsupported by Libretro, you'll still have access to the MAME menu to configure it. In addition to the full benefit of the Retropad bindings, keyboard or controller.

Retropad vs. keyboard. Keyboard would be the last one I would choose due to the loss of controller input. You don't necessarily need to configure controller input, if you don't need it, but it's there when you do.

I wouldn't gut the MAME menu until more of the input functionality is ported into the Libretro cores. I agree for the beginner, defaulting the setting to Retropad might make a better OOBE but if you need a particular specialized input, for a favorite game, you'll probably fall back to simultaneous or keyboard to get to the MAME menu.

You could also align the raw and Retropad bindings to avoid "double actions" but you would get sub-optimal layouts on either your control panel or controller.

If you used both, you wouldn't be able to have both set exactly as you want. Take for example a pinball game or like Toobin'. Open on the control panel but fixed on the controller equals terrible button layouts but doing one device or the other would work fine in getting a decent layout.

On cores that don't have those options you can nul one set of inputs or turn on focus mode. I think when Mark added those options if opened up a lot more flexibility that just wasn't possible before and most of us didn't understand the input mechanism at the time and "ghost inputs" as we called them back then.