mk_arcade_joystick_rpi 2 joysticks custom GPIOs

craggus2000

Pi Model: 4B
Power Supply used: official
RetroPie Version Used: 4.7.15
Built From: Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: sometimes keyboard
Controller used: 1/2 2 button joysticks via DB9 connected to GPIOs, USB snes controller, USB keyboard

Hi,
I've just started to migrate retropie from my rpi3 to rpi4. I say migrate, it's a clean install that I'm going to transfer config files over to.
I've started with getting the joysticks working.

On the pi3 that I setup about 3 years ago I was using mk_arcade_joystick_rpi installed from github, using map=4,5 to use custom GPIOs and it worked flawlessly.

However, on the pi4 I'm having an issue getting 2 joysticks to work with the same build.
If I set to map=1 or map=1,2, or map=4 then I can successfully test with jstest.
if I set it to map=4,5 or just map=5 then I get the following error:

modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'mk_arcade_joystick_rpi': No such device

For clarity, this is the line I used on the pi3 in the modprobe.d conf file and would like to use on the pi4:

options mk_arcade_joystick_rpi map=4,5 gpio=17,27,22,24,-1,-1,18,23,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1 gpio2=10,9,11,7,-1,-1,25,8,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1

I have also tried installing the driver from the retropie-setup and get the same error.

I'm not using any GPIO expanders, just the pins on the Pi.

Any help greatly appreciated!

craggus2000

I should have said, I have tried with 0.1.5 , and I believe the version from retropie-setup shows as 0.1.7? Tried both with same error.

Lolonois

@craggus2000 Hi Bender ;-) Another GPIO mk_arcade_joystick user here.

I assume from your config your want to address 13 buttons? (4 for the axis, 9 push buttons).

If yes: Do remove the current mk_arcade_joystick module via retropie_setup.sh script.

Then do change to the retropie-hotkeybtn branch: Edit this file and line inside your ~/RetroPie-Setup folder. Change the last retropie to retropie-hotkeybtn. This selects a different branch.

Afterwards enter the retropie_setup.sh again and install the module mk_arcade_joystick.

Reboot and retry if
a) the module is loaded: sudo lsmod | grep arcade
b) you see some input devices at /dev/input: ls -l /dev/input/js*

Rationale: The current retropie branch expects a MCP23017 (or similar) as GPIO expander. The retropie-hotkeybtn does use "barebone" GPIO.

HTH

craggus2000

@lolonois said in mk_arcade_joystick_rpi 2 joysticks custom GPIOs:

@craggus2000 Hi Bender ;-) Another GPIO mk_arcade_joystick user here.

I assume from your config your want to address 13 buttons? (4 for the axis, 7 push buttons).

If yes: Do remove the current mk_arcade_joystick module via retropie_setup.sh script.

Then do change to the retropie-hotkeybtn branch: Edit this file and line inside your ~/RetroPie-Setup folder. Change the last retropie to retropie-hotkeybtn. This selects a different branch.

Afterwards enter the retropie_setup.sh again and install the module mk_arcade_joystick.

Reboot and retry if
a) the module is loaded: sudo lsmod | grep arcade
b) you see some input devices at /dev/input: ls -l /dev/input/js*

Rationale: The current retropie branch expects a MCP23017 (or similar) as GPIO expander. The retropie-hotkeybtn does use "barebone" GPIO.

HTH

@Lolonois , Thanks very much for that advice, it worked perfectly!

Lolonois

@craggus2000 Thanks for reporting back. Have fun. Please edit your first post and add in the something like [solved], so it is more likely to be picked up by search engines.

Your question made me updating my hint from last year on that topic.