Joystick not working in emulators

fatfei

Hi,

I'm a novice to retropie. I've been searching for help to this on the forums but all the issues I've looked for answers to only relates to controllers not working (mapping)

My issue is a bit different. I built a ten button joystick. Installed retropie on a pie 4. First thing I did in retropie settings is configured all my buttons and stick. All of which worked & registered with retropie. I can use all buttons including 'A' button on retropie.
However. As soon as I load roms, whether it be super Nintendo or nur the 'A' button for one (maybe more) doesn't work! For example I can't load Mario kart on either SNES or nur & use the 'A' button to load the games but in the game "A" does work, so when I begin to play, all I can do is jump & turn (no acceleration which I believe is the "A"button)

I was thinking of just flashing the SD card again but anyone who knows there issue & could advise me I'd appreciate it.

Many thanks in advanced.

Fei

mitu

Please add more info about your setup, as detailed in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

Can you give more details about how your joystick is built ? Is it recognized as a gamepad or as a keyboard ?

When you're configuring your joystick/gamepad in EmulationStation, a RetroArch configuration profile (.cfg file) is written in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads. Can you post the contents of that file ? I assume that you're using RetroArch, with a lr-xyz emulator, for your SNES game, so the configuration file will show how the buttons/inputs are mapped for that emulator.

fatfei

@fatfei

Hi,

I assume its a joystick. when i plugged it in it said joy stick connected do you want to configure it.
Here is the contents from the file.

input_device = "DragonRise Inc.   Generic   USB  Joystick  "
input_driver = "udev"
input_enable_hotkey_btn = "8"
input_up_axis = "+1"
input_left_axis = "+0"
input_state_slot_decrease_axis = "+0"
input_select_btn = "8"
input_select_btn_label = "Select"
input_r2_btn = "1"
input_right_axis = "-0"
input_state_slot_increase_axis = "-0"
input_r_btn = "5"
input_r_btn_label = "R"
input_save_state_btn = "5"
input_down_axis = "-1"
input_start_btn = "9"
input_start_btn_label = "Start"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "9"
input_a_btn = "3"

It is retroarch that it is using.
Here is the config file from that...

# Settings made here will only override settings in the global retroarch.cfg if placed above the #include line

input_remapping_directory = "/opt/retropie/configs/snes/"

#include "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg"

Heres the emulators file also contained in snes

lr-snes9x2005 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x2005/snes9x2005_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
lr-snes9x2010 = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x2010/snes9x2010_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
lr-snes9x = "/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-snes9x/snes9x_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg %ROM%"
default = "lr-snes9x"

im using a raspberry pie 4 with 2gb ram model b.
5v supplier. ive also plugged in a keyboard.

the joystick and buttons were just bought online. it was literally the buttons and joystick with a circuit board, usb connector the other end and wires to connect the circuit board to each button

Best regards

fei

mitu

The configuration file seems ok. Are you using the default RetroPie image or some other image ?

fatfei

@mitu default.

I had to download the latest version then browse and flash it from the raspberry pie flashing software rather than use the raspberry pie version on the flashing software. The latest version on there doesn't work with the latest build of raspberry pie 4 for some reason. ( I bought the pie just last week)

Thorr69

@fatfei @mitu
Perhaps this is a side effect of the standard A-B button swap option? I would check to see if the A button functionality is found on the B button during game play. You might just need to disable the A-B swap through the menu options.

fatfei

@fatfei the only thing I can think of is that I did reconfigure the buttons in the retropie settings a few times to get it the way I wanted. Could something had corrupted?

I run RM /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg
to reconfigure my joypad previously.

fatfei

@thorr69 yeah I think I'll try to swap the buttons and see how that goes.

Thorr69

@fatfei @mitu
Also, I see mapping for the A button (input_a_btn = "3") but I don't see an entry for the B button. If the A/B swap is happening and there is no B button mapped, then I could see this whole predicament happening.

Thorr69

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

@thorr69 yeah I think I'll try to swap the buttons and see how that goes.

That's not what I am saying. There is an automatic swap of the A and B buttons that happens when you launch a game. There is a menu option (don't recall where exactly) to disable it. It's mentioned in many threads like this one: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/162448
Also here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/post/92928

This one has the menu sequence in it:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6379/swap-a-b-button-in-emulationstation?_=1646246563253

fatfei

@thorr69 ah I see. Yeah vaguely remember seeing something like that. But I don't think they're swapping because the functionality for the A button (eg. Acceleration in mario kart) isn't available no matter what button I push. I.e no button takes on the function of the "A" button in the games

Sorry forget that last part, so you're saying it may be swapping but that button not mapping.

Okay thanks. I'll have a look for those settings and see what happens.

Thanks a lot 👍

BuZz

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

I run RM /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg
to reconfigure my joypad previously.

You shouldn't remove /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg This file needs to contain some information by default to trigger RetroArch configuration. Without it, if you reconfigure a joypad in emulationstation RetroArch will not be updated. By default it contains

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
  <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
</inputList>

You can reset this file back to default via RetroPie-Setup -> Configuration / Tools -> emulationstation -> 1 Clear/Reset Emulation Station input configuration

mitu

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

I run RM /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg
to reconfigure my joypad previously.

That's not the proper way to reset your input configuration, the RetroArch configuration profile is probably not updated because of this. It's enough to re-configure your joystick from EmulationStation and this will automatically re-configure the emulators.

EDIT: ninja's by @buzz :)

fatfei

@mitu ah, okay. This was when I first setup the retropie. I couldn't access the settings because I made a mistake with the mapping and it wouldn't let me back into settings to remap.

So I need to update this then?

mitu

@fatfei See @BuZz's reply -exit EmulationStation and re-create the file you erased with the content posted, then start again the configuration (since now you'll have an empty one).

fatfei

@buzz said in Joystick not working in emulators:

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

I run RM /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg
to reconfigure my joypad previously.

You shouldn't remove /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input_cfg This file needs to contain some information by default to trigger RetroArch configuration. Without it, if you reconfigure a joypad in emulationstation RetroArch will not be updated. By default it contains
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
  <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
</inputList>
You can reset this file back to default via RetroPie-Setup -> Configuration / Tools -> emulationstation -> 1 Clear/Reset Emulation Station input configuration

Well that fixed it! Thank you 😀😀😀

Side note, it's really weird that now pie settings display options are so much smaller than the in game display. I'm sure that's something I can play around with.

But thank you all so much. Really greatful for that & I also learn quite a bit and discovered quite a lot of options I shall read up on & play around with .

Best regards

Fei

fatfei

@fatfei ah, sorted the small font in settings too.

😀

sleve_mcdichael

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

Side note, it's really weird that now pie settings display options are so much smaller than the in game display. I'm sure that's something I can play around with.

You can increase the console font size in RetroPie-Setup > Configuration/tools > consolefont or from terminal with command sudo dpkg-reconfigure console-setup:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/FAQ/#how-can-i-increase-the-console-font-size

fatfei

@sleve_mcdichael thanks all sorted although I've got problems with the n64 emulator. I can move the joy stock to select different characters but when it comes to a race, I can't turn. I randomly chose another bye game and the stick doesn't work on that either.

It works fine on the SNES. I'll take a look on Google later to see what I can configure.👍

YFZdude

@fatfei said in Joystick not working in emulators:

I can move the joy stock to select different characters but when it comes to a race, I can't turn. I randomly chose another bye game and the stick doesn't work on that either.

I think this is because the N64 games were set up to only use the analog stick. If you mapped your joystick to the UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT buttons, then that is the same as using the D-Pad. The analog stick has separate mappings. Something like Left Analog Up, etc.