Retropie on Ubuntu: Controller working in emulationstation but not retroarch

submarine

Hi everybody,

I installed Retropie on my regular Ubuntu 22 by following these instructions:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Debian/?h=ubuntu

Everything installed properly. I inserted a basic USB controller and I configured it in emulationstation without any problem. However, when I start a game, the controller does not work at all and the screen is briefly showing this message:

USB Gamepad (121/17) not configured

If I go into the Retropie menu and then Retroarch, the Retroarch GUI starts but the controller does not work and I get the same message as above.

Any idea about what it going on?

Thanks for your help!

WhiteT982

@submarine
Those numbers are vendor/product ids and need to be added to the controller config. In the .cfg files for the controllers, located in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads add the following lines

input_vendor_id="121”
input_product_id="17”

Also check for spaces before and after controller names (disconnecting the controller after starting a game helped me to see spaces easily. Some controllers had two spaces at the end or beginning). These must match the input name inside the config file exactly. It’ll be the name at the very top of the file.

mitu

@WhiteT982 said in Retropie on Ubuntu: Controller working in emulationstation but not retroarch:

Those numbers are vendor/product ids and need to be added to the controller config. In the .cfg files for the controllers, located in /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads add the following lines

Latest RetroPie-Setup should have added the IDs to the controller profile (.cfg file). @submarine can you post the contents of the configuration file of the controller, from the opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads/ folder ?

submarine

Thanks @mitu ,

I my /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads directory, there is only file named Twin USB Joystick.cfg. I think that file is not for my current controller but a previous one I tried. The input_vendor_id and input_product_id do not match the USB joypad I am trying to use now.

My current joypad is clearly configured to run properly in Emulationstation...

Any idea?

mitu

@submarine Did you disable the joystick auto-configuration in EmulationStation, from RetroPie-Setup ?

WhiteT982

@mitu
I just redid my Ubuntu installation in June and still had problems with the ids. Had they been added since then or should I look into updating my retropie-setup?

Not a big deal for me since mine is working fine just wondered if maybe I was missing something.

mitu

@WhiteT982 said in Retropie on Ubuntu: Controller working in emulationstation but not retroarch:

I just redid my Ubuntu installation in June and still had problems with the ids. Had they been added since then or should I look into updating my retropie-setup?

The code for EmulationStation was added back in April and RetroPie-Setup was modified about the same time.

submarine

Hi @mitu ,

I certainly didn't do that intentionally... How can I check? I can't see such a menu in RetroPie-Setup...

Cheers!

mitu

@submarine said in Retropie on Ubuntu: Controller working in emulationstation but not retroarch:

How can I check? I can't see such a menu in RetroPie-Setup...

Go into 'Configuration -> Emulationstation' from RetroPie-Setup. Check if 'Auto Configuration' is enabled.

submarine

All right, thanks @mitu . Yes, it is enabled.

mitu

@submarine Then I don't understand why the configuration profile is not correctly created. Can run emulationstation from a terminal with

emulationstation --debug

then try again to configure your input. If the .cfg file is not created in the aforementioned folder (/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads), then post the contents of $HOME/.emulationstation/es_log.txt on pastebin.com and provide the link.

Can you also post the output of the following command:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices

directly in this topic ?

submarine

Hi @mitu,

I started emulationstation in debug mode and reconfigured the joypad. No new file is created in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads directory.

Here are the logs from emulationstation: https://pastebin.com/tkzHrZES

Here is the output of cat /proc/bus/input/devices: https://pastebin.com/9WwU8ade

The last entry is the USB joypad.

Any idea?

mitu

@submarine Can you also post the contents of the $HOME/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg file ?

submarine

Hi @mitu ,

Sure:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
	<inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="Twin USB Joystick" vendorId="2064" productId="1" deviceGUID="03000000100800000100000010010000">
		<input name="a" type="button" id="1" value="1" />
		<input name="b" type="button" id="2" value="1" />
		<input name="down" type="axis" id="1" value="1" />
		<input name="hotkeyenable" type="button" id="8" value="1" />
		<input name="left" type="axis" id="0" value="-1" />
		<input name="leftshoulder" type="button" id="6" value="1" />
		<input name="lefttrigger" type="button" id="4" value="1" />
		<input name="right" type="axis" id="0" value="1" />
		<input name="rightshoulder" type="button" id="7" value="1" />
		<input name="righttrigger" type="button" id="5" value="1" />
		<input name="select" type="button" id="8" value="1" />
		<input name="start" type="button" id="9" value="1" />
		<input name="up" type="axis" id="1" value="-1" />
		<input name="x" type="button" id="0" value="1" />
		<input name="y" type="button" id="3" value="1" />
	</inputConfig>
	<inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="USB Gamepad" vendorId="121" productId="17" deviceGUID="03000000790000001100000010010000">
		<input name="a" type="button" id="1" value="1" />
		<input name="b" type="button" id="2" value="1" />
		<input name="down" type="axis" id="1" value="1" />
		<input name="hotkeyenable" type="button" id="8" value="1" />
		<input name="left" type="axis" id="0" value="-1" />
		<input name="leftshoulder" type="button" id="4" value="1" />
		<input name="right" type="axis" id="0" value="1" />
		<input name="rightshoulder" type="button" id="5" value="1" />
		<input name="select" type="button" id="8" value="1" />
		<input name="start" type="button" id="9" value="1" />
		<input name="up" type="axis" id="1" value="-1" />
		<input name="x" type="button" id="0" value="1" />
		<input name="y" type="button" id="3" value="1" />
	</inputConfig>
</inputList>

The last entry is my joypad.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Fabrice

mitu

It looks to me you've deleted the previous es_input.cfg while trying to remove the previous joystick entry ? The configuration file installed by RetroPie contains an additional set of lines, which is used by EmulationStation to run the utility that configures the joystick for other various emulators - including RetroArch. Since those lines are missing, the configuration for RetroArch is not created/generated.

Add the this file, at the beginning, before the 1st joystick inputConfig entry the lines below:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
 <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
	<inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="Twin USB Joystick" vendorId="2064" productId="1" deviceGUID="03000000100800000100000010010000">
...

and then re-configure your joystick again, this time the .cfg for RetroArch should be generated properly.

submarine

Hi @mitu ,

Yes, that worked! Thank you so much! I remember I renamed this file, I didn't realise those lines were needed.

Thanks a lot!