USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1

meleu

@RandoCalrisian said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

is it possible to have it work as it did at home where the "player 1" joystick that's controlled via the minipac plugged into usb port0 passes commands for "player 1" as well as a usb pad that's plugged into usb port3?

If the system detects them as joysticks, the answer is no. A joystick can control several players, but a player is controlled by only one joystick.

"Why!?", one may ask.

Answer
RetroArch only accept one config line per option, then if you put this in your retroarch.cfg:

input_player1_joypad_index = 0
input_player1_joypad_index = 2
input_player1_joypad_index = 3

RetroArch gets only the first line and ignore the rest.

BUUUUT...
I'm talking about pure RetroArch configs, maybe somebody knows some hack to do what you want...

RandoCalrisian

@meleu said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

@RandoCalrisian said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

is it possible to have it work as it did at home where the "player 1" joystick that's controlled via the minipac plugged into usb port0 passes commands for "player 1" as well as a usb pad that's plugged into usb port3?

If the system detects them as joysticks, the answer is no. A joystick can control several players, but a player is controlled by only one joystick.

"Why!?", one may ask.

Answer
RetroArch only accept one config line per option, then if you put this in your retroarch.cfg:
input_player1_joypad_index = 0
input_player1_joypad_index = 2
input_player1_joypad_index = 3
RetroArch gets only the first line and ignore the rest.

BUUUUT...
I'm talking about pure RetroArch configs, maybe somebody knows some hack to do what you want...

Thanks for the reply.
If it's seeing them as "joypads" and I can't do it, fine, but I'd be okay with a second scenario:

Correct me if I'm reading replies from this post I mentioned, but the tool you wrote allows for a joypad to be set to a specific player, and if say, that joystick is unplugged, then the default takes hold again.

So to elaborate, the minipac I have in usb port0 is currently player 1. I plug in a usb snes pad into usb port3. I use your tool and tell it to, by name of controller (right?), use that joypad as player 1 instead. If when that usb snes pad is disconnected, the minipac in usb port0 now goes back to being player 1?

meleu

@RandoCalrisian said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

So to elaborate, the minipac I have in usb port0 is currently player 1. I plug in a usb snes pad into usb port3. I use your tool and tell it to, by name of controller (right?), use that joypad as player 1 instead. If when that usb snes pad is disconnected, the minipac in usb port0 now goes back to being player 1?

Yes. That's what happens. Be sure to enable the selection by name method. ;-)

RandoCalrisian

@meleu said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

@RandoCalrisian said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

So to elaborate, the minipac I have in usb port0 is currently player 1. I plug in a usb snes pad into usb port3. I use your tool and tell it to, by name of controller (right?), use that joypad as player 1 instead. If when that usb snes pad is disconnected, the minipac in usb port0 now goes back to being player 1?

Yes. That's what happens. Be sure to enable the selection by name method. ;-)

Hey thanks so much. I'll get back and let you know how it went.

RandoCalrisian

@meleu, great news!

First, your script is stupidly simple to get installed. Thanks for the awesome tool!

Second, the interesting nature of those Ultimarc MiniPac controllers actually allowed for my initially desired intent.
So, the raspberry pi is seeing the MiniPac as a joypad, but also a keyboard. So when I tell your tool to set player 1 as "USB SNES RetroPad", it does just that, but since the MiniPac is still passing keyboard commands, it still works too.

I think this might have to do with the fact that in my main retroarch.cfg in /opt/config/all, in the keyboard input section, I have those buttons defined. I defined those keys in the config because I couldn't get fb-alpha to see the keyboard otherwise.

So, thanks for your input, and maybe this information is interesting to you.
Cheers.

rbaker

@RandoCalrisian said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

so, the raspberry pi is seeing the MiniPac as a joypad, but also a keyboard. So when I tell your tool to set player 1 as "USB SNES RetroPad", it does just that, but since the MiniPac is still passing keyboard commands, it still works too.

So , I use the Ipac2 but have had issues because of the encoder being seen as a joypad rather than a keyboard. Here is a scenario where it is desirable. @Caver01, what do you think of this? Is this why it is like that in the firmware?

caver01

@rbaker I think only Andy from Ultimarc will be able to explain why the firmware on newer IPACs is recognized as a joypad. It's actually a little disappointing in my opinion that it happens at all. According to notes you have shared, Andy thinks it's a bug in RetroPie that incorrectly identifies the IPAC. I am still curious why he makes that claim and can simultaneously provide a firmware update that overcomes the alleged bug.

However, the "duality" of the IPAC (and possibly other keyboard controllers) with respect to lr-mame2003 has to do with the way keyboard inputs are accept AT THE SAME TIME as the RetroPad virtual controllers. It may be that Joypad input, if that's how the device is recognized work the same. What we do know from a lot of testing in this thread trying to make <CODE_NOT> keys work is that mame2003 receives input twice from a keyboard, once as the Retroarch gamepad and again from the RAW key input. I think this is simply another example of that.

RandoCalrisian

@caver01 said in USB Controller and Keyboard Encoder for player 1:

@rbaker I think only Andy from Ultimarc will be able to explain why the firmware on newer IPACs is recognized as a joypad. It's actually a little disappointing in my opinion that it happens at all. According to notes you have shared, Andy thinks it's a bug in RetroPie that incorrectly identifies the IPAC. I am still curious why he makes that claim and can simultaneously provide a firmware update that overcomes the alleged bug.

However, the "duality" of the IPAC (and possibly other keyboard controllers) with respect to lr-mame2003 has to do with the way keyboard inputs are accept AT THE SAME TIME as the RetroPad virtual controllers. It may be that Joypad input, if that's how the device is recognized work the same. What we do know from a lot of testing in this thread trying to make <CODE_NOT> keys work is that mame2003 receives input twice from a keyboard, once as the Retroarch gamepad and again from the RAW key input. I think this is simply another example of that.

Just to make sure, I can request from Andy a firmware upgrade to disble the 'joypad' "feature" of my minipacs? Is this firmware upgrade by request only, or do I simply have to download the firmware upgrade available on his site?

RandoCalrisian

So, looking at the firmware versions available, I'm guess I'd force my board to not have controller support by using the noGC versions with a 4, like 1.44. So, as a result, it'd only be seen as a keyboard. Is this correct?

caver01

@RandoCalrisian sorry. I wish I wish I knew more about the firmware. My IPAC4 device is an older version that uses a PS/2 to USB converter and it does not get recognized as a game pad at all. It's my understanding that this issue affects only the newer versions of these devices. I hate to send people to Andy for support every time, but as far as I know, he has been the only source cited by people who have obtained the replacement firmware. However, perhaps he has now incorporated it into the utility available online.