Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha

UDb23

I recently installed my new DIY 2 player control panel with Ipac2 (as keyboard)
I have a Pi3 with all installed cores updated yesterday evening.

Configured the Control Panel (keyboard) in ES and with mame libretro (lr-2003) everything works fine both for Player 1 and Player 2.
Using lr-FB Alpha (1.6.0 - 0.2.97.40) none of player 2 controls are enabled.
I have no core remapping active.
Using Rgui under quick menu I found no way to assign keyboard keys to player 2 (only retropad buttons).
Under Config - Input I can bind Player 2 keys and they work; unfortunately I don't know how to save this to a global core remap.
Already read various forum posts and setup guide but found no hint on how to solve.
Any suggestions?

FlyingTomahawk

@UDb23

@meleu is the person to ask when it comes to controller configuration.
I spend over 2 hours yesterday reconfiguring my RPi3 controlls from iBuffalo SNES to 8bitdo FC30 controls. Ended up editing the cfg files manually via FTP. There should be 2 retroarch.cfg files one is the global one for all systems and then there is one for each system.
Not sure why but I was not able to overwrite the global retroarch.cfg file, it was always saying failed to overwrite... so I edited the system specific retroarch.cfg files.
I don't remember the paths so well, something like /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg for the global file and /opt/retropie/configs/SYSTEMNAME/retroarch.cfg for system specific setting.

pjft

Huh. In the quick menu>controls many isn't there an option to save the controller remap options?

Or are you saying they're not persistent after you exit and come back again?

I'd suspect that in a worst case scenario you'll be able to edit the config files themselves, though I hope there's a way to make it work without having to resort to that.

UDb23

@pjft said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

in the quick menu>controls many isn't there an option to save the controller remap options?

Yes but it does not allow you to assign keyboard key to controls; only gamepad buttons :-(

pjft

@UDb23 oh. Apologies then. But can't you save the retropad default? I thought that was solving it for you?

I'm puzzled as to why this happens in different RetroArch cores.

Does it also happen in other consoles?

UDb23

Solved!
For whatever reason my Ipac2 was working in lr-mame2003 even if player 2 keys were not defined inside retroarch.cfg on theconfigs/all folder.
I edited that file assigning the keys for Player 2 and now also fba works.

caver01

@UDb23 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

Solved!
For whatever reason my Ipac2 was working in lr-mame2003 even if player 2 keys were not defined inside retroarch.cfg on theconfigs/all folder.

That’s because lr-mame2003 picks up on two inputs simultaneously: the virtual/abstracted retropad inputs (if defined) AND raw keyboard inputs. Ever wonder why you can press the TAB key to invoke the MAME GUI menu even when the TAB key might not be configured in retroarch? Those of us with keyboard controllers may not always be aware that we are sending two inputs to MAME2003 for each “keypress” if you have keys defined in retroarch.cfg which is why you see two values represented in the MAME menu when you map a button–the retropad value and the raw key. You can actually setup a retroarch.cfg that forces all inputs to “null” and a keyboard controller will still work in lr-MAME2003 if you hit TAB and map your inputs.

AndersHP

@UDb23
Great news. IPac rocks. How do you like the responsetime?

Also, if you get the little yellow error message upon booting roms, stating that the "ipac not configured" - the newest firmware 1.44noGC fixes this if you flash it onto the iPac via WINIPAC :)

Riverstorm

@caver01 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

You can actually setup a retroarch.cfg that forces all inputs to “null” and a keyboard controller will still work in lr-MAME2003 if you hit TAB and map your inputs.

If you set the Retroarch inputs to null does that stop the double inputs when configuring MAME via TAB? Are you saving out a new system (MAME) Retroarch.cfg when configuring the null settings or are you doing that in all/retroarch.cfg since it's a dedicated cab?

UDb23

@AndersHP said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

IPac rocks. How do you like the responsetime?

No noticeable lag, it just feels great !
Now it really reminds me when I was playing the original arcade machines :-))

Also, if you get the little yellow error message upon booting roms

Luckily no error msg, but thanks of course.

UDb23

@caver01 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

That’s because lr-mame2003 picks up on two inputs simultaneously:

Thank for this detailed info and also for the retroarch configuration you provide in your post on Ipac configuration: exactly what I needed including fba.

Also noticed that finally (1.6.0) we get the same nice graphical interface for RGUI on the Pi as the one in windows!!

Only unsolved point with thw Ipac is that I still can't exit games with ESC; I edited the retroarch.cfg with

input_enable_hotkey = “nul”
input_exit_emulator = “escape"

but still nothing happens when I press the ESC button. I do have gamepad hotkeys enabled and can exit games via gamepad with Select+Start.

Riverstorm

@UDb23 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

Only unsolved point with thw Ipac is that I still can't exit games with ESC; I edited the retroarch.cfg with
input_enable_hotkey = “nul”
input_exit_emulator = “escape"

but still nothing happens when I press the ESC button. I do have gamepad hotkeys enabled and can exit games via gamepad with Select+Start.

I use an IPAC-2 too and that would be handy. I never thought of setting up a single button exit. I thought it required the hotkey to be enabled in order to use the hotkey shortcuts. I basically use my Player 1 and Player 2 start buttons on the panel. They are close enough together to press them both with one hand.

input_enable_hotkey = num1
input_exit_emulator = num2

UDb23

@Riverstorm I had Start1 and Coin (select) combo similarly but someone in these forums said it works with single button.. probably only if you also disable gamepad hotkeys ( that I don't want).
No real problem, I have Xbox controller connected too anyway, so I used that to exit.

Riverstorm

@UDb23 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

probably only if you also disable gamepad hotkeys ( that I don't want).

If I remember the IPAC likes to take player 1 when using joysticks only (for console play it's nice). I remember having some type of issues back several versions. Maybe that's changed now as it would be nice.

I keep a few joysticks handy and use them with a separate Pi that's only a case and wireless dongle. I throw it all in a small rectangular tupper-ware style container. Great for on the go gaming.

I think Caver has the IPAC configuration down to a science. If it can be done he'll probably know the answer. :)

caver01

@UDb23 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

@caver01 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

That’s because lr-mame2003 picks up on two inputs simultaneously:

Thank for this detailed info and also for the retroarch configuration you provide in your post on Ipac configuration: exactly what I needed including fba.

Also noticed that finally (1.6.0) we get the same nice graphical interface for RGUI on the Pi as the one in windows!!

Only unsolved point with thw Ipac is that I still can't exit games with ESC; I edited the retroarch.cfg with
input_enable_hotkey = “nul”
input_exit_emulator = “escape"
but still nothing happens when I press the ESC button. I do have gamepad hotkeys enabled and can exit games via gamepad with Select+Start.

Quick reply here: you gotta look at those quote marks. Smart quotes in your example are probably fouling up your config. Make sure these are double-quote (inches) marks, not curly quotes in your config file. I chased that problem for days once.

UDb23

@caver01 said in Ipac2 - no Player 2 controls in lr-fb alpha:

not curly quotes in your config file

Thanks!! This is crazy as I knew that issue but did not notice there were curly quotes in there. My Macbook air keyboard is supposed to have the right (inches) quotes key so I just rechecked how could this happen.
I found out what the problem is: TextEdit (OsX standard and default text editor).
Usually I use Atom or TextWrangler on the Mac for editing code or cfgs.
This time for a quick edit I used TextEdit; if you zoom making letters quite big you will notice that if you press the quotes key this nice application will show the correct quote sign (inches) and instantly replace it with the curly one !!!
If you write with default zoom you will never notice this. A text editor should not change characters you're typing !!!
To make a long story short: never use TextEdit for coding .
Thanks again.

UDb23

@caver01 As I did the button testing with it... I thought why not making the specific overlay for Metal Slug 4.

caver01

@UDb23 I have largely missed out on all of your wonderful overlays. Since my setup is effectively a 4:3 display and I play almost all vertical games using side controls (rotated mode), I don’t really get to use overlays. My next system will be more of a set-top design to leverage the big screen TV. All in good time!

UDb23

@caver01 4:3 of course is ideal and no need for overlays or bezels (they would reduce the gaming area!). Do you have a CRT ? Since I discovered Retropie I miss my old Philips Brilliance 15'' CRT monitor I gave away years ago.

caver01

@UDb23 I have often thought about how I might do a CRT build. It would probably be a mini bartop. If you click the link in my signature you can see my setup. It’s built around a Sony 19” LCD. Technically, I am running with some distortion at 5:4 (1280x1024) but I really like this resolution. The PI-CRT shader looks great, and it is likely a little faster than 1080p HD while still holding onto enough pixels to make the shader effect look way better than 720p.