@sleve_mcdichael Thanks for clearing that up. So far everything is running like a dream. I need to sort out the 6 button layouts, but for the most part, with the exception of looking into how to make roms with CHD files work, the setup is pretty much done - with the exception of figuring out how to spawn multiple coin buttons on a RetroPie rig. However that's starting to shape up to be a potential second uint and housing's problem - presuming RetroPie even supports multiple coin slots at this point..

@jeepdrvr if you can reproduce the issue on the standard image we can help you troubleshoot it there. A potential solution might, or might not, port over to the custom image (you'll be on your own trying it there, though.)

My guess, the gamepad is being read as port 3, which often won't do anything in most games since they're 1 or 2-player. What you can do about this:

Open a game, and then open the RetroArch quick menu with P1 Select + X. Go to quick menu > controls > port 3 controls > mapped port change from "3" to "1". Close the menu with Select + X again and test your gamepad. If it works for P1 control, open up the menu one more time with Select + X and save a core remap file. You will have to repeat this once for each core/system.

@mitu tried changing out the wires and that didn't work, so I guess I'll have to get a replacment button

I guess I'm wondering if there's some database somewhere of arcade games and what their joystick/button layout was. That will help me to know how many buttons I should plan for on each of the cabinets.

https://www.waste.org/~winkles/ROMLister/

can filter by controller number, type, etc.

Did you delete the es_input.cfg file from EmulationStation's configuration folder ($HOME/.emulationstation) ?

Thanks this totally fixed it for me. Another similar version here: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/28656/start-button-on-psx-emulator-doesn-t-work/2?_=1608109096986

seems odd this is the default. I never would have found that on my own!

@studev That depends on what you want so save:

In Quick Menu > Overrides, you can save custom configurations (overrides) for cores and games, whereas in Quick Menu > Controls you can save custom controller mappings (remap files) for cores and games.

@mitu OK I figured it out. Fist i got into Stargate on RetroPie and re-assigned the game controls to different keys using Tab. "Input, this game". F is fire, T is thrust, H is hyperspace, 1 is player1 start, 2 is player2 start, S is smart bomb, I is inviso, R is reverse, arrow up is UP, arrow down is DOWN. This makes my head easier to remember. Then I went back into EmStation, disconnected the USB gamepad and reconfigured the keyboard as main controller. I set key 1 as Start and key 2 as Select. I also set key T as B and key F as A. Down at the bottom of the configure menu I left hotkey blank and when asked, I selected Yes. I also went into RetroArch/Settings/Input/Hotkey Binds and made sure Press Quit Twice is set to OFF. So to exit the game now I press 1 and 2 together and it brings me back to EmStation. And when the Pi is in the cabinet (hooked up to iPac2), I can work through the EmStation using the Stargate control buttons and never need a keyboard or gamepad again.

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

@SaturnX said in New Arcade Build - 6 or 7 buttons? Help me decide!:

Is it possible to configure them as such? (with 4 being duplicated?)

It depends if you are going to use any game that uses more than 6 buttons, i would generally recommend going for 8 buttons with no duplicate, and remapping the emulators on a per-game basis as you see fit.

@pm4698 said in Create custom arcade console:

In case i want to seal this arcade box, does raspberry support so many controller inputs? (2 USB-joystick-button controllers, 2 normal USB controllers, 2 light gun controllers and 2 wheel controllers?)

Not sure on the light gun part but I would assume so, I use the ipac (mini) as well with sanwa joysticks and gold leaf buttons from ultimarc. I've used the inexpensive stuff on amazon also but nothing compares to the ultimarc IMO. The only thing with the sanwa's is going from 8way to 4way switching for games like Donkey Kong as the switching is under the panel. I tried using other joysticks that switch at the top and just didn't like them (mag-stik being one of them). I did get the sanwa working with a servo (servo-stik) for auto switching however my control panel did not have room to fit the servo... I used a toggle switch to move the restrictor plate. You can also set the rom bootup to change to the correct setting but I opted for a manual switch.

I use the arcade sticks for mame games, and usb wired xbox360 like controllers for nes/genesis etc. Some nes/genesis games I use the arcade sticks as well, Works great either way. I don't remember if I ever got genesis 4 player games working with arcade sticks and usb controllers together, IIRC I had to use 4 usb controllers was something with the multi-tap in genesis but I only have 1 friend so it's not a problem normally lol.

You will need a powered usb hub as you wont have enough ports for everything.

MDF is what I used for a small 2p bartop, going to do a 4 player pedestal next using MDF again.

@mitu for example

I am going to change the button layout for Alien Storm for the Sega Megadrive

I have started the game
Entered the RGUI menu
Go to controls
Set the buttons up accordingly
I click on save core remap file in the controls menu
I have the message "remap file saved successfully"
I resume the game
The buttons work perfectly
I exit the game back to the game selection menu
Restart the ROM
And it works perfectly.

I don't believe this. It has worked. The problem was I was saving using the "save core override" option when I should have been using the "save core remap file" in the controls screen.

Thank you so much for everything Mitu. No doubt I will encounter another problem where you can rescue me again. Thank you and have a nice day my friend.

@Clyde i guess it’s these encoder keyboard devices and their strangeness. there’s a whole page on the wiki devoted to them: https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Keyboard-Controllers

(personally i think this page is a good indication that retropie doesn’t handle them automatically much at all. if i had one i would want to fix that!)

Nobody has any clue hua

@fabthegamer LOVE the cabinet! Used to play the game competing against a friend (a great game for deliberately trying to kill the other player)

Well, the usual troubleshooting steps are

start with the RetroPie image from retropie.org.uk/download. It's a tested and mostly stock Raspbian image and the best baseline system to start experimenting. make sure you have an adequate power supply and you don't get any under-voltage warnings. test if the device is detected by the OS by running a few command line utilities # see what USB devices are connected with lsusb # see what input devices are detected by the OS and what kind (gamepad/keyboard/mouse/etc.) cat /proc/bus/input/devices test if the device inputs are registered in the system by running a few joystick/gamepad testing programs fromt the command line that capture the button/joypad/d-pad presses and show them on the terminal: # 1st joystick jstest /dev/input/js0 # 2nd joystick jstest /dev/input/js1 # another testing utility evtest

Glad to hear that you are making progress!

It should always be possible to use the ControlBlock together with any USB controller. You would just need to run the input configuration for each device on EmulationStation. All controller types should be recognised and working afterwards.

Regarding your question about the need for an additional keyboard: What you would need to do is to configure the emulators such that you have full control with your arcade / gamepad controls only. That should be possible.

Hope that helps!

@mitu Okay I've replaced everything in the snes retroarch.cfg file with what you said, everything still works but the hotkey still doesn't. It doesn't seem like anything has changed...