Configuring mame4all Controls: How To Instructions

Used2BeRX

mame4all is an alternate downloadable emulator for playing Arcades that is not part of the libretro core, so you are unable to reconfigure the controls in Retroarch. It was added with the idea that it will run MAME arcade games much quicker than the libretro arcade emulators on the original Pi, and also is great at running games at high speed for the Pi Zero when the libretro emus just play it too slow. Of all of the alternate emulators I've had to reconfigure so far, I think this one is the most valuable for Pi Zero users.

Unlike the other emulators that I've written up, you are not able to reconfigure controllers by editing a configuration file. You have to do it while inside the game in the "UI" menu. Most of the controls are good as-is really, but you may have noticed when using this emulator that you are stuck in the game and have to pull the plug to hard reset the Pi unless you have the USB keyboard attached so you can press the ESC key. Here's how to create the START+SELECT hotkey to exit the game, as well as a few other useful things.

Start any game and launch it through mame4all. (not lr-mame4all)
Once loaded, hit the TAB button on your keyboard to bring up the UI menu.
Hit ENTER on the first option "Input (general)"
Using the down arrow key on your computer, scroll down to "UI Cancel" and press enter.
Now, on your Joystick, press the START and SELECT buttons simultaneously.

You will know this worked properly if the line now says "UI Cancel J1 JoyButton 9 J1 JoyButton 8"
(Where "9" = your start button and "8" = your select button)

If this didn't work, move up and down with the keyboard arrows and try it again until it works. You have to move from the option to another one and back to "reset" the option, otherwise it will ADD your next entered command instead of overwriting the bad one you just entered.

Now, hit ENTER again on this option. Press the ESC key on your keyboard.

You will know this worked properly if the line now says "UI Cancel J1 JoyButton 9 J1 JoyButton8 or ESC"

Once again, if you somehow messed this up, move up and down with the keyboard arrows and go back to step 5 and try it again.

Now you can exit the menu by pressing ESC twice to go back to the game. Whenever you are ready to leave the game just press START+SELECT like any libretro emulator and it will go back to your romlist. You could also hit ESC to exit the game still, but now you can play any arcades in this emu and leave to the romlist without the Keyboard attached. :)

In this menu you can alter many buttons. It's rather self explanatory to change button configs once you know how to get in there. If you want to remap any controls go ahead and go back in the menu and play around with it. You also have the option to change controls on an individual game basis in the UI menu.

Sadly, the emulator seems completely unresponsive to the DPad. If anybody knows how to map the DPad to the directions, please let me know and I will update this guide.

The file that is being edited when you do changes this way is: /opt/retropie/configs/mame-mame4all/cfg/default.cfg

Individual game configurations will also be made in that same folder with <zipfilename>.cfg

I would suggest when you have a config file you like that you back it up in this folder. If at any time you screw things up and just want to start over, you can delete "default.cfg" and just run another game. It will create another default.cfg for you with the default values and you can do all of this over again.

OTHER NON-LIBRETRO CORE CONFIGURATION INSTRUCTIONS:

DGen for Sega Genesis/Megadrive: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10732/configuring-dgen-controls-how-to-instructions

Osmose for SEGA Master System/Game Gear: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10733/configuring-osmose-controls-how-to-instructions

OTHER GUIDES:
Making Headers on Atari 5200 Roms to Autorun in Retropie: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10337/making-headers-on-your-atari-5200-game-images-to-auto-run-in-retropie

PROJECTS:
Making Pre-Made gamelist.xml With Xtras Media Collection: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10406/making-premade-gamelist-xml-with-xtra-media-collections/26

Upgrading the Atari 800/5200 Emulator (thanks to future.child and jfroco): https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/847/atari-5200-new-version-of-atari800-beta-two-triggers-moon-patrol-hat-start-and-exit-buttons/126

Atari 5200 Controller Configuration Project: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/10764/atari-5200-controller-configuration-project