retroarch arcade button 'A' conflict with Emulatorstation config? - have tried everything

[christof]

Team - please help if you can. I am so close to finishing off my arcade machine.
I have read all the forums. Am editing the config files externally in Notepad++

My setup -

• 2 player arcade machine. 6 buttons each. Ipac2 keyboard encoder.
• all buttons and joystick controls tested and working fine.
• emulatorstation binds all working fine. can navigate around no issues.

My issue

• launching into a MAME game and all buttons seem to work fine, except the 'input_player1_a' which is mapped to "ctrl" (my SW1 button).
• SW1 button works fine in emulatorstation and is mapped to 'a'.
• when loading a MAME game, as mentioned i cant seem to use the first arcade button for player 1. Player 2 seems fine though and plays well.
• I confirmed using an external USB keyboard that i cant press L-ctrl to see if that works.

I understand that there is 2 key retroarch config places -

• \CONFIG\all\retroarch.cfg
• \configs\mame-libretro\retroarch.cfg

i made sure both show the same binds for player 1 and 2, and i have made all the other binds null. The only thing i can think of is emulator station config is conflicting with the retroarch.cfg files.

please if anyone can help as i am out of ideas, but so close to finishing this project! I provide copies of my setup config below...

\CONFIG\all\retroarch.cfg

cache_directory = "/tmp/retroarch"
core_options_path = "/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-core-options.cfg"
system_directory = "~/RetroPie/BIOS"
config_save_on_exit = "false"
video_threaded = "true"
video_smooth = "false"
video_aspect_ratio_auto = "true"
video_font_size = "12.000000"
input_joypad_driver = "udev"
input_autodetect_enable = "true"
input_player1_a = "ctrl"
input_player1_b = "alt"
input_player1_y = "z"
input_player1_x = "shift"
input_player1_start = "num1"
input_player1_select = "num5"
input_player1_l = "space"
input_player1_r = "x"
input_player1_left = "left"
input_player1_right = "right"
input_player1_up = "up"
input_player1_down = "down"
input_exit_emulator = "num1"
input_shader_next = "m"
input_shader_prev = "n"
input_rewind = "r"

input_player2_b = "s"
input_player2_b_btn = "nul"
input_player2_b_axis = "nul"
input_player2_y = "i"
input_player2_y_btn = "nul"
input_player2_y_axis = "nul"
input_player2_select = "num6"
input_player2_select_btn = "nul"
input_player2_select_axis = "nul"
input_player2_start = "num2"
input_player2_start_btn = "nul"
input_player2_start_axis = "nul"
input_player2_up = "r"
input_player2_up_btn = "nul"
input_player2_up_axis = "nul"
input_player2_down = "f"
input_player2_down_btn = "nul"
input_player2_down_axis = "nul"
input_player2_left = "d"
input_player2_left_btn = "nul"
input_player2_left_axis = "nul"
input_player2_right = "g"
input_player2_right_btn = "nul"
input_player2_right_axis = "nul"
input_player2_a = "a"
input_player2_a_btn = "nul"
input_player2_a_axis = "nul"
input_player2_x = "w"
input_player2_x_btn = "nul"
input_player2_x_axis = "nul"
input_player2_l = "q"
input_player2_l_btn = "nul"
input_player2_l_axis = "nul"
input_player2_r = "k"

es_input.cfg
<command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
</inputAction>
<inputConfig type="keyboard" deviceName="Keyboard" deviceGUID="-1">
<input name="start" type="key" id="49" value="1"/>
<input name="up" type="key" id="1073741906" value="1"/>
<input name="a" type="key" id="1073742048" value="1"/>
<input name="b" type="key" id="1073742050" value="1"/>
<input name="down" type="key" id="1073741905" value="1"/>
<input name="right" type="key" id="1073741903" value="1"/>
<input name="x" type="key" id="1073742049" value="1"/>
<input name="select" type="key" id="53" value="1"/>
<input name="y" type="key" id="122" value="1"/>
<input name="left" type="key" id="1073741904" value="1"/>
</inputConfig>
</inputList>