No Y+ axis with left analog stick in dosbox

[sonicsheppard]

Hi everyone,

While most of my dos games I have working on dosbox primarily use keyboard/mouse, there were a couple (Jazz Jackrabbit, Star Wars Dark Forces) that I was hoping to get set up with a controller.

Unfortuntely I've hit an issue where I have no Y+ axis control on my left analog stick, so I'm unable to move forward or up. I've tried this with my WiiU Pro and my Sony PS3 Controlers (both Bluetooth) and both exhibit the same issue. The other directions work fine (X+, X- and Y- on left analog stick), and the buttons work ok - just not Y+. I've tried calibrating them in-game, tried using the setups/installers the games come with.

Has anyone else experienced this, or has any idea of something I could try to resolve it? Thank you!

Pi Model or other hardware: Raspberry Pi 3
Power Supply used: 5V 3A USB mains power.
RetroPie Version Used: 4.3.3 retropie script.
Built From: Built from 4.3 img, updated to 4.3.3 with latest dosbox updated from Binary.
USB Devices connected: USB wireless Rapoo T-Series keyboard/mouse, USB ASUS Bluetooth dongle
Controller used: Nintnedo WiiU Pro and Sony PS3 (Both Bluetooth).
Guide used: http://dosonthepi.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/configure-game-controllers-in-dosbox_29.html
Emulator: dosbox

How to replicate the problem:

1. Update to latest RetroPie-Script and install Dosbox through Binary
2. Add either Bluetooth WiiU Pro or Sony PS3 controller
3. Install Jazz Jackrabbit or Dark Forces through dosbox (I use mounted CDs); with Dark Forces, run through setup.exe to enable/calibrate joystick.
4. Edit conf file to enable joysticks - I tried auto, 2axis and 4axis.
5. Edit conf file to set "timed" in joystick section to "false" (leaving set to "true" game more issues).
6. Launch either game and try to enable and use your USB controller.

I did also have a go at using the mapper (Ctrl+F1), but that didn't seem to work either.

[dudleydes]

@sonicsheppard I wouldn't try calibrating gamepads within games. They were designed for gamepads from the '90s like the Gravis PC Gamepad, not modern ones like the PS3 controller.

Do you have a mapper file, mapper-SVN.map, in the /opt/retropie/configs/pc folder? I believe this file is first created when you save your mappings using the DOSBox mapper (CTRL+F1), not when you install DOSBox.

Here is a copy of my mapper-SVN.map file for a wired PS3 controller that I use for Jazz Jackrabbit: https://pastebin.com/zeT4uDYU. For it to work, make sure the DOSBox config file, dosbox-SVN.conf found in the same folder as the mapper file has the following line:

mapperfile=mapper-SVN.map

[sonicsheppard]

Thanks for the reply @dudleydes ; I'll take a look at that this evening.

My mapper-SVN.map file seems to be created inside my RetroPie/roms/pc/ folder, rather than /opt/retropie/configs/pc. I have a mounted USB drive for roms rather than off the sdcard.

I will try adding it to configs/pc as well to see if that helps.

Thank you!

[sonicsheppard]

Hi @dudleydes , just wanted to say thank you as that mapper-SVN.map file you supplied above seemed to work well for Jazz Jackrabbit with my PS3 controller. I notice it's using the d-pad rather than left analog stick though, but all the buttons work great. Think I'll need to dive in a little deeper with that mapper file and see what tweaks I can do to experiment with it :).

Thanks again!

[dudleydes]

@sonicsheppard Glad to hear that you found the mapper file useful.

You can enable the left analog stick for movement by editing lines 98 to 101 to the following:

key_up "key 273" "stick_0 button 4" "stick_0 axis 1 0" 
key_left "key 276" "stick_0 button 7" "stick_0 axis 0 0" 
key_down "key 274" "stick_0 button 6" "stick_0 axis 1 1" 
key_right "key 275" "stick_0 button 5" "stick_0 axis 0 1"

[sonicsheppard]

@dudleydes That worked, thanks very much!!

[edmaul69]

@dudleydes @sonicsheppard if you are using an analog stick i dont recommend setting analogs to keyboard keys. If you press ctrl and f1 and go into the mapping (need a mouse hooked up to use) but in there you want to set the analog controls to the player 1 joystick. (I am in an airport right now so im not sure what they are in the dosbox config file) that way when you play a game that uses analog sensitivity they actually work correctly.

[edmaul69]

@sonicsheppard also, if you want the sensitivity in the analogs to work better get something with a longer analog joystick. You can get a flightstick or use something like the mad catz xbox 360 gamestick: