PPSSPP Controller Setup Guide for when nothing else works

Silas11m

Hi,
I am having issues with the controller mapping in PPSSPP in my Piboy DMG, and trying the steps described in this post I got stuck at 1.5. "make controllermap"

It seems there is an issue with the left D-pad command in my controllerdb file. Is anyone having the same issue by any chance?

Here is the message displayed:

mitu

You're using a much newer libSDL2 than what RetroPie includes and it's not compatible with the newer controllermap. Use libSDL 2.0.10 and compile the controllermap from the test folder.

RetroBadger

Hi I'm hoping you can help me.

I get as far as the /controllermap 0 > out.txt then get a white screen. I pressed escape and chekced the errors as suggested. It appears I am missing 3 .bmp images (axis, button and controllermap).

This guide and the one linked just says to fetch the images from SDL2-2.0.6/test/ folder. How exactly do I do this? I have little to no experience with Linux and have been racking my brain trying to get my controller to work with PPSSPP. Do I use some sort of cp./ command?

I'm using a rpi 4 2GB RAM with v4.7.1 image and a Gioteck VX3 Wireless PS3 Controller

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know I'm getting babied through this but I have tried googling linux functions and I am struggling. Thanks

mitu

@retrobadger Did you try to configure your controller in PPSSPP, from its menu ? You didn't add any info about what kind of controller you have, RetroPie version,etc.

RetroBadger

@mitu
Hi there,

Yes I tried to configure my controller in PPSSPP menu, it does not work properly and won't recognize certain buttons (most notably the directional buttons)

I did include info about the controller I have it's a Gioteck VX3 Wireless PS3 Controller

I did include info about retropie version. It's v4.7.1

I'm using a 128 gb SD card with Retropie v 4.7.1 flashed using the retropie imager from here https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/

I am using an official 5.1V at 3A power supply

Would you be able to point me in the right direction in terms of copying over those .bmp files to the right place using linux commands.

Thanks,

mitu

@retrobadger You can download them directly from the project's page. Make sure you're in the same folder where the executable is placed and run:

wget https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/raw/main/test/controllermap_back.bmp
wget https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/raw/main/test/controllermap.bmp
wget https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/raw/main/test/axis.bmp
wget https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/raw/main/test/button.bmp

RetroBadger

@mitu
Thanks this worked!

Finally got my controller to work with PPSSPP

mitu

@retrobadger Glad it worked.

Silas11m

@mitu
Thanks, i ran it again with version 2.0.10 and it worked. However it did not solve my issue: the analog stick of the PiBoy is still not recognized although I mapped it, and the D-pad does not recognize "up"and "down"presses (but somehow pressing left makes the pad go up, and pressing right makes it go down.

Silas11m

@silas11m
Hi, update on this: it actually did work, I just had to go back to ppsspp settings and re-map the buttons, the Dpad works now :) thanks vm

Ilya Lizard

@silas11m Hi! I've got exactly the same problem with PiBoy DMG, and I'm pretty new to all the Linux stuff. I'll try to follow the guide and configure the keys myself, but - maybe you could help me and copy here the line you got in the out.txt? Thank you!

StonedEdge

Sorry to bump an old thread, but does this still work? I'm getting stuck on running the ./controllermap executable from the test folder (i.e no images come up). I've tried downloading the BMP files and putting them in the test folder. I'm SSHing in from my PC at the moment and dont have a way of pressing ESC key on a keyboard.

Any help would be appreciated as I would like to use the standalone version of PPSSPP.

EDIT: Nvm, it works. Just cant SSH in from your computer for the ./controllermap 0 >> txt command.

Thanks.

scorponok87

Greaty guide and thank you so much for this. I followed all the steps successfully but now when I open up a game, nothing works, not even the keyboard anymore.

Has anyone experienced this?

scorponok87

This whole process worked out smoothly but to no result. I am still unable to move any controls in PSP games. Furthermore, using ESC with the keyboard to try to setup things there also does not work for me. Would anyone here mind to share there gamecontrollerdb.txt file with me?

I have tried installing ppsspp from source or binary from scratch and still can't make it work.

DTEAM

@scorponok87
That works. You are missing something. When your controller is mapped in gamecontrollerdb.txt, you have to map your buttons in ppsspp UI.
Do you see your controller in gamecontrollerdb.txt ? If yes, the rest should be a piece of cake. Press esc like you did and set your buttons. If not, retry the process. It worked for me.

IMPORTANT: You have to redo the process when you update PPSSPP. So if you reinstall the emulator, you lost what you did. I made a copy of gamecontrollerdb.txt for that reason.

scorponok87

@DTEAM I managed to get it fixed with the help of this comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comments/7r4vr8/how_do_i_reset_control_mapping_in_ppsspp/dsyj3ya/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

This restored my keyboard functionality and I was able to remap the controller and that worked.