Setting button config for RetroArch configuration menu

mitu

@redfarmer RetroArch uses A button for apply/ok and B for back. Are you not able to use those ?

RedFarmer

I'm sure :(

Using an external keyboard i can use Enter for Ok and Backspace to go back, but the A & B -assigned buttons does nothing on my bartop, nor any of the other buttons i have.

mitu

@redfarmer Strange, as this is the default RA behaviour. Can you add more details about your system - https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first.

Pepper

It seems as though you may have setup the controls in emulation station using your keyboard. Your controls on your bar top more than likely use a keyboard encoder. Maybe try and setup your controls in emulation station using the bar top buttons not the keyboard. Then you can go in and customize the button mapping in RA. The keyboard encoder may not be using "enter" and "space" as the actual A and B button. Hope this makes sense!

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/RetroArch-Configuration

RedFarmer

Thanks mitu, but i think Pepper might be on to something. I did set the buttons up with the actual arcade buttons and not the keyboard but if i remember correct (not at home right now), the B button represents the keyboard letter z and the A button something else. When going through the controller setup in EmulationStation, none of my 18 arcade buttons represents Enter or Backspace so probably i need to reconfigure the iPac to represent these keyboard strokes?

Pepper

@redfarmer what version of retropie are you currently running? this was an issue I had a while back on my cabinet. I have since updated to the most recent retropie 4.4 no issues. I also use an Ipac 2 with just the default/factory settings. EmulationStation communicates to retro arch as to what the A and B (all of the buttons in fact) are, so if B is z then retro arch should see that as the input. Can you select up and down on your joystick in retro arch?

RedFarmer

@Pepper
Retropie is version 4.4.2

Now, when i'm back home i see that z was another button :) My B is Ctrl and A is Alt.

So, in short, A & B is what RetroArch interprets as Ok and Back no matter what key they infact are (as mitu also wrote) because of the EmulationStation setup? I just get the feeling RetroArch just thinks i'm pressing Ctrl and Alt and it wants Enter and Backspace :) Up and down on the joystick works fine.

If i were to reprogram the iPac2 to represents B as Enter and A as Backspace, would that maybe solve my problem or would it mess up the system or game specific setups i've done so far?

Thanks for you help!

mitu

@redfarmer said in Setting button config for RetroArch configuration menu:

So, in short, A & B is what RetroArch interprets as Ok and Back no matter what key they infact are as mitu also wrote (because of the EmulationStation setup)?

Probably yes, since Emulationstation takes what you configured and creates an auto-configuration file for RetroArch (see https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Configuration/#autoconfigurations).

If i were to reprogram the iPac2 to represents B as Enter and A as Backspace, would that maybe solve my problem or would it mess up the system or game specific setups i've done so far?

It will probably change the mapping you've already done, but I think it would make RA behave as you want with regard to menu navigation.

Cybrasty

If you don't plan on changing the keyboard layout with the GUI there is a way you can have separate bindings for emulation station and default controls for emulation (so one setup to choose games, another to play them).

You can change how keyboard behaves in emulation station by modifying /home/pi/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg Use those SDL decimal values to point to keys you want.

Changing this keyboard setup will not change how your games behave. From my understanding, the es_input.cfg affects retropie's config.cfg only if you configure input inside emulationstation GUI.

RedFarmer

Thanks guys, but i've finally found the solution!

In RetroArch, i went to Main menu/Settings/Input/ Unified Menu Controls and put the option to On. It now respects the settings configured in EmulationStation and i can browse the menues without the need of an external keyboard.

mitu

@RedFarmer That's strange, because this option is On by default in a RetroPie installation. The default retroarch.cfg has this set up as

# If disabled, we use separate controls for menu operation.
menu_unified_controls = "true"

RedFarmer

I may have broken this myself in the beginning when i was messing around alot with RetroArch and the controllers.