Getting wii to work with dolphin bar for 0.78 light gun games

Oldguy

I watched the ETA Prime video on you tube and followed it exactly. The problem is I cannot get the same results. The sensor cannot move the cursor/cross hair. The closest I get is moving it with the D-Pad. Also I can only get A and B buttons to function and be recognized by retropie if I set the Dolphin bar to mode 3. In Mode 1, 2 and 4 the A and B buttons do not respond at all.
Another odd thing is when I set it to mode 3 then when I go to configure my wii remote my system says it detects 6 controllers even when I only have an xbox controller and the dolphin bar connected to my Pi.

I did read someplace to turn off bezels but then someone also answered that did not help on retropi.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Pi 3b+
Running version 4.4.4
Have tried 2 wii controllers and two Dolphin bars
64GB card

jozzy1

@Oldguy I know it might sound silly but did you sync the wiimote to the dolphin bar or the pie?

Oldguy

Not a silly question. I sync my wii remote to the Dolphin Bar and plug it into the Pi by usb. Then I use the emulationstation screen to configure my wii remote. If I use anything other than the Dolphin bar being on mode 3 I cannot get retropie to even see buttons A and B. So triggers will not work with any gun games. When I go to mode 3 and config the wii I bet A and B but no sensor for the aiming part.

BJRetro

@Oldguy just for what it’s worth I had similar issues - no where near as easy as I thought it was supposed to be, and especially like you are saying feeling like it “should work” it was “just almost there” on a bunch of games/emulators but having something quirky like either the sights not working on one game or the trigger not working on another. Ultimately the only “easy” one for me out of the box wound up being NES (yay duck hunt). For arcade I wound up using my .78 romset typically used for Mame-2003 but choosing AdvanceMame as the emulator. And I only connected the dolphin bar and wiimote to the pi, no other controllers. Then I actually mapped the wiimote using the controller mapping tool in emulation station which I thought I would not have to do originally since I thought it wa supposed to act like a mouse. But the problem with that is then you have to use the AdvanceMame controller menu to map the keys in the emulator for some games which was not easy because when you move the wii mote the menu scrolls or you get multiple inputs. Ultimately I got a few games working but my eventually hopes of adding a wiimote setup to my bartop I just decided wasn’t worth all the actual trouble. That being said everything I did above could be completely wrong given that like you I saw videos of people appearing to get this to work really easily!! And read GitHub / forum threads about how multi mouse input was now available and all you had to do was turn it on in lr-Mame and other lr-emulators. Maybe @MrLightgun has some input/ideas?

On the other hand I don’t want this to come off like a complaining post - after over a month of not playing a light gun game due to all of the above, my son wanted to play Jurassic park and that was one game I had been able to set up so we had a good time together shooting dinosaurs - so all worth it? Lol. Just wanted you to know you are not alone.

MrLightgun

Hi Guys

I would say that getting Lightguns to work in Mame can be a real pain. I would keep it simple and start with Duck Hunt on the Nes in fceumm, select pointer/lightgun and crosshair on under options. If it's working you should be able to move the crosshair all over the screen. That means your hardware is working and it's more a mame issue so you can focus on your mame config.

This document is excellent:
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Spinners,-Trackballs,-Lightguns,-and-other-Mouse-Devices/

There is a section there on how you can test your mouse devices again so you can see what is working and supplying data. You then just need to get the Mame config to point to the right device.

Don't be afraid to unplug other devices as they can confuse mame, it's always good to get stuff working and then add stuff. A keyboard might help to control Mame while you are testing. It might be worth trying a different version of Mame too.

The overlay / bezel issue is in libretro and causes crashing when you press a mouse click so that shouldn't be your problem unless you are getting crashes.

I don't have a Dolphin bar so I can't give any advice on the actual physical hardware setup of that unfortunately.

Good luck

BJRetro

@Oldguy so because my son started to get into lightgun games I decided to revisit this on my system. Here are the steps that wound up working. Like me you already have a mame2003 .78 romset. Although this “breaks the rules” because we should be using a .106 romset for advancemame I found using those .78 Roms seem to work. More power to you though if you can somehow find just the lightgun game .106 Roms. Only thing is, grab the “Mame-2003-plus romset” version of the lethalen.zip rom for lethal enforcers and the area51mx.zip for Area 51 maximum force (contains Area 51 original too) and the additional folder for area51mx which contains area51mx.chd.

Anyhow hope this helps. It is no way official advice and some of these steps may not be necessary but is what worked for me.

I downloaded advance Mame 1.4 from I believe it was optional packages from the retropie menu and updated from binary
I went through all the light gun games I wanted to try in my romset and using the regular controller I had already configured, started them and used the runcommand menu to select advmame1.4 as the default emulator for the rom. Then chose the option to exit instead of launching from the run command menu. I did this because you find otherwise it can sometimes be difficult to navigate the runcommand menu with a wiimote.
I plugged in the dolphin bar and a usb keyboard into the pi
I synced the wii mote to the dolphin bar NOT to the pi’s own Bluetooth, and set it so the lights on the wiimote that are lit are the first and fourth ones (I forget what “mode” that is)
I did the “configure controller” in emulation station for the wiimote. My particular config though I don’t think it matters a ton, the plus button is start, the minus button is select/hotkey, button 1 is button a, button 2 is button b, and the trigger I think I made r1. The dpad is dpad up down left right.
then I shut down the pi. I removed my regular controller so now only the keyboard and wiimote were attached with the wiimote/dolphin bar usb in the top left usb slot.
I started my pi (now when I know I am going to play a light gun game this is how I start up my pi, without a regular controller connected).
now I go to one of those light gun games, lets use Jurassic park as an example. Start the game. hit the tab key on your keyboard. This should bring up a menu. Select “input this game”. Find the coin button input, hit enter then the button on your wiimote you want to use. I usually use 1 or A on the wiimote for that. Find the start button input, hit enter, then the button you want to use. I usually do the plus key. Then find buttons 1-3 input if they exist. Some just have button 1 some have others. I usually set the wimmote trigger for button 1 or fire whatever it is called for the particular game. Now I say all this but this process can be the most frustrating part. The reason is because if you move the wiimote slightly it will make the menu options move or if you are moving the wiimote after you hit enter on the keyboard to configure an input it may configure the wrong thing. So have patience and a steady hand and keep yelling/cursing at the screen to a minimum at this step and just repeat “I am going to get to play a cool light gun game soon” to yourself quietly as necessary.
exit the input menu by scrolling down to the last option that says something like exit to menu.
hit the tab key on your keyboard to go back to your game. Everything should work now. Have fun! Although in theory you should not need a keyboard connected the next time you play and should just be able to use a wiimote it is always possible you will have to reset the controls.
to exit out of advancemame you have to hit your select key (mine is minus) which will bring up a quit menu then you can select exit (which I do with the plus/start key).
now that the rest is working time to get lethal enforcers 2 and area51 mx working. For lethal enforcers 2 this will be downloading and enabling cheats. For area51 mx this will be making sure the CHD is read.
(I) Go to terminal, sudo nano /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/advmame-1.4.rc

(II) find the line for misc_cheats line and set to “yes”

(III) find the dir_image line and set to the directory where your folder “area51mx” containing the area51mx.chd is. Control X to exit and Y to save changes.

(IV) download the advancemame 106 cheats.dat file:
Make sure you have cheat.dat located at /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/. File here: http://cheat.retrogames.com/download/cheat106.zip. Unzip and rename to cheat.dat and put in the directory noted.

(V) Area51 MX should work now. For lethal enforcers 2, open the game. Press tab for the menu on your keyboard. Go to cheats, enable cheats and select infinite ammo for player 1. Unfortunately so far it looks like you have to do that each time since you can’t reload your gun otherwise and the cheat does not automatically enable. Still investigating.

now play a bunch of your lightgun games!

danmed

@BJRetro

hi, can i just confirm that you have Area 51 running on a Pi? or ar eyou using different hardware? It runs like an absolute dog on my over clocked 3b..

BJRetro

@danmed yes I have the .78 romset rom and chd for area51mx running on advancemame and runs well for me. Just a bit of a hitch when entering a new area for instance.