Unable to remap Dualshock v2 controller.

[cambesol01]

Pi Model or other hardware: Pi 4B 2GB
Power Supply used: Official Raspberry Pi Type-C
RetroPie Version: 4.5.14 running on Rasbian Buster.
Built From: Downloaded from GitHub.
USB Devices connected: None
Controller used: Dualshock v2
Error messages received: N/A
Emulator: lr_mame2003
ROM: Defender red label.
How to replicate the problem: Add a custom controller config file in ~/RetroPie/roms/arcade

The target ROM is defender.zip, the controller configuration file is defender.zip.cfg

pi@raspberrypi:~/RetroPie/roms/arcade $ ls -1
defender.zip
defender.zip.cfg

pi@raspberrypi:~/RetroPie/roms/arcade $ cat defender.zip.cfg
input_a_btn=1
input_b_btn=2
input_x_btn="h0up"
input_y_btn=5
input_player1_1_btn=1
input_player1_a_btn=4
input_player1_b_btn=5
input_player1_x_btn=4
input_player1_y_btn=5
input_player2_a_btn=1
input_player2_b_btn=10
input_player2_x_btn="h0up"
input_player2_y_btn=5

The es_input.cfg file looks like this:

pi@raspberrypi:~ $ cat .emulationstation/es_input.cfg
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
  <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
  <inputConfig type="joystick" deviceName="Sony Interactive Entertainment Wireless Controller" deviceGUID="030000004c050000cc09000011810000">
    <input name="a" type="button" id="1" value="1"/>
    <input name="b" type="button" id="0" value="1"/>
    <input name="down" type="hat" id="0" value="4"/>
    <input name="hotkeyenable" type="button" id="7" value="1"/>
    <input name="left" type="hat" id="0" value="8"/>
    <input name="leftanalogdown" type="axis" id="1" value="1"/>
    <input name="leftanalogleft" type="axis" id="0" value="-1"/>
    <input name="leftanalogright" type="axis" id="0" value="1"/>
    <input name="leftanalogup" type="axis" id="1" value="-1"/>
    <input name="leftshoulder" type="button" id="4" value="1"/>
    <input name="leftthumb" type="button" id="11" value="1"/>
    <input name="lefttrigger" type="button" id="6" value="1"/>
    <input name="right" type="hat" id="0" value="2"/>
    <input name="rightanalogdown" type="axis" id="4" value="1"/>
    <input name="rightanalogleft" type="axis" id="3" value="-1"/>
    <input name="rightanalogright" type="axis" id="3" value="1"/>
    <input name="rightanalogup" type="axis" id="4" value="-1"/>
    <input name="rightshoulder" type="button" id="5" value="1"/>
    <input name="rightthumb" type="button" id="12" value="1"/>
    <input name="righttrigger" type="button" id="7" value="1"/>
    <input name="select" type="button" id="9" value="1"/>
    <input name="start" type="button" id="8" value="1"/>
    <input name="up" type="hat" id="0" value="1"/>
    <input name="x" type="button" id="2" value="1"/>
    <input name="y" type="button" id="3" value="1"/>
  </inputConfig>
</inputList>

I am attempting to remap the controller so that the controls are usable whilst playing Defender.
The emulator (lr_mame2003) ignores whatever values I put in the defender.zip.cfg file.
I can see the file contents if I run the menu from the emulator. I only want to change the mappings for this ROM as it is a difficult game and want the best possible combination to aid speed of play.

The command line used is:

/opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch/bin/retroarch -L /opt/retropie/libretrocores/lr-mame2003/mame2003_libretro.so --config /opt/retropie/configs/arcade/retroarch.cfg "/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/defender.zip" --appendconfig /dev/shm/retroarch.cfg'|'"/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/defender.zip.cfg"

which appears reasonable.

I have read many documents, forums, post, etc, and spent upwards of 12 hours experimenting but without
success so I thought I would ask the experts!

Any clues, hints or tips would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance,

Neil.

[rejesterd]

I haven't set up a custom controller config for an arcade game yet, but I would remove that extra dot in the cfg file name. Try 'defender.cfg'. Might not change the behavior, but it's better practice in general.

[mitu]

The syntax is a bit different, see this example from the default RetroArch sources.

However, I'd advice against manually configuring this - use the Core Input Remapping and save a game over override from the RetroArch's RGUI.

[cambesol01]

I took the file naming convention from here:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Configuration/

Namely the ROM-specific settings.

"The ROMNAME includes the original file extension before the .cfg, e.g. supermariobros.zip.cfg These configurations are used when starting this specific ROM."

I tried your suggestion, but the configuration files is not parsed and hence not visible from the runcommand menu option: "Edit custom RetroArch config for this rom."

Any further suggestions to help debug the problem?

[mitu]

@cambesol01 said in Unable to remap Dualshock v2 controller.:

Any further suggestions to help debug the problem?

Use the RGUI and remap the inputs from there.

[cambesol01]

@mitu Thank you for your hint. I will investigate the RGUI approach, but I just want to understand something.

For keyboard input we could use this:

input_player1_a = "x"

So input (button) 'a' receives an event when the keyboard key 'x' is pressed.

For a controller input we could use this:

input_player1_a = 2

So input (button) 'a' receives an event when the controller issues an event with an ID of 2?

I am trying to understand the relationship between the es_input.cfg XML file and the retroarch.cfg syntax.

Thanks again.

[mitu]

Yes, that's correct. You have a gamepad, so the syntax would include the btn part, as you've already noticed - I realized after posting the example that the configuration part is covering the default keyboard mapping in RetroArch.

Using the RGUI you can also check what values are assigned to each button, just to check if your mapping are considered. Note that you cannot use 1 single gamepad for 2 players - as you've posted, RetroArch doesn't support that (it does support to use 1 keyboard for 2 players though).