Arcade controller issues

Tim's up

Hi all,

I have a few issues with controller mapping in certain games. I hope you can help me out. I am on Pi4 with a Retropie 4.19 build and 4 player arcade gameboard that I built myself.

I was reading around on how to solve controller mapping issues, but it didn't help for now. Most games just work fine, but for others I just can't get it right.

Two examples :

Stone Ball (Arcade game), all players work except player 2's buttons won't (joystick does). In the Mame menu I can't resolve the problem as player 2's buttons wont react at all when I try to push them in the change input menu. Same for Double Dragon 3, but in most Mame games, player 2 works perfectly fine.

Powerstone 2 (Dreamcast, a game I really would like to play with 4 players) : only player 1 and 2 are active. Impossible to add 3 and 4. Now that could also be a rom issue, no ? I read somewhere that some 4 player games come as 2 player version sometimes.

Any ideas ?

Tim

mitu

Stone Ball (Arcade game), all players work except player 2's buttons won't (joystick does). In the Mame menu I can't resolve the problem as player 2's buttons wont react at all when I try to push them in the change input menu. Same for Double Dragon 3, but in most Mame games, player 2 works perfectly fine.

What emulator exactly ? Could be an emulator issue with particular roms.

Powerstone 2 (Dreamcast, a game I really would like to play with 4 players) : only player 1 and 2 are active. Impossible to add 3 and 4. Now that could also be a rom issue, no ? I read somewhere that some 4 player games come as 2 player version sometimes.

Again, which emulator ? If it's Reicast, check the configuration file and try increasing the number of players connected - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Dreamcast/#controls. Flycast should use the RetroArch mapping, so if your gamepads are correctly configured for RetroArch based emulators, all players should work.

Tim's up

Hi @mitu

For those 2 examples:
I used the default Mame 2003 for Stone Ball. Tried switching to 2003plus, that disabled all 4 joysticks.
Powerstone 2 it's weird. The runcommand menu says I am using Flycast, but when I open the retrocarch menu ingame it says Reicast at the bottom of the screen, how can that be ?

As a matter of fact, I can't make much use of the retroarch ingame controller menu. There is no bind 1 or 2 function, so you have to manually look for all the buttons in a long list and when your physical buttons are not registering you're stuck anyway. Maybe I am noob.

mitu

@Tim-s-up said in Arcade controller issues:

Powerstone 2 it's weird. The runcommand menu says I am using Flycast, but when I open the retrocarch menu ingame it says Reicast at the bottom of the screen, how can that be ?

I guess the core name hasn't changed (it used to be lr-reicast).

As a matter of fact, I can't make much use of the retroarch ingame controller menu.

When starting a game, do you get the notification at the bottom of the screen about controllers being configured ? You can check in the Controls menu if each Port is assigned to a gamepad. Are other 4 players game working ?

You didn't give any indication about your setup - how did you build your controller ?

Thorr69

The issue with Mame2003plus might be the Analog control setting that you have to disable for arcade sticks. (Same thing happened to me.) It wouldn't affect Flycast/Reicast, but may be an issue.

HEre is my thread where I had this problem: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/24086/should-lr-mame2003plus-be-able-to-use-retropad-controls

Tim's up

@mitu said in Arcade controller issues:

I guess the core name hasn't changed (it used to be lr-reicast).

No, I don't think it has changed. Just weird. I would like to use Flycast, but Reicast seems to take over.

@mitu said in Arcade controller issues:

When starting a game, do you get the notification at the bottom of the screen about controllers being configured ? You can check in the Controls menu if each Port is assigned to a gamepad. Are other 4 players game working ?

I have set up the 4 players with two Xinmo interfaces using the Joystick configuration tool to assign the 4 players to each controller. Where is this Controls menu you are referring to?

And thanks @Thorr69. I will try what you suggest for Mame2003plus. Indeed, it doesn't say Retropad there.

mitu

@Tim-s-up said in Arcade controller issues:

I have set up the 4 players with two Xinmo interfaces using the Joystick configuration tool to assign the 4 players to each controller.

What ?

Where is this Controls menu you are referring to?

When you open the RetroArch menu (RGUI), you have a 'Controls' entry.

Tim's up

Well, the joystick tool asks which controller to use with which player. That's what I did.

OK, noted for the controls menu. That's the one I was referring to earlier. It's quite a long list, I do see buttons for player 1-4. I guess that means they are recognised ? But it doesn't make them work in some games while it does in others. I just feel that this menu is not of much help to resolve this issue. To assign buttons, you have to push them, but as they don't register, you are stuck.

mitu

@Tim-s-up said in Arcade controller issues:

To assign buttons, you have to push them, but as they don't register, you are stuck.

This will not work if you're pushing the wrong controller's buttons - i.e. the system expects the P2 controller and you're pusing the P3 controller buttons.

Try a test

remove any joystick re-order/re-map scripts.
download the ControllerTest homebrew image to your dreamcast folder and start it up. It's a graphical test that shows which buttons you're pusing and also shows how many controllers are detected. Test your inputs with this image and see if all 4 controllers are detected and functioning.

Tim's up

Hi,
I am coming back to my thread here due to a new controller issue although different from last time.

I tried a new configuration on a new SD card with my Pi4. Latest Retropie version. But when I try to configure the controls for each player in Emulationstation, Player 2 will not register the buttons when I push them (joystick works, buttons don't).

I have a 4 player setup working with 2 Xinmos in an Arcade cab. In my old setting, I had P1 and P3 on one Xinmo, P2 and P4 on the other because of cable length. I rewired now to P1+P2, P3+4. As everything worked fine in the old setting, I suspected a hardware issue, but in jstest all the buttons work as they should.

I can normally assign controls to P1,P3, P4. Only P2 won't work. I have resetted controls a couple of times, played around with the Joystick selection tool. I really don't know what to do anymore.

Thanks for your help,

Tim

Tim's up

Ok, found the problem. Player 2's buttons were wired on a different button socket than the others but that worked perfectly before the update/new image. And it worked in jstest. Well nevermind.

There is still another issue though, software issue for sure. I can map all 4 players now, but Retropie seems to continuously assign new gamepads to each player and messes it all up. Let me explain : I map all 4 players. I open a Mame game, payers 3 and 4 (same Xinmo) will work as they should, P1 and P2 won't (sharing a same Xinmo). I go back to Emulationstation and P1 and P2 controls don't work anymore to navigate the menu. I go for a second mapping and, surprise, P1 is not gamepad 1 anymore but gamepad 13 and P2 has become gamepad 14. Third time I try to map, it's gamepad 17 and 18 .....

A bit lost here.

mitu

@tim-s-up said in Arcade controller issues:

P1 is not gamepad 1 anymore but gamepad 13 and P2 has become gamepad 14. Third time I try to map, it's gamepad 17 and 18 .....

The numbers are assigned by the SDL library used by EmulationStation and they don't related to the player number. The fact that the numbers keep going up makes me think the controllers are disconnecting and re-connecting - SDL just increments the # for each new connection.
Make sure your controllers are properly connected and you're using a proper power source.

Tim's up

@mitu Thanks a lot. I gave it a few tries, using only one Xinmo, changing usb ports, no overclocking, wiring differently but it keeps on assigning new gamepad numbers to my controllers.

With only two controllers connected through one Xinmo I can make some games work correctly nevertheless, but as soon as I connect all 4 it's a mess all over the place when I launch the first game.