Controller configuration issues with ES / emulation cores

stefl0n

Hi community,

I recently built my first bartop arcade cabinet (1P), equipped with a RPi 3B running (official) Retropie 4.6.

I've got a "DragonRise" controller connected via USB and also connected a USB Keyboard (for now) for easier typing/configuation and stuff...
The Dragonrise Joystick was mounted horizontally, with my 10 hardware buttons connected.

At first everything seemed to work fine, the controller was found in Emulation Station and i configured it with DPad, A,B,X,Y,Start,Select, a few more L/R-Buttons and Button7 as a Return-Key. Working in FULL Mode for now.

So far so good, navigation in ES itself works fine with the Dragonrise Controller. Rest of config also worked so far, network, display config,... all good.
Controls with the amiberry core and the dosbox core are working quite good, quitting emulation with my button combo (Start+Button7) also works here.

I got some issues:

Inside ES navigation with the keyboard does not work. Why is that? In Batocera keyboard works in ES. Can I activate it somewhere?
In menus with the simple CLI-GUI (raspi-config, retropie-config, themes, etc.) the axes of the joystick are swapped (XAxis is YAxis) and the buttons are swapped also. Seems to be the default mapping of the Dragonrise controller (outside of ES) (that was mounted vertically?). Can it be remapped somewhere manually? Keyboard-navigation works fine in these menus.

Biggest problem is within emulation. For megadrive emulation I'm using lr-genesis-plus-gx, for SNES I'm using lr-snes9x2010. After activating,

most buttons of the Dragonrise-Controller were swapped/missing at all (e.g. X=A). The DPAD (Joystick) is missing completely.
Though basic Controls are working with the USB-Keyboard (Cursor-Keys = DPAD, Return = Start, more Buttons are present)
with the Keyboard the function keys don't work at all (no F1-F12 e.g. for the RetroArch-GUI), no Esc, nothing :-/
with the Dragonrise-Controller the trigger keys for the RetroArch-GUI don't work (Select+X)
with the Dragonrise-Controller the trigger Combo to exit the emulation does not work (Start+Button7), only chance to quit is to power off the system

I have no idea where to start searching for what's wrong here :-(

Maybe a problem with the emulators selecting the keyboard as a Joystick (instead of the actual Dragonrise Controller), even when unconnected? Would the joystick selection tool be helpful?

Any hint on how I can get it working properly?

Thanks.

mitu

I've got a "DragonRise" controller connected via USB and also connected a USB Keyboard (for now) for easier typing/configuation and stuff...

'DragonRise' USB controllers are so generic, they're present in all sorts of combinations. Does it have a preferred wiring diagram ? Do you have a vendor page for this encoder/controller ?

Inside ES navigation with the keyboard does not work. Why is that? In Batocera keyboard works in ES. Can I activate it somewhere?

It should work, but you can always re-map the keyboard as an Input device in EmulationStation to customize it.

In menus with the simple CLI-GUI (raspi-config, retropie-config, themes, etc.) the axes of the joystick are swapped (XAxis is YAxis) and the buttons are swapped also. Seems to be the default mapping of the Dragonrise controller (outside of ES) (that was mounted vertically?). Can it be remapped somewhere manually? Keyboard-navigation works fine in these menus.

That may happen if your wiring is different than what the encoder recommends. You can use jstest /dev/input/js0 and check how each input is reported. While some applications can re-map this, some emulators will use the 'natural' (i.e. as reported by the gamepad) mappings.

Biggest problem is within emulation. For megadrive emulation I'm using lr-genesis-plus-gx, for SNES I'm using lr-snes9x2010. After activating,
[...]

Did you perform any configuration in RetroArch, besides mapping the gamepad in EmulationStation ? The configuration in ES should automatically generate a similar .cfg file for your controller, usable by RetroArch, in \\retropie\configs\all\retroarch-joypads. Can you post the contents of that file ?

stefl0n

Hi, thanks for your reply! :-)

@mitu said in Controller configuration issues with ES / emulation cores:

I've got a "DragonRise" controller connected via USB and also connected a USB Keyboard (for now) for easier typing/configuation and stuff...

'DragonRise' USB controllers are so generic, they're present in all sorts of combinations. Does it have a preferred wiring diagram ? Do you have a vendor page for this encoder/controller ?

My DragonRise-Controller is the one mentioned here:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/9259/so-close-dragonrise-arcade-sticks-and-button-sets-joystick-on-a-player-reverses

It's the "Reyann / Easyget" with a 5pin Joystick connector and 3pin (illuminated) buttons-connectors. alt text

Inside ES navigation with the keyboard does not work. Why is that? In Batocera keyboard works in ES. Can I activate it somewhere?

It should work, but you can always re-map the keyboard as an Input device in EmulationStation to customize it.

~~How can I do that? Where do I tell ES that the Keyboard should be an input device?~~
Sorry, I just rebooted my brain and remembered how easy it is to simply do that ^^

In menus with the simple CLI-GUI (raspi-config, retropie-config, themes, etc.) the axes of the joystick are swapped (XAxis is YAxis) and the buttons are swapped also. Seems to be the default mapping of the Dragonrise controller (outside of ES) (that was mounted vertically?). Can it be remapped somewhere manually? Keyboard-navigation works fine in these menus.

That may happen if your wiring is different than what the encoder recommends. You can use jstest /dev/input/js0 and check how each input is reported. While some applications can re-map this, some emulators will use the 'natural' (i.e. as reported by the gamepad) mappings.

Okay, when testing with jstest /dev/input/js0 I can see all buttons working and doing something

Re-wiring the buttons connections themselves should be possible, but I'm unable to change the connections to the 4 joystick directions (in order to switch vertical/horizontal) as I cannot turn the mounted joystick hardware within 90°...
So if it's not possible to change the "natural" mappings for "non-ES" usage the only way may be to physically swap and reconnect the pins for that 5wire cable?
alt text

Biggest problem is within emulation. For megadrive emulation I'm using lr-genesis-plus-gx, for SNES I'm using lr-snes9x2010. After activating,
[...]

Did you perform any configuration in RetroArch, besides mapping the gamepad in EmulationStation ? The configuration in ES should automatically generate a similar .cfg file for your controller, usable by RetroArch, in \\retropie\configs\all\retroarch-joypads. Can you post the contents of that file ?

I changed the theme in ES. Everything else is rather "outside" of ES (audio, network, screen resulution etc.), isn't it?
I found this file:
\\retropie\configs\all\retroarch-joypads\DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick .cfg
...with this content: https://pastebin.com/BPfCgdNV

When I start e.g. the SNES emulator a messge is being displayed:
✓ DragonRise Inc. Generic USB Joystick configured in port #0
... but within the running emulator, the buttons do not work... the keyboard does... kind of...... though being unable to get to the retroarch config gui...

stefl0n

update: I think I found the main problem with my config. I installed the joystick selection tool
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1167/here-is-a-way-to-select-joystick-for-players-1-4-global-or-emu-specific
to check what's been set up for the players.

alt text
Yeah, okay... ;-) No idea what caused that configuration...
I moved The DragonRise Controller to P1 now and set P2-P4 to ** UNSET **

Now, in lr-genesis-plus-gx all keys are working as expected, Retroarch GUI is showing up also! :-)