X-Arcade Tanksticks, Unmapping After Game Exit

x8xid82

Hey guys, I searched all over but I couldn't find an instance of this specific issue. I switched a cabinet over from a PC running HyperSpin to a RP3 running RetroPie. I've sorted through just about every issue except one. I'm using X-Arcade Tank Sticks kit (the one without the tracking ball). I have installed the drivers, restarted, and mapped both controllers. After that, they work great until I launch and then exit a game. Upon game exit and returning to ES several buttons mysteriously become unmapped (or swapped). Notably the "A" button remaps to the "B" position while A drops all mapping altogether as well as "Left D Pad". This only happens on whichever set of controls I happen to be using when I launch, play, and disengage a game. (Does not matter what system, game, or emulator I am using.)

As I write this it occurs to me the one thing I haven't tried yet is full clearing all controls in setup to defualt and uninstalling, then reinstalling the driver after that. I'll give it a try and I'll report back if that fixes it. In the meantime, I'll leave this up in case someone has a better idea.

#x-arcade #tanksticks #mapping

x8xid82

Update: I was unable to fix the issue. I uninstalled the drivers completely and wiped all configurations.
Rebooted, re-installed (and updated) the drivers, and activated. Rebooted, re-mapped, got the same result. Everything works great until I boot up a game but then whatever controller I was using at the time remaps itself. (Down is up, left disappears, B becomes A, etc.) Then when I exit out of the game the new mapping follows to the menu in ES.

Some notes: I'm running the latest version of PI and ES, I'm using a Pi3+, no themes or anything fancy other than I have 3 splash screens set to randomize on boot. Everything else is stock. I don't even have images scraped yet.

I did notice that when I plug in the tank sticks, I get an Undervoltage warning. Going to stop by the store and get a beefier adapter (currently using an old iPhone charger) and see if maybe that makes the Undervoltage warning go away. Does anyone know if the Undervoltage is causing it to come unmapped (maybe when I'm swapping screens there's not enough voltage to maintain a connection to the sticks and it's dropping the mapping??)

mitu

@x8xid82 said in X-Arcade Tanksticks, Unmapping After Game Exit:

Some notes: I'm running the latest version of PI and ES, I'm using a Pi3+, no themes or anything fancy other than I have 3 splash screens set to randomize on boot. Everything else is stock. I don't even have images scraped yet.

Can you please add the exact version of RetroPie you're using ? It's shown in the RetroPie-Setup script when you start it.

I did notice that when I plug in the tank sticks, I get an Undervoltage warning. Going to stop by the store and get a beefier adapter (currently using an old iPhone charger) and see if maybe that makes the Undervoltage warning go away

Try to get a proper power source and not a charger, the Pi (as any SBC) is very sensitive to voltage drops and fluctuating current.

Regarding your issue - can you post your \\retropie\configs\all\emulationstation\es_input.cfg file ? This is where EmulationStation saves the input configuration.
If you start a game again, is the mapping ok in-game ?

x8xid82

@mitu I'm running version 4.6.9, I just ordered a power supply, and hopefully, that solves the issue. I think there's a decent chance the two issues are related. If not, I'm not sure where to go from here past buying a logic board so that the second controller is recognized as its own gamepad. I'm just a little baffled because I haven't seen too many people on here complaining about their tank sticks not working.

Initially, I thought the configuration was getting botched upon the exit of the game, but it's actually when the game launches. Controls are messed up in-game as well (all emulators/games). Then the botched config sticks with it when you get back in ES and stays indefinitely.

I'll have to post my config file possibly tomorrow when I get off work.

x8xid82

So I managed to solve this, but I'm not entirely sure how. I fixed the under-voltage issue with a better power supply. Entered a game and had the same issue. Remapped after exit, then decided to see if it would do it again with other emulators, and like magic, I could never get the issue to reproduce even after a reboot. So.... I have no idea. My guess is it was related to the undervoltage and the board wasn't getting enough power causing a small memory dump when exiting the emulator.