MAME Buttons - Arcade Controller

StuDev

Now I'm sure this is a simple question BUT i've search and seem to be really struggling to get it right.

I've got two arcade style controller with two buttons each.
In ES these are Button A and Button B.

In MAME I want button A to be the fire button (e.g. Invaders or Scramble).
and button B for scramble would be the Bomb.

Ive read through here https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/22325/mapping-for-mame-buttons and also used the RetroArch element BUT ive tried loads of combination but cant seem to work out the right one. (https://retropie.org.uk/docs/RetroArch-Configuration/#core-input-remapping)

After a week of on and off trying in spare time I thought Id give up and ask.

Thanks for any help
Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: errrr came with it
RetroPie Version Used 4.6:
Built From:(Pre made SD Image on RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Arcade Joysticks (2), Keyboard
Controller used: Arcade joystick and buttons from amazon
Connection to screen: HDMI

Clyde

@studev Hello and welcome to this forum.

What exactly did you do? What happened instead of the desired results?

dankcushions

@studev i think it depends on the game as MAME isn't super consistent with what buttons do what. however, with, say, invaders, button1 is fire. with scramble, button1 is fire, and button2 is bomb.

by default retropad B is button1 (fire), and retropad Y is button 2 (bomb).

so, you probably want a core override that sets your button A as B, and B as Y. however, i can't remember if that messes with the RGUI confirm/cancel buttons. maybe it would be better for you to instead bind A as button1 and B as button2 within MAME menu > Input (general)

willd

@studev I had this problem once, you have to make sure when you wire up the controllers that you wire them exactly the same. The same buttons to the same input on thier respective control boards.

StuDev

@clyde Hi Clyde and thanks for the reply.
I notice in the default setup that My Blue button (used as B in ES) fired in Space Invaders.
I also notice that "z" on the kayboard fired too.

So looking into Retro Arch >> Controllers >> Port 1 COntrollers
I notice that Auto: 4 (n/a) (Key z) was matched to Button 1 (under column retropad)
So my first thought was to swap Button 1 (in the retropad column with button 2) and remove the button for Auto 4 (n/a) (key a) Button 2 - i put "---". As space invaders only uses one button 9 dont need the others mapped).

But this stop all buttons from firing - i also tried button 3 and 4 in Auto: 4 (n/a) (Key z) - but the same thing.

Is there an easy way to tell which buttons map to which button numbers ?

Does that help ?

Ive attached a few pics of the above configs I did (each time I change the config - i save to local game and restarted RetroArch.)

First pic is the default setup

Second pic where I picked Button 2 as Auto 8 key Z setting.

StuDev

@willd This is just a player 1 issue (my player 1 and player 2 are wired the same - I picked that issue on the forum) :-) Catch me out for a bit though - ha ha

StuDev

@dankcushions it seems to have for me that button 2 is fire and button 4 is bomb on Scramble. I did have a look at the MAME direct <TAB> menu - and wasnt sure what I should put in the various entries. I could retry that method again

Clyde

@studev said in MAME Buttons - Arcade Controller:

Is there an easy way to tell which buttons map to which button numbers ?

You could use jstest in the comand console, aka shell. Press F4 in Emulation Station to go to the shell, and enter

jstest /dev/input/js0

Change the number to choose the joystick that you want to test. The button numbers there should correspond to the numbers in MAME (at least they do on my Pi).

Press Ctrl+c to end the test, and enter exit to exit the shell.

Jstest can also output all joystick events as a list. Just add the option --event to the command:

jstest --event /dev/input/js0

edit: You could also change RetroArch's menu style from RGUI to XMB via *Settings > Drivers > Menu". It puts little icons before every button line that show the position of that button on a common gamepad. Overall, I find XMB more informative and convenient than the standard RGUI.

edit 2: Just some typos.

StuDev

@clyde Absolutely perfect - that different menu is a lot lot better - so much easier. JTEST was good to let me know the buttons.

Excellent replies and thank you so much for your time :-)

StuDev

@clyde One quick question on the XMB menu - can you save config per game still ? I couldn’t find the menu item.

Clyde

@studev That depends on what you want so save:

In Quick Menu > Overrides, you can save custom configurations (overrides) for cores and games, whereas in Quick Menu > Controls you can save custom controller mappings (remap files) for cores and games.