Using second controller for START and SELECT

davindersangha

Hi. First Post.

I'm creating an Atari 2600 set up. I'm using a 2600 shell and have already got a controller board which picks up a connected switch as a joystick button. However I want 2 x Atari simple joysticks as the main game controllers for all but this 3rd controller board to handle the switches.

In initial setup when it detects a game pad, I have to configure one or the other

churchill7

@davindersangha I made a similar attempt where I wanted to have two active joy sticks on one game This just won't work. Can't set two controllers as player 1 or two. Can't have multiple active controllers for player 1 type thing. But..... If you got a very compact and mounted it under the switch so the switch hit the 1 button which is start that could work. Or just mount the keyboard on the chassis and use the 1 / 2 for one and two players. The keyboard always works in tandem with the controllers.

davindersangha

@churchill7 cheers.
I made a little progress in that I have a n Atari style 9 pin joystick working with the games on Retropie Stella2014. I even managed to switch buttons A and B so that the fire works.

However, the plan is to have joystick 1 and 2 as Atari styles in separate USB ports.
Joystick 3 is your standard arcade controller board. This I want to hook up to the Atari switches (which I managed to do when doing some diagnostics a while back) and use them as START and SELECT. However, it forces me to use the up, down, left and right when initially calibrating. However, I can get round this by setting them up with the joypad and then removing.

So, this joystick 3 in it's own USB port will have START and SELECT.

davindersangha

@davindersangha @churchill7 - this might solve the issue with a mini keyboard hidden inside

https://www.instructables.com/Create-External-Buttons-For-Your-Keyboard/

davindersangha

@davindersangha @churchill7

Tried it. Didn't work. Just too unstable and some of the keys just didn't match up.

Next solution is to dismantle the old Atari joystick and replace the insides with joystick and controller. Need something quite small though, as the existing arcade ones seem to be a bit too big.

So, the plan is. Dismantle the joystick, have the standard single button and directional stick in the joystick, but on the controller board I would add some extra "buttons" connected to the Reset, etc. switches on the Atari machine to map with Start and Select and Back.