GPi Case 2

EctoOne

The case has a single mono speaker, but inside of the case it has a stereo amp. Retroflag has just wired up the right channel, leaving the left channel unpopulated. So sound will be completely off in some games that offer stereo sound with no way to convert it to mono, like, ironically, Game Boy games (the sound output is stereo, because the headphone jack on the Game Boy was stereo). This was apparently also a problem on the original GPi case. The fix for it is here: https://www.reddit.com/r/retroflag_gpi/comments/c176wg/sound_fix_for_gpi_mono_sound_link_inside/

Do you know of any game that can be used to test the sound of the speaker? Because so far I have not encountered any problem with that.

mitu

@EctoOne The 240p testsuite has a Stereo sound test (the SNES version at least).

G30FF

@EctoOne I noticed it when I tried playing Super Mario Land for the Game Boy. As soon as I got a star, the invincibility music sounded completely off. Then I realized it was because it played only the right audio channel. If you plug in headphones you can hear the full music. But if you're familiar with what it should sound like, you'll be able to tell right away something is wrong.

EctoOne

@G30FF Thanks for the tip, I tested it and it really makes a difference. Well, I guess I'll add that to my personal settings script. :)

G30FF

@EctoOne You're welcome! It's worth adding the extra script from the reddit post I linked, so that you can have stereo sound from the headphone jack and mono from the onboard speaker (you have to run the script manually when you want to switch the sound back to default, but it's better than nothing).

EctoOne

@G30FF I've seen the script but I already had my own to disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in the config.txt, so I simply added another function to it, to switch between the Audio modes. I prefer to have a single script/menu instead of multiple entries in the gamelist.

youngcreative

@G30FF I also hated the D pad. Constantly got random down and right moves. Then I saw this YouTube video about swapping out the D pad with a Gameboy D pad from Handheld Legends. It works! D pad control much improved. However, this video is for the original GPi case, not the 2. I had to slightly lift up the battery pack to get to the screws on the circuit board. You don’t have to completely remove it, but just be careful to not pierce the battery cover! But the mod was definitely worth the effort. FYI: The video mentions a ribbon cable, but it does not exist on the GPi2.

G30FF

@youngcreative I've now done this mod myself. It was a lot of work, but I got into the controller to swap the D-pad. And honestly I'm not entirely sure it was worth it.

Yes, it's more accurate, and I have far less mistaken diagonals. But the D-pad is also shorter, and feels like it needs to be pressed harder to register an input, which hurts my thumb the more I play. And I now have the opposite problem from mistaken diagonals. Every once in a while, when I slide my thumb over the D-pad, it just doesn't register the input.

plimbs

I have my Gpi Case 2 now up and running. Overall, I think it is a great little box. Love the docking station.

I have some of the same issues with the dpad, but not enough to go crack the thing open. I am having more challenges with trying to use a paired bluetooth Xbox One controller.

When docked, Gpi still prefers the onboard gamepad to the BT one. I'd almost rather the built in contols 'disconnected' or went invisible when docked. I have been able to mitigate it with meleu's joystick-selector script, but it isn't flawless.

And, so far, I have had zero luck getting ScummVM to recognize the built-in controller for virtual mouse support. When the xbone controller is paired, I can get Scumm to recognize the analog stick for mouse by changing the launch script to 'joystick=1', but it homes in to the upper left and is completely useless to play with.

Would love anyone to help get that working. What's weird is, I have had zero issue with other pi builds getting the controller to work well with ScummVM. Nearly out of the box functionality. Not here. I think it is the fact one is built-in that is interfering.

plimbs

I resolved mapping the controller for ScummVm. In case you also need it:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/33334/scummvm-controller-help-needed

plimbs

I have also resolved the issue with using a bluetooth controller for ScummVM. The write up is in the other post. In case you also need it:
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/33334/scummvm-controller-help-needed