joystick hard to control

marpan70

Hi, I am a beginner with Retropie. I have a Picade 10 inch kit and already build it. Everything works fine, all the buttons and joystick seems working ok after configurating it with the Retropie configurator. The problem I experience is when I start a game with Mame2003 emulator: I can control a game for example Pacman or Amidar with the joystick, every direction is working but when I want to play faster, the control is very hard. For example when I am going up and suddenly to the left, it is not always very responsive (so I am Game Over very qucik). Does someone recognize this problem and is this configurable somewhere?

Ashpool

@marpan70 That's because PacMan and Amidar are games designed for a 4-way Stick and doesn't cope well with 8-way ones.
If you are willing to use lr-mame2003 Plus, that core has an option to "emulate" a 4-way stick (under Options in the lr Quick-Menu, the option is only visible for 4way games and otherwise hidden).

sleve_mcdichael

@Ashpool said in joystick hard to control:

If you are willing to use lr-mame2003 Plus, that core has an option to "emulate" a 4-way stick

Alternatively, xboxdrv can be used to emulate a 4-way joystick in any app with the --four-way-restrictor parameter:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Universal-Controller-Calibration-%26-Mapping-Using-xboxdrv/

Retro Arcade Fan

@Ashpool Thank you SO much for this. I never knew this feature existed.

marpan70

@Ashpool Thank you for your reply, I found the option and there's some improvement in the control of the joystick but it still very difficult to play a game like Pacman or Ms. Pacman with the Picade.

Ashpool

@marpan70 Sorry to hear that! I've just known of that feature to exist, never tried it, as my Arcade Controlpanel utilizes Ultimarc MagSticks which are easily switchable from 8 to 4 way (and vice versa).

Retro Arcade Fan

@Ashpool said in joystick hard to control:

Ultimarc MagSticks

You talking about this?

https://www.ultimarc.com/arcade-controls/joysticks/mag-stik-plus/

How do they compare to dragonrise joysticks?

Ashpool

@Retro-Arcade-Fan Yes, those and sorry (again,) Dragonrise JSticks are not ones I have played so far.. in fact, my experience with other arcade Sticks besides the Mag-Stik (+) are limited (Down to some cheap NoNames, Sanwa and whatever Lioncast has build into their Fighting Stick).

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With the MagStik I had the luck to try it out on a friends Arcade and it's haptic/resistance, etc. (Bat-top, I prefer those over Ball-tops) where just right for me. ... If the Placement of the Stick allows for an easy access from below, the mag-stik (without the +) is a cheaper solution (In fact, that is the case with mine and using the Plus ability to switch by pulling/rotating the stick is only used by me in seldom cases, as IMHO sadly as it is, ultimarc used one cheap plastic part for that (in their otherwise high quality build) functionality and I want to keep the wear level down on it)...
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P.S.: Be warned here (try 'em out if you can): I am one of those people who preferred the Quickshot Pro II Turbo over the famous Competition Pro and later nearly all (Logitech)-mice I bought, which suited me perfectly, soon where replaced by some not-me design. Other hardware, like the microsoft strategic-commander and other similar HID Devices that where just right for me, soon went into the legacy-device category. So I am by def. not the person whose advice on input devices should be followed blindly...

Retro Arcade Fan

@Ashpool I prefer fighting games and was told by a few people to be careful what joystick you purchase because not all work well for fighting games. I'm intrigued by the one you suggested because of the "easy switch" to go from 4 way to 8 way.

Ashpool

@Retro-Arcade-Fan Maybe @Clyde can elaborate a bit further on it. AFAIK he had tested/compared some Models (and made his decision in favour of the mag-stik).