Help setting up first arcade & Ipac

mrt88

Hi all,

I have just finished off my first ever arcade. After starting it years ago it’s finally live.

I’m using an Ipac2 to control everything. I know very little about them and having issues setting up 2 players.

On initial setup it recognised it as 1 keyboard.
I have 2 players, 1 joystick and 6 buttons each, with 1 coin and 1 start button per side.

I have just updated the Ipac to the latest firmware as of today.

Are there any good tutorials for beginners like myself so I can try get player 2 working ?
I read about switching to “game pad” mode now it’s updated but couldn’t get that to work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

mitu

The documentation covers an IPAC configured as a keyboard in https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Keyboard-Controllers/.

If you configure the IPAC to act as a gamepad (or a pair of gamepads), then you can configure them as you would any other gamepad - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Controller-Configuration/.

mrt88

@mitu thank you so much. I will have a good read through these.

Looks like going the game pad route is my best option for simplicity.

However no matter what I do I can’t get the Ipac to change to game pad mode.

Any ideas ?

Thank you for the info

hopwon

@mrt88 Plug it into a PC with winipac running. The switch is not instant like unplugging and plugging in a USB device. It can take 30 seconds or so. The reason to do with with iPac running is you can see the mode at the bottom of the screen.

Ashpool

@mrt88 said in Help setting up first arcade & Ipac:

After starting it years ago it’s finally live.

Edit: Sorry again, I am really starting to suffer from a serious case of "Betriebsblindheit"/don't noticing half of the original post...
Is the I-PAC also some years old? In that case it's Firmware may be of interest some older post 2015 Models had a separate Firmware for Keyboard/Gamepad and the mixed-mode/dualgp firmware of old couldn't really be used with retropie - for more information for nowadays firmware see ultimarcs i-pac2 page and take a look into the multi-mode tab.

Edit: Since you updated already, I guess you are aware of that "guide" I linked and the advice from @hopwon is to be kept in memory. But beyond that, as the switched to mode/device(s) aren't configured/known so far by the retropie setup, you need to configure the controlls anew (and once) for each mode used (as @mitu already said) and I guess for both player 1 and 2 in the gamepad modes (*1).

But my personal advice would be, if that is to be used in a fixed cabinet/setup - the keyboard route is IMHO much easier/more troublefree in the long run (at least that was my experience in 2020 and I never got the hang with the multi-mode firmware [and because of that I am unsure of [1]]).

mrt88

@Ashpool thank you for all the info so far.

I have reset the Ipac to default, when loading retropie. I have the option to configure a keyboard. So that’s fine, but then no option to do the “player 2 side”
If I go into settings and configure that side the first side goes.

Any ideas ?

Ashpool

@mrt88 If ES is just naming the device to configure as keyboard, you haven't switched the mode of the IPac. If it would be in one of the gamepad modes, ES would say something like "# gamepad(s) detected..."

AFAIK the mode is persistent once set and if possible you may well keep to @hopwon and change the mode to your desired one on a windows machine/observed checked via winipac.

Once it reports itself as 2 gamepads.... as I had downgraded (after updating from 1.39) my Firmware from the 1.5? to 1.49 (KBD only) I can't try it out and really don't recall how the multi-mode DInput/XInput differs for P1/P2 - Opening the configure input from emulation station I 1st would configure the parts connected to the P1 side of the I-PAC2 and see whether the P2 side responds afterwards (so both pseudo-devices are using the same identifier), but my guess would be that you have to configure the input again with the stick/buttons connected to the P2 side of the I-Pac [1].

Edit: If you opt for the "Keyboard" way, manual editing configs is the only way (AFAIK) of setting the keys for player 2+. The Docs @mitu linked to are pretty good, in addition you may have a look at this (maybe somewhat old) guide from theink. And the meta/shift-key from the IPac2 was one of the main reasons I switched back to keyboard only mode, as it opens up so much possibilities in key-assignment that I am unsure how to achieve the same from within a gamepad mode of the I-Pac.

1: Would be wise on ultimarcs behalve to report P1/P2 sides of the IPac (in Gamepad(s) Mode) with different IDs, as both parts could be configured in a different way/layout button assignment via Winipac.