dragonrise config

[mario24v]

Hi,

I'm having some issues with this Dragonrise joystick. Some good years ago ( >5) I've set a Retropie with the same joystick and had no issues at all. Now, after popping this one in the USB slot, I cannot set the actual joystick handle to work. The buttons seem fine, but for the actual joystick handle, when trying to set D-PAD up, down... only the left seems to work, it assigns "Axis 1". More than that, I have two of these controllers, so tried two boards/two joysticks/two connecting wires. So I hope/kind of doubt that there is a manufacturing issue. The other buttons seem to assign fine. Although... I don't know how do I skip a button assignment, as for this kind of joystick it seems there is no long press. If I press a button for long, it doesn't skip that button assignment, after releasing the relay, it will assign it to that button instead of skipping ?!!!

Does anyone has an already made config that I can copy/paste from the command line or something like that?

I don't quite remember how I did some years ago but I remember it was pretty straightforward, or if there was an ugly part, the brain forgot it. Btw I searched the forum but folks seem to have different issues with Dragonrise :( Thanks!

Pi Model: Pi 3 Model B v1.2
Power Supply used: 3A/5V
RetroPie Version Used (eg 3.6, 3.8.1, 4.1 - do not write latest): commit from 16th May 2023, think is 4.8.4
Linux version: Raspbian GNU/Linux 10
Built From: premade SD image + update
USB Devices connected: keyboard / Dragonrise Inc Generic USB joystick - "DragonRise Inc. PC TWIN SHOCK Gamepad"
Controller used: Dragonrise Inc Generic USB joystick
Error messages received: none, joystick is seen in dmesg and lsusb

[mitu]

This looks like a connection issue. If you test the faulty controller with jstest, does it register the missing buttons/joystick axis ?
You can run the test from a terminal , after you exit EmulationStation, by executing

jstest /dev/input/js0

and pressing the buttons/moving the axis on the controller. The command will output the registered inputs on the terminal so you can see if inputs are recognized. You can interrupt the test by pressing Ctrl + C and go back to EmulationStation by typing emulationstation followed by Enter.

[mario24v]

@mitu thank you, excellent advice

After running the above I noticed that indeed those axis don't work. So I tried changing the position of the connector (this one towards the joystick knob didn't have wiring guidance) and tadaa, they work now. Also this fixed somehow the skipping part, now with a long press of a button I can properly skip it.

Now I'm just trying to figure what is the minimum amount of buttons that I need (directions, start, select, hotkey and ...?) , I don't want the arcade machine to have too much buttons lying around plus I don't have the space, I want to build a double control one this time. Just hope there won't be no more trouble ahead.

Anyway, to get back to the subject, for other folks, if the joystick misbehaves, don't forget to check the wiring also. In my case this inverse polarity allowed it to work partially.