Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad

ase1981

What I have: I am running retropie 4.8 on a RPi4, that is updated as of 10/10/23. I am using MAME 2003+ to run 0.78 romset roms. I am using a generic usb wireless dongle controller that comes up as a XBOX360 controller in the configure input screen. The home button (10) is set to enable hotkeys and Start (9) is set to exit in the .cfg file.

The Problem: When I try to use enable hotkey button and then exit, nothing happens. I have to turn the system off by cutting the power and reboot, to get to a different game. This happens in FBA also, but all other emulators I can exit with no problem.

What I have tried: I have checked the cfg in MAME, FBA, RetroArch, and Retropie itself. I don't see any issues or typos.

What I need: Can anyone please make a suggestion on what to try next? Thank you for the help. Have a blessed day.

WeirdH

@ase1981 said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

The home button (10) is set to enable hotkeys

Maybe this is just wording, but you should have a key set AS hotkey, not as 'enable hotkeys'.

If you're running at least Retroarch 1.12, you could try adding/modifying the line

input_quit_gamepad_combo = "4"

in your /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

This should set the button combo for exiting a core to 'start+select' (provided that your aforementioned home button is registered as 'select' in-game, of course)

If that doesn't work, try adding the line to /opt/retropie/configs/mame-libretro/retroarch.cfg, which is the core-specific config file for lr-mames.

You could also try other combinations instead of that number "4" I stated above. See the following list, found on the Github page for retroarch.cfg:

RetroPad button combination to quit
# 0: None
# 1: Down + Y + L1 + R1
# 2: L3 + R3
# 3: L1 + R1 + Start + Select
# 4: Start + Select
# 5: L3 + R1
# 6: L1 + R1
# 7: Hold Start (2 seconds)
# 8: Hold Select (2 seconds)
# 9: Down + Select
# 10: L2 + R2
# input_quit_gamepad_combo = 0

barbudreadmon

@ase1981 said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

FBA

There should be no emulator by that name in 2023 on retropie. Are you maybe refering to pifba ? If so, it doesn't use retroarch so i think it's pretty normal for your retroarch hotkey to not work there. Note that you should never use something as old as pifba on a pi4, the goto FinalBurn emulator on pi4 is FBNeo.

sleve_mcdichael

@WeirdH said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

Maybe this is just wording, but you should have a key set AS hotkey, not as 'enable hotkeys'.

The enable_hotkey wording is correct. menu_toggle, exit_emulator, etc., these are all "hotkeys." What you think of as "the" hotkey is a special hotkey called enable_hotkey that enables other hotkeys to be activated. Without it, they just have their normal functions as whatever button. This is usually assigned to the controller's SELECT, or HOME button when available.

For example, exit_emulator is a hotkey, by default assigned to the START button. But we don't want to exit every time START is pressed; usually we just want it to function as a regular START button to start the game with it, or to pause and resume. So you press enable_hotkey and exit_emulator at the same time (SELECT and START, or HOME and START), to enable the "hotkey" (exit) function of the START button instead of the "normal" (START button) function.

sleve_mcdichael

@ase1981 said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

The Problem: When I try to use enable hotkey button and then exit, nothing happens.

You mean at the same time right? Not one after the other?

I have to turn the system off by cutting the power and reboot,

Well, no, you don't have to. For example you can SSH in and run pkill retroarch to kill the process and return to EmulationStation.

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/SSH/

To troubleshoot this, we're going to need to start with a verbose log. The log can be accessed with SSH or SFTP:

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Transferring-Roms/#sftp

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/#runcommand-launch-menu

https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Runcommand/#launch-with-verbose-logging

Please post the log's contents to pastebin.com and share that link here.

ase1981

@barbudreadmon As I stated I am usinng Retropie 4.8 and all pakages are up to date as of 4 days ago. FBA refers to the file on the drive wherre FB roms are stored. Multiple emulators use the same file. MAME and MAME 2003+ both us the lib mame folder, for example. I believe the emulator running is FBneo but I haven't messed with it yet, as all my focus has been on MAME. Thanks for the advice though. Its good advice, just not relevent to my issue, due to my poor choice of words in the original post.

mitu

In addition to the log file that @sleve_mcdichael suggested to post, please post also the configuration of the gamepad, which you can find it in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads folder as a .cfg file.

ase1981

@WeirdH Thank you very much. I have a feeling this will work. I felt all along it was a cfg issue. I have to work a festival for the next 5 days, but when I get some free time I will check it out and let you know what happened. Thanks again.

ase1981

@mitu I will do that. Thank you for the help. I have to work a charity event at a local festival for the next several days. As soon as I get some free time I will post the logs, so we can troubleshoot them. Thanks again for the assistance. Have a blessed day.

barbudreadmon

@ase1981 said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

just not relevent to my issue

Oh, i thought you had the same issue with "FBA", so it seemed relevant.

WeirdH

@sleve_mcdichael said in Exiting MAME 2003+ via Gamepad:

What you think of as "the" hotkey is a special hotkey called enable_hotkey that enables other hotkeys to be activated.

Ah yes, you are correct. I always call the select button "the" hotkey, as it changes the functions of the other, 'regular' buttons (like a shift key does).

mahoneyt944

The home key is not recognized by mame2003-plus. I'm not sure how and if retroarch handles this key, years ago I inquired about adding support but seems it wasn't in the cards. Verify that another combo works or doesn't work such as select and start or any other.

ase1981

Ok, so I feel like an idiot but it was the un-useability of the home key that was the issue. When I remapped select to the hotkey feature, it worked. Thank you to all of you. At least I learned a lot about cfg. :)