EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game

queenkjuul

EmulationStation v2.11.2RP
Ubuntu 23.10 using Cinnamon, fully updated
Installed using RetroPie installer scripts
No errors reported in console when running emulationstation --debug

Everything works great as far as configuring input with EmulationStation, launching a game, choosing the core, and playing the game. All perfect, no issues. When I exit a game via the RetroArch hotkey menu, EmulationStation returns to the menu, however, EmulationStation stops registering input of any kind. The app isn't frozen, as scrolling elements in the UI continue scrolling. No excess CPU usage, no output in the console.

I have tested this with a keyboard as my only input device, an Xbox 360 controller using an official Microsoft wireless adapter, and a RetroFighters USB controller (which Linux detects as a 360 controller). It doesn't matter - when emulation ends, and EmulationStation returns to the menu, it does not recognize input from any device. I can alt-tab out and in, and when I Alt-F4 to close EmulationStation the console indicates it quit cleanly.

Tried searching but didn't find any similar issues.

mitu

@queenkjuul said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

No errors reported in console when running emulationstation --debug

Can you post the log taken with --debug on pastebin.com ? Can you try to see if using a different window manager/desktop env changes anything ?

queenkjuul

@mitu said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

@queenkjuul said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

No errors reported in console when running emulationstation --debug

Can you post the log taken with --debug on pastebin.com ? Can you try to see if using a different window manager/desktop env changes anything ?

https://pastebin.com/iG7MHLdZ

it's logging the inputs post-game exit, but the UI doesn't respond

I don't have any other DEs installed on this machine. It would be relatively difficult for me to set one up, i could try retropie on a different ubuntu cinnamon machine but I dont know if that helps given it would be different hardware.

mitu

It doesn't respond because EmulationStation doesn't consider the controller as 'configured':

... after launching the game...

Apr 21 22:22:20 lvl2: 	Added unconfigured joystick 'Xbox 360 Controller' (GUID: 030003f05e0400008e02000010010000, instance ID: 1, device index: 0).
Apr 21 22:22:21 lvl3: 	UIModeController::logInput( Xbox 360 Controller ):Hat 0 down, isMappedTo= , value=4
Apr 21 22:22:21 lvl3: 	fireEvent: game-select saturn /home/qkj/RetroPie/roms/saturn/Panzer Dragoon (USA) (5S).chd

This is usually happening when you've removed the es_input.cfg file, as a way to reset your controller settings, since it contains also the path to the input configuration scripts. The scripts in question will generate and persist the configuration of the controller for EmulationStation and several emulators.

My advice would be to re-install EmulationStation from RetroPie-Setup and then re-configure the controller, checking afterwards that it's been saved in es_inputs.cfg.

Also, what's happening to your arcade folder ? Is it recursively multiplying ?

queenkjuul

@mitu said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

It doesn't respond because EmulationStation doesn't consider the controller as 'configured':
... after launching the game...

Apr 21 22:22:20 lvl2: 	Added unconfigured joystick 'Xbox 360 Controller' (GUID: 030003f05e0400008e02000010010000, instance ID: 1, device index: 0).
Apr 21 22:22:21 lvl3: 	UIModeController::logInput( Xbox 360 Controller ):Hat 0 down, isMappedTo= , value=4
Apr 21 22:22:21 lvl3: 	fireEvent: game-select saturn /home/qkj/RetroPie/roms/saturn/Panzer Dragoon (USA) (5S).chd
This is usually happening when you've removed the es_input.cfg file, as a way to reset your controller settings, since it contains also the path to the input configuration scripts. The scripts in question will generate and persist the configuration of the controller for EmulationStation and several emulators.

My advice would be to re-install EmulationStation from RetroPie-Setup and then re-configure the controller, checking afterwards that it's been saved in es_inputs.cfg.

Also, what's happening to your arcade folder ? Is it recursively multiplying ?

that's been fixed, sorry. symlink inside a symlink by mistake. I rescraped that system and those errors are gone. It hasn't affected behavior.

It does not seem to be saving my input configuration. I've never manually removed the file, and this is already a clean installation (i mean, the roms have been in place on my NAS, but everything else is fresh)

Group and owner have write permissions on es_input.cfg but every time I launch emulationstation it asks me to configure the gamepad

mitu

@queenkjuul said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

It does not seem to be saving my input configuration. I've never manually removed the file, and this is already a clean installation (i mean, the roms have been in place on my NAS, but everything else is fresh)

Even after re-installing the EmulationStation package ? If so, please post the es_input.cfg file you have.

queenkjuul

@mitu reinstalled, didn't work, moved es_input.cfg to es_input.cfg.bak, restarted emulationstation, problem still persisted, restarted it again, now it works and I have a proper es_input.cfg

so idk what happened.

Is it possible to configure both keyboard and gamepad input for the menus?

mitu

@queenkjuul said in EmulationStation becomes unusable / registers no input after exiting game:

Is it possible to configure both keyboard and gamepad input for the menus?

Yes.