Setup Difficulties - Hit a Dead End....

mattsyd

Hello All,
I've spent many hours trying to get things up and running. Generally speaking I've found the experience very challenging despite having a decent background in IT.
Some menus work with a keyboard, some not, the system is not at all intuitive in my experience.

Here are my issues:

When I load a mame game, I start playing and this menu comes up:
"Input (General)
Input (this game)
Dip Switches
etc. etc."
I can't find a way to reset controls so that I can just play the game instead, with the up, down, left right, A,B, X, Y, L, R mapping that I set up in the first place.
I have gone into Retoarch and tried to reset the config. No joy.
Also, I've FTP'd in and tried to find the config files. Also no joy, online tutorials lead me to directories that don't correspond to my setup.
In addition, I can't go into that menu anyway becase the controls are assigned to someting non-functional, up is down or down is left or something else.... If anyone has tips on configuring that menu when I'm able to get back in, I'd appreciate it. I find it extremely confusing due to the GUI, (can't see the current input mappings).

I'm using mame libretto lrmame 2003 ( that was the only option available on setup so I went with that. There was no directory for any others so I just went with what was there.
Pi 4B 4gb ram
I'm using this device for 2 x arcade controllers:
https://www.jaycar.com.au/raspberry-pi-retro-arcade-game-console-with-hdmi-port/p/XC9062?pos=3&queryId=cf542f8772e92f34562f53a8e93fddd7&sort=relevance&searchText=retro pie
I have GPIO pins working with the arcade buttons and joysticks and have mapped them as 2 separate controllers.
I have a keyboard and PS4 controller connected. All four devices work:
a. keyboard
b. PS4 controller
c, d. Arcade joystick and 6 buttons x 2 via GPIO.
I installed the latest version of Retro pie OS as on April 2024 via Raspberry Pi Imager.

Any help and guidance much appreciated, excuse my frustation, if I was a coder I would be happy to provide some input. Alas, I'm not. I just want to set this up and play some NES, SNES and MAME games with friends and have some fun.

mitu

When I load a mame game, I start playing and this menu comes up:

This is the MAME menu and it's usually brought up when you press tab on the keyboard or R2 on the gamepad. Is you GPIO gamepad recognized as a keyboard or as a gamepad/controller ?

Also, I've FTP'd in and tried to find the config files.

The input configurations for Mame2003 are not text, but binary and are not readable. If you use the MAME menu to set-up input and you wish to start from scratch, then you can delete the configuration file(s).

Normally, if you configure your input in EmulationStation, it will automatically configure any libretro based emulators/cores, including Mame2003. However if your controller is a keyboard one and one of the buttons is mapped to tab, I can see the MAME menu being brought up when you're trying to play.
For Mame2003-Plus, there should be an option for the Core to disable direct input processing and thus ignore any direct keyboard access so even if you're pressing tab , the menu won't be shown (see here, look for the Input interface option). Other arcade emulators (like FBNeo) don't have this menu or mapping.

NB: we don't recommend using the reset menu option in RetroArch, since it messes with RetroPie defaults and it may cause issues later on. If you've used it, then I recommend you delete the config file and re-install RetroArch to re-add the RetroPie default configuration file.

mattsyd

@mitu said in Setup Difficulties - Hit a Dead End....:

re-install RetroArch

Thank you ro the reply mitu.
I attempted retroarch install, it failed. Nof sure if I did it correctly. Have decided to wipe and start again. I am not using a keyboard as a controller when trying to play games. Using the PS4 or GPIO connected arcade controller. I must have re-mapped the tab shortcut to button a one one of the controllers. I fins it very easy to mees this up. is there an easier way to setup input configs for mame. I get VERY lost in that menu or make mistakes in data entry, pressing the wrong button and re-mapping to something that completely messes everything up.
What is the correct method to re-install retroarch?
I believe the GPIO gamepad is recognised as a gamepad/ controller. I used this to set it up: https://github.com/mholgatem/GPIOnext/
and then mapped it in ES input config menu.

mitu

@mattsyd said in Setup Difficulties - Hit a Dead End....:

Using the PS4 or GPIO connected arcade controller. I must have re-mapped the tab shortcut to button a one one of the controllers.

As I said before, the menu is opened by tab or the R2 button. If you still want to use Mame2003, then my advice is to disable the MAME menu altogether from the options and then - if needed - re-map the buttons from RetroArch's core input remapping (see here).

AI fins it very easy to mees this up. is there an easier way to setup input configs for mame. I get VERY lost in that menu or make mistakes in data entry, pressing the wrong button and re-mapping to something that completely messes everything up.

See above.

What is the correct method to re-install retroarch?

From RetroPie-Setup - https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Updating-RetroPie/#manage-packages. RetroArch is in the core section.

mattsyd

Thanks again mitu. I don't mind which mame system I use. What ever is simpler. Very happy to go with a recommendation.
ON mame I want to setup street fighter ii, mortal combat, frogger, pacman or puckman, space invaders and a few other classics to start with.
Other games are super mario brothers on nes, sonic the hedgehog on sega mega drive (1991).
After wiping the sd card and setting up again, I now have a different issue. The controls on my simple usb gamepad ( ABXY LR and D pad) don't work as mapped in ES. N64 mario cart and puckman on mame are my tests at present. The controller works perfectly for navigating retro pie settings and menus, (and is mapped correctly in es config input menu) until I start playing N64 mario cart for example, all buttons work except the D pad. Can't move left or right.
I understand it has to be mapped in ES input config, and then again for each emulator too? Perhaps again for individual games within an emulator too in some cases?
Thanks for your assistance and patience.

sleve_mcdichael

@mattsyd said in Setup Difficulties - Hit a Dead End....:

I don't mind which mame system I use. What ever is simpler. Very happy to go with a recommendation.
ON mame I want to setup street fighter ii, mortal combat, frogger, pacman or puckman, space invaders and a few other classics to start with.

I like lr-fbneo; it doesn't even have that TAB-menu and with proper romsets it "just works" in my experience. All control mapping is done by core input remapping in the RetroArch menu.

After wiping the sd card and setting up again, I now have a different issue. The controls on my simple usb gamepad ( ABXY LR and D pad) don't work as mapped in ES. N64 mario cart and puckman on mame are my tests at present. The controller works perfectly for navigating retro pie settings and menus, (and is mapped correctly in es config input menu) until I start playing N64 mario cart for example, all buttons work except the D pad. Can't move left or right.

Does the D-pad work in the (in-game) menus, and just not once the race begins? That's normal; Mario Kart 64 don't use dpad in the race, it need the thumb stick. Dpad work in the menus to select a race but once it start, it need the thumb stick.

I understand it has to be mapped in ES input config, and then again for each emulator too?
Perhaps again for individual games within an emulator too in some cases?

No, when you do it once for ES it should automatically configure inputs both for RetroArch and for the stand-alone emulators at the same time, too.

You can **re-**map the controls for a single game or emulator, but you shouldn't have to set them all up individually.