Ultrastik 360 USB Joystick - no response to unit

papstdfrisco

Setup:
Pi Model: 3B
RetroPie Version Used: 4.0.2
Built From: Used Pre made SD Image from RetroPie website
USB Devices connected: Ultrastik 360, Ipac2, mouse, kb

So I have found very little info on how the Ultrastik 360 is suppose to work under RPie.
My general feeling is that it should just work. However, at least for me, this is not the case.
Search of the forum returned 0 responses to Ultrastik.

I'm hoping that someone has some experience to share on what I may be missing or need to do to the setup to make this work. I have updated the firmware in the Ipac2 to 1.43 and loaded a couple of different mappings into the Ultrastik. None of this has made any difference in the response under the system. It currently has a 4-way map that I loaded.

In the configuration of ES - it started out as 3 gamepads detected, went to 2 at some point and after the upgrade of the firmware in the Ipac2 it is now at 1. The firmware was suppose to make the Ipac2 not detected as 2 gamepads. So it appears the system is seeing the stik as something but not responding to it.

I hope someone has some ideas of what I need to look at, look for, tweak, etc...
I do see a JS0 under devices.
I have exhausted my limited knowledge of Linux and such and do not know where to go from here.

Supposedly the Ultrastik can support buttons - so in the next couple of days I will try moving the buttons to the stik and take the Ipac2 out of the loop and see if that changes anything.

Any help would be appreciated - let me know if you need more info.

Thanks,
Matt

papstdfrisco

@papstdfrisco
Apparently, Emulation Station requires a button press to enable a joystick to be used / detected / initiate the process. Seems like an oversight in ES to me. But at least I'm now able to use the Ultrastik. So if anyone plans on trying an Ultrastik, just be aware you will need to hook up at least 1 button to the joysticks button connector.

Srfrboybob

@papstdfrisco
I purchased some Ultrastik 360 (2.0). I wanted to see how yours was working with the newer updates. I have a xinmo 2player in my arcade. I am going to try USB first but I think I will have the same issues you were. After that I will try wire harness for output mode with the USB to keep the mapping functions. Also I have setup Rgb Commander 0.4 to control mapping and led changes. How are you changing your mapping?

soonerdoc

So can you use the xin-mo with the U360? Connect output to the xin-mo and then use the USB to map the controller (for qbert for example)?

Srfrboybob

@soonerdoc well kinda. I have gotten this to work in combination on rgbcommander ( http://users.telenet.be/rgbcommander/ ). The ultrastik 360 has a input/output function. it will output 8 buttons per joystick. You can build or purchase the harnesses from Andy at ultimarc ( http://www.ultimarc.com/store/section.php?xSec=6&xPage=1&jssCart=65d02e8fc928f4e74d60ee8b8d99affc). My issue is that I have a 20 button setup with a xinmo 2 player already inline. I followed the guide on ultimarcs page for output mode and ran the related connections from the xinmo including the common. I have the usbs plugged in to allow rgbcommander to switch "way" automatically. It does work great but I now get a "Error: no such device" message after activating the 360s in the rgbcmdd.xml file. This is only visible in attract mode because I am currently unable to hide the console text before runcommand starts. This includes the popular "glGetError 0x500" text. Anyways, I believe this is due to xinmo being setup as player 1 and 2 but rgbcommander is sending ultrastik 360 data causing the error. You probably wont have that issue if you use the input mode and not use the xinmo but you will be limited to 16 buttons. I have tried all sorts of config combos in retroarch/es and still have the issue. ES just hides the issue. I will be trying to have the 360s send signals to 16 buttons and only use xinmo for the other 4 buttons (exit, func/alt, etc.) but this will take some time to test. Sorry about the ramble on. Let me know how it goes and I will keep checking back on this post and updating progress.

soonerdoc

@Srfrboybob I am trying to accomplish the same thing. I currently have a 22 button setup. Would want to do what it sounds like you are doing. Use the xin-mo for the 22 buttons and then connect the U360 directly to the xin-mo board. And then connect the USB to the U360 to allow mapping with rgbcommander.

Sounds like it may not work well. May have to settle for 8 buttons per player. Or I assume you can switch from the xin-mo to an ipac. But that would be another additional cost and potentially be a headache to setup on the pi.

Srfrboybob

@soonerdoc I tested sending buttons from the 360s directly and had the same results. I believe its an issue with rgbcommaner. no big deal if you don't mind errors but I do. I decided to go pc on this arcade build now. New os but new problems :). I'll checkin again but please contact me if you find a soultion.