Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2

theink

@kc1123
I want to clear several things out.

From what I understand you are fine with reconfiguring the IPAC right?
How many buttons do you have on your control panel?
Is it a set-up like the one I'm describing or you have less/more buttons?
The reason I ask is so that I know if copying my files over yours will fix things immediately or you will have to do some additional adjustments.

Now on the subject.
There are several ways to access the config files and edit them.
Some are doing this from a console. But for that, you need to know some basic programming. You can access them through the retro pie menu, but that is a bit clunky. You can also insert the card directly into your computer, but if it's operating system is any other than Linux you won't be able to see the drive as it is in a different file format, unreadable to Windows or Mac.

The easiest way to access the files is to insert your card inside the raspberry pi. Then connect it with a LAN cable to your router. If you are using windows you will have to open the network folder on your PC. The Retro Pie console will appear as a regular PC there. Simply open it and you will see the file structure.

If you are making an arcade machine with the same number buttons as mine and same arrangement and assuming that you want to set it up the same way, simply copy the config files I uploaded to the pointed directory. Override your files. Don't worry I made backups of the default files in the archive itself.

Then if you know how to reprogram the IPAC open the WinIPAC program, click on File->import and choose the XML file I provided. This will set up the IPAC accordingly to the configuration files you just replaced. Then start up your retro pie.

On the first startup, it will ask you to configure your controller. input the controls again. (I don't know why this step appears, just do it) After that, everything will be set-up. Play some games see if the control scheme works for you.

If your button layout is totally different than mine you will have to additionally edit the cfg files to accommodate the difference.
Open them with a text editor and manually input the name of the keys you want to assign to the buttons you have on your control panel.

kc1123

@theink I have 12 buttons per player but probably don't need that many. I didn't know about connecting the pi to the router. I am good with reconfiguring the ipac using the winpac program on the computer. But still not sure how to do it on the pi. So once I hook the pi up to the router and open it up from my computer through the network folder what do I do from there. Is there somewhere that I can type in the buttons like what rbaker shows in the previous post here. Thank you so much for your help

rbaker

@kc1123 said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

explain to me what to do after you put the sd card into the pc

First, you cannot put your sd card in the pc and edit files in this way. Winscp is a client for windows that allows you to transfer files between you pc and a remote computer, in this case the raspberry pi which must be on and booted with retropie running. It must be connected to your wireless or wired network to connect in this way. Winscp then allows you trouble free drag and drop for config alterations and rom transfer. The raspberry pi has a default password. The username is pi and the password is raspberry. You will need to know the ip address of your pi which you can get by going to Retropie Setup then Showip in the Emulation Station menu. You will need to read this link from my post above as this is explained in more detail. Once connected, you can browse using winscp remotely into your running pi and edit the necessary retroarch.cfg file which is located here:

/opt/retropie/configs/all

If you have completed a fresh install and have only configured a keyboard for one player like I suggested, you paste the above changes, remove the keyboard, plug in the ipac and you will have 2 player functionality. If you want to break it down further, keep the keyboard plugged in, edit the file as above and verify that you have two player functionality via the keyboard then once you have, you can unplug it, replace it with the ipac and you will have two player via the ipac. Remember that the default ipac is for MAME. Remember to verify what keys the ipac is giving you first.

rbaker

@kc1123 said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

So once I hook the pi up to the router and open it up from my computer through the network folder

If you are going to do it this way, you must ensure that the Pi is connected to your home network. The model of Pi you have has built in wireless so you will need to configure it via Emulation Station. Then on my Windows 7 PC:

Start > Computer the bottom left shows RETROPIE

Double click RETROPIE to reveal network access to bios, configs, roms and splashscreens

Double click configs

Double click all

Double click retroarch.cfg and it will open in something. If it is garbled, open it in wordpad.

You can now edit the file.

You could drag some roms or delete some etc. I have never been near the command line on the actual Pi. Always via Winscp and/or this method. If you have time,

video.

rbaker

@theink said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

I assigned the Num1, Num5... keys to the IPAC. I wrote them in the config file and nothing.

They are already assigned to this config by default and work without editing.

@theink said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

the board pins must be configured with the use of the WinIPAC software

This is only true if you want to adjust the default mapping away from MAME. By adjusting you risk changing the ipac2 default hot key features.

@theink said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

In Main Menu my second controller is inactive.

Did you configure a keyboard for two player first before plugging in the ipac? If not, it will not work in Emulation station if you missed this stage out. You will have to re-flash the firmware if you want the ipac to behave like a true keyboard encoder. Look inside your es_input.cfg A file is written when you configure a keyboard alongside the retroarch settings. This is mine:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<inputList>
  <inputAction type="onfinish">
    <command>/opt/retropie/supplementary/emulationstation/scripts/inputconfiguration.sh</command>
  </inputAction>
  <inputConfig type="keyboard" deviceName="Keyboard">
    <input name="start" type="key" id="49" value="1"/>
    <input name="up" type="key" id="1073741906" value="1"/>
    <input name="a" type="key" id="122" value="1"/>
    <input name="b" type="key" id="1073742049" value="1"/>
    <input name="down" type="key" id="1073741905" value="1"/>
    <input name="right" type="key" id="1073741903" value="1"/>
    <input name="select" type="key" id="53" value="1"/>
    <input name="left" type="key" id="1073741904" value="1"/>
  </inputConfig>
</inputList>

kc1123

@rbaker ok so I got the ip of the pi and opened winscp. Typed in the ip then the username pi
Password rasberry
Then it keeps telling be access denied what should I do.

rbaker

@kc1123 It's raspberry, not rasberry.

kc1123

@rbaker o thanks I went in and changed the password I'm in winscp now so I'm going to do what you said in the earlypost.

kc1123

@kc1123 thank you guys so much I now can play two player on my arcade. Is there a way to set the controls for certain gamestations. I would like to set certain controls for n64. Thank you guys so much for helping me.

theink

@rbaker
So the es_input.cfg is on top the retroarch.cfg and the per-system cfg files?
Can you tell me where can I find the default hotkey features? I would like to disable the one that invokes the retroarch GUI.

What do you mean by reflashing?
Retropie reinstall or you are suggesting a way to wipe out the current configurations?

Edit.
I moved the rest of my post to a new one.

rbaker

@theink yes, the emulation station config is for controlling the front end separate from retro arch and is fully configurable. I used to have two game pads controlling it. Now I have just player one on a Bar top. By reflashing, I am referring to the fact that as you have discovered, the ipac shows as one gamepad detected by default on the shipped firmware. This caused me a headache. I emailed Ultimarc and they sent me a new firmware that makes it present itself as a keyboard which I thought it would do by default. Anyway, the new firmware removed the virtual gamepad bit and it behaves like a keyboard. I have not had to use it because I configured a keyboard for two player first then just plugged in the ipac and all was well.

theink

@rbaker thanks. That is useful. I don't know when did you asked them for that firmware update, but the one i downloaded from their site allows me to map the pins as keyboard and controller. I can even mix the mapping. Some can be mapped as keyboard and others as joystick. This is of little help though as the system still recognises it as one device. Just letting you know in case you have not seen this last update. Thanks,, I will look in to that config file.

rbaker

@theink yes, you are referring to the windows software that allows you to configure the ipac settings? this is not the firmware. I am talking about the code that resides in the ipac to make it function. The 2015 model has this virtual joypad thing that presents itself as one controller and not a keyboard. You can use the winpac software that you describe to alter what the pins do but if you download the firmware from the website, the ipac will go back to behaving like a keyboard and as a result will work without the issues. The issue is this...if you use auto detect from a fresh install and configure the "one" controller, it will work great. You then go in and add player two and you get nothing. After the reflashing, you can add player two without a problem. I solved this without reflashing by just having a keyboard plugged in during configure. Then you just swap in the ipac and it works. If you start editing the ipac settings, you could accidentally mess up the default hot keys.

kc1123

@rbaker hey do you guys know if you can map an ipac2 in n64 with x and y axis. I mapped my controls for the dpad and all the other buttons. But it also has the x and y axis. I was just wondering if you could cause some games use only the joystick instead of the dpad. Thans

rbaker

@kc1123 I don't have any experience of other systems, only MAME but I suspect the game pad features that are built into the latest firmware would allow for this.

theink

@kc1123
I haven't played the N64 games myself. I'm using raspberry pie 2 and the performance looks poor to me at best.
Read this post HERE. The guy discusses some N64 controller configurations. As I understand this emulator is a special case, since it is not tied to the retroarch system. You can probably ask him for an advice too.
If you find some insights , don't forget to share ;).

kc1123

@rbaker hey I am trying to play ma me games. I downloaded the romsets for the game. The game shows up in the retropi menu but when I select it it acts like it's loading then just sends me back to the retropi menu. Do you know what I'm doing wrong. I have the romsets in the bios folder and the roms in the mameall folder. I have one zipped and the same copy unzipped not sure what they need to be. thanks

rbaker

@kc1123 MAME is not straightforward. However, you need to read the instructions. Your questions suggest that you haven't read this page:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/2859/how-to-use-mame-with-retropie-help-guide

now onto some quick answers:

I downloaded the romsets for the game

Which romset? A full set or a single rom? Chances are, nothing will work if you are guessing on single roms. If it's a full set and I will assume that you are using mame4all as opposed to mameall like in your post, you will need the 0.37b5 set. Have you verified that this is your set according to this page:

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/Managing-ROMs

The game shows up in the retropi menu but when I select it it acts like it's loading then just sends me back to the retropi menu. Do you know what I'm doing wrong.

I do know, this means that the emulator that you are trying with the rom you have are not compatible. i.e. you have the wrong romset for your emulator of choice
OR
You have the correct romset for your emulator of choice but you do not have the bios roms in the same folder as your game roms according to the instructions here:

https://github.com/retropie/retropie-setup/wiki/MAME

e.g. neogeo.zip is the bios file that must be in the same folder as neogeo roms.

I have one zipped and the same copy unzipped not sure what they need to be

Why have you unzipped anything at all? you should not be doing this. You must have generated a huge number of files by unzipping them unless you are dealing with a single rom download from somewhere. You should avoid this if that is what you have done and find the correct full set .

I have the romsets in the bios folder

For MAME, this is not the correct place.

Good luck, read all these links and you will have MAME working in no time.

rolrod66

@theink
I was reading you post that you posted about 5 months ago... I was wondering if you would help me ... I just got my IPAC2 and have trouble configuring the buttons within retroarch.cfg. I also was trying to use the link within your post to see if that would help me, but the links are broken.

theink

@rolrod66 said in Retropi not allowing 2 player with ipac2:

lso was trying to use

Hi.
No problem, I can help you out.
I will need some more information about the arcade you are building.
What platforms do you plan to use? What is the button layout you are using?

I can send you the files which I have configured for my project, but for them to work properly we need to have matching button layout. Otherwise, changes need to be made in the configuration.

For starters, this is the button layout I decided to use.

And these are the instructions I prepared for the cabinet art.
They will give you an idea of how I mapped the controls for each individual platform.