Wired PS3 Controller Works in Menu OR game after an F1 Config, Never Both?

[Emmet_dude]

Hi everyone!

Sorry i'm completely new to the whole Raspberry Pi/Retropie scene and I've been having a really frustrating problem that i haven't been able to find an answer to, i'm using a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B running retropie mounted on a micro SD card, initially i was using cheap USB SNES controllers and they worked really well, could play the games fine and navigated the menus too, but then, because they were so cheaply made they both broke in a couple of days, buttons pushed right in or just not registering

So i invested in 2 Wired USB PS3 controllers from Argos seen here http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/p ... 685374.htm , and this is where the problems started, now i switch the pi on, configure the PS3 controller buttons (it shows up as like Acrux Gaming Pad) and that's great, it navigates the menu's and games lists perfectly, but when i start a game up on any of the consoles none of the buttons work at all, every time, so then i have to connect my USB keyboard, go in through the F1 menu and bind all the buttons again, then the controller works perfect in game, however when I'm done playing it, i'll press the "home" button to go back to the Retropie menu, it does, and none of the buttons work on there, i can't navigate the menu or reconfigure the controller so I had to switch it directly off then on again to start from the beginning again (which i believe is really bad for it)

So i'm wondering, does someone out there know how i can get the wired PS3 controllers to work in the menu's AND in the games without having to manually configure them in game every single time?

I've been trying to sort this out myself for about a week now searching through forums and wiki's but no joy, so any help at all would be greatly appreciated, i'm a total newbie at all this though so i'd need quite a bit of guidance

Thank you all in advance

Emmet_Dude