Weird Controller Problems (yes, again)

hansolo77

@obsidianspider said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

@hansolo77 It sounds like you're running into the same thing that I ran into. Where you want to have one preferred controller be the default (in your case, the Xbox controller), but then fail over and use the other (Raphnet) when that preferred controller isn't connected.

Not exactly. I'm not really looking for failover if the Xbox controller isn't connected. I'm actually just looking to use the Xbox controller as primary for all systems except for NES. Those would use the NES pads. But even then, I'd really only use the NES pads for nostalgia and showing off when friends/brother is over. So like 99% of the time, I'd use the Xbox controller. The other 1% of the time, I'd like to use the NES pads, and using the "joystick-selector" addon, I can configure the NES system to use those pads. The problem I'm having though is that the NES pads are being detected first, and therefore are being setup on the system as the primary controllers instead. This inevitably is causing the problem then with not being able to navigate with the Xbox controller inside various scripts for setup, or working inside RetroArch, etc.

@meleu said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

The scripts that use the joy2key.py (runcommand, retropie_setup and my joystick-selection), try to get the joystick device to be used for menu navigation from a shell variable named __joy2key_dev, if this variable doesn't have this info, they get the first /dev/input/js* found. So, all you have to do is set __joy2key_dev to the device you want.

I see. So the system is looking for a specific variable in that dev file to know which controller to use for the joy2key program. If that file is blank, it uses the first attached controller the OS detects. Seems like another set of simple scripts could easily allow a user to set that up. If there are multiple controllers available, just have it list them and then highlight (maybe even just draw an asterix * next to it) to show which one is currently configured as the primary. Then you just select a different one if you want, and it would write that particular js# to the autostart.sh file. I know enough about computers and programming to understand this, fundamentally. Doing the actual programming though, I'd be completely lost. And again, it falls on my lack of Linux knowledge as to what the files are I'm looking to edit, and where to place them, etc.

I will give this a go and see what turns up. Obviously, as time goes on, that js# might need changing. But at least with this "practice" I can see how it's working and can easily change it as needed until such support scripts are (if ever) created.

edmaul69

@meleu i recently posted having an issue that my 2600-daptor ii is always seen as joystick 0 in linux even when it isnt in es or any emu other than wolf4sdl. I got no response. I would love to know how to make my vision-daptor seen as js0 in linux stuff/ retropie menu stuff, jstest....

edmaul69

@hansolo77 i had to use the raphnet fix because of my apple iie keyboard adapter. I have the issue of the wrong adapter always being js0 in the linuxy stuff even though it isnt in other stuff. Im hoping to find a way to get around that. So maybe the fix is the problem. Personally i would deal with this over the northwest scrolling issue from linux.

meleu

@edmaul69 said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

@meleu i recently posted having an issue that my 2600-daptor ii is always seen as joystick 0 in linux even when it isnt in es or any emu other than wolf4sdl. I got no response.

I didn't see it. Can you post a link to your topic? Did you solve your issue?

I would love to know how to make my vision-daptor seen as js0 in linux stuff/ retropie menu stuff, jstest....

Do you actually mean "make the vision-daptor be the /dev/input/js0" or you just wanna be able to navigate through the menus using this controller?

edmaul69

@meleu navigating the menus isnt a huge deal but because it isnt seen as js0 i cant play wolfenstein or spear of destiny on wolf4sdl

meleu

@edmaul69 I think that @mediamogul faced a similar problem and talked about it in this thread: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1757/js0-being-ignored-by-some-emulators

Maybe he can give a hand to you.

( @mediamogul please, forgive me if I'm bothering when I tag you on the topics you are not on.)

hansolo77

@meleu said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

The trick here is:

discover what is the js-number of the controller you want to use for dialog navigation. According to what you said, the xbox controller is the /dev/input/js2.

Put the following line in the /opt/retropie/configs/all/autostart.sh before the command that starts emulationstation:
export __joy2key_dev="/dev/input/js2"
reboot the system.

Sorry it took so long, this is the first day I have off to be able to test this. It doesn't seem to be working. I edited that file, there was only one line in it emulationstation #auto. So I dropped that a line and put on the 1st line that code. Saved the file, rebooted, and I'm back in ES. I try to launch a game, run-command comes up, I press buttons, and nothing happens. I then tried entering the RetroPie-Setup script menus, and again, no input was registered on the Xbox controller. I did press F4 to get to terminal, and ran the `jstest /dev/input/js2' and confirmed it still detects that as the Xbox controller.

Are you sure that is the correct format of the code, and that the `__joy2key_dev' part is right?

mediamogul

@meleu said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

please, forgive me if I'm bothering when I tag you on the topics you are not on.

I am getting rather behind on my cancer research, but my last experiment just ended up causing a lot more cancer and something that I'm now labeling "super cancer", so I could use a break.

@edmaul69

because it isnt seen as js0 i cant play wolfenstein or spear of destiny on wolf4sdl

Personally, I key-map for 'Wolfenstein 3D' to solve this same problem and allow for a more flexible control scheme. However, you could also use a case statement, similar to the one MadHorse wrote for selectively launching xboxdrv commands, only have it to where it renames js0 to a temporary name and js* to js0 on game launch.

Although not in a case statement, I have successfully done this myself a few times for various reasons and the command is nothing more complicated than:

mv /dev/inputs/js0 /dev/inputs/temp_name
mv /dev/inputs/js* /dev/inputs/js0

You can of course "flip the script" as the kids say to get back where you started.

edmaul69

@mediamogul when you say keymap what are you using to do this?

hansolo77

I just did a search in WinSCP on the Root file system. "joy2key.py" is found in 2 locations:

/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/runcommand/joy2key.py
/opt/retropie/supplementary/runcommand/joy2key.py

I edited both files to see their contents, and there is no mention of receiving inputs from __joy2key_dev. Is it possible this file has been updated and no longer seeks for input from that dev location first? All I know, I added the line to the correct file, and it doesn't work. It makes absolute sense as to what it's supposed to do, it just doesn't do that.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

I'm using xboxdrv. I've found it to be a big help for that game in particular. For example, strafing left normally requires that you input two buttons. To simplify this I mapped 'alt+left' to the left shoulder button. I do the same thing to strafe right for the right shoulder and it really makes maneuvering through the game a lot easier. I also have the exit command mapped to 'select+start' and the menu command mapped to 'select+x' to match up with the familiar RetroArch control scheme.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

Something else worth mentioning that I'm pretty proud of with my setup for Wolf3D is my mapping for weapon selection. Since the game relies on keys 1-4 for weapon selection, rather than having an option for progressive selection like 'DOOM' or the Quake games, I mapped my own to the 'x' button of my controller using:

--ui-buttonmap x=cycle-key:KEY_1:KEY_2:KEY_3:KEY_4

Now I can cycle through my available weapons with one controller button, rather than having to map four dedicated ones.

I could geek out about this stuff all day. Part of the fun for me is finding a better, more efficient way to control a game.

edmaul69

@mediamogul so can i use xboxdrv just for this? I just dont want all my controllers seen as an xbox controller. I have adaptors that use multiple controllers but dont share all the same button numbers. Could make a real mess for me.

meleu

@hansolo77
The __joy2key_dev is used only by the scripts which call joy2key.py. If you are curious, here are links to the exact line in each file:

runcommand.sh
helpers.sh (used by retropie_setup.sh)
jsfuncs.sh (used by RetroPie-joystick-selection tool)

I'm away from my raspi now, but I'll try to find a solution when I get home. And the first thing I'll try is to put that export line at the end of /etc/profile. :-)

mediamogul

@edmaul69 said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

so can i use xboxdrv just for this?

Sure, you can use either one of two methods mentioned in the guide for selective launching of xboxdrv. I don't use it for everything myself.

edmaul69

@mediamogul sweet. I will look into that. I should get my replacement apple iie keyboard adaptor tomorrow. (Not sure why it is taking usps 5 days to ship something two hours away) The keyboard overrides the other two as the first joystick (even though it has no joystick functionality) in jstest and stuff. Doesnt bother me to use the keyboard for that stuff anyway. I also wanna play around with using the apple IIe mouse and keyboard and see how well fps' work on that archaic hardware. 😄

hansolo77

@meleu said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

@hansolo77
The __joy2key_dev is used only by the scripts which call joy2key.py. If you are curious, here are links to the exact line in each file:

runcommand.sh

helpers.sh (used by retropie_setup.sh)

jsfuncs.sh (used by RetroPie-joystick-selection tool)

I'm away from my raspi now, but I'll try to find a solution when I get home. And the first thing I'll try is to put that export line at the end of /etc/profile. :-)

Thanks @meleu I'll be waiting for your solution. :) Looks like a couple of guys hijacked my thread though lol.

mediamogul

@edmaul69 said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

The keyboard overrides the other two as the first joystick (even though it has no joystick functionality)

I actually believe you can fix that with a udev rule, but I may be mistaken.

edmaul69

@hansolo77 i apologize. I didnt mean to hijack it. We are both in the same situation and its possible the same northwest fix we both did caused this. I was hoping we both could get the answer we needed without trying to do it in two seperate threads. If meleu finds a way around it i am all for it. If you get it working please do share your steps and i will do the same if i get it working.

mediamogul

@hansolo77 said in Weird Controller Problems (yes, again):

Looks like a couple of guys hijacked my thread though

I'm sorry I took the money!