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    Please do not post a support request without first reading and following the advice in https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

    Having more than one Player 1

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    • K
      Keithg488
      last edited by

      So I have my Raspberry pi 3 with retroarch 3.5 all set up. My Set up right now is I have two Arcade style Joypads for players 1 and two they are each on their own board and are plugged in via two separate USB ports. They both work fine and play each game as player one and two respectively. Here is my issue though I also have two wired xbox 360 controllers that i want to also issue as player 1 and two. I have different friends playing at different times so I would like it to be as easy as whoever is player 1 or player 2 can either use the arcade/joystick controls or pick up the respective xbox 360 controller but I cant find anywhere how to map a player to two controllers at once

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      • RiverstormR
        Riverstorm
        last edited by

        What emulators are you using? You have 4 devices plugged in at the same time? Two joypads and two XBOX 360's? I don't think RetroPie is designed to do that but someone with more advanced knowledge might know better.

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        • K
          Keithg488
          last edited by

          I'm using most of the emulators. NES SNES Genesis MAME etc. It seems like a simple thing to do. To make it one player respond to two controllers but I just cant figure it out.

          herb_fargusH RiverstormR 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • herb_fargusH
            herb_fargus administrators @Keithg488
            last edited by

            @Keithg488 I don't think the emulators were designed to use two joysticks as the same player.

            If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

            Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

            RiverstormR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • RiverstormR
              Riverstorm @Keithg488
              last edited by Riverstorm

              @Keithg488 said in Having more than one Player 1:

              I'm using most of the emulators. NES SNES Genesis MAME etc. It seems like a simple thing to do. To make it one player respond to two controllers but I just cant figure it out.

              It definitely sound simple enough in theory but I would have to defer it to someone with more knowledge as I don't think it's just that simple.

              As each device is plugged in it treats it as joystick 0, 1, 2, 3 but you want joystick 0 and 1 to be player 1 and joystick 2 and 3 to be player 2 which I just don't know. Basically it's going to treat each joystick as a separate input device for up to 4 players.

              Sorry, it might be a simple answer but I don't know it off the top of my head. Someone else might chime in and have a definitive answer.

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              • RiverstormR
                Riverstorm @herb_fargus
                last edited by

                @herb_fargus said in Having more than one Player 1:

                @Keithg488 I don't think the emulators were designed to use two joysticks as the same player.

                Thanks Herb, I will take that as the gospel that it can't be done.

                herb_fargusH 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • W
                  wetriner
                  last edited by

                  I agree it doesn't sound possible currently. It does seem like a simple concept, but it sounds like it would have to be implemented upstream in Retroarch. Essentially being able to configure input_player1_a_btn = "J0B0, J1B0" kind of like how mupen handles its hotkeys. I have no idea whether anyone else would be interested in a feature like that. Or how much code would have to get overhauled to be able to accommodate it.

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                  • herb_fargusH
                    herb_fargus administrators @Riverstorm
                    last edited by

                    @Riverstorm the answer is rarely that it can't be done, rather its something that isn't currently a feature ;) but everything is opensource so you can make whatever changes you like to the code to fit your needs.

                    If you read the documentation it will answer 99% of your questions: https://retropie.org.uk/docs/

                    Also if you want a solution to your problems read this first: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/3/read-this-first

                    RiverstormR 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • RiverstormR
                      Riverstorm @herb_fargus
                      last edited by

                      @herb_fargus said in Having more than one Player 1:

                      @Riverstorm the answer is rarely that it can't be done, rather its something that isn't currently a feature ;) but everything is opensource so you can make whatever changes you like to the code to fit your needs.

                      Ah, yes, that's true! I need to tweak my verbiage a bit. I ALMOST added ...easily... to the end of that sentence but currently not a feature is a much better fit! :) Have a great weekend! I figured if one of the core guys chimed in it most certainly wouldn't be an easy task!

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                      • S
                        shaunster
                        last edited by

                        This is exactly what I've been trying to find an answer to. I wish you could have multiple controllers setup on Player 1 and/or Player 2. Just because sometimes you don't want to use a Joystick and might want to just grab a game pad while you're playing a game. I guess maybe someday it could happen.

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                        • mediamogulM
                          mediamogul Global Moderator
                          last edited by mediamogul

                          This is one of the many controller-related projects I plan to look at in the near future for my own setup. I think it might be possible by using one of RetroPie's own guides.

                          https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Setting-up-the-XBox360-controller#alternate-controller-configurations

                          Instead of mapping two config files pointed at the same controller, I believe you could point each config file to a different controller event. Both control schemes would have to have an"xbox button" mapped. Pressing that button on one controller would switch to the other config file and as long as the new config file references a different controller event using --evdev, it should switch the controller along with it. Right now, I'm trying to sort this all out so that I can switch my controller's keymap settings on the fly for different system/game layouts.

                          Edit: Another possible way would be to create your own conflict that would work in your favor. If you mapped the controls of two controllers to xboxdrv and gave them both the same id name using --device-name, then RetroArch should accept input from both at the same time. If that worked, it would be much easier and closer to the goal.

                          RetroPie v4.5 • RPi3 Model B • 5.1V 2.5A PSU • 16GB SanDisk microSD • 512GB External Drive

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                          • meleuM
                            meleu
                            last edited by meleu

                            @Keithg488 @shaunster
                            I can talk about RetroArch cores. You can setup one controller to control more than one player (using input_playerN_joypad_index in retroarch.cfg), but there isn't a way to setup two controllers to only one player.
                            But I think there is a workaround for what you want...

                            I wish you could have multiple controllers setup on Player 1 and/or Player 2. Just because sometimes you don't want to use a Joystick and might want to just grab a game pad while you're playing a game.

                            To change the controller during a game in RetroArch, you can enter o RGUI (Select+X) and go to Settings -> Input -> Input User N Binds -> User N Device Index. Be aware that this changes the input instantaneously. OK, it sounds quite obvious, but can bring unpleasant results (as I reported here)

                            BTW: if you want an user-friendly way to choose which controller will be used by each player (1 to 4) in RetroArch, maybe you like to take a look at this https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-input-selection

                            • Useful topics
                            • joystick-selection tool
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                            • M
                              mmk8283
                              last edited by

                              Has there been any further development on this topic. I would like to use a gamepad and arcade controls for the same player as well.

                              edmaul69E 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • edmaul69E
                                edmaul69 @mmk8283
                                last edited by

                                @mmk8283 install @meleu ’s joystick selection. Set usb controllers as players 1 & 2. If they arent plugged in it will default to the arcade controls.

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                                • LurkerL
                                  Lurker
                                  last edited by

                                  This will not work for all the emulators but for ones like MAME you can map more than one button to an action and thus if you map player1's buttons to the P1 joy stick AND the P1 xbox you will have duplicate Player 1 controllers.

                                  I did this on accident with PacMan. My current cabinet has 2 players and I didn't like that you had to trade places on games like PacMan that intended there to be one joystick. So I mapped my P2 joystick to the controls along with the P1 joystick and that worked in that both joysticks would control PacMan. It failed for my purposes in that both joysticks controlled PacMan ... all the time.

                                  You had to make sure not to touch your joystick when it was not your turn or you could send PacMan in another direction. Fine in theory but the temptation to be a jerk is just to great for my friends/family.

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                                  • T
                                    Traktopel
                                    last edited by

                                    Hello I am very interested in this feature too..

                                    No easy way since then I suppose ?

                                    Thanks

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                                    • I
                                      icebear81 @meleu
                                      last edited by

                                      @meleu said in Having more than one Player 1:

                                      BTW: if you want an user-friendly way to choose which controller will be used by each player (1 to 4) in RetroArch, maybe you like to take a look at this https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-input-selection

                                      Looked at the github, this appears to still be an active project. Is this still the preferred way to hand 2 controllers for a single player?

                                      My use case is very similiar to the OP.

                                      I have a set up with 2 dedicated arcade sticks, and can hotswap out gamepads (configured in retroarch to be the primary for certain cores). But since they are not always in there, and I may just want to play some excitebike with the arcade sticks, it would be great for it to fallback to JS1 or something.

                                      Appreciate the feedback

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                                      • I
                                        icebear81
                                        last edited by

                                        TLDR;

                                        • Works;
                                        • Is awesome;
                                        • Fallbacks to default/dedicated gamepads;
                                        • [Con] appears to honor the custom system kep-remaps which (in my case) dont align for the dedicated USB encoder, but are correct for the gamepads.**

                                        2019-NOV convo on this tool:
                                        https://github.com/meleu/RetroPie-joystick-selection/issues/31

                                        ** Solution may be to adjustmy USB encoder to align 1:1 with gamepads

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