Retroarch 2 controllers for one core

[Lordmonkus]

So here it is after 4am again and after about an hour and a half of pulling my hair out trying to figure this one out I found out how to have 2 controllers hooked up in Retroarch for the same core. This is mostly due to a tip I found buried on the RA forums but damnit it's after 4am and I am taking a sliver of credit for this one.

If like me you have 2 controllers hooked up. I have an Xbox 360 controller for analog stick games like PS2, Dreamcast, Gamecube but most importantly for this discussion PS1 and Saturn. And I have a Hori Fight Commander 4 for digital controller games and consoles like the NES, SNES, Genesis and TurboGrafx.  Retroatch will only let you set up one controller per core but if you want to change controllers you need to remap to the other controller which can get annoying. For the consoles that do not use an analog stick this is not a big deal but for the PS1 and Saturn where different games use different controls this is a problem.

At first I figured just making a custom config file and appending that config in the custom command parameter with the -c switch would work. But nope that did not work and after digging around on the Retroarch forums I found that this is not possible to do. Then I thought maybe using the per game control remaps would possibly work, nope. This way will let you do remaps on the same controller but not change actual controller.

The solution I found digging and is pretty simple. Make a copy of the core dll file and rename it something different. For example I copied the mednafen_psx_libretro.dll and renamed it mednafen_psx_libretro_analog.dll. I have the default one set up to use the digital d-pad controller since the vast majority of my PS1 games use that controller. For the few analog controller games I just edit and set a custom command to load that core
-L "cores\mednafen_psx_libretro_analog.dll"
With this new core and it's core config generated I now went in and set up my controls for the Xbox controller and it's all good.

Anyways it is now 4:37 AM and bed time. If anyone has a better solution to this problem please let me know. I tried like hell to get the custom config solution to work but no way could I get it even though it seems like it should.
 

[VACRMH]

Well done.

I need to take the time to get a setup I like. I have a bunch of converters hooked up for authentic game controllers, but I also want to have the ability to grab my arcade stick when a game needs it.

[Zombeaver]

That's how all of my alternate control "emulators" are setup. Just make a copy of the the core dll and at the end add on something like _alternate_controls_1, then just change the core in the "associated platform" to whatever you name it. No need to type that junk in every time - just change the "emulator" accordingly.

 

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah this is a simpler way of doing it when you have a lot of games and want to switch out.

[Zombeaver]

I guess I should have mentioned in those other posts about making a copy of the .dlls though. I guess I've just been doing that for so long it didn't occur to me to mention it. I had the same difficulty you did with configs not doing the job by themselves so that's what I resorted to as well.

[Lordmonkus]

Lol, so many things that we go through in tinkering that we forget about after the fact.

[Zombeaver]

Yep... this is the kinda crap that gives me nightmares about data loss. All this little crap would drive me insane if I had to do it again.

There's a program called Novert. Literally all it's for is to be used with some DOS FPSs that would force you to move forward/backward when you move the mouse up or down (it prevents them from doing this). That's it. Did I setup all of the relevant games in my library to use it? Yes I did. Would I want to have to track down this specific thing and setup stuff to use it ever again? Hell effin' no. I try to backup my stuff regularly but these little things just go on and on and on.