Help with Xtension Controller mapping

[Aesthetic]

Obligatory I'm brand new to LaunchBox / Big Box. Just bought my license a couple weeks ago to go along with the Rec Room Masters arcade cabinet I got along with the Xtension Control Board "Emulator Edition Plus" joystick controller. The controller comes preconfigured mapped to work great with MAME "out of the box", however I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out how to do mapping for other systems.

I attempted to configure the controls in individual Emulators I'm launching (like Kega Fusion) however after exiting out and letting LaunchBox run a game with it, it's as if it forgets all controls I just mapped. I've attempted using launchers like RetroArch (which seems more geared toward gaming pads like RetroPad) and Rocket Launcher (which is a bit confusing, though even if I used something like AutoHotKey, I'm not sure what keys the Emulators use to map to).

I would appreciate any help / guidance I could get on the topic, especially anything in regards to this specific controller. It'd be nice to keep it simple and not have to use external launchers, but at this point I really just want to get up and running...

[Retro808]

That controller should be keyboard encoded so emulators like Retroarch should be easy to map your controls to. I have an Xarcade Tankstick that is similar in that it is keyboard encoded and Retroarch was a breeze to map with. Retroarch allows you do bind keyboard keys and gamepad buttons to the same control. I do not use Kega Fusion so I cannot speak to that one. But even RocketLauncher had little issues for the couple systems I use RL for. 

Edited to add link:

if you check out Jason’s post in this thread (5th post down) he has the same controller. 

Edited February 10, 2018 by Retro808

[Aesthetic]

19 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

That controller should be keyboard encoded so emulators like Retroarch should be easy to map your controls to. I have an Xarcade Tankstick that is similar in that it is keyboard encoded and Retroarch was a breeze to map with. Retroarch allows you do bind keyboard keys and gamepad buttons to the same control. I do not use Kega Fusion so I cannot speak to that one. But even RocketLauncher had little issues for the couple systems I use RL for. 

Edited to add link:

if you check out Jason’s post in this thread (5th post down) he has the same controller. 

Hey there. I appreciate the response! I saw Jason's post, but all he really says is that configuring the keys should be relatively easy to do without instructing the HOW to do it. (I've been searching for a video.) When I select the Genesis Plus GX core in RetroArch and go to Configuration > Input > Input User 1 Binds, it asks for a bunch of buttons that don't correspond to what I'm expecting. i.e. it's asking "B (down)", "Y (left)", "L shoulder", "L2", "L3", a bunch of controls that wouldn't even correspond to a Sega Genesis. On a Sega Genesis, it had D-pad, and either 3 (A,B,C) or 6 (A,B,C,X,Y,Z) buttons  (aside from the Start). Nowhere in RetroArch asks me which key I want to correspond to the X or Z buttons in the Emulator (just as an example).

[Lordmonkus]

In the main RA controller setup without any cores loaded up the button labeling represents an SNES controller layout but with shoulder buttons and analog sticks like an Xbox controller.

If you load a core however and go into the controller settings for the core the inputs will be labeled as if they are the controller of the console being emulated. Here is a screenshot of the Genesis controller window with the Genesis core loaded.As you see, the left hand side is the Genesis buttons, the right hand side has the buttons on my actual controller which is a PS3 controller so it has PS button labels and then in the brackets its the keyboard buttons that do the same function.

[Aesthetic]

2 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

In the main RA controller setup without any cores loaded up the button labeling represents an SNES controller layout but with shoulder buttons and analog sticks like an Xbox controller.

If you load a core however and go into the controller settings for the core the inputs will be labeled as if they are the controller of the console being emulated. Here is a screenshot of the Genesis controller window with the Genesis core loaded.As you see, the left hand side is the Genesis buttons, the right hand side has the buttons on my actual controller which is a PS3 controller so it has PS button labels and then in the brackets its the keyboard buttons that do the same function.

Ok, wow! I am DEFINITELY missing something. What you're showing is EXACTLY what I've been looking for. *THAT* looks insanely easy -- yet every time I load the Genesis Plus GX core and go to Configuration > Input > Input User 1 Binds, what you sent isn't what I see. (Attaching screenshot of what I DO see.)

[Aesthetic]

Yeah, to reaffirm - I just opened up the Input > Input User 1 Binds and tried repeatedly loading new cores. Even exiting / going back in, the button options never change. It's always just these same options no matter which core I have loaded in (and it saying the core at the lower left corner).

[Lordmonkus]

Load a game with as well if there isn't one already.

[Aesthetic]

6 minutes ago, Lordmonkus said:

Load a game with as well if there isn't one already.

Same thing, unfortunately. As you can see, the Genesis Plus GX core has been loaded and MK3 is actively running in the background when I toggled the menu -- yet same options, not Sega ones.

[Lordmonkus]

Is that in the main settings or the quick menu when you have the core and game loaded ?

[Aesthetic]

PROGRESS!!! I figured out that if I go to the QUICK MENU settings and go to Control instead of Input, I see the controls closer to the Sega system (or whatever respective emulator I'm running). Now to just:

1) Understand the relationship between the Main Menu Input "Input User 1 Binds" and the per-system controls. I'm ASSUMING I'll have to map my controller buttons to arbitrary buttons in Input (i.e. map L2 to a random button in Input and then map L2 in Controls for it to use that button). It's a little more confusing than if I were using a game controller, but I think I might understand it.

2) If I'm only able to see this control menu while a game is launched, does that mean that these control mapping settings are not for the ENTIRE emulator? Is there no way to set it so EVERY game uses this mapping?

Thank you once more for your help!!!

[Aesthetic]

3) ...and in Controls under "User 1 Device Type" I'm assuming I scroll over to "MD Joypad 6 Button" for Sega. Is that correct, or does it matter? Changing that field doesn't seem to change anything relative to the buttons I have to program so I'm not sure I understand what this field is for.

[Lordmonkus]

You can set your buttons in the main settings input menu but you are setting a global setting which may or may not work the way you want in each core.

I would suggest leaving the main setting one alone all together and then load up each core and a game and setting your controls on a per core basis and save a core over ride for it, that's what I do with my Hori Fight Commander.

1 minute ago, Aesthetic said:

3) ...and in Controls under "User 1 Device Type" I'm assuming I scroll over to "MD Joypad 6 Button" for Sega. Is that correct, or does it matter? Changing that field doesn't seem to change anything relative to the buttons I have to program so I'm not sure I understand what this field is for.

This is for setting your controller to a 3 button or 6 button Genesis, there is a Mode button in the Genesis controller settings which is a toggle between 3 and 6 button, some games won't work if this is set incorrect, it was the same on real hardware as well.

[Retro808]

34 minutes ago, Aesthetic said:

PROGRESS!!! I figured out that if I go to the QUICK MENU settings and go to Control instead of Input, I see the controls closer to the Sega system (or whatever respective emulator I'm running). Now to just:

1) Understand the relationship between the Main Menu Input "Input User 1 Binds" and the per-system controls. I'm ASSUMING I'll have to map my controller buttons to arbitrary buttons in Input (i.e. map L2 to a random button in Input and then map L2 in Controls for it to use that button). It's a little more confusing than if I were using a game controller, but I think I might understand it.

2) If I'm only able to see this control menu while a game is launched, does that mean that these control mapping settings are not for the ENTIRE emulator? Is there no way to set it so EVERY game uses this mapping?

Thank you once more for your help!!!

If you open Retroarch without loading a core and from the main screen go over to the settings page (gear icon) then down to input you will have 3 options. Input Hotkey Binds, Input User 1 Binds, Input User 2 Binds. These will allow you to set general input maps for the whole of RA. When you load a core all cores will use these control maps. If you want certain cores to have certain controls set up then when you load a core you can open the menu go back into the settings option (not the quick menu) and change the controls for that core and then save it as a per core override. The quick menu option to change controls in many cores only works on gamepads. Not keyboard encoded controllers. There is even an option if you want a cetain game to have a certain map to save a per game override. 

Edited February 10, 2018 by Retro808

[Aesthetic]

***SOLUTION***

As a follow-up, wanted to thank everyone in this thread for pointing me in the right direction. I finally got it all figured out and wanted to share a few things for anyone else that might come across this thread in the future, especially those with Xtension Emulator Edition control joysticks. I realized I ended up needing to remap things in two separate places...

1) Configuring what I'd call the 'global' configuration that's used by default (Configuration > Input > Input User 1 / 2 Binds). Below are screen shots of my configuration in RetroArch as it applies to this control stick. This configuration was initially a little confusing because I didn't initially realize it's (predominantly) mapped after an SNES controller with buttons listed in the inverted order of YX / BA (as opposed to YX / AB).

2) For people with the Xtension controller, you need to change the default Input Hotkey Binds (Configuration > Input > Input Hotkey Binds) because many of the default settings overlap with existing controller mappings. (There's overlap with functions like Fast Forward Toggle by default.)

3) After those were configured and I had a core loaded (in my example, Genesis Plus GX), I then needed to go to QUICK MENU and then CONTROLS. (To my understanding, Quick Menu acts as a sub-menu specific to individual cores.) Under Controls, I THEN can custom map any of the previously assigned buttons (from the global settings) to map up with individual system controllers. You'll do this on a per-system basis (except perhaps SNES, since that automapped pretty cleanly as the global setting is based off SNES.)

Hope this might help someone in the future!!!

~AE

[Retro808]

Nice write up @Aesthetic. Glad you are all sorted. 

[kidshoalin]

On 2/10/2018 at 1:09 AM, Aesthetic said:

Same thing, unfortunately. As you can see, the Genesis Plus GX core has been loaded and MK3 is actively running in the background when I toggled the menu -- yet same options, not Sega ones.

this is a GOD send, I spent a whole day trying to figure this out, finally did because of your post, thank you sooooooo much ?

[BobbyLeo]

Hoping somebody is out there to help me with this issue as I am getting no help from arcade one/recroommasters even though I offered to pay for supper (originally decided because I was a second hand purchaser). I have an xtension arcade emulator editionvl set to work in keyboard mode and inexplicably every now and then the panel buttons reset to a non working configuration. For instance the J1 button sets to 'k', the P1 start button sets to 'a', the trackball to 'p' etc. I verified this by opening notepad and seeing what appears when I activate each button on the control panel. I need to learn how to be able to manually set the xtension panel buttons in keyboard mode to what I want (or at least restore them to their factory settings). Can anyone help? Thanks.