Generic usb controller not identified by mame

[Jasen]

I have installed mame 78b (2003 libreto version)  for windows 10 directly from the mame website.  I installed it into launchbox, and the games run fine on keyboard but mame won't detect my generic zero delay joystick controller.  So when i hit the tab key, and try to map my buttons, by pressing enter, it doesn't work.   

I had the same issue on my raspberry pie, but seemed to get it to work, when i configured it through retroarch.   I can't however get it to work in launchbox.  Because it's an older mame version, i cant' seem to find any type of config file to edit, to get the thing to pick up a joystick.  So frustrating, when a games system simply cant get the simplest joystick to work?   Surely this would be the most logical or common sense thing to set up - get your emulator to see a joystick so you can actually map it??????   I cant find any ini file, or any other options in mame to recognise the controller.   Launchbox seems to recognise the generic controller in the tools/options, but none of the categories, seem to get it working in mame.

I tried setting up retroarch in launchbox, set it as primary emulator to run arcade, and set the associated platform to mame libreto, but that didn't work either.

Surely there's got to be an easy way to play the arcade games, with a generic usb joystick in launchbox - this is supposed to be an easy setup:)   Otherwise, can you please give me advise on a new version of mame, that works with the usb controller, that's easy to set up, and how to get my roms working with it.

I did go through the forums, and found issues with controllers, but they didn't seem to have the same trouble as me.....

thanks

 

[Retro808]

Have you tried the most recent mame version (0.196)? Not sure how old your roms are since you chose to try a 2003 version of mame, but you asked for advice on a new version and 0.196 is the newest. Controllers/gamepads are typically pretty easy to set but with so many options out there and not too mention all the generic options there may be a config setting you have to fix. 

[reaper71129]

a few things to try

1.) i would see if the controller has a dinput/xinput switch .. sometimes programs are more compatible with one or the other..

2.) see if the controller is showing up in windows... i think you said that launchbox sees it.. if it does it's a mame issue somehow.

3.) you could try one of those joy2key type programs that will map a keyboard key to your controller if you find no other solution.

[DOS76]

For one the MAME config file isn't present until you generate it either by command line or by going into options in the UI and saving

[Kondorito]

I had a similar issue some time ago with MAME and JoyToKey.
I learned that MAME uses raw input as default to read multiple devices and to reduce lag, and since JoyToKey emulates strokes per assignation/mapping, MAME was not recognizing them.

Solved it by opening the mame.ini, finding the line " keyboardprovider auto" (without the quotes), and changing "auto" for "dinput" to force it.

Hope this helps.

[Jasen]

Thanks guys,

All helpful, i did test my generic joystick in windows first, worked fine, and in launchbow.

I couldnt run the mame file, because i was using windows 10.  It told me to run it by command line.  I did that, went through the stuff it produced,   I used that to generate a config file.   I opened it up, and it has a list of controller types.   I changed the controller type from 0 to 1, in my config file, and saved it, which enabled joystick use.  When i ran my game again, it picked up my joystick in mame, and then i just mapped it using the input.   

How do i close this forum now, or just leave it for future reference?  The moderation action only shows delete.  Sure someone out there may benefit from it.

Thanks for the advice.

[DOS76]

no need to close glad you got it working