Best Controller Setup for Multi-Platform Launchbox

[Nabizzles]

Hey guys & gals. 

I recently purchased a bunch of retro controllers for my BigBox setup.

• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07491YH2R/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
• https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079FG2PL6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Excited to try them out, I plugged them into my PC and all hell broke loose with retroarch. All of my previous controls have been mapped to my two Xbox One controllers. Once I plugged in these retro controllers, I was having serious issues because of where I mapped my retroarch hotkeys.

 

How can I save a different default configuration for each specific platform?

Is there a way to save the input config profiles on a controller basis, instead of platform, or core basis? 

It'd be nice to be able to plug in my Xbox One controller and play SNES games and then plug in the SNES controller and play games too without having to always rebind the keys. Is this possible? 

Would Xpadder help with any of this?

Thanks so much for your time!

 

Bonus Question: What's the best way to exit out of emulators and games when you're using a controller that doesn't have Start & Select? Should I just get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Policy-Decision-Programmable-Keyboard-Nuclear/dp/B07CPLP6MN/ref=sr_1_10?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1532620725&sr=1-10&keywords=programmable+button+pc

[JamesBond@ge]

1 hour ago, Nabizzles said:

It'd be nice to be able to plug in my Xbox One controller and play SNES games and then plug in the SNES controller and play games too

This doesn't make sense.

[DOS76]

there are ways to do so but I'm no expert on the matter hopefully @Zombeavercan chime in as I believe he uses per core and per game remaps

[Nabizzles]

1 hour ago, JamesBond@ge said:

This doesn't make sense.

Yes. That sentence was constructed poorly. 

 

It'd be nice to choose whether I want to play my SNES games with either an X-Box One Controller OR a SNES Controller OR both. 

Which is why I asked whether you could setup profiles based on the controller and not the core or the platform. 

I'd like to be able to play all the consoles with their original controllers, but just use the Xbox One controller if I'm too lazy to get up and plug one in. 

[Zombeaver]

Based on what you're describing, what you need isn't per-core/platform remaps, you just need to setup controller autoconfigs. Essentially what these are are profiles for specific controllers, so when you plug in controller A, it recognizes what type of controller it is and uses the controls you specifically setup for it, then you can plugin controller B, it recognizes what type of controller it is and uses the controls you specifically setup for it, and so on. You know how when you plug in a controller with RA running or whenever you start it up how it says "Controller blahblah connected"? That's where it's indicating that a specific type of controller is connected and which port it's going to use it for. What can happen if you don't setup autoconfigs for each different type of controller is that it doesn't understand what you want to do with it and just uses a default (like an Xbox controller layout) even if the specific controller you've plugged in doesn't support the same buttons/sticks/etc. I had this happen to me when I first tried to use a USB SNES pad.

You need to set each of them up one at a time with autoconfigs. Plug in one controller, go to Settings > Input, make sure "Autoconfig Enable" is set to on, then go down to Input User 1 Binds, use "User 1 Bind All" and then select "User 1 Save Autoconfig". Now unplug that controller, plug in the next controller, and repeat the above steps. Now whenever you plug in each controller it should use whatever you've specified for each controller individually.

[Nabizzles]

2 minutes ago, Zombeaver said:

Based on what you're describing, what you need isn't per-core/platform remaps, you just need to setup controller autoconfigs. Essentially what these are are profiles for specific controllers, so when you plug in controller A, it recognizes what type of controller it is and uses the controls you specifically setup for it, then you can plugin controller B, it recognizes what type of controller it is and uses the controls you specifically setup for it, and so on. You know how when you plugin a controller with RA running or whenever you start it up how it says "Controller blahblah connected"? That's where it's indicating that a specific type of controller is connected and which port it's going to use it for. What can happen if you don't setup autoconfigs for each different type of controller is that it doesn't understand what you want to do with it and just uses a default (like an Xbox controller layout) even if the specific controller you've plugged in doesn't support the same buttons/sticks/etc. I had this happen to me when I first tried to use a USB SNES pad.

You need to set each of them up one at a time with autoconfigs. Plug in one controller, go to Settings > Input, make sure "Autoconfig Enable" is set to on, then go down to Input User 1 Binds, use "User 1 Bind All" and then select "User 1 Save Autoconfig". Now unplug that controller, plug in the next controller, and repeat the above steps. Now whenever you plug in each controller it should use whatever you've specified for each controller individually.

You are the man/whoa- man!

This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain that all out for me!

You're absolutely right about Retroarch thinking they're all Xbox controllers...

I'll report back after I set everything up.

 

Also, what's the best way to exit an emulator (or pull up retroarch menu) in-game with some of the controllers that don't have select buttons? 

I remember Hyperspin had this, Hold this button for a couple of seconds and then press that button thingy - but I haven't found anything like that in retroarch (i used individual emulators for my hyperspin setup and didn't use retroarch for any of it).

[Zombeaver]

6 minutes ago, Nabizzles said:

Also, what's the best way to exit an emulator (or pull up retroarch menu) in-game with some of the controllers that don't have select buttons? 

You can setup hotkeys using whatever buttons you want, select doesn't have to be one of the included buttons. You just need to go into Input -> Input Hotkey Binds and set one key to "Enable hotkeys" (at which point you'll need to hold this down for any other hotkey function to work) and the other to "Quit Retroarch". Alternately you can use Launchbox's Controller Automation function to do the same thing, if you have Premium.

[Nabizzles]

1 hour ago, Zombeaver said:

You can setup hotkeys using whatever buttons you want, select doesn't have to be one of the included buttons. You just need to go into Input -> Input Hotkey Binds and set one key to "Enable hotkeys" (at which point you'll need to hold this down for any other hotkey function to work) and the other to "Quit Retroarch". Alternately you can use Launchbox's Controller Automation function to do the same thing, if you have Premium.

Awesome. Thank you again. 

 

Another somewhat related question: Do you know of any other way to rename the default controller name in Windows? I'd love it to plug in my N64 controller and everything sees it with that name. 

 

Right now I'm dealing with a bunch of "Generic USB Gamepad 003" and whatever.

[Zombeaver]

If you go into Retroarch\autoconfig, you should see some .cfg files that you've created. You could try changing the "input_device = " line to a different name, but I honestly don't know if this will break anything. I've always left them as-is.

[Nabizzles]

Quick update on this.

I ended up returning those controllers because when I tried to implement Zombeaver's controller setup solution, I was made aware that a lot of the controllers were showing up as the same exact controller when plugged in. They all used the same Hardware IDs from the factory. So there was no way of making Windows differentiate between the controllers. I would plug in SNES and set it up. Unplug it and then plug in Genesis. Windows would think Genesis controller was SNES. Cause they both used the same Hardware IDs. 

I ended up deciding to get this thing instead:

https://bliss-box.net/

And it's awesome. First party hardware and buttery smooth setup. A little expensive but definitely worth if for those interested in checking it out!

Edited September 23, 2018 by Nabizzles

[garboy]

Sorry to necro the thread, but does Retroarch identify each controller separately with the blissbox?