help for X-arcade dual joystic config

[3dlollo]

Hi all, I did get an X-arcade; not the tank model, this is the one with just the 2 players controls without the ball.

I was able to use it in retropie without problem, so I assumed it would be the same on Launchbox and big box but it is not the case. Probably because on the Pi I use only the keyboard and the X-arcade, while on windows I have multiple controllers, including the x-arcade and keyboard.

Basically I launch BigBox, I use the keyboard fine; then I plug in the x-arcade and it somehow works; I have it set to position 1, which is the default for MAME. The controller works as far as moving up, down, left and right.

I did change in BB the controls so I have them mapped to the X arcade, and I am able to navigate, launch games, go back to the system selection and such. Although when I play, nothing seems to work.

 

I thought the issue was retroarch, so I launched it and configured  A B X Y R L Select Start, but the buttons overlap. For example, the button I did mark in BB to be the back button, and in Retroarch to be the B button; is instead magically assigned to "add coin"; same for the other buttons I assigned; it seems like there are 2 set of assignments going on top of each other, and I can't figure out how to solve the issue. The x-arcade is emulating a keyboard, and that is the default setup for mame games, so I thought that it was all that I had to do to use it; but it is not the case.

If anyone have the X-arcade, I would appreciate a crash course about how to use this thing

[Retro808]

Your settings in Launchbox and BigBox will not affect any emulator. LB/BB simply passes along the command line to the emulator to launch to game. It does not do anything related to emulator internal controls for games. You should be able to easily set your Xarcade in Retroarch.

I would first set the universal controls in Retroarch without a core loaded. Go into the options under the Gear Icon and set your Hotkey binds, User 1 Input, and then User 2 Input binds. Just scroll to each control, click on it, then hit the button you want it mapped to on your Xarcade controller. Save the config then reopen and make sure they stuck.

You can set per core controls, but first I would set the universal mapping, launch a game and test to make sure they work.

You can see from the image RA recognizes my Xarcade controls.

[3dlollo]

Thanks; I did that but when I launch for example an arcade that use retroarch mame 2010 core, the buttons are repeated. Also when I am in retroarch, I can only move, none of the buttons are actually selecting or going back. I can select and go back in BB for example, but not in retroarch (and this is without any core selected).

Also I don't see any key binding for confirm and cancel in retroarch; I was able to find the quit option, so I can quit a game from within retroarch, but I can't see the controls for general usage. I did update retroarch cores; I guess I need to update retroarch app too?

[Retro808]

You have to map your controls. Not all of them will "just work" with the Xarcade controller. You need to use your keyboard arrow keys, the back key, and enter to move around to set your controls.

1. In the Hotkey Bind section set buttons for "Enable Hotkey" (this is the button you hold to activate hotkey) and a button for "Quit Retroarch". Then when you hold the button you set for Enable Hotkey and then hit the button for "Quit Retroarch" you exit the game/Retroarch. While in this section you can set keys for things like save states, and others.

If you spend sometime looking in Hotkey binds, User 1 Input, and User 2 Input sections you will find pretty much all controls you will need/want to set. Use the keyboard as I mentioned to move around, hit enter to select a control, and then hit the button on the Xarcade you want to map it to. Not really much to it.

When you are done, back out to the main menu, go to configuration, and then choose "Save Current Configuration".

The steps I am giving are just for universal controls. There is also a step to take to set per core controls. That way if you want a certain core to use a different control layout you can do that. In this thread if you go down to JoeVikings 3rd post he laid out easy steps to follow for per core config.

 

[3dlollo]

I did map the controls, but I can map only the ones that are exposed by the application.

So far I was able to quit retroarch with one button, no need for any hotkey, since I use side buttons. When using the joypad I use R3L3 as buttons for menu and select+start for quitting retroarch.

But something is overriding the controls when I use Launchbox. I have currently 3 different areas where to set keys: Big box, Launchbox, Retroarch. Sometimes 4, since some retroarch core, like the CPC or Atari, do not respond to certain controls.

The thing that I never did was "save current configuration". I suspect that is what set everything by default? Although when I close Launchbox or Bigbox and run the app again, when the emulator start, it does save the settings I have. Although if I disconnect the X-arcade and use again my 360 wireless controller, I have to re-define controls.

From my understanding, it is not the fault of Launchbox, although I can't figure out who is overriding the configuration and settings, because there are 3 different layers here at play.  On the raspberry pi running only the X-arcade, and via Emulationstation, everything just works, for some reasons.

I will experiment further today and see if I can get to a point where everything works without the need to change things around all the time I swap controller. The idea is to have the computer run Big box most of the time, with the X-arcade and the wireless 360 controller hooked up, for games that require analog (like racing games or games that has cabinets that require analog controllers). Thanks!

 

[Retro808]

1 hour ago, 3dlollo said:

I did map the controls, but I can map only the ones that are exposed by the application.

What do you mean "Ones that are exposed by the application"? What else are you trying to map that would not be exposed in RA?

Not really sure why you are having issues. I would suggest maybe back that version up somewhere just in case and then download a new clean RA and set it up from scratch and see if you can get it right. Maybe something corrupted the current version. 

What you are wanting to do can be done in Retroarch. My Tankstick stays connected in the main cabinet. I have an Xbox One and some 8Bitdo controllers (all wireless) that also connect to that pc when I am playing console games in RA. I do not have to reconfigure anything anytime I start up the controllers. 

I would first spend time setting up RA and not worry at all about Launchbox/BigBox. Set up RA and test it to make sure all the controls are set how you want them for all the platforms you will use. Once you have that right it will just work in Launchbox/BigBox since they have no control over nor do either of them alter any emulators controller configs. 

[3dlollo]

For example the confirm and back buttons are not exposed. I was not able to configure them, because in the settings there is nothing that say "confirm" or "back". I see those in BigBox, and they work there, but in retroarch I am forced to use the keyboard, because the same buttons used in BB does not work in RA.

I am just doing as you suggested; I don't have much saved in RA since I do everything via LB; I just need to download the cores probably (and the shaders at most); and see if that fix the issue. I can't figure out which version my RA is; so maybe it is an old build.

 

So in your case they just work; without the need to re-configure; I guess I have to start from scratch then, and set up one piece at time. I am trying now with clean RA only, without even use LB. I want to configure the Xbox wireless controller and the x-arcade; then I want to launch LB and configure the controls there, and see if that works.

So far, I did configure LB after years using the xbox wireless gamepad; so that may be the issue. Thanks for the hints!

 

[Retro808]

11 hours ago, 3dlollo said:

For example the confirm and back buttons are not exposed. I was not able to configure them, because in the settings there is nothing that say "confirm" or "back". I see those in BigBox, and they work there, but in retroarch I am forced to use the keyboard, because the same buttons used in BB does not work in RA.

You cannot compare what BigBox has as far as configurations go to was Retroarch has. One has nothing to do with the other. BigBox mappings are for BigBox alone and nothing else. 

If you are talking about a "confirm" or "back" while in Retroarch's UI then as you see they do not exist in their UI.  You really need to use a keyboard when you move around in their UI. I am not sure you can actually use a controller to move directly in the UI. I have never tried to use one so I could be wrong. 

11 hours ago, 3dlollo said:

I can't figure out which version my RA is; so maybe it is an old build.

When you launch Retroarch.exe it shows you the version in the bottom left of the screen. 

 

[neil9000]

Controllers work just fine to navigate the Retroarch UI. You just use whatever you have set for A and B to confirm and back.There is also a option to reverse those buttons as by default on a controller the A button is back, and the B button is confirm. You can reverse that with this option.

[Retro808]

I knew one of our more expert resident mods like @neil9000 would clarify for me. I rarely mess around in RA user interface. As evident I still use the nonWindows UI that they now have available. I really should check that out. Looks cleaner. 

[neil9000]

2 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

As evident I still use the nonWindows UI that they now have available.

Thats not the desktop UI, its the "Ozone" driver which you can swap to in Settings/Drivers. It's on xmb by default.

[Retro808]

8 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Thats not the desktop UI, its the "Ozone" driver which you can swap to in Settings/Drivers. It's on xmb by default.

Thanks Neil. Something else I have never changed. Guess I should get in there and mess around. 

[3dlollo]

Thanks; I am so confused about why the A and B button are not marked as default by "enter" and "backspace", because when you first download and run RA, those are the defaults on the keyboard.

So, I was able to make progress. I did wipe clean everything and started from RA as suggested; and discovered that my X-arcade is a tri-mode. This means that the first mode is keyboard for mame, the second is keyboard programmable, while the other 2 modes are for direct input and Xinput; which means that RA and windows, see the controller as either 2 generic controllers or 2 Xbox controllers. spent 3 hours trying the various combinations, and cursing at RA because even after assigning the controls, it would disable the X-arcade (no idea why; I had to delete the prefs file multiple times until I got it right).

As it stand now; I am able to use the X-arcade for RA, in Xinput mode (so like if they were 2 Xbox controllers) but no luck using it in launchbox, unless I use it in mode "keyboard"; but then it won't work in RA. I did wipe all the modifier commands in RA; so no conflicts there. The only issue is how to quit RA, since there are not enough buttons , but I solved by using select+start and then closing RA from there. I will hook up a simple microcontroller to the cabinet with 4 buttons that take care of RA menu, quit and probably volume up and down for the speakers.

I didn't try yet with big box; that is my next step.

As far as having both the Xbox wireless controller and the x-arcade, it works; except that when I have both connected, and I press start for P1, instead it start P2, so I guess it assign P1 to the Xbox controller, while the X-arcade get P2 (although I need to use the second set of controls on the X-arcade, which is bizarre but I don't care at this point, it works and I am happy ).

This has been quite a ride for me; I never thought that going through 3 different apps (Launchbox/bigbox - retroarch and mame/other emulator), would be so complex, as far as setting up controls. But now at least I have a way to switch controls without have to pull out the keyboard every single time, from the cabinet. Thanks a lot for your suggestions!

If I could ask for a magic wand, probably I would use it to set EVERYTHING in Launchbox/Big box, and have the frontend to deal with the RA and single emulator scheme for controls. I didn' even try yet with mame games, since it goes through Retroarch; but I assume that for mame stand alone, the x-arcade will just work out of the box, once I move the selector to the first position.

[DOS76]

That is strange if its in X-Input mode then LB should definitely work with it.

[Retro808]

Like @DOS76 said Launchbox should have no issue recognizing controls in any of the modes from the Xarcade. I leave mine in mode 1 and it works fine, that is for certain keys. Since mode 1 is keyboard and those buttons are mapped by the factory and cannot be changed. If you change to modes 3 or 4 you need to then open the controller mapping options in Launchbox to set the controls to be able to use in Launchbox. I have never used these modes in LB, but just tested and they work fine. LB recognized the buttons once I mapped them.  

[3dlollo]

Thanks; in my case in mode 1 (so default for Mame), I would get multiple button pressed, when running games via LB in RA.

I think I like the freedom to switch between Xinput and keyboard; once you get used to it; you let it be as is as long as it works, and if it does not, you can try using the keyboard mode.

Maybe I have configured incorrectly the LB part; I have tried LB, BB and just RA on its own, and the hard part at this point is to get one single control scheme for all of them

I am in a better place than where I was, so at least I am grateful that I am slowly understanding how things works!