Input behavior in Retroarch 32-bit on Android

[tycho]

So I followed ETA Prime's tutorial on loading my MAME games into Android, and apart from exporting my entire 10,000+ file romset, it worked great. My problem is that Retroarch 32-bit is pretty janky about controls, and I can't seem to fix it.

I use the "official" Retroarch app to run all my other emulated games (NES, SNES, Genesis, PS1, etc), and input works flawlessly, using the D-pad for movement controls. But when I use Retroarch 32-bit to play my arcade games, the program insists on forcing me to use the analog control stick for basic UDLR movement. This is even before connecting a controller - the input OSD has to be switched over to left analog stick in order for me to be able to control movement in all games. I've gone into the settings and poked around, but nothing I do seems to make the app use regular D-pad inputs for movement. The same holds true after I connect a controller. Has anyone else run into this? This behavior has been consistent since first installing and running Retroarch 32-bit.

[tycho]

For anyone wondering why I'm posting here and not, say, in the Retroarch forums: It's because their byzantine forum rules prevent me from even creating a topic until I meet seven different requirements.

[Jason Carr]

This is good to know, @tycho1974. I wish I had a solution for you, but sadly I don't. I haven't done any extensive testing with sideloaded Retroarch 32-bit vs. from the Play Store and controls, though. It may be worth trying some older (and/or newer) versions to see if all versions are affected by any bugs like that. It's not uncommon for Retroarch to put out official versions with bugs.

[tycho]

5 hours ago, Jason Carr said:

This is good to know, @tycho1974. I wish I had a solution for you, but sadly I don't. I haven't done any extensive testing with sideloaded Retroarch 32-bit vs. from the Play Store and controls, though. It may be worth trying some older (and/or newer) versions to see if all versions are affected by any bugs like that. It's not uncommon for Retroarch to put out official versions with bugs.

Interesting tidbit about the official releases with bugs. I can say that I just got the APK from the Retroarch website, so I'm assuming it's the latest version.

I did some further testing, and I discovered that the only way for my D-pad to function properly was to manually edit the bindings; specifically, I had to remap the "analog" stick inputs for left, right, up, and down to the D-pad instead of the left analog stick. The existing D-pad bindings do nothing in my testing, and my "Analog to Digital Type" setting does nothing when changed. I hope this helps anyone who is having this same issue...