Something seems to be wrong with BigBox keyboard mappings

[CitznFish]

when you go to Options>keyboard mappings and try to change a mapping you see "wait 5 seconds to clear" but then you cannot enter a new key. It SHOULD be wait 5 seconds to clear, then it clears and is ready for the new key. Instead it waits 5 seconds to clear and then sets it as a cleared entry. 

 This is a problem when trying to remap "return" in BB to the default Player 1 button 1 in MAME (L-CTRL) because you let it clear, but then it autosaves as a blank and now return is no longer available to do anything in BB. in BigBoxSettings.xml it sets it to "0".

There is literally no way to keep mame defaults and map BB correctly. 

 

Edited August 28, 2020 by CitznFish

[neil9000]

9 minutes ago, CitznFish said:

when you go to Options>keyboard mappings and try to change a mapping you see "wait 5 seconds to clear" but then you cannot enter a new key. It SHOULD be wait 5 seconds to clear, then it clears and is ready for the new key. Instead it waits 5 seconds to clear and then sets it as a cleared entry. 

 This is a problem when trying to remap "return" in BB to the default Player 1 button 1 in MAME (L-CTRL) because you let it clear, but then it autosaves as a blank and now return is no longer available to do anything in BB. in BigBoxSettings.xml it sets it to "0".

There is literally no way to keep mame defaults and map BB correctly. 

 

Im not sure i understand here, what you set in Bigbox has no relevance to what you use in MAME, what you setup in Bigbox is literally only relevant to Bigbox, unless its a exit emulator or open pause menu setting. Once you start a game its the emulator that has control of your keyboard and not Bigbox, so it makes no difference at all what you have Enter set to in Bigbox at that point, whatever you have it set to in MAME is what is being used.

[CitznFish]

15 minutes ago, neil9000 said:

Im not sure i understand here, what you set in Bigbox has no relevance to what you use in MAME, what you setup in Bigbox is literally only relevant to Bigbox, unless its a exit emulator or open pause menu setting. Once you start a game its the emulator that has control of your keyboard and not Bigbox, so it makes no difference at all what you have Enter set to in Bigbox at that point, whatever you have it set to in MAME is what is being used.

correct. I understand this. I have an arcade cabinet. I have my P1 buttons configured in BB to do the following:

 

P1B1 Select

P1B2 (not used in BB)

P1B3 Page up

P1B4 back

P1B5 (not used in BB)

P1B6 Page Down

 

Now I am using an iPac encode that maps MAME default keys to these buttons, s o in red is the MAME default and in blue is the BB action)

 

P1B1 Return(Select)  L-CTRL

P1B2 (not used in BB)

P1B3 Page up space

P1B4 back L-SHIFT

P1B5 (not used in BB)

P1B6 Page Down X

 

So looking at the above keys, if I go into BB and want to remap BB so my button 1 is used to select/start a game I go into keyboard mapping. I select the return, click on it. Then wait 5 seconds for it to clear out. At this point it should clear out and stay active/available for me to hit P1B1 on my cabinet to set this control. It does not. It waits 5 seconds and then clears it out and saves it as a blank entry. Now I literally have no return button mapped in BB.  I have to go delete the XML file and let BB create a new one to get teh return functionality back. I tried keeping return as return and adding L-CTRL but Return is already mapped in iPac as 1a, which I use as a pinball flipper button so that doesn't work for me as an option. 

 

So really the only way to map BB correctly to the buttons I have chosen on my arcade cabinet is to completely remap MAME. Not really an acceptable solution.  If BB would stop auto saving the cleared entries immediately this would not be an issue at all. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by CitznFish

[Retro808]

If you are changing the button you mapped to a different key than what you mapped before why are you clearing?

Just hit the button to activate that particular command than hit the key you want it changed to.

So lets say in BB for "Select" you have P1B2 currently mapped and want to change it to P1Button1. Just hit select on the "Select" field, you get the "Wait for 5 Seconds to Clear" notice. Do not wait, just hit the new button (P1Button1) and BigBox changes it.

"Wait 5 Seconds to Clear" is just exactly that...it clears the field. It is not a clear and then remap. It is a "Clear".

 

[CitznFish]

13 minutes ago, Retro808 said:

Just hit select on the "Select" field, you get the "Wait for 5 Seconds to Clear" notice. Do not wait, just hit the new button (P1Button1) and BigBox changes it.

 

 

That is not how it works right now. if I click on it to remap and do not wait the 5 seconds it ADDS the key, it doesn't clear the current selection and then replace it with my selection, it adds it so there are now 2 options for that selection. 

[Retro808]

12 minutes ago, CitznFish said:

That is not how it works right now. if I click on it to remap and do not wait the 5 seconds it ADDS the key, it doesn't clear the current selection and then replace it with my selection, it adds it so there are now 2 options for that selection. 

Ah then something must have changed you used to be able to just select the item, hit the new button and it would change and I could not say when as I have not mapped keys in well over 2 years. I will check on it with Jason.

Edit: 10.4 looks like there was a fix to the "clear" button options, maybe it changed at that point.

[CitznFish]

Just to add to this. Because of the current keyboard mapping issue when you cannot use the default MAME controls as I explained above it also breaks LEDBlinky, which no longer lights the keys I had to change to get around this bug in bigbox

[MikeyJ122]

I also have a similar problem. My tank stick controls (I am using their board in my cab, but not the actual tank stick). My esc key worked fine, but then I had a PC update, and now nothing.  The esc key works in the emulators (to exit out of them), so it's not a PC/hardware issue. In big box though... Nothing. I had to change my back button. I have a keyboard hooked up as well, and it's not picking up that esc key either. The rest seem to work fine, from what I can tell.

[Retro808]

6 hours ago, MikeyJ122 said:

I also have a similar problem. My tank stick controls (I am using their board in my cab, but not the actual tank stick). My esc key worked fine, but then I had a PC update, and now nothing.  The esc key works in the emulators (to exit out of them), so it's not a PC/hardware issue. In big box though... Nothing. I had to change my back button. I have a keyboard hooked up as well, and it's not picking up that esc key either. The rest seem to work fine, from what I can tell.

You mentioned escape key and you had to change your back button. Escape key, do you mean the button you use to exit a game? 

[MikeyJ122]

2 hours ago, Retro808 said:

You mentioned escape key and you had to change your back button. Escape key, do you mean the button you use to exit a game? 

Yes that's the button I use to exit games. Again, it works fine in the emulators, but in big box... Nothing.

[Retro808]

42 minutes ago, MikeyJ122 said:

Yes that's the button I use to exit games. Again, it works fine in the emulators, but in big box... Nothing.

Double check to make sure you have you button mapped to the option for "Close Active Window" and not mapped to "Exit" in BigBox mappings. If you have it mapped to "Exit" that's why it would not work. That "Exit" option is to exit the BigBox frontend.

[MikeyJ122]

Well... It seems that be working again. The machine has been off since last night. This morning I was able to map out the esc key properly, and it's functioning. Thanks for the help