Controller Chaos!

[klaxx]

Hello all,
I would like to start off saying the concept of this retropie is amazing!
However, I am having a rough time with the controller setups and I had a few questions. Here is my idea and you can tell me if it is possible. I wanted to make this retropie use retrolink usb NES, SEGA, SNES, and N64 controllers. I was going to do 2 each. Now when I was messing with the controllers, I guess it uses the retroarch file? This file seems to be global? Is there a way to have each of these controllers just for their respective system? Also, is it possible to get a powered USB hub and attach it? (Assuming that the RPIE doesn’t have enough juice to run all the extra ports without it)

[gizmo98]

There is also one retroarch.cfg file for every core. Settings in these files will overwrite the global retroarch.cfg settings. Take a look under /opt/retropie/configs/.

[klaxx]

That will fix that issue but will it allow me to have all 8 controllers usable? I mean if I run the default joyconfig and pull the settings how is that going to work?

[gizmo98]

I only have three controllers. Two SNES replicas and one PS3 controller. The PS3 controller works best but has no retro feeling ;-)

[klaxx]

Ok, so being that you have 3 controllers… how does that work? Lets say I have 3 controllers and my SNES controllers are 2 and 3. How would that be scripted in the /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg How does it assume SNES controllers 2 and 3 are players 1 and 2? Or am I overthinking this?

[Floob]

Potentially overthinking. RetroArch will auto detect controllers based on the files in this directory:

/opt/retropie/emulators/RetroArch/configs

you could amend those files to specify which is which player I guess.
I only have two (and they are different) so no real issue.

[klaxx]

Well I have 2 NES USB controllers which are different manufactures and have different programming. Then I have 2 Retro Link Sega, 2 Retro Link SNES, and 2 Retro Link N64. For example would it be possible to create those files in that directory for each controller then tell the /opt/retropie/configs/snes/retroarch.cfg to use say SNESUSBPlayer1.cfg and SNESUSBPlayer2.cfg

Also, when I plug a controller in, does it pick it up automatically and store it with some name?

[Floob]

You could use this process to create the autoconfig files and see how the system names them each time:

I should really try a few controllers and see what the exact behavior is – especially when the controllers are the same.

[klaxx]

Thats good but what do I put in the last retroarch file that overrides the default retroarch file.

[nolageek]

This is what I’ve done, your mileage may vary but this may get you closer to what you’re going for. I got tired of running retroarch-joyconfig over and over…

I have three controllers: a Logitech F310 and F710 and a RetroLink SNES

I ran the joystick config for each of them, with settings for player one and player two. I saved the output into files for save keeping:

cd /opt/retropie/emulators/RetroArch/installdir/bin

Plug in f710
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 0 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/f710-P1.cfg
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 1 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/f710-P2.cfg

Plug in f310
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 0 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/f310-P1.cfg
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 1 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/f310-P2.cfg

Plug in SNES
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 0 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/SNES-P1.cfg
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig -j 1 > /opt/retropie/configs/all/SNES-P2.cfg

Now you have 2 files for each of the controllers, as Player 1 and Player 2. The only thing I think you’ll need to add manually is the
Hotkey and Exit keys for the player 1 files, etc…

input_enable_hotkey_btn = x (usually the select key number)
input_exit_emulator_btn = x (usually the start key number)

Now append each of the controllers configs to the existing retroarch.cfg file in a game directory.

Let’s use the snes game and my controllers as an example. Let’s use the SNES controller for player one and the F710 controller for player two:

Go to SNES directory
cd /opt/retropie/configs/snes

backups are good!
cp retroarch.cfg retroarch.cfg.bak

add controllers to the end of the current retroarch.cfg file:
cat /opt/retropie/configs/all/SNES-P1.cfg >> retroarch.cfg
cat /opt/retropie/configs/all/f710-P2.cfg >> retroarch.cfg

Granted, I have NOT done this to individual games like it sounds like you want to do, but this is how I swap out controllers in my default /all/retroarch.cfg when I want to use different controllers.

[klaxx]

Ok I am working on the scripting now and I think I figured out what I need to do. Now the only thing is I can’t use the retro arch auto config for the Sega Retro Link and the N64 Retro Link controllers. So how would I go about doing that?

[nolageek]

Why couldn’t you use the retroarch-joyconfig for those as well?

[klaxx]

Because they done have anything listed for the sega. I didn’t see a C or Z key. Also for the N64 I didnt see a Z or any of the C’s

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