MiniPac and RetroPie

[tdawg1982]

Ok, maybe I am missing something here.. So I modified the retroarch.cfg
Also when I ran through the setup for RetroArch Controller it created a file called UltimarcMini-PACUltimarcMini-PAC.cfg. So with command line, everything works fine. As soon as I go into emulation station, it doesn’t recognize the joysticks. I have attached the config files. Please help! I need to get this completed by tomorrow.. :/

[tdawg1982]

So I am still struggling with this, I did an update on the firmware and it sees the minipac now but in the NES/SNES games, the controls are not correct. anyone have any ideas? I feel like I am beating my head against a wall in trying all these different config files none seem to work..

[bucksgt]

I’m in the same boat. It looks like the NES emulator is seeing my Minipac but, it seems like the start button isn’t registering via the Minipac nor the keyboard.

[tdawg1982]

[quote=89679]I’m in the same boat. It looks like the NES emulator is seeing my Minipac but, it seems like the start button isn’t registering via the Minipac nor the keyboard.[/quote]

Well I will say, there is a firmware update. This fixed my first issue which was EmulationStation didn’t see the minipac at all. So mine is recognized but the controls are not what I programmed. So for example, I set 1st switch and 2nd switch to be “A” and “B” but in the game 5th and 6th switch are “A” and “B”. Start and Select on player 1 works correctly but player 2 does not. Player 2 is using player 1’s start and select. and switch 4 on player 2 locks up the game and can’t seem to unlock it.

[tdawg1982]

So after finding a few additional web post;
I am closer to working than I was before. So I reprogrammed my minipac to match:
# Joypad buttons.
# Figure these out by using RetroArch-Phoenix or retroarch-joyconfig.
# You can use joypad hats with hnxx, where n is the hat, and xx is a string representing direction.
# E.g. “h0up”

input_player1_joypad_index = “0”
input_player1_a = x
input_player1_b = b
input_player1_y = a
input_player1_x = s
input_player1_start = 1
input_player1_select = 5
input_player1_l = q
input_player1_r = w
input_player1_left = left
input_player1_right = right
input_player1_up = up
input_player1_down = down

input_player2_joypad_index = “1”
input_player2_a = z
input_player2_b = u
input_player2_y = n
input_player2_x = i
input_player2_start = 2
input_player2_select = 6
input_player2_l = m
input_player2_r = k
input_player2_left = D
input_player2_right = g
input_player2_up = r
input_player2_down = f

But I am still running into a few issues. So the Start button and Select button on player 2 do not work. I have to push player 1 start button to pause the game. input_player2_r – causes the game to lock up. input_player2_y = n and input_player2_l = m causes it to change different “shades”.

Any ideas??

[bucksgt]

I have my MiniPac working with both mame and nes, now. I went through the retroarch.cfg line by line. I removed a bunch of extra stuff after I read online that joystick/gamepad configuration may take precedence over keyboard and mess stuff up. That shader hotkey is in there, make sure you remove it if you have buttons bound to it.

Also, you can’t use raw numbers like that. The comments in the cfg file right above output will tell you all the possible options. I think what you want is:

input_player1_start = num1
input_player1_select = num5
input_player2_start = num2
input_player2_select = num6

If all else fails and things still aren’t working right, quit out of EmulationStation and run: startx from the command line to get into XWindows. From there, you can run: xev from the terminal and it output the keypresses that your joysticks and buttons output.

Hope that helps!

[tdawg1982]

[quote=90025]I have my MiniPac working with both mame and nes, now. I went through the retroarch.cfg line by line. I removed a bunch of extra stuff after I read online that joystick/gamepad configuration may take precedence over keyboard and mess stuff up. That shader hotkey is in there, make sure you remove it if you have buttons bound to it.

Also, you can’t use raw numbers like that. The comments in the cfg file right above output will tell you all the possible options. I think what you want is:

input_player1_start = num1
input_player1_select = num5
input_player2_start = num2
input_player2_select = num6

If all else fails and things still aren’t working right, quit out of EmulationStation and run: startx from the command line to get into XWindows. From there, you can run: xev from the terminal and it output the keypresses that your joysticks and buttons output.

Hope that helps!
[/quote]

You know what’s funny is in my config file it is num1 and num5 but when I pasted the code from notpad++ it seemed to change it. Do you mind sharing your config file so I can compare?

[tomg]

Hi,
I’m very noob on RetroPie and I’m quite lost as well.
I also have a MiniPac and more or less it works “as is” (I’m mainly interested by Mame).

What I don’t understand is that “A” and “B” buttons, which sound to my mind for “action buttons”, are not usable inside the games but only in menus to select games (etc…). And SELECT and START become the “action buttons” into games !
I’m also unable to add a third “action button”.

I ran retropie_setup.sh but I cannot get a UltimarcMini-PACUltimarcMini-PAC.cfg file like you. Where it is located ?

I initially thought it would be easy to use MiniPac as it is a “simple” keyboard emulator but it seems not.
Tom

[tdawg1982]

[quote=90175]Hi,
I’m very noob on RetroPie and I’m quite lost as well.
I also have a MiniPac and more or less it works “as is” (I’m mainly interested by Mame).

What I don’t understand is that “A” and “B” buttons, which sound to my mind for “action buttons”, are not usable inside the games but only in menus to select games (etc…). And SELECT and START become the “action buttons” into games !
I’m also unable to add a third “action button”.

I ran retropie_setup.sh but I cannot get a UltimarcMini-PACUltimarcMini-PAC.cfg file like you. Where it is located ?

I initially thought it would be easy to use MiniPac as it is a “simple” keyboard emulator but it seems not.
Tom
[/quote]

Well I ran into the first issue with as you did but I did a firmware update on the Minipac. From there it started to see it in the retropie_setup.sh but I am working currently now in NES but SNES is not working correctly now. I changed my mappings on the minipac that match this
input_player1_joypad_index = “0”
input_player1_a = x
input_player1_b = b
input_player1_y = a
input_player1_x = s
input_player1_start = num1
input_player1_select = num5
input_player1_l = q
input_player1_r = w
input_player1_left = left
input_player1_right = right
input_player1_up = up
input_player1_down = down

input_player2_joypad_index = “1”
input_player2_a = z
input_player2_b = u
input_player2_y = c
input_player2_x = i
input_player2_start = num2
input_player2_select = num6
input_player2_l = q
input_player2_r = e
input_player2_left = D
input_player2_right = g
input_player2_up = r
input_player2_down = f

[ceuse]

not familar with a minipac but a great way to test the recognised buttons and how they are mapped is jstest /dev/input/js0

(you need to change js0 to the number your joystick gets recognised)

[bucksgt]

@tdawg1982: I came down with the flu but, I’ll try to post my config tonight or this weekend.

@ceuse: The MiniPAC appears as USB HID-compliant keyboard — not as a joystick nor gamepad. I don’t think jstest will work with it short of flashing custom firmware on the device and doing a lot of reverse engineering. Because it shows up as a keyboard, you need to use howKey, xev, or something of the like.

[tdawg1982]

[quote=90382]not familar with a minipac but a great way to test the recognised buttons and how they are mapped is jstest /dev/input/js0

(you need to change js0 to the number your joystick gets recognised)
[/quote]

Yeah, I tried it and it doesn’t seem to like those input because it is a keyboard emulator but I will tell you that I can program it to be like a joystick. Maybe I will create a second sd image and try it with that but for now I am working on the keyboard emulator side.

[bucksgt]

If you want to make a custom joystick interface, UnoJoy does a pretty slick job, too: https://github.com/AlanChatham/UnoJoy

[tomg]

@tdawg1982

Strangely I cannot upgrade my MiniPac. My board is not seen neither by “WinIPAC (V2)” nor by “U_HID Config Utility” nor by “Ultimarc Firmware Updater” as it should like stated here.

I can only see another keyboard inside Windows Device Manager.
Could you please kindly give me your version number (Rev_XXXX) ?
Mine is REV_0030.

Tx.

[tdawg1982]

[quote=90665] @tdawg1982

Strangely I cannot upgrade my MiniPac. My board is not seen neither by “WinIPAC (V2)” nor by “U_HID Config Utility” nor by “Ultimarc Firmware Updater” as it should like stated here.

I can only see another keyboard inside Windows Device Manager.
Could you please kindly give me your version number (Rev_XXXX) ?
Mine is REV_0030.

Tx.
[/quote]

Well in the software it tells me I am on Board FW Version 1.23 and I see a 94V-0 2813 on the board but I don’t see a version number field in Device Manager for the minipac.

[tdawg1982]

So I noticed this today, when I exit out any SNES game. I get a message saying “Could not find joystick mapping forUltimarc Mini-PAC Ultimarc Mini-PAC, use default.” The question I have is, where is the default file?? Anyone have any ideas on how to fix this?

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