Using Playstation 1/2 Controllers on RetroPie, CONFIGS INCLUDED.

[foob]

Seeing as everyone seems to have controller choice as their main source of frustration on this project, i figured i’d weigh in with my solution.

Basically, most people including myself, should have some old Playstation 1 or 2 controllers lying around from the glory days. These are actually EXTREMELY useful when it comes to the retropi, as thanks to a nice third party adapter, it’s possible to hook two of these bad boys up to ONE usb socket. This obviously allows for two players on a model A without any extra peripherals. This is a pretty huge deal for those with models A’s, as well as people who are building for portable rigs (For example, i have installed 4 or 5 of these things into peoples cars so the back set and play two player through the screens in the back of the headrests).

Firstly, you will need two controllers. Sorry kids, but to use my config files these MUST be DualShock analogues. either PS1 or PS2 will do, and they don’t have to be official. Personally, i use the Joytech mini PS1 controllers, you can find them all over ebay, picutred HERE: [img]http://puu.sh/73KpP.jpg[/img]

Now, you can obviously use non-analogue controllers with the pi and this adapter, but you’ll likely have to do your own configs. Mine might work, i just dont have a non analogue to test it with.

Secondly, you’ll need the adapter. Unfortunately i think it must be a specific one, so ive linked the amazon links to purchase them. I am british so i got mine for <£2 originally, so don’t worry as they are super cheap. I have included an american amazon link for the Yanks, as well.

UK – http://www.amazon.co.uk/PS1-PS2-Controller-Adapter-Converter/dp/B00241IRK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392928865&sr=8-1&keywords=ps1+to+usb

USA – http://www.amazon.com/Playstation-Controller-Adapter-Lifetime-Warranty-2/dp/B000F6BGXY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392928887&sr=8-1&keywords=ps1+to+usb

They both have pictures so if you have a different location for amazon, you can pretty easily identify the one you need. They are almost always blue, but i have seen them in Translucent as well.

Lastly, you’ll need the configs. I think i’ve got everything required but if i have missed something off just tell me what to grab and ill go get it for you.

DISCLAIMER: – PLEASE don’t be an idiot and just write over your own configs with these assuming them to work. Be sensible, BACK UP YOUR EXISTING CFGS FIRST before using these. That way, if they don’t work you can restore yourself easily, and more importantly i don’t have stupid people whining its my fault they broke their retropi installation.

Anyway, copy these into /home/pi/RetroPie/configs/all

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4436120/dgenrc
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4436120/retroarch.cfg

and this into /home/pi/.emulationstation/

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4436120/es_input.cfg

Those should cover ALL usage of the controller, including the menu screen and all of the emulators including DGEN.

The buttons are mapped identically to a SNES controller, and on DGEN Square = A, X = B and Circle = C. If you enable 6-button mode in options, then L1 = x, Triangle = Y and R1 = Z.

There are also two hotkeys enabled in these configs, so please be aware of them.

IN EMULATIONSTATION BROWSING GAMES; –

R1 = page up
R2 = page down
L1 = Select Letter/Organize Type (i.e. sort by name, most recent, least played, most played etc)
TRIANGLE – Options menu (Shutdown, Restart, Volume etc)

IN GAME; –

SELECT + START = quit ROM back to emulationstation
SELECT + L2 = open Retroarch Config/Options (the screen you can configure video/sound/other options etc) i HIGHLY suggest you do this at least once, as your TV settings will differ to mine. Autosave options is on so your own settings you change here should take immediately.

enjoy.

[foob]

I knew i forgot to mention something…..

One important thing to note is that the controllers were configured in such a way that they must be turned ON every time you boot. This is done by pressing the ANALOGUE button on the control pad. When the light is on, your controller will work, when it off, the controller will be completely disabled.

PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU HAVE TURNED ON YOUR CONTROLLER WHEN TESTING THESE.

[phipix01]

the amazon links went down.
it was something like this
PS1 Adapter

[phipix01]

Let’s switch back to this thread .. at first, thanks a lot for your config upload. I have excatly the same adapter like you but with different brands i ment that i have 1 original ps2 controller and one of those cheaper ones from logic3. when i can only get one red light to light up, as soon as i press the analog button on the other controller, the light of the first controller will turn off.
I’d be very happy if you’d upload your 1.9.. config when ur done.
in the meantime ill try to get two originall controllers .. or just 2 times exactly the same and try again.
do you press the analog buttons right after you plug in the power supply?
also, the controlls didnt work for duke nukem 3d for me ..
and im not sure if this is because of the rom or the config, in mario64 i cant walk slowly, it’s automatically running ..

thanks a lot.
cheers!

phil

edit:
i bought 2 of the adapters, so i could possibly play with 4 controllers .. is this technically possible?

[Captain_Bacon]

Hi,

I just got my raspberry pi and I’m very new to the concept. So this may be a dumb question but how do I copy the configs to my rp? Because I can’t locate where to put them . (Again I don’t know shit about Linux so please help me out)

Thx

[phipix01]

@Captain_Bacon

I either FTP or SSH on your raspberry while it’s in the same network as your other computer (SSh with Putty and Ftp with Filezilla) and then i look for the RetroPie folder, i think it’s in Home/Pi folder and replace config files there. if you’re on the raspberrys console list the directory with “ls” and change the directory with “cd” for example “cd pi/RetroPie”

@foob any news about the updated config files?

[James]

@phipix01

Any luck? I have the same problem. 1 controller works, other one will only briefly flash on.

jstest picks them both up fine

[Stu]

Was having trouble getting into the pi via ftp and ssh so I used the browser to get this page on the pi and then copy and pasted into the existing files.

[randomuser]

Anyone had a chance to try out the old ps1 controllers? I have a duelshock and an original controller, trying to keep cost to a minimum :p

[synj]

What version of retropie did you use for this?

when i went to copy the cfgs across the directories where different.
I don’t have a configs folder in /home/pi/RetroPie but theres one in /home/pi/RetroPie-Setup. so i copyed the files across into there but the controllers only seem to work in the Emulation station interface and when i try to play a game they don’t work.

I’m using Retropie v2.3
with 2 joytech PSX Dual Analogue Controllers like this
-> http://www.oneswitch.org.uk/IMAGES/4/DIY/joypad/01.jpg
and the Dual usb adapter mentioned
Any Ideas?

[trumad]

Here’s what I ended up doing:

Plug a PS1 controller into the Player 1 slot of the adaptor (that’s on the right hand side as you look at the circle with the cable coming out the top) and run this on the pi:

cd opt/retropie/emulators/retroarch
sudo ./retroarch-joyconfig >> /opt/retropie/configs/all/PS1.cfg

I found that it wouldn’t recognise R3 button presses, and I opted not to use any of the analogue stick movements, so I left the analogue light off and just pressed x a bunch of times at the end.

Then, I took the output from PS1.cfg and copied it to:

opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch.cfg

and it kinda looks like this:

input_player1_joypad_index = "0"
input_player1_b_btn = "2"
input_player1_y_btn = "3"
input_player1_select_btn = "8"
input_player1_start_btn = "9"
input_player1_up_axis = "-1"
input_player1_down_axis = "+1"
input_player1_left_axis = "-0"
input_player1_right_axis = "+0"
input_player1_a_btn = "1"
input_player1_x_btn = "0"
input_player1_l_btn = "6"
input_player1_r_btn = "7"
input_player1_l2_btn = "4"
input_player1_r2_btn = "5"
input_player2_joypad_index = "1"
input_player2_b_btn = "2"
input_player2_y_btn = "3"
input_player2_select_btn = "8"
input_player2_start_btn = "9"
input_player2_up_axis = "-1"
input_player2_down_axis = "+1"
input_player2_left_axis = "-0"
input_player2_right_axis = "+0"
input_player2_a_btn = "1"
input_player2_x_btn = "0"
input_player2_l_btn = "6"
input_player2_r_btn = "7"
input_player2_l2_btn = "4"
input_menu_toggle_btn = "0"
input_save_state_btn = "6"
input_load_state_btn = "7"
input_exit_emulator_btn = "9" 

the input_blah_blah_btn commands are so you can press select + another button to do funky things.

[pb2015]

Hello,

Please excuse my ignorance but this is my first go at setting up the Retro Pi I already had a playstation controller to usb connector so I got a couple of ps1 controllers and hoped for the best unfortunately “no gamepads detected” i found this thread and went to try copying in her configs but the file structure in the post is different from mine and I can’t find where to put the configs in or for that matter how.

I used to be a network engineer so I’m not completely clueless but assume I know nothing!

[Author]

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