Problem with second USB zero delay encoder connection

[Paiuli363]

Hi all. Can anyone please help! I have been struggling with this for 2 days now and I cannot get it resolved.
I have just build a bartop arcade box, running an 8gb Pi 4 with an arctic cooler. I am usung a 512gb games image for Recalbox.
I have a pair of EGStart Dragonrise joysticks and buttons which seem to be widely available and used.
When I connect one set (one player) via the supplied USB encoder, I get a solid red led on the encoder and everything works ok. I am able to set the controller up in ES and everything seems ok.
However, my problems start when I connect the second USB encoder.
I cannot get this second USB encoder for player 2 to work properly.
As soon as I connect the second zero delay usb encoder, various 'bad' things happen. to start off, I notice on boot up that the boot video for my image stutters. It takes a while longer for the image to load . When I move my 2 joysticks nothing happens, nor is there a response from any buttons. If I wait a minute or 2, I sometimes get a bit of a response from the joysticks, but very stuttery.
On the encoders, both red lights are flashing.
If I unplug the player 2 encoder, the player one encoder set works fine again. I have set up both joysticks and button sets via emulation station initially, and it seems to take my inputs ok, but as soon as I reboot, the whole system freezes up again. Strangely, I can connect a PS3 controller as a player 2 control, and that works fine along with the dragonrise as player 1. It just will not work with 2 dragonrise usb encoders plugged in for some reason that I cannot fathom. It seems that the second usb encoder upsets the system and also prevents the first encoder from working. I have switched the encoders to various USB inputs on the Pi 4, but this makes no difference.
Now here's a strange this as well. I have a 32gb games image for Retropie, and I can get both dragon rise controllers to work there, but on this Recalbox games image I get the above issues.
Can anyone help please? Im really at my wits end with this. I am sure its something I am doing wrong, I don't think its a hardware fault.

[Zing]

@paiuli363

I am usung a 512gb games image for Recalbox.

What is your version of Recalbox (say the version, don't say "the latest")?
Did you build this image yourself, or did you download a ready-made image from the internet, or did you buy the Rpi already with this image?

[Paiuli363]

Zing, I downloaded the image. I actually have two images for Recalbox, one is a 32gb and the other a 512gb. The issues I have described happen with both images.
I am using Recalbox version 7.2.2

Tried it this morning again, and all ok with one encoder. As soon as the second is plugged in the screen freezes and all buttons an joysticks are unresponsive. I have pulled it apart, switched the buttons and joysticks around, also swapped the encoders as well as the USBs on the Pi4, but to no avail. I can use any combination of encoder, lead or joystick on its one (ie one player), but as soon as the second encoder gets plugged in, it all goes to pot.

[Paiuli363]

I should have added, I also this morning downloaded a fresh install of bare Recalbox 7.2.2 from the Recalbox site and I still have the same issues. I was hoping it was maybe the games image I was using that was at fault, but I am having the same problems with the fresh Recalbox download.

[Paiuli363]

I noticed when working at the system today, that the 2nd usb encoder is not recognised at all by ES. I wonder is the conflict because the system cannot distinguish between the 2 controllers as both are named the same? Previously they showed at Dragonrise controller and Dragonrise Controller no2. Now the second controller is not being picked up at all?

[Zing]

@paiuli363

Zing, I downloaded the image. I actually have two images for Recalbox, one is a 32gb and the other a 512gb

Distributing/selling Recalbox already mounted is illegal and we do not support this type of image. Only those who created this type of image know what they did.

downloaded a fresh install of bare Recalbox 7.2.2 from the Recalbox site

This is the right way, use the latest official version as a base, otherwise all our effort is useless.

Have you seen the documentation for your control type?
https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/controllers

Have you tried to connect the 2 joysticks but configure only player 1? I know there are some types of boards that this is the correct configuration, I don't know if this is your case.

[deekay]

Hi @Paiuli363,

Can you list all the equipment plugged in USB on your device ?

Did you tried to unplug all, except the first controller ? And then tried to plug the second, etc ?

[Merlindo Gaming]

hi I'm experiencing the same problem with dragonrise usb encoders. I bought a set of 2 joysticks with 1 encoder each. I can plug player 1 or player 2 seperately and they both work fine. As soon as I plug both in, the pi starts to slow down everything becomes j**ky and unsuable. I did notice that both encoders have the same joystick ID 0 GUID etc.
I have configured only player 1 with all the same button configuration.

I too have the red led on the boards start to flash when I plug both in.
All I found are old forum posts from 2016 -2017 which I think are too old to even concider.

Raspi 4 8gb ram + Recalbox v8.0 fresh install.

@Paiuli363 have you found the problem?

Thanks

[Merlindo Gaming]

I've read a post that seems to fix this problem in a retropie system.
https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/31488/solved-repeated-disconnect-of-zero-delay-usb-encoder-dragonrise/2

Is there a recalbox equivalent of cmdline.txt (I know it exists in /boot but seems to be different then retropi system)
I'm trying to input usbhid.quirks=0x<idVendor>:0x<idProduct>:0x00000400 at the right place for a recalbox.

[Zing]

@merlindo-gaming

usbhid.quirks=

See if this helps:
https://forum.recalbox.com/topic/21836/problème-pad-arcade/13

[Merlindo Gaming]

@zing no that didn't help, I even tried a factory reset and still nothing. It's almost as if theres something with emulation station because when I'm in an emulator the lights stop flashing on the encoders.

[Bandar]

Jumping in here because I'm encountring the same issue
So, I switched from Retropie today but I'm having a huge hiccup.
I run my Raspberry Pi 4 with 2 DragonRise encoders. The Pie 4 HATES them and always causes issues. Back on RetroPie I just edit the /boot/config.txt and add the following:
usbhid.quirks=0x0079:0x0006:0x00000400
This used to do the trick and never had any issues after adding the line.
Now with Recalbox I noticed the same issue I had with RetroPie so I added the line to /boot/config.txt, sadly that didn't fix it.
The issue to be exact is when booting Recalbox, I notice a stutter every second during the boot animation. After it boots successfully, the UI is just frozen with a stuck notification on the top right that still hasn't reached the top stating that the controller is unplugged.

[Bandar]

@bandar said in Problem with second USB zero delay encoder connection:

Jumping in here because I'm encountring the same issue
So, I switched from Retropie today but I'm having a huge hiccup.
I run my Raspberry Pi 4 with 2 DragonRise encoders. The Pie 4 HATES them and always causes issues. Back on RetroPie I just edit the /boot/config.txt and add the following:
usbhid.quirks=0x0079:0x0006:0x00000400
This used to do the trick and never had any issues after adding the line.
Now with Recalbox I noticed the same issue I had with RetroPie so I added the line to /boot/config.txt, sadly that didn't fix it.
The issue to be exact is when booting Recalbox, I notice a stutter every second during the boot animation. After it boots successfully, the UI is just frozen with a stuck notification on the top right that still hasn't reached the top stating that the controller is unplugged.

Adding to that, I noticed a new weird behavior. After a minute or two, Recalbox restarts and both controllers work fine. Sometimes it takes over 5 minutes.
Moreover, If one encoder is connected I don't have any issues.

[Zing]

@bandar See if this helps:

• https://wiki.recalbox.com/en/tutorials/controllers/usb-encoders/xin-mo-controllers-configuration
• https://forum.recalbox.com/topic/16405/dragonrise-usb-controller-flip-up-down-and-left-right

[Merlindo Gaming]

I confirm that adding the line usbhid.quirks=0x0079:0x0006:0x00000400 (for EG starts) to a Retropie build fixes the issue. I also bought a 2nd kit of joystick with Dragonrise encoder but the one from SJ@JX seems to be 2 diffrent firmwares so they both show up in controller config seperately. So 1 encoder from EG Starts and 1 from SJ@JX work in retropie. Sadly after going through the entire install process I dont feel like trying this on Recalbox for now. I'll update if I ever do try it.

[Bandar]

@zing I don't see how any of the links relate to this issue but I digress.
Both encoders are wired the same way and the issue is clearly has something to do with Recalbox not being able to handle two controllers that share the same vendor and product id.

[Zing]

@bandar OK, so please open an issue on gitlab, reference this topic and describe the problem with as much information as possible:
https://gitlab.com/recalbox/recalbox/-/issues

[rookie]

@merlindo-gaming does this just get pasted in the config.txt?

I have the same issue

[topsirloin]

Not much to offer, except to say I'm having the same issue. I just setup a Pi 4 with a base recalbox image. Everything is fine with 1 controller. I've even been able to get 2 controllers to work. I'm trying to expand it to 4 controllers now and its just a nightmare.

I find after a few reboots, I may get lucky and they will all work. But usually they don't. I do notice on bootup, I get many notices that a dragonrise controller has been installed. This happens on each bootup. Not sure if thats normal, should the controllers be installed each time on bootup? As mentioned earlier I feel there is conflict with how these controllers are named and being detected.

Another thing, when they do work, the player positioning is never constant. For my four player control deck, second position may be first player one time, then after a reboot another position is first player.

I edited the config text file with the usbhid.quirks entry, no luck.

[JessDK]

@topsirloin same issue here. I have heard that the usb ports is the problem. One time you boot, player 1 controller is joystick 1, and other times is joystick 2. Very annoying.
I gave up and dont know the solution.