(Howto) Quake/TyrQuake and Doom/PrBoom with modern controls (dual stick)

[tuxophil]

Hi,

Due to the rather complex configuration options of recalbox/retroarch it took me quite some time (six years, as it seems ) to figure out how to actually play Quake and Doom using modern control schemes, i.e. using a dual stick controller (Xbox or Logitech F710) mapped as follows: left analog stick to move forward/back or strafe left/right and the right stick to turn / look / aim and attacking with the right trigger.

The solution is almost trivially easy, once you know where to look:

1. Launch the game. (The core is either Libretro-PrBoom for Doom or Libretro-TyrQuake for Quake.)
2. Hit Hotkey+B which on a Xbox-type controller should actually be Select+A. This opens Retroarch's Quickmenu.
3. Go down to "Controls" and open it.
4. By default the "Device Type" is set to "Gamepad Classic". Change it to "Gamepad Modern".
5. Enjoy! You may resume your game and try out the control scheme. (It works just fine!)
6. Again in the Quickmenu choose "Save Core Remap File" in order to preserve the control scheme for the next launches.

Optionally:
7. In case of PrBoom (and probably also for Quake) the remapped controls are actually stored separately from your game files, more precisely there is a new file /recalbox/share/system/.config/retroarch/config/remaps/PrBoom/PrBoom.rmp with the following contents, at least on my system:

input_libretro_device_p1 = "773"
input_libretro_device_p2 = "1"
input_libretro_device_p3 = "1"
input_libretro_device_p4 = "1"
input_libretro_device_p5 = "1"
input_player1_analog_dpad_mode = "1"
input_player2_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player3_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player4_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_player5_analog_dpad_mode = "0"
input_remap_port_p1 = "0"
input_remap_port_p2 = "1"
input_remap_port_p3 = "2"
input_remap_port_p4 = "3"
input_remap_port_p5 = "4"

If you want to keep this customization together with your game files, it's best to use Recalbox's configuration override system. Just move/rename the above .rmp file to /recalbox/share/roms/ports/Doom/.retroarch.cfg and you're set.

One final note: By default Recalbox's Libretro-TyrQuake inverts the y axis, a setting that I find essential when playing with mouse&keyboard, but that I can't stand when using a controller. This setting can be changed by using the Quickmenu: Options / Invert Y Axis. Set it to "ON" to turn the inversion off. (Yes, there's a logic bug somewhere...) Alternatively, and that's what I prefer, add a configuration override file /recalbox/share/roms/ports/Quake/.core.cfg with the following contents:

tyrquake_invert_y_axis = "enabled"

(All of the above is current as of Recalbox-8.0.1.)