How to setup keyboard controls (via config file / ssh)

[luke]

So I found the config file to set up the keyboard controls, it's in /system/.emulationstation/es_input.cfg. There are lots of entries ("inputConfig"s) for different device mappings. However, each one is for a single player only and for keyboard I can only seem to have 1 entry, so for 1 player only.

[luke]

I filed a GitHub Issue

Hello, I have a pre-2015 model of the I-PAC2 which is recognized as a single keyboard by the system (which is not an issue of EmulationStation, that is just how it was built). However, it seems impossible to set up 2 players using a single player with EmulationStation. I can only map one player who uses the I-PAC (recognized as a single keyboard for both players) to EmulationStation. When I want to set up the second player it removes the inputs of player one—it seems because one player can only use one device (in my case the I-PAC-"keyboard"), I cannot have 2 players use the same keyboard.

https://github.com/Aloshi/EmulationStation/issues/667

[voljega]

@luke Can you f**kin stop embarassing yourself and finally agree to follow the tutorial posted as the first response to your questions and the advices of people having a working IPAC2 on recalbox ?

Now you even posted an issue on a github project which doesn't have anything to do with your problems and which has been dead for at least the past two years.

[voljega]

@jonas https://forum.recalbox.com/topic/7279/recalbox-ipac2-2-player-control

[luke]

@luke Can you f**kin stop embarassing yourself and finally agree to follow the tutorial posted as the first response to your questions and the advices of people having a working IPAC2 on recalbox ?

I told you twice I already did that

[voljega]

@luke and yet you still haven't tried to confgure your controllers in the ES menu. If they don't appear this mean you didn't do it right.

[jonas]

@voljega said in How to setup keyboard controls (via config file / ssh):

@jonas https://forum.recalbox.com/topic/7279/recalbox-ipac2-2-player-control

I was already aware of this post. But my iPac2 has always been configured as an USB keyboard, as default, and also mapped as default. I already added an extra button for the hotkey, as P1SW8, and all individual buttons work properly when tested in a PC running Windows. I followed the tutorial, too, and nothing changed.

So, this post/thread by crimsonblaed did not add nothing I had not tried already. Unless you mean I should try using evtest?...

I noticed the hardware ID in my 2007 board was different, so I believed that was the cause of my problems and also @luke 's. Our iPacs seem to be different and simply cannot use the current recalbox configuration.

Regards
Jonas

[voljega]

@jonas try evtest at least and see what it says

[jonas]

@voljega , I just finished testing with evtest. Starting with a fresh 4.02 installation, following the tutorial, rebooting the Pi2 and having double-checked everything.
Only the IPAC2 and an Opti-PAC were connected to the Pi2, via a standard USB hub.
Here is the initial evtest screen:

#########
Using username "root".
#evtest
No device specified, trying to scan all of /dev/input/event*
Available devices:
/dev/input/event0: Cypress I-PAC Arcade Control Interface
/dev/input/event1: Cypress I-PAC Arcade Control Interface
/dev/input/event2: Ultimar Opti-PAC Trackball/Spinner Interface
/dev/input/event3: Ultimar Opti-PAC Trackball/Spinner Interface
/dev/input/event4: Xarcade-to-Gamepad Device 1
/dev/input/event5: Xarcade-to-Gamepad Device 2
/dev/input/event6: SNES-to-Keyboard Device
Select the device event number [0-6]:
###########

Event 0 detects all my IPAC2 input buttons, that is, P1 and P2 buttons together as a single keyboard input.
Event 2 detects my Opti-PAC analog input (nevermind: connected to a spinner/horizontal mouse axis, not used by Recalbox, yet).
All other events detected nothing when I move/press the controls/buttons.

Back to EmulationStation / Controller Config. I find two new gamepads in the list of devices, named Xarcade-to-Gamepad 1 and 2. However, these are not usable. When redefining, there is STILL just a d**n keyboard

Really weird.

[voljega]

@jonas hmmm try to unconnect everything INCLUDING THE HUB except your ipac2, REDO THE TUTORIAL.

then the test the events corresponding to the xarcade : do the inputs work ?

When you say unusable in ES menu what do you mean ? No button press is registered ?

What is the SNES-Keyboard thing ?

[jonas]

@voljega , thank you very much for your patience!

@jonas hmmm try to unconnect everything INCLUDING THE HUB except your ipac2, REDO THE TUTORIAL.

then the test the events corresponding to the xarcade : do the inputs work ?

Done. IPAC2 only, directly connected to the RPi2. Now, other than evtest not detecting the removed Opti-PAC, nothing changed. Xarcade still does not work.

When you say unusable in ES menu what do you mean ? No button press is registered ?

I can now assign the "Xarcade-to-Gamepad 1/2" option to "Input P1/P2" in the Controller Settings, but that has no effect. Nothing changes. When choosing Configure a Controller, the buttons are still detected as a keyboard.

What is the SNES-Keyboard thing ?

I don't have the faintest idea. Only the IPAC2 is connected now, but that SNES thing is still there! So, removing the USB hub and the Opti-PAC had no effect at all.

Crazy, eh?... 8-|

[voljega]

@jonas yeah pretty crazy 8-)

can you configure the two x-arcade controller through the ES menu or only one ?

for evtest are you able to register every direction and button presses when selecting each of the x-arcade events ?

[Substring]

@jonas What is the name of the "file" you created when following the uttorial i wrote for setting up xarcade2justick for any keyboard encoder other than a X-Arcade device ?

(and don't pay attention to voljega, he suffered quite a lot with his IPAC2 too and was about to throuw it through the window until it worked hahaha)

[jonas]

@Substring , thanks for coming in. The "file" is named usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-if01-event-kbd, empty with 1 byte in size.

@voljega, answering to your questions:

can you configure the two x-arcade controller through the ES menu or only one ?

In ES, I can see two X-arcade devices listed as controllers available for assigning to Input P1/P2/etc. I assign them to P1/P2, but I cannot configure any of these two. The sticks/buttons are still detected as keyboard input when trying to configure anything.

for evtest are you able to register every direction and button presses when selecting each of the x-arcade events ?

Nopes. The x-arcade events do not register any input. Nothing. Only the usb-Cypress-IPAC did.

[Substring]

@jonas can you ls -lR /dev/input please ?

[jonas]

@Substring:

ls -lR /dev/input

/dev/input:
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 Jan 1 1970 by-id
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 160 Jan 1 1970 by-path
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 64 Jan 1 1970 event0
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 65 Jan 1 1970 event1
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 66 Jan 1 1970 event2
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 67 Jan 1 1970 event3
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 63 Jan 1 1970 mice
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 32 Jan 1 1970 mouse0
crw-rw---- 1 root input 13, 33 Jan 1 1970 mouse1

/dev/input/by-id:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-event-kbd -> ../event0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-if01-event-kbd -> ../event1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Ultimar_Opti-PAC_Trackball_Spinner_Interface-event-mouse -> ../event2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Ultimar_Opti-PAC_Trackball_Spinner_Interface-if01-event-mouse -> ../event3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Ultimar_Opti-PAC_Trackball_Spinner_Interface-if01-mouse -> ../mouse1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Ultimar_Opti-PAC_Trackball_Spinner_Interface-mouse -> ../mouse0

/dev/input/by-path:
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.2:1.0-event-kbd -> ../event0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.2:1.1-event-kbd -> ../event1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.4:1.0-event-mouse -> ../event2
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.4:1.0-mouse -> ../mouse0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.4:1.1-event-mouse -> ../event3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 platform-3f980000.usb-usb-0:1.5.4:1.1-mouse -> ../mouse1

BTW, the Opti-PAC is back to the setup...

[Substring]

@jonas said in How to setup keyboard controls (via config file / ssh):

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 9 Jan 1 1970 usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-event-kbd -> ../event0

Reading this and what you mentionned when fooling around with evtest, i guess you made the wrong link and should use usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-event-kbd, not usb-Cypress_I-PAC_Arcade_Control_Interface-if01-event-kbd

So remove the first file you created, touch a new file with the one I mentionned, and tell me how things go

[jonas]

@Substring uhm, now something happened! The X-Arcade events now are registering inputs! And P1/P2 controls are not registering together!

Indeed I remember there were TWO kbd events listed. But since the tutorial gives as example the one containing that -if01- stuff, I also used that one. The wrong one!...

However, something is still wrong. My P1 joystick is not sending the up direction... Cannot move up with P1

EDIT: It looks like all this fiddling around the PCBs has disconnected some wires, making some buttons irresponsive. Therefore: YES, IT WORKS !!!!

[Substring]

@jonas hurray

@voljega can you give me the name of the file you had to add ? So that i can make both of them working out of the box ?

[jonas]

@Substring , YOU'RE MY HERO!

Now, maybe someone should touch up the text in the tutorial. People may be using the wrong filename, because they see the -if01- in the provided example.

@luke, check these last posts by Substring and then try to change the file yourself, it should fix your IPAC.