Beginners help with MiniPac

[jp85]

I just finished my arcade cab. Control panel is wired to a MiniPac which is a USB encoder that is similar to an IPAC but smaller. The wiring configuration is the same as the IPAC. I am very much a beginner at this and have been unable to get recalbox to recognize my control pad so that I can do the configuration. I read the wiki on USB encoders, but am having a difficult time following what I'm supposed to do as I don't see the line it's referring to in my recalbox.conf. Does the MiniPac not work with recalbox? Can anyone give me some guidance? Thanks!

[acris]

HELLO @jp85

connect your minipac only and post this archive : https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Recalbox-support-(EN)

[jp85]

Sorry but just to clarify. Connect the MiniPac, with none of the buttons wired to my windows pc and run that WinSPC program? Then input that recalbox script? Thanks!

Justin

[acris]

connect your minipac on raspberry pi and launch script via winspc /putty

[jp85]

Ok. I will try and do that today. Going out of town tonight for a couple days so if I don't get it today it will be later in the week. I appreciate the help.

[Substring]

I think the minipac is a keyboard encoder, therefore you may follow the keyboard encoder tutorial

[jp85]

Alright I went through the keyboard encoder tutorial. Computers are not my strong point. The mini PAC did show up on the device name list, however there was more than one there plus one for a mouse which I'm guessing is the trackball I have. I am not sure I did the mount remount section correctly. However it does recognize my controllers and I was able to configure them. However just trying it out on the pre-installed roms not all of the buttons work. For instance pause and exit don't do anything so in order to exit a game I have to also have a keyboard plugged in. Haven't tried a game that uses a trackball yet so I am not sure if that works or not. Is there something else I need to do in order to get all the buttons working? I am trying to avoid needing a keyboard. Thanks.

[Substring]

@jp85 We had a topic in french last week regarding minipac. Looks like the file you have to create is usb-Ultimarc_Mini-PAC_Ultimarc_Mini-PAC_8-event-kbd. Then you may have to use the ultimarc software to configure keys on the minipac according to what the wiki states

[tanataur]

I have a mini pac too, i can share to you my config file if you want.

[jp85]

@tanataur
That would be great. My set up is two players. Joystick and six action buttons per player. Each player also has a start and a coin button which is set to select at the moment. Also have a trackball which I haven't been able to test yet. The two buttons I can't get working are exit and pause. Does my exit button need to be set as the hotkey? Do you have a similar set up?

[tanataur]

Ok, we have a similar set up except the trackball.

First connect your mini pac in usb to a pc and launch the application : https://www.ultimarc.com/download.html
Save the current configuration.
Then load my config : http://www33.zippyshare.com/v/sq4Vmho0/file.html

Next reconnect your mini pac to the PI.
Go to control setting and set your button as follows :

-player 1
button 1=a button2=x button3=L1
button4=b button5=y button6=R1

start=start select= select
hotkey=select

don't configure player 2, the configuration will recopy automatically from player 1

with this configuration, button 4 and 5 will be jump and fire, or bomb and fire in most arcade game.
To exit a game = start+select on player 2, (it uses switch key function of the mini pac)

I hope it will help, keep me inform.

[jp85]

@tanataur
Thanks! I will hopefully have time to do this tomorrow or the next day and will let you know. Is that the only way to do the exit then? I just have a designated exit button on my control panel I would like to use if possible. If not it's not a big deal. Same thing goes for pause.

[tanataur]

@jp85 I thing it's possible, first test my config, if it's working , into the mini pac software you can assigne ESC to your exit button and P for pause

here is what it looks like, its simple.

[Substring]

@tanataur I wouldn't activate the gamepad mode. Sadly, ultimarc told me the gamepad mode can only be set for 1 player, not to 2. So, just configure the keys as explained in https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/keyboard-encoder-configuration-(EN)#v400-beta4

[tanataur]

@Substring i didn't activate the gamepad mode, the screenshot was just to show the interface, sorry for the confusion

[jp85]

@tanataur So I couldn't figure out how to open your configuration (again I am very much a beginner haha), but after playing around with that program I think I got it working like yours. My dedicated pause and exit button still don't work, but I can at least exit roms without a keyboard now. If I can't get those buttons working I may just have to redo my control panel so I don't have random non functioning buttons on there. Appreciate the help.

[tanataur]

@jp85 in the application goes to file/open then select my config when the config is loaded its done.

[Substring]

@jp85 As the wiki states, only 10 buttons are supported + 4 directions

[jp85]

@Substring
Will a trackball not work then if I have 10 buttons and two joysticks already? Only game I would want it for is goldentee, but it may not be supported on recalbox or the raspberry pi. Haven't gotten that far.