Gamepad support with Gamebase 64 or Gamebase Amiga

**Macguvyer** · August 27, 2013

Hi folks,

I'm in the middle of an ambitious plan to have Gameex control my MAME, Commodore Vic20, Commodore 64, and Amiga games.

For controls I'm using a wireless xbox 360 controller. I also have been using the Pinnacle Game Profiler software which has been the only way that I could utilize all of the controls on the xbox controller within the emulators. So far I've got the controller working perfectly in MAME and that means that I can use the analog or Dpad controls, or program any of the buttons to do specific things in MAME which is just awesome.

A last bit of info, I am also using Gamebase 64 in between Gameex and the emulators. I find it much more useful compared to trying to run VICE or CCS64 directly in Gameex.

Here are two questions. Has anyone had any success getting gamepads to work when emulating the Commodore 64? I've tried both the CCS64 and VICE emulators and I'm having troubles with both. With VICE only the analog joystick is usable when using my wireless xbox controller, but not the Dpad. And with CCS64 I'm getting no response whatsoever from my gamepad or analog joystick.

The last question I have is relating to the way the Gamebase databases show up in Gameex. The Amiga Gamebase shows up nicely as "Gamebase Amiga" because that is the name of the gamebase directly. But the 64 gamebase shows up as "GBC_v10" which is cryptic. Is there any easy way to change this to display something like "Gamebase C64" instead?

Thanks very much for any suggestions on these issues.

Regards,

Macguyver

**Tom Speirs** · August 27, 2013

For renaming, rename both the folder and .mdb access file.

**Adultery** · August 27, 2013

I could help with launching Xpadder with gamesbase if I had it set up..

I don't know how the data comes through when it launches, where in the ini it is, what menu number it uses, etc.

It's not pinnacle game profiler, though, so that probably doesn't help much.

**Macguvyer** · August 27, 2013

Thanks Tom for the tip on renaming the Gamebases. Nice!

A tip for anyone who is trying to get their joystick detected when using Gamebase 64 and using VICE. You also need to adjust the GEMUS "key=value" pairs which is located under the edit menu. Note that on that screen you need to remove the semicolons in front of the following text:

Fullscreen=yes (to get fullscreen)

RealJoystick1=yes (change this to yes)

RealJoystick2=yes (change this to yes)

JoystickAutoConfig=yes

remember to remove the semicolons on all 4. Once I did this, I was able to control VICE with the ANALOG stick on my wireless Xbox 360 controller.

Still trying to get the Dpad working. I have a few ideas. Xpadder is one option to fool with although I already have paid for Pinnacle Game profiler which should be able to do the same thing. There is also apparently a special version of VICE you can download which has been customized to allow DPAD usage. See the below link. However I am somewhat reluctant to use this since it's an unofficial fork of VICE and also this version only works with the c64 version of VICE. This means I'll be back to the drawing board for getting the Dpad to work with VICE Vic20 emulation.

http://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42474&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

**u-man** · August 27, 2013

For renaming, rename both the folder and .mdb access file.

hello Tom ,

i have no .mdb file of GB64 in GameEx, only a "gamebase_GBC_v10.map". do you mean that, or do you mean the folder and .mdb in the Gamebase itself? does it have any consequences if i rename them? do i need to reconfigure the Gamebase after that?

sorry for the many questions

thx in advance

**Tom Speirs** · August 27, 2013

hello Tom ,
i have no .mdb file of GB64 in GameEx, only a "gamebase_GBC_v10.map". do you mean that, or do you mean the folder and .mdb in the Gamebase itself? does it have any consequences if i rename them? do i need to reconfigure the Gamebase after that?
sorry for the many questions
thx in advance

In Gamebase itself and as far as I know no consequences.

**Macguvyer** · August 27, 2013

Hi U-man, I had no trouble after renaming the Gamebase folder and .mdb database file. No need to reconfigure, it just started perfectly as before.

Update: I managed to get Gamebase Amiga up and running quite smoothly., including analogue and D-pad controls from my wireless xbox 360 controller! I believe this is because winUAE is more robust and can handle more information from USB controllers. I also believe that without Pinnacle Game Profiler, that my D-pad info would not be sent correctly to the emulator.

Now I have to figure out how to get WHDload working within gamebase so the games load up much quicker. Currently it's quite a long wait with the standard Amiga load times.

Final questions for anyone running Amiga games on Gameex:

- Any suggestions on how to get WHDload working within Gamebase?

- Does anyone know how to adjust the speed of the mouse in the Amiga Gamebase GEMUS setup? Currently the mouse speed is fast and jittery and impossible to accurately control.

- Has anyone had success with either of these two other Amiga frontends with Gameex? I'm thinking of playing around with both, since Gamebase Amiga seems to have been pretty much abandoned as far as development.

FS-UAE Amiga Emulator

http://fs-uae.net/

WINUAE loader

http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=winuaeloader

Thank you for any suggestions.

Macguyver

**u-man** · August 27, 2013

In Gamebase itself and as far as I know no consequences.

Hi U-man, I had no trouble after renaming the Gamebase folder and .mdb database file. No need to reconfigure, it just started perfectly as before.
Macguyver

Thanks for the answers and you all was right.... that is really nice.

I use headkaze´s WinUAE-Loader... no problems so far. Gamebase Amiga itself is a two-sided sword. it is by far not so complete, like the C64 Gamebase. I missed a lot of Games there, like Persian Gulf Inferno

but the other alternatives are way to heavy i.e. TOSEC, i dont want every single crap .

I stick with Gamebase Amiga, until something better, but not so huge in terms of Gigabytes comes out.

Why you cannot configure your D-Pad for Gamebase C64, is strange for me. Xpadder solved all to me.

seriously try out Xpadder and use Xpadder Plugin here: http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/11376-plugin-xpadder-plugin/

it cannot be easier .

**Macguvyer** · August 27, 2013

Thanks for the tips, U-man! I'll try Xpadder and the plugin tonight, and WinUAE Loader as well. This has been a lot of fun so far. Having all of these systems run so smoothly with Gameex as a front end is just awesome! Talk about the ultimate setup!

(But I wouldn't mind having all of the TOSEC games in Gameex, because I would just siphon off the best 40-50 and put them in my favorites list anyway. Gamebase 64 is already like 23,500 entries which is totally insane)

What? No Persian Gulf Inferno in the Amiga Gamebase? Sacrilege! That was a great game. Good atmosphere!

**Macguvyer** · August 31, 2013

Well finally some success with WinUAE loader. I can say that getting set up with WHDLoad versions of Amiga games is well worth the effort! They start so quickly. This is much more realistic for an arcade cabinet type of setup like GameEx. Can't wait to show this to my kids. Plus the Gamepad controls are working perfect. Awesome!

It was pretty damn tricky to get things working 100% though, and I've still got a few things left to figure out. Couldn't get the SPS games running for some reason. But now that I have tasted fast WHDload times, the Gamebase method of running Amiga games (although slick at first) now seems too slow for 2013 due to the load times.

Just for comparison, has anyone managed to set up WHDLoad within Gamebase, instead of using WinUAE loader? I'm trying to figure out if Gamebase is preferable for any reasons to WINUAE Loader.

Thanks for any feedback.

**Macguvyer** · September 18, 2013

U man I'd sure appreciate some pointers to getting Xpadder working with Gamebase 64 or Gamebase Vic20. I have the Gamebases working really well in Gameex finally (took a lot of work), but I'm not totally clear on how to tie in Xpadder.

The issue is that both VICE 64 and VICE Vic20 only read the analog sticks on my wireless Xbox controller (they did this without Xpadder actually), but I can't get them to register the D-pad, which is what I really want to use as my control. Now of course Xpadder can read the D-Pad just fine, but I'm not clear what the next step is to get this control method working in the emulators. Would love any suggestions, thanks!

I also tried the Xpadder plugin in Gameex but I'm not sure that this is applicable since neither one of the VICE emulators showed up in the dropdown menu in the Xpadder plugin setup.

Thanks for your help.

**Adultery** · September 18, 2013

I haven't set it up on my machine so I don't know how to tie this in. Could you do me a favor?

Grab this plugin: http://www.gameex.info/forums/files/file/18-function-logger-gameex-edition/

Under the "Logger Settings", check the option "Log All Activity".

Under "Deep Logging Options" select "Log Game Data".

Press SAVE and make sure it's enabled in the Plugin Manager.

Then go launch three or four games from each of your Gamebase entries. Exit GameEx, and come back here and attach the following two items:

The GameEx.ini and the

The file located here: GameEx>PLUGINS>Function Logger>Logger.log files (probably best to zip them up).

Armed with that data I may be able to initiate support for the Xpadder plugin in Gamebase.

**Macguvyer** · September 18, 2013

Log Files.zip

I haven't set it up on my machine so I don't know how to tie this in. Could you do me a favor?
Grab this plugin: http://www.gameex.info/forums/files/file/18-function-logger-gameex-edition/
Under the "Logger Settings", check the option "Log All Activity".
Under "Deep Logging Options" select "Log Game Data".
Press SAVE and make sure it's enabled in the Plugin Manager.
Then go launch three or four games from each of your Gamebase entries. Exit GameEx, and come back here and attach the following two items:
The GameEx.ini and the
The file located here: GameEx>PLUGINS>Function Logger>Logger.log files (probably best to zip them up).
Armed with that data I may be able to initiate support for the Xpadder plugin in Gamebase.

OK I did as you suggested, played a few games on Gamebase 64, Vic20 and Amiga. Hope the log files are of some help!

**Adultery** · September 18, 2013

It helps a lot actually, this way I don't have to sit and try to set this thing up myself.

I appreciate your help. I should be able to add something in anyhow. Stay tuned!

EDIT: I don't know if it'll support game specific profiles, but I can add support for GameBase itself though.

**Macguvyer** · September 18, 2013

Great to hear! I'm curious how U-man was using Xpadder with Gamebase already, unless he wasn't going through GameEx...

**nullPointer** · September 18, 2013

Probably using Launch Before (to open Xpadder) and Launch After (to close it). Adultery's plugin greatly simplified the process, but back in the old days before the plugin that's how it was done (often via a .bat file).

**u-man** · September 19, 2013

i tried it today... no problems at all. but i dont have a xbox 360 controller .

i have this one: http://www.speedlink.com/?p=2&cat=4131&pid=26941&paus=1&act_lang=en

i can change between analog and d-pad. i must do this prior starting vice. in vice i select my joypad and thats all. dont even need x-padder .

**Macguvyer** · September 19, 2013

i tried it today... no problems at all. but i dont have a xbox 360 controller .
i have this one: http://www.speedlink.com/?p=2&cat=4131&pid=26941&paus=1&act_lang=en
i can change between analog and d-pad. i must do this prior starting vice. in vice i select my joypad and thats all. dont even need x-padder .

Ah. Thanks for the link regarding your controller. Interesting that it's "compatible with practically all PC games thanks to XInput and DirectInput mode". I think that's pretty important when working with VICE.

I believe it's this functionality which makes things run smoothly for you in comparison to my headaches. I think my situation is actually caused by two issues. Number one, the Wireless Xbox 360 Windows driver is not nearly as robust and flexible as the drivers for the device you are using. On the Xbox controller when I press my D-Pad left, windows gets a message reading "HAT left" or something to that effect, which is not easily understood by many emulators. The other issue is VICE itself, which appears to have a narrow code base when it comes to joystick command interpretation ( it only reads the analog stick controls on my Xbox controller). WinUAE on the other hand, with the same controller reads all the controls properly.

So it seems I have three options

1) Purchase another controller, such as the one U-man suggested

2) play around with the "unofficial" VICE forks which have implemented D-Pad functionality.

3) Set VICE to keyboard control instead of joystick, and then use Xpadder to map those keyboard controls to my D-Pad.

Does anyone have any tips and suggestions to implement #3, in a Gamebase 64 setup on GameEx? Much appreciated!

**DazzleHP** · September 20, 2013

You could try x360ce - it's a 360 game pad emulator so i don't know if it will let you remap an actual 360 pad, might be worth a shot though. Check the screenie to see it mapping the left analogue to a d-pad.

**Macguvyer** · September 20, 2013

You could try x360ce - it's a 360 game pad emulator so i don't know if it will let you remap an actual 360 pad, might be worth a shot though. Check the screenie to see it mapping the left analogue to a d-pad.
x360ce.png

Thanks DazzleHP, I tried x360ce and it looked very promising indeed. But even in their documentation it says this won't work with an actual xbox360 controller, plus I believe it needs to rewrite dlls to work (it's designed for specific games I think). In either case I couldn't get it to work. I then tried a similar program called Duranzo which also looked promising but it too did not seem to work with VICE. Duranzo is available here in case anyone is trying to solve a similar issue and it is described as "a XInput wrapper that simply sits between the controller and the game so as to allow for input customization"

Also, one more thing I haven't tried yet which I read about on the X360ce site, apparently some guy from Japan has written a more advanced driver for the wireless Xbox 360 which allows much more customization etc.

If anyone is interested in experimenting with that, you can read about it here. If I have time I will test this and report back.

However I will say that I finally got my xbox controller to work with VICE!!!!! , and it was not difficult at all. Gamepad support in VICE Vic20 using a wireless Xbox 360 controller through Gamebase AND through Gameex. Awesome! I simply mapped the D-pad to the numeric keypad in Xpadder, then in VICE I set the joystick settings from PC joystick #0 to "Keyset A", and then configured Keyset A to the numeric Keypad. I'm sure everyone who uses Xpadder will say, "Yeah, of course", but I was having a tough time figuring it out, since I thought I could have Xpadder swap inputs from analog to dpad, etc, and I was trying to avoid using the keyboard as a middle man since I feared that I would have to spend a long time rejigging my Gamebase / VICE setup.

The only thing is that when I closed Gamex and then later played the same game again, my joystick settings in VICE had reverted back to the normal joystick settings rather than Keyset A. I did have VICE set to "save settings on exit" so if anyone has any suggestions where in the Gamebase setup I need to adjust so that these settings are permanent, I would appreciate it. I'm guessing that's where the problem is.

**DazzleHP** · September 20, 2013

It's a shame that didn't work, i wish MS would give us more control over our...controllers

The only thing is that when I closed Gamex and then later played the same game again, my joystick settings in VICE had reverted back to the normal joystick settings rather than Keyset A. I did have VICE set to "save settings on exit" so if anyone has any suggestions where in the Gamebase setup I need to adjust so that these settings are permanent, I would appreciate it. I'm guessing that's where the problem is.

The GameBase settings may be overriding WinVICE. Load GB and hit F2, in the USB controller section make sure the lines for player one and 2 say "no" as such:

RealJoystick1=noRealJoystick2=no

or just put a semicolon in front of both lines:

;RealJoystick1=yes;RealJoystick2=yes

You may have to load WinVICE once (outside of GameBase) to switch it back to the right keyset

**Macguvyer** · September 21, 2013

It's a shame that didn't work, i wish MS would give us more control over our...controllers
The GameBase settings may be overriding WinVICE. Load GB and hit F2, in the USB controller section make sure the lines for player one and 2 say "no" as such:
RealJoystick1=noRealJoystick2=no
or just put a semicolon in front of both lines:
;RealJoystick1=yes;RealJoystick2=yes
You may have to load WinVICE once (outside of GameBase) to switch it back to the right keyset

Thanks DazzleHP! That almost worked. Now however VICE starts with the joystick always set to the numberpad instead of Keyset A. Any ideas how to force it to Keyset A?

**DazzleHP** · September 22, 2013

Thanks DazzleHP! That almost worked. Now however VICE starts with the joystick always set to the numberpad instead of Keyset A. Any ideas how to force it to Keyset A?

I probably should have mentioned to put a semi-colon in front of this line too:

;JoystickAutoConfig=yes

**Macguvyer** · September 25, 2013

I probably should have mentioned to put a semi-colon in front of this line too:
;JoystickAutoConfig=yes

That did it. Sorry for the delayed thanks, I've been caught up with real life for a few days. I really appreciate the help.

Gamepad support with Gamebase 64 or Gamebase Amiga

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