NEStalgia Project (Mini NESpi)

[hansolo77]

If you want to do a miniGenesis, look at this:

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/6003/pi-in-a-sega-genesis-usb-hub-build

I built one (my progress and queries are in that thread). Didn't turn out as nice as his because I couldn't get the switch to work right.  Ended up just taking out the built in one and using the one I ordered instead.  Haven't booted it up recently though.  I should do that and try to install one of the new MINI themes.    Goes great with the Streets of Rage Remake port!

[Adultery]

Good luck finding that Genesis hub for a reasonable price! 

[tthurman]

Could give this a go:

 

[hansolo77]

Yeah there was a guy in one of the RetroPi groups on Facebook who was asking people if he should do it or not.  People were saying not to because this is a collector's item.  He ignored them of course and did it anyway.  I don't know if I would do it.  As for the Hub.. you can get it fairly cheap ($19.99) at Shirtpunch.  But their site appears to be down for updating, even though it was supposed to be back on August 2nd.  They're just a reseller though.  They were originally created and sold somewhere else for (I think) Nerd Block.  I just looked on ebay.. you're gonna spend a little more money there.  I bought 2, with the plan being to make one as a rough draft first attempt, and then do it right the 2nd time.  So I still have my unopened backup.  Hell, I should sell it on ebay like these idiots and get $100 bucks for it.

[Adultery]

I thought it was part of one of those monthly boxes? Loot Crate or some such thing? Maybe they come back online and I get one reasonably cheap!!

[RIP-Felix]

Sorry I didn't post earlier, work demanded my full attention.

I like the hub idea. I saw that earlier and thought it would be a perfect little GenesisPi build. As for the collectors statue, I'm not really into it. I don't really like these sort of collectables. The NES/SNES classics I do, because they're functional; they play games, not just sounds. So I'd have no qualms about ripping a genesis statue apart, if I wanted one - it's too big for me. It's just a hunk of plastic they sell for ridiculous markup to generate hysteria, which is interest in the company (AKA advertising). Basically, collectables are us paying them for advertising their company. On the plus side, it's more effective than a commercial and can produce some cool toys occasionally. What kills me about the practice is that when they hit upon a collectable, one everyone wants and would otherwise justify a full production run, they keep supply short so it stays in the realm of collectables. At that point it should graduate to a full product, but no, they want the publicity. So screw them, it's mine. I bought it. I can rip it's guts out and replace with a pi if I want to. I don't have to play to their game.

[hansolo77]

Yeah.  How many movies do I have on my bookshelf that say "Collector's Edition", when there's nothing collectible about it?  "Limited Edition" because they just write that on the packaging.  An original NES Classic?  That's a true collector's item because the supply produced was extremely limited and not to be made again.  The same is true with comics.  They have their regular print covers, then make a bunch of alternate "variant" covers.  People think those variant's are collector's items because they're different.  Truth is, they make the same amount of each cover.  The ones that are valuable are the ones that are limited, like the ones that say you can only have 1 per 50 issues you order for the store, or limit 1 total per store.  My local comic guy doesn't sell 50 issues of that book, so no he won't order it just to get that 1 in 50 cover for me.  I understand.  That's why they're hot online, because retailers who are online can order 500 copies and get 10 copies of that cover, and sell it for $100, while still being able to move out all the 490 "regular" covers.  It's just getting so bad now.  Marvel and DC are coming out with 10 covers for each book.  They figure people are too ignorant and will spend BIG money to buy each cover.  So the quality of the material is crumbling to make way for the business of making money.  I got a Wolverine issue that had absolutely no text in it.  It was all pictures, with 3 of them being two-page spreads.  That's not a comic, that's an art book.  40 years ago, comics would take you an hour to read because they would have paragraphs of text on each page.  I was furious, that Wolverine book was $4.99, and took me like 30 seconds to "read".  And, of course, there were like 8 variant covers, some that sold for $150 on ebay.  No thanks.

[RIP-Felix]

Yeah comics are another story. Big business has really taken over and ruined the spirit. I was never really into comics, but I remember marvel trading cards in the 90 were the shiz and cool as hell. Now trading cards are a huge waste of money. Magic the gathering, basketball/baseball cards, pogs, then shamefully pokemon. I still have a box full of pokemon cards in the garage somewhere. I had some youthful fixations. I doubt any of it is worth any serious cash now. So collectable my butt. Perceived value to kids is about it.

[hansolo77]

I remember being a kid and every grocery store having baseball cards on the shelf with the candy at the checkout lanes.  That just doesn't exist anymore.  Such a shame.  I remember back in '86, Mom would buy my bother and me each a pack of Topps Bubble Gum baseball cards whenever she was shopping.  We each had our own boxes, and tried to collect them all for that year.  If we had a duplicate card, we traded.  In the end, I had more cards than he did (just luck) in my box but he had more duplicates.  I was only missing like 11 cards, and he had 9 of them but wouldn't trade them because all my dupes he had already.  Years went by and he forgot all about them.  A friend of my Dad used to work in a baseball card shop (he owns his own eBay store now) and offered to buy my box with the 11 cards missing for like $300 bucks.  I declined hoping they'd increase in value.  Turns out a couple of the rookie cards I have ended up breaking world records and were worth $3-400 each alone.  But wouldn't you know?  They got burned up in the fire along with everything else.  They were in my closet, and the first things to go.  So far, that was the most valuable thing I owned (aside from TV's and the added up value of my computers).

Now my step mom.. she's got some stuff.  Ever here of Royal Doulton?  Well, back in the 80's they released some statuettes featuring characters from the Lord of the Rings books.  They were artist interpretations, because at the time no movies/etc (animated or otherwise) had come out yet.  They only released like 4 characters.  My stepmom got a Gandalf.  It's actually the most valuable of the set because of all the characters, he's the only one that actually looks like a character from the movies.  Now, to add some value, this piece is autographed and dated by Mr. Doulton.  She claims that all the online stuff she's read says only about 300 were ever made, and autographed ones are VERY rare.  She has a pretty high value quote from one of those "Antique Roadshow" type things they have at the mall.  Not going to post it here because I'm not sure how accurate and how true it is.  But it's at least 5 digits.  The funniest thing though is she said when she got it autographed, he tried to GIVE her a free drawing of the next piece they were going to make (Galadriel).  She told him "No thanks, I'll just wait till it's released and buy it".  Turns out, Gandalf was the last piece in the set they ever made because the series didn't sell well.  They destroyed all the molds and she was never released.  So having a hand drawn sketch mockup of the piece that never existed would have been worth a LOT of money.  She just didn't think it at the time.  Things like that are what create value for collectors.  Rare scarcity.  Sure, the name adds a bit a value,  and the autograph.  But the piece itself, being that it's the only one in the set that looks like Ian McKellen 30 years later, and only had 300 ever made, is where the value is.

Ok, so I just looked it up for my OWN eyes.  I think my stepmom is full of it (she usually is).  See here:
http://www.replacements.com/webquote/co_rdmisfmet.htm
Granted, Gandalf is in there.  But he's only $119.  There's only 2 others less valuable, but "12" that are MORE valuable.  Not to mention a display base AND Galadriel.  That's more than the 4 she's always saying they ever made.  Granted, hers might be more valuable because it's signed.  But I doubt it's 5-digit valuable.  Then again, if she was able to have it autographed by John Doulton (who died May 26, 1873) maybe it IS worth that much lol.  She probably doesn't even have his box.  Most valuable collectables are only worth it still in their unopened boxes.  What a bunch of BS.

[RIP-Felix]

So remember when I first started this thread a year ago with a video of Daftmikes original miniNES, then shortly after selling a few kits he dropped off the face of the planet? Apparently he's not dead. Apparently he's been busy (besides not selling kits and refunding those he promised). There has been a Daftmike sighting, and it's glorious:

I like both. However, it's the Super Gameboy's that get me pumped. His posts/videos are few and far between, but the results speak for themselves. The antenna solution for the NFC reader is genius! That problem has been holding up the Facebook SNES development for a while now. It's a simple solution too. If only we could get Daftmike to join the Facebook group and contribute. He obviously has some skills.

[RIP-Felix]

Okay, so here's a little update...

SNEStalgia!!!

Okay, so it's just a SNES classic edition. Or is it?

     Well, yes it's a SNES classic edition. But it's been...altered...to play more games than the 21 it came with! I limited myself to 30-40 games per system, because there is a cursor that points to boxart on screen, just below the larger scrolling boxart you select. This signifies where you are in the list. It's useful because when you add multiple systems it's nice to have folders with games from each system inside. The Icons for the folders are easy to change to whatever you want. So when I first turn it on, I'm greeted with Super Nintendo, Nintendo, Genesis, Atari 2600, GameBoy, and GameBoy Advance. When you enter one there are your games and a "Back folder". If you select the Back it will take you to the previous screen (it works like a button and you can change the image to whatever you like). Anyway, the point is, It's nice to be able to see where you currently are in relation to whole list of games and that back button. This list just gets bigger as you add games until it disappears outside the visible area of the screen. The number of games you can add without the cursor disappearing beyond the edge of the screen 30-40 per page, depending on the type of boxart (SNES is 30, NES/Atari 2600/Genesis is 40, GameBoy is somewhere in between). You can add sub-folders but I hate doing that. Having Icons for A-C games, D-G, and so on is just not fun IMO. So I'm limiting each system to the best 30-40 games I want to play.

     In practice this has been great. Finding a great game to play is easier and I am enjoying the system more as a result. The best thing about the alteration is that all the save states still work. So functionality of the SNES classic is intact. The only thing missing are the Nintendo bezels for games that Retroarch cores are emulating. I'm sure I can fix this by simply adding them to retroarch, but I haven't done so yet. Nintendo's interface is quite awesome! I love the simple layout, the retro theme, and music. Best of all is the case. Injection molding at it's finest! 1st party all the way! This...alteration...was so easy to do and perfect that I have lost interest in printing my own SNESmini! I love my SNES Classic Edition and it's now my preferred way to play the 8/16 -bit era. This is because of simplicity and ease of use. Retropie has retroachievments, which I like better, but it also has more options and ways to get all screwed up. You can't really screw up the SNES classic. Well you can get stuck in the retroarch screen, but you can change the button combo to something no-one will stumble across accidentally. It's just a simpler device that does what it does. Also, Nintendo's SNES emulator (Canoe) is impressive. Most of the SNES games you add will play with it, so everything just works. If not, retroarch does the job. All buttons are automagically mapped, so No rummaging through Retroarch screens! This is as easy to do as plugging it into my computer via USB. It takes less than 30 minuets. I spent more time getting the right boxart, making game lists, and custom folder structure, but once that's done you just sync the games. It's really easy.

     The fatal flaw. It only has 300MB to work with!!! So for 30-40 games per system, that's plenty. It doesn't handle N64 emulation well (Super Mario 64 is supposed to be an exception) and has too little space for Playstation 1, even though it handles it well. There is a mod that allows a SD reader to be soldered onto the board to expand the file system, but it's still preliminary. I'll wait for it to be safe before attempting. I guess NEStalgia will remain king for PS1 emulation for the time being. What about the cartridges? Well yeah I kinda miss the nostalgia of that, but actually I find not having this makes me focus more on the games. So I don't really miss it. Besides, that's what I have NEStalgia for!

     Speaking of NEStalgia, I picked up a composite cable and am currently testing it on my CRT. I'm hoping to clear up the lag issue! My biggest hurtle is getting the resolution right. Everything was setup for my HDTV, so it's too big to fit on my CRT and the bezels are still there. I don't want to loose all that work, but I also want to be able to plug into My CRT. I wonder if there is a way to make a profile for each that automatically loads depending on which out put is connected. I still need to look into that...

[RIP-Felix]

My 8Bitdo SF30 pro finally came in! I've had it pre-ordered for 2 months. I just got back from vacation and it's always nice to have a present like this to welcome you back.

 BTW: Thoes are Mario, Sonic and Pac-Man tins I got from a vintage candy store. I thought they were cool. I haven't figured out what to use the Mario Tin for yet, but I use the Sonic one for SD cards. Pac-Man holds about $13 in quarters. I call it a "1 Pac-Man" budget, for arcades. I brought it on vacation with me just to find their "arcade room" doesn't take quarters, you have to purchase a game card and swipe it at each machine...

Rant:

Spoiler

Firstly, a curved air hockey game sounds like it might be a good idea, right? Well it isn't! The puck flys off the table way easier, dangerously so. They had a plastic guard in the middle of the table that 1, obstructed your view, and 2, stopped the puck from going under if it wasn't perfectly flat; because of the curve in the table, the puck almost never laid perfectly flat. It was also on a time limit which, because we constantly had to retrieve the puck after it flew across the room, ran out too early in the game. Give me a classic flat air hockey table any day!!! 

Besides Alien Covenant and MotoGP, they only had ticket/gratification games and even those didn't vend tickets. The "tickets" upload to your game card account and you redeem them for pitiful plastic doohickeys worth < 1 cent. $10 for a rubber goldfish? I could stand it if the games were good, but they're not. Worse they are obviously designed to rip you off, like carnival game booths! At least at a carnival you can "win" (overpay for) a stuffed animal.  Where are the classics? A "minecraft stylized" Frogger ripoff? A Flappy Bird rip off that's game over on your first crash? They actually want $1.50 for each play? The greedy machines and prices, the focus being on tickets and not games, the lack of respect for what an arcade is supposed to be (FUN), and the lack of any classic games annoys me to no end! And they advertised it as having more classics and good games in photos on the website - liars. What a tourist trap!!! Needless to say, I was disappointed by their arcade.

Oh, and the first time we tried to visit the arcade room it was out of order. Not just a single arcade cab like the good old days, noooooooo....the whole room! That's what happens when all the cabs are wifi and swipe card enabled. 1 thing goes wrong and you have to shut the whole thing down for maintenance. S-T-U-P-I-D ! ! !

 

[stigzler]

Very nice design. Do they have L2 and R2? If so, shame they didn't include one extra button to use as the hotkey in retroarch for e.g.

[RIP-Felix]

Yup, both L/R 1&2 are there. You can also see two little buttons, one below the d-pad (Star button) and another below the colored buttons (Home button). These sit flush against the surface. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but the instructions say that if you hold any button and press the Star button, the one you held becomes turbo. The home LED will blink rapidly when the turbo button is pressed to confirm it's turbo. I like that feature!

For the retroarch hotkey, I just use Select + Down. Seems to work well. I prefer having a combo instead of a dedicated button, because it's easier to screw something up if you can figure out how to access a hidden menu. I have guests over and don't want them messing with retroarch settings. Besides they don't care about that stuff anyway and ask how to get out when they find menus like these. I'm debating on changing the retroarch combo to something even harder to stumble across, for that reason.

[hansolo77]

Let me know how you get along with that controller and your RetroPie!  I've heard good things.  I bought the Japanese version (blue and grey buttons).  I too have yet to install and configure it.  Been really busy.  I'm curious how strong the rumble is and if it's compatible with PSX games.

[RIP-Felix]

56 minutes ago, hansolo77 said:

Let me know how you get along with that controller and your RetroPie!  I've heard good things.  I bought the Japanese version (blue and grey buttons).  I too have yet to install and configure it.  Been really busy.  I'm curious how strong the rumble is and if it's compatible with PSX games.

Just played some Megaman X on SNEStalgia with the SF30 pro. I had to update the firmware on the Retro Reciever and put the controller in Android mode (D-input mode), but it works. No rumble yet. I think it has to be in x-input mode for rumble to work with Retroarch and it doesn't work right with the SNES classic in X-input mode. I'm not sure if there is a way to do it unless D-input can be used for rumble. I'm hoping I can connect to NEStalgia in X-input mode...

I'm restoring NEStalgia's SD image at the moment. Should be a bit, then I'll test PS1.

[RIP-Felix]

1 hour ago, hansolo77 said:

Let me know how you get along with that controller and your RetroPie!  I've heard good things.  I bought the Japanese version (blue and grey buttons).  I too have yet to install and configure it.  Been really busy.  I'm curious how strong the rumble is and if it's compatible with PSX games.

Just out of curiosity did y'all ever get the PS3 rumble driver sorted? I never did try connecting my PS3 controller to the Pi yet. I guess there are some issues with the rumble huh?

[hansolo77]

15 hours ago, RIP-Felix said:

Just out of curiosity did y'all ever get the PS3 rumble driver sorted? I never did try connecting my PS3 controller to the Pi yet. I guess there are some issues with the rumble huh?

Not really.  From what I was able to gather, you only get rumble if you use the wireless PS3 controller and the 3rd party driver for it.  The problem comes from the way the rumble works.  It needs voltage on one of the wires to run the motors.  The PSX->USB adapters don't supply enough juice to make it work.  You'd need to run a separate power line (or via battery) just for the rumble if you're using a wired connection.  Wireless works because the batteries in the controller are capable of supplying the juice.  The only problem here is that you have to use a 3rd party driver and the rumble is very VERY weak.  Somebody suggested it might be an interpretation error in the driver, in which it is signaling the wrong motor to spin.  They suggested taking the controller apart and swapping the motors.  That's too much work for me to try.  I'm actually confused why I couldn't get it to work with the wireless Xbox 360 controller I have.  I may have asked about it in the past, and recall seeing something about the RetroArch driver not actually supporting rumble on that controller.  Anyway, that's what led me to think maybe this SNESPRO controller might work better.  It's wireless and thus should have the juice to work the rumble if it's built into the controller.  And the connection is via Bluetooth, so there shouldn't be any driver issues.

[RIP-Felix]

On 12/20/2017 at 9:58 AM, hansolo77 said:

... Anyway, that's what led me to think maybe this SNESPRO controller might work better.  It's wireless and thus should have the juice to work the rumble if it's built into the controller.  And the connection is via Bluetooth, so there shouldn't be any driver issues.

Well, I couldn't get it to work (Firmware v1.20). I first tried putting the SF30pro in windows mode (x-input), which is usually the first requirement to get rumble support in emulators. It paired fine, I setup a Udev rule so it would automatically reconnect, but it wouldn't register the L2/R2 or Star/Home buttons. The rest worked so I tried firing up FF8 and seeing if I could at least get rumble to work. No luck - I rummaged through Retroarch settings and made sure all settings related to analog and rumble were enabled. Still Nothing. Maybe it's the emulator I'm using? IDK. So I put the SF30pro in Android mode (D-input) and that fixed the button issue. All the buttons register, but still no rumble. I'm not sure what else to try.

There is nothing wrong with the controller otherwise.

Pros:

• Everything except Rumble work on Raspberry pi and NES/SNES classic. I'm sure with time someone will bring full support to the Pi. It's such a cool controller!
• Turbo/Autofire feature is nice! It's easy to enable and disable, so that is really cool.
• Bigger and well made thumb sticks. They feel great, super locked in on your thumb. The NES30pro had smaller ones that were stiffer and less stable. They took some getting used to, these are immediately familiar. They feel the same, but slightly better than, the PS4's thimbsticks, since they have a little extra texture around the raised rim of the circular depression. If your thumb slips out, that texture catches your thumb and allows you to easily regain control. Nice improvement over the NES30 pro.
• LEDs are subdued. You can see them, but they don't blind you. The patterns they display are easy to understand and provide useful information about what mode the controller is in, the current player assignment, and syncing.
• The Retro Recievers for NES/SNES/SFC Classic Edition, NES, and SNES each work with this controller after you update the firmware on them.

The Indifferent:

•  The frequency of the auto-fire feature is so fast that it skips while firing. I think the auto-fire is optimized for the Switch and that doesn't necessarily work best for the Pi. It works, but I found it barely effective for Megaman X. It probably can't work perfect for every game, so I don't hold it against the controller. It's probably just the game I tried.
• Okay, It wouldn't be fair if I didn't say it. It is not an ergonomic controller. This is a pro because it looks and feels nostalgic. This is a con because it's not comfortable to play with for long periods of time. However, you don't buy this controller for comfort. You buy the Wii U controller for comfort. You buy this because it looks cool and gives you blisters while you babality your little brother on mortal Kombat! Remember, pain is weakness leaving the body! By the way, If you really want ergonomics and authentic retro gaming, the 8BitDo Retro Recievers also pair to the Wii U pro, PS4, and all 8BitDo controllers. So play your original NES, SNES, and classic edition with a modern controller. I imagine this would be useful for speed running. 

Cons:

• The rumble not working off the bat on Raspberry Pi. This is not a deal breaker.
• The controller rattles a bit when you shake it. That's just the nature of the thing, but it may feel a bit cheap because if it. It doesn't feel to light or otherwise flimsy. It just has a little clearance around the buttons. That is a very picky con however.

EDIT: How the Different modes behave in Retropi

• Switch Mode - Controller pairs easily and repeatedly. It's recognized a "Pro Controller" and all buttons map when configured. NES and SNES emulators accept the input fine. However, PS1 doesn't. While I can access the Retroarch menu and control it, I can't actually play in game. For some reason the controls are not recognized by the emulator itself. Also, the Turbo feature is disabled in Switch mode.
• Dinput - This works fine. Recognized as "SF30 pro". I have had some issues with the controller not wanting to repair after the Pi has been off. I'm not sure what's going on. I did set up a Udev rule, as required for 8BitDo controllers. I do have the 8bitdo hack off, since this uses the new firmware. I'll have to test some more to see if it was just a one off thing, or a recurring problem. I will say, I've had similar trouble with the NES30 pro. Regardless, Dinput is the way this controller needs to be paired to the Pi.
• Xinput - Pairs fine and is recognized as "SF30 pro". The L2/R2 and Star/home buttons aren't recognized at all.
• macOS - Pairs fine and is recognized as "Wireless controller". Is not recognized during the configure input stage.

[hansolo77]

Good notes and feedback.  I will try to find some time and tackle some of these issues myself.

[RIP-Felix]

19 hours ago, hansolo77 said:

Good notes and feedback.  I will try to find some time and tackle some of these issues myself.

I'm starting to think some of the issues of the PSX emulator not working are related to some configuration exception in retroarch, not the controller. The reason is because none of my controllers will control PS1 now. With all the testing/setting up I was doing with a Wii U pro, PS3, and the 8BitDo controllers I think something got confused. 

I need to reset the PS1 configuration file and retry. It was working great with my Wii U Pro controller (No rumble though) now it isn't. So I'm skeptical that my results for the Switch mode above are accurate. I think it was just the first appearance of this issue, which has now spread to the rest of my controllers. I have no idea why, so I just need to find the config file and reset it. I'm not sure where to start.

EDIT:

Well I got the controllers working again (PS3 - using this Mayflash adapter, SF30 Pro, NES30 Pro, and Wii U Pro). They all work together fine, but the rumble still won't work on any of them. The PS3 controller uses the Mayflash adapter on it's x-input setting and is recognized as a "Microsoft X-box 360 controller". On windows this allows rumble support, but only one controller per wireless adapter. On it's D-input setting the adapter allows 4x PS3 controllers to pair simultaneously, but no rumble - again on windows. I wanted to see if it would work similarly in Retropi. It does recognize the controller and all buttons fine. Since the adapter handles the sync, the pi has no problem with it. The adapter automatically pairs the controllers Bluetooth ID, the Pi just sees the adapter as a USB controller. Re-pairing is no issue whatsoever. If I use the controller elsewhere (PS3, arcade cab, HTPC) all I have to do to re-sync with the pi is plug the PS3 controller into the adapter, and adapter into the Pi. No messing around with Bluetooth drivers!

Now the lack of rumble no matter what I've tried is weird. The SF30 pro has rumble and vibrates once upon each sucessful sync with the pi. So I know it works. The Wii U Pro had force feedback, but I haven't felt anything. The PS3 controller has force feedback, but it doesn't rumble either. I have the rumble option in retroarch enabled, but that doesn't do anything. I have the rumble enabled in game (If that matters). What else can I try?

I did find a guide that enables the Force Feedback in the driver for the Pantherlord/Greenasia USB PS1/2 Dualshock adapters. I do have one of these adapters and some controllers. The rumble is supposed to be weaker since the Pi can only supply 5v instead of the 7.5v OEM. However that guide is...um...daunting. I hate linux. I'd like to avoid compiling kernels manually if possible. Regardless, this is not exactly what I'm looking for anyway. What I'm trying to find out is why rumble isn't working for any controller I've tried.

[hansolo77]

Rumble is apparently the hardest thing to get working.  I wonder if the functionality was never fully implemented in RetroArch.  There a couple of different cores that run PSX, I wonder if the rumble only works in one of them, or maybe not even in RetroArch at all.  Maybe there is another emulator that doesn't utilize RetroArch.  I like RetroArch because of it's capabilities to work with multiple systems with just one configuration.  I also like that it connects to RetroArchievements.  But since there are no achievements or leaderboards for PSX yet, it may be ok to use a standalone in it's place in this case.

A sure-fire way to test would be to use your computer.  We're all much more familiar with Windows, and can easily install and configure drivers for it.  Verify the controllers are functioning correctly first.

What gets me is that PSX won't even rumble with my Xbox 360 controller.  It, and the official PS3 controller should be working out of the box because that's how they've developed RetroPie.  There is always another alternative that I've not tried yet.  Use the "XBOXDRV" software.  I've got configurations set up with it so I can use official NES, Sega, and Atari controllers.  By having that option, you can run simultaneous drivers.  It's a nice tool have under your belt if you learn how to use it.  The benefit here is that there are settings you can use to enable rumble and control it's intensity.  This was my future goal.  I read somewhere (perhaps the driver's manual page) that the rumble by default is actually very week, something like 35% strength.  And by using the software you can drive it beyond 100% if need be.  So this would be a great thing to test.  Especially in my PS3 controller.  If everything is really quiet, and I have the controller up against my ear, I can hear the motors spin.  They're just not strong enough.  So by increasing the intensity, it should work like it should.  If you're interested, have a look here:
https://retropie.org.uk/docs/Universal-Controller-Calibration-&-Mapping-Using-xboxdrv/

and

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/man1/xboxdrv.1.html

Quote

--rumble-gain AMOUNT
              You can change the rumble strength via:

              $ xboxdrv --rumble-gain 50%

              Values  larger  then  100% are possible as well and will amplify
              small rumble commands, rumble commands already  at  the  maximum
              will stay unchanged.

also:

Quote

FORCE FEEDBACK
       --force-feedback
              Enables the standard kernel  force  feedback  interface.  It  is
              disabled  by default as it causes trouble with some applications
              running in Wine.

              Since the Xbox360 controller supports just rumble not full force
              feedback, xboxdrv tries to emulate other effects. This emulation
              hasn't been tested much and might not always work  as  expected.
              Bug reports and test cases are welcome.

              Note  that  you  must  close the application that is using force
              feedback always before you close the xboxdrv  driver,  else  you
              might  end  up  with a hanging non-interruptable xboxdrv process
              that will require a reboot to get rid of.

              When using xboxdrv in daemon mode with multiple controller slots
              you have to enable force feedback for each slot separately.

       -R, --test-rumble
              Pressing LT will move the left rumble motor and pressing RT will
              move the right one. Rumble motor strength depends  on  how  hard
              you press. This is useful for testing the rumble motors.

       -r, --rumble L,R
              Set  the  speed for both rumble motors. Values from 0 to 255 are
              accepted, the default is 0,0.

 

[RIP-Felix]

1 hour ago, hansolo77 said:

...What gets me is that PSX won't even rumble with my Xbox 360 controller.  It, and the official PS3 controller should be working out of the box because that's how they've developed RetroPie.  There is always another alternative that I've not tried yet.  Use the "XBOXDRV" software.  I've got configurations set up with it so I can use official NES, Sega, and Atari controllers.  By having that option, you can run simultaneous drivers.  It's a nice tool have under your belt if you learn how to use it.  The benefit here is that there are settings you can use to enable rumble and control it's intensity.  This was my future goal.  I read somewhere (perhaps the driver's manual page) that the rumble by default is actually very week, something like 35% strength.  And by using the software you can drive it beyond 100% if need be.  So this would be a great thing to test.  Especially in my PS3 controller.  If everything is really quiet, and I have the controller up against my ear, I can hear the motors spin.  They're just not strong enough.  So by increasing the intensity, it should work like it should.  If you're interested, have a look here...

Yikes, my Profile pic says it all!

Well...ummm...yeah, that's that's the intense linux muck around session I was hoping to avoid. I can see why you've been putting it off. I've had rumble working in ePSXe on windows. I use ePSXeCutor to create shortcuts with per game settings which are launched by GameEX. Then I manage disc switching with @nullPointer's Switch disc. That works fine, but takes forever to setup correctly. Then if some path or video driver changes, you have to start all over. I've been needing to redo my setup since I last upgraded my video card, but have been pitting off because of what a PITA it is. RetroPi makes PS1 simpler. PSX2PSP simplifies multi disc games and retroarch makes disc swapping easy. EmulationStation automates the controller profiles for easy setup. Why for Pete's sake is the only thing lacking Force Feedback? It's frustrating. It seems like it would be such a simple thing, but just isn't. It was so close to being the perfect solution for PS1 emulation! Sigh...I guess nothing is perfect. 

Oh well.

[hansolo77]

I'm really quite impressed with the way PSX emulation works with a Raspberry Pi 3.  I was afraid it would suffer the same issues N64 does.  But I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it handles it (using the PSXreARMed core, which was optimized specifically for ARM processors that the Pi's use).  Honestly, XBOXDRV looks more confusing than it really is.  If you follow the walkthrough, you can pretty much make ANY controller work however you want it to.  It might take a few hours of reading the guide, and understanding what you're doing.  Essentially, you first have to figure out what controller you're going to mess with, and how Linux has assigned it as a device.  Once you have that device id written down, you then go through the built-in joystick testing utility and write down all the maps each button/stick is pointing to.  Then you just tell it what they should map to on a keyboard.  Once you have it all written down, you build a config file with the specifications you wrote down (the device, the controls you want to map, and the keyboard keys you're mapping them to).  Add it to launch when you run a PSX game, and then to disable itself when you close out of a game.  Nothing gets changed, and you can tweak and fine tune it afterwards.  It's actually "almost" as enjoyable as playing a game.  I spent more time setting up stuff like this than I have playing.

[RIP-Felix]

21 hours ago, hansolo77 said:

... Essentially, you first have to figure out what controller you're going to mess with, and how Linux has assigned it as a device.  Once you have that device id written down, you then go through the built-in joystick testing utility and write down all the maps each button/stick is pointing to.  Then you just tell it what they should map to on a keyboard.  Once you have it all written down, you build a config file with the specifications you wrote down (the device, the controls you want to map, and the keyboard keys you're mapping them to).  Add it to launch when you run a PSX game, and then to disable itself when you close out of a game.  Nothing gets changed, and you can tweak and fine tune it afterwards.  It's actually "almost" as enjoyable as playing a game.  I spent more time setting up stuff like this than I have playing.

Yeah, I read through the walk-through. It's pretty strait forward, albeit tedious, I'm just hesitant to edit my run on start and end scripts. NEStalgia uses them to automate the cartridge emulation function. I might be able to get it to work in addition to the modified script I already have, but each time the changes add up and later make figuring out what you did harder. SD image backups will thus be necessary.

My bigger concern is that I don't have a dedicated controller. I routinely pair the Wii U pro, SF30/NES30 pro, and PS3 controllers to other devices (GameEX HTPC, Arcade Cab, SNES classic edition, and original SNES/NES/PS3). I'm not sure that the Bluetooth ID or linux assignments will always be the same when resyncing to the Pi. I've had this problem on windows, even with wired controllers. I have a bunch of different adapters, but the USB port you plug it into has to be the same or the event ID changes;  I often have to redo all the keymaps in GameEX, MAME, Emulators, and etc. because I can never remember which port it was plugged into. The only solution I've found it to mark the ports or leave the adapter in permanently. I wish there was a way to instruct the computer to recognize the adapter and assign it a static event ID, regardless of which USB port it was plugged into. Maybe there is, but I've revisited this issue may times and came up empty each time. That's the biggest advantage of retroarch IMO. One controller map applies to every system. So you just have to do it once. However, it always has to be recognized as the same controller. Wired is one thing, wireless has been a mixed bag in my experience. The last thing I want to do is have to repeat that tedious process each time I pair the controller because Emulation station recognized it as "Gampad 8" instead of "Gamepad 6", even though they are both the same "SF30 pro gampad".

Sorry your suggestion is bringing up some Personal Computer Stress Disorder (PCSD). I've been through some loosing battles with my arcade cab, and this is bringing me back there.

EDIT:

Spoiler

I did some more research on how USB stacks work. Essentially every USB device is required to have a Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID). However, they are not required to have a Serial Number. It works like this. When you plug in your USB device, Windows assigns the VID, PID and Serial Number (If one exists) to a Com port. If your USB device has a Serial Number then window will reassign it to the same com port each time it is plugged into the computer, no matter which USB port it was plugged into. If no Serial number is found, windows will only assign it to the same Com port if it was plugged into the same physical USB port. It will assign a new Com port for each physical USB port. This is because two of the same device will look the same to windows, it would assign them both to the same Com port. You don't necessarily want two controllers to be recognized as Player 1. That and all kinds of problems can result from assigning two devices to the same com port at the same time.

What I want is for my controller to have the same button map when I unplug/plug it in. I don't want to have to go back into emulator settings to reconfigure controls every time I unplug my controllers from the computer. This problem has plagued my Arcade cabinet!!!

Now this shows how to create a registry key to force the Same VID/PID to use the same Com port. What I'm wondering is if it would work for my scenario:

Quote

As described in the FTDI following Application Note, edit the Registry and create a REG_BINARY value set to 0x01 as follow:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\UsbFlags\IgnoreHWSerNum{De vice VID, PID and interface}

For example:

IgnoreHWSerNum04030300

Will ignore the serial number of all USB devices with VID 0403 and PID 0300. All these devices will acquires the same driver and the same COM Port

Will that allow me to plug the same N64 adapter (For example) into any USB port and have it be assigned the same Com port? That may be useful. I'm not sure.

My understanding is that when a USB device when plugged in it's checked against a PID, VID, and Serial number (if one exists) database and matched to the correct Driver if found. If not, it goes through a new device driver install and a new entry is made in the Database. Once the correct driver is matched, the device is assigned a COM port. Questions:

1. When you setup your USB controller (or USB adapter), is the emulator looking at the information passed in from a Com port?
2. If so, you would need to remap controls if the com port were to change, correct?

Assuming the answers to 1-2 above is Yes, and I understand the process correctly, If the controller were assigned the same com port, regardless of which USB port it is physically attached to, then you wouldn't need to to re-map controls when you plug the controller in. That's what I want.

However, if I do this, a second controller would be like having another Player 1, instead of Player 2. Since it would be assigned the same COM port it would just spoof the first controller, right? The emulator wouldn't be able to tell the difference.