MAME (Current) can't see trackball

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

I’ve been Googling like my life depends on it trying to figure this problem out, and I run into the same issue with each piece of information I try: A file it says to edit does not exist.

Retroarch has no problem reading the trackball I have set up, but MAME does not seem to recognize that a trackball even exists. When I try to edit inputs in the MAME menu by pressing the tab key in-game, I cannot map the trackball to anything. IT simply does not recognize the trackball exists.

I have seen several pages tell me to edit the mame.ini file, or the retroarch-core-options file, but I can find neither in any of the relevant folders. Even using Windows to search the entire drive for the files comes up with nothing.

I’ve exhausted every option I can find. What do I have to do?

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#2

I have a trackball in my arcade controller and I believe (memory is not my strong point these days) that I had to make custom .opt files for it to work. Let me check that.

edit Ok… yeah… except that it was .cfg files. You want to make .cfg files for all trackball games that include these lines:

input_driver = "raw"
input_player1_mouse_index = "2"

You might have to change the mouse index number until it “matches” where your trackball lies in the index. Probably just a digit or two.

This is a pain in the ass. Basically, you will have to create the .cfg, then rename it to match the MAME name of each trackball game. I wish there were a better way to do it. I can’t remember, but I probably used Altap Salamander or PowerGREP (very useful programs that Duimon introduced me to) to automate most of this. Good luck, and happy trackballing.

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#3

Okay, your specific instructions did not help… But your comment did lead me to the solution!

In all of my searching, NONE of the previous results on this topic mentioned .opt files. It was always .cfg or .ini files. But I saw a couple of .opt files, and when I had originally I found them I ignored them after right-clicking did not bring up the “Edit with Notepad” option(specifically, the mame.opt file, which I noticed since I was searching for mame.ini), so I assumed they were not editable in such a manner. But by opening Notepad and dragging the .opt files into the window they still opened and lo and behold, one of them was the file I needed according to numerous other instructions I’d found. Changing a specific line from “disabled” to “enabled” got the whole thing up and running. Didn’t even have to configure any inputs in the MAME menus.

I don’t know how recently things changed so that the file extension was different, but it must’ve been recently enough for it to not yet be common when searching.

So to anyone who may find this message in the future: If your problem is that the files you get directed to by other search results don’t exist, make sure to check for the same files in .opt format!

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#4

Glad you were able to figure it out. :+1:

#5

The .opt files can be accessed and configured from the RetroArch menu itself. They are the “core options” in the quick menu after you load a rom.

#6

…I knew I forgot to mention something in the post. Trying to open Core Options for MAME (Current) kept crashing Retroarch. Dunno if it’s something with my system, a borked installation, or anything else.

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#7

I’d generate logs of the crash if I were you, a crash is always bad and might be worth to be looked into.