Map Multiple Controllers per user at the same time?

RetroArch Windows devices
#1

Hello, I have PS3 controllers (via xinput) and SNES gamepads (via USB Mayflash adapter) that work fine with RA, but I would like to bind P1 (and P2’s) input to both my PS3 controllers AND my SNES gamepads. Basically if I want convenience, i can just pick up the wireless PS3 controller and play, and if i want to go full retro, I can just grab the wired USB SNES pad and keep playing. Is it possible to map BOTH controllers to the same inputs at the same time per user/player, without having to go in and manually switching it from xinput to the USB gamepad? BSNES/Higan used to allow multiple controllers per player like this. Using the newest stable build (3/16). I plan on integrating this with Launchbox so it would be cumbersome to manually switch these.

When i “update autoconfig profiles” it give me a download failed message. I have updated cores and shaders, so not sure why this fails? Thank you!!

#2

With autoconfig on, I think you can have your SNES controllers plugged in and when you turn on your PS3 controllers, they should steal priority, I think. But otherwise, no, there’s no way to have multiple buttons bound to a single function, which is essentially what you’re trying to do here. You could use something like xpadder to make your gamepad send keyboard events, since you can have a function bound to both a keyboard key and gamepad button…

#3

When I had my arcade stick plugged in I used an AntiMicro profile to map it’s inputs to my keyboard controls so I could have both it and my Xbox pad mapped at the same time.

#4

Hey guys, thanks for the quick responses! Is there an advantage of going with one solution over the other? I’ve heard of xpadder but not AntiMicro - but i’m willing to try the best solution.

#5

AntiMicro is free and open source, whereas Xpadder costs $10. They’re pretty much the same feature set wise and both have good GUIs. But it looks like there was some drama with AntiMicro recently and the creator took down the official download links and github page :frowning:

If you google for it there are some places hosting the last build of it at least.

#6

Xpadder free kept crashing on my Win10 system, so tried AntiMicro portable – so far seems pretty decent. I know RA does per-core config – is the keyboard key mapping unique per core, or does it apply to all cores? If it’s global, is it possible to just use Antimicro to map one set of keboard keys to my NES USB controller’s buttons for Nestopia, and one set of KB keys to my SNES pad inputs? I’m still trying to keep the PS3 controller option for both cores. Thanks again, I think RA could be pretty awesome, just gotta get these bugs worked out…

#7

By default it’s a global setup, but you can use remaps (in the quick menu after you load a game, core input options) to move things around per core or game. Or overrides or per core configurations to map things to different keys entirely.

#8

Ok. Noob question - what are those remap files that RA generates, and what exactly is a remap? Also, I keep locking myself out of RA by somehow binding a key that is used for navigation (it seems to have a mind of its own…) how do i restore certain keys to default? (Like the arrow keys to navigate the menu, z, x, enter, etc) Dont know how, but all of a sudden I can’t move around or ESC out :slight_smile: Thanks guys, you rock.

#9

Remaps rearrange the way the core’s inputs are mapped to the RetroPad. You can read about RetroPad here: http://wiki.libretro.com/index.php?title=RetroPad Basically, it’s a layer between the inputs from the system being emulated and your actual controller and/or keyboard. Turning off auto config in input settings allows you to go into Input User 1 Binds and change how the RetroPad maps to your controller and/or keyboard.

Enter or Start on a controller are the “Reset to Default” buttons for all settings in the menu.

#10

Ok, I checked the wiki page and it says retropad “must have at least one analogue stick”. My SNES controller doesn’t have this? Is there a guide somewhere that is for the Windows version of RA that you’d recommend for setting up multiple controllers? Everything i’ve seen when i’ve googled is for retropie/linux. I’m so close to getting my ideal setup, but it’s frustrating when my keys keep being re-mapped to something else and I’m pretty sure I didn’t do it :slight_smile: It seems like i’ll get both SNES controllers painstakingly mapped to KB keys and have it all working in the bsnes core and menu, i’ll load something else up and it gets messed up and forgets/changes my settings.

I’ll try the start button using my PS3 controller to reset the button settings. If that fails and I’ve mapped it to something else and screwed it up, do i find the menu nav key mappings in the main retroarch.cfg, or the core config somewhere? I couldn’t find the menu navigation keys in the config file, but it’s pretty huge and may have overlooked.

#11

The analog stick thing is something cores have to adhere to I think; it doesn’t mean you can’t use controllers without analogs with RetroArch.

I don’t know about guides; maybe there’s something on the HyperSpin forums somewhere.

Menu navigation and game controls are the same thing, so if you change one it affects the other. By default whatever you assign as retropad A is confirm and B is cancel. But, if you mess with these settings in your config file:

menu_ok_btn          =
menu_cancel_btn      =
menu_search_btn      =
menu_info_btn        =
menu_default_btn     =
menu_scroll_down_btn =
menu_scroll_up_btn   =

You can change how the menu keys and buttons map separately from how they do in game. I messed around with the OK and cancel buttons since they were different for some cores the way I map things; usually one is set to 0 and the other is 1.

#12

Awesome, thanks Awakened. I managed to setup my SNES controllers last night with the new build of RA (which looks awesome btw). How do i get RA to consistently recognize my usb controllers and my custom mappings when i plug them in? Do I need to do the “save autoconfig” option under the “Input” menu every time I add a controller and map the buttons, or does RA save that when i save the main config? I ask because sometimes I’ll set up the controllers and then when I save the RA config and exit, RA acts like it’s never seen the controllers before when I relaunch it. It’s sporadic though.

#13

I would think you would have to save autoconfig for for each controller. But I’ve never tried messing with the autoconfig stuff.

#14

FYI, Antimicro works well to map the KB to an “always on” controller - so I’ve mapped my SNES controller to RA’s controls, so no matter what I can always pick it up and use it alongside my PS3 controller. Works well. I’ve done the same with my NES controller as well. Player 2’s controls are a little less flexible though :slight_smile: I’ve found that since RA always defaults to my PS3 (xbox360) controller, this is the easiest and most reliable method. Antimicro seems a little flaky though, hopefully a more stable version gets released at some point - never starts minimized, even with the option ticked.