No IPAC keys recognized in RetroArch

RetroArch General
#1

Hello,

I hope you can help me here. I’m looking for quite some time now and can’t find an answer:

I’m using RetroPie 3.6 on the Raspberry 2 and I have an USB Keyboard and an IPAC2 connected.

The IPAC2 has an arcade joystick and -buttons, behaves like a keyboard and generates key-events. I have the IPAC configured to output the following keys: cursor (left/right/up/down), v,c,x,y,num1,num5,p,enter.

When I’m on the console on the RetroPie, both keyboard and IPAC output the pressed keys to the console. When I’m in Emulationsstation, both keyboard and IPAC can be used for navigation. (I configured it accordingly) When I’m in MAME, both keyboard and IPAC can be used to play games. (I configured it accordingly) But when I’m using a RetroArch emulator (like the NES emulator), only the keyboard can be used. When using the IPAC, no key-input seems to be recognized.

What do I have to do to get the keyboard-keys generated by the IPAC interface through to RetroArch? What am I doing wrong? I tried different settings/manual mappings (like in \configs\all\retroarch.cfg or \configs\all\retroarch-joypads\Ultimarc IPAC 2 Ultimarc IPAC 2.cfg) but I can’t get it to work.

I hope you can help me - I’m out of ideas what to try. Thanks!

#2

Hmm. If you disconnect the USB keyboard, does the I-PAC work as expected?

I have a J-PAC in my arcade cabinet and it’s never had any issues with a secondary keyboard attached. They both send the same keyboard events as if they were the same physical object.

#3

It makes no difference if the USB keyboard is connected or not.

#4

IPAC works in windows and retroarch sees the keys but the cores are hit or miss.

#5

Hey guys, the problem is solved - at least for me. What I did: I reconfigured the IPAC using WiniPac to configure all inputs (joystick and buttons) as individual buttons instead of emulated keys. Then I went through the standard ES configuration process. Now NES and other emulators are working. I just need to do some tweaking on MAME, but I’m quite sure that this is a minor thing now.

#6

@JackoBoxo Thanks for posting your solution.

MAME’s input system is a lot more forgiving than ours, so tweaking it to match the new mapping shouldn’t be too hard.

#7

Hello, I see your configuration:

I would like to use LAKKA with my arcade set for which I use Mini-PAC with the default setting:

cursor(left/right/up/down) L-ctrl, L-alt, space, L-shift, Z, X, C, V

which usually work fine with MAME. I would like to use LAKKA on a Raspberry 3 for MAME. Will I have problems with this configuration ? I will lack some key for navigation on LAKKA’s menus ? I would like to stick in the auxiliary Keyboard only for configurations, not for normal use. I’m not interested in other emulators.