Saving/switching different configurations for the same controller

i have a multi controller usb adapter that supports N64, sega saturn and ps2 controllers. but windows only sees the adapter not which controller is plugged on it.

so autoconfig just doesn’t work for it and it is a mess as the each of the controllers design is completely different and needs different input mapping

now, the situation is not as bad as i only use n64 and ps1 controllers for their own emulators. for everything else i just use a saturn pad, becouse saturn dpad is just that good.

there is any simple way to save different inputs mappings and just tell retroarch to change to that instead of remapping the whole thing every time i change? any jerry rigged solution would help as retroarch becomes unusable with a different controller

The only thing I know to do is disable autoconfig and just manually map each one and save a different config file (in main menu > configuration file > save as) and then load the up the appropriate one when the time comes.

so i know what the autoconfig is, but no idea where i can disable it(i swear i couldn’t find it on the cfg)

also wouldn’t saving a general config file save everything else together with the controller setup, this might be a issue if i ever change any other config. unless is possible to just save a partial config file and change the values specified on it or something

It’s settings > input > autoconfig ON/OFF, but it’s an advanced setting, so you need to go to settings > user interface > show advanced settings ON before it will show up.

Yes, it saves everything, and yes this could be a problem for you in the future. If you’re using a launcher or otherwise launching from a command line, you can use the --append-config switch and just have the input stuff (overrides are basically just an automated version of this), or you could manually add the input changes to an override if you know you’ll be using certain pads for certain cores. However, if you ever save a new override, it will wipe out your manual changes because they’re invisible to the program.

wait, so i could do something like a retroarch shortcut for each of the controllers I’m using, with each one using a different append config for each one of my controllers, while keeping all the other configs behaving as normal? if so that would be the ideal

Yes, that should work, AFAIK. You’ll want to also disable ‘save on exit’ in your appended config fragments, or else your main config will get polluted each time you swap (this is another thing that overrides do automatically)

ic thanks a lot for the help :smiley:

1 Like

Jerry rig solution I used for a loooong, long time (still kinda do a little).

You can use Xpadder. This will map all your controllers to the keyboard. So in RetroArch, map a specific set of keys to the RetroPad controls. Then, in Xpadder, create separate profiles for your controllers and map them however you wish to those same keys you set in RetroArch.

I had it setup that way to switch between different retro controllers on the fly with my old HyperSpin setup. I’m on LaunchBox now, and I do still use it to map every controllers hotkeys to xpadder and then to Retro Arch (Hold Select+Y for menu, or Select + Start for Save or R3+w/e for Winamp Controls lol.

It worked great for my retro-swapping though.

1 Like