It seems the RetroArch menu technically only responds to D-Pad input for navigation.
input_up_btn = "somebutton"
input_down_btn = "anotherbutton"
input_left_btn = "athirdbutton"
input_right_btn = "afourthbutton"
and/or
input_up_axis = "-someaxis"
input_down_axis = "+someaxis"
input_left_axis = "-anotheraxis"
input_right_axis = "+anotheraxis"
I propose that options are added to also enable navidation in the menu using these config entries:
Left Analog:
input_l_y_minus_axis = "-someaxis"
input_l_y_plus_axis = "+someaxis"
input_l_x_minus_axis = "-anotheraxis"
input_l_x_plus_axis = "+anotheraxis"
Right Analog:
input_r_y_minus_axis = "-athirdaxis"
input_r_y_plus_axis = "+athirdaxis"
input_r_x_minus_axis = "-afourthaxis"
input_r_x_plus_axis = "+afourthaxis"
Background and reasoning:
I’d like to be able to navigate the the RetroArch menu with both the D-Pad and the left analog stick. In order to be able to do this today, the only way I’ve found is to include all of these entries in the controller autoconfig file:
input_up_btn = "somebutton"
input_down_btn = "anotherbutton"
input_left_btn = "athirdbutton"
input_right_btn = "afourthbutton"
input_up_axis = "-someaxis"
input_down_axis = "+someaxis"
input_left_axis = "-anotheraxis"
input_right_axis = "+anotheraxis"
The problem I have with this is that the analog stick then ALWAYS sends D-Pad input in cores that don’t natively support analog sticks*. The D-Pad button mappings you set correspond to BOTH input_*_btn AND input_*_axis, so whatever game buttons you map to the D-Pad will be triggered by both the physical buttons and the physical axes you’ve configured earlier.
If you map some game buttons to the stick controls (configured with input_l_*_*_axis), it will send that input AND the D-Pad input simultaneously. This is because with the settings above "someaxis" and "anotheraxis" are technically mapped to not only being the left stick, but also as an alternative D-Pad input, in the controller autoconfig.
… which is the only way I’ve found to be able to navigate the RetroArch menu with the analog stick.
… and that’s why I think it would be better to just enable the RetroArch menu to be navigated by actual analog stick input as well, i.e. input_l_*_*_axis and/or input_r_*_*_axis in the controller configuration. (Each stick independently toggleable to act as alternative input to the menu, both options can be off by default.)
*Note: I DO know that in cores that natively support analog input, this is not a problem and you can map the D-Pad and e.g. left analog stick independently of each other.