Topic: 2nd Player Start

[RandyRVA]

I've finally got my cabinet setup with pacman/ms.pacman/galaga combo but am having trouble.  I'm using mk_arcade_joystick_rpi with my controls connected to GPIO.  Single player works very nicely.  I can't figure out how to start a 2 player game.  I have a button wired for 2nd player but the configuration is the issue.   There is no key binding for 2 player start like in mame and I don't see it anywhere in the input options.  I have a Start(left) and a Start(right) as the only start options that can be configur d to a control input.  Can anyone offer advice?

Thanks guys!

[barbudreadmon]

I'm guessing you aren't using the windows standalone build since it's on rpi, are you using the sdl build or the libretro/retroarch build ?

[RandyRVA]

I'm using the libretro version through emulation station.

[dink]

Hi Randy,
2 player start works fine here on the Windows version, the weird thing about this game is that is has 2 start buttons for each player.
See this pic:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81hRK6GyT7L._AC_SY879_.jpg
The 2 yellow buttons on the left are for MS Pacman(1p, 2p start), and the 2 white buttons on the right are for Galaga(1p, 2p start).

@barbudreadmon, I'm not sure how you'd want to handle this one.

best regards,
- dink

[RandyRVA]

Hi Dink!
Yeah, I never thought of that.  Maybe those buttons are for a "quick start" of those particular games.  I can start any of the three by pressing the "Start 1" button while having the game selected on the menu.  I'm assuming it would do the same with the "Start 2" button as well.  I'm pretty sure that my issue is with a Retroarch.cfg setting issue.  If someone has multiple controllers setup, try it on the Windows version and see if you can start a 2 player game with the 2 player button.  That would tell us if it's the button setup on the actual game.  But I doubt it is.  I'm just missing something in the configuration.

[barbudreadmon]

Just to confirm after reading your post on reddit : your cabinet only has 1 joystick + 1 fire button + 1 coin + 2 start button ? If so, i can't see an easy way to deal with a second player in this game, i guess you would need some mean to switch your "physical" controls between "virtual" P1 and P2.

[RandyRVA]

I am working with two separate cabinets.  They both have the same issue.  One cabinet is a dedicated pacman/ms.pacman/galaga machine (thanks dink) and the other cabinet is playing consecutive player games where only one control set is needed.  Both machines have the exact same setup: 4-way joystick, fire button, single coin button, player 1 start, player 2 start

I wouldn't think a second control set would be needed on games where players alternate using the same joystick.  The "2 player start" button is what I'm trying to figure out.  There are enough inputs for me to map the player 2 start to some unused item such as "right bumper" on the player 1 control or I can setup another joystick input (as gamepad 2) where all inputs are NULL except for the player 2 start.  With GPIO input on the pi, it's just a matter of me moving the wire to a separate pin.  I don't know if any of this makes sense but I do appreciate you guys helping out.  I'm sure if I mess around with it enough tonight, I will eventually figure it out.  I guess my question is if the 2 player start has to come from a second controller or can it be done from the primary controller.  I hope you guys are all set for the holidays and have a nice one!

PS - can you guys start a 2 player game on regular Pacman or Donkey Kong?

2nd Edit: Barbudreadmon, I'm seeing that you have discussed this with mitu on retropie.org.  Maybe this is the issue.  I haven't tried the 2 player start on the other cabinet yet with a different rom.  On the 25th Anniversay Pacman machine, the RGUI for me only has a Start(left) and a Start(right) in the input setup.  Maybe this is why I can't start 2 players?  Maybe it needs a mapping where once you've selected the game with the joystick input, you can press the 2 player button and it will start that game as two player.  Similar to the behavior of starting with the single 1 player button.  Rather then have 4 physical start buttons?

 

[barbudreadmon]

I wouldn't think a second control set would be needed on games where players alternate using the same joystick.

As far as the emulator is concerned, they are 2 different players each expecting their own controller.
As said on reddit, you could probably use device index to tell retroarch to use the same "controller" for both players, start buttons can't overlap though, since each start button starts a different "mode", so you'd need to remap 2P's start button(s) to some free button(s).

Edit : yes, i can confirm it works

[RandyRVA]

Cool, I'll give it a try when I get home.  Merry Christmas guys and thanks for all the outstanding work for the community!

Is there a difference between Start(left) and Start(right)?  EDIT: nm, I think the start(left) is for ms.pacman and the start(right) is for galaga.

[RandyRVA]

It's working now.  I had to reconfigure the udev interface.  I've got the full control set as gamepad #1 and the only defined control for gamepad #2 is the 2nd player start button.  We can now play all three (pacman, galaga, ma.pacman) by inserting coins and then scrolling between the three games and pressing with 1p or 2p.  Also,  player 2 does use the controls for player 1.  I didn't have to do a virtual control at all.  Have a good holiday guys!

[dink]

Randy,
Glad you got it worked out!  Have fun and Merry X-Mas (or happy holidays)!

best regards,
- dink

[RandyRVA]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[dink]

Thank you