Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Discussion of keyboards, gamepads, joysticks and other input related peripherals.
astals
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Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by astals »

If I am posting in the incorrect category, please point me to the right direction.

My build is simple, a cocktail table with 6 to 8 vertical arcade classic games.
Galaga, Ms Pacman, Pacman, Frogger, Donkey Kong, DigDug, Glaxian and BurgerTime. All these games have use of one joystick and fire button for each player. Player one end has 1 person and 2 player start buttons. very simple.

Got MiSTer on a DE10-Nano and I've got the latest cores.

I've got arcade joysticks (4-way microswitch joysticks), buttons (microswitch), encoders, led's, hardware, monitor bezel, artwork, coin door, glass, and have the MiSTer pushing to a vertically rotated VGA monitor with no problem and the screen's image rotates 180° when it's player two's turn.

The issue is: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

I have an iPac mini from utlimarc - Fail. Then I heard I need a controller fore each player.

I got a couple of USB joystick game controller board from Amazon (very inexpensive)
I set up a test bed using one of the USB joystick controller boards for each player and have two USB cables going to the OTG USB hub on the MiSTer. I can set either one of the controllers up but am not able to set up two sticks on these cores.

Am I missing something in the MiSTer setup?
Do these cores not support separate controllers for the different players?
Do I need different cores?

Can any one advise what I might be missing?
alanswx
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by alanswx »

It should work. Did you setup both joysticks from the main menu? Which cores are you struggling with?
astals
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by astals »

alanswx, thank you for responding.

My first core is Donkey Kong. I think if DK works, everything will work.

When i go to Define joystick buttons in the MiSTer menu (F12) i can use either stick. after i press right on a stick, i can only assign to that stick. moving the stick on the other USB joystick control board or pressing a button connected to it does nothing.

I am sure it is something simple i am doing wrong. Maybe if i use the iPacMINI as one stick and the USB controller as the second?
How would i put the PID and the VID in the MiSTer.ini?
astals
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by astals »

I am experiencing something that may be a clue for what i am missing. I define a joystick in MiSTer then when I go to the Donkey Kong core and attempt to define buttons, i can either stick and the buttons on that sticks controller. they will then both work for player 1 and player 2. I can move Mario with the joystick 1 and press jump for joystick 2 and he jumps. I can move him left or right with 1 joystick and also move him left and right with joystick 2. both joysticks work for player 1 and player 2
alanswx
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by alanswx »

astals wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:52 am I am experiencing something that may be a clue for what i am missing. I define a joystick in MiSTer then when I go to the Donkey Kong core and attempt to define buttons, i can either stick and the buttons on that sticks controller. they will then both work for player 1 and player 2. I can move Mario with the joystick 1 and press jump for joystick 2 and he jumps. I can move him left or right with 1 joystick and also move him left and right with joystick 2. both joysticks work for player 1 and player 2
Some of the arcades - esp ones where you take turns have the joysticks or'd together, so they both are mirrors. Take a look at a two player game to see if things are setup correclty. Cocktail mode is often different too. Some games only had one joystick in normal mode, and two in cocktail mode.
astals
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by astals »

Some of the arcades - esp ones where you take turns have the joysticks or'd together, so they both are mirrors. Take a look at a two player game to see if things are setup correclty. Cocktail mode is often different too. Some games only had one joystick in normal mode, and two in cocktail mode.
Yes. Yes, mirrored is exactly what I am experiencing, exactly. The issue is i will be competing against brothes who wil, if the hardware allows, hit their jump button or move their joystick at the other end of the cocktail table and try to ruin my turn. they will do this to cheat their way to winning the 50 cents we have riding on the game. I know these guys!

What I need to accomplish is when it is player 1 only the stick at the player 1 end of the table works. When it is player 2, only the controls at the player 2 end of the table works.

Such is my quest and mania.

I am trying combinations of controllers, burchased arduino mini pro's in case the answer lies there.

One thing that could be a real dream come true if somehow the core could provide an output of somekind when it's player 1 and another when it is player 2. a simple value on serial, of a high or low on a pin someplace. A micro controller could cut the common for a set of controllers, light LED's for "live" buttons, all sorts of things.

Any idea on isolating the controller not in play? or anyway to get a signal from the core?
col_yell
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by col_yell »

astals wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 2:52 am

I am experiencing something that may be a clue for what i am missing. I define a joystick in MiSTer then when I go to the Donkey Kong core and attempt to define buttons, i can either stick and the buttons on that sticks controller. they will then both work for player 1 and player 2. I can move Mario with the joystick 1 and press jump for joystick 2 and he jumps. I can move him left or right with 1 joystick and also move him left and right with joystick 2. both joysticks work for player 1 and player 2

Hi, I am experiencing exactly the same issue. Did you end up finding a solution for it?

Thanks.

Wrubel
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by Wrubel »

Was a solution ever found for this?

Is there access to the code to un’OR’ the inputs.

Did original hardware have the inputs ORed for cocktail cabinets?

I think ORed inputs in cocktail cabinets in original hardware would have led to a lot of hard feelings.

Wrubel
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Re: Cocktail table Arcade: I am not able to set up the joystick and fire button for player two.

Unread post by Wrubel »

For anyone trying to find a solution to this that comes across this thread, the controls are ORed in the code in many of the cores of the older games and would require those trying to put this in a cocktail cabinet to unOR them in the code. I found this to be true of most of the cores that would have had a cocktail cabinet option.

Hope that helps.

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