Controllers for Each Core Is This Possible? [Solved]

[pilesofspam]

Here's what I'm trying to do, if anyone has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

I've got a MISTER with RAM, AnalogIO board and a USB hub connected to a 25" arcade CRT (Standard resolution K7000 series)

I'm building a horizontal Mistercade to run:

1. Horizontal arcade games- within control limitations. I won't have a trackball, but do plan on a spinner, 2 joysticks and a host of buttons mostly run through an IPAC-2 (Up/Down DOTRON spinner will be separate USB).
2. Specific Consoles- Atari2600 (I can live without paddles, but definitely joystick) NES, Colecovision, Intellivision, Genesis, MAYBE SNES (SNES isn't my thing but seems to be fairly popular)
3. Specific computers- Apple IIe, C64, and maybe AO486 because it's a technical challenge

I envision an arcade cabinet-shaped (I've always been partial to the defender cab) final product with an arcade control panel, and a slide out keyboard shelf for the computer cores. Additionally, USB ports on the front for console controls. Under all of that are drawers with inserts for the console controllers. Direct USB for Atari joysticks, NES, Genesis etc are all fine, but I also have a pair of 2600-Daptors and original Coleco Super Action contollers that I'd like to use for Intellivision and Coleco.

So here's what's working:
-No problem with the ipac2 and arcade cores, my CRT looks phenomenal and control is sharp.
-No problem with the computer cores (AO486 it's hard to read the text, but maybe I'll nix that one)
-Console cores WORK great, control is my issue.

When I plug a USB controller (like the 2600-Daptor) into my USB hub, it registers as a Joystick device just fine (shows up in the /dev tree as you'd expect) BUT it won't work with the cores (even though it registers as you reassign the buttons) unless you go back to the Main Mister Menu and assign it as THE controller. Then it's great.

I'd like to be able to select a core (Like Coleco) plug in the SA controllers through the 2600-Daptor and play 'War Games'. Then switch back to NES, plug in the NES controller for a game of Super Mario. BUT, I can't do that without heading back to the main MISTER menu and going through configuration before the controller will work.

Am I missing something obvious? Does anyone know if this is possible?

[antibolo]

A controller gets assigned as the next player in line (player 1, player 2, etc) whenever you press one of its buttons. You can force unassignment of all controllers by selecting "Reset player assignment" in the MiSTer UI (you don't need to exit the current running core, press right to go to the System page of the UI and it will be the 4th option). Then the next controller button press will assign player 1, then player 2, and so on.

The use case you're talking about should work fine, I do it all the time (switching controllers depending on what makes more sense for the current core). If you have enough USB ports you could even leave them all plugged in at all times (but hotplugging them will work fine too).

[pilesofspam]

Thank you antibolo! I misunderstood "Reset Player Assignment" and most likely threw a big wrench in my testing. I'll try again tonight and report back here.

Also- to those using a 2600-Daptor, be aware that "Auto-Detect" means that you need to hold down a button on your controller when powering up or plugging the device into USB, and if you'll need a solid 5V on your USB hub.

[pilesofspam]

Yep- what you have above is correct. I was able to plug in and configure each controller correctly, and it works where expected. I think it's going to be a great idea to leave everything plugged in (except the 2600-Daptor- guess I'll leave that one unplugged until I need it).