Hello, I just noticed with the current AGS release v1.2.4 and/or most recent Win10 update, all of my games that use RetroArch or MAME, the joysticks are swapped around once the games load-up.

I have the Polycade Lux machine which has two joysticks; left (player 1) and right (player 2). In the AGS environment I can use the left joystick to move around and when loading some *.exe or Steam games, the left joystick is setup as player 1 and the right joystick is setup as player 2. However, when I click on any game that uses RetroArch or MAME they swap upon loading the game. When I click [tab] for MAME or [F1] for RetroArch I cannot move around in the environment unless I use the right joystick; the left joystick does nothing.

For Example: If I choose "Tetris & Dr. Mario" (RetroArch) as soon as I click "Play" in AGS the left joystick is inoperable and player 2 is in control. Once the Tetris game starts, the left joystick controls the far right screen (i.e., blocks) and the right joystick controls the far left screen. I literally have to remap Port 1 Binds Device Index as User 2 and Port 2 Binds Device Index as User 1 in order for the left joystick to control the left screen and the right joystick to control the right screen.

If I load the game Timber (MAME), I have to use the buttons on the right side (player 2) of the machine to enter my coins and start the game; all of the left side buttons are inoperable. Once the game loads only the right joystick operates player 1 and the left joystick operates player 2.

The emulator settings appear to be correct but in order for me to play the games, I have to swap everything around which I do not want to do. Please let me know what better solution there is vs redoing all of the controller mappings (backwards) for each game that uses an emulator.

RetroArch Settings:
Main Menu >> Quick Menu >> Controls >>
Port 1 Controls >> Analog to Digital Type = Left Analog
Port 2 Controls >> Analog to Digital Type = Right Analog

Main Menu >> Settings >> Input
Port 1 Binds >> Analog to Digital Type = Left Analog
Port 1 Binds >> Device Index = XInput Controller (User 1)
Port 2 Binds >> Analog to Digital Type = Right Analog
Port 2 Binds >> Device Index = XInput Controller (User 2)

MAME Settings:
P1 (Up, Down, Left, Right) = Joy 1
P1 Button 1 = Joy 1 A
Coin 1 = Joy 1 Back
etc...
P2 (Up, Down, Left, Right) = Joy 2
P2 Button 1 = Joy 2 A
Coin 2 = Joy 2 Back
etc...

[UPDATE 10/03/21]

Just tried to play some Steam games, Ultra Street Fighter left joystick plays as player 1, Galaga left joystick plays as player 1. Dig Dug game none of the joysticks work now whereas they did before by default.

Daughter just tried to play Tricky Towers (AGS Store) and the joysticks were swapped (backwards) around as well.

Not sure what is going on, please help...

[UPDATE 10/03/21]

I went to Device Manager and disabled both joysticks then rebooted. Once rebooted I enabled the first Joystick, restarted and then enabled the second joystick and I think that fixed everything. I tested some games (e.g., Steam, *.EXE, MAME, RetroArch) and all of them default to Player 1 (left joystick).

Thanks!

I noticed while testing the joystick setup under the "Setup USB Game Controllers" there were 10 buttons. I could only get buttons 1-8 to light up and the Z-Axis to go from min to max. I could not get buttons 9 or 10 to light up. What are those buttons and how do I use them?

13 days later

@Uthuidos apologies for the late response here - it sounds like your joystick hardware may have swapped positions. This can happen on the occasional reboot. Sometimes a reboot will correct it, alternately try the "disconnect and reconnect" described here: https://polycade.com/pages/helphq#/collection/2975/article/11926

A good game to test correct joystick position is with Tricky Towers, since the players should show up on their correct sides (left joystick player on the left side of the screen, right joystick player on the right side of the screen). If Tricky Towers works correctly, and you have player order issues with emulators, then your configs have gotten fragged somehow. Steam games are not good to use for testing player position, since they are unstandardized and some may swap positions of the players by default.

2 months later

From day one I have been able to play the arcade (*.zip) Tapper game on the Polycade but with the new release it tries to load then exits showing me the AGS main screen again. I am assuming the emulator has been updated causing it to no longer work. Is there a tweak/fix I can do to get it operational again or do I need to find another game (sigh)?

Hmm, we did update the MAME emulator around 6 months ago, but it hasn't changed since. If you launch the game from the command line, it will show you why the game isn't working.

Here's how to do that:

  1. on your keyboard, press WIN+R to open the "Run" box.
  2. type cmd and press enter. It will open the command prompt.
  3. type cd AppData\Roaming\polycade\emulators\mame and press enter
  4. type mame.exe tapper -rompath "c:\Users\Polycade\AppData\Roaming\polycade\games\arcade"
  5. read the output, you may be missing files inside the zip.
    5 days later

    admin

    Sorry did not mean to apply it was not working due to the latest AGS update; more as it was tested/found using the latest AGS version. Thanks for the thorough instructions. The output was defiantly a head scratcher (over my head) but I found the missing four files online and dropped them inside the zip container and now I am back in business.

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