Can THECXSTICK be remapped for carousel games? What do you all suggest as the best alternative controller?

[sugarkane]

Two questions in the title, but figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone...

 

*First, THECXSTICK is driving me nuts. I'm not crazy about having to remap the damn thing for every game I want to play before it's somewhat playable, but I'll do it. But does it not give you the option on the carousel games? 

 

I'm playing Berzerk and am am sick of bumping the shoulder button (operating as a second fire button), but can't turn that off. I have to hold this controller so strangely to ensure I don't bump the ring or the shoulder but would be happier if I could just kill some of those buttons and maybe remap the keyboard function to simply start or exit a game with a single virtual key. I don't know, I'm trying to work around this so I can actually enjoy this mini 400.

 

*Second...I'm thinking I may ultimately throw in the towel on THECXSTICK (a shame, since I sprung for an extra one too). What is the best alternative controller? I am sad that I might not get to enjoy these games with a joystick, but if the frustrations outweigh the enjoyment, I will use a game pad. 

 

The options I'm considering are The Gamepad (A500 Mini) controller from Retro Games, a VCS controller with a cord (has a paddle, so that might be good), or a PS1 controller. But I'm open to other ideas for better gamepads or even functional joysticks. Would love to hear all your thoughts.

[Sean_1970]

I cannot see an option to remap outside of the USB loaded games which seems like a massive oversight and hopefully will be corrected in a firmware update.

 

My secondary controller is a PS4 gamepad. Nice thing about that is the 400Mini appears to recognise it as a generic gamepad of some kind so when you pop-up the help you get a gamepad overlay showing the controls. Having “share” for menu and “options” for Home is very intuitive; circle for Top is less so, but I can adapt.

 

Interestingly the analogue stick support for the two paddle games you unlock is pretty good - I actually rate it better than playing the arcade paddle games in Atari 50 or Flashback collections on my PS5.

Edited April 1 by Sean_1970

[infinite.pies]

8 hours ago, sugarkane said:

Two questions in the title, but figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone...

 

*First, THECXSTICK is driving me nuts. I'm not crazy about having to remap the damn thing for every game I want to play before it's somewhat playable, but I'll do it. But does it not give you the option on the carousel games? 

 

I'm playing Berzerk and am am sick of bumping the shoulder button (operating as a second fire button), but can't turn that off. I have to hold this controller so strangely to ensure I don't bump the ring or the shoulder but would be happier if I could just kill some of those buttons and maybe remap the keyboard function to simply start or exit a game with a single virtual key. I don't know, I'm trying to work around this so I can actually enjoy this mini 400.

 

*Second...I'm thinking I may ultimately throw in the towel on THECXSTICK (a shame, since I sprung for an extra one too). What is the best alternative controller? I am sad that I might not get to enjoy these games with a joystick, but if the frustrations outweigh the enjoyment, I will use a game pad. 

 

The options I'm considering are The Gamepad (A500 Mini) controller from Retro Games, a VCS controller with a cord (has a paddle, so that might be good), or a PS1 controller. But I'm open to other ideas for better gamepads or even functional joysticks. Would love to hear all your thoughts.

I don't have a 400 to try it, but can you remap the controller using these instructions?

 

They give the default mapping definition for THECXSTICK, so maybe you could amend it to permanently remap the shoulder button for all games?

[Sean_1970]

1 hour ago, infinite.pies said:

I don't have a 400 to try it, but can you remap the controller using these instructions?

 

They give the default mapping definition for THECXSTICK, so maybe you could amend it to permanently remap the shoulder button for all games?

That last bit does indicate a line for the CXStick, so should work. I suppose risk is low, because if it messes something up you just disconnect the USB drive and reboot.

[+remowilliams]

3 hours ago, infinite.pies said:

I don't have a 400 to try it, but can you remap the controller using these instructions?

I'm not sure the system is actually reading that file.

 

I placed that file (gamecontrollerdb.txt) on the stick along with a line for the SDL controller mapping (which I copied from my linux emulation minipc, where it works) for the 2600-daptor D9 and it didn't change its behavior.

[infinite.pies]

8 minutes ago, remowilliams said:

I'm not sure the system is actually reading that file.

 

I placed that file (gamecontrollerdb.txt) on the stick along with a line for the SDL controller mapping (which I copied from my linux emulation minipc, where it works) for the 2600-daptor D9 and it didn't change its behavior.

I think the easiest way to confirm if it's working or if there is bug is to add only the default lines for the supplied controllers to the file and amend it very slightly, e.g. to change just one button mapping. That would confirm if the file is being read.

[+remowilliams]

14 hours ago, infinite.pies said:

I think the easiest way to confirm if it's working or if there is bug is to add only the default lines for the supplied controllers to the file and amend it very slightly, e.g. to change just one button mapping. That would confirm if the file is being read.

I did exactly that trying to bug out the CXSTICK in config to determine differences.  

 

I now have DB9 control working : )

 

 

 

 

[Spanner]

Use THEGamepad(well the CXSTICK is THEGamepad anyway) or THEC64 Joystick, the CXSTICK is a copy of it, THE400 Mini supports all RGL Controllers, well AFAIK...
You could use the Atari2600 Plus in Joystick Mode and plug that into THE400 Mini then use its Atari Joystick(LEFT) but you will need a 5v 3A power adapter, and yep it does work...  .

Edited April 7 by Spanner

[TheMontezuma]

Can the functionality of the extra joystick buttons be accessed from the USB keyboard? If yes, how?

[Sean_1970]

8 hours ago, TheMontezuma said:

Can the functionality of the extra joystick buttons be accessed from the USB keyboard? If yes, how?

The online manual page 31 has the button mappings for PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo controllers along with a section on using a USB keyboard which states that four of the special keyboard keys on a 400 (three of which are mapped to the “ring buttons”) are mapped to function keys (F5-F8) on a USB keyboard. There is no mapping of Menu, Home or shoulder button indicated, however.