Baffling joystick configuration problem

Madcapper2 · November 26th, 2002

I'm having trouble configuring the joypad/directional control in VBA.
When I first downloaded Version 1.2, I configured the joypad without any problems. One day the joystick controls all of a sudden quit working and I can't figure out how to get it working again. There are some strange and baffling factors involved here and I was hoping somebody might have an idea what's going on and how I can resolve this.

First off, when I say 'joystick controls' I'm referring strictly to the directionals, or the buttons that VBA recognizes as Joy 1 Up, Joy 1 Down, Joy 1 Left, and Joy 1 Right. The default settings match the joypad on my game controller (Gravis Eliminator Gamepad Pro). Before the joypad quit working with VBA, I didn't originally need to configure them. I can assign any of the remaining buttons on my game controller to the directionals but I can't assign the joypad to them.

During the long process of trying to figure this thing out on my own, I discovered after downloading all VBA versions dating back to Version 0.7, that I can configure the joypad with versions 0.7 and 0.8. I cannot configure the joypad with all newer versions starting with Version 0.9a. I consulted Version 0.9a's 'readme.txt' to see what changes were implemented, in the hope that I might find a clue in there somewhere. These were the only entries I found listed in the 'readme.txt' that were relevant to joystick configuration:

- fixed bug reading joypad when LCD is off (under Gameboy Changes)

- support for more joystick axes and HAT(POV) (under Windows Changes)

I DID reinstall the drivers for my game controller right around the same time I discovered that the joypad wasn't working in VBA 1.2 anymore. As was mentioned before, it used to work but then it stopped. So I'm thinking the problem quite possibly stems from that. On the other hand, it doesn't readily explain why the joypad still works with the older VBA versions but not the newer versions. Also, my joypad works with everything else, including several emulators (ZSnes and UltraHLE for example) as well as several PC games. The only thing it doesn't work with is the newer versions of VBA.
Has anyone else ever experienced this problem who might know what the solution is?

System specs: Pentium3 866 L2; WindowsME; 128MB RAM. I hope I didn't forget anything.

**Forgotten** · November 26th, 2002

The joystick configuration changed from version 0.9a on, so if you configured the joystick with a prior version, you will need to reconfigure it.

I assume you are using the Options->Joypad->Configure... menu to do it.

Madcapper2 · November 26th, 2002

Yes, I am using the Options->Joypad->Configure menu. I have ten buttons on my gamepad in addition to the directionals (VBA recognizes these as 'Joy 1 Buttons 1-10'). I can configure these, because they still work. It's just the directionals (Joy1 Up, Joy1 Down, Joy1 Left, and Joy1 Right) that don't work.

I did try and reconfigure. Actually, Version 1.2 was the first version I had installed on my computer. I grabbed Version 0.7 after experiencing the problem with 1.2 and found out that I could configure 0.7.

**Forgotten** · November 26th, 2002

Download the SDL configurator from the following link:

http://vboy.emuhq.com/downloads/SDLTest-Win32.zip

Run it and see if you get any numbers when you press the directions on the joystick. If so, post them here.

The only explanation I have is that either your joystick has a mode where it is not behaving as expected or you have some joystick program that maps the joystick to keys or something.

Another thing that changed from version 0.8 to version 0.9 is that VBA tries to configure the joystick range, which could potentially fail if the joystick driver does not work correctly.

Madcapper2 · November 27th, 2002

I did find out where the problem stemmed from after all. Sort of, anyway. I'm pretty sure either UltraHLE or the UltraHLP gamepad configurator is somehow fouling things up with Visual Boy Advance's game controls.
I reinstalled my game controller's drivers and grabbed another copy of VBA 1.2, and got the joypad/directionals working again! Next, I ran UltraHLE and Zelda OoT. At first, Link was running around a bit on his own, changing directions, stopping & going, etc. without any help from me. I took control of Link with my gamepad and ran this automatic movement out of him, which took a few seconds or so. After Link was restored back to normal, I quit UltraHLE and ran VBA 1.2 again. I could not configure the joystick controls anymore.
Something must have happened during those few seconds I was running UltraHLE which disabled the joystick function in VBA.

As for the SDL configurator, I couldn't run it. It called up what looked to me like a DOS prompt and then quickly blinked out. I'll keep working with it.

**Forgotten** · November 27th, 2002

The SDL Configurator needs the SDL.dll file in the file, so you need to extract both into a directory. Try running it from a command line (DOS prompt). It will open a small window and then you should try moving the joystick.

At least now you have some idea of what is going wrong.

Cypherswipe · May 12th, 2003

The problem could be your control pad. My gravis gamepad pro frequently gets a sort of stuck key error with different emulators wherein it acts as though the control pad is constantly being pressed to the right. It'll go left or up or down while I press left/up/down, but as soon as I let go it goes right again. Sometimes a reboot clears it up. Also, you might want to try insatlling an older driver for it. Using the most updated drivers increased my problems, but reverting to the ones that came on my comp often clears it up.

Jesiah · October 17th, 2004

I seem to be having a similar problem, though in a much different situation, and I was hoping I could get some advice.

Some system information:
Linux debian 2.6.7-custom-k7 #1 Sat Jul 3 15:13:58 PDT 2004 i686 GNU/Linux
VisualBoyAdvance version 1.7.2 [SDL] (from Debian unstable Packages)
libsdl1.2debian
1.4 GHz Processor, 256MB of RAM, excessive HD Space.

I'm using a USB HID compliant Joystick under Linux, and while I can configure all the other buttons, the directional buttons and the joysticks for the device (a PSX controller) don't seem to function. I don't have a GUI menu system for VBA, but I can edit '/etc/VisualBoyAdvance.cfg', which has allowed me to set all of my other buttons correctly. Here is the relevant exceprt from the cfg file. Again, all of this works except for the directionals. This device functions fine with other programs that utilize joysticks.

Joy0_Left=1000
Joy0_Right=1001
Joy0_Up=1002
Joy0_Down=1003
Joy0_A=1082
Joy0_B=1081
Joy0_L=1086
Joy0_R=1087
Joy0_Start=1088
Joy0_Select=1089
Joy0_Speed=1085
Joy0_Capture=1084

Motion_Left=1001
Motion_Right=1002
Motion_Up=1003
Motion_Down=1004

When I rnu 'SDL-Test', I get the following codes.

For the X-Axis on the directional pad (both Left AND Right return the same value):
JOY AXIS code: 1000

For the Y-Axis on the directional pad (both Up AND Down return the same value):
JOY AXIS code: 1002

The comments in the VisualBoyAdvance.cfg file are not entirely clear what I'm supposed to do with these values. The way they describe it seems as though the values ought to be different in each direction, but I'm not certain.

Any suggestions?

November 26th, 2002	#1 (permalink)
Madcapper2 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 14	Baffling joystick configuration problem I'm having trouble configuring the joypad/directional control in VBA. When I first downloaded Version 1.2, I configured the joypad without any problems. One day the joystick controls all of a sudden quit working and I can't figure out how to get it working again. There are some strange and baffling factors involved here and I was hoping somebody might have an idea what's going on and how I can resolve this. First off, when I say 'joystick controls' I'm referring strictly to the directionals, or the buttons that VBA recognizes as Joy 1 Up, Joy 1 Down, Joy 1 Left, and Joy 1 Right. The default settings match the joypad on my game controller (Gravis Eliminator Gamepad Pro). Before the joypad quit working with VBA, I didn't originally need to configure them. I can assign any of the remaining buttons on my game controller to the directionals but I can't assign the joypad to them. During the long process of trying to figure this thing out on my own, I discovered after downloading all VBA versions dating back to Version 0.7, that I can configure the joypad with versions 0.7 and 0.8. I cannot configure the joypad with all newer versions starting with Version 0.9a. I consulted Version 0.9a's 'readme.txt' to see what changes were implemented, in the hope that I might find a clue in there somewhere. These were the only entries I found listed in the 'readme.txt' that were relevant to joystick configuration: - fixed bug reading joypad when LCD is off (under Gameboy Changes) - support for more joystick axes and HAT(POV) (under Windows Changes) I DID reinstall the drivers for my game controller right around the same time I discovered that the joypad wasn't working in VBA 1.2 anymore. As was mentioned before, it used to work but then it stopped. So I'm thinking the problem quite possibly stems from that. On the other hand, it doesn't readily explain why the joypad still works with the older VBA versions but not the newer versions. Also, my joypad works with everything else, including several emulators (ZSnes and UltraHLE for example) as well as several PC games. The only thing it doesn't work with is the newer versions of VBA. Has anyone else ever experienced this problem who might know what the solution is? System specs: Pentium3 866 L2; WindowsME; 128MB RAM. I hope I didn't forget anything.

May 12th, 2003	#7 (permalink)
Cypherswipe Extra Large Member Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 934	The problem could be your control pad. My gravis gamepad pro frequently gets a sort of stuck key error with different emulators wherein it acts as though the control pad is constantly being pressed to the right. It'll go left or up or down while I press left/up/down, but as soon as I let go it goes right again. Sometimes a reboot clears it up. Also, you might want to try insatlling an older driver for it. Using the most updated drivers increased my problems, but reverting to the ones that came on my comp often clears it up. __________________

October 17th, 2004	#8 (permalink)
Jesiah Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: California, US Posts: 1	Similar Problem. I seem to be having a similar problem, though in a much different situation, and I was hoping I could get some advice. Some system information: Linux debian 2.6.7-custom-k7 #1 Sat Jul 3 15:13:58 PDT 2004 i686 GNU/Linux VisualBoyAdvance version 1.7.2 [SDL] (from Debian unstable Packages) libsdl1.2debian 1.4 GHz Processor, 256MB of RAM, excessive HD Space. I'm using a USB HID compliant Joystick under Linux, and while I can configure all the other buttons, the directional buttons and the joysticks for the device (a PSX controller) don't seem to function. I don't have a GUI menu system for VBA, but I can edit '/etc/VisualBoyAdvance.cfg', which has allowed me to set all of my other buttons correctly. Here is the relevant exceprt from the cfg file. Again, all of this works except for the directionals. This device functions fine with other programs that utilize joysticks. Joy0_Left=1000 Joy0_Right=1001 Joy0_Up=1002 Joy0_Down=1003 Joy0_A=1082 Joy0_B=1081 Joy0_L=1086 Joy0_R=1087 Joy0_Start=1088 Joy0_Select=1089 Joy0_Speed=1085 Joy0_Capture=1084 Motion_Left=1001 Motion_Right=1002 Motion_Up=1003 Motion_Down=1004 When I rnu 'SDL-Test', I get the following codes. For the X-Axis on the directional pad (both Left AND Right return the same value): JOY AXIS code: 1000 For the Y-Axis on the directional pad (both Up AND Down return the same value): JOY AXIS code: 1002 The comments in the VisualBoyAdvance.cfg file are not entirely clear what I'm supposed to do with these values. The way they describe it seems as though the values ought to be different in each direction, but I'm not certain. Any suggestions? Last edited by Jesiah; October 17th, 2004 at 21:04.

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November 26th, 2002	#2 (permalink)
Forgotten Emu author Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 483	The joystick configuration changed from version 0.9a on, so if you configured the joystick with a prior version, you will need to reconfigure it. I assume you are using the Options->Joypad->Configure... menu to do it.

November 26th, 2002	#3 (permalink)
Madcapper2 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 14	Yes, I am using the Options->Joypad->Configure menu. I have ten buttons on my gamepad in addition to the directionals (VBA recognizes these as 'Joy 1 Buttons 1-10'). I can configure these, because they still work. It's just the directionals (Joy1 Up, Joy1 Down, Joy1 Left, and Joy1 Right) that don't work. I did try and reconfigure. Actually, Version 1.2 was the first version I had installed on my computer. I grabbed Version 0.7 after experiencing the problem with 1.2 and found out that I could configure 0.7.

November 26th, 2002	#4 (permalink)
Forgotten Emu author Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 483	Download the SDL configurator from the following link: http://vboy.emuhq.com/downloads/SDLTest-Win32.zip Run it and see if you get any numbers when you press the directions on the joystick. If so, post them here. The only explanation I have is that either your joystick has a mode where it is not behaving as expected or you have some joystick program that maps the joystick to keys or something. Another thing that changed from version 0.8 to version 0.9 is that VBA tries to configure the joystick range, which could potentially fail if the joystick driver does not work correctly.

November 27th, 2002	#5 (permalink)
Madcapper2 Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 14	I did find out where the problem stemmed from after all. Sort of, anyway. I'm pretty sure either UltraHLE or the UltraHLP gamepad configurator is somehow fouling things up with Visual Boy Advance's game controls. I reinstalled my game controller's drivers and grabbed another copy of VBA 1.2, and got the joypad/directionals working again! Next, I ran UltraHLE and Zelda OoT. At first, Link was running around a bit on his own, changing directions, stopping & going, etc. without any help from me. I took control of Link with my gamepad and ran this automatic movement out of him, which took a few seconds or so. After Link was restored back to normal, I quit UltraHLE and ran VBA 1.2 again. I could not configure the joystick controls anymore. Something must have happened during those few seconds I was running UltraHLE which disabled the joystick function in VBA. As for the SDL configurator, I couldn't run it. It called up what looked to me like a DOS prompt and then quickly blinked out. I'll keep working with it.

November 27th, 2002	#6 (permalink)
Forgotten Emu author Join Date: Oct 2001 Posts: 483	The SDL Configurator needs the SDL.dll file in the file, so you need to extract both into a directory. Try running it from a command line (DOS prompt). It will open a small window and then you should try moving the joystick. At least now you have some idea of what is going wrong.