Attract Mode doesn't respond to input after returning from RetroArch

[Dal1980]

Hi

I've started setting up my cabinet with Attract Mode and Debian Linux. Everything seems to be going smoothly so far but I've hit a bit of an issue that I don't understand.

When I first load attract mode up from CLI

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xinit attract
Everything works and I'm able to use my sticks and my keyboard as normal. After launching a rom which uses the following commands in the mame.cfg file in emulators foloder:

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executable           retroarch
args                 -L "/home/blackcab/libretro-super/libretro-mame/mame_libretro.so" "[romfilename]"
workdir              /home/blackcab/.attract/romlists/mame-latest/arcade/mame
rompath              /home/blackcab/.attract/romlists/mame-latest/arcade/mame
romext               .zip
system               arcade
info_source          listxml
...

Retroarch runs the rom and I'm able to use my sticks and buttons as normal however upon exiting and returning back to Attract Mode no controller works. The keyboard is non-responsive (although it's still getting power to the lock lights), cabinet sticks and buttons don't do anything and there is only one thing I can do which is press the power button.

I should also point out that Attract Mode is still fully functional even though I'm unable to control anything or supply input.

Debian GNU/Linux 9.4 (Stretch)
Attract Mode V2.3.0-44 (Linux SFML 2.4 +FrontConfig +SWF)
avcodec 57.64.101 / avformat 57.56.101
swscale 4.2.100 / swresample 2.3.100
Xserver 1.19.2
Retroarch 1.3.6


Cheers
Dal1980

[Dal1980]

I loaded up Retroarch to check version and just realised that I didn't have any control in there either. I wonder if that has somehow polluted the settings for AM when I return. I can probably do a bit more testing down this avenue but will report back.

[Dal1980]

Think I'm going to ask this over at the Retroarch forums as I've spent the last few hours trying to get retroarch just to recognise my minipac (which it hasn't, just seems to know about my usb joypad only, not even my keyboard is working).

I'd like to keep this open here just in case anyone has any input and I'll also update the thread with the resolution (hopefully).

[Dal1980]

Might be worth sharing my thread over at retroarch forums since I assumed that the problem was more retroarch less AM.

https://forums.libretro.com/t/retroarch-control-issue/16299

At this moment in time I'm leaning towards using the XServer

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xinit attract command to launch AM as potentially being the problem. When I line up retroarch to use Xdriver it seems to solve some of the problems so I'm going to assume that XServer is shielding communication between these two environments/programs.

My question now is; is there any alternatives to using XServer. I know raspi just launches

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attract without needing to do

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xinit attract or

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xstart. What I don't know is if it's actually just preloading that somewhere or if there is an alternative method of launching using another package.

[toothlessgrinn]

im just curious and this isnt just aimed at you but why use another front end with this front end? i mean retro arch conflicts cuz its in itself a frontend. mame works right out the box with no issues that i have found. anyway just a curious thing .

 

[Dal1980]

I do not know

I ended up switching to XP in the end to resolve the issue and then found that RetroArch kind of sucked on XP end ended up using Mame directly as you described 

I think my thoughts for using RA initially where to utilise the different cores. If I had to start trying to get different emulators running different things then I may have hit some problems and kinda thought that I would have made things easy by using RA in this way... the Pi manages quite well so guess that had some influence too.

As it happens light guns and Linux don't mix very well (or at least Mame gets confused) so switched it all out for XP, had I not, your comment would have had me probably kicking myself a little and I would have pursued that angle so thanks. Hope this at least helps other confused wanderers like myself out there. 

[toothlessgrinn]

i cant seem to get any other frontend to work properly myself and a.m just wrks... lol.. retroarch is cool and al on its own. i like the ps3 theme it uses but ya i had alot of issues with the cores but im also VERY new to this but many people seem to have success with 2 fe together but attractmode works best alone in my opinion ... but glad you got it going!