Stella 6 on the R77: the eagle is landing

[nyhack56]

I upgraded my Retron 77 to Stella 6.2.1.  I am having the same issue with the paddles.

 

I have the paddles plugged into the Left Port of the Retron.  I have a joystick in the right to access the game settings.

 

I don't have any ROMS, only carts.  When I play Super Breakout for example, the paddles do not work.  The button works, but the dial does not.

 

The game settings do auto detect the paddles in the left port, and the joystick in the right port.

 

Is this a known issue that is being debugged?

 

For what it's worth, the paddles work (with some jitter) under Stella 6.1.1

[Thomas Jentzsch]

What kind of paddles do you use?

[nyhack56]

I have a pair of Atari OEM ones, and I have a pair of Gemini.  They both act the same way.

[bmadgames]

Is it confirmed that the Stella 6 firmware is not compatible with the paddle functionality of the Ranger?

[unixdude]

Just now, bmadgames said:

Is it confirmed that the Stella 6 firmware is not compatible with the paddle functionality of the Ranger?

Thanks for asking, I have this same question as well.

[Redjac]

1 hour ago, unixdude said:

Thanks for asking, I have this same question as well.

I also can't get the Ranger paddles to function with the community build. Works fine with stock firmware.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

We will look into this. It did work with the previous releases, correct?

[bmadgames]

9 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

We will look into this. It did work with the previous releases, correct?

Thanks for looking into it. The controller worked on the original firmware, but I am not sure about previous releases as I just recently got the R77.

[atarifan88]

I still can't get the Atari & AtGames paddles to work in the front ports using the most recent Stella update.  I guess the only option is to go with the 2600 daptor and Y-cable and plug it in to the back.

[Redjac]

1 hour ago, bmadgames said:

Thanks for looking into it. The controller worked on the original firmware, but I am not sure about previous releases as I just recently got the R77.

Likewise, I'm new to the R77. Ranger does work with stock firmware.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Anyone who knows or can check with which Stella version the problem started?

[bmadgames]

On 7/16/2020 at 2:20 PM, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Anyone who knows or can check with which Stella version the problem started?

I was able to do some testing. The problem starts with Stella version 6.1.2. In all prior versions that I tested on the R77, the Ranger paddle function seemed to be working properly. Just let me know if there is any other testing that you would like me to do with the Ranger.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Thanks a lot!

 

Just to be sure: 6.1.1 still worked?

[bmadgames]

5 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Thanks a lot!

 

Just to be sure: 6.1.1 still worked?

Yep!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Cool. That will help finding the reason a LOT. 

 

After looking through the changes, can you please try this:

• either use the advanced settings and then Options/Input/Emul.  Events and there press Defaults
• or delete all sqlite files on the SD cart

 

This might solve the problem. Or not.  

Edited July 19, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[atarifan88]

But what about original Atari paddles?  When did those stop working on R77 or did they ever work to begin with (using the front port)?

[Thomas Jentzsch]

They used to work with the community version of Stella. The current situation is a regression.

[bmadgames]

12 hours ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

Cool. That will help finding the reason a LOT. 

 

After looking through the changes, can you please try this:

• either use the advanced settings and then Options/Input/Emul.  Events and there press Defaults
• or delete all sqlite files on the SD cart

 

This might solve the problem. Or not.  

Hi Thomas, I was able to test and the first option (Going to advanced settings then options/input/emul and pressing defaults) fixed the issue and the Ranger paddles now works as intended in version 6.2.1.

 

Please let me know if you have any questions or need my assistance with any additional testing. Thank you!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Glad to hear that this fixed your problem.

 

Now I hope it works for everyone else too. Please let me know.

[nyhack56]

I tried option 1

 

• use the advanced settings and then Options/Input/Emul.  Events and there press Defaults

 

and it worked.   I tested the Atari paddles and the Gemini paddles.  They both worked although there is a bit of jittering going on, but I don't know if that's a Retron 77 issue or not, and I don't know how I could determine that.

 

Thanks!

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Have you tried the dejitter options? (Advanced) Options/Input/Devices & Ports

[atarifan88]

I did the advanced-options-input-emul-default then plugged my AtGames paddles in and they work with a little jitter. These are like new paddles, bit they are usable. I didn't get a chance to try the dejitter settings.

Edited July 20, 2020 by atarifan88

[Thomas Jentzsch]

 Check the dejitter settings in Advanced Options/Input/Devices & Ports.

Edited July 20, 2020 by Thomas Jentzsch

[atarifan88]

1 hour ago, Thomas Jentzsch said:

 Check the dejitter settings in Advanced Options/Input/Devices & Ports.

Figured out how to get to that tab by hitting one of the back buttons on the R77. Changed both the dejitter averaging and reaction to 8 and that fixed the issue. I left the sensitivity at 100. Thanks for the help!

Edited July 20, 2020 by atarifan88

[nyhack56]

4 hours ago, atarifan88 said:

Figured out how to get to that tab by hitting one of the back buttons on the R77. Changed both the dejitter averaging and reaction to 8 and that fixed the issue. I left the sensitivity at 100. Thanks for the help!

I played around with thise settings.  

 

 

I can't get the dejitter to completely go away, but it reduces if I set dejitter averaging to 10 and reaction to 8.  I also left sensitivity at 100 as I found changing it up or down dosen't affect the actual jittering.