Hi guys,

A year or two ago, I used to play MAME games a lot. I've got an X-arcade two-player joystick, and playing games with that thing is an absolute joy.

Then real life got in the way, and MAME was pushed to the background.

I wanted to pick it up again this weekend, but I bumped into a problem.

When I used to play MAME, everything went very good. I know I had to select the X-arcade as a specific joystick, but after that, everything was sweet.

Now, things have changed. My X-arcade used to be connected to my PC via my PS/2 port. My (then also PS/2) keyboard was then connected to the X-arcade.

Now, I use a Logitech DiNovo USB Bluetooth keyboard. I have the X-arcade connected to the PS/2 port, but it is not detected in the MAME properties, controllers screen. The option remains greyed out (as is the mouse option).
I already tried connecting a PS/2 keyboard to the X-arcade, but that doesn't help. The joystick doesn't get detected, and the option stays greyed out.

When I run notepad, and I move the joystick or press it's buttons, the according keypresses get shown on the screen. So I know the X-arcade still works.

Why doesn't it get detected??? DirectX is installed onto my pc.

Thanks in advance!

And you tried removing the USB keyboard and having just the xarcade plugged in? Seems like if you had them both plugged in it would be like having two keyboards plugged in, so i'd guess the USB would get priority, but i'm purely guessing.

That was my idea as well. But that didn't seem to be it. I unplugged the USB Bluetooth module, but it still didn't work. I only hope that doesn't mean I'll would have to de-install the keyboard entirely...

I'm afraid I'm already seeing where this problem is heading: towards the purchase of the optional PC USB adapter...

Reply to myself.

I was able to fix it. But the solution is really stupid. It seems, since a few versions now, the MAME developers have dropped the branded controller files from the distribution. So I needed the x-arcade.cfg file.

I was lucky. I still had MAME version 0.85 laying around on a disc here. That version still contained the necessary controller file. So by copying this 6KB (!) file, I was able to get it working again.

What where the MAME developers thinking by dropping these controller files from the package??? Surely package size issues are not a thing here. The entire /cntrlr directory contained 5 files for a total whopping 29 KB!

Its linked on the X-Arcade support page as well.

So it is!
Cheers!