Bliss Box 4-play compatibility

[bleasby]

ulao, one question:

If I use a breakout board to direct connect my arcade buttons to the 4-play and at the same time connect a gamepad to the same port, there is any possibility to fry anything by pressing simultaneously the arcade button and a gamepad button?

Something like connecting two different gamepads on the same port at the same time by using wires.

Would I need to use a physical switch to use either the arcade buttons or the gamepad to avoid any problems on something like this?

[newoski]

Ninja, link me to your most recent set of correct instructions for flashing so that each port has a unique name/ID please

[ulao]

I thought about that also. Fortunately no because its a ground but it will cause the controller to spot working if you press one of the buttons. Worst case reset the USB or 4-play. A switch would prevent this yes. 

 

Ninja, link me to your most recent set of correct instructions for flashing so that each port has a unique name/ID please

 

 

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/topic/12598-bliss-box-4-play-compatibility/page-5#entry187770

[ninja2bceen]

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Sticky this post please

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Tutorial to update firmware

1. Download the files found here: (also attached)

http://skunx7.wix.com/bliss-box#!downloads/c1h7n

2. Plug in your bliss box and this is where slow love comes into play. Press and hold one of the buttons next to one of the ports for approximately 10 seconds. You will notice that you install a driver. You can release the blissbox button after the driver updates start.

3. Once all the drivers that are downloading to your computer are complete, press the next button on your bliss box that is found next to a usb outlet. You will want to repeat step 2 until you have installed the drivers for each of the ports essentially

4. open the flash tool exe in the attachment or from the download page in step 1. DO NOT UPDATE the IDs! Press the bliss box button that you are wanting to flash. The ids display by default in the top left corner. Just push find device, don't release the button for the entire process until flash is complete, if you do, you have to start over with the steps above

5. Did the message below the find device button say "bliss update found" or something along those lines? If so, move onto step 6. If it reads device not found, continue holding the bliss box button down and unplug the usb from the computer. Wait 5 seconds and replug blissbox into the computer. Just keep holding down the button on bliss box and wait another 5 seconds to push the "find device" button again while holding down the button. You should have it reading your device now

6. Press open hex and go to the folder named flash build updates if you are using my attachment. Select 1.54 by DOUBLE CLICKING the file instead of selecting and pressing open. Wait 5 seconds after you are back on the flash tool exe screen

7. Press flash button and watch a lot of code display and you should get successfully flashed!

8. Rinse and repeat the steps above and do that for EACH of the buttons one by one

9. Go to the custom flasher 1.54 exe that is in my attachment and by sure to right click the app and go to properties and run as an admin, then run it. This is used so that 4play recognizes each port as a #1 which is helpful to know what port you are using. Open it and read what shows up, press accept

10. Press 4 once the command prompt shows up. We are flashing to 1.54 so press 4. Note you are adding to your computers registry so it knows what ports you are assigning so just push ok to the prompts that may show up

11. Read the prompts but hold down the button of your choice and press 1,2,3, or 4 based on your preference to label the port you are updating. I found waiting 5 seconds after each prompt also did the trick here

12. if the device isn't found, do the trick as described above. I exited the custom flasher when this happened, held down the button that wasn't reading, unplugged for 5 seconds, held the button down again while plugging blissbox back in. I reopened the custom flasher and tried again and it would work every time.

13. Congratulations you have updated all your ports to 1.54 but you aren't out of the woods yet!

14. Go to your device manager on your computer and find 4 4play controllers. Right click one of them and press "game controller settings". You should now see 4-play_port 1-4 yay

15. Make sure your controller is plugged into the port #1 that you assigned and click properties once you have selected the 4play port #1.

16. Press some buttons on your controller. you should see the "test" tab highlight the buttons you press and the directional keys move correctly. Test each of the ports using the test tab. If all works mission accomplished.

17. If the buttons aren't highlighting or the direction keys aren't moving correctly. Close the properties page and press the button on blissbox next to the usb port that you are on and hold it for 5 seconds and release it. Then go back to the properties test page and you should see the buttons now work.

18. Check back at the site in step 1 for updated firmware. He posts the for example stable 1.55 hex file there (not yet created) but when it does, he will announce it on the facebook page as well. Download that file, put it in the firmware update folder that i have set up and do steps 4-8 for each new version that comes out. You don't have to do the other steps since you have already downloaded the drivers AND you have already assigned the port numbers to blissbox

19. Now the final step.. figuring out how to get this to work within the emulators while maintaining a cabinet mapper set up/other xpadder profile set up

it's post 97. I hope someone can sticky this newoski. And yes what I'm ready is al correct. Some emulators don't allow for multiple outputs, that's the whole issue here. Note in my original post I include my file set that matches the instructions. Once completed flash is easy and is only steps 4-8 for new updated but this gets you on 1.54, labels the ports, and teaches you a bit how things work

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[newoski]

it's post 97. I hope someone can sticky this newoski. And yes what I'm ready is al correct. Some emulators don't allow for multiple outputs, that's the whole issue here

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ninja, want to chat with you. my degree is in english... I think I can help simplify the language here, after speaking with you to fully understand the process. i'll send my edits your way after we connect. PM me your email address please

[ninja2bceen]

Lol great. I'm in health and IT

Yes I included all my thoughts in there. I'm sure I made your eyes bleed. Pmd

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[dlexington]

Looking forward to getting my replacement and trying this again. Can't wait to use all my ancient controllers. Thanks to everyone for all the help here, especially ulao, atari and ninja.

Ninja, on your instructions, it looks like you flash the official firmware first and then the 4play fix firmware. I just went straight for the 4play fix firmware when I tried. Is it recommended to flash the latest official first?

Also, not really a question, but I'm planning on using the jumper method with the paper clip jammed in the psx cable instead of holding the reset button. This method seems less likely to be botched by human error. Let me know if anyone disagrees with this sentiment.

[ulao]

dlexington, He did a few extra steps, I tried to sort that out but I guess it didn't click. You don't need a tutorial with the 4-play fix flash because it's a self made tutorial. It tells you what to do as you run it. I don't really get this tutorial stuff as all the info you need comes with the stuff you use. The info for the 4-play fix flasher is on screen step by step. The info with the 4-play is screen shots in the manual. So yeah, its a bit unnecessary long. Though maybe it helps those that struggle with English?  I'm not sure but I'd be happy to do translations I know a few knowledge people that use the product that speak French, Spanish and Chinese. 

 

Paper clip is by far easier for first time users. 

[newoski]

Hi Guys,

 

HUGE UPDATE!

 

So following the guidance in this thread, I've solved all my problems with the Unofficial Firmware. The solution was really, really simple. Simply hold down the Bliss-Box "reset" button on the port you're trying to flash. 

 

1. Connect BlissBox via USB

2. Run Unofficial Firmware updater as Admin

3. Press "4" to update to the latest firmware

4. HOLD DOWN THE "RESET BUTTON" ON THE  PORT YOU'RE TRYING TO FLASH. KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN UNTIL THE FLASH IS DONE

5. Press 1,2,3 or 4 to select the ID# you'll be attaching to the port

6. Press enter, enter to start the flashing (KEEP HOLDING THE "RESET" BUTTON DOWN"

7. Once the flashing is done, repeat steps 4-6 for each additional port, changing the ID#. 

 

That's really it. It looks like all my previous problems can be traced back to simply not holding the reset button down the entire time (before launching/until complete)

 

After flashing all 4 ports, I plugged in an NES controller into Port #1. Pressed the reset button really quick. It recognized the controller. Repeated those steps for the other 3 ports and it recognized teh controller in all of them. 

 

After doing that, the Bliss-Box is not hot-swappable for all ports. 

 

Questions? I can probably clean this up and make it more clear, but right now I'm giddy and want to see if the above works for everyone else. 

 

ulao, any corrections?

[newoski]

Ay carumba, now all controllers are controlling all players at once in RETROARCH. I'll report back once I fix

[newoski]

Quick off topic/on topic question. Does anyone know the command line for easily creating RetroArch autoconfigs? I had it before but I can't seem to find it. 

 

I keep trying the command line below, but it doesn't actually output anything on save:

 

retroarch-joyconfig -a /autoconfig/winxinput/4-Play_port1.cfg

[ninja2bceen]

Thanks newoski. Yes I documented my entire experience. I would strongly recommend using the unofficial way of updating as I had far fewer problems that was.

If all players are controlling the same thing then in the emulator you need to change each controller. I'll bet all 4 are mapped to joy1

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[ulao]

Yes newoski gets it, we are making progress one member at a time. 

 

1. Connect BlissBox via USB

2. Run Unofficial Firmware updater as Admin

3. Press "4" to update to the latest firmware

4. HOLD DOWN THE "RESET BUTTON" ON THE  PORT YOU'RE TRYING TO FLASH. KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN UNTIL THE FLASH IS DONE

5. Press 1,2,3 or 4 to select the ID# you'll be attaching to the port

6. Press enter, enter to start the flashing (KEEP HOLDING THE "RESET" BUTTON DOWN"

7. Once the flashing is done, repeat steps 4-6 for each additional port, changing the ID#. 

 

That looks right, does the info on the dos screen not say all of that more or less?

 

 

oh 

4. HOLD DOWN THE "RESET BUTTON" ON THE  PORT YOU'RE TRYING TO FLASH. KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN UNTIL THE FLASH IS DONE

Maybe mention the psx cable paperclip trick.

[ninja2bceen]

The way I see, it is very easy to do something like this:

1) If the emulator allows you to configure more than one input per player, configure both keyboard and the 4-play controls directly

2) If the emulator only allows one input config:

2.1) Configure the emulator to use the 4-play controls default.

2.2) Use Vjoy to convert your arcade keyboard controlls to the gamepad 4-play control (http://www.rlauncher.com/wiki/index.php?title=VJoy)

Basically you would be doing the reverse of using a keymapper, but you would be able to keep all analog configures intact.

Edit: I don't know if the info on rlauncher about vjoy is up to date, but it should work as the other keymappers does (xpadder and joytokey). The only different is that it does the oposite, it translate keyboard presses into gamepad presses.

just had the time to digest this. Yes this would allow me to still use nestopia or any other emulator that doesn't allow multiple button maps. Genius! This was my main issue with all this

Blissbox is genius.

Thanks all for the amazing product and support. Rocky start but great success!

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[ulao]

I think we need to put up some you tube videos. If anyone has the wherewith-all to do so and some spare time Some nice youtube's will say all that needs to be said.

[newoski]

Major issues with RetroArch. Sounds like autoconfigs might not work. I'm totally stumped. Our RetroArch goal is to have keyboard mappings (control panel/xpadder) + xinput (Xbox 360) + autoconfig (BlissBox).

From testing, it looks like the autoconfig and xinput maps are conflicting...

Anybody finding solutions?

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[ninja2bceen]

I think vjoy is our solution. I'm going to try it on nestopia in a few

Wait there is something call joy to key. Now trying to figure out which is better

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[ninja2bceen]

I'm going the vjoy method over joy2key primarily because it's all free rather than a paid license

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[ninja2bceen]

Yes vjoy is the solution. Still mapping.. Question.. What are the following used for?

Z axis

Z rotation

Slider

Pov

I think it's for steering wheels but if you could define each that would be great

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[brudibru]

Yes vjoy is the solution. Still mapping.. Question.. What are the following used for?

Z axis

Z rotation

Slider

Pov

I think it's for steering wheels but if you could define each that would be great

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These are also useful for flight or space simulators.

The Point Of View is used to look around you and the slider maybe to control your speed.

The Z rotation could be the rudder and the Z axis may be useful in a game like Elite Dangerous.

[ninja2bceen]

Folks don't forget to calibrate your controller. You can do this in the settings tab on each port

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[ninja2bceen]

I think I found a n64 detection bug but other than that, I'm pretty happy right now. Tomorrow I'm going to get Vjoy running instead of xpadder in hyperspin

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[bleasby]

Yes vjoy is the solution. Still mapping.. Question.. What are the following used for?

Z axis

Z rotation

Slider

Pov

I think it's for steering wheels but if you could define each that would be great

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These depends of your controller.

 

On xbox for example, Z axis is usually the way to acquire the left and right triggers positions.

POV are almost always the up, left, right and down d-pad buttons.

On wii controllers, slider is usually associated with the triggers and Z rotation if I recall correctly is associated on how the controller is tilted in 3D space.

 

You can check that by simply opening the game controller config on windows control panel, and pressing your xbox, playstation or whatever controller buttons and triggers.

[newoski]

I think vjoy is our solution. I'm going to try it on nestopia in a few

Wait there is something call joy to key. Now trying to figure out which is better

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How does vjoy help? Doesn't it translate key presses into joy buttons? How does unhelpful convert BlissBox joy buttons into key presses?

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[ulao]

Z axis

Z rotation

Slider

Pov

 

The Slider and Dial are the Left and Right pressures for GC, DC, psx.

 

Z axis and rotation are the extra analogs. For special stuff. psx uses theses for pressure sensitive buttons. If you read the manual you will see and psx button u,d,l,r,0,x,/\, or [] can be pressure sensitive. The 4-play allows you to set this during play. Also the wii accessory uses these as it needs 6 total analogs. So it uses them all.

 

I'll be looking in to the n64 issue, that is very strange but only one thing could cause that.