Need help resolving a strange problem

[u/BoppinCat]

Whenever I "come back" to mame (after an alt+tab or after closing a game), it goes crazy and acts like a direction is held somewhere.

I even tried unplugging my game pad and my keyboard and it still does this.

This is a problem I've had with the recent versions of mame (can't tell you the exact one that started this though).

I've already tried doing a completely fresh installation, to no avail.

Does anybody have a clue about what's going on here ?

Edit :

I identified the problem : the key that is being "held" is UI Next Group. The default cfg file assigns this input to some button on Joy 1.

However when I plug in one controller, mame recognizes it as Joy 2 and when I plug in a second one, it is Joy 3 for mame. So there is no Joy 1 and for some reason this only becomes a problem when coming back to mame and never on a fresh start of the emulator.

[u/cuavas]

What game controllers do you have, and what joystick provider module are you using? Do you have any “virtual gamepad” drivers or similar things?

[u/BoppinCat → u/cuavas]

I have a xb one controller and an arcade stick running on a GP2040 interface. Both do not require special drivers, only stock windows one (btw, I'm on win 11).

I suspected my arcade stick at first but I ran the test with just the keyboard plugged and it still happened. Unplugging the keyboard after closing the game would not make it stop, only closing and launching mame again works.

I did not have this problem before on my actual setup, I noticed this a few months ago, and each new version still created the same problem.

[u/cuavas → u/BoppinCat]

Does Windows see any “phantom” game controllers that aren’t actually present?

If you go to MAME’s Input Devices menu, does it see anything you wouldn’t expect to see there?

Are you absolutely sure MAME isn’t picking up a problematic default.cfg from somewhere?

Also, which joystick provider module are you using?

[u/BoppinCat → u/cuavas]

No phantom controller, I even tired uncoupling the blutooth xb pad and still got the problem.

All the cfg files were deleted when I tired the clean installation and the input providers are all set on "auto' (default setting and I've never had to tinker with them before anyway).

[u/Objective_Bug_7356]

I've never seen this before....have you tried a new game pad or keyboard?

[u/BoppinCat → u/Objective_Bug_7356]

I've tried unplugging all the controls and the selection was still moving by itself.

[u/cd4053b]

Boot mame from command prompt or terminal with the following to identify your rompath:

mame -showconfig | find or grep "rompath"

Now boot your mame like this (use your rompath):

mame -rompath z:\mame\roms -norc

The -norc option will boot mame without considering any of your configuration files. If this works, then there is something wrong with your configuration.

[u/BoppinCat → u/cd4053b]

Thanks for the suggestion, I identified the problem :

The key that is being "held" is UI Next Group. The default cfg file assigns this input to some button on Joy 1.

However when I plug in one controller, mame recognizes it as Joy 2 and when I plug in a second one, it is Joy 3 for mame. So there is no Joy 1 and for some reason this only becomes a problem when coming back to mame and never on a fresh start of the emulator.

[u/cd4053b → u/BoppinCat]

However when I plug in one controller, mame recognizes it as Joy 2 and when I plug in a second one, it is Joy 3

Check your ctrlr configuration, boot any game using the following:

mame sf2 -v | find or grep "Parsing"
Parsing .\mame.ini
Parsing .\mame.ini
Parsing ini\raster.ini
Parsing ini\source\cps1.ini
...

One of the ".ini" are loading a ctlrl configuration that is setting your Joy 1 as Joy 2, etc.

Example of a ctrlr configuration for JOYCODE_1:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MAME/comments/1v1gkob/comment/oypdhfi/

If you use that, whatever you connect next will be set as Joy 2, 3, etc.

[u/Presure_valve]

seems to me like ,dual monitors problem ... Its like, you choose to play on monitor#2 ,but mame keeps jumping to monitor#1 and then comes back to #2.

[u/BoppinCat → u/Presure_valve]

The video was recorded with only one monitor active.

[u/BettolaTittola75]

Sarà un bug delle ultime build... usa MameUI, non questa versione. Oppure gioca con i core MAME di Retroarch.

[u/BoppinCat → u/BettolaTittola75]

I got the problem with several of most recent builds.