Feature Request: Custom Keybinds & Hot-Swap Controller Profiles for Tournament Use

[LodeyTTV]

Couple things would be useful to add to the software, the ability to bind inputs like A+B, C+D, A+C and any other keybind in MiSTER in the default commands or a submenu somewhere. Currently the only way I understand this is done is with MGL files, which is too involved for a plug and play solution.

For tournament use, ideally, we want everyone to be able to configure their stick or gamepad once, save their profile under their name, and any subsequent time they plug in the controller, they can load their preset with it and choose whether to be P1 or P2. Additionally, keybinds would be incredibly useful to have when configuring, since certain games utilize these binds like Garou: Mark of the Wolves. Using MGL files would take far too long to make the MiSTER a speedy choice currently, but it does have cycle accurate emulation, so competitively it's more suitable than the current PS4/PC ports of the game.

Anything that can be done to speed up the button check process of this device will make it a perfect option for tournament use, I think user profiles that can be saved under unique names is the answer.

Attached is how Fightcade does it, there's a list of every input, keybinds included, and you just confirm on each choice and the software recognizes your input in that selection. I think this is a great way to do it and is very fast to setup. If profiles can't be done yet, this would be another good option (or both).

thanks!

[sorgelig]

Better to stick with Fightcade then. MiSTer doesn't have such extensive dialogs and menus like Windows and other GUI.

[LodeyTTV]

Thank you for the response, I do have a few points to make regarding the use of Fightcade and why MiSTER is in a unique position to be the replacement option for many older fighting games from the 90s in a tournament setting.

Fightcade unfortunately is not very portable because it requires a full PC setup (and you'd need several), it also isn't arcade perfect; there are emulation bugs, inconsistent framerates, sometimes dropped inputs and sound bugs related to the use of runahead (which is needed to combat the input lag introduced from the kernel layer of Windows).

MiSTER is very portable, much cheaper, and even more importantly, arcade perfect and cycle accurate for these older games that play at a very particular framerate. Since tournaments are held at locals and people fly from out of town to compete, it's not feasible to transport large CRT monitors and/or arcade cabinets to play these games. Mister's small form factor is, in my opinion, the future of retro gaming tournaments, additionally, its plug and play controller support makes it way more accessible than even the NeoGeo home console because you don't need any specialty adapters to use what you want to use.

Even if these dialogs can't be added, just having these keybinds added would be a huge boon to the community.

I've tested quite a few versions of Garou, including the Steam, PS4, Fightcade, Dreamcast, PS2 and Mister (arcade) variants, and I think the Mister is the best option. There was a tournament in Mexico that attempted to use it, but the controller issues slowed everything down and created a lot of problems - I do think, however, with a few tweaks this could be an incredible new meta for locals tournaments that struggle due to the price and portability of older consoles in today's market.

Thanks for reading.

[LodeyTTV]

I wanted to leave the thoughts of my friend who used MiSTER in a tournament, this is what he said:

"Maybe something called "Tournament mode":

• if you connect two identical controllers, it doesn't read them. Happened when 2 Brook Universal Fighting boards were connected.
• you cannot unmap previously mapped buttons. Some player mapped their controllers but couldn't unmap them aftwerwards to leave, for example, a button blank.
• you have to map buttons every time for each new connected controller... would be cool to save each controller and its configurations and of course the ability to delete all of the saved controllers.
• maybe more hotkeys. In case some players would want to map other macros configurations"