Control backlight brightness everywhere!

[cjv123]

hey,I wrote some code
It allows gameshell to control the brightness everywhere

zfteam/gameshell_backlight_hotkey

[Petrakis]

Thats nice! It was annoying sometimes to have to go back to the menu.

[podmaz]

Can you help me?
After command “sudo pip install select” comes:
Collecting select
Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement select (from versions: )
No matching distribution found for select
I igored it and finished everything to the end. And now backlight is controllable but screen not showing picture, just baclight and black screen. And GS is still running, I still can have an access through ssh
Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance)

Got it! I havent entered whole line of code into “rc.local” - “nohup python /home/cpi/launcher/sys.py/backlight_hotkey.py &”

[Cecilectomy]

I can see this being a problem playing games that use L (LK1) + R (LK5), which if you aren’t using the lightkey module you use Shift+A and Shift+B for L and R. Maybe Shift+X and Shift+Y are a better options since those map to L2 (LK2) and R2 (LK4), which not a lot of games (other than some ps1 games) will likely use.

[retrogamemonkey]

I think shift+X and Shift+Y make sense to me. I’d love a script like this for the volume control as well, using Shift+Select and Shift+start

[retrogamemonkey]

Or even shift+UP and shift+DOWN that way you’re not compromising any face buttons.

[podmaz]

It would be very nice if we can have instruction of some kind of how to make different mapping. I don’t think that “select” is good button for this purpose. Shift + up/down and shift + Left/right could be so much better.

[javelinface]

You would probably need program it into the Arduino keyboard.

[Tutorial] How to compile and upload code to the keypad

I decided to change the buttons layout of my cpi, from XY AB to AB XY because I felt more confortable that way and the thumb is in a better resting position, also I am really used to a Gameboy Color position [image] And found out that there is a bit of lack of information at plain sight (There is information, but you need to check the schematics) so I decided to make this guide to save you time for such a straightforward task that took me longer than I expected. First things first. If we don…

The shift key changes the function of all the keys, besides the D-Pad to a different key.
Not necessarily the same as a shift, but more a function key.

If you remap the d-pad to have a secondary binding while holding shift, it would be possible.
Although that would also mean having to lose functionality of one of the other bound keys.

As it is now, the brightness adjust is just recognising two keys being pushed simultaneously.

Also, I would personally have a lot more trouble pushing Shift and the d-pad being both on the same side. So far, I haven’t had any games with any input conflicts. Has there been any for you, or any reasons for not liking it as Select + D-Pad?

[podmaz]

@javelinface
Thanks! It is not like I have a problem with input conflicts. I just like order and the fact that with this script I have 2 ways to change volume is strange for me:)

[javelinface]

Ah, I see. Well I guess it’s community contributed lines of code. For contiguity, you could choose to omit it. On the other hand, the controls given are very similar to the option keys required for the gameboy micro to adjust brightness. (Select+L+dpad)

At the end of the day, shift plus select start is essentially just pushing the -/+ key. Pushing select(Space) + dpad is a hook to run a command to adjust the volume. I suppose it would be possible to change the hook to simply +/- for sound, but that would leave us without a key for brightness.

The volume adjustment in retroarch is binding the -/+ key to lower the volume within the program. (I dont believe there is a setting for binding a key to brightness) However, if you say, set the volume in the global launcher to something ludicrously low, no matter how much you change the volume using shift and select/start, you won’t get any increase in volume.

If however you use the newly introduced hot key, select + d-pad, this adjust the global volume; thus allowing you to have an initial volume for retroarch to work with.

A lot of other programs don’t have the ability to assign a hot key to the volume key, unlike the retroarch wrapper. As a result, the only way to have a way to adjust the volume is to have a hook to adjust the volume from the launcher.

So yeah. I haven’t tried it, but try editing the script you used to have the key -/+ replace the inputs of space+Dpad down/up. Give that a shot, and tell us how you go!

[podmaz]

I decided to slightly modify the current script and now I have select + up brightness up instead of brightness down.

[javelinface]

Nice! Did you manage to change the hook to -/+ instead of space+left/right?

For those wanting to know how it was done, there’s mention of it, along with changing how much the volume changes by here. Might almost be worth merging these threads.

How to add volume control in stand alone emulators

There’s no big change ! Look there : The script enables you to control volume via select + left/right and brightness via select + up/down everywhere. I personnally changed the values of amount volume modification to 4 because 20 is too much. And I also inverted the brightnessTool.Further() and brightnessTool.StepBack() , so select+up increase and select+down decrease brightness.

[podmaz]

@javelinface

Did you manage to change the hook to -/+ instead of space+left/right?

No, I’m noob in programming. Just reversed up and down. It was strange that brightness up is select + down

[javelinface]

Ah fair enough. It should be fairly similar to what you already did.

Have a look at this. It’s for pico-8, but it should be fairly similar if you change the process path to whatever app you’re using. Otherwise, the syntax is there to modify the existing code.

https://gist.github.com/follower46/69cdc41d9dc09cf9fe97b48ec4036158#file-pico-8-volume-py

[Rebusmind]

So far, I haven’t had any games with any input conflicts.

The first game I ran for testing purposes was Adventures of Lolo, which kills you everytime you press Select.

I don’t really need functionality to change the brightness, so I would also like a Shift + ‘+’/‘-’ combination, but I’m also a coding noob. ^^’

[javelinface]

Re: adventures of lolo, if you’re using an emulator core within retroarch (NES), you should be able to have a binding to -/+ set to change the volume. It should be set to that by default.

Alternatively, you could go to the retroarch menu (shift+menu) and then adjust your volume/brightness from there.

[Rebusmind]

I’m using standalone emulators where I can (as they perform a lot better), but Adventures of Lolo was just a test and as you mentioned I can just go into the emulator menu and change the volume there. ^^

[javelinface]

Oh interesting! Performing better, re: frame rate, accuracy (video/sound) or something else? Given how simplistic NES is, I’ve always liked using the extra processing power for filters and the like, offered by retroarch.
If it’s a trade off for having an in game volume control that doesn’t require using the select key, and death in a game, I’m curious as to what it is and which standalone emulator you’re using.

[Rebusmind]

I’m using the different standalone emulators that were posted here (PocketSNES, gpsp, ohboy, pcsx rearmed, picodrive), mostly because the sound is not choppy and the framerate better.

[javelinface]

Aha so not NES. Gotcha. I was wondering - and hoping it was for 1:1 sound emulation in castlevania 3 JP!

That’s my next project.