[Atari800-users] Map PC keyboard keys to 5200 controller buttons

[SuperCopy E. <sup...@ya...>]

Hi all,

I've read throught the docs, forum and web site, but
haven't found a clear answer to a few questions
regarding the Atari 5200 joystick.

1) That joystick had 2 "fire" buttons and a keypad.
When I run Atari800 in 5200 mode, it only lets me
configure directional buttons and 1 fire button (via
keysets A and B). How can I remap some of my
(physical) keyboard's other keys to the other
(emulated) fire button and keypad buttons?

2) When I configure the emulator to use the (physical)
joystick, the (physical) keyboard does not respond so
well. In this configuration, for most 5200 games the
right Ctrl key and the Shift key are the fire buttons,
but they don't always "fire" when pressed. The fire
button on the (physical) joystick works more
consistently. Of course, the problem is that button 2
on the (physical) joystick is not mapped to "fire"
button 2 of the (emulated) 5200 joystick, so I was
hoping to rely on using (physical) joystick and
(physical) keyboard simultaneously.

3) The "docs\usage" file says that for SDL builds, you
can remap (physical) keyboard keys to (emulated)
joystick buttons. It mentions settings that begin with
"SDL_JOY_" for the ".atari800.cfg" file. It then says
"see the FAQ", and the "docs\FAQ" has no relevant
info.

4) Is what I'm asking about relevant to this feature
request...
    [ 1145802 ] map keyboard keys to joystick
?

My understanding is that all this confusion seems to
stem from the fact that the Atari 400/800/etc. home
computers used a digital joystick with only one single
fire button (same as that of Atari 2600), whereas the
5200 had a much more complex analog controller. Looks
like we only have provisions to emulate the simpler
controller. (?)

I am using:
Atari800 2.0.3 WinDX (it's SDL right?)
NT 5.0 SP4, aka W2K
DirectX 9.0c
Analog 2-button joystick via legacy game port

Thanks for any help and clarifications!

Super Copy


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