Freeplay Zero Build - thoughts and questions

[Flavor]

I'll try to quickly address each of these. Please don't be afraid to re-iterate anything that you're still having issues with. In fact, I really appreciate that you're going by the documentation here, because it really helps to solidify that. Many people watch the videos only, and (of course) that information is really hard to update/edit.

[*]Each time I remove the batteries, I tug at the connector and am worried the wires will come out eventually. This is not a common case except initially when I need to make a lot of adjustments.

This is actually something we've discussed adding to the build doc, but I guess I never actually got it in there. Those battery connections are actually very solid. It also makes them difficult to disconnect. There are two (square IIRC) "bumps" on the top of the battery portion of the plug. They pop into place in the receptacle. You can actually shave them off with your X-Acto or wire cutter. Because of how the batteries fit on the compartment, there's not really any danger of these coming accidentally unplugged, so shaving these won't negatively affect anything. It'll just make it much easier to unplug.

[*]I should have gotten a tri-wing aka Y screwdriver. Right now my case is only held on with two Phiips. My own fault

Yes. This should be in the tools section. Many of the shells I've seen come with the tri-wing, but many don't. This is an oversight on my part. Thanks for mentioning it!

[*]I really am curious what the controller config file looks like and where it's located. I want to understand the button configuration.

There are actually 2 main ones.
"/opt/retropie/configs/all/retroarch-joypads/GPIO Controller 1.cfg"
"/opt/retropie/configs/all/emulationstation/es_input.cfg"

You can see a version of the Freeplay Zero cfgs here: https://github.com/TheFlav/Freeplay-Support
I have since made one minor change to the exit hotkey, IIRC (changed from HKY+SELECT to HKY+START).

If you want more in-depth info about either/both of these, just ask.

[*]Even when I don't use the hotkey, I am able to press start and select to exit roms. Since my power button locks into place, the only way I use it is to slide it on until I see the green light (then i slide it off), to boot. Or I slide it on so it executes the setup script, then I slide it off and it shuts everything down. I know the meat of the functionality is to use it as a hotkey but I don't understand how this is advantageous over using the normal hotkey (select). Pressing select R Shoulder to  save is a lot easier than toggling power, then R shoulder. Also since my switch is not momentary, I am not sure if the hotkey functionality is even working. I tried all the combinations using select as the hotkey and it works fine. I must be missing something with power as a hotkey.

If you re-defined a controller, you may not have defined a hotkey. If you didn't, then I think START+SELECT is the default for exiting. Also, the emulators that are named something like lr-systemname are built specifically for libretro. Those ones will use the libretro button configs. Other emulators (non-lr ones) will use their own defined (maybe compiled-in) button mappings. These non-lr emulators often just default to START+SELECT to exit. If I recall, offhand, the version of fba that's often used isn't a lr-emulator (even though there is a lr-fbalpha). That defaults to START+SELECT to exit even if you have a hotkey defined in RetroPie.
See https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Arcade

For cutting the nub off the power switch, see here. You only need to take the back off the FPZ to get access to it. You can keep the front of the shell connected to the PCB.
https://youtu.be/V4rKXcX7Iu8?t=50m30s

You can feel free to set the hotkey to anything you want. If you want to set it to the PWR button, you need to hit the PWR button twice (in the controller setup). The first time toggles the PWR button's special hotkey mode, and the second press basically just gives the system HOTKEY by itself. Otherwise, if you tap the PWR button and then SELECT (just as an example), it would give the system (PWR+SELECT). I know it's not intuitive, but it works well.

And why is it this way at all? The problem I kept encountering has to do with the GBA button layout. START+SELECT is actually quite good to exit emulators. EXCEPT in any game that uses either key during heated gameplay. There was a game that I was playing that required you to hit START during tense gameplay. Too often, I'd accidentally hit START+SELECT and just exit the game (without saving of course). It was quite maddening.

If that's not an issue for you, then go ahead and set up SELECT as your hotkey. It could work just fine for you.

I find that PWR works well as a hotkey, BUT if you have that nub on your PWR plastic, it's a terrible hotkey.

[*]My dpad is really sticky and unreliable. Sometimes I press left and down gets stuck and it starts scrolling the menu. I know this is not related to the FPZ thought it might be based on tolerances, position of the board etc. I got the buttons and rubber pad from Retro Modding. Are there different versions of the pad and button? Have you seen this issue in your FPZ or Game Pi Advance builds?

I really think this isn't an issue with the PCB, but there's a chance that it is. If there were something sticky on the DPAD area of the PCB, that could definitely be a problem. What might be sticky? Is there a chance some of your hot glue ended up there? During soldering, sometimes flux can get on the board. I don't think we used the sticky kind on these boards, though.

What I might guess that it could be is how the rubber/plastic of the DPAD went together. I wonder if something isn't working quite right. Is is possible that the plastic of the DPAD has some little burr on it? The plastic (that your thumb presses on) should have a middle that goes through the rubber. If this isn't correct, it might not actuate properly.

Also, the rubber portion has 2 holes in its perimeter. They are meant to pop over 2 plastic posts of the shell. If they don't, the rubber pad could be out of place.

Google just popped up this result for me.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/improving-a-...ad.468162/
It not only shows some nice photos, but it talks about improving a mushy dpad. It seems rather worth a try for you.

What else should we talk about (maybe tomorrow)?