How to Setup MiSTer FPGA for 2 Players on X-Arcade TankStick Xinput mode f

OleSchool Gamers have put together a helpful video for setting up X-Arcade Tankstick with a ZEROLAG/TRIMODE Mode for Mister FPGA.

Please note you can follow these instructions for any X-Arcade or Machine ever produced that has a Zerolag/Trimode board with XINPUT support.

Source article: <https://support.xgaming.com/support/solutions/articles/12000078077-how-to-setup-mister-fpga-for-2-players-on-x-arcade-tankstick-xinput-mode-f>

MiSTer Pi: button registers in mapping but not gameplay

This is a separate keyboard-mapping case, not evidence that every Tankstick board supports XInput or that the two-player XInput instructions above apply to keyboard mode.

A Tankstick customer's player-two bottom-right fighting-game button worked in a PC input test and registered in the MiSTer Pi mapping menu, but did nothing during gameplay. The customer reported fixing the issue by remapping that input from the keyboard character [ to K; support acknowledged the result. The exact Tankstick board revision, MiSTer core and layer where the remap was made were not recorded, so do not present K as a mandatory mapping for all cores or prescribe a firmware/reset procedure from this example.

  1. Record the exact controller revision, input mode, affected player/button and MiSTer core/game. Test the affected input on a PC using the tester appropriate to its actual mode.
  2. If the input works on the PC and in the MiSTer mapping menu but not during play, review that core/game's active mapping and the actual keyboard input received before opening hardware or replacing a microswitch. Save current mappings before changing them.
  3. In the same keyboard-mapping symptom branch, compare the affected [ assignment with an unused supported key such as the successful case's K, using the actual core/controller mapping controls. Do not guess an undocumented button combination or transfer this keyboard remedy to XInput.
  4. Retest the button during gameplay, not just in the mapping menu, and verify the other player's controls still work. If it fails, report the core/game, mode, original and replacement assignments, PC test and menu/game discrepancy to support.

A passing PC test does not prove every controller function is sound, but it is a reason to investigate mapping before declaring this particular switch dead. Do not repeat an already-passing hardware test or claim a universal MiSTer defect from this one confirmed result.