Controls Reference

Controls reference

Every button RiptOPL responds to, in one place.

Two settings change what you read below, so check them first if the tables do not match your console:

• Select Button (Settings → Controller Settings) swaps which face button confirms. The tables use Cross = confirm, Circle = back, which is the default everywhere except Japanese consoles, where RiptOPL starts with Circle as confirm to match the regional convention. If Circle is your select button, swap those two everywhere, including the Settings screens.
• Coverflow (Settings → Interface) rotates the navigation axis on the game list. Both layouts are given below.

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Game list

Button	Action
D-pad Up / Down	Move through the game list
D-pad Left / Right	Switch device page (USB, HDD, SMB, Apps, Favorites…)
Cross	Launch the selected game (or go up one folder level, if Circle is your select button)
Circle	Go up one folder level (or launch, if Circle is your select button)
Triangle	Per-game settings for the selected title
Square	Game info page — cover, screenshots, size, disc type
L1 / R1	Previous / next page of the list; both wrap around at the ends
L2	Jump to the first page
R2	Jump to the last page
L3	Cycle this page's library view (PS2 / PS1 / Both / …)
R3	Star or un-star the selected title as a Favorite
Start	Open the main menu
Select	Refresh the current device list

With Coverflow enabled

Coverflow rotates the two navigation axes on the game list — and only there. The info screen and every menu keep the standard layout.

Button	Coverflow off	Coverflow on
Up / Down	Move through the list	Switch device page
Left / Right	Switch device page	Move through the carousel

Every other button is unchanged.

Notes on individual buttons

Triangle adapts to what is selected. On a PS2 title it opens per-game settings; on a PS1 title it opens the VCD menu, which offers Global PS Emulation Settings (straight to the global PS emulation settings page, because the PS2 per-game options do not apply to PS1 games) and Rename; on an entry in Apps it opens the app menu. Folder rows have no settings screen, so Triangle does nothing on them.

Square opens the info page. Folder rows have no info page. On PS1 titles and direct HDD entries the size field is intentionally left blank rather than computed.

R3 does nothing when Favorites is disabled — it never writes silently. On the Favorites page itself, R3 removes the selected entry. See the Favorites docs.

Select / Refresh is also the retry for a device page that failed to populate — a network share that was not up when RiptOPL started, for example. A USB, MX4SIO, iLink, UDPBD or BDM HDD page whose CD and DVD folders both fail to open says so once, naming where it looked and the error number (for example mass0: and 5). It is not retried in the background, so nothing else waits behind it; press Select on that page to scan it again.

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Main menu and dialogs

Menus have two states, and the same buttons do different things in each.

Moving around (nothing is being edited):

Button	Action
Up / Down	Move between lines
Left / Right	Move between controls
Cross	Activate the highlighted control — start editing it
Circle	Back / cancel
Start	Confirm and close

Editing a control (after Cross):

Button	Action
Up / Down	Cycle the value of a list or number
Triangle	Open the on-screen keyboard on a text field
Cross	Accept and stop editing

This is why Up/Down sometimes moves the cursor and sometimes changes a setting: it depends on whether a control is currently being edited.

Settings screens

The settings screens use the configured Select Button setting for confirm and back. If you change the browser's Select Button setting, the settings screens, their save prompt, and the reboot-IOP prompt follow that choice too.

Button	Action
L1 / R1	Move to the previous / next settings screen, keeping what you changed
Configured confirm button	OK
Configured cancel/back button	Back to the Settings index, keeping what you changed

Every way off a settings screen keeps your changes, so flipping pages and backing out behave the same. Nothing is written until you leave Settings: RiptOPL then asks whether to Save, Exit without saving (the changes last until you restart, but are not saved), or Continue editing. A box opened from a settings screen (for example the VCD list options) is not a screen of its own — Circle still cancels that box.

On-screen keyboard

Opened with Triangle from any text field.

Button	Action
D-pad	Move around the key grid (wraps within the row and column)
Select button	Type the highlighted character
Square	Backspace — deletes to the left of the caret
Triangle	Insert a space
Select	Cycle the character set (lower case, upper case, symbols)
L1 / R1	Move the caret left / right
Start	Accept and close
Cancel button	Discard and close

Numeric fields use a separate number pad rather than this keyboard. It works the same way, except that Triangle clears the field there instead of inserting a space.

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In-game

These work inside a running game. Hold all four shoulder buttons, then press the second half.

Hold	Then press	Result
L1 + L2 + R1 + R2	Start + Select	Reset — quit to the PS2 browser, or to the IGR Path ELF
L1 + L2 + R1 + R2	L3 + R3	Power off the console
L1 + L2 + R1 + R2	Up	In-game screenshot (needs GSM on and an IGS-enabled build)

The console's own power button also works: one press powers off, two presses reset.

This is In-Game Reset. It does not apply under the Neutrino core, and it can be turned off per game with compatibility Mode 6. Full detail, including the limitations, is in IGR.md.

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At boot

Hold at boot	Result
Start	Skip loading the config — boot with defaults
Triangle + Cross	Force the menu to 480p progressive (recovery)
Triangle + Circle	Force the menu to Auto, the region's interlaced mode (recovery)

Start — skip the config

Hold Start while RiptOPL boots and it does not read your settings file at all, starting from built-in defaults instead. This is the recovery path for a configuration that hangs or crashes the loader on startup.

Your settings file is not erased — it is only ignored for this boot. But if you then change anything and save, you save the defaults over your old configuration. If you want your settings back, fix the offending option and save; if you want them preserved, do not save while booted this way.

Triangle + Cross — force 480p

Hold both while RiptOPL starts and it ignores the saved video mode, forcing 480p progressive (640×448p60) and writing that back to the config. This is the recovery path for a blank screen after setting a video mode the display cannot sync.

Two things to know: it forces 480p specifically, not Auto — Auto resolves to the region-default interlaced mode, which is exactly what some upscalers fail to sync, so it would leave you no better off. And it affects the RiptOPL menu only, not games; a game that loses the picture needs its GSM override changed instead. Your display and cable must be able to do 480p progressive (component, VGA, or a capable HDMI adapter) for this to help.

Triangle + Circle — force Auto (interlaced)

The recovery for the displays 480p cannot help: a TV that only takes interlaced signals, such as a CRT on composite or S-Video. Hold both while RiptOPL starts and it forces the video mode to Auto, the region's standard interlaced mode (NTSC 640×448i or PAL 640×512i), and writes that back to the config. Like Triangle + Cross, it affects the RiptOPL menu only.

Keeping a new video mode

After you change Video Mode in the settings, RiptOPL asks whether to keep it. To keep it, hold Accept for about 2 seconds: a bar grows along the line at the bottom of the prompt, reaches its right-hand end, and a moment later the mode is kept. A quick tap does nothing. Back, or no answer for 10 seconds, goes back to the previous mode; the prompt counts those seconds down ("Reverting in 7 s"). The count is hidden while you hold Accept, but the 10 seconds keep running: a hold you started always gets to finish, while letting go early after the time is up goes straight back. A mode your TV can't show leaves you looking at a black screen, so pressing buttons blind can't keep it by accident.

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Rumble

RiptOPL can give a short vibration when you move the cursor, confirm, or go back. It is controlled by Controller Vibration in Menus in Settings → Controller Settings.

It needs a DualShock in analog mode — with the analog light off, the controller has no motors available and the setting does nothing. Third-party pads and most adapters vary in whether they report vibration support correctly.

This is menu rumble only, and is independent of in-game vibration, which is the game's business (or PADEMU's, when emulating a pad).

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See also

• IGR.md — In-Game Reset in full
• PADEMU.md — using a DualShock 3/4 in games
• INTERFACE.md — folder browsing, parental lock, audio
• THEME_ENGINE.md — themes can relabel on-screen button prompts

Related guide: Controls.

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Source: docs/CONTROLS.md @ 679582deddf5.