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Controls

Muse edited this page Oct 19, 2026 · 17 revisions

Controls

Every button RiptOPL responds to, in one place — the game list, the menus, inside a running game, and at boot.

Two settings change what you read below

Select Button (Settings → Controller Settings) swaps which face button confirms. The tables use Cross = confirm, Circle = back as a reference layout. Fresh RiptOPL settings use Circle to confirm; saved preferences override that. Swap the two in these tables when Circle is selected, including on Settings screens, and follow the on-screen hints.
Coverflow and PSBBN Flow (Settings → Interface → Theme) rotate the navigation axis on the game list. Both layouts are given below.

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 or PSBBN Flow selected

Both flow themes rotate the two navigation axes on the game list — and only there. The info screen and every menu keep the standard layout.

Button List theme, such as <OPL> Coverflow / PSBBN Flow
Up / Down Move through the list Switch device page
Left / Right Switch device page Move through the carousel

Every other button is unchanged, including R3 = toggle Favorite. Choose PSBBN Flow in the Theme picker; R3 does not switch displays. See Coverflow.

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.

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. See Troubleshooting for what the number means.

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

Why Up/Down does two different things

It moves the cursor when nothing is being edited, and changes a setting once a control is active. That is one control state, not two different bindings.

Settings screens

Settings follow the Select Button setting

The settings screens, their save prompt, and the reboot-IOP prompt use the configured Select Button for confirm and back. Changing the browser's Select Button setting changes these screens too.

Button Action
L1 / R1 Move to the previous / next settings screen
Configured confirm button OK
Configured cancel/back button Back to the Settings index, keeping changes in RAM

See the Settings Reference for what each screen contains.

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 different pad

Number entry uses 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.

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 on that page.

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. See Troubleshooting.

Your settings are ignored, not erased — but do not save

The settings file is left alone for this boot. If you then change anything and save, you save the defaults over your old configuration. To keep your settings, fix the offending option and save; to preserve them untouched, 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 about the recovery combo

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. See Troubleshooting.

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 until the bar under it fills (about 2 seconds). 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.

Why a hold, not a tap

A mode your TV can't show leaves you looking at a black screen, and the natural thing to do then is press buttons. A tap used to keep the mode, the next save wrote it to your settings, and every boot came up black. A hold can't happen by accident.

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).

Detailed reference: Controls reference.


Source: controls.html @ 00e273e37093. Read on the documentation website.

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