Arcade Controls problem - Trackball, Spinners

[orion1052003]

I have a Slikstik Arcade Cabinet (new materials, put it together yourself like a bookshelf) with a fairly large control panel. I've had it for a long time, but never managed to get the controls to work properly. I was wondering if anybody had good suggestions on how to get the controls to work. Such things as trackballs, spinners, even joysticks.

 

The problem with the trackball is that it seems to make a huge, squarish shape when you try to use it.

 

The spinner seems too fast, like you can't increment one move at a time in Tempest, or seem to "fine tune" your movement.

 

The joysticks seem very stiff, and you feel like you can't play like you would on a "normal" arcade machine.

 

It seems hard to map the keyboard, and some buttons won't map so far. I have side pinball buttons that don't show up or change.

 

Some solutions were to mess with settings. MacMame settings such as analog controls, general settings, and settings for the individual game.

The OS mouse speed settings, (trackball), keyboard settings, etc. Another was to get a powered USB hub instead of one that just powers from USB, in case the cheap hub can't handle all those devices. I bought a powered USB hub, and messed with OS and MacMAME settings. The trackball moves the cursor a little faster now, and that is good, but you still can't make small circles, and the spinners seem worse.

 

Does anybody know the default MAME analog control settings?

 

I am using an old Intel MacMini with MacMame and I believe OSX 10.4. I tried updating to latest OS and couldn't get panel to work with new arcade emulators, so I actually switched back down to 10.4. I have a mac keyboard plugged in on one USB port, and a USB hub plugged into another port. All 4 ports in the hub are taken up by the arcade controls. I believe it is 1 wire for the trackball, 2 for 2 spinners, and the last one for an I-PAC.

 

The OS says it doesn't recognize the mouse, and none is installed. However, the trackball still moves the cursor and the ball still lights up. ( I only use the trackball for a mouse, no actual mouse is connected ) Maybe there is some kind of keyboard mapping/mouse/cursor/controller conflict going on here. Maybe the computer is confused with what is doing what.

 

 

[Cynicaster]

Ditch the Mac and put an old PC in there. Unless the controls themselves are busted, I guarantee this will get you up an running in a jiffy. Not only that, but a lot more people use PC's for MAME, so it's a lot easier to find help on the internet.

 

Good luck

[orion1052003]

I always get these 'switch to windows' responses, but I'm looking for help on how to get things running with what I've got here. Mac runs emulators fine, and emulators are always confusing, glitching, technical, and complicated when you try to set up a bunch of stuff with them.

[Cynicaster]

It seems to me that if the Mac were running emulators fine, this thread wouldn't exist.

 

The reason you always get the "switch to PC" answer is because it's an obvious answer to get you up and running with next to no investment of time or money, which most people are going to assume is the goal.

 

Bottom line is, you can either spend all kinds of time being frustrated, pulling your hair out, cursing, swearing, and researching online, or you can spend the equivalent of a few McDonald's happy meals on a beater PC and be doing the Donkey Kong in a matter of minutes.

 

Anyway, best of luck

[ToddUGA]

Change the polling rate...

ftp://ftp.apple.com/developer/Tool_Chest/Testing_-_Debugging/Hardware_tools/

 

 

Hmmmm...link is no longer working. Do a search for USB Prober for OS X and adjust your polling rate. Should do the trick.

Edited August 6, 2014 by ToddUGA

[+wongojack]

Regarding MAME analog settings, I usually set the TB sensitivity per game, but I end up jacking it up waaaay above the default. I want that ball to move the dot on screen as fast as possible. That doesn't seem to be your specific problem though. Sounds like It might help to decrease sensitivity for the spinner.

[orion1052003]

I speculate that this thread would still exist, but it would be easier to find help since PC is more common than Mac. It seems like emulators are always screwy and complicated. What makes you feel like I'd have no trouble in Windows? In your experience, has it been easy and glitch-free in PC? Usually when I do things in PC, in my experience, it seems so much more complicated and tedious than in Mac.

 

I don't see USB prober for 10.4. I downloaded the Snow Leopard USB prober, but I actually downgraded from Snow leopard because the trackball would not light up or automatically run the mouse like in 10.4. Today, an even worse thing happened. While playing Robocop, the screen went blank, and the trackball light went off. The LED TV acting as a monitor read 'no signal'. I turned off the MacMini, turned it on and booted. Everything worked again for about a minute, and the screen went blank again. Overheating? Never had any problems until now. Nothing outwardly has changed but just put in the powered USB 3.0 hub. The old hub was non-powered and probably USB one. I think the MacMini is USB 1 or 2. Could the powered USB hub cause a voltage issue and fry something? It seems like it should be just the opposite.

[Cynicaster]

I speculate that this thread would still exist, but it would be easier to find help since PC is more common than Mac. It seems like emulators are always screwy and complicated. What makes you feel like I'd have no trouble in Windows? In your experience, has it been easy and glitch-free in PC?

Yes, easy and glitch free would be a good way for me to describe my MAME experience on PC.

 

- get MAME and "matched" ROM set that goes with that version of MAME (very important)

- type mame "romname.zip" in command line

- play games

 

Once MAME starts, some one-time configurations might need to be made via the "tab" menu, but they're all very self-explanatory.

 

Command lines give you the heeby-jeebies? Just download "MAMEUI" instead, which does all the same things but runs with a built-in graphical user interface, complete with menus and ROM sorting functions. Honestly, I don't know how a free piece of software so broad in its emulation scope could possibly be easier and more trouble free to use than this.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Cynicaster

[orion1052003]

A friend of mine has a PC and said not to fork out the money for another computer. He had problems getting it to work with controllers as well. My problem with the MacMini seems to be that it does not recognize the keyboard or the "mouse". However, the keyboard and trackball (mouse) still work, leading me to thinkit is some type of driver issue. Are there special drivers for trackballs, spinners, and such that need to be downloaded?

 

When I upgraded the MAC OS from 10.4 to Snow Leopard, the OS said the same message about not recognizing the keyboard, only this time the trackball did not light up or control the cursor. I downgraded back down to 10.4.

[orion1052003]

Anybody have anything to add to this? Especially the encoders part…..How to resolve a hardware conflict?

I'm trying to respond to everybody in one long response, since I don't have the internet. Sorry for the delay, and thanks for the feedback. I posted a video, I should have recorded the screen earlier to record what happened when I attempted to upgrade to OSX 10.6 and then to LION. It appears that I could have upgraded to LION if I had an internet connection, and I don't like how it seems to force you, it should let you update straight from the disc like it always did before.

Did you try running ROM audits for both SDLMAME and MAME OS X? Unlike MacMAME, those games won't appear without a ROM audit. Also, ROMs for MAME OS X must be put in the Application Support folder in the Library folder in the account thats running MAME OS X.

I'm not 100% certain I did the audits correctly, but I tried to. What I remember doing was getting SDLMAME to run but only 3 games, including Galaga, appeared in my list of available games. When trying MAME OSX I moved my ROMS folder again to the folder or path the program wanted it to be. At least I think I did. I thought the ROMS had to be in the same folder as the application file. I'm not 100% if the ROMS folder was in the path Library-Application Support, but it sounds familiar. I ran the audit both with the ROMS folder and without the ROMS folder. I tried putting an alias to it instead so I wouldn't have to move the folder around. There was a big list of games with MAME OSX, but the "playable" games list came up as zero. I tried the audit a few times, came back in a half hour, and it must have been finished, no games in the list. I think I even tried auditing without the folder in the right place at first, and it seemed like it audited for awhile even though nothing was there. Is that correct? Will MAME OSX attempt a lengthy audit with no folder in the right place? Or an empty folder? Not sure if that happened.

The ROMS are from around 2006, so if they must be newer to work, that could explain it. I don't get why the same old ROMS would need to be updated over and over. I thought the software gets updated to better play the unchanging ROM files. I'm sure someone on this board can explain this and understands about this topic.

I am wondering how to change the joystick settings from 4-way to 8-way, or even find out if the hardware I have has the option. Often in "Mario"-like games you need the left or right upper diagonal. I notice playing street fighter I can jump straight up, but not towards the opponent.

I think I figured out how to "change the buttons" but not the mapping. Meaning I can change the MAME interface to match what the arcade controls are already mapped to, but I can't change the arcade controls to MAME defaults. The keyboard is also changed from MAME defaults to the same odd keys as the arcade controls. In the video it shows that the arcade buttons make certain letters and such in a text editor. A response that probably explains it was this:

I looks like you have 4 different encoders connected.

Your ipac is one, each spinner has one, and your trackball has one.

Your ipac is reported to your o/s as a keyboard and each spinner and mice are reported as separate mice.

Your o/s thinks that you have 1 keyboard and 3 mice connected to a single usb port which may be causing a hardware conflict.

I am wondering, Is it normal for the computer to think of a trackball and spinners as mice, as if the controls are "emulated" as mice, or should the computer know that it is a trackball and 2 spinners rather than see them as 3 mice? Since my keyboard always comes up as unrecognized, that supports the idea of a hardware conflict. However, I can press buttons and use several of them. If the computer thinks the trackball and spinners are mice that could explain why the controls do not seem quite right when playing Tempest, Quantum, and kind of hard to control in Marble Madness. If I remember correctly, I tried plugging in the USB encoders directly without the hub, or one with the hub, and they were unrecognized. So, I put it back to the previous configuration with the hub. Would the only way to fix this problem be to buy a powered USB hub and see if it is automatically corrected, or do I just need to change some settings?

Could the IPacs or whatever is in the control box be at fault?

I was pretty excited just to be able to play 2 button games with a joystick now. It seems silly to downgrade back to OSX 10.4, but at least something works. I would like to upgrade to LION and run the latest software, especially if it is better. MacMAME, MESS, and other emulation was about the sole purpose of this old MacMini other than playing a little music.

How do you get the coin door to interface with the computer and MACMAME?

To do what? Register coins being inserted?

In much the same way as arcade controls work, they simply momentarily make an electrical connection that's passed to the computer using an interface like an iPac. The coin mech would do the same. Map it to 5 or 6 in MAME.

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I mean how do you connect the coin door to the computer to register coins? I know you need wires, but I have no idea which ones, where to buy them, etc. I'm wondering how these would connect to lights behind the coin slot. And, are LED coin slot lights the best? Usually they are red, correct? Has anyone tried an LED backlight for a marquee? Was it too dim? Do you guys use a metal arcade coin box, or a cheap plastic tupperware for the coins dropping into the machine?

f the trackball and spinner controls seem to operate sluggish, is that likely due to poor keyboard mapping or something wrong with the controls?

Poor keyboard mapping usually has more obvious consequences like machine freezes or resets.