RARusk

And this is why you should never have multiplayer Achievements. The servers go down for good and they will be permanently unobtainable.

So an adjustable encoder (either mechanical or optical) isn't possible then. It was an interesting question to ask at least. And, based on what you said earlier Tyrant, 36 detents would be considered the "sweet spot" in regards to mechanical encoders, yes? If that is the case is there a way to find out what the optical equivalent of that would be? That way one could look for a specific kind of optical encoder that would fall into the "sweet spot" and you wouldn't have as much of a sensitivity issue. I was also doing some surfing around on the subject of T2K and encoders and found a couple of interesting things: First was this: This is a Powermate Jogwheel for computers. Somebody mentioned using this for MAME. But, with some rewiring (removing the USB cable and putting in another cable), this could be useful, and cool, for the Jag. Second, somebody managed to make a rotary encoder for the PlayStation version of "Tempest". Interesting idea but I would rather prefer to use a PS1 mouse as an interface and use my rotary setup instead. I think I already have a PS1 mouse but I should find another just to hack up for this purpose.

Yeah, opticals tend to be a bit sensitive. But I wonder, does anybody make an optical encoder with removable spoke wheels which would allow you to basically adjust their sensitivity? I don't think I've seen any but would be nice if they exist. One day I would like to try my hand at making a full scale arcade controller for T2K using either a Slik-Stik or an actual Tempest rotary controller if I am lucky to score one.

Didn't know you could do this. Thanks for the info. I'll wait a bit to let more useful information come forth before I go and revise the post.

Well, this topic was designed as a "one stop area" for information about this subject starting with my own knowledge and experiences with this with others adding new information and correcting errors. Since my focus was on optical encoders my knowledge on mechanical units was minimal and based on my limited experiences with them. As for hooking up the optical encoder I did not bypass any resistor or diode in the joypad. Even though I do have some degree of technical knowledge I didn't realize that I was locking down a column which was causing the problems. As for "Bugs", you're probably right in that it should've been called something else but it was the first thing that came to mind when I wrote this and I went with it. I do appreciate the feedback and would like to see this topic grow with additional information, especially on mechanical encoders and other electronic info. Unfortunately I am not able to go back and edit my initial post with this new information and corrections. One idea that just came to mind is that if enough information is put forth then I could put it together into a text document and host it at GameFAQs just like all of my other guides and link it back here. At least with a text document I could easily revise and improve upon it at a moments notice.

Objective The objective of this topic is to bring together information regarding rotary encoder usage for the game "Tempest 2000" (Atari Jaguar). Although the game is nearly twenty years old it is still considered one of the best home versions of the popular arcade game "Tempest" and usage of rotary encoders is the best way to truly replicate the arcade experience at home. This topic can also be used to bring together new information on encoders as well as chips that can be used as clean-up circuits for optical units. This topic can also be used to show off homebrew encoder setups, like mine for example: A Brief History During the late stages of development the programmer, Jeff Minter, was approached by someone from Atari who told him to make an Atari 2600 style paddle controller work with "Tempest 2000". He did make it work but it was so late in the development cycle that he did not have a chance to fine tune the programming. He did, however, leave the code in the game but made it accessible through a secret menu. Activation and Implementation To activate the option to use a rotary encoder you need to hook up two joypads to the Jaguar. Then you need to go the Options Menu and press Pause on both Joypad 1 and 2 at the same time. A new option, called Controller Type, should now appear. This will allow you to choose between using a joypad or rotary controller. When playing with a rotary controller you also need to use a Joypad in the opposite Joyport. The Joypad is used for the following: --Selecting choices in the Options Menu. --Navigation in the ring-based bonus stage. --Selecting your initials when achieving a high score. Quadrature Signals What Minter did was to allow the game to accept quadrature signals. A simplistic explanation: The rotary encoder outputs two square wave signals (called A and B) that are 90 degrees out of phase (hence the term quadrature). In software, these signals are compared to a table to determine direction. How fast the signals change determines speed. Joypad Schematic You cannot just hook up an encoder to the Jaguar - you need to interface it with a joypad first. Although one could make a custom PCB most people find it easier to just hack a plug into an existing joypad. The Jaguar's joypad uses what could be called a grid system. When a button is pressed two of the lines "light up" which tells the Jaguar which button is being pressed. This is a gross oversimplification and may not be totally accurate but it is the easiest way to visualize how the joypad works. In addition, the joypad uses what is known as "negative logic". Normally, when you close a switch, a line can go HIGH. In the Jaguar, however, everything is already considered HIGH so, when you close a switch, both intersecting lines go LOW - reverse of what happens in most joypads. For the sake of this topic I am focusing on Padport 4 (column for Left/Right), Padport 11 (row for Right), and Padport 12 (row for Left). Mechanical Encoder Hookup A definition of a mechanical encoder (from WikiPedia): "A metal disc containing a set of concentric rings of openings is fixed to an insulating disc, which is rigidly fixed to the shaft. A row of sliding contacts is fixed to a stationary object so that each contact wipes against the metal disc at a different distance from the shaft. As the disc rotates with the shaft, some of the contacts touch metal, while others fall in the gaps where the metal has been cut out. The metal sheet is connected to a source of electric current, and each contact is connected to a separate electrical sensor." These types of encoders have three connectors; A, B, Common/Ground. Common is usually the center connector. Hooking up one of these encoders to the joypad is pretty easy. The left connector (A) goes to to Padport 12, the right connector (B) goes to Padport 11, and center (Common) goes to Padport 4. Note how Common is not used here. When looking at the grid you can see that Padport 4 is "common" to both Padport 11 and 12. So hooking up Padport 4 to the center connector allows this type of encoder to work. One downside to using this type of encoder is that, because of the physical contact inside the unit, the feel is not as smooth and that it can wear out faster than an optical based unit. Another downside is that many mechanical encoders do not have the resolution to allow for proper play. Low resolutions (detents) means that your shooter will move slowly around the playfield and you will have to spin the encoder much faster to compensate. However, depending on manufacturer, you can acquire mechanical encoders with a high number of detents thus providing good enough resolution for comfortable play. Optical Encoder Hookup A definition of an optical encoder (from WikiPedia): "The optical encoder's disc is made of glass or plastic with transparent and opaque areas. A light source and photo detector array reads the optical pattern that results from the disc's position at any one time." Because there is no physical contact necessary to create the quadrature signals an optical encoder has much more smoothness in feel and responsiveness than a mechanical encoder. It is, however, a little tougher to hook up to the Jaguar, especially if the encoder is taken from another device like a game controller or editing board. For starters, an optical encoder needs voltage and ground to operate. Thankfully, the Jaguar has the right voltage, +5VDC, to run the encoder. Some optical encoders have A and B channels marked. But, if taken from another device, you will have to poke around the encoder circuitry. Thankfully, you can get the signals, as well as find ground and voltage, at the connector that connects the encoder with the rest of the device it was taken from. However, there are usually several pins on the connector and you will have to find which ones are the A and B channels. As for finding A and B you can hook up the voltage and ground to the encoder and use a multimeter to find the signals, which should alternate between five volts and zero, when the encoder is gently turned. Another method, if you do not have access to a multimeter, is to connect a wire to either Padport 11 or 12 and place it on one of the connectors, start up a game in T2K, and gently spin the encoder. If the shooter twitches in place then you have found one of the channels. If not then move the wire to another pin and twist the encoder again. Once both channels have been found then hook them both up and spin the encoder while playing a game of T2K to make sure that the shooter moves in the correct direction. If the shooter moves in the reverse direction of your spin then you need to switch wires. It should be noted that, as an interesting design choice (which would also apply to mechanical encoders too), you could put in a switch that would reverse A and B. This would make an interesting challenge by basically playing the game backwards. It is very important to note that you cannot hook up Padport 4 to the encoder. The game won't work if you try to hook up Padport 4 to anything on it. Even though you can't use Padport 4 the game will still work with the encoder once A and B are properly hooked up. One negative to using an optical encoder - most of them usually have just a little too much resolution. When in the main menu of the game barely touching the encoder will cause the cursor to go rapidly up and down the list. But, in general gameplay, the encoder operates very well. Because of the electrical characteristics of the A and B channels and the fact that you cannot hook up Padport 4 to the encoder, there are a couple of bugs that manifest themselves during the course of the game. Bugs The first bug concerns the camera controls. There are three different camera views: Default, Locked, and Close-Up. During play the camera will automatically go into Close-Up view. If you press any of the other camera buttons it will go into that view but, when you let go of the button, it will simply go back into Close-Up. The second bug concerns the ring-based bonus stage. You use the Joypad in the other Joyport to control yourself through the rings (using the D-Pad to go in all four directions). The bug manifests itself in that you can go up, down, and right but not left. This will prevent you from taking advantage of the stage. To clear up these bugs a clean-up circuit is required. Clean-Up Circuit The circuit consists of a single chip that contains two high-speed CMOS based Single Position Single Throw (SPST) switches. To illustrate how to hook it up to the encoder I will use the chip that I used for this purpose, the ISL43120: 1 - Padport 4 (Column - Left/Right) 2 - +5VDC 3 - Optical Encoder (A) 4 - Padport 12 (Row - Left) 5 - Padport 4 (Column - Left/Right) 6 - Ground 7 - Optical Encoder (B) 8 - Padport 11 (Row - Right) The A and B channels operate the actuators that close the switches. For example, when Pin 7 (B) goes HIGH then the switch closes and Pin 1 (Padport 4) and Pin 8 (Padport 11) go LOW - exactly what the Jaguar needs for error free operation. As a result this chip removes the bugs out of the optical encoder setup. Although the ISL43120 works very well it is not recommended because it is an extremely small surface mount chip - not suitable for beginners. A Dual Inline Pin (DIP) chip, the 74HC4066, was recommended as a replacement for the ISL43120. I was unable to find the 74HC4066 but was able to find a similar chip, the MC14066, which worked fine with the encoder. During research I also found another potential replacement, the MAX323. There are probably plenty of other chips of this type that can be used as clean-up circuits. A DIP type chip is much larger and can be used with sockets which makes it much easier to use for beginners. Thanks to the large size of the Jaguar Joypad you can probably fit one of these DIP chips inside the Joypad but it is generally recommended that it be used inside the encoder unit. Optical Encoder Notes In the ring-based bonus stage if you touch the encoder in any way you can zoom either to the far right or left very quickly. This may prevent you from flying through the rings as the Joypad controls are a bit sluggish during this stage. Additional Contributions --Tyrant --Zerosquare

Don't the "Sonic Adventure" games also have GBA connectivity?

Off the top of my head is "Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories" and "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories".

It's not a true MAME machine. It's one of those licensed emulation machines but made to look like a arcade cabinet. JCPenneys sold those at Christmas time years ago so I had a good look at them. Look at the controls - those are not arcade quality. It uses a small monitor and composite video. I wasn't too impressed by it just by looking at it. I never really played it but saw others play around with the display unit. The emulation appears to be reasonably good despite the unimpressive hardware. It does boast a good line-up of classic titles though which still makes it a good entertainment unit. The main concern is the controls. To me they look flimsy and I don't know how long they will last before they start breaking or whether they can be replaced with regular arcade controls.

You mean this? If so then the reason for its sensitivity is because it is an optical rotary (I've opened mine up to look) and opticals tend to be more sensitive. To be fair, using opticals on the Jag version also presents a sensitivity problem. However, if you can get used to the sensitivity, then opticals make playing any version of T2K more like the original arcade game and more fun. That's a Jogcon. This is the Negcon: And this is the Ultra Racer: Does it work with the Jogcon at all? I have one of those, too, but haven't actually tried it... Based on quick research the NegCon uses potentiometers so I assume that the Ultra Racer uses the same. Therefore I don't know if the JogCon will work. I don't have the game so I can't give a definitive answer. I don't think I've ever seen the PS1 or any version of the game, outside of the Jag version, at any of the game stores in San Antonio or Austin. I should probably take a closer look sometime.

The Indy 500 controller has too low a resolution to be useable. You either need to find a mechanical rotary with a high number of indents (the higher the number of indents, the higher the resolution) or use an electronic rotary (optical, magnetic).

You mean this? If so then the reason for its sensitivity is because it is an optical rotary (I've opened mine up to look) and opticals tend to be more sensitive. To be fair, using opticals on the Jag version also presents a sensitivity problem. However, if you can get used to the sensitivity, then opticals make playing any version of T2K more like the original arcade game and more fun.

None. Depending on how it was connected, the horizontal axis might work for Tempest 2000, but that's not the best way to connect a trackball to a Jaguar. If you have a three-button roller style mouse it may make for an interesting option though.

But what Jag games work with a trackball?

Here is a pic of the MC14066 hooked up inside the controller. A bit messy but I was more concerned about putting it in and making sure it worked with everything. After making sure that the MC14066 chip worked with T2K I removed it and put the ISL43120 back in. I did it because it was smaller and I could make things a little bit cleaner. I put a small piece of duct tape around the coated chip to keep the wires from being bent too close to the chip. It is under the group of wires near the plug. I used another small piece of duct tape to hold some of the wires down. For those of you who have never seen it here is a picture of my optical controller with Jaguar joypad interface. Although I believe that the rotary controller may be magnetic instead of optical because of the way everything is sealed up. But it works just the same. At some point I will make another topic on the subject on optical rotary hookup but will be written more like a technical paper to compile all the necessary info to assist those who wish to use them.

I went to the electronics store to find a 74HC4066 chip. They carry it but just happened to be out. They gave me a similar chip, the MC14066. I got home, looked up the datasheet, and began to switch out chips within my controller. The MC14066 worked great, just like the ISL43120. In the one test game I played I beat my high score again.

Glad to be of help.

If you have a recent Codebreaker disc laying around then try that method instead. Just an additional small program and a few additional steps. And this is the method that has always worked for me.

So you're trying to run the install program in Max Media Player and you get the black screen there correct?

After looking over the datasheet I agree. And it looks like a chip that one of the local stores may carry. If that is the case then I will acquire one and play around with it.

Before you go after another flash drive you might want to Google around to find a list of drives that are listed to work first. I still recommend going after the ArMax or Action Replay drives though. If there are any independent gaming stores in your area you may want to see if they have any. I never needed to burn any discs for FMCB. Since I could never find the specific Action Replay disc with Max Media Player I simply went for the second easiest method which was the Codebreaker method. A little more work but certainly worth it. Since you have the Max Media Player variant you have the easiest method for FMCB installs. You certainly don't need to burn discs for this. Instructions seem simple enough although it states that you need to insert the USB drive first before turning on your unit. If you can get a reliable USB drive and copy the files over to it correctly then you should be doing successful installs in no time.

Wait a minute. You actually have an ArMax disc with Max Media Player? That particular disc is damn near impossible to find. Hang on to that at all costs. Not all USB flash drives will work with a PS2 even if you format it to FAT32. Your best bet is to find one of the Action Replay USB drives since that is guaranteed to work in a PS2 because that is what it was made for. It doesn't have to be big either - I still have my old 8MB drive and it works great for FMCB installs. For hard drive use I highly recommend Open PS2 Loader over HDLoader as it is far superior and gives you more fine tuning options. Do not use your PS2 for game installs - the DVD-ROM drives don't handle this well. Get the program WinHiip plus an IDE-to-USB adapter to hook up your drive to a PC. Then use WinHiip to format the drive and install games - installing is far faster and more reliable this way.

Well at least one company makes small panel based optical encoders so this could be a good option. However, it is difficult to tell how expensive these particular ones are. Some of the other ones I found from other companies are pretty expensive. The Maxim 323 should be pretty easy and cheap to acquire. You can ask for samples for prototyping.

I'm guessing that you used a standard non-optical encoder for your work, right?

Rotary support was a last minute hack, put in with Atari gave Yak a hacked up 2600 driving controller and said "Make it work with this." Yeah, you're right. I'd forgotten about that. I've forgotten a lot of other things too it seems..... Do you still make your own rotary controllers or was that somebody else?