Griffin PowerMate Spinner and MAME Support

[Trebor]

While this topic has been tackled in the past, which included how to enable the USB Griffin PowerMate control knob to work in (much) older versions of MAME, a recent discussion topic inspired me to revisit the issue with the most recent version of MAME currently available (0.200).

 

I found it very easy to setup with no source code modifications - or any code modification for that matter - required. A simple command line switch, along with ensuring the device is configure properly, has the Griffin PowerMate functioning beautifully under MAME.

 

Here's a pdf copy for those wanting an offline version: Griffin PowerMate and MAME.pdf

 

Below if what the pdf contains...

 

Utilizing the Griffin PowerMate is even easier and better with the latest (just tested)

version of MAME (0.200). No source code changes required. The following was

performed under Windows 10 64-bit, but these options are universal for any Windows

platform that MAME 0.200 supports. It's simply a command line switch:

=====

mame tempest -mouseprovider dinput -mouse

=====

The above works perfectly when setting the PowerMate application to configure the dial

as follows:

While the default MAME sensitivity settings are adequate, the sensitivity of the dial is

easily adjusted under the "Analog Controls" setting under MAME. To access it, press

the "Tab" key while MAME is running:

After selecting Analog Controls, navigate down to "Dial Sensitivity":

The Left arrow key decreases and the right arrow key increases value. Default is

100. Some may find 100 to be adequate. Setting to 150 makes it very fast and super

sensitive; however YMMV, so there is still plenty of room for even greater speed and

sensitivity as the limit is 255.

Hopefully, the above will be helpful to interested parties.

[imzonzon]

Where do you put the command line?

[Trebor]

On 2/10/2020 at 5:31 PM, imzonzon said:

Where do you put the command line?

The Command Line is ran from Windows within the folder where MAME is located:

 

 

To assist further, regarding sensitivity settings, thanks to this video, the following works beautifully in mimicking the Arcade sensitivity in the following games:

 

Tempest = 9

Arkanoid = 61

Arkanoid II - Revenge of Doh = 122

 

For the math behind the above values, leveraging the aforementioned video and testing accordingly, the PowerMate Griffin appears to have an ~800 turn interval count.  At least that is the case with Default settings under Windows 10 x64. 

 

That 800 value is plugged into the formula:  (X * 100 / 800) = Dial Sensitivity value.  Where X = The number of turn intervals for one full rotation of the spinner.  The "X" value varies from game to game.  Tempest the value is 72.  Arkanoid the value is 486, and Arkanoid II the value is 972.

 

The video goes into a more thorough explanation.

 

Reference this page for other games.  A copy of the values table is placed in the spoiler below for posterity.  The "Counts_Per_Revolution" column is where the "X" value should be derived from.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All the above is still applicable with the most recent version of MAME (0.218). 

Of course, make sure the PowerMate driver and application has been installed, configured, and running accordingly.

[imzonzon]

Thank You very much