Author Topic: ACT-Labs Lightgun, D9200, and 640x480? (Read 5613 times)

KevSteele · « **on:** August 22, 2003, 04:53:28 pm »

Is this combo possible?

It looks like I've managed to stump the tech support engineers at ACT-Labs with this one - if I hook up the ACT-Labs light gun to my D9200 at 640x480, all I get is a black screen.

At 800x600, the gun works as expected and I get a usable picture. At 640x480, even with two different video cards, I get nothing. (With the ArcadeVGA card I get a black screen, with a Geforce3 Ti200 I get a white screen)

ACT-Labs says it should work, but they suggested I ask around here for help (since they weren't any

)

Anyone else see this before? Anyone running the light gun at 640x480?

Kevin

BombProofPlane · « **Reply #1 on:** August 22, 2003, 05:02:56 pm »

i dont have that problem at all i run my gun through a transcoder to my hdtv at 640 480 works great

i was kinda shocked it worked through the transcoder

only problem is i cant get rid of the cursor in mame

AlanS17 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 22, 2003, 05:14:48 pm »

The problem is likely the monitor, though, right? People can get 640X480 working in some situations, but we're talking about with a particular monitor.

I wish I had a better understanding of how the pass-through worked. Then I could give you a better idea of what the problem may be.

Have you trying using a different output frequency? Maybe the reason it works at 800X600 and not 640X480 is because WinXP is defaulting to a lower frequency for a higher resolution. Maybe you monitor doesn't like playing nice with higher frequencies.

That's only a guess from someone who doesn't own an ArcadeVGA, a D9200, OR a light gun. But you still may wanna try fiddling with it.

Gromet · « **Reply #3 on:** August 22, 2003, 05:17:01 pm »

Kev...

I am running the same setup as you, ArcadeVGA, D9200, Act Labs USB Lightgun... I haden't tried it since I got the rcadeVGA card running the other day. So I just went down and checked... After a quick recallibration, Operation Wolf, Chiller, Vs. Hogan's Alley, Area 51, Maximum Force, Vs. Duck Hunt, Those are the games I just tried out and they all worked perfectly. Still no go with Terminator 2 but you can't expect everything.

Thought that might help though...

KevSteele · « **Reply #4 on:** August 22, 2003, 05:52:27 pm »

Gromet,

Thanks -- do you know the refresh rate you're running at?

I've set XP for 60hz for all resolutions, but I also tried 85hz at 640x480, and no go.

I'm leaning heavily towards it being a defective unit. Glad to know at least _someone_ has the light gun working with a D9200 and ArcadeVGA!

Kevin

Gromet · « **Reply #5 on:** August 22, 2003, 05:56:10 pm »

Kev,

I'm set at 60hz... Haven't tried anyhting else.

AlanS17 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 22, 2003, 06:01:40 pm »

You may wanna try installing Powerstrip to touble shoot it by choosing different resolutions/frequency combos to find the culprit. I dunno...

KevSteele · « **Reply #7 on:** August 22, 2003, 06:06:08 pm »

Alans17,

Actually, I'm already running MultiRes, which gives me access to the available PC resolutions & refresh rates, and the drivers for the ArcadeVGA card allow me to switch to pratically any arcade resolution as well.

It didn't help. I just called ACT-Labs and arranged for a replacement unit, so we'll see if that fixes things.

I can't belive how many hardware failures I've had so far with this cab project!

Kevin

PhoneGuy · « **Reply #8 on:** August 22, 2003, 10:16:12 pm »

I have a D9200, an ArcadeVGA card, XP and the Act-Labs gun. I can get the gun to work at 640x480 though I typically let the MAME games run at their native resolution. The gun functions but is not very accurate. Police trainer works better with the resolution assigned by ArcadeVGAres rather than using hardware stretch to 640x480. With the game calibration screens I can make it playable but not consistant. When I turn on the gun calibration white screen, the left edge (~4") of the screen is not white. It's mostly black with flickery white lines and a distorted image of the normal screen.

My D9200 currently has a color bias problem and I'm waiting on a replacement. The gun did work correctly when I hooked up a 17" pc monitor.

KevSteele · « **Reply #9 on:** September 02, 2003, 11:49:43 am »

A follow-up:

I got my replacement ACT-Labs gun, and it sort of works -- what I mean is that it'll work with any other video card except the ArcadeVGA card.

If I try to calibrate with the ArcadeVGA card, I get a black screen instead of the normal white calibration screen.

I tried using a TNT2 card, and the light gun worked fine on the D9200 monitor. So the weak link in the chain seems to be the ArcadeVGA card.

Anyone else get this combo (AVGA + light gun) working as expected?

Kevin

Katana Man · « **Reply #10 on:** September 06, 2003, 02:01:09 am »

I don't know if this helps or not. I have a D9200 on Win98, 640x480 @60hz. The accuracy is always off a little left and down

The gun only works with the games that come on the CD. Can't get it to work in Mame. It flashes, cursor is there, but the bullet doesn't register in the game.

KevSteele · « **Reply #11 on:** September 06, 2003, 08:40:04 am »

Katana Man,

What video card are you using?

I was able to get the lightgun to work with the D9200, I just had to use a different video card than the ArcadeVGA card.

As to getting it to work in MAME, you might just need to recalibrate it once the MAME game you want to play loads, since any time the screen resolution changes you need to re-calibrate.

Kevin

Katana Man · « **Reply #12 on:** September 06, 2003, 09:55:10 pm »

I'm using a Geforce FX 5200. Concerning Mame, it's calibrated ok. In Duck Hunt for example, when you shoot, it places the crosshair on the screen correctly, but the bullet is not released.

KevSteele · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2003, 08:39:41 am »

Katana Man,

Stupid question, but have you enabled lightgun support in MAME? (In MAME32, there's a checkbox for it in the Controllers)

If the light gun works in Windows (i.e., you can pull the trigger and the mouse pointer moves to where you fired), it should work in MAME. My only guess is that it's a MAME-configuration issue.

Kevin

Katana Man · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2003, 01:12:17 pm »

Thanks for your suggestion. Yep, lightgun is 1 in mame.ini
I don't think it moves the mouse cursor in windows though. I'll have to try that.

mwinter77 · « **Reply #15 on:** September 14, 2003, 02:41:39 pm »

I have roughly the same setup - act labs with 9200 & ArcadeVga. I also have a black screen instead of white at cal. But get this - that is when USB wire is on my hub. when I moved it to the back of the computer diectly it worked !! I think this condition has to do with arcadeVga needing more power and how much your usb can supply. Try putting it on a usb channel by itself directly on the cpu if possible.

AndyWarne · « **Reply #16 on:** September 15, 2003, 07:00:43 am »

That's interesting!
It can't really be a case of the ArcadeVGA needing more power as nothing is sent into the ArcadeVGA, the signals all come out from it. But it might be something in the gun is sensitive to slightly low 5 volt supply. I might try liasing with Act-Labs to see if they are aware of this.

Andy

mwinter77 · « **Reply #17 on:** September 15, 2003, 03:06:39 pm »

Andy,

Yes I mis-spoke myself. What I meant to say was that it appears that the act-labs device requires more power from usb to overlay video (ie white screen replacing standard video) when connected to the ArcadeVga than my standard card.

BTW Andy
I have been working on getting my other probelm worked out (I am the 800x600 black spot guy) pretty much at the end of the road now (6000 windows reinstalls later !!) got it working good enough to keep will be sending the other card back shortly. Thanks again for your help

StephenH · « **Reply #18 on:** September 24, 2003, 03:59:35 am »

I wonder if your ArcadeVGA is trying to output 15Khz interlace mode. Try downloading the ArcadeVGA utility that allows 31Khz in the VGA/SVGA modes and try that with a 60Hz setting at 640x480.

I think that there is a possibility that the gun decoder is not getting a correct signal to overlay the dot to, and therefore causing an error condition inside the decoder causing the screen to go white.

Another test I would try is connecting a standard VGA monitor in 31Khz mode, and see if the gun decoder works. If this works, the problem is most likely the monitor and gun decoder are incompatible. If not, there is a problem with the video card or gun decoder. In addition, you might check your cable wiring as well.

KevSteele · « **Reply #19 on:** September 26, 2003, 05:42:25 pm »

StephenH,

I have patched the video using the D9200 utility over at Ultimarc so that I get 31Khz video in 640x480, non-interlaced, and I've also patched the video settings for 60Hz. Unfortunately, it didn't help.

I've currently got the USB plug from the gun plugged directly into a PC USB port, but I might try a powered hub and see if it makes any difference.

Also, like I've mentioned, the gun works perfectly with the D9200 if another video card is used. It's just with the AVGA that things don't work properly.

Kevin
Kevin

AndyWarne · « **Reply #20 on:** September 27, 2003, 04:10:26 am »

I have a dialog going with Act-Labs about this. They believe that many people are using their gun with the ArcadeVGA card, with no problems (in fact they recommend the card to users), so this is strange. But we will be sending each other stuff for testing and maybe they will come up with an answer. I will test their gun as well.

Andy

PhoneGuy · « **Reply #21 on:** October 07, 2003, 10:14:25 pm »

I have not been able to calibrate my Act-Labs/ArcadeVga/d9200 combo very well. I'm running XP. Under the ATI display settings I have it set to 640x480 at 60hz. Mad Dog McCree was unplayable. When I turned on the gun calibration white screen, the left edge (~4") of the screen is not white.

Recently I made a few discoveries. Under the ATI control panel/ displays/advanced, I set both the H&V synchronization to + instead of the default -. Now the calibration screen looks correct and Mad Dog is fairly accurate. This seemed to make Police trainer running at 392x240 calibrate better. The left few inches of the screen is still has some distortion and the gun is inaccurate in that area. Setting the windows desktop to 392x240 has somewhat less distortion during calibration than calibrating within the game.

I have two pairs of usb ports on my motherboard. I had the optipac in one of the pairs and the gun in the other set. At the windows desktop I had the gun in calibration mode. I unplugged the opti-pac and the screen would turn black as long as the gun was in calibration mode. This does not happen if I have them both plugged into the same usb set. I also found that with the Opti-pac and the gun in seperate usb sets, the calibration screen was black in Mad Dog.

Also no matter what I do, HOTD2 has a black calibartion screen and does not respond to the gun at all. When I had the ArcadeVga plugged in to a 17" pc monitor I did not encounter any of these problems.

So both USB and H&V synchronization changes has an effect on the gun for me.

I like to add a second gun but not till I can get the single gun to calibrate better. Hopefully this information will offer some clues.

AndyWarne · « **Reply #22 on:** October 12, 2003, 04:08:28 pm »

I have been playing with an Act-Labs gun recently. One thing: if the VGA card (any card not just the ArcadeVGA) is connected to the monitor via a cable which connects the H and V syncs together, the gun will not work. This does not affect the J-PAC conenction as the J-PAC does not connect the syncs together. It means a hand-wired cable must be connected to separate H and V syncs on the monitor and it also means the Ultimarc Video Amp must be used in separated sync mode, details of this are on the page www.ultimarc.com/vidamp.html.

jerryjanis · « **Reply #23 on:** October 13, 2003, 08:42:07 pm »

Quote from: AndyWarne on October 12, 2003, 04:08:28 pm

One thing: if the VGA card (any card not just the ArcadeVGA) is connected to the monitor via a cable which connects the H and V syncs together, the gun will not work.

Hey, this is great: I just rewired my standard res arcade monitor's vga cable to use both the hsync and the vsync, and the Act Labs PC light gun works! It never worked before. Thank you.


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