Getting TroubleSHOOTER to work with Mala. PC Lightgun games. [SOLVED]

[Wade007]

I'm having trouble getting Troubleshooter.exe to work with my PC based light gun games (ie: House of the Dead III).

If I load the game outside of Mala, it works great. If I launch it via Mala, the game launches but the lightgun ability made possible through my Troubleshooter program seems to be disabled or not loaded. The game works fine otherwise, but I'd like Troubleshooter to work so that 2 players will work.

Any one using Troubleshooter with Mala?
Troubleshooter runs as a background service that hooks into the PC lightgun games to dispatch light gun input.
http://thetroubleshooter.home.mindspring.com/index.htm

Somehow Mala seems to be repressing this background service.
I checked the error log for Troubleshooter after trying to launch the game via Mala and it says "Exception in GlobalHookProc"
Any ideas as to why Mala is not allowing the Global Hook?

Do I need to use the Pre Command to load Troubleshooter.exe? How is that done exactly? I've never really messed with Pre Commands.

Any ideas how to "troubleshoot" this??

Thanks.

[Wade007]

I think I found an intermediate solution.

The problem is that Mala supresses Troubleshooter for some reason. The global hook. Maybe because it's a background service and not run at the same time as the game?

Anyway, I adjusted the AHK file I'm using to launch the game and simply launched Troubleshooter just before HOTD3. See script below. The only problem I have now is that I end up with an extra copy of "Trblshtr.exe" running in the background if the game is quit through the menu system rather than pressing 2 + 4.

Does anyone know how I might be able to quit "Trblshtr.exe" when HOTD3 is selected to Quit through the menu system. I tried to recover the window name for Troubleshooter and couldn't figure it out.

The following script works, but may need some more tweaking:


SetWorkingDir, C:\Program Files (x86)\TroubleSHOOTER\
Run, C:\Program Files (x86)\TroubleSHOOTER\Trblshtr.exe ; Needed for Mala launch only.

SetWorkingDir, C:\Arcade\PC Arcade Ports\THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD3_EU\exe
Run, C:\Arcade\PC Arcade Ports\THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD3_EU\exe\hod3_launcher.exe ; Circumvents otherwise mandatory Launcher screen.
Run, C:\Arcade\PC Arcade Ports\THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD3_EU\exe\hod3pc.exe

WinWait, THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 3
WinWaitClose, THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD 3
exitAPP

~1::q

~2::t

~2 & ~4::
Process, Close, Trblshtr.exe
Process, Close, hod3pc.exe
ExitAPP
return


[EDIT]
I think I found an even better solution. Fixed the problems source...getting Mala to accept a background process or Global hook.

I just placed the dll file for the process in the same folder as the executable for the game. Now Mala picks up the hook process.

copied "TRBLSHTR.dll" into the executable folder. Now it allows the running background program to run!!

[mike boss]

All be it an old thread I appreciate the info.
I've had a pair of Aim Trak guns stilling shelved for over 7 years!
I've FINALLY completed them and now getting them installed into a cabinet.
I'm looking to run the PC versions of HOTD, HOTD II, and HOTD III.
I know now that Trouble Shooter 2 : Shoot Harder now exists.
Wondering if you made any tweaks to your set up?

I'm hoping to set up all these games and the PC version of VITRUA COP 2.

Thanks

[mike boss]

If I just copy  "TRBLSHTR.dll" into each of the folders for HOTD1, HOTD2, and HOTD3 is that all I need to do ?