foot switch pedals not working

[dragon32]

This problem is doing my head in ,
 got some simple digital HID usb foot switch pedals  so i can play driving games without having to hold down buttons.
  in windows xp its picks up the pedal inputs in notepad, word etc..as a simple key stroke (c) no problems,   but in mame (146) it doesn't always pick up the pedal pushes. If i keep repeatedly pushing the pedal it will eventually resgister a button assignment as  KBD C  but these seems random and when it comes to playing the game nothing happens when i press the pedal switch.
 i even tried an older version of mame (085) still the same during game play it won't register an input.
i thought it should just be an usb keyboard input afterall it works fine in notepad.

i've done some googling and my heads in a pickle now, is it to do with the timing of the hid input or a windows issue?  i read something about directinput and rawinput in mame, i'm not sure what this is but from what i read trying the old version of mame would of ruled this out.



PLEASE HELP 

[BadMouth]

Does the foot switch show up as a keyboard or does it have some kind of support software running?

Is the same configuration working fine with when you press a keyboard key?
(that would rule out mappings/analogue settings)

[dragon32]

thanks for the reply Badmouth, it does have some software which allows you to assign what key the pedal push will give you. but i have tried it without the driver and and with. even tried to assign different keys to the pedals using the driver software. works perfectly in notepad so its something to do with the way mame works.
it may not be a driver it may just be software for assigning the key stroke to a pedal,  i'm not familar with mapping?

yes a normal usb keyboard works fine when plugged in, i guess it maybe an issue with the way this pedal encodes?
i took apart the pedal and its a opto switch like in a pinball. the pedal comes down blocks the sensor light, its just a digital switch. i'm not expecting analogue control from it i just want it as an on and off switch that would suffice.

is there a switch in mame.ini  i can try?

[BadMouth]

MAME gets it's input directly from the keyboard device, not software which is why programs like joy2key and autohotkey don't work with MAME (without doing a custom compiled version).

What does the pedal show up as in device manager without the software installed?
It might be something MAME can use.

If not, MAME does respond to fake software generated joysticks, so you could enable joysticks in MAME.ini and use something like VJoy to convert the key press to joystick input. http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=vjoy

I'd prefer a more direct method without having two programs running, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

[dragon32]

thanks i will try the vjoy route as a last ditch attempt
 
in device manager it comes up the same as the keyboard and mouse, hid compliant device
in theory it should work but mame still refuses to like its inputs properly