Lightgun question

[paigeoliver]

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't all available PC lightguns flash the screen when fired? And doesn't this make them unsuitable for "hold down the trigger and spray" games like T2, LA Machineguns, that Aerosmith game, and others?

Also, do they properly track in lightgun games like the Jurassic Park ones, which DO use lightguns, but somehow still have an onscreen cursor?

Just wondering before I go wasting any money on a lightgun when I already have a perfectly good positional gun that may be more versatile.

Of course there is always the issue that "Hold down the trigger" positional gun games would be too hard with a light gun, while single shot (The Exidy ones) at a time ones would be too easy with a lightgun.

[hooded_paladin]

um, here's what I know ...

there are 3 types of arcade guns :  positional guns, light guns that flash the screen and light guns that use some sort of IR or UV light to track the cursor ...

I though Jurassic park was a positional gun, but that's just from playing it on mame, not an arcade.  Now that I check it has lightgun inputs, not joystick axes.  And since the cursor moves around freely, too, and the screen doesn't flash constantly, it's got that weird kind of tracking on it.

The problem with PC lightguns in the "hold down the trigger and spray games" is NOT that they flash the screen (play Time Crisis III ... even my somewhat epileptic friend was fine, and the screen flashes like heck when you use the machien gun)

The problem is that they only shoot once.  You'll have a very hard time playing games that expect you to be able to autofire.

(I mentioned a hack on this ... getting MAME to output a pulse [keyboard LED or similar] each time a gun is normally queried for data ... which would shoot off the Act-labs gun and get positional data for you ... apparently no one liked it.  I think it'd be worth a try using a similar idea with those special drivers for T2 that 1-Up has on his website)

To answer your ACTUAL question, right now it's positional guns only for autofire games.  But lightguns still feel nicer and aim better for single-shot games.  Because who wants a gun that's posted to the panel when you can go wild in Area51.  You decide if it's worth $40.

[paigeoliver]

Hmmm. Maybe I'll invest in a PC lightgun in the future, but it seems to me that they are not quite there yet.

Oh, and the Jurassic park games definitely had those funny lightguns and not positional guns. I played the original one many times (the one that is in Mame), and my local arcade has a pair of the newer ones, and they have lightguns too.

[u_rebelscum]

All current PC guns flash, so that makes Term2 and such games, um, not the most enjoyable to play with them.  Playable, but not ss good as the real thing.

(Almost?) All gun games, including lightgun and positional guns, are emulated in mame using mame's "lightgun" input type.  This is so all the guns games can be played with a PC lightgun or a positional gun or an analog joystick or a trackball.  If mame had positional gun games use analog stick type ("AD stick"), then PC lightguns would not work for those games.  (Notice this way, both positional gun and lightgun hardware work for both lightgun and positional games.)


If you already have a couple positional guns, I agree to stick with them.  PC lightguns aren't up to the arcade level yet.  But if you don't have either, lightguns are much easier to setup (zero hacking).  [shrug]