which 4-way to use for q-bert,congo bongo,ect...

[spidermonkey]

More joystick affairs fellas,
I mounted a happs 4-way ultimate on my test panel at a 45 degree angle thinking that my q-bert / congo bongo problems were over.Well,fact is I'm still making wrong turns. Does anybody know if Gottlieb or Sega used a specially designed 4-way or was it just a regular stick mounted on an angle. The KLOV site explains the q-bert stick as being a 4-way but with up left,down left,up right,down right, directional controls. Anybody out there that owns a q-bert that could answer this? Even though I have it mounted on a 45 it still seems harder to control than the original.

[JustMichael]

It was a joystick mounted at a 45 degree angle.  Q-bert plays perfectly for me with an 8-way joystick when I set Mame to only use the diagonals.

For Qbert just put in the following:

Right = Right Down
Left = Left Up
Up = Up Right
Down = Down Left

What I mean is scroll down the list to Right. Press Enter and then press Right, release the Right key and then press Down and release Down. Do this quickly. Do this same type of thing for each direction. Once you have finished, the four "normal" directions will do nothing in the game. You will have to go diagonally if you want Qbert to move.

[spidermonkey]

Holy S your a genius!
That 8-way trick works perfect! Now I won't have to mount my 4-way on a rotating plate. You just saved me alot of grief. Trick works great with Congo Bongo as well. This site RULES!
Thanks JustMichael.

[Bill S]

Would a trick like this also work to improve gameplay in standard 4-way games like donkey kong, pacman, etc.?
Can I do this, but force only the 4 main directions (Up, Down, Right, Left)??

[JustMichael]

You can force only the main directions but the joystick will still seem to behave the same way in those games.  Here is how to do it:
Go down to Left.
Hit Enter.
Now press Left, Up, Up, Down, Down quickly in that order.
It should now show Left not Up not Down for the Left direction.
Do this type of thing for the other 3 directions.

[Kitbasher]

Thank you.  I cant beleive how well this worked.  I figured that my Happ's super and Qbert just did not mix.  But I just played my first game of Qbert with it set up like you suggested and it was great.  Thanks.

[rampy]

You can force only the main directions but the joystick will still seem to behave the same way in those games.

[CitznFish]

Is there a ctrlr.ini way of doing this (or other file), rather than trying to get the finnacky in game menu thing to work?

Rampy

[mcleanjoel]

You can force only the main directions but the joystick will still seem to behave the same way in those games.

[JustMichael]

I don't advocate making Mame only accept the 4 cardinal directions (up,down,left,right) for 4way games.  Making Mame only accept the diagonals for special games like Qbert, Congo Bongo, etc. works great for me though.

[Nailz]

You can force only the main directions but the joystick will still seem to behave the same way in those games.

[mcleanjoel]

All he meant was that for example of the Left direction:

you go into the control panel, hit Enter to start the edit, move the joystick Left, then move it down in quick succession.  It will show up as "Left Down".  From this point forward in the game, when you need to move left and down, it will require you to push your joystick into the lower left corner to move that way, just like the game.

Of course, this only works with an 8-way stick, as a 4-way won't let you hit the diagonals, but it is a perfect setup for the 8-way.  

If you are wanting to play PacMan or whatever else that requires a 4-way, you will probably want a 4-way as well or get a T-stick so that you can switch....

I think you are referring to the instructions to make an 8-way work for qbert.
Those instructions make sense and work for me.

My question was about using "left - not up - not down" to "force" left only when using an 8-way as a 4-way fpr Pac-Man, etc.
I still don't understand  - was I misunderstanding your purpose for doing this- JustMichael?

[brandon]

the original Pacman PCB was designed to work with a 4-way, so when it sees 2 directions at once (ie. left/up) it gets confused.  but if you tell mame to make LEFT = left not up not down,etc then it ignores the diagonals.  I guess its the equivalent of using a 4-way actuator but not a restrictor plate, if that makes any since.  At least thats my understanding.  I never play Ms Pacman in Mame since I final bought the real thing.. *grin*

[mcleanjoel]

the original Pacman PCB was designed to work with a 4-way, so when it sees 2 directions at once (ie. left/up) it gets confused.  but if you tell mame to make LEFT = left not up not down,etc then it ignores the diagonals.  I guess its the equivalent of using a 4-way actuator but not a restrictor plate, if that makes any since.  At least thats my understanding.  I never play Ms Pacman in Mame since I final bought the real thing.. *grin*

That does make some sense to me but I am not sure how Mame(or the Pacman code)  acts differently.
When configured this way nothing happens when you hit a diagonal I guess.
What would it normally do if it sees up & left at the same time?
Would it still do nothing?

[shmokes]

I'm thinking of picking up a ms. pacman 20th aniversary stick and mounting it on a 45 degree angle.  Bob Roberts www.therealbobroberts.com sells them with a mounting plate so they can be easily mounted to a wood control panel.  At least, I think that's what his mounting plates are for.  I would welcome somebody to correct me rather than finding out on my own after I buy a couple (one for regular 4-way, one for diagonal).

[1UP]

You can always go with an Ultimarc E-stick, those are 4-way switchable AND 45 degree switchable.  I use one for my dedicated 4-way.  No offense to Oscar, but I don't like the look of the external restrictors, but that's me....

[PoDunkMoFo]

You can always go with an Ultimarc E-stick, those are 4-way switchable AND 45 degree switchable.  I use one for my dedicated 4-way.  No offense to Oscar, but I don't like the look of the external restrictors, but that's me....

So, how do you like this stick as far as feel as compared to actual arcade games you are using it to play.  It sounds like an excellent solution.

[1UP]

So, how do you like this stick as far as feel as compared to actual arcade games you are using it to play.  It sounds like an excellent solution.

Well, Ive been using it the past few days to play Pac-Man.  The throw of the stick is really short, which means better cornering, and the diamond restrictor feels nice and tight.  I had to replace the spring in it with a less stiff one from Home Depot, and now all is well.  Feels (tension-wise) like a Happ Super now, but 4-way with a shorter throw.  Pretty nice.  Still doesn't have the soft springy feel of the original leaf sticks, but good enough for me!  Haven't tried it for 8-way games yet, as I have 2 Supers just for that.

[Sasquatch!]

You can always go with an Ultimarc E-stick, those are 4-way switchable AND 45 degree switchable.  I use one for my dedicated 4-way.  No offense to Oscar, but I don't like the look of the external restrictors, but that's me....

Yes, this thread is why I asked you about the E-Stick earlier.  

[PoDunkMoFo]

So, how do you like this stick as far as feel as compared to actual arcade games you are using it to play.  It sounds like an excellent solution.

Well, Ive been using it the past few days to play Pac-Man.  The throw of the stick is really short, which means better cornering, and the diamond restrictor feels nice and tight.  I had to replace the spring in it with a less stiff one from Home Depot, and now all is well.  Feels (tension-wise) like a Happ Super now, but 4-way with a shorter throw.  Pretty nice.  Still doesn't have the soft springy feel of the original leaf sticks, but good enough for me!  Haven't tried it for 8-way games yet, as I have 2 Supers just for that.

I was wondering how it worked for the 45 degree games.

[1UP]

I was wondering how it worked for the 45 degree games.

Seems to work fine for Congo Bongo.  Haven't tried q*bert yet.

edit - Looks like it works great for Q*bert as well!