Can a Trackball be used as a mouse and how?

[Javy3]

Hello,

I have myself a 4 player street fighter arcade pedistal with a trackball.  I can use the trackball to move the mouse around but I can't really select anything.  Is there anyway to use the trackball as a functioning mouse that can select things?

[ABACABB]

You are leaving a lot out here.  In what program do you see your mouse moving?? MAME?? Windows Desktop??  Anyways yes a trackball is just a mouse after all.  To select things with it you need to have buttons assigned to the left and right mouse clicks.  You have an arcade fighter stick it sounds like??  Are those buttons mapped as joystick buttons and not mouse buttons??  Need...more....data....

[shponglefan]

AFAIK, most trackballs should include the option to wire up buttons as mouse buttons.  What trackball is it?

[Javy3]

You are leaving a lot out here.  In what program do you see your mouse moving?? MAME?? Windows Desktop??  Anyways yes a trackball is just a mouse after all.  To select things with it you need to have buttons assigned to the left and right mouse clicks.  You have an arcade fighter stick it sounds like??  Are those buttons mapped as joystick buttons and not mouse buttons??  Need...more....data....

Sorry, the mouse moves in windows desktop.  The controller is a 4 player controller I bought at, themameroom.com.  The buttons on the arcade control panel are assigned as keyboard buttons.

[michelevit]

are you talking about using the mouse in an emulated game?
no, unless the game was designed for it.

if a game was designed for a joystick (ie pacman) you have to use the joystick.
Some games are exceptions like lightgun shooting games (cheyene). A mouse or trackball can emulate a light gun.

[RandyT]

Sorry, the mouse moves in windows desktop.  The controller is a 4 player controller I bought at, themameroom.com.  The buttons on the arcade control panel are assigned as keyboard buttons.

If all of them are attached to a keyboard controller, you will probably need to pick one which isn't oft used, find the optical controller attached to the trackball, and attach the wiring for that button to that controller's mouse button input (if it has one, most do.)  You'll need to do this for each mouse button you wish to be active.  You should still be able to use that button for the intended purpose, but you will need to do some re-assignment in your applications.  Whether they support a mouse button for assignment may be another issue, so select the one you use carefully, so as to prevent this type of issue.