For information, I have made a quick guide to use TS2_1.2 with PC games :
===> SETUP GUIDE FOR DUAL IR GUNS WITH TS2 <===edit : since the forum hosting the tutorial is now readable by members only, I will post a copy directly here, as I want this info as easily accessible as possible (I had so much trouble with it, I'd just wish I'd easily found such a tutorial).
Guide for Dual AimTrak guns with "TS2" (the dragonking one)This assumes you have each of your AimTraks already calibrated "as usual" (ie each one can correctly control the mouse on the Windows desktop). Don't forget to set them up to two different Device ID's (usually you'd choose 1 and 2) in the AimTrak software.
Also make sure your PC game is configured to use keyboard inputs only, as it is required by all existing solutions (be it either "TS2" or the original TS) to the problem at hand.
Last quick note : if you end up using xpadder like me (which I totally recommend, ended up being quite easy, made everything far better for controls, and also means I never have to change them around in the slow / unstable AimTrak software again), then I also recommend, in the AimTrak software, setting up your controls so as to maximize "activable" buttons. For example :
TRIGGER : Mouse Left when onscreen, Mouse Right when offscreen
LEFT : GP Button 1 when onscreen, GP Button 2 when offscreen
RIGHT : GP Button 3 when onscreen, GP Button 4 when offscreen
And then never change it again.
Xpadder will allow you to redirect several Buttons to the same key anyway if you don't want onscreen/offscreen to matter, so definitely have them set up this way. For games where you'll want it to matter, you'll be able to use them for different purposes, and for games where you don't want it to matter, you'll be able to use them this way too [
]
That's it, let's go for the actual guide.
Installation of TS21) Get "TS2_1.2.zip" from
http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutTS22) Unzip it anywhere. I unzipped it in a TS2 folder in my Games folder.
3) Check that you have "dx8vb.dll" somewhere on your computer (expected in your C:\Windows\System32 or C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder). If you don't, just Google for it and get a copy of it. Then put it in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (if you're running a 64 bit Windows), C:\Windows\System32 otherwise. Then go to Start->Run and type the following command :
regsvr32 C:\Windows\SysWOW64\dx8vb.dll
(of course adapt the path to C:\Windows\System32 if you have a 32bit Windows)
Windows should acknowledge.
Configuration of TS2At this point, the Read Me provided with TS2 should be enough to guide you, but I'll clarify a few points.
4) Launch TS2.exe. This is the configuration interface. On Page 1, Select the game you want to configure from the list. Be careful to select the correct version. Note the game's name 'shortcut' (indicated between parentheses in the drop menu), as you'll need it later in the Playing section of this guide.
5) On Page 1:
- If you're not planning to use MAME (for example because you've selected a PC game), you can untick the Send outputs to MameHooker option. For HotD 3 PC, I had everything unchecked on Page 1 and all went well.
- The "Game Exe" field is critical. You shouldn't have to edit it. If you have to edit it, this probably means the version of the game you have does not match what is expected by TS2.
- The "Exe Path" information is useful only if you want TS2 to launch the game for you. Otherwise, it doesn't matter. Since you'll most probably be using a .bat file to automate the few steps required for playing anyway (see .bat provided in the "Bonus" section of this guide [
] ), there's not really any point selecting it.
- You shouldn't have to edit Keyboard Input, unless you want to change your game's default Keyboard controls. Which you shouldnt need since in the end all of this is being done so that you can play with your gun and not a Keyboard... !
Don't forget to save when you are done. BEWARE, don't "Save as Default", as it will erase the default exe information for all games (which would be annoying).
6) On Page 2 :
- Lightgun/IR Gun (Mouse Based) is what I have selected for both Gun Settings. This is also the default setting selected in the AimTrak software ("Emulate Mouse"). They should match if you want to things to work. I'd advise keeping this setting both here in TS2 and in the AimTrak software.
- Device #: here you have to 'guess' which device number is each of the guns. Honestly, it's actually not difficult. Usually you'll be in a configuration with 3 mice : your regular actual mouse, and the guns (even though the menu goes up to 16 or something). Thus all chances are your guns will be among 0/1/2. In my case, they were devices 2 and 1.
The nice thing with TS2 is that you will have an easy way to check things are ok and pinpoint potential issues to quickly solve them (more on that later).
- Buttons :
I have 0 for both players' Trigger, and 1 for both players' Reload. The other buttons are of less importance, you can bother configuring them if you want, in any case you now know how to do so if you want. Note that regular keyboard presses continue to work, so even if you keep "NONE" selected, you'll always be able to push start and/or give coins by using your physical keyboard.
[Basically I figure that (if configured that way) the AimTrak Software assigns your physical trigger to "Mouse Left" command, which is command 0 for a mouse ("Mouse Right" being command 1). Then here, TS2 is being told that when it sees a "0" command, it should interpret it as a physical trigger pull from the player, which TS2 will then automatically / invisibly adapt to the keyboard input matching the game's controls as indicated in Page 1 (which by default are filled with the selected game's default controls, so you don't have to edit it).]Unfortunately, only triggers have been actually working this way for me, and I have still to find a way for TS2 to retrieve inputs from other buttons by itself (between TS2 settings and AimTrak settings, I have tried pretty much every combination possible, just wouldn't work).
So, I ended up using the well-known program "xpadder" which allows easily setting up controls profiles for each device and game (plus at the end of this guide is a bonus section to automate profile selections for each of your games so that you only have to do it once per game). I recommend you do the same. I had never used that program before and it was quite intuitive. Don't worry about xpadder profiles management, you'll only have to create them once, because for day-to-day usage I have provided a .bat template below (Bonus section [
] ) that will do all the switching automatically for you.
- Finally, don't forget to Enable both Player Controls.
Then Save.
You should now be done with configuring your game ! Yay ! [
] You shouldn't have to do this ever again for this game and you can now close the TS2 window.
Playing your game (step-by-step explanation)This is a manual, step-by-step explanation of what needs to be done for launching the game with everything in place. This need to be done everytime you want to play your game.
In practice, all of these steps can be done automatically by simply executing a .bat file like the one I provided in the next "Bonus" section. Still, you can take a few minutes reading this section as it will give you better understanding of what's going on in case you encounter an issue.
0) Don't forget selecting your game's xpadder profile for both guns.
1) You have to issue a DOS command to tell TS2 to listen for your game's exe being launched. For that you need to know the adequate name 'shortcut' for your game. The game's shortcut is indicated between parentheses in the drop menu from Page 1 Settings (example for HotD 3 is hotd3). To issue the DOS command, Start->Run, then type (example for my TS2 folder path and for HotD3)
start "" "D:\Jeux\TS2\TS2.exe" hotd3
At this point you should see a TS2 icon in your taskbar. If not, or if it disappears when you mouse over it, then something is not right. If you get a 429 error, this means you're missing a dll (usually the dx8vb.dll from earlier, so if you installed it like instructed you shouldn't have that problem).
On the other hand, if you have the TS2 icon showing up, try double clicking on it. A small window should appear, saying something like
Status: Waiting for The House of the Dead 3
and indicating "Player1:" and "Player2:".
2) If that is indeed the case, you can now launch your game and everything should work as expected [
]
In case it doesn't, try to run your game in Windowed mode, so that you are able to see the previous TS2 window at the same time you're playing and moving your guns (or put the TS2 window on a second screen). The TS2 window should display
Hooked: The House of the Dead 3
and position + command (trigger, reload, start, coin) information for each device. This will allow you to check that, for example, maybe you have set a wrong Device ID in the TS2 configuration. It will also briefly show registered commands (ie if you pull the trigger, the number "1" should quickly flicker in front of the line named this way). In all cases, this should help you greatly in identifying and solving any problems.
Bonus : DOS script to automate playing a gameAs a bonus, here is the .bat template I'm now using to autolaunch any game with dual AimTraks. Of course, you'd have to edit the relevant parts with your path, game and xpadder profiles information, and put the resulting .bat file where the game's exe is. So you end up with one adequate .bat file in each of your game's folders, and you can just edit your usual game shortcuts or create new ones to point to the .bat instead of the .exe so that everything is now completely transparent to the user.
@REM ! START uses first quoted string as window name and NOT the path
@REM ! thus the need to add "" before the path if it is behind quotes.
@REM ! Launches xpadder with appropriated config for each gun
start "" "D:\Jeux\Xpadder\xpadder.exe" /M "HOTD 3 P1.xpadderprofile" "HOTD 3 P2.xpadderprofile"
@REM ! TS2 in listen mode...
start "" "D:\Jeux\TS2\TS2.exe" hotd3
@REM ! A short pause seems necessary after calling TS2
TIMEOUT /t 1
@REM ! Launches the game exe
start "" "hod3launch.exe"
Voilą, I hope this can help someone sometime