hang on headaches

[tony.silveira]

hey all,

now that i got my handlebar add on playable, i thought i try a few motorcycle games.  first up, paperboy.  works like a charm!  next up, hang on.  oh boy, this one has me frustrated.  my hang on controller is hacked into two sidewinder controllers (thanks unclet!) and everything SEEMS fine.  if i go to the controllers properties, all three analogues are centered (l/r - joystick 1 x axis, accelerator/brake - joystick 2 x/y axis respectively).  the accelerator works great on paperboy.

in hang on, i set the controls for each of the three axis.  _occasionally_ it works like it's supposed to but more often than not, the accelerator doesn't seem to do anything and the bike chugs along around 79/80.  when the brake is depressed, i see the red light on the back of the bike blink really quickly and i hear the chirping of the tire on/off/on/off really quick, like a button is being presses really fast.  fyi, the left/right steering works great.

this can't be bad wiring.  as i said, it tests fine in windows and works great in paperboy.  is there some setting in the mame config that i'm missing?

i've tried the analogue sensitivity all the way down to 1.

help me get my motorcycle racing on!

thanks all, t

EDIT: of course right after i write this and go to try and tweak it, it seems to be working fine.  the one thing i noticed, i pumped the accelerator about a dozen times and then it started working.  could this be along the lines of calibrating an analogue controller when first turning on a machine (e.g. when turning on star wars, the player should hit all the corners with the controller to get it calibrated)?

and if so, anyway to avoid this when starting a game?  anyway to save the calibrated controller settings?

EDIT 2:  i spoke to soon, although it worked for the most part, occasionally the bike would decelerate down to that damn 79/80 twitchy speed.  a few cranks of the accelerator and it'd start working again.  am i missing something?!?!?

i'm tired, sorry of the above doesnt make sense...

[unclet]

If everything is working in Paperboy then I do not understand why it would not be working in the Hang On game.

Are you sure "Left/Right", "Gas" and "Accelerator" all are wired to separate POTS?

Are there numbers listed on the sidewinders I gave you?  If so, then I can look up some wiring diagram information to see how I had the pots wired myself.   

Can you post a picture of your sidewinders and show where you wired "Left/Right", "Gas" and "Accelerator"?

[unclet]

Each of the 3 POTs from the Sega Hang On steering assembly should be wired separately(individually) to a unique POT on the sidewinder hack.   The three wires from the steering assembly POT should be wired to the 3 PCB spots on the sidewinder hack associated to a POT.   Basically, none of the wires from the steering assembly POTs should be wired together.

Also, are you sure the three wires from each of the steering assembly POTs are wired correctly to the POTs on the sidewinder?  Perhaps your accelerator POT wiring might have an issue?

Seems like your brake POT might be cancelling out your accelerator POT somehow.  Are you sure the brake POT is completely "off" when the brake handle is not being touched? 
 

[tony.silveira]

unclet, super genius!

it was my brake pot.  everything was wired fine but the brake handle jiggles ever so little.  now that i know whats wrong, it's an easy fix.

thanks so much!

[unclet]

cool .... glad it was an easy fix.