An interesting take on light gun technology

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yotsuya:
Rep for you for doing all this investigation, BM. Kudos!

twistedsymphony:
I guess I don't understand what the problem is with IR LED based systems... I mean that's what the arcades have used on all the rear-projection rigs since the 90s and I don't recall them being any less accurate than CRT systems.

pbj:
In my experience, the IR guns don't do well on the edges. Arcade games tend to put the targets along the edges of the screen. Gun games well suited to the Wii focus more on centrally located targets. The limitations of IR guns on arcade games become clear very quickly. I think your best bet is either a PS2 with a GunCon and a CRT, or a Wii with a Crossfire and a widescreen.

:cheers:

BadMouth:

--- Quote from: twistedsymphony on February 11, 2014, 10:18:42 am ---I guess I don't understand what the problem is with IR LED based systems... I mean that's what the arcades have used on all the rear-projection rigs since the 90s and I don't recall them being any less accurate than CRT systems.

--- End quote ---

When they switched to IR systems, they made the games a lot more forgiving to make up for the IR guns not being as accurate.
I'm guessing Sega's system that uses more IR LEDs is more accurate than what is available to the home consumer, but I don't have any experience with it.

Use an Aim-Trak or Wii controller, turn off the on-screen crosshairs and use only the gun sights.
Now see if the shots are aligned with the gun sights on all parts of the screen.
Unless you can hold the gun exactly where it was when you calibrated it, they will be off.
Now pretend you're a friend that's 6 inches shorter than yourself and hold the gun lower...it gets a lot worse.

IMO, IR guns just aren't good enough to be useable without on-screen crosshairs.
But having to look at on-screen crosshairs instead of the sights on the gun makes it feel like I'm playing with a magic wand instead of a gun.
People who grew up playing wii would probably fine with that, but it absolutely ruins the experience for me.
The controller might as well not even be gun shaped.

I have an old CRT TV setup that I'd like to get rid of, but I keep because of the light gun games.
The ActLabs guns that I use with it are accurate to within 3 pixels no matter where you are standing.
You can move around, swing the gun side to side to shoot enemies on each side of the screen...whatever. It just works.

twistedsymphony:

--- Quote from: pbj on February 11, 2014, 10:30:35 am ---In my experience, the IR guns don't do well on the edges. Arcade games tend to put the targets along the edges of the screen. Gun games well suited to the Wii focus more on centrally located targets. The limitations of IR guns on arcade games become clear very quickly. I think your best bet is either a PS2 with a GunCon and a CRT, or a Wii with a Crossfire and a widescreen.

:cheers:

--- End quote ---

No doubt that the Wii IR setup blows I have problems with that all the time.

The way the Wii (and most crappy 3rd party IR Guns setups) work they only use 2 or 4 LEDs total and need to "see" at least 2 of them at all times in order to track properly, with the Arcade setup.

I worked as an arcade tech for a few years while in college. Most of our light games were CRT based but we had a rear projection Jurassic Park shooter as well as a Rear Projection Time Crysis 2.

IIRC they had IR LEDs along the entire parameter of the screen about every 6 inches or so.... this means that as long as you could see at least 2 of the LEDs on any side of the screen you were good. The only time you'd have problems would be in the dead center of the screen if you were too close (but that's stops cheaters anyway :lol ) which is why those machines had a pedestal to ensure that the player was far enough back.

I used to calibrate all of the gun games once a week as part of my maintenance routine and I never saw anything that led me to believe the IR based stuff was any more forgiving than the CRT guns; aside from the fact that with a bigger screen you obviously had bigger targets.

I believe that most IR systems can handle extra LEDs... so it couldn't hurt to just tape a bunch up around the parameter of your monitor and see if it helps. With most systems they're really not doing anything special.

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