Space Harrier controller

[Paul Olson]

Has anyone got a Space Harrier controller to work correctly? The range of the controller doesn't allow full range of the pots, so I can't get all the way to the edges of the screen. That means I can't drop to the ground and run too. It also seems that the service menu requires the full range to navigate the menu. The stick does nothing while in the service menu. Other than this issue, it works great.

Also, the game has 3 buttons in MAME. From what I can tell, the only option is to fire, so I guess all 3 buttons do the same thing? I haven't been able to find a manual online for this game yet.

[PL1]

If you can't get Windows to calibrate for a full range of motion, you may need to use Le Chuck's trick here to allow the full electrical range for the stick pots despite a limited mechanical range of motion.


Scott

[Le Chuck]

Has anyone got a Space Harrier controller to work correctly? The range of the controller doesn't allow full range of the pots, so I can't get all the way to the edges of the screen. That means I can't drop to the ground and run too. It also seems that the service menu requires the full range to navigate the menu. The stick does nothing while in the service menu. Other than this issue, it works great.

Also, the game has 3 buttons in MAME. From what I can tell, the only option is to fire, so I guess all 3 buttons do the same thing? I haven't been able to find a manual online for this game yet.

If you use an uhid I *think* you can set the sensativity in the firmware and sneak around this.  Check the documentation here: http://www.u-hid.com/home/index.php

FYI I have one I can sell you, let me know if interested. 

If that doesn't look like it will work you can mod the deflection angle like PL1 linked to but I'd try and find an interface that can work with the range of motion you have before modding. 

[Paul Olson]

I can try to calibrate in uconfig, but this is on a modular panel, so I am trying to use this pin for a few different controllers. That may not be possible, but I want to try to keep it that way. It definitely simplifies the wiring for the control panel.

There is a comment in the mame driver saying that the pot range is unconfirmed. Because of the length of the handle on this joystick, there is actually a pretty short throw on the pots. If I can get into the input test in the game, I can read the values, but I haven't had any luck with that yet.

[PL1]

5v and analog ground can use the same two pins as your other yokes/sticks, assuming you daisy-chain from one pin to both pots for 5v and from the other pin to both pots for ground.

You only need to add 2 unique pins for the X-axis and Y-axis wiper for the Space Harrier stick.   


Scott

[bonzoid]

I've learned a lot by reading this forum and others throughout the years, but this is my first post. I hope someone finds this information useful or at least interesting.

On the Sega blog there's an interview with the developers of the Space Harrier PS2 and Wii ports.  One of the developers, Yousuke Okunari mentions this in regard to some differences the people pointed between the ps2 and the actual machine:

On SEGA’s side, we have a Space Harrier machine that we keep for cataloguing purposes, so I actually went down and played it in the warehouse. And it’s true; the horizon line in the PS2 version is higher than the arcade version. It was different. On the original machine, the Tomos enemies that appear in the 1st stage are easier to shoot. I wanted to know why the arcade version was so different, so I went into test mode to take a look and noticed that when I pulled on the stick, the analog input wouldn’t max out. Which means that the controls were programmed that way to move the cabinet.

http://blogs.sega.com/2013/11/25/sega-3d-classics-space-harrier-3d-interview-with-developer-m2/

I'm not sure how close my controller is to how the controller is supposed to act, but I can get to the edges of the screen without issue.

These are the settings from the diagnostics menu:
Control Lever R.L. Far Right: 21H Far Left: DEH
Control Lever U.D. Top: 61H Bottom:9EH

I had some issues with the Sidewinder hack (the last time that I used a soldering iron was about the time that Space Harrier was introduced) and went a different route.  I replaced the 5k pots with CTS HP-100A 100K pots from an old CH Products Flightstick and used a newer USB CH Product Combat Stick 568 as an interface.  No soldering was involved.  I did the same hack with my Star Wars yoke and so far have been happy with the results.   There's not much more to it, but I did take pictures with the intent of someday writing it up.

According to Bob Church (one of the main contributors on the SimHQ forum) The HP-100A pots that CH uses have the active range squeezed into approximately 60 degrees at the center of rotation. It will still turn the full 270, but there will be no control surface movement outside of the center 60 degrees or so. Using 270 and 60, the pot will show no change in resistance from one end out to about 105 degrees, then the entire resistance will change between the 105 degree point and the 165 degree point (the 60 degree), then show no further response for the 165 degree point to the end point.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3832540

[Paul Olson]

5v and analog ground can use the same two pins as your other yokes/sticks, assuming you daisy-chain from one pin to both pots for 5v and from the other pin to both pots for ground.

You only need to add 2 unique pins for the X-axis and Y-axis wiper for the Space Harrier stick.   


Scott

My cabinet uses cat5 ports to plug the controller panels into the encoders. It is set up so all of the analog joysticks plug into the same port. So the x and y axes of all of the different controllers are seen as the same input by the computer, just onlyu one of them is plugged in at a time. I may not be able to do this with analog if they each need to be calibrated differently though. It just makes for a cleaner setup since this way I use  a different color cat5 cable for each type of controller, and it is color matched to the ports connected to the encoders. Nice and easy to know where to plug it in.

I do have a few extra port spaces to use if I need to though. I also may be able to load a saved calibration when a game loads, but I haven't looked at that yet.

[Paul Olson]

I've learned a lot by reading this forum and others throughout the years, but this is my first post. I hope someone finds this information useful or at least interesting.

On the Sega blog there's an interview with the developers of the Space Harrier PS2 and Wii ports.  One of the developers, Yousuke Okunari mentions this in regard to some differences the people pointed between the ps2 and the actual machine:

On SEGA’s side, we have a Space Harrier machine that we keep for cataloguing purposes, so I actually went down and played it in the warehouse. And it’s true; the horizon line in the PS2 version is higher than the arcade version. It was different. On the original machine, the Tomos enemies that appear in the 1st stage are easier to shoot. I wanted to know why the arcade version was so different, so I went into test mode to take a look and noticed that when I pulled on the stick, the analog input wouldn’t max out. Which means that the controls were programmed that way to move the cabinet.

http://blogs.sega.com/2013/11/25/sega-3d-classics-space-harrier-3d-interview-with-developer-m2/

I'm not sure how close my controller is to how the controller is supposed to act, but I can get to the edges of the screen without issue.

These are the settings from the diagnostics menu:
Control Lever R.L. Far Right: 21H Far Left: DEH
Control Lever U.D. Top: 61H Bottom:9EH

I had some issues with the Sidewinder hack (the last time that I used a soldering iron was about the time that Space Harrier was introduced) and went a different route.  I replaced the 5k pots with CTS HP-100A 100K pots from an old CH Products Flightstick and used a newer USB CH Product Combat Stick 568 as an interface.  No soldering was involved.  I did the same hack with my Star Wars yoke and so far have been happy with the results.   There's not much more to it, but I did take pictures with the intent of someday writing it up.

According to Bob Church (one of the main contributors on the SimHQ forum) The HP-100A pots that CH uses have the active range squeezed into approximately 60 degrees at the center of rotation. It will still turn the full 270, but there will be no control surface movement outside of the center 60 degrees or so. Using 270 and 60, the pot will show no change in resistance from one end out to about 105 degrees, then the entire resistance will change between the 105 degree point and the 165 degree point (the 60 degree), then show no further response for the 165 degree point to the end point.

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3832540

Thanks for the information. I will try to recompile mame with those values in the driver to see if that solves the problem. I would need to find documentation of the actual settings to try to get mamedev to change it though. I am using the original pots on the controller, and connecting them with a U-HID.

[Paul Olson]

Are you able to get all the way to the sides of the screen? The character doesn't make it all the way to the sides on mine, but I watched a couple of gameplay videos on youtube and never saw the character go closer to the edge than mine is doing.

I changed the min/max values in the driver so the y axis is the same as the x. I got a scan of the manual page from a guy on KLOV, and they should be the same according to the manual. The Y axis works perfect now!

thanks for the info. I submitted a bug report to mametesters, so we will see if this is something they think should be changed.

[bonzoid]

Glad to hear that your Y axis is working.

I watched a couple of the Youtube videos and my controller doesn't allow me to go any further to the left or right than what I saw in the videos.