Ultimarc Servo Stick issue

[Karpro]

 Having trouble getting Mala to automatically switch my servo sticks based on game selected. They switch if I hit the F4/F8 buttons but they don't do it automatically. The Ultimarc website makes mention of running them from a command line but I can't seem to figure out how to do that. Any direction would be appreciated.

[markc74]

I had the same problem and ended up using ledblinky for led controls and that fixed it. Have you tried that?

[Karpro]

No. I assume that's an add on software program?  I'll do some looking and give it a try. Thanks

[markc74]

Yeah its an addon. Download it into your mala plugins folder. Theres some pretty good instructions on getting it working with it but post here if you get stuck as its pretty pop'lar 'round these parts...

[Karpro]

I'll look at it when I get home. I'm a little disappointed that I'll have to spend additional money to get them to work but I guess $20 isn't the end of the world.

[yotsuya]

I'll look at it when I get home. I'm a little disappointed that I'll have to spend additional money to get them to work but I guess $20 isn't the end of the world.

Trust me, that's the best $20 you'll ever spend in this hobby.

[Karpro]

If I don't have light up buttons will this do anything besides control my joysticks?

On a side note the only reason I won't mind spending the $20 for this software if because of this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,73905.880.html , there level of customer support provided throughout this thread is definitely worth the price of admission.

[yotsuya]

If I don't have light up buttons will this do anything besides control my joysticks?

On a side note the only reason I won't mind spending the $20 for this software if because of this thread: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,73905.880.html , there level of customer support provided throughout this thread is definitely worth the price of admission.

It'll encourage you to get an LED encoder and light up buttons...   

[lamprey]

Having trouble getting Mala to automatically switch my servo sticks based on game selected. They switch if I hit the F4/F8 buttons but they don't do it automatically. The Ultimarc website makes mention of running them from a command line but I can't seem to figure out how to do that. Any direction would be appreciated.

I don't use Mala, so I don't know, but you should be able to launch another exe besides the emulator. In this case you need to use the JoyTray.exe from Ultimarc. http://www.ultimarc.com/servostik.html IF Mala doesn't support that, then you'll need another option like LedBlinky or some auto hot key script  or...

From the Ultimarc page:

Running JoyTray from command line:

JoyTray.exe -servo [joy4way|joy8way]
 (If using Ultrastik 360: JoyTray.exe -u360 [mouse|analog|joy8way|easyjoy8way|joy4way|djoy4way|rdjoy4way|joy2way|vjoy2way])
If you add an -exit argument the program will exit without staying resident.
 Until front-end developers add native support for the ServoStik, this is the way to automate switching. The front-end needs to be configured to run a command line before starting games eg:
JoyTray.exe -servo joy8way before all 8-way games
JoyTray.exe -servo joy4way before all 4-way games

[chopperthedog]

You need to have the controls.dat defind in mala and the metadata from the controls dat needs to be applied to you custom game list.



good day.

[Karpro]

You need to have the controls.dat defind in mala and the metadata from the controls dat needs to be applied to you custom game list.



good day.

Excuse my ignorance but how is this accomplished?

[chopperthedog]

Make sure your controls.ini is defined in mala config (mame tab/additional tab). Refresh the main gamelist not your custom lists just the mala main list. Next in mala config/game lists tab/ tick the box that says "update game metadata in all lists". After that is done and with the joychoose mala plugin set up to point to the joytray.exe you should be in auto switching bliss.


good day.

[Karpro]

Okay, I'm so close. It switches based on the default settings in joychoose, for example if I check switch to four way on exit it does. If I check switch to 4 way if nothing is chosen it does but it still won't switch per game. It has to be something wrong either in the ini file or in the arguments in joychoose but I just can't figure it out.

[Karpro]

anyone have any more thoughts or ideas for getting the joytray plugin working?

[Buick455]

I dont know if this will help you or not, but this is all I did and it worked.. I bought the servo sticks before xmas and just last night got around to automating them..

-Installed JoyTray from Ultimarc site
-Downloaded JoyChoose plugin from Mala site, unziped to Mala Plugins folder
-In Mala config (Event Plugins tab) select Joychoose, click Configure
-Path to select boxes both should be path to Joytray (mine is c:\program files\joytray\joytray.exe)
-Arguments should be -servo joy8way & -servo joy4way

-In Mala config (Mame Config - Additional) I have my path to Controls.ini

Hope this helped 

[Karpro]

That's strange, that's exactly what I did. I wonder if there is an issue with my controls.ini file not having the right info in it?  If you don't mind checking, how does your ini file read for the controls?

[Buick455]

That's strange, that's exactly what I did. I wonder if there is an issue with my controls.ini file not having the right info in it?  If you don't mind checking, how does your ini file read for the controls?

remove the .txt

got it here: http://controls.arcadecontrols.com/controls/controls_dat.php

[Karpro]

Thanks, I'll check mine this weekend but unfortunately it looks like it may be the same as mine. This has got me completely stumped.

[ArcadiusMaximus]

Hi There,

 I have had the servostick too. Its been working with LEDBlinky for about a year now. Every once in a while the servo stick will not choose the correct position. Like LEDBlinky isn't receiving the change stick signal before launching. It doesn't seem to be game specific, just randomly happens.  I believe I have the default setting ( if the game isn't in the controls.ini) To set the stick to 8-way. Is anyone else having this issue? Is there anything I should double check to ensure perfect operation? Thanks !

[eldritch]

Hi Karpro

You have to use a different mame gamelist for mala then for mame. The gamelist has changed the way the joystick information is stored and Joyschoose don't work with the new way.

Better explained here.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117692.0

best regards
Allan

[DaOld Man]

Sorry, somehow I missed this thread.
I would say that what eldritch is talking about is the problem. What version of mame are you using?
Looks like I need to fix joychoose (and control choose) to work with the new version of mame.
Maybe I need to make it configurable so when the mame brains change it again it can be changed in joychoose also?
In the mean time, if you download an older version of mame (Im at work now so will have to wait to get home to find out for sure which version), create the mame.xml file with it, then use that xml file for your newer version of mame, joychoose will probably work.
Not sure what other problems this may create though, but a couple years ago I played around with that method and it seemed to work for me.

[nurmix]

That's strange, that's exactly what I did. I wonder if there is an issue with my controls.ini file not having the right info in it?  If you don't mind checking, how does your ini file read for the controls?

remove the .txt

got it here: http://controls.arcadecontrols.com/controls/controls_dat.php

Thanks for the controls.ini file link!

I was having a heck of a time getting LEDBlinky to work well with Maximus Arcade.  Everything was configured correctly in both LEDBlinky and Maximus Arcade.  Maximus would correctly switch the ServoStick to 4-way when it launched, but would not change on a game by game basis.

I tried generating a new mame.xml file (and tried using one from a fellow ServoStick user) and pointed LEDBlinky to that instead of mine, as it was my understanding that was the file LEDBlinky looked to to determine 4/8 way.  But that didn't change anything.

But after reading this thread, and using the controls.ini file you linked to, it worked!  Apparently there was a problem with the controls.ini file I was using, but for whatever reason, yours worked.  So thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Afterburner1970]

Hi all,

I know this topic is old, but hoping someone can help.

I tried following Buick455's instructions....but I must be doing something wrong....could my version of MaLa be incompatible with the plugin??

Attached are screen shots....I'm not getting an option to configure JoyChoose

Thanks in advance