Are Light guns (ie - Aimtrak) worth it?

[7theye]

Hi all,

Have setup my MAME cabinet and all is good and was looking at adding light guns in. Done a ton of reading the Aimtrak seems to be the best out there, but the reviews are mixed.

For anyone who has them, is it worth the time and money and get two and set this up or are they too buggy/laggy/inaccurate/pain to be worth it? It seems fairly complicated to get two to work and almost everyone seems to think that thye arent that accurate etc in the end and need to be recalibrated a lot. Not sure if thats everyones experience.

Wondering if this is worth it for those that have them?
Thanks

[DarthMarino]

Definitely worth it for me but it really depends on what your expectations are.  If you only want to play without the crosshairs visible on the screen, it's probably not a good fit for you.  Have you played any lightgun games on Wii (House of the Dead, Ghost Squad, Link's Crossbow Training, etc.)? It basically functions the same though it feels a little better.  After you calibrate, the crosshairs will appear roughly where the gun is pointing unlike Wii which often takes a bit to figure out where your crosshair is in relation to the screen.  Once you get a calibration you like, you don't have to constantly change it.  Getting 2 guns to work in MAME is quite easy.  Some of the other programs like Model 2 are where you run into trouble and may require an external program.     

If you are just playing casually to have fun, I think it's a great addition.  If you were some kind of expert sharpshooter in the arcade, the drawbacks will probably be much more apparent.

[Jimd0586]

I looked into this about a month ago. Some seemed to suggest that setting up a light gun wasn't too difficult. I was just curious how to setup a light gun for older games such a NES games. How do you get the system to register essentially a mouse click on the screen as a hit when the original system detected light? That was always my concern.

[Jimd0586]

DarthMarino,

I thought that after calibrating the light gun, there was a way to turn crosshairs off. Does anyone know if it works with Retropie?

[DarthMarino]

DarthMarino,

I thought that after calibrating the light gun, there was a way to turn crosshairs off. Does anyone know if it works with Retropie?

You can turn the crosshairs off.  At least in MAME.  I just don't think it's accurate enough to play without them. You might get the perfect calibration and not need them but if playing without them is a must, I would be a bit concerned.

[Frank Drebin]

I don't think it plays all that well with MAME games.  PC games on the other hand work great, but its not really the same.

[BadMouth]

I don't think it plays all that well with MAME games.  PC games on the other hand work great, but its not really the same.

I don't care for IR guns.

But if you're happy with PC games and unhappy with MAME, then your analog options in MAME probably aren't configured correctly.

[brihyn]

I was just trying to get my gun calibrated this last weekend...can someone share what the "right" mame settings should be?

[pbj]

I'm firmly in the 'No' camp on these things.  Big Buck Hunter on the Wii is fun for a little while, though.

[ark_ader]

I'm firmly in the 'No' camp on these things.  Big Buck Hunter on the Wii is fun for a little while, though.

Agreed it is such a pain to setup.  THE LCD Top Guns never remain calibrated and there are very few games I would play them on, except for the consoles like the PS3 and Wii.  I don't know how the aim-tracks play, and since they are an Ultimarc product, I won't be buying one in any foreseeable future.

[CSL]

I picked up two of the aim tracks with recoil kits when I was building my cab. It was a lot of work to get it all set up and working. First my motherboard wouldn't recognise the two guns seperatly so a new motherboard fixed that. Wiring up and getting everything soldered for the recoil kits, plus finding the power supply to match, then wrapping the wires in a mesh type tube all took some work. A lot of work. I had pretty much the highest recommended power supply and very quickly I snapped the internal tabs of both guns that hold the solenoid in place. Andy was very helpful in this regard and has said the new casings are beefier. Some rapid fix worked a treat for me. Once I had that sorted putting the player 2 gun back together I must of snapped off one of my soldered wires as after playing for a minute the gun started to heat up like no ones business, I had shorted the solenoid and locked it on, lucky I didn't melt the gun. Again Andy was very helpful and I had a new solenoid not too long after that.
In saying all that, I was always a huge point blank fan and police trainer before that. Once properly calibrated the guns work really great and the recoil feels brilliant, great arcade feel (minus the sliding slide). Would I do it again, most defiantly, sometimes I just don't feel like playing normal games and want a bit of gun action.

The only thing I will say is being that my cab is a big bastard, with a 32" screen, sometimes the guns do have a hard time staying calibrated, when I get a chance I am going to purchase a extra large light bar from Arcadeguns.com, as I have read somewhere the really improve the tracking of these guns

[Jimd0586]

@CSL

What is your system you are using to power all of this? I have retropie on a raspberry pi and am wondering if it would be impossible to calibrate the light guns on it... I was told you can calibrate on a computer  and that the light gun "saves" the calibration allowing you to move to a different system... but I do not know if this is true.

Additionally, maybe you can tell me... do these light guns work with original CRT light gun games like Duck Hunt or Hogan's alley? Do they need specially tailored versions of these roms? Thanks.

[CSL]

@CSL

What is your system you are using to power all of this? I have retropie on a raspberry pi and am wondering if it would be impossible to calibrate the light guns on it... I was told you can calibrate on a computer  and that the light gun "saves" the calibration allowing you to move to a different system... but I do not know if this is true.

Additionally, maybe you can tell me... do these light guns work with original CRT light gun games like Duck Hunt or Hogan's alley? Do they need specially tailored versions of these roms? Thanks.

I'm using a pc, I think an I3 with 4 gb of ram, with an Ssd. There is a 7870gpu in there as well but doesn't really matter as mame doesn't utilise its power, processor is more important.
The whole thing started for me with the idea of using a Raspberry Pi, but I quickly realised unless you are just building a little cab with a couple of buttons and a couple of games, a pc is the only way to go.
And really a cheap low end PC will run most games no worries and is miles ahead configuration wise as opposed to a Pi.
In short ditch the Pi and get a pc on the go, plus the front ends available are very very nice. I'm using hyper spin and with a couple of cheap subscriptions to hyper spin and emu movies the arcade works brilliantly.


From memory I have played Duck Hunt but I believe this was a Mame Port, even so yes it does work.

[dmckean]

Get a free TV off Craigslist, a PS2, GunCons and a bunch of gun games and stuff it all into a $50 cabinet. It will be super close to the real thing.

[BadMouth]

I was just trying to get my gun calibrated this last weekend...can someone share what the "right" mame settings should be?

It's been years since I messed with it, but I'll throw a few things out there.

Enable multimouse even if only using one gun.  It uses raw input which is unaffected by windows mouse settings.
If the crosshairs lag behind your movement, under analog adjustments in MAME's in game menu (TAB), raise the sensitivity until it doesn't lag.

If they're in joystick mode (which I don't think I've ever used), things like dead zone and joystick saturation come into play and really screw things up.
There should be zero deadzone and saturation should be set to 1 for 100%.

I bought an aim-trak just to screw around with to see if I liked it, so I haven't used it beyond testing and troubleshooting.
The accuracy just wasn't comparable to the old CRT guns, so I didn't add them to my cab.
If you're happy with relying on on-screen crosshairs instead of the gun sights like on the Wii you'll be happy with them.
For me, that makes it feel more like I'm using a magic wand than a gun.

[dgrace]

Make you use a mame that's raw input (not direct). I have 2 AimTraks and love em. Was playing Jurassic Park Lost World, LA Machineguns and House of the Dead 2 in 2 player dual mode the other night. So awesome. Not to mention Area 51, duck hunt, Virtua Cop, Maze of the Kings,etc. The list goes on. So worth it.

[TapeWormInYourGut]

IR guns need to be calibrated before you use them, again if you move over even a foot and play, and again each time a different person wants to play. You can't do this in-game and need to exit to windows. So you have to leave your front-end and calibrate before playing any game.

IR guns are position based on where you are standing relative to the IR LEDs. So, a shorter person will have a different relative position, and if you move over, you will have a different relative position. If you don't re calibrate then it will be off about an inch on the screen. Makes it impossible to play games like duckhunt unless you always calibrate.

So it depends on your expectations. If you don't mind all the setup every time you want to play a game, or hand the gun to someone else, then yeah it is worth it. If you want plug-and-play, then no.

[Titchgamer]

You can calibrate aim traks in game.
I do mine whenever required without ever going to windows

The aim traks are calibrated by holding a button of your choice in for x amount of seconds.
Then you just shoot the cursor/cross hair 3 times in different positions.
Takes all of about 20 secs.

I have found they also keep calibration pretty well since i moved my cab.
It used to be housed in a conservatory and with all the glass/light it made them loose cal quite alot.
But its now housed in a room which is much less problematic.
9 times out of 10 i can pull the gun out of the holster and it will be within a inch of zero'd so pretty good really.

[leapinlew]

Get a free TV off Craigslist, a PS2, GunCons and a bunch of gun games and stuff it all into a $50 cabinet. It will be super close to the real thing.

That's what I did. lots of fun and works "decent"

[Mr. Peabody]

This old topic may have some useful information: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=119530.0

Makes it impossible to play games like duckhunt unless you always calibrate.

The old Act Labs aren't that accurate....but better than the original Duck Hunt guns.

9 times out of 10 i can pull the gun out of the holster and it will be within a inch of zero'd so pretty good really.

An inch is at least twice too much when playing Duck Hunt. Couldn't there be some app that refigures on the fly?

[Titchgamer]

This old topic may have some useful information: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=119530.0

Makes it impossible to play games like duckhunt unless you always calibrate.

The old Act Labs aren't that accurate....but better than the original Duck Hunt guns.

9 times out of 10 i can pull the gun out of the holster and it will be within a inch of zero'd so pretty good really.

An inch is at least twice too much when playing Duck Hunt. Couldn't there be some app that refigures on the fly?

The calibration is effected by things like height, angle, light levels etc so in short no there is no app that can do it for you.
But like I said it is very quick and easy to re cal on the fly with the aim traks.

That being said I have found with mine that if I shuffle a little forward/backwards whatever and get back in the same position I was when I calibrated the gun then its spot on again.
Of course that would be different for someone of a different height or whatever but thats inevitable.
You could put some tape on the ground or something I guess to mark where you should stand to save a re-cal but seen as it only takes seconds I dont think its worth doing TBH.

[Khmerdogg]

What MAME version are you guys using to run the Light Gun Roms? I'm having trouble with Police trainer. I would like to play all the light gun games.