3 trackballs, 3 spinners - need interfaces

[badweasel]

My build is here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,152126.0.html

I will be in windows 10 doing mame.

I did search on here for an answer but all the results I found were pretty old.  I don't know if things have changed in the last few years.

I'm trying to decide which opti- interface to get.  I have 3 trackballs and 3 spinners.  But already one of the trackballs is USB, the other two have the opti cable.  I could still return the USB one and get another opti one.  But only if it's necessary as it will take weeks to process.

I had assumed that it would be better to get the Opti-wiz from groovy game gear so I could map the spinners to the Z axis and the trackballs to XY.  But now I'm reading about the 4 to 1 problem with Z axis and I'd rather not have to patch mame.

I'll have no choice but to do multimouse but was informed that Windows can remap them which sounds super annoying.  How bad is this problem?  Is there any hack to make sure the devices don't get mixed up between bootups?  Does the opti-wiz "USB Device Number" help with this issue?

I can't have devices "adding to each other" because players could mess up other players games.  I have a boy in the house 

The Opti-whiz is $15 each.  The Opti-pac is $40.

The Opti-pac supports 2 sets of trackballs and spinners but the faq (http://www.ultimarc.com/optipac5.html) says it adds the values together which I can't do.

So I'm looking for advice.  I could get 4 opti-wiz's. 2 for 2 trackballs, 1 for 2 spinners, and the last one for the last spinner.  The last trackball already has USB.


I also thought of a DIY option to make my own interface using arduino.  My concept would be for the interface to ignore all control inputs except the one that should be used for that game.  A command from the PC to the interfce could select which control to use.  This would mean that mame would need to know when the player switches and be able to call a routine to send the command.  I'd also have to know a little more than I do about how to read the optical signals and communicating as a mouse.  But is seems like someone would have already done this.

[badweasel]

I found this which is helpful.  So a bunch of opti-wiz's might be the answer: http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/devicemap.html

I also found out how to do the arduino thing and emulate a mouse with arduino.  So this might also be an option - if there is a way to send a command back to the arduino when player changes.  I would think there is because of all the LED effects.

[PL1]

http://docs.mamedev.org/advanced/devicemap.html

I figured you'd ether find that or Drventure's ControllerRemap for Mame and Stigzler's ControllerRemap GUI.   

One thing that can trigger the renumbering problem is connecting your encoders thru a USB hub.

Are you plugging it into the pc directly or a hub?  It's a little known fact that windoze handles hubs differently.... usually they are enumerated based on the order of detection.

If you can connect the Opti-Wiz's and trackball to USB ports on the motherboard, you are less likely to encounter renumbering problems.


Scott

[badweasel]

Are you plugging it into the pc directly or a hub?  It's a little known fact that windoze handles hubs differently.... usually they are enumerated based on the order of detection.

If you can connect the Opti-Wiz's and trackball to USB ports on the motherboard, you are less likely to encounter renumbering problems.

Scott

Thanks.  I only have 4 usb ports on my pc, which is an alienware alpha r2.  So I will need a hub to connect everything but based on that info I can probably put the opti-wiz  in 3 of the ports and put the hub in the 4th.

[PL1]

I only have 4 usb ports on my pc

Isn't there another 9-pin USB header (or two) on the motherboard?

https://www.amazon.com/uxcell%C2%AE-Motherboard-Header-Female-Bracket/dp/B00HR5RRNE/




Scott
Edit: Nevermind.  Just looked up the "alienware alpha r2" and it doesn't appear to be expandable beyond the 5 onboard USB ports. (Hardwaresecrets -- "There are two USB 3.0 ports on the front of the device, two USB 3.0 ports on the back and one USB 2.0 on the bottom.")

[badweasel]

I didn't realize there was one on the bottom.  I'll check that out.  I'm typically a mac guy and I haven't even turned on the pc yet.  I was trying to get the most bang for my buck and a real graphics card rather than just using the onboard one.  I got the alienware with 6th gen i5 for under 600 on their outlet store.