I am using a genuine arcade CRT for my MAME cab. Can I use any light gun?

[DaddyLongLegs]

Hello! I have a MAME cabinet I built a while ago. I am using a genuine Wells Gardner k7400 CRT. My friend has two guns from Area 51 that he said he would give me for some beer. Can I use these in MAME with virtually all lightgun games? Or do I still need an AimTrak? I was under the impression the AimTrak is just for people using LCDs, but after doing some research I can't find anybody talking about using actual arcade light guns with their CRT.

Any info would be greatly appreciated!

[Le Chuck]

Those guns won't do anything for you. You don't have the interface boards to make them work with a PC. Nobody does, there was a board out for a while that supposedly did this but I think it was vaporware. If you want classic shooting you need to resource a set of ACT Labs VGA guns. They are amazing and amazingly hard to get. I kick myself for ever selling mine. That said, I sold them for over $500 so it's not like I didn't clear a huge profit on them.

TL/DR: Those guns won't work. Drink the beer yourself.

[BadMouth]

Technically the guns will work.  What you will need is the I/O board out of an America's Army arcade machine.
Short of that, no way to make them work.

Jollywest built a MAME light gun cab with one:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,138723.msg1433282.html#msg1433282

Installing Aim-Trak modules in original Happ guns was all the rage a few yeas back.
I still have one for tinkering purposes, but didn't add them to my cab because the accuracy of the IR guns just isn't comparable to the old school, white screen flash, true light guns.

I also regret selling my Act Labs guns (S-Video version), but there are no CRTs left in my house anyway.

[DaddyLongLegs]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I  will go with the Ultimarc then.

IR aiming doesn't bother me. I actually kind of like seeing the crosshairs. I am basing this on how much better it was playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii than any other version. I never found the Wii gun aiming to be a problem so the Ultimarc sounds like it's right up my alley.

[Titchgamer]

You dont need to have the cross hairs with the AT’s if you dont want them.

And ime really not sure why people moan about the accuracy of them, They are great once they are set up and drift no more than CRT guns on the PS etc did.

The only light gun I have ever used (in a home environment) that was 100% accurate is the NES zapper!!

[BadMouth]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I  will go with the Ultimarc then.

IR aiming doesn't bother me. I actually kind of like seeing the crosshairs. I am basing this on how much better it was playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii than any other version. I never found the Wii gun aiming to be a problem so the Ultimarc sounds like it's right up my alley.

If you'll be happy with IR guns then you get the added bonus of being able to play the positional gun games, which true light guns won't work on.

 

[DaddyLongLegs]

I just got my 2 AimTraks

I love them except I am noticing it is almost impossible to hit any ducks in VS Duck Hunt. It seems way too sensitive, like I try to hold my hand steady but the crosshairs still shake a bit too much to hit anything. Is there a way to fix this? I know in MAME when I press tab there is an option for gun sensitivity and speed but even if I set those to the lowest possible values, it does not make a difference. I am guessing those settings are for actual light guns, not IR guns. Any way to drop the sensitivity down?

Also it does not work in CarnEvil at all. However, I noticed CarnEvil runs way too fast (I think it was a CD-based game? I notice all the golden tee games in the FMV areas run way too fast as well). Is it because it's running way too fast? I was googling the issue but all I see are people complaining that CarnEvil runs way too slow!

Thanks for the replies, guys. I  will go with the Ultimarc then.

IR aiming doesn't bother me. I actually kind of like seeing the crosshairs. I am basing this on how much better it was playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii than any other version. I never found the Wii gun aiming to be a problem so the Ultimarc sounds like it's right up my alley.

If you'll be happy with IR guns then you get the added bonus of being able to play the positional gun games, which true light guns won't work on.

 

Nice! Any good examples of some??

[PL1]

Any good examples of some??

BadMouth attached a list to this post.


Scott

[Titchgamer]

I just got my 2 AimTraks

I love them except I am noticing it is almost impossible to hit any ducks in VS Duck Hunt. It seems way too sensitive, like I try to hold my hand steady but the crosshairs still shake a bit too much to hit anything. Is there a way to fix this? I know in MAME when I press tab there is an option for gun sensitivity and speed but even if I set those to the lowest possible values, it does not make a difference. I am guessing those settings are for actual light guns, not IR guns. Any way to drop the sensitivity down?

Also it does not work in CarnEvil at all. However, I noticed CarnEvil runs way too fast (I think it was a CD-based game? I notice all the golden tee games in the FMV areas run way too fast as well). Is it because it's running way too fast? I was googling the issue but all I see are people complaining that CarnEvil runs way too slow!

Thanks for the replies, guys. I  will go with the Ultimarc then.

IR aiming doesn't bother me. I actually kind of like seeing the crosshairs. I am basing this on how much better it was playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii than any other version. I never found the Wii gun aiming to be a problem so the Ultimarc sounds like it's right up my alley.

If you'll be happy with IR guns then you get the added bonus of being able to play the positional gun games, which true light guns won't work on.

 

Nice! Any good examples of some??

Couldnt tell you why but my CarnEvil runs fine?? Very wierd... Some kind of issue with hardware I suspect?
Or maybe a Rom/CD image miss match? I dunno...

As for gun sensitivity, Just practice your aim will come

[DaddyLongLegs]

I just got my 2 AimTraks

I love them except I am noticing it is almost impossible to hit any ducks in VS Duck Hunt. It seems way too sensitive, like I try to hold my hand steady but the crosshairs still shake a bit too much to hit anything. Is there a way to fix this? I know in MAME when I press tab there is an option for gun sensitivity and speed but even if I set those to the lowest possible values, it does not make a difference. I am guessing those settings are for actual light guns, not IR guns. Any way to drop the sensitivity down?

Also it does not work in CarnEvil at all. However, I noticed CarnEvil runs way too fast (I think it was a CD-based game? I notice all the golden tee games in the FMV areas run way too fast as well). Is it because it's running way too fast? I was googling the issue but all I see are people complaining that CarnEvil runs way too slow!

Thanks for the replies, guys. I  will go with the Ultimarc then.

IR aiming doesn't bother me. I actually kind of like seeing the crosshairs. I am basing this on how much better it was playing Resident Evil 4 on the Wii than any other version. I never found the Wii gun aiming to be a problem so the Ultimarc sounds like it's right up my alley.

If you'll be happy with IR guns then you get the added bonus of being able to play the positional gun games, which true light guns won't work on.

 

Nice! Any good examples of some??

Couldnt tell you why but my CarnEvil runs fine?? Very wierd... Some kind of issue with hardware I suspect?
Or maybe a Rom/CD image miss match? I dunno...

As for gun sensitivity, Just practice your aim will come

really? I just checked and it's just carnevil.zip and the carnevil chd folder. It runs a lot faster than it should. All the voices are high pitched too. I am the only one with this issue??

[BadMouth]

I kinda remember this issue being mentioned before, but a search turns up nothing.

Have you tried messing around with the frameskip and throttling in MAME?  (F8-F12 keys IIRC, but it's been years since I messed with this stuff)
There are also options for THROTTLE, SYNC TO REFRESH and WAIT FOR VERTICAL SYNC in MAME.ini
(names might be off, like I said, it's been years)

I loves me some CarnEvil.

[DaddyLongLegs]

I kinda remember this issue being mentioned before, but a search turns up nothing.

Have you tried messing around with the frameskip and throttling in MAME?  (F8-F12 keys IIRC, but it's been years since I messed with this stuff)
There are also options for THROTTLE, SYNC TO REFRESH and WAIT FOR VERTICAL SYNC in MAME.ini
(names might be off, like I said, it's been years)

I loves me some CarnEvil.

Ah you just made me realize something; I forgot to mention I am using GroovyMAME. Could that be the issue?