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Author Topic: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?  (Read 2311 times)

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mickael28

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Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« on: February 23, 2018, 07:09:31 pm »
What I mean is that I've seen quite a lot of arcade games where they have those fixed guns which I think are just kind of analog guns, eg. , and you're not pointing in the same way as you are with a standard light gun (like the ones used in House of the Dead or Time Crisis).

I've tried with the left stick of an Xbox 360 controller and the cursor moves way too quick to be able to aim at anything which moves accurately, plus as it's always centered when untouched, it is quite tricky to use it for
 this kind of games I think.

I've bought a flight stick and I'll see if that improves the experience somehow, but I think those sticks have quite a lot of deadzone, so not sure if they'll be any good if one needs accuracy either. I've not received yet so it might take a while until I give this a shot.

Do you guys know if something similar exists to be able to move/aim a cursor in those kind of games in a similar way on a PC version?

PS: I've seen the aimtrak devices which emulate a mouse, but I was trying to find more like an analog gun rather than a light gun/mouse as such.

PL1

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Re: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« Reply #1 on: February 23, 2018, 09:44:34 pm »
What I mean is that I've seen quite a lot of arcade games where they have those fixed guns which I think are just kind of analog guns, eg. , and you're not pointing in the same way as you are with a standard light gun (like the ones used in House of the Dead or Time Crisis).
They are called "positional guns" and they work just like an analog joystick. (potentiometers + analog encoder)

Terminator 2, Operation Wolf 3 (the original used an optical sensor), Alien 3: The Gun, and other cabs used this type of control.

I've tried with the left stick of an Xbox 360 controller and the cursor moves way too quick to be able to aim at anything which moves accurately, plus as it's always centered when untouched, it is quite tricky to use it for
 this kind of games I think.

I've bought a flight stick and I'll see if that improves the experience somehow, but I think those sticks have quite a lot of deadzone, so not sure if they'll be any good if one needs accuracy either. I've not received yet so it might take a while until I give this a shot.

Do you guys know if something similar exists to be able to move/aim a cursor in those kind of games in a similar way on a PC version?

PS: I've seen the aimtrak devices which emulate a mouse, but I was trying to find more like an analog gun rather than a light gun/mouse as such.
Some of the deadzone may be the result of the pots (s-curve vs. linear) or the interface, but be sure to adjust the deadzone default setting in MAME because it is WAY too high for positional gun games.

Check out the 270° wheel (potentiometer) info in this driving sub-forum sticky for related useful info.

As you observed, thumbsticks often lack the fine control for many positional gun games.

Positional guns are designed to work at a certain distance from a particular size screen so the range of motion corresponds to the area of the screen.

Though these guns were used in a number of dedicated cabs, they are seldom used for MAME setups.

I can't think of any manufacturer that makes home-use positional guns for MAME.   :dunno


Scott
EDIT: You can use an analog joystick, analog triggerstick, Star Wars yoke, or positional gun with an analog encoder like A-Pac, U-HID, KADESTICK, or KADE miniArcade 2.0.
« Last Edit: February 23, 2018, 10:00:04 pm by PL1 »

baritonomarchetto

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Re: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« Reply #2 on: February 24, 2018, 04:12:59 am »
A positional gun would be a nice (simple and cheap) arduino project

BadMouth

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Re: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« Reply #3 on: February 24, 2018, 09:51:06 am »
check out the threads in the gun info project thread (that was just a disorganized collection of links to threads)
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,151489.msg1583581.html#msg1583581

I've converted a few original guns for use with MAME.  I still have a big 2 handed one with a shaker motor from Wild Pilot.

A small 3D printed positional gun using cheap potentiometers is one of those someday projects I'll probably never get around to.

Here are some calibration pointers I posted elsewhere:

1.  Calibrate the positional gun in windows by pointing it along the edges of the screen.
2.  In mame.ini set the dead zone to zero.
3.  In mame.ini set the saturation to 1 (100%)
4.  Calibrate the gun in the game's service menu
5.  Adjust the sensitivity under analogue controls in MAME's in-game menu until the crosshairs don't lag behind the gun movement.
    (there is only ONE sensetivity setting, ignore all settings that include the word DIGITAL)

If you are using a widescreen, when you calibrate it in-game, only move the gun to the edges of the 4:3 image.
I don't recall if I did the same while calibrating it in windows, but it may be necessary.

Model 2 emulator only accepts mouse movement, but I believe you can get it working with the APAC using Howard Casto's Troubleshooter2 program.
Look for it in the software subforum.

baritonomarchetto

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Re: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« Reply #4 on: February 24, 2018, 10:48:19 am »
If only I could get a genuine positional gun I could show you how easy it would be to translate those pot movements into mouse movements without additional software with arduino. I made something similar in my motoduino bike "simulator".
« Last Edit: February 24, 2018, 11:58:31 am by baritonomarchetto »

mickael28

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Re: Is there any kind of 'analog gun' for PC? or a similar idea?
« Reply #5 on: February 24, 2018, 09:16:16 pm »
I've converted a few original guns for use with MAME.  I still have a big 2 handed one with a shaker motor from Wild Pilot.

So much information from all of you guys, many thanks. But this is much more complex than I thought it could be. I didn't understand much, but I thought that maybe there was a manufacturer there offering something like that for PCs, albeit quite expensive, although it seems there isn't.

Regarding those original guns you managed to convert. How do they connect to a PC? I've seen the original guns have a strange connector whereas PC mainly use USB. Is there some king of converter to be able to connect them?