My new Happs TB hates me! Any tips/hints desperately needed!

[PaulG]

So I recently build my 1st panel and the new Happs 3-inch Golden Tee trackball has me wanting to smash it with a hammer.  I just get nasty hooks no matter what I do to break it in.  Roll it and straight lines are impossible.  Roll it really slow and its more circular than straight.  And for Golf games where heavy duty action is called for, its a joke.  Heavy spins are horrible (Except in Boot Camp (Not golf).  The sprint is alright because its a straight left-right spin (Diagnals of any sort cause severe issues.  As do heavy backspin, quick forward spin).  The obstacle course on Boot Camp where heavy spinning and direction changes are required results in the character moving wherever the heck they decide to.

Here's what I've done:  I followed Bob Roberts tips.  I used the drill to spin the bearings.  This actually helped the vertical axis.  The next day I picked up some 3-1 oil.  I then spun the bearings some more and oiled them.  And I'm back to where I was when I started.  The vertical axis sucks as much as the horizontal and everything seems like a waste of time.  How long do people spin the bearings?  Is it minutes?  I was doing about 10-15 seconds each direction.

P.S.  Some games (medium spin) are playable:  Millipede, Missle Command, Marble Madness (with adjusted MAME settings).  Obviously they could be better, but constant medium spins keep things running the smoothest.

I doubt this matters, but I'm using the Mini-pac as my controller.

[eightbit]

Have you tried other mouse drivers or tweaking your mouse settings in windows?

[PaulG]

Haven't tried messing with those.  Wish there was an FAQ somewhere on this.  Anyways, right now my computer is having serious issues, so I haven't even been trying anything.

[dommer]

Can you link me to Bob Robert's tips?

[Lilwolf]

make sure to turn acceleration off on the mouse.

then after that, (remembering back) you turn your mouse speed down, and your mame analog speed up (or the other way around... one helps)

But while you wait... enjoy a good game of centepede.  It doesn't matter as much

[SirPeale]

Can you link me to Bob Robert's tips?

http://www.therealbobroberts.com

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Heres a more direct link to the trackball troubles page.

http://www.dameon.net/BBBB/mynotes.html#trackball

[PaulG]

make sure to turn acceleration off on the mouse.

then after that, (remembering back) you turn your mouse speed down, and your mame analog speed up (or the other way around... one helps)

But while you wait... enjoy a good game of centepede.  It doesn't matter as much

Thanks, man.  I'll need to do this.  Been MIA in this thread because I've been screwing around with my computer.  Videocard flaked out and I had to RMA to ATI.

P.S.  I mentioned Milipede in the original post, but Centipede is definetly the one game that worked best and the one that was getting the most play time:)

[TalkingOctopus]

The default windows xp mouse settings cause the Happ trackball to be almost unusable.  

Check out this thread for better settings :

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=9964;start=msg74757#msg74757

[PaulG]

Excellent link!  Thanks!  Spent a ton of time searching, but never saw that thread.