FIFY
No you didn't.
The part where you said that a 49-way stick "has to be like a trackball" is 100% wrong, aside from the fact that both use optical sensors.
The corresponding type of USB HID device is different.
- A trackball directly corresponds with a
mouse.
- AFAIK a 49-way stick doesn't directly correspond with
any type of USB HID device, but a specialized firmware can translate the 8 data line values (side, low, med, and high for each axis) into a 49-position analog stick output on a
gamepad.
MAME is often able to translate one type of input into a completely different type of input, such as playing Star Wars with a trackball (mouse) instead of a yoke (gamepad analog joystick) -- that doesn't mean that the input types are similar at the encoder level.
mouse =/= gamepad
This guy seems to have more information on the subject and he does mention analogue.
The only mention of analog on that page is a link at the bottom to urebelscum's very old MameAnalog+ page (backup copy
here) that mentions raw input using MameAnalog+ (via Player 5 Buttons 1-8) and a "49-to-analog" circuit to translate the 49-way stick to a 49-position analog stick.
I haven't looked into how well 49-way and/or analog sticks are supported in current MAME or on the older versions used on a RasPi.
So maybe you can add this feature to the next revision of KADE?
Randy already has it covered with his
GP-Wiz49 MAX 49-Way Joystick and
GP-Wiz49 Eco 49-Way Joystick encoders.
Given the tiny number of games that used 49-way sticks and the similarly small number of instances where these sticks might be used in a build, I doubt that Bruno will be interested in investing the
considerable time and effort to add support for them.
One thing that
might convince him is if GP-Wiz49's don't work for RasPi, Mac, etc. despite the fact that the product page points out that they, "Will most likely work with other systems that comply with the the HID specification."
If 1500points or someone else with analog controls already enabled in Retropie doesn't chime in first, I'll try to de-brick my Retropie SD card and see if analog controls will work for some of the 49-way games on that old version of MAME, Quarterback.
Scott