Anyone got a 'rotary' joystick working with MAME? I'm struggling

[uptown47]

Hi all,
I've got the Ultimarc ServoStik with the 12-way rotary upgrade.

The 12 way rotary software allows me to specify a key that's pressed when the joystick clicks one position clockwise and another key when it clicks one position anti-clockwise. I chose keys "Z" and "X".

If I open Notepad and twist the joystick it fills with X's and Z's as you would expect.

However, if I open Ikari Warriors and specify X and Z as the rotation controls then my guy seems to only rotate about every 5 clicks or so??

I've tried changing the 'debounce' in the 12 way rotary stick software but it doesn't seem to help?

Am I missing something? Any help gratefully received. Thanks :-)

[PL1]

If I open Notepad and twist the joystick it fills with X's and Z's as you would expect.

However, if I open Ikari Warriors and specify X and Z as the rotation controls then my guy seems to only rotate about every 5 clicks or so??

Change these three settings.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#MAME_Settings_for_Mechanical_Rotary_Joysticks

For mechanical rotary games:

"Input (this Game)" menu

    Positional Analog to none

"Analog Controls" menu

    Positional Digital Speed = 0
    Positional Sensitivity = 100

Scott

[uptown47]

If I open Notepad and twist the joystick it fills with X's and Z's as you would expect.

However, if I open Ikari Warriors and specify X and Z as the rotation controls then my guy seems to only rotate about every 5 clicks or so??

Change these three settings.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#MAME_Settings_for_Mechanical_Rotary_Joysticks

For mechanical rotary games:

"Input (this Game)" menu

    Positional Analog to none

"Analog Controls" menu

    Positional Digital Speed = 0
    Positional Sensitivity = 100

Scott

Awesome!!!! Thanks Scott!!

That's brilliant. Can't wait to try this out. Thanks for taking the time to post back. :-)

[uptown47]

Just as a follow up to Scott's brilliant post...

A user called "gamera9" (aka Tim) from another forum posted this list of MAME games with rotary joystick control.

Last Mission
Bermuda Triangle
Calibur 50
Downtown
Gondomania
Guerilla War
Heavy Barrell
Ikari Warriors
Victory Road
Ikari III
Midnight Resistance
SAR Search and Rescue
Time Soldiers
TNK III
Touchdown Fever
Touchdown Fever II

I also found out that when you are setting the Positional Sensitivity to 100 you can hold the Shift key and it goes up in 10's (I did the first few by just incrementing in 1's which takes a lot longer!).

Hope that helps any future rotary stick players out there :-)

[PL1]

A user called "gamera9" (aka Tim) from another forum posted this list of MAME games with rotary joystick control.

That list is missing some of the 23 mechanical rotary games and includes three of the four optical rotary games.   
- Optical rotary games (Loop-24 joystick or Happ Optical Rotary stick) have 24 "no-click" transitions per stick rotation instead of the 12 "click" transitions per stick rotation with the mechanical.

The wiki has better game lists, more info (clones/bootlegs/#buttons), and MAME settings like the ones quoted above.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29

One other consideration is that most of these games use a vertical monitor, but three use a horizontal monitor.

Horizontal monitor mechanical rotary games:
- Ikari III - The Rescue
- Midnight Resistance

Horizontal monitor optical rotary games:
- Exterminator

Another game that works well with a mechanical rotary joystick is Xybots.
- That cab used the Atari "Twist-to-Turn" stick and a horizontal monitor.

I also found out that when you are setting the Positional Sensitivity to 100 you can hold the Shift key and it goes up in 10's (I did the first few by just incrementing in 1's which takes a lot longer!).

Nice tip.  Added to list of pending wiki updates.   


Scott

[uptown47]

Great info Scott. I didn't know there was a wiki for BYOAC. What a brilliant resource! Thanks for all your help mate :-)