Paperboy - entering hi score

[spisi]

So, I got Paperboy to play using my Spy Hunter control panel  ! Loved this game back in the day (Yes, I actually was a paperboy). It's playing pretty good, only issue is the pedal. Sometimes he can get up to top speed and sometimes he can't. Also, when it comes time to enter in the hi-score, the letters keep scrolling by when my foot is off the pedal. I have a gas pedal with a pot connected to a U-HID. It tests fine in Windows. When my foot is off the pedal, the cursor is dead center... Any help would be appreciated greatly.

[spisi]

Just to verify, in Windows device calibration. Is it correct for the cursor to be in the middle of the box, then move down when the pedal is pressed, and then back to the middle when released?

[PL1]

Sometimes he can get up to top speed and sometimes he can't. Also, when it comes time to enter in the hi-score, the letters keep scrolling by when my foot is off the pedal. I have a gas pedal with a pot connected to a U-HID. It tests fine in Windows. When my foot is off the pedal, the cursor is dead center.

Just one pedal?

Having the axis centered when no pedal is pressed sounds like you've got gas and brake pedals wired as "single axis". (both pedals combined on one axis)

Normally it would be wired like this:
- Left pink = 5v
- Blue/yellow = wiper (connects to the U-HID analog input)
- Blue/red = Ground



If the pedals are wired as "single axis", they will behave like this:




Scott

[spisi]

Only the one pedal, no brake pedal... It seems to be working fine in other games, doesn't explain why the letters are moving by themselves when it comes time to enter the hi-score...

[PL1]

Only the one pedal, no brake pedal... It seems to be working fine in other games, doesn't explain why the letters are moving by themselves when it comes time to enter the hi-score...

Just to verify, in Windows device calibration. Is it correct for the cursor to be in the middle of the box, then move down when the pedal is pressed, and then back to the middle when released?

Sounds like the Y-axis is moving the opposite direction from normal and there's a limited range of motion due to lack of calibration in Windows.

On Y-axis, an un-pressed pedal usually starts at the bottom (close to ground) and moves up (toward 5v) as you press the pedal.
- This isn't a problem in MAME where you can reverse the axis, but it might be a problem with some non-MAME games.
- If you do run into this problem with a non-MAME game, swap the 5v and ground wires on the outer tabs of the potentiometer, recalibrate in Windows, and in your MAME games reverse the axis in the MAME "analog controls" menu as needed.

It's not unusual to have a limited range of rotation for the potentiometers in pedals.
- Calibration should compensate for that.
- After you calibrate the pedal in Windows, you should see the crosshairs move through the full top-to-bottom range of motion when you fully press and release the pedal.

Some games will auto-calibrate potentiometer inputs.
- For example, doing a couple laps around the outer perimeter of the screen with the yoke in Star Wars will calibrate the game's yoke inputs.
- This could explain why Paperboy is scrolling when the pedal isn't pressed.  The crosshairs might look centered in Windows, but they are not in the center of the range of pedal values seen by Paperboy.

Some games will have a calibration option in the game menu.
- Pressing F2 while the game is running should get you into the game menu.


Scott

[spisi]

Very informative as usual, I hope to get the time to test it out today. Thank you!

[spisi]

OK tested it out. I think I see the problem. In Windows calibration it asks the the controller be left centered. Problem is the gas pedal is never centered, it is either up or down. So Windows is only seeing one direction from center unlike the steering wheel which it sees two (left and right). So, after calibration the cursor starts in the middle and only goes down and then back to center.....

[spisi]

So I held the pedal halfway down (the best that I could) at the start of calibration. This seems to work, but it's not perfect. There has to be a better way to calibrate a gas pedal. I tried F2 in the games that I'm playing and had no luck 

[PL1]

In Windows calibration it asks the the controller be left centered. Problem is the gas pedal is never centered, it is either up or down.

Here are two ways to work around that:

1. When Windows calibration asks for the controller to be centered, press and hold the gas pedal 1/2 way down.

2. If you can't hold the pedal steady enough to get calibration to work, here's a more complicated way to do it.

Use two *equal value* resistors (R1 and R2) to make a voltage divider that provides 2.5v on a "calibration wiper" wire (blue) that centers the axis when the SPDT switch is set to "Calibration".  When the switch is set to "Normal" the normal wiper voltage from tab 2 of the pot (purple) goes to the encoder input. (green)
- 1/4W or 1/8W resistors between 2.5k and 50k will be perfect substitutes for pedal pots between 5k and 100k.


Scott
EDIT: Since pedal pots usually have a limited range of motion that limits the possible range of wiper voltages, you might need to use a larger value variable resistor for R1 and a smaller value fixed resistor for R2 so the voltage on the calibration wiper (blue) can be set to the average of the pressed and un-pressed voltages on the wiper. (purple)

[spisi]

Oh, yea that seems a bit too complicated for me...but thanks for the info!  So theres no simpler way for Windows to do this huh...bummer.

[spisi]

Holding it halfway down at the start of calibration did the trick!!! Thanks for your help!