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1st Post - Getting Started - General Advice
tk007b:
Hi all,
This forum is EXACTLY where I need to be :) here goes ..
Background
I decided to make a retro gaming setup but it's already getting much bigger than I first expected. I have chosen RetroBat as my UI of choice (seems pretty good, support is excellent).
My idea is to use a rising coffee table as my control panel, with the following attributes:
Left hand side - Player one controls, Right hand side Player 2 controls - Middle section for Analogue setup. For example, left/ Right hand sides have 360 degree steering wheels (for Super Sprint). I've made these from rotary encoders, an Arduino Micro and some software to make it present as a HID/Mouse courtesy of AI/GPT. After having a nightmare with a gear shift, I've decided to use a joystick as a gear shifter, with a restrictor to only allow vertical movement. I have 2 Siden light guns and want to get a trackball but am umming over the size (will probably go for the 3" ball size)
Middle section I am thinking of Logitech G29 steering wheel set up with gearstick and maybe a flight stick.
Control Panel
Again ummimg over Ulitmarc's Ultimate IO and U-HID encoders, to allow flawless set up and operation (but don't know if that's overkill - probably a good idea, I think)
buttons I'm starting with LED buttons but may switch to the fancy RGB ones and then use LEDBlinky to do some funky lighting (not bothered about light show but like the idea of buttons lighting up the colour they should be for the emulator I select), e.g. Xbox light up in one colour order and Nintendo lights up in it's own (different) colour order.
Might get some fancy neon LED strips for the top and the bottom .. maybe ..
Wiring / Set Up
This is the hardest bit for me to get my head around. I have cheapy microswitch pedals, which I want to use for Super Sprint (as the game uses digital accelerator/gas pedal only) and for Time Crisis. However, when playing OutRun, in order to be in-keeping, I should use a analogue foot pedal for accelerating and therefore the G29 for steering too.
I have played around with manually setting up different buttons in MAME per game as that seems to work but it seems like a lot of set up ( I might just need to bite the bullet and just do it for each non standard game)
Then there's the mouse buttons for the trackball .. should I use 3 separate buttons or map them to the existing arcade buttons ..
Layout
I'm thinking of just figuring this out myself using looking at loads of previous setups to give me a feel of where things should go
Lastly, the idea is to have a false top for the coffee table lid, so it all gets concealed when not in use.
Any ideas/pointers, links to useful videos etc VERY WELCOMED :-)
Thanks guys !!
:-)
PL1:
--- Quote from: tk007b on October 02, 2025, 07:37:55 pm ---Then there's the mouse buttons for the trackball .. should I use 3 separate buttons or map them to the existing arcade buttons
--- End quote ---
Beware of kids and drunk/non-tech-savvy friends. :scared
Mouse buttons can allow them to accidently get into menus that you don't want them messing with.
- If you need mouse buttons during setup, plug in a mouse.
Another thing that can cause trouble is having a button or combo for them accessing the MAME menu system either via the 2A input's default "Tab" keystroke or the shifted function triggered by "P1 Start" + "P1 Joy Right" -- you may want to protect your setup by reprogramming the output for the 2A input and for that shifted function to something else.
- If you need to access the MAME setup menu, plug in a keyboard.
Lots of other useful info in the FAQ. :cheers:
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#What_type_of_build_meets_my_needs.3F
Scott
tk007b:
Comments embedded - thank you! :-)
--- Quote from: PL1 on October 03, 2025, 01:11:04 am ---
--- Quote from: tk007b on October 02, 2025, 07:37:55 pm ---Then there's the mouse buttons for the trackball .. should I use 3 separate buttons or map them to the existing arcade buttons
--- End quote ---
Beware of kids and drunk/non-tech-savvy friends. :scared
"Errrmmm .. .Ohh Kayyyy" ;-)
Mouse buttons can allow them to accidently get into menus that you don't want them messing with.
- If you need mouse buttons during setup, plug in a mouse.
Thanks, I was thinking of having them for Missile Command, to the left of the TrackBall (when I get one) so I can shoot from all 3 bases easily.
Another thing that can cause trouble is having a button or combo for them accessing the MAME menu system either via the 2A input's default "Tab" keystroke or the shifted function triggered by "P1 Start" + "P1 Joy Right" -- you may want to protect your setup by reprogramming the output for the 2A input and for that shifted function to something else.
- If you need to access the MAME setup menu, plug in a keyboard.
Apologies, I don't know what you mean by 2A - Sorry if I'm being a bit thick!
Lots of other useful info in the FAQ. :cheers:
https://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/FAQ#What_type_of_build_meets_my_needs.3F
Top Man - thanks :-)
Scott
--- End quote ---
BadMouth:
Check out the driving cab subforum stickied beginner's thread to get a better understanding of how MAME's analog inputs work.
They aren't standardized like the basic JAMMA standard joystick and buttons, so each game needs set up and adjusted to play correctly.
Even if someone went through and adjusted all the games to some standard gamepad setup for you, that still wouldn't translate to the turn count/ppr/etc of your input devices.
The parts that are probably most important for you:
MAME's default dead zone is 30%!, reduce it to zero or near zero.
Increase saturation to 1 (100%).
Under analog inputs in MAME's in game menu, adjust the sensitivity until the spinner steering feels right.
When using a simple switch instead of an analog gas pedal, you'll need to map the switch to AXIS INC (never map this when using actual analog controls!). Then under the analog options there is a DIGITAL SPEED setting that determines how fast the virtual analog pedal ramps up when you press the button and a DIGITAL CENTER that determines how fast it returns when you let go of the switch. These will need to be dialed in for games where the tires squeal and you lose time when you depress the gas too fast. On games like Sprint and Super Offroad, it doesn't matter because I mash the pedal anyway.
There is also information in there on getting the shifter to work correctly.
These settings also affect how your guns work in the games that originally used mounted potentiometer based guns (like T2).
Whenever I see someone complaining about guns lagging or having a dead zone, I assume they don't know to adjust these settings.
DISCLAIMER: It has been something like a decade since I messed with this stuff and my knowledge could be outdated. Ask for help in the driving cab subforum if you need it.
tk007b:
Cool, will do (thanks) .. looks like analogue adjustments are very fiddly!
Mind you, I spent 10 mins trying to find out why the brakes weren't working in Super Sprint, before the penny dropped!! .. been so long since I played it, I had forgotten (there aren't any)!!!!
You have to laugh right!?
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