Custom Driving Controls

[Simon Horsfall]

I want to build my own custom driving controls like on the supersprint or pole position games (360 spinning). I have seen a few sites that talk about normal wheels but not these types. Anyone have any details or can point me in the right direction. Also would a USB PC steering wheel work with DOS Mame? I run Arcadeos and Mame DOS so I would like it to work with Dos. Thanks in advance

Simon

[Minwah]

Maybe you could have a look at the Oscar Steering Control (www.oscarcontrols.com).  I think that is basically a spinner with a steering wheel attached to it.

I think you would struggle to get a USB device to work in DOS.

Good luck...

[Tiger-Heli]

OSCAR'S controls are top-notch, but this is a very simple hack.

Option 1:  Get an arcade wheel off E-bay (Should be under $15.00, maybe under $10.00).  Connect the circuit board into an opti-pac.

Option 2 (for DOS MAME):  Get the same wheel off E-bay.  Keep the encoder wheel, but remove the optic board.  Gut a serial or PS/2 mouse (about $3.00) and position it's optic board to read the encoder wheel.  Plug in and play.

I think you want a lo-res mouse (fairly big slots on the mouse encoder wheel) and some experimentation with different brands might be required.  I got decent results with an old Logitech 3-button serial mouse.

USB should work with DOS mame in a DOS window under win98 or above (maybe).  It definitely will NOT work in straight DOS.

[gajaman]

Check the wheel prototypes (still prototypes, someday I'll finish them) on my site.

I hacked a mouse for a supersprint type wheel. The prototypes look crap, but work great for 360 degree games.

http://www.firenza.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/arcade

[1UP]

One less obvious way...I hacked a Star Wars yoke to a MS Dual Strike.  The dual strike software has a mouse mode, and allows you to set a "spin zone", so if you crank it all the way left or right, it keeps sending signals as if the mouse is still being rolled left or right.  This would have a similar effect to continuously spinning a trackball or optical wheel.  The Dual Strike can be hacked to various analog arcade controls like a flight stick or a pot-based steering wheel, if you have one.  You can see how I hacked my Dual Strike here.