Annoying Act-Labs

[Lilwolf]

Well, it seems like my order might be postponed since Retrogames might have canceled all the orders through them......

But I started some questions with act labs about getting multiples to work on one system.  

It took me about 10 emails to get them to say that they haven't tried to see if two usb light guns will work similar to two usb mice on a single system.

I had to explain that I KNOW that its unsupported... but what will happen....

does the driver that adds the flash to the screen not have the ability to be used by two guns?  

Or is it just that no games support it... so they haven't tried it.

Anyway, their only reply is... Nobody has tried to plug two into a single system...

what?  how could they not... I understand not officially supporting them.. but how many more sales will they get if there is a hack that allows multiple guns?

I don't quite understand why they wouldn't have looked into this...

I would expect and answer of 'no' or and answer of 'yes, but it doesn't do anything' or 'yes, but there are a ton of issues'... but nobody has tried???

[Bursar]

On the Act-Labs home page, under the 'More Support' link from the gun page, it says:

Q: Will the gun work with shooting games under the MAME emulator?
A: Yes, provided that you are running the Windows version of MAME (MAME32).

Q: Will the gun work in DOS?
A: No, the gun requires DirectX, which is a Windows component. DOS is not supported.

Q: Can I use two PC USB Guns in tandem?
A: No, only one gun can be connected to a single computer. Using 2 guns will confuse the targeting system.

Not sure if this directly contradicts what you were saying, or if they have just stuck it up to cover themselves.

It would be an intersting thing to test though.

[Sasquatch!]

You're trying to get one of them to cop to an "unofficial" answer, which could bite them in the ass.  Looks like we'll have to do it ourselves (but hey, we're used to that, right?).

[Demon-Seed]

I sent this email to them..maybe you guys know??

Hi,
I had a couple questions about the new mame guns. I have an arcade cabinet will it work with it, even though my PC monitor is behind a piece of clear plexi glass? and in the demo I noticed the user was like 1 foot away from the screen..to me this seems funny, but does it now work well if further back? How have the mame tests been going? Also see only MAME32 supported wil it work under windows command version??? i thought it  used direct x etc...?

thx
Jim

[Zipper]

I sent an email asking if it would work despite my monitor being behind a sheet of glass.

i got the same reply as Lilwolf. 'We've not tried this'.

Quite fustrating. Just have to wait and see.

[Bursar]

I wouldn't mind getting one of these guns. Bit of a shame they look like Star Trek rejects though Would have prefered something that looked a little more gun like.

It's also a bugger that the gun is $29.99 and shipping to the UK is $25 That hardly makes it a worthwhile thing. Ya never know, they might turn up in the UK eventually.

[nullb0y]

I sent an email asking if it would work despite my monitor being behind a sheet of glass.

i would think it would work as long as the light could pass through the glass but it might not if its smoked glass but i dont know so dont blame me if it doesnt lol

[Lilwolf]

Bursar,

Brad (the VP I think of ActLabs) was very open about helping this problem.  He mentioned a few companies that sell real looking/feeling guns that have enough space inside that you could hack their gun in.

they wont officially support it, but he said it should be very doable.... they don't take much space inside the gun itself.

[Minwah]

I was kinda hoping to be the first to hack the gun into a different gun case    I'd got my eye on a PSX Time Crisis gun - pretty arcade-like, and grey (not to mention massive )

[Bursar]

hehe, great minds think alike

I was thinking about buying a cheap spring powered BB gun and putting the internals in that

[nullb0y]

do it to a nes gun!!!!!!!!!!!!! the grey one or the red one