Vortex Spinner Question

[sofakng]

Last night I mounted the Vortex Spinner onto my control panel.  I'm in the middle of painting so I didn't have a chance to actually test it yet but it feels a *tad* bit loose -- meaning, when I spin the knob at the top, sometimes it slips and doesn't actually spin the flywheel at the bottom.

Is there something I can tighten to stop this?

Also, I plan on playing a lot of Arkanoid.  In fact, it's the primary reason I bought a spinner.  After doing some reading (which I should have done more of BEFORE I bought anything), it appears as though the Vortex Spinner is not gear based and is much better suited to Tempest.

Will this spinner be OK for Arkanoid?  Can I do anything to improve the spinner for use with this game?

[PaulG]

Sounds like you need to tighten the knob a little better (With the 2 holes using an allen wrench.)

And on Oscar's site, he specifically mentions software tweaks to make for the Arknoid games.  Implement those and adjust to taste from there.  I'm happy with my Vortex and Arknoid, though I either never played Arknoid in the arcade or simply can't remember doing so.  So no comparisons in my head.

[sofakng]

The two holes on the bottom side (flywheel side) are the ones that I tighten?  What size allen wrench do I need? (I might have to buy one...)

Also, I read Oscar's site about the settings for Arkanoid.  It says to turn off Mouse Acceleration in Windows.  I don't see the settings in Windows XP.  Where is it at?  If I turn off Mouse Acceleration completely, will that screwup my trackball?

[Kremmit]

You'll probably want mouse accelleration off for everything in MAME.  Mouse accelleration can be handy for Windows, but will cause unwanted behaviour in games.

And it's probably the allen screws inside the 2 holes in the knob itself that are loose, allowing the knob to spin on the shaft, instead of turning it.  I dunno what size you will need, though.

[SideShow Rob]

To adjust the Spinner knob, you will need a 5/64" Allen key/wrench...

[PaulG]

It almost sounds like he took it apart to install it:(  As others have stated, it's the outside knob that comes off and needs to be retightened.

If you're running Windows XP, mouse accereration isn't the same as previous Windows versions.  I have registry tweaks that I got off the internet that'll disable Mouse accerlation in XP.    I'm busy right now, but I'll find the sheet and post it some time this weekend.

[PaulG]

Here's what I did in Windows XP:

http://www.tweakxp.com/display.aspx?id=1084

I did those and in the Mouse Controls, I have "Enhance Pointer Precision" CHECKED and the mouse speed set all the way to the right (FAST).  While it seems Pointer Precision enhanced would be a conflict, with those registry tweaks I find you can have it checked and still enjoy the benefits of the registry tweaks.

[sofakng]

Thanks Paul!

I'm having a bit of a problem with attaching the spinner (the space on the bottom of the control panel isn't big enough... *sigh*) but as soon as I get that figured out I'll let you know how it worked out.

[PaulG]

I finially looked at my settings in MAME.  I have the settings different for each Arknoid, but they all have a Speed of 1 and a sensitiviy settings way below 150.  Maybe I'm playing abnormally slow, but I'd keep lowering that number till you get a speed you like.