Enhance Lightgun Accuracy

[Xiaou2]

  I had to suffer through the mostly boaring and excessivly LOOONNNNGGG rants of retrogaming radio... (luckily there was the fast forward option)... but at the end, shane notes the problem with the the slight aiming drift, and what fixes it:    

 Actlabs notes that a black border can cause calibration problems... but what you may not remember, is that your monitor may not be perfectly centered and expanded on Each Different Resolution Setting.    

 Make sure that after you get the game started, that you adjust your monitor with the size and postion buttons so that there is no black border, and that its perfectly centered.


 Also, to any new gun receivers, some other tips...

1 - Make sure you are using Windows Mame version .61
2 - Make sure to enable lightgun support for the said game
3 - T2 is not a lightgun game.  It wont work correctly.  It uses a phony gun mounted on an analog joystick assembly.
4 - Set up the controls so that reload is the right mouse button.  Either use the reload on the gun... or shoot offscreen will then activate the reload.
5 - Calibrate your monitor so that its fully expanded and perfectly centered.
6 - Calibrate the gun with the calibrate switch
7 - Calibrate the gun in the games 'Test Menu'.  Pressing F2 usually gets to the test menu of most games.  You can also get there by changing the dip settings.
8 - Exit test and have fun : )
9 - Repeat all steps for each game.
10 - Play some shockwave games like 'xiaoxiao'  Wicked fun!  ^_-

[Xiaou2]

 Ohh... just a little more stuff...

 I decided to crack open my gun.  My camera isnt set up... so I cant post pics... but basically, heres the scoop...

 To open the gun,  you have to first remove the plastic
gun-back thats located above the model number.  Grab the rear sight and pull backwards.   This will allow access to 2 screws.

 Next, the obvious screws by the trigger and the cord.

 Finally, there is a hidded screw under one of the decal strips.  Its under the front black stripe under the engraved Actlabs logo.  

 I went in there to loosen up the spring.  Basically, just stretch it out a little more so that its not so heavy.  I too mine off altogether... as I like a hare trigger.  It works really well for rapid fire games like operation wolf.   I still have the fact that the trigger is too close to the guns grip... so Im sure Ill mod that later... as well as add a right mouse reload pedal.   Hopefull some sort of shock device as well...

Be very carefull when you close the gun... as the wires are hair thin and you may crush them in between the shell and break them.    The wires are on both halves of the gun... so also be weary when opening the shell as well.

[Dave_K.]

I'm not sure if this is true for the Act Labs PC/USB guns, but for using console lightguns on arcade and VGA  monitors you must crank up the brightness and contrast for better calibration/accuracy.

-Dave

[Xiaou2]

i was refering to the actlabs USB lightgun