Happ Optical rotary joystick to PC? Newbie needs help!

[elsquibbs]

Hello. I have recently got into emulation, and I quickly learned that to really enjoy the games, you need the authentic controls. Some of my favorite arcade classics need a rotary joystick, so I have no choice but to go and build one. Ikari Warriors, Guerilla War, Time Soldiers, Forgotten Worlds, Heavy Barrel and Gondomania just aren't the same with a USB PSX control clone. Here's what I *think* I need. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Of course, I plan on using this console with MAME.
-I am planning a 2 joystick desktop console; I do not have room for a full-sized cab.
Parts I think I need:

2 happ optical rotary joysticks. I never liked the "clicking" of the authentic mechanical sticks.

6 Buttons, 1P/2P starts and 2 action buttons per stick (should I have more? I don't recall any of the aforementioned games using more than 2 buttons per player.)

Now.. how to get input to the PC..

Should I use optiPAC? It looks like a nice rig, and it appears to be just right for optical control input. BUT..
Do I need two separate ports on my PC to run two joystick/button player inputs at once? Is there a way to hook optiPAC to USB? That would be a good thing. Does anyone recommend optiPAC?

Another option is I can use the serial trackball interface kit that happ sells. That supports 2 players at once. I believe the USB version only suports 1 player. Would this be better?

Am I on the right track with this whole thing? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I need to get this thing going, because I hate playing these games with unauthentic controls. If anyone knows of any how-to guides on the web, I'd like them, too; I have had no luck in finding one. Thank you very much  

[anoon]

I would like to hear some suggestions on this as well.

My CP is going to have two rotary sticks, a trackball, and two spinners.

I have an IPac and the OptiPac. i was planning on driving the switches for the sticks and my buttons through the Ipac, then

using the Optipac to drive the track ball standard. I would use the X and Y axis of the second trackball to drive the two spinners. The rotary inputs from the sticks would be wired to the same as the spinners, so technically, the user could use either or. Would this work?

BTW, I am using Mame32 on win2000

[Magnet_Eye]

I have 2 Happs Optical sticks connected using I-PAC and the OPTI-PAC. Yes, you can have both optical sticks working at the same time with one port with the optipac. You need the I-PAC to hook up all your buttons, and the movement of the joysticks. Opti-pac is just for the spinner/optical aspect. You can actually hook up 2 optical sticks and one trackball to the optipac. Just can't use the trackball at the same time as the sticks.

For more info on the IPAC/OPTIPAC goto http://www.ultimarc.com

The optical sticks work pretty well. I recommend them for sure. I too play Time Soldiers and others with the optical sticks like Heavy Barrel, Tron, Ikari Warriors, etc...

Hope this helps.

-Magnet Eye

[anoon]

Cool, thanks for the confirmation. I had pretty much figured it would work as such.

[u_rebelscum]

Note that to use both spinners at once, or both rotary joysticks at once, you need to edit the game drivers yourself, or use Mame:Analog+ (see sig) so player 2 reads the mouse Y axis (and leave player 1 with mouse X axis).

There are/were other work arounds, too.  Look at http://www.oscarcontrols.com/support_spinner.htm for a couple more (plus some Analog+ help).

[Tiger-Heli]

If you want USB, I would consider the Happ USB interface.

Opti-pac is a solid product, but it requires +5V, which is no problem if you are also using an I-PAC, which I recommend.

Personally, I would go with 6 buttons per player in case you wanted to play Defender or Street Fighter or other games on the panel as well.

[elsquibbs]

If the I-PAC goes through USB or PS/2, and the OptiPAC goes through Serial, how can you use the control console through one port? BTW, thanks fo rthe help. I think I have enough info here to start my project. I will go with the I-PAC/OptiPAC combo with Happ optical rotary sticks. I will have to look at that +analog stuff somemore to make sure I understand that, but that stuff is for after the console is complete. AFAIK, MAME will just accept rotary input as keystrokes when configured through the TAB menu from within a game anyway.

Lastly, anyone have any tips on some "cool" extras to use with the console? I'd love to find some Ikari Warriors artwork somewhere to put on the console face. Hopefully I can start this project within a week.. maybe I'll photograph and document my first joystick console.Thanks again for all your help!

[Tiger-Heli]

If the I-PAC goes through USB or PS/2, and the OptiPAC goes through Serial, how can you use the control console through one port?

Ah, I see where you got confused.  What the posters meant is you can run the optical joysticks to a single serial port on the opti-pac (one spinner to X-axis and one spinner to Y-axis) then use MAME Analog + to assign the Y-axis control to Player 2.

You can't do the desktop console through one port anyway.  If the console will sit on your desk, just plug the Opti-pac into the first serial port and the I-PAC to either PS/2 or USB.

If you wanted maximum mobility (from machine to machine) you would want the I-PAC and the Happ USB interface and could run both to a USB hub and (I think) a single USB port.

AFAIK, MAME will just accept rotary input as keystrokes when configured through the TAB menu from within a game anyway.

Not exactly,  MAME sees the rotary input as a dial (mouse) input and automatically sends it to Player 1.  Try playing IKARI with the computer keyboard and mouse.  The mouse will only work for Player 1.  (The rotation keys are not used by the opto-rotaries, so with standard mame, only your Player 1 joystick will work.)  Now try MAME Analog + and you can set it up so that moving the mouse vertically makes Player 2 rotate.  This is what you need for your setup.

[elsquibbs]

Aaahhhhh.. THAT makes sense. Got it. Thanks a lot!