Rotary joystick, which one?

[Rich4757]

I want to include a rotary stick in my CP and I see that Happ has 2 models.

1. Happ Rotary - 12 position mechanical - Ikari warrior type
2. Optical Rotary - Optical interface - 50 caliber type

I have room for the optical stick on the optii-PAC and the $5 difference doesn't bother me but I'm not sure which one to include as I've never played either of the two "types" mentioned.

[Tommy Boy]

If you do a search, you'll find a lot of threads on this topic.  That said, I'd be interested to hear what some of the experts have to say about recent developments in this area (e.g. what are implications of AnalogMame's rotary features, etc.).  I'm still kind of fuzzy on the practical implications of some of this stuff...

[Trimoor]

Before you buy one from Happ, have a look at my BYO roatry joystick guide.

[Ed ONeill]

 Trimoor ..nice job

mr.curmdegeon also made one and it looks less complicated than trimmors do a searc for willywonka in project anouncements.


Not sure if this link will work
ROTARY T-STIK PLUS (PLUS) - Willy Wonka Edition

[Kremmit]

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=272;start=msg195494#msg195494

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=25316;start=msg209299#msg209299

[DYNAGOD]

dont forget the SNK LS-30.

[Lilwolf]

Pick your games your planning on running.

The optical can be used on more games and are frankly easier to hack.

BUT if you like the 12 ways (ikari, timepilotes) then you will probably want the snk itself.  More original.

whats your encoder?  Have hotswappable?  

the BEST solutions (almost) is all 12 ports go through and you use analog+ mame.  Then there are two 12 way controller boards... Druin and another (anyone anyone??).  Druins adds a pause for each click left or right and try to convert them into an analog (digital -> analog -> digital -> analog) and getting them right is hard... plus fast turns doesn't work.

So easiest.  Optical.  
Best analog+ + mechanical.... but some drivers last I checked still didn't work...sigh

[mahuti]

Hey gang,

I built one of Trimoor's style rotaries... I used a scroll wheel from a mouse, but the end functionality is similar to what he has. In this case there is a spindle that is glued to the bottom of a joystick, that fits into a small little roller.  I plan to wire this directly into an optipac. There are 3 prongs on the roller mechanism x, y, +5v. Any idea what I'm supposed to do with the ground?

Also, I have an optipac with support for 2 trackballs & 4 spinners. I have a panel that already has a trackball and a spinner. Once I ground this thing, I'll plug it into one of the open spots. Is there anything special I'd need to configure on  the optipac, or in mame. It seems that I have to switch a jumper from player 1 to player 1+2. I think the most recent version of mame has support for multiple spinners / trackballs without needing anything special, but I can't recall.

Anyway, thanks for the great idea Trimoor.

[Tiger-Heli]

See http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/arcadepanels/faq.htm#The Rotary Joysticks you mention are not available yet and I want to play IKARI! What should I do?

Prices are out of date.  And there are really four -
Happ Optical - A happ Super with a spinner type encoder mounted to the bottom
Happ Mechanical - Happ Super with a 12-position swich at the bottom.  Requires druins interface to use.
SNK LS-30 - Yellow octagon handled sticks with 12-position switch originally used in IKARI
Loop-24 - (Only used in Caliber .50 AFAIK) Green octagon handled switch.  Optical interface, but mechanical clicking.

BUT if you like the 12 ways (ikari, timepilotes) then you will probably want the snk itself.  More original.

Time Soldiers - TimePilot was a non-rotary 8-way.

Then there are two 12 way controller boards... Druin and another (anyone anyone??).

Don't know of the other one.  Druin has a good reputation and has been selling these for a long time.  Daveb has an analog board and 49-way board, maybe that's what you were thinking of?

 Druins adds a pause for each click left or right and try to convert them into an analog (digital -> analog -> digital -> analog) and getting them right is hard... plus fast turns doesn't work.

Druin's board also works MUCH better if you use the Button 4 and Button 5 inputs added in MAME Analog Plus 0.71.2 (not sure if these are in the current build).  That eliminates most of the problems you mention.  This is also the MC-Escher files that I talk about on my FAQ.

Best analog+ + mechanical.... but some drivers last I checked still didn't work...sigh

For those who haven't been following this - The Ikari games don't work with SNK (or Happ mechanicals) wired directly to an encoder with Analog Plus.  Time Soldiers works.  All games work when using Druin's interface.

[Lilwolf]

TimeSoldiers...not TimePilot...

I didn't hear that there was a software solution for druins boards... I thought he always sent a value for a set amount of time.

But I had MK64 working (that used a very similar technique that druin) and I could get it working ok... but when I changed it to direct connect I could tell that it was it.

I keep meaning to look at the ikari code and see if I can figure out the analog+ problems.  I keep hoping that someone else who knows the code would fix it by the time I get there.... but Ikari isn't my favorite... but I do LOVE vict road.

btw, if you go druins... You also get xybots running great!  

[Gunstar Hero]

I love Rotary Stick games.  

I want to get some for my cab someday, so I regret I cannot offer any technical advice.

On the "pure opinion from interested observation" front tho...  

For feel, it's gotta be the SNK/Ikari sticks. The Happs ones look too smooth, and I can't imagine the optical ones feeling right.

I will be watching this thread with much interest.

[EvilNuff]

I cannot imagine playing the old ikari/victory road/etc games without the mechanical click.  I hope someone is able to update analog mame for having all the inputs connected soon, that's an emulation I'd love to be able to get working.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Here's the link to my "Wonka" hack: http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=20018

It's an easy way to make a 3-in-1 stick, for 4-way, 8-way and rotary games. Mine are still working great.


mrC

[LordDamo]

Before you buy one from Happ, have a look at my BYO roatry joystick guide.

Had a look at this - looks like a cool project, would be great for operation wolf (I loved that game in the arcade!).

Im a little unsure of what to do with the mouse though, ive done a mouse hack to make a spinner, and it works great - does it connect on to the blue rotate-e thing at the bottom somehow.

Please excuse my stupidity and ignorance . . .

[Silver]

Before you buy one from Happ, have a look at my BYO roatry joystick guide.

Had a look at this - looks like a cool project, would be great for operation wolf (I loved that game in the arcade!).

Are you sure you mean Op Wolf? That used a gun - technically a joystick a la T2 - but definately not a rotary?

[Trimoor]

Im a little unsure of what to do with the mouse though, ive done a mouse hack to make a spinner, and it works great - does it connect on to the blue rotate-e thing at the bottom somehow.

The blue spinny thing is from the mouse hack.  I used the old style micro$oft mouse that used mechanical rotary sensors, not optical.

I used it because it was self-contained.  It's easier than trying to attatch an encoder wheel and optic sensors to the joystick and still have them spin properly.
For all practical purposes, it acts just like an ordinary rotary optical joystick.

I have a spare m$ mechanical mouse if you're interested.

--Edit--

I just remembered, some mice use self-contained sensors for the wheel.  You would have to connect it to the x or y input though.  The scroller just doesn't have enough bandwidth.

[LordDamo]

Before you buy one from Happ, have a look at my BYO roatry joystick guide.

Had a look at this - looks like a cool project, would be great for operation wolf (I loved that game in the arcade!).

Are you sure you mean Op Wolf? That used a gun - technically a joystick a la T2 - but definately not a rotary?

True - I think your right - thats the kind of stick I was looking for, wrong kind of shooting game. I'll keep searching the board/net for something like this. If anyone knows a thread, please let me know. Thanks

[Silver]

Theres definately been some people using these joystick-guns. Pac-mamea I think has attached dual t2 guns to his mame project(?). Search the forum for "positional guns" for more info.

I think you can either hack a standard analogue pc joystick, or even interface original arcade guns - they just standard 5k pots I think.....