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how does mame respond(or windows 98 for that matter) to haveing multiple game controllers attached? I know i could un hook them but it would be really cool to have several more than one analog devise attached and have mame be able to work with them all( or be able to to set each analog game to a specific device without having to unhook the other!) any tips or thoughts?
Win98 should have no problems with more than one analog device.
In Mame, however, analog input support is not up to the level of digital input:
With two analog devices, one will transmit analog data to player one, the other to player two. If you set the second device to control player one, mame will only read the device as if it was a digital 8-way stick. See
"AD Stick" bug at mametesters.com.
Hopefully this will be fixed. I'm working on a way to switch the analog input like you can with the digital. I thought a lot on how to during a 5 hour plane ride without a laptop; it might not work as I hope.

I'll post how it goes when I actually start coding.