Perfect 360 Joystick question

[geomartin]

I'm finally upgrading my romset to .89 from .63.  I've noticed that NFL blitz is now in the romset, and this is one of my favorite games.  Will this game play properly if I upgrade my 8-ways to the perfect 360 joysticks, or do I have to find some 49 way joysticks and interface them through the opti-pac?  Thanks in advance for any help I receive.

Geo

[Rocky]

I've not tried this game (still using .71). But my guess is that you need an analog stick or a 49-way interfaced through Dave's USB interface.

[kraven morehead]

I can tell you right now that that game wont run at more then 5 fps even on a bleeding edge system. Well maybe better then that but you get my drift.  As for the controllers, they rock but its your call.

[JCKnife]

For all their snazzy optics, P360's are just 8-way sticks, right?

[kraven morehead]

They are yes, but can work great at 4 way as well. Unless you are a hardcore 4 way only for some games.
Check out this review, it should help you make up your mind.
http://www.oscarcontrols.com/joycompare/joyreview2.shtml

[Kremmit]

http://dave.bit2000.com/sjc.html
Here's the link for that 49-way controller.

[u_rebelscum]

Mame currently only emulates the 8-way inputs in blitz (and other midway/atari games that could use 49-way sticks).  If you switch the dipswitch, you can't control the directions.

Buying / installing a 49-way or analog joystick won't make a difference ATM, since mame will just translate it to simulate an 8-way.

Might want to prepare for when 49-way input emulation is added to mame's midway/atari games (if it happens), though.

[geomartin]

Thanks for all the input.  Sad to hear about the poor fps on the Blitz game.  I will have to check it out when the DVD's arrive.

[SNAAKE]

Thanks for all the input.

[Rocky]

Mame currently only emulates the 8-way inputs in blitz (and other midway/atari games that could use 49-way sticks).

[Lilwolf]

btw, there IS a blitz pc port thats pretty good.  Not my favorite game, but it looks like a pretty good port.... don't know about gameplay.

[u_rebelscum]

Mame currently only emulates the 8-way inputs in blitz (and other midway/atari games that could use 49-way sticks).  If you switch the dipswitch, you can't control the directions.

So you're saying that there is no 49-way support in MAME 

Not for Blitz, no. 
The older 49-way games, yes. (Sinistar, pigskin, arch rivals)

The MAME devs seem to not care at all about emulating original controls. 

While inputs are not as high on many Dev's list as other parts, most do care.

However, the main problem with the Blitz's (but not the gauntlet's which are the "same hardware") is blitz has an extra "multiplexer" board just for 49-way joysticks.  It has multiple non-standard connections to the PCB that (AFAIK) are not documented.  Emulating/simulating this will Not Be Easy without a working game with multiplexer & four 49 way joysticks, IMO.

You have a spare running blitz PCB & 49-way multiplexer?  (I'll cover the 49-ways.) 


FWIW, it will be easy to add 49-way support to the Gauntlet games OTOH, since they don't use a multiplexer, but connect very normally (8 digital inputs per joystick).  Why the heck did the blitzs need the extra hardware, while the gauntlets on the same hardware otherwise don't, I don't know.

[Rocky]

I don't have a blitz board, but I do have the joystick interface board