GunCon2 driver here!!! (Bacon is tasty)

[vibez]

You could use a free blog like http://www.blogger.com/

[IntruderAlert]

Already got one:
http://intruderalert.blogspot.com/
but it screws up my html so i never bothered

[vibez]

looks good

[jer2665]

Already got one:
http://intruderalert.blogspot.com/
but it screws up my html so i never bothered

what screws up?  If it's adding line breaks in between the elements, that's because it's set up to do that automatically, for people that don't feel like entering <br> and just want to hit enter.  I found this out when trying to do a table, if you do the whole thing on a single line it comes out fine.  or was it something else?



Secondly, hrm, now should I cancel my pre-order of the act-lab light guns?  I haven't even built my cab yet, so it'll be a while before I actually need them, and there hopefully will be a better solution by then, I just don't want to be left with nothing in case something happens to these products.  Think I should cancel?

[AlanS17]

Already got one:
http://intruderalert.blogspot.com/
but it screws up my html so i never bothered

Secondly, hrm, now should I cancel my pre-order of the act-lab light guns?

[IntruderAlert]

The blogger wouldn't accept a lot of the html code that I wanted to use.
I tried posting it there and it kept giving me errors and telling me that this code and that code are not permitted so I gave up on it and decided to post it elsewhere.

I feel that ActLabs unnecessarily went up on the price

THE gUNcON2 driver is getting better  0.50 is out now but it still needs some work before everyone will be happy.

[vibez]

I'm still keeping my pre-order open. I think the guncon2 will be a better solution. But  there are no certainties. Smog may get so far & give up. Or personal life may mean he cant work on the driver for a long time. Atleast the act-labs guns are proved to work. That being said, I can already use smog's driver in MAME .....decisions.....decisions........decisions........

[IntruderAlert]

As soon as Smog gets to 1.0 he plans to open source so I wouldn't worry too much

[AlanS17]

IntruderAlert, may I make a recommendation on your second TV-out diagram? Rather than put the splitter at the TV, why don't you put it at the PC? Then have one lead off into the gun and the other lead out into the TV.

Where the USB and RCA cable split from the gun, there isn't much length. For your diagram to work, they'd need an RCA extension cable or the TV and PC would have to be very close together.

[IntruderAlert]

well as you can see it's not to scale    lol

you can have the cable lengths any length you want but you're going to be doing the same connection either way

I just drew it up quickly and was more concerned with labeling than cable length

if anyone wants to clean up any of the drawings or redraw everything to scale I'll be happy to post the pics

just keep it simple as possible please

if not, I'll do it myself as soon as I have some more time to spare

[AlanS17]

The bottom line is that the splitter that comes with the gun is inferior. It does the job, but it's not pretty. Using a Y splitter is a cleaner option, but only if used to split the signal at the PC rather than the TV. Otherwise, it really all does the same thing.

[AlanS17]

I'm gonna run some tests to see if I can't get this thing working on a PC monitor. I'll give you a diagram (probably very similar to the arcade monitor diagram) if I can get it to work. I'm not out of tricks yet... 

[IntruderAlert]

OK Alan,
I think I understand what you mean now.
I added another picture (last one on the page)
Is that what you wanted?

[screaming]

I've got a "How To" web page made but I need a host

  If you're still looking for a host, I have space at myarcade.org!  I'm still waiting on a default 'arcade' theme for the blog software, but you're welcome to use whichever software you like blog or not (or customize the default theme yourself).

-sab

[AlanS17]

OK Alan,
I think I understand what you mean now.
I added another picture (last one on the page)
Is that what you wanted?

Perfect!

[IntruderAlert]

I've got a "How To" web page made but I need a host

 If you're still looking for a host, I have space at myarcade.org! I'm still waiting on a default 'arcade' theme for the blog software, but you're welcome to use whichever software you like blog or not (or customize the default theme yourself).

-sab

One guy on Smog's site offered but I've already had to update it twice since then and he still has the old page up on his site and I can't get ahold of him to update:(

will I have a way to update it on yours??

[brandon]

just so we have every possible variation under the Sun!

[screaming]

will I have a way to update it on yours??

  Yes, of course.  I sent you an email with the info.  If you have any questions let me know!

-sab

[IntruderAlert]

just so we have every possible variation under the Sun!

[daveg2000]

IntruderAlert... Nice job assembling all the pics!
Any chance of adding a line of text under each picture
of 'how well' it works...?

Maybe a small blurb about what has been successful,
and which hookups have 'issues'... (just for the sake of new people
wondering which hookups will work 100%, or if there are issues to look out for)

Thanks again for compling that for all of us!

[IntruderAlert]

I'm open to any suggestions on blurbs

So far I'm ONLY posting what actually works as far as connectivity is concerned.

Smog's driver is what we're all really waiting on.
Version 0.50 is out now !!!
http://lightgun.splinder.com/
He's doing a great job

[Flinkly]

great job intruder, now people wont get so confused seeing three different part lists for that arcade monitor circuit.

has anyone thought of hacking a guncon into a different case?  i keep thinking of hacking one into a sega gun case, either like the arcade sega gun or the sega saturn virtuagun.  i like the look alot better and doesn't have all those extra buttons that we'll never use, like the directional pad.  i just hope that smog doesn't add really neat features to all the guncon buttons...

[IntruderAlert]

Checkout Acorn's video of some preliminary testing:

[Billkwando]

i keep thinking of hacking one into a sega gun case, either like the arcade sega gun or the sega saturn virtuagun.

Not to be picky or anything, but I think it's actually called a "Stunner".

This would be awesome except who wants to sacrifice a good Stunner? LOL Unless you have a broken one that is...

Remember that Happ sells empty plastic shells for guns (for anyone who didn't already know).

Maybe we can buy some empty Actlabs shells and put Guncon parts in those? ROTFLMAO!!!!!

[AlanS17]

I, personally, like the look of the guncon2 infinitely more than the act labs guns. Those things are fugly. I think guncon2's look more like arcade guns.

[Billkwando]

I, personally, like the look of the guncon2 infinitely more than the act labs guns. Those things are fugly. I think guncon2's look more like arcade guns.

Exactly! LOL

[markb]

I, personally, like the look of the guncon2 infinitely more than the act labs guns. Those things are fugly. I think guncon2's look more like arcade guns.

I think I have found what the Act Labs guns were modelled on.

http://www.expresschemist.co.uk/product_6689_babyliss-dry-and-shine-professional-2000w-hair-dryer.html

[IntruderAlert]

here comes the ActLabs wannabee's hairdryer hack

[Flinkly]

well, it seems to have been called a couple different things, but i'd gladly sacrifice a sega saturn lightgun since saturn wasn't anything special.

[AlanS17]

Alot of games have pedals too. I know Time Crisis 2 on PS2 uses the A/B buttons on the sides for its pedals.

Plus having a directional pad wouldn't be so bad if you actually had a dedicated gun cabinet and wanted to be able to switch between games.

[Flinkly]

well, i guess i'm talking about my cabinet when i say i only need three buttons max.  i have swappable panels and so i have a set of pedals for driving games already hooked up and ready.  my guns would be a permanent addition to my cabinet and would just have holsters on the front around the coin door, so i'd use the controls on the panel i was using at the time to go through menus...

hmm, that gets me thingking about my star wars panel though...haven't gotten it together yet, but how will i go through the menus in mamewah?  steer up and down i guess...trigger being the enter button.

[IntruderAlert]

HEY!!! DON'T HACK THAT THING!!!
with the right board you can use that on your PC
http://ascii24.com/news/i/hard/article/2001/04/16/imageview/images643481.jpg.html

[Flinkly]

first, it depends on the quality of either lightgun.  if the sega is comparable to the guncon internals and precision, then i might not.

second, i have yet to hear of someone actually seeing this card in reality, or even testing it.  also, it looks as if you'd have to get two cards for two guns (if this is even supported).

and third, would it work with mame well?  since smog is writing us this driver for using the guncon with mame, if there are any problems, he'll adjust the code to overcome them (i hope), but with a third-party adapter for the computer, i'd be sceptical of having any support.

also, i'm a BYOACer, so i've got to hack something up...

[Billkwando]

I'd get an old Nuby lightgun... looks about the same and has those flashing red lights LOL

[Flinkly]

here, i found this and thought i might share...it makes it easier to find a nice shell if your thinking of going that way.

http://www.workingdesigns.com/museum/playstation/ourgames/elemental_gearbolt/guns/

[Billkwando]

Yeah that page is exactly what I was thinking of. I was recommending the Cobra lightgun. The flashing lights are hilariously silly....

[IntruderAlert]

Smog's released a new driver!!!
http://xoomer.virgilio.it/smogdragon

0.0.6 Out - CodeName : "To Shot or not to Shot (OffScreen)"

New features:

   . Enable/Disable Offscreen shot detection (*)
   . Fixed a control panel bug that prevent from assigning different values for different guns
   . Added possibility to Assign "Enable/Disable Offscreen shot detection" to gun's buttons so you can switch on the fly
   . some minor code debugging.

 

* I noticed this can greatly improve playability

Postato da: SmogDragon a 02:25 | link | commenti

Here's the history so far:

- v0.06
   . Enable/Disable Offscreen shot detection
   . Fixed a control panel bug that prevent from assigning different values for different guns
   . Added possibility to Assign "Enable/Disable Offscreen shot detection" to gun's buttons so you can switch on the fly
   . some minor code debugging.

- v0.05

   . Added Manual centering (not much of use, since autocalibration is known to never give same results)
   . Modified the Phisical to logical translation routine to fix the rollups

- v0.04

Driver pack joined with control panel executable, not yet as an installation pack.

Added support for :
   . Custom Edge values reading
   . Enable/Disable selfcalibration
   . Button Remapping
   . Pointer sensitivity


- v0.03
Fixed detection of mouse button 4 now Assigned to guncon2 button B

- v0.02
Added autocalibration: Still problems on centering
Added offscreen autodetection

- v0.01
First release

[1UP]

Friggin sweet!

[eb]

Some things I've discovered about the Sega-IF2 from doing a little browsing (and playing with Google's translation so take this info with a grain of salt, as there could be translation errors. Note you'll also have to copy/paste the translated links below, or they'll come up in Japanese).

• Can't be used on LCDs.
• Seemingly you can hook up Dreamcast control pads, the "Virtua Gun", the shuttle mouse, twin stick and multitaps to the provided mini expansion card, which is a gameport.
• Win2k/XP driver: Google Translation Link
• Support appears to have been in AdvanceMAME for a while (check the dos options section): http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/doc-advdev.html#6
• Uses DirectInput for an OS level driver rather than application level driver.
• 2 guns at once work fine, and they act as mice (this was in Windows 9x, no confirmation if this works in the win2k/xp driver).
• Some versions seem to have come with a PowerVR graphics card - get the feeling this is not required for operation of the light gun.
• It has been discontinued for a long time.

Source of most of this info:
Google Translation Link

So in summary... bring on the maturation of the GunCon2 driver

[Flinkly]

i was thinkin the other day...someone was making a big deal about the resolutions that the gun worked on and the ones it didn't work on.  what resolutions do we need to play all the mame lightgun games?  this is what the driver is being written for, is it not.

so if anyone has a quick way to figure that out, go ahead and post the results here.