Whats with all this recent 49-WAY JOYSTICK talk?

[Timoe]

Whats with all this recent 49-WAY JOYSTICK talk?

Should I be buying/installing them on my CP?  Do they do magic?

Really, what is it that they do?  (Ichecked the FAQ and didnt find anything)

Is everyone else putting them in their cab except me?

thanks for any advice

-newb

[Lilwolf]

With the new keywiz controller for them that makes them work great as an analog, 49way, 8way, 4way, qbert, ect.  IE GREAT all around stick.

If you only have space for one joystick, it seems to be the best all around solution.  Some say better then joysticks with restrictors.

They are also about as much as a keyboard encoder (but you need one per joystick).  since you get all the extra buttons.  So two of these and your done.

Before then, you had Daves board.  And this was great for 49ways and great for analog... but didn't have all the special modes for 8, 4, 2, ect.

[quarterback]

Really, what is it that they do?

[MajorLag]

See: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,32747.0.html

Basically RandyT came out with a product that makes a 49way the most versitile stick you can possibly have in your cab.

[pointdablame]

Not to be mean here... but ...

You notice there is a lot of 49way talk lately... if you READ those threads, you would know exactly what the talk was about, would you not?

I just don't understand the point of threads like these when there is a search function, and most of the 49way threads are on the first 2 pages or so of the board.

[Timoe]

Yeah those threads are long and quite detailed.  Often detailed about stuff I dont understand or I'm not interested in, such as mounting info, encoder specific 'do dads' and 'what nots'.

This thread is perfect for someone who's never heard of a 49way or why they might want one but doesn't want to hear or isn't ready for all the technical jargon spewed by those that already have these things.

Thanks for all yer input tho

[armax]

that and the thread you are referring to has a lot of bickering and senseless posts.

[Kremmit]

With the new keywiz controller for them that makes them work great as an analog, 49way, 8way, 4way, qbert, ect.  IE GREAT all around stick.
....

Before then, you had Daves board.  And this was great for 49ways and great for analog... but didn't have all the special modes for 8, 4, 2, ect.

Have to disagree with the parts regarding Analog usage.  49-ways work OK for some games with an Analog or Hall-Effect stick (Road Runner, for example), but lousy for others (Star Wars, Afterburner, for example).  Dave's board (the SJC) was no better or worse in this particular regard. 

That said, 49-ways with GroovyGameGear's interface DO work well as replacements for 49-way, 8-way, 4-way, 2-way, etc. games.  Add the Rotary Mod somebody's working on in another thread, and you get all the (mechanical) rotary games as well- making these THE sticks to have if you only want one set of joysticks on your panel, and don't want to go the swap-able route.

[Kremmit]

that and the thread you are referring to has a lot of bickering and senseless posts.

Hope I'm not starting THAT again... 

[Jakobud]

that and the thread you are referring to has a lot of bickering and senseless posts.

Hope I'm not starting THAT again... 

Watch what you say or you will......... 

[Kremmit]

 

[jdjuggler]

49-ways work OK for some games with an Analog or Hall-Effect stick (Road Runner, for example), but lousy for others (Star Wars, Afterburner, for example).

[Tiger-Heli]

So, does a true analog stick (happs) work well for all "flight stick" games and those other Hall-Effect stick games (Road Runner)?

It should work well for flight stick games.  It probably won't work as well as the 49-ways for the Hall-Effect games, but maybe not too badly.

And, could I hook up a true analog stick to Dave's board to have the added 2-4-8 way functionality as well?

No, you can't even hook a 49-way stick up to Dave's board (SJC) and get the added 2-4-8 way functionality.  You can hook a 49-way stick up to RandyT's GP-Wiz49 and get this.

You can't hook a true analog stick up to a GP-Wiz49.

You could THEORETICALLY design an interface that would read the values from an analog stick and do the conversions for 2-4-8 way, or possibly re-write the mame analog joystick code to do this (it'd be a job, though), but even then, I'm not sure that the long travel of a flight stick would work right for a 4-way game.

You could also possibly make an analog stick with appropriate (swappable) mechanical restriction that it FELT like a digital 4-way, and then you wouldn't need the software changes, but that might be tough as well.

[JoeB]

I'm glad somebody posted this thread.

I currently have 2 super 8-way joysticks, and as you can imagine, playing 4-way games really sucks.  I was thinking of getting 2 49-ways and the encoders to cover all the games on my cab (90% 8 way, 5% 4 way, 5% trackball).

Would it be wiser to wait for a true analog joystick implementation that's similar to this, or is 49-way the way to go for support of most joysticks??

[Kremmit]

I'm of the opinion that (as the state of the art currently stands) the 49-ways will play better for all the 2,4,8,49way & Hall Effect games. 

Currently available analog sticks, whether for PC or Arcade, tend to suffer from a long throw and light resistance, making for poor gameplay in games that weren't designed to be used with them.  Now, Andy from Ultimarc has hinted that something is in the works, but how soon, or how well it will address these issues is not something we know right now. 

There aren't really all that many games that need a true analog anyway, so unless you really want those games, I don't see any point in waiting.

[HoopstarsGarage]

Is there a ball top conversion for the 49 way yet?  That would be the clincher for me

[Buddabing]

I'm of the opinion that (as the state of the art currently stands) the 49-ways will play better for all the 2,4,8,49way & Hall Effect games.

[Tiger-Heli]

Unfortunately, one of them is a personal biggie. Red Baron.

I haven't seen any posts on how games with analog sticks play on the 49-way. If Red Baron plays okay, then I might take the plunge and mount a flight stick on one.

Paige posted that Star Wars sucked with them.  What you might want to do is use a pc joystick (possibly hacked into an arcade cab) for Red Baron.

[markrvp]

Is there a ball top conversion for the 49 way yet?

[monkeybomb]

Is there a ball top conversion for the 49 way yet?  That would be the clincher for me

It's supposed to be in the works.  I haven't seen Randy post here in a couple of days, so he may be working on that now.

Yeah, where's this weeks new product?!!

[Kremmit]

Unfortunately, one of them is a personal biggie. Red Baron.

I haven't seen any posts on how games with analog sticks play on the 49-way. If Red Baron plays okay, then I might take the plunge and mount a flight stick on one.

I'd check it out for you, but I never played Red Baron in the wild, and I don't have an A-Pac yet (8-axis version, Andy!) to try it with a real analog stick, so I've got nothing to compare the 49-way play to. 

[Tiger-Heli]

Unfortunately, one of them is a personal biggie. Red Baron.

I haven't seen any posts on how games with analog sticks play on the 49-way. If Red Baron plays okay, then I might take the plunge and mount a flight stick on one.

I'd check it out for you, but I never played Red Baron in the wild, and I don't have an A-Pac yet (8-axis version, Andy!) to try it with a real analog stick, so I've got nothing to compare the 49-way play to. 

Easiest comparison would be to get a standard $15.00 PC USB joystick (more or less) and try that against the 49-ways.

Although I think the Star Wars comments were fair - You could hit the Tie Fighters if they just happened to be in your sights - slightly better than an 8-way stick, but nowhere near a true analog.

[RecycledPast]

So to recap the 49 way topics, to build a pretty versatile CP I'd need about $100 USD per player?:

• Midway 49-Way Optical Joystick - $33.00
• GP-Wiz 49 Max $34.95
• Rotary Adapter $25

and 7 buttons to set the joystick modes (2,4,8, etc...)

[Tiger-Heli]

So to recap the 49 way topics, to build a pretty versatile CP I'd need about $100 USD per player?:

If you went with the GP-Wiz49 Max - $11 or $15 per player less if you went with the Eco's.

and 7 buttons to set the joystick modes (2,4,8, etc...)  or has a software switching solution been built?

software switching is done, but you'll want buttons for a versatile CP anyway.

Did I miss any other add-ons to the joystick? I don't think the Balltop is available yet.

Balltop should be coming soon.  1Up is doing a Tron stick version, but the rotary won't work with it.

[Druin]

So to recap the 49 way topics, to build a pretty versatile CP I'd need about $100 USD per player?:

If you went with the GP-Wiz49 Max - $11 or $15 per player less if you went with the Eco's.

and 7 buttons to set the joystick modes (2,4,8, etc...)