GunCon2 on PC-monitor

[Alcohol]

Andy, how about another possiblity.  Have an RCA cable directly on an arcadevga for those of us who don't use jpac?  Have the circuitry already part of the video card?  Then one would just need t plug in the gun... 

downside of that would meen shelling out on a new arcadevga :/

Could they be an adapator made with the circuit in it for the voltage that connects to the vga on the card and lets the video signals pass through as normal but maybe have a cable with the phono connector on it for the sync for the gun?..

forgive me if iam talking crap as iam not very techy

Alc..

[SirPoonga]

Andy, how about another possiblity.  Have an RCA cable directly on an arcadevga for those of us who don't use jpac?  Have the circuitry already part of the video card?  Then one would just need t plug in the gun... 

downside of that would meen shelling out on a new arcadevga :/

Could they be an adapator made with the circuit in it for the voltage that connects to the vga on the card and lets the video signals pass through as normal but maybe have a cable with the phono connector on it for the sync for the gun?..

forgive me if iam talking crap as iam not very techy

Alc..

Well yeah, that's what you'd have to do now.  It owuld be cool if it was built into the avga in future versions.  But if you currently have one you;d have to make the usual vga hack.

[Alcohol]

About the GunCon2 with J-PAC:
The J-PAC produces a 5 volt composite sync signal which is the correct level for arcade monitors. But this might be too high for the gun, which is expecting a sync derived from composite video. I have a gun on order to test with.
I think a better way would be to take the sync from before the J-PAC, using the X-OR circuit to produce composite from H and V.
I have already drawn up a simple PCB which has male/female D connectors and an X-OR circuit, and a RCA connector for the gun. If there is any demand I'll get this made, it could be used with orwithout the J-PAC.
Andy W

Apologies i did not read your post properly... as it seems youve actually drawn up the plans for the said adapter i was on about.. well if you was to make them i would definately buy one..

and sir poonga is correct.. it would be a good idea to have this option built onto the arcade vga



Alc..

[AndyWarne]

I posted on the other thread about hooking up a gun using a regular VGA card and monitor, sending the sync through the sync chip on a J-PAC, which works.

I am wondering about the white flash. Would it not be best to do this entirely in software? When the trigger is pulled (ie button pressed), write a totally white screen?

Andy

[saint]

Would someone please write up a summary of the current state with the GunCon, the various possibilities and future plans in the works, and submit it as a news item so I can put it on the front page?

Thanks!

--- saint

[vibez]

I posted on the other thread about hooking up a gun using a regular VGA card and monitor, sending the sync through the sync chip on a J-PAC, which works.

I am wondering about the white flash. Would it not be best to do this entirely in software? When the trigger is pulled (ie button pressed), write a totally white screen?

Andy

The software solution has been looked  at & is proving very difficult as you basically need to steel focus from what ever game is running.

[AndyWarne]

It should be easy to directly write to the VGA registers to flash the screen, but this is frowned upon on XP of course, although possible. I'll look into this.

[vibez]

Interesting! Lets us know how you get on. The driver only works on XP.

[ZeroPoint]

  The hardware for connecting the gun to a PC-monitor, Scart-TV or ArcadeMonitor via RGB is now finished. There is now a switch to select between PC-monitor or Scart-TV/ArcadeMonitor so the same circuit can be used for both.

I have another version that hardware-flashes the screen. The downside of this version is that I have to use some more expensive parts to make a proper hardware flash and this circuit limits the "build your own" possibilities and it also has to be triggered with some hardware-signal.

As Andy says: The software flash should be no problem.

I have used some excisting software to simulate software-flashing and it seems to work well. I have not tested it with the driver of course since this must be written to trigger this flash (I will ask SMOG about this). In XP you should probably write directly to the DAC to modify the lookup table.

If anyone has some information on this subject, please post it !

After studying the cost for making ONE unit, getting the right parts, having the right equipment to build it etc. I have realized that it is must be better for you to buy this unit unless you are making these for all your friends and relatives.

To make things a little more clear I will ask some questions for those interested:

Are you interested in building your own or will you buy one to plug and play on a professional pcb ?

What are you willing to pay for a solution that uses software-flash and what are you willing to pay for a solution that uses hardware-flash ?

If you are using a Scart-TV: Would you like a version that has a scart-connector ?

I have to ask this to understand the needs and how high-tech (read: price!) the circuit should be.

[vibez]

I would like an already made circuit. I guess a softWare flash would be peferable if it keeps the cost down.

what are the pros & cons of software vs hardware flash?

Can we be sure it works with the jpac?

Will connecting 2 guns be easy enough?

I would think $5-$10 for the non-flash circuit would be acceptable

[lustreking]

How complicated is the circuit?  Would it be easy to build on the pad-per-hole perfboard?  If so, I'd probably be interested in just the parts, or maybe a kit with a pcb.

-S

[ZeroPoint]

Software flash reduces the hardware cost and have simpler connections. It is also independent on connection type: RGB, S-Vhs etc.

Hardware flash must be triggered by the driver via f.ex. the serial port. It is also possible to modify the gun to trigger the hardware flash and will then be independent on the driver. This is a little more complicated. Hardware flash also needs separate circuitry for RGB and S-VHS connections.

The hardware flash is better in the way that it works no matter what software you are running.

The circuit contains three 14 pins ICs, a few resistors, capasitors, transistors, 2 passthrough connectors and 2 rca connctors. Well, actually a lot to solder on a breadboard. I would recommend buying this already made. It

[vibez]

Hmm. now i'm not sure. I always thought the software flash would be promlematic. I guess its up to you to maybe throw some ball park figures about. Maybe if someone programmed a software flash we could try it out to see if it is acceptable or not

[AmericanDemon]

Heres the way I look at it.  You can buy a Guncon 2 off of ebay for between 5-20 bucks.  An Act Labs gun can run around 60- 150.  If you do the math, to make it cost effective and to eliminate the need to scour the web for an act labs gun, this circuit could run from 40 - 130 bucks. 

I know I personally would personally prefer to buy a premade device.  I would be willing to spend $40.00 - $60.00 as long as it supported dual Guncon 2 support.

[ZeroPoint]

Now we are talking...

[vibez]

The guncon2 has mappable buttons. That to me in the main plus point.

[AmericanDemon]

If you could get it cheaper then great you will sell even more.  But I know I would by a single device for 40 - 60 bucks.  Especially if you were to include at least one guncon.

[Dariusz]

I personaly think that there should be two kit options available:

1. A kit that can be purchased - for users that do not have the tools to build the kit - Cost to the end user : without knowing the exact IC parts, I would place a ball park figure of $20-25

2. A kits that uses can build by their own - for users who have the tools to build the kit. - Cost to the end user - just the components they purchase from their local electronics shop.

I personally likle option 2, as I like to be involved in building items - personal satisfaction.

Keep up the good work

Dariusz

[SirPoonga]

oh, if someone wants a tester to test the PC side of things let me know.  I will buy a guncon2 just to test.  This doesn;t flash the screen, right?  I would absolutely love that!

[MrTroy]

I'm late and confused about something...

Why do people keep saying the screen HAS to flash. This can't positively be true. If you play virtual cop for Sega Saturn. Put the gameapad in and start a new game. During the game take the game pad out and put the light gun in. The cursor that was the gamepad is now a tracking device for the gun. The screen doesn't bug out or anything. It follows where you go. Am I wrong? I can try this again tonight to be sure.

[Silver]

That is how the guncon operated on the PS, yes - it just tracks without flashing.

I am unclear as to why, now it is being ported to the PC, that it is necessary to add a flash - I thought this was the whole advantage of guncons, making them perfect for simulatiing arcade light gun games based on positional joysticks (think T2 with mahcine guns - you can't play that without tracking).

I suspect that brightness is an issue from the screen. Also, games not designed for guncon type tracking will have lots of dark areas, presumably in which the guns are unable to track at all?

For me, adding the flash to the guncons defeats the purpose as they will become a less accurate (I suspect) version of the act labs.

[ZeroPoint]

What Playstation2 game "tracks" while showing a pointer ?

I would like to test it !

[XtraSmiley]

What Playstation2 game "tracks" while showing a pointer ?

I would like to test it !

The Playstation one games, Point Blank 1-3 all had a calibration screen which showed the curser and tracked as you were moving the gun around.  These screens do NOT have ANY black or dark area's at all.  I think that the gun can track, but when it hits the dark area's of the games it gets lost.  T2 is a really dark game....

[ZeroPoint]

As I just posted in the "GunCon2 Screen Flashing !!!" topic, "Time Crisis 2" flashes the screen and it tracks a crosshair ONLY in the calibration screen. I think every light gun games on the PS2 works like this. (I am asking this question in that topic.)

We have to test PS2 games only (GunCon2) because that it what the PC-driver is all about.

As you probably know: T2 is not a real light gun game. The gun was mounted on a analog joystick. 

[jlml]

Too bad there wasn't a way, on pulling the trigger, to just momentarily boost the lower brightness color index values, instead of flashing the whole screen glaring bright white...

[IntruderAlert]

Software flash reduces the hardware cost and have simpler connections. It is also independent on connection type: RGB, S-Vhs etc.

Hardware flash must be triggered by the driver via f.ex. the serial port. It is also possible to modify the gun to trigger the hardware flash and will then be independent on the driver. This is a little more complicated. Hardware flash also needs separate circuitry for RGB and S-VHS connections.

The hardware flash is better in the way that it works no matter what software you are running.

The circuit contains three 14 pins ICs, a few resistors, capasitors, transistors, 2 passthrough connectors and 2 rca connctors. Well, actually a lot to solder on a breadboard. I would recommend buying this already made. It

[ZeroPoint]

The only circuit that is finished is the one for using the gun on a pc-monitor. This is a very easy circuit using standard components. I am currently working on adding screen flash. This seems to work fine but I will not release this until it is 100%. Currently working on making a sync detection program to make it work on different resolutions without any manual switching etc. To be able to support high horizontal frequencies is the most difficult part when using low-cost components.

The funny thing about this circuit is that if I add just a few more parts I will end up with a complete light gun circuitry. 

[SirPoonga]

The funny thing about this circuit is that if I add just a few more parts I will end up with a complete light gun circuitry. 

Soooooooo, could you hack/add to the gun instead?

[aljupy]

I

[shawnzilla]

How's the progress going on this?

[fl0yd]

Bueller, Bueller?

[SQrL]

bump................ 

[shawnzilla]

Looks like ZeroPoint hasn't been online for a couple of weeks...

[Billkwando]

Holy crap!

I didn't even know this thread was here!! LOL

[SirPoonga]

You guys can stop bumping this.  I stickied the other thread and put a link to this in the first post of the other thread.

[jelwell]

You guys can stop bumping this.

[ZeroPoint]

I

[Lilwolf]

btw, for the software flash solution.

Couldn't we just change the system contrast settings once, then change it back?  Seems like it would work pretty well if the emulation software used it (I know that many dvd software packages ignore the system contrast / brightness).

But it would be cool if it just bumped up the bottom range... then brought it back.  And let it be configurable so that you could bump it up to everything is pure white if needed... but most people could just up it some percent until their gun reads it at a specific distance.

[Acorn]

I implemented this in WinGun about three weeks ago (it was just released yesterday afternoon), try it out ( http://guncon.acornscity.com ). However, some things to note - the "system brightness" is only avalible, and read by certain cards. The rest seem to use their own.

I use the same method that mame uses, from our tests. If mame -fsb 2 works for you, then WinGun's flashing will work. Also note that the max brightness in this method is capped! You cannot get pure white. Only "brighter".

[jelwell]

Is it fair to call this Vapourware? Or are people still optimistic? Personally, I'm holding out for the Namco style tracking guns anyways. But I do have a few guncons sitting around that I'd try out if this circuit ever materialized.
Joseph Elwell.