Pole Position Control Response

[Searcher7]

I am considering making a Pole Position control panel for MAME and was wondering if anyone had any idea if it were possible to make the response of the controls *exactly* the same as that of the original Pole Position arcade game.

The reason is because teh highest score ever gotten on the game is 67,310 points. It is believed that 10 points more is possible, but extremely difficult.

I'd like to see how close I can get, and since I don't have a Pole Position arcade game, all the practicing will have to be on the MAME platform. That is why I need the exact same control response. If I get good enough to go for the record(or tie it), I'd have to do it on an actual original arcade game and the specific skill will have to carry over 100%. And that cannot happen unless the controls mimic the orignals perfectly.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Darren

[ChadTower]

Like with a sport, or a performance, or anything else, train the way you play.

That means:  get a real cab with real controls and a real board.  Anything else is training for failure.

[StephenH]

You could interface a Pole Postion control to the PC as an analog input.  I beleive that the pots (potentiometers) are a different value, so they may have to be swapped.

Additionally, for the config, do the following:

1) Configure the range in windows
2) Then, configure the range in your games service mode.


Additionally, I beleive the shifter is probably just an SPDT switch, and you may be able to connect it to a key encoder.

[Minwah]

I have a Pole Position wheel, analog pedals and a gear shift all interfaced to my PC.

The steering wheel works perfectly, if you have a real machine to calibrate it to.  Mine is just setup to something 'that feels right' as I don't have a real PolePos.

The shifter works fine too.  I don't know how it is handled in MAME currently (it used to be incorrect, using a toggle method), but even if it is still incorrect you can compile a build to fix it so the original shifter can be used.

Finally the pedals.  Again I have't tried the latest MAME but previously I have had all sorts of problems getting the pedals to work properly.  In fact I have never been able to get them to consistently work correctly.  One of the problems I've had is that sometimes you can go faster than others - obviously this is a major problem.

So if you still want to go this route, the first thing I would do is spend some time working with analog pedals - if you work it out let me know!

[The Man]

I have a Pole Position II (not working at this time) and after playing it for many years I've found a few tricks on maintaining top speeds.  First thing I found is you need to shift around 72 mph (the top end of first gear) to make the rate of speed increase at the fastest rate.  Second thing I found is if you don't slow down to much or come to close to other cars and maintain a speed of 188 mph it will automatically shift into a third gear.  Once it auto shifts you can reach up to 232 mph (or somewhere around there).

I know this thread is about the standard Pole Position but I'm sure they are a lot the same.  If you want to see what I'm talking about the best track to reach top speeds is the Test track on a PP2.  When my PP2 worked we raced on the test track most the time.  You can reach higher speeds and if you never crash the Bonus is incredible.

I tried setting up an optical wheel to play PP2 once, but never did get it to feel right.  I really didn't have much time to mess around with the sensitivity of the steering much; I started finishing my basement and ran out of time.  If you find a good sensitivity match please post it.  I need to fix my PP2 one of these days if I can; it has the typical transformer/power supply problems they all seem acquire after years of use.  I'm tired of trying to keep it running, so hopefully some time soon I'll try to calibrate MAME to the same feel as the original.

It's amazing what one can ramble on about when trying to look busy at work
TM

[u_rebelscum]

You could interface a Pole Postion control to the PC as an analog input.  I beleive that the pots (potentiometers) are a different value, so they may have to be swapped.

If it isn't clear from prior posts, the Pole Position wheel is a 360 degree wheel, aka spinner, and NOT pot based.

[Xiaou2]

yes, optical and it uses a geared optic for more precision... so a supersprint wheel for instance will not feel correct as they have no gearing, so less accuracy.

[ChadTower]

Hrm... so, in theory, it could be adjusted to be much like the real thing.  I have wanted to get a PP cabinet and put MAME with only PP/PP2 in it, so I do have interest in this.  I'd rather have the real hardware but don't want to have to fix it every week.

[Xiaou2]

 I do not have my pedals hooked up right now..  but when I did, I used it to play spyhunter, and it was flawless : )   

 Remember that some games, like Pole Position, allow you to go faster than the other cars.   

 Some games like spy hunter will allow you to go too  fast in the actual arcade cabinet ,  if the pots are not adjusted well.

 Use mames analog settings to adjust the sensativity and ranges.  And also, some games have pot calibration routines that must be ran for best results.  Some of them are in service modes (hit f2 i think).

  You should be able to set up a PP1 and or PPII, and have it work identical (in theory) to a mame PP cab.   Some precise calibration with a real machine or better yet, capture a video of one playing,  may help to fine tune mames analog settings.

 Even if it was a 'little off' .. it will probably not be enough to make any noticable playability difference.