Trackball - Easy question for Mamers

[ironnmann]

I am new to the Mame world - anyway if I install a trackball on my cabinet can I play the games listed as a Paddle control also -

What about driving games?

[Minwah]

Short answer = yes.

Long answer: A paddle is effectively a 1 axis analog joystick, so *ideally* you should use a pot-based device for this.  Many people use mouse devices (eg trackball/spinner) as opposed to analog sticks or paddles however.  I would say that on average it works 'pretty well' - sometimes it works better than expected and other times not too good.

As for driving games, again yes it will work...perfectly (well, aside from not being a real wheel) for 360 deg wheel games like Super Sprint.  For 270deg (pot-based) wheel games it will not work so well, but it will still work - generally MUCH better than using say a digital joystick anyway.  A spinner would be preferred over a trackball for drivers mind you

[stevodevo]

Ay minwah - I have Road Wars 4wd (i think that's it) the game where you race in a big offroad 4wd truck and can shoot your opponents... does that work in the current version of mame?  It's a wheel/spinner game but i can't control it with the joystick or even a trackball...

[Minwah]

Ay minwah - I have Road Wars 4wd (i think that's it) the game where you race in a big offroad 4wd truck and can shoot your opponents... does that work in the current version of mame?  It's a wheel/spinner game but i can't control it with the joystick or even a trackball...

Atari's Roat Riot 4WD?  The wheel is actually pot-based (not spinner), but I think the game is not fully emulated which probably explains why it doesn't work...but then again I'm using MAME 0.92 so I'm not sure about the latest version...actually, yes I am (from MAWS):

'0.77: Aaron Giles improved logic for Road Riot 4WD - almost playable.'

[stevodevo]

ah yes!  i didn't have it front of me so couldn't recall the title properly!  Thanks minwah.  It looked like a cool game, too bad it doesn't work!

[RayB]

(Keep in mind some people think a paddle and a spinner are the same thing.)

[ironnmann]

Thank you for your response - that is what I wanted to hear