Operation Thunderbolt guns - worth getting?

[KiwiRed]

I visited a local coin-op supplier/repairer, and discovered their 'elephant graveyard' of old cabs.  (Boy, if only i had a place to work on renovating one, and a way to get it there!)

One of the few machines to have anything attached to it still (most were stripped, unsurprisingly) was an Operation Thunderbolt machine with both guns still attached.  I was wondering if it's possible to interface them to a PC, which would make it worth going back with screwdriver and pliers to pick them up (i didn't take any tools with me, unfortunately)

And if they can be hooked up to a PC, are there any sites that give more info on how?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can clue me up on this...  (Well, i have to go back anyway - there was one machine with a twin-stick panel i might be able to salvage something from)

[Johnny the MAMEr]

Get 'em. You won't be sorry. 1UP has the most info on these. He figured out how to hook these up. A bit more difficult to get the vibrating force feedback working but it can be done on 1 of the 2 guns. I'm working on interfacing 2 Steel Gunner positional guns now (slowly). Bought the guns on ebay for $30.00.

[gnateye]

and where is this arcade graveyard?

[ErikRuud]

Based on KiwiRed's member profile, I would guess somewhere in New Zealand.

[1UP]

If they're pot-based guns, you can do the same I did with my Terminator 2 guns.  I have a tutorial at http://www.1uparcade.com/project-swyoke.html.  This tells how to connect a Star Wars yoke thru a Dual Strike USB controller, but the procedure is exactly the same for guns.  Alternatively, there are lots of tutorials around for hacking analog controls directly to the gameport, but you'll need some 100k pots, and I prefer the flexibility of the Dual Strike method.  The DS is A) hot swappable, B) 2-player friendly, C) comes with configuration software, D) works as mouse or joystick, and E) is easy to hack.

I'm still working on the recoil feedback.  I've got one gun to recoil in T2 through the keyboard LEDs, using Dave Widel's Mame hack.  Rather than building a controller board myself, I'm going to order a $60 USB relay module (http://www.j-works.com/jsb218.html) with 2 inputs and 2 outputs, controllable thru C++ programming.  Then I'll try to hack the code in myself.  I'll post the results when I get it working!

Good luck.

[Brent Strache]

The Operation Thunderbolt Guns operate the same way as the gun in my Operation Wolf Gun Cabinet.  The guns have optical sensors in them.  The sensor and sensor board located in the gun is connected to special power supply board located in the cabinet drawer that supplies -12v to the optic board.  I disconnected the -12v to the optic board and nothing registered on the screen.  The gun will still recoil and the in game sounds still work, like the shooting and grenade explosions, however nothing is registering on the screen.  After taking the shielding under the gun off  it appears that the structure under the gun is intended to support the gun while in play.  I see nothing else.  The optic sensor and  sensor board is what is doing the positioning on the screen.  

Maybe there could be a hack with one of those Act-labs guns.  Replace the sensor and the board in this gun, hook up the trigger and grenade button and I think you would be set.

[1UP]

Wow, so what you're saying is it's a light gun connected to a base?  Weird.  That's a little harder to hack I guess.

[Johnny the MAMEr]

Ooops.... www.KLOV.com showed them as positional guns when I checked.  Optical seems a bit more difficult. I wouldn't buy 'em if they were optical.

[KiwiRed]

When i had a look at them, i saw the wiring was amputated about 3" below the gun housing (when viewed from the open back of the cab), so if there was anything special connected to it, it was removed when the case was gutted.

Also, if the guns are optical, i think that'll rule out any chance of me renovating them...  Mind you, i think they'll still be worth picking up, if only for sentiment...  (They may not be for Space Gun, but their heart's in the right place...)  And they were free-to-a-good-home, so i can't beat the price...  (It still hurts to see the Cisco Heat cab they have, just sitting there...  I can imagine refitting that as a sit-down mame cab...  Well, actually i can imagine it sitting in my lounge for 18 months while i 'get around to it', but let's not go there...)

[Elkor]

I have an O-Tbolt cab that was converted to steel gunners 2 that I will be converting again into my mame machine.  (alot of work to do, gotta change the cab profile, remount the monitor (it uses a mirror) etc.)

But, anyway, it still has one of the guns attached (yes it has a base that is attached to the CP and just swivels/pivots to aim)  As I haven't gutted it yet, I can take a look at the connections for you when I get some time.

(if you care anymore!)

-C

[brandon]

The Operation Thunderbolt guns are positional.

[KiwiRed]

Well, i went to salvage the guns, and ran into a little hiccup...  Namely i don't have the tools i need to remove the guns from the cab...  *sighs*  On the other hand i picked up a couple of old sticks and some buttons, so i've something to play with in the meantime.

Anyway, it looks like i'll have to get a set of driver bits and a crescent wrench to do the job properly, so that's another expense to add to the list...