Happs Trackball Issue

[mccoy178]

I am using a Happs 3" translucent trackball.  When playing Golden Tee, if you hit the trackball too fast, it does not register untill it slows down some.  I have had a couple of these, and this is the first time I have seen this problem.  Any suggestions as to what could cause this?  I've checked the bearings and I've no idea what is going on.

[BobA]

What interface are you using or is it a complete happs setup?

[markrvp]

Don't hit it so fast 




Seriously, I haven't had that problem and I've played a ton of Golden Tee with my Happ 3" translucent.  Mine is the USB/PS2 model; it doesn't use a mousehack or Ipac.

[mccoy178]

It is the USB version as well.  This is actually the second one that this has happened to.  I have built for machines, and I have never had a problem with mine.  Is it possible I tightened it down to hard and warped something?  With my personal one, you will break the cp before the trackball messes up.  I don't know what is going on.

[JODY]

Check out the analog sensitivity setting in Mame.  It differs in some versions.  An incorrect setting can cause spins to be ignored until they slow down.

[mccoy178]

I believe my issue has something to do with the casing.  One of the trackballs developed the problem over time, the other fit into a tight space.  I think that somehow in some weird way the casing are being deformed ever so slightly.  Has anyone had this issue?  I don't want to buy new trackballs if I don't need to.

[f00ge]

I have absolutely no knowledge of custom arcade building etc.
I do, however, know a little about mice.

What you describe is a very normal issue with all trackballs (and standard ball mice for that matter).
When the (track)ball exceeds a certain speed, the sensor that tracks the movement of the ball, simply gives up - and again resumes when the ball is down to the speed of what the sensor is capable of.

AFAIK, the best trackballs (for speed) are currently made by Logitech. But they all have limits, of course. I coudln't tell you, if the Logitechs are faster than the ones from M$ to be honest.

Too bad you can't use optical mice.
The Logitech MX518/Razer Diamondback (made by Agilent) sensor is capable of tracking speeds up to 1 meter per second.
I don't know the exact 'top speed' of trackballs, but I reckon it can't be more than 5cm/second.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that getting another trackball mouse in hopes of better speeds probably won't help much. Although getting one with a larger ball might help, as you won't spin it up as fast as you would with a small one, I would imagine.

[brophog]

Using a logitech optical trackball now. Love the thing. Piss poor at backspin though.

Great for browsing. Terrible for gaming.

[mccoy178]

Thanks for the reply.  You may be on to something here.  Both trackballs that are giving me the problems are the usb variety.  Mine needs the interface from ultimarc.  I am starting to put two and two together here..........................................

[u_rebelscum]

[expanding a little on f00ge's post]

When you get the too fast to work mouse/TB problem, you're hitting a bottleneck somewhere.  It could be the hardware: sensors, deboucing circuit, quadature-to-USB (or to ps/2, to serial, ect) chip, or the USB (or ps/2) bandwidth.  It could be windows: buffer overrun in the driver or API, or windows sensitivity too high.  It could be mame: sensitivity "multipler" too high, incorrect/incomplete emulation.  Or the original game: original machine's hardware/software limits like the above listed PC limits.

To test if it's a TB or PC problem, try spinning the TB as fast as you can in the windows desktop.  If the cursor doesn't move or moves backwards on the desktop, doing stuff in mame won't help.  The only thing that might help is turning down window's sensitivity, aka "pointer speed", and disabling acceleration, aka "enhance point precision".  DirectX docs say this won't effect directInput apps (mame), but it does with some drivers.  If these don't fix the problem in windows, the cause is somewhere in the hardware and there's not much you can do besides making sure the sensors are clear of dust and not exposed to external lights, or replacing parts (note that the parts needed to be changed might not be the sensors).

If the cursor moves fine in windows, then try turning down mame's TB sensitivity, and make sure you have disabled lightguns.  If this doesn't help, either mame isn't emulating the inputs correctly or runs too slow on your system (or the original hardware couldn't do it either, which in this cause isn't true but could be in other games).