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8to4way converter
arcadebox:
Thanks guys
Dav:
--- Quote from: arcadebox on January 18, 2006, 05:59:46 pm ---Hi, guys! ;)
I'm new in this message board, but I
builded some things for mame and others.
I'm an computer engineering student
and recently I started to buid an ZX spectrum clone,
and a year ago I builded some controllers for mame/others.
I'm now building an 8way to 4way joystick because I like to
play in pacman/mspacman and it is a pain in the ass playing
it with a normal stick, so I'm designing a circuit that filters
the diagonal moves.
I leave here the block diagram of it:
It isn't completed yet, but I just wonder if it's a good idea?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the bad english :angel:
--- End quote ---
It won't help at all as pacman doesn't accept diagonal inputs anyway. Some have tried to do this in software without a lot of success. The problem is what do you convert a diagonal as. You can't just throw it away as that's definately wrong. If you push NE did you mean N or E? Iirc there was some success with using the last valid input, but that's not always correct either.
The original pacman stick was mechanically restricted, if you don't restrict it it's not going to feel right.
Kremmit:
--- Quote from: arcadebox on January 18, 2006, 06:07:41 pm ---I saw many controllers/cabinets from some guys
that have a dedicated 4way stick for this type of games.
--- End quote ---
That's because electronic restriction (filtering out the diagonals), whether you do it with a circuit or with software, doesn't provide the results you want it to. The problem is, you leave huge dead spaces in your stick, where you can be pushing the handle but the game recieves no data, just as if you had let go of the stick and let it sit in the centered position. A true 4-way has the same dead spaces, but you are mechanically prevented from pushing the handle there- instead, you are guided into whichever of the 4 cardinal directions you are trying to hit in the first place.
Tiger-Heli:
Your basic idea has already been incorporated in MAME in software in two different ways. Let's assume you are moving from Right to Up.
In Method 1 - MAME switches from Right to Up as soon as the Up microswitch activates.
In Method 2 (which I think is the current version) - MAME switches from Right to Up as soon as the Right microswitch RELEASES.
The problem is in either case, MAME sometimes guesses wrong, so you can't get the same accuracy and feel that you get from a more accurate stick like a restricted 4-way or an analog or 49-way stick.
Spartan:
That's all true. I designed a similar circuit years ago and even got it going in a discrete logic emulator and bought the chips to make it happen.....
.....but then types told me about the NOT logic in MAME and I went that route, for awhile.
I finally ended up chaging my 8ways out for 4ways in my cocktail cab.