Renamed to: Two player Ikari Warriors

[Farmboy90]

Given 2 rotary opticals, 1 top fire, 1 4 way, 23 buttons, and a spinner, would a mini-pac not be enough?  I think I need an Ipac2 and an optipac?

Is this right?  I thought the mini-pac was enough but realized that it might not support both rotary opticals, a spinner, and a trackball.

[miles2912]

You get one trackball and one spinner with a mini-pac.

Don

[Farmboy90]

Cool.  Thanks.  I will order up an opti-pac and an Ipac2 then.

Now since I am getting the optipac, I am thinking I don't need to buy the happ trackball with the USB interface right?  The cheaper one, without the usb interface, could be just wired up to the optipac correct?

[divemaster127]

hello, i sell the optipac, ipac2 etc in my thread under divemaster127, & i sell the harness version happ trackball, send me a pm if you would like a quote
thanks
dm

[crashwg]

You get one trackball and one spinner with a mini-pac.

Don

True, but you could use the trackball connections as x=rotary#1 and y=rotary#2.  Then hook the spinner up to the second input as x.  The minipac does the auto switching of inputs like the I-pac right?  I don't remember.  Come to think of it I'm not positive that the minipac has inputs for trackball and a spinner... 

Please, correct me if I'm wrong guys.  I haven't taken my ginko today. 

[miles2912]

Just got up and looked at my mini-pac.  One trackball AND one spinner.

Don

[Kremmit]

I believe the trackball and spinner inputs on the MiniPac are both linked to the same mouse, and moving one disables the other- so you can't have the trackball and spinner active at the same time. 

This is exactly the same as what you get on an Opti-Pac, each spinner input is shared with a trackball input.  There's just two of each, instead of one.

You could probably get away with the Mini, if you don't mind sharing optical inputs.  Use Kelsey's DPDT switch trick to interface the rotary joys to the same inputs as the trackball, and hook the spinner to the MiniPac's spinner input.

http://www.oscarcontrols.com/DPDTswitch.shtml


In answer to your other question, you are correct, as long as you are using a MiniPac (or OptiPac, or OptiWiz, or mouse hack) you don't need the expensive USB or PS2 trackball.  The cheaper one is fine.  The "Golden Tee" trackball is usually the cheapest one.  I wouldn't order direct from Happ, Divemaster or Ponyboy can get most of their stuff cheaper than you can buy it direct.

[Farmboy90]

So will two players be able to play Ikari warriors for example?  If I understood the above correctly, the mame will only allow one mouse device to be active.  So how can two players play at the same time?  I use two player Ikari Warriors as an example because that would be the two rotary devices at same time.

I did see the thread about multiple mice in the new beta MAME.  But aside from that, how are people doing this now (without analog mame)?

[Kremmit]

So will two players be able to play Ikari warriors for example?

Yes!

If I understood the above correctly, the mame will only allow one mouse device to be active.

Sort of.  You know MAME is getting multiple mouse support, and you know about Analog+.  The limiting factor in your case isn't MAME, it's the MiniPac, which only supports one mouse.

So how can two players play at the same time?  I use two player Ikari Warriors as an example because that would be the two rotary devices at same time.

Two rotary devices does not necessarily equal two mice.  A basic mouse has an X-axis and a Y-axis.   One controls horizontal movement, the other controls the vertical.  Your trackball uses both axes, but a spinner or rotary joystick only uses one axis. Hence, you can connect two rotary joysticks to one mouse; one on the x-axis and one on the y-axis. 

If you go this route, the spinner would also be connected to the x-axis of the same mouse, and whenever the spinner is active, the trackball and the rotary functions of the joysticks would be disabled.  When the trackball is active, the spinner and rotary functions are disabled.  When the rotary joys are active, the trackball and spinner are disabled.  But there's hardly any games where that would cause you any trouble.

[miles2912]

This has actually been a criticism of the pac line.  If for example you are playing arkanoid and at the end of a round you take a breather and for some reason the trackball moves, your spinner is disabled for a bit.  You have to wait untill you can 'reactive' the spinner and go on with the game.  I thought the inactivity period is 5 seconds but am not 100% sure.  I went with a USB spinner and a traditional trackball hooked up to my mini-pac so that this is not a problem.


Don

[juggle50]

However, it's great if you've got your spinner and trackball a bit closer than they should be.  You can knock one without the game spinning out of control. 

For example, I can take a wild swing at my trackball when playing golden tee and if I accidently hit my spinner it won't jack up my game.  Depends on what you need.

[Farmboy90]

Sorry guys I think I am still confused.  So please bear with me.   

My buddy wants to play Ikari Warriors the most, so he is building his panel around that.  So today we bought two rotary opticals, an optipac, an ipac2, a spinner, and trackball.

The optipac says it can handle the spinner, trackball, and two rotaries.  However this connects to the PC via ONE USB correct?  It appears to have an output for a player 2 serial as well.  But do you know if these function at the same time?  From the ultimarc site it would seem I would need to have the optipac connected via two serial cables.

Also with normal mame (v102)  (not the multiple mouse enhanced beta version or analog mame), can he get a two player Ikari Warrior game going?  If so, what connections or configuration is required?  He has XP.

The optipac he is getting is USB version.  So we might need to get an extra serial cable right?  Or perhaps even two serial cables and just forgo the USB altogether.

The spinner is USB and will be connected directly to the PC.  So the only things going through the optipac will be the trackball and the two rotaries.

[Tiger-Heli]

However, it's great if you've got your spinner and trackball a bit closer than they should be.  You can knock one without the game spinning out of control. 

For example, I can take a wild swing at my trackball when playing golden tee and if I accidently hit my spinner it won't jack up my game.  Depends on what you need.

Or you could use 104u5 and only map to the spinner for spinner games and the trackball for trackball games and it wouldn't matter.

[Tiger-Heli]

Sorry guys I think I am still confused.  So please bear with me.   

Sounds like it 

The optipac says it can handle the spinner, trackball, and two rotaries.

Errrmm yes, it could actually handle two trackballs and four rotaries, but you said the spinner has it's own interface, which means you need the trackball and two rotaries, which you could have done with the Mini-Pac, but . . .

However this connects to the PC via ONE USB correct?

Correct!

It appears to have an output for a player 2 serial as well.  But do you know if these function at the same time?  From the ultimarc site it would seem I would need to have the optipac connected via two serial cables.

Forget about serial - dead technology from another age.

Also with normal mame (v102)  (not the multiple mouse enhanced beta version or analog mame), can he get a two player Ikari Warrior game going?  If so, what connections or configuration is required?  He has XP.

I think so, depends if splittable mouse axes was added to the controller cfgs when they reworked them around 0.84 or sth.

So we might need to get an extra serial cable right?  Or perhaps even two serial cables and just forgo the USB altogether.

Nope and nope.

[u_rebelscum]

...However this connects to the PC via ONE USB correct?

Correct!

It appears to have an output for a player 2 serial as well.  But do you know if these function at the same time?  From the ultimarc site it would seem I would need to have the optipac connected via two serial cables.
...
So we might need to get an extra serial cable right?  Or perhaps even two serial cables and just forgo the USB altogether.

When in USB mode, the optipac looks like two USB mice to the computer*, even with only the single USB cable. 

Very much like a cable from a USB hub with two USB mice plugged into it.  So much so, *the computer really sees it as a hub with two mice.

Also with normal mame (v102)  (not the multiple mouse enhanced beta version or analog mame), can he get a two player Ikari Warrior game going?  If so, what connections or configuration is required?  He has XP.

I think so, depends if splittable mouse axes was added to the controller cfgs when they reworked them around 0.84 or sth.

Mice axes can be mapped individually post 0.84.

[Farmboy90]

Perfect guys!  Thanks! 

If this works out, I will be swapping out my supers...

[RayB]

All this fuss for controllers that are not even the correct ones for Ikari Warriors!!

[Farmboy90]

Beats "playing" it with a spinner.   

[Tiger-Heli]

All this fuss for controllers that are not even the correct ones for Ikari Warriors!!

Well - MAME thinks they are the correct controllers, but I know what you mean.

[Kremmit]

All this fuss for controllers that are not even the correct ones for Ikari Warriors!!

I've decided to get off my soapbox about mechanical rotaries over opticals until somebody fixes/hacks the input code.  As long as there are missed/extra clicks, the opticals may acutally play better, even if they are wrong.

[Tiger-Heli]

All this fuss for controllers that are not even the correct ones for Ikari Warriors!!

I've decided to get off my soapbox about mechanical rotaries over opticals until somebody fixes/hacks the input code.  As long as there are missed/extra clicks, the opticals may acutally play better, even if they are wrong.

Basically my point above.

[RayB]

Oh, alright.