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New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
u_rebelscum:
Okay, I've been holding off on this for a while, but time for me grab my box: :soapbox:
Analog was limited to 256 in the old school gameport. This is not true anymore with modern win9x/XP & USB. USB can do far higher precision values per axis. If the sensors and other hardware are designed correctly, they can do 32 bits per axis (256 vs 4,294,967,295 values). This is done without any special drivers; the standard windows HID drivers already handling your current controllers are the only drivers needed.
Here are links to other products/projects (most are flight simulator related for some reason ;)) that have at least two axes with greater than 8 bits (ie: >256 values, none are at 32 bit yet):
Plasma-Lite
mJoy
JoyWarrior
Performax
Precision Joystick Controller BU0836
Also, the xbox controller sends 16 bits (from -32768 to 32767) for each axis of the two analog sticks. See redclOuld's page or this other page. I think 16 bits is the highest ATM, but there's still room to grow.
I've been talking to Andy about this, and he was able to do the higher resolution on the UltraStik360, too. It will take a firmware update, which means Andy needs to program it, but I understand he's splitting his time, also busy on some other cool project (that many here will like) ATM. ;) I don't think many people will mind waiting on this if it speeds up the other project.
Increasing the precision will help on gun games with greater than 256x256 resolutions (anything after nintendo's gun games I think). Besides those game, I'm not sure how much improvement it will bring (except marketing of course. :D) Testing is the only was to answer that.
nobbo:
howdy all,
as i understand it, if you use these sticks without an ipac, then it is recognised as a gamepad by mame. my question is are most other emulators compatible with gamepads as well, as this could also be a factor in deciding on purchasing these sticks. apologies if this has been brought up already.
cheers
Xiaou2:
"However, I'm not that confident something like that would be a hot seller, which I'm sure is why it doesn't exist. It's a very scecialized item that needs either a dedicated stick or manual installation every time, which kind of minimizes its appeal."
Like a $5000 cabinet made of MDF is a hot seller? :laugh2: :lame:
Sinistar is a "very" popular classic game.. and no controller out there plays it very well - mostly
because of the way that the resistence the spider creates gives Much greater control.
Resolution isnt the saving issue. Its the multiplicatice resistence that adds greater control.
The differnce: Its like driving on ice with bare tires -vs- tires with metal spikes and chains on them.
This also works great for better control on other analog games.
It SHOULD be a technology added to those thumb sticks on gamepads... as then they
would actually be somewhat controlable and precise.
Id bet a Sini-Stik outsells any other custom controller out there.
Take a look at past sales on ebay of balltop 49 ways. And remember, that there
have been encoders designed just to read 49 ways.. and no 49 way game is
more popular than sinstar. And 9 times out of 10, an encoder and 49 way was
bought just to play sinistar correctly.
Ohh, and Wernt you "Trying" to make one once before?
Dreamwriter:
--- Quote from: nobbo on June 27, 2006, 04:51:56 am ---howdy all,
as i understand it, if you use these sticks without an ipac, then it is recognised as a gamepad by mame. my question is are most other emulators compatible with gamepads as well, as this could also be a factor in deciding on purchasing these sticks. apologies if this has been brought up already.
cheers
--- End quote ---
Actually, yes, most emulators support gamepads, if not all. While keyboard (ipac) is always the first thing supported in an emulator, it doesn't take long before they add gamepad support. Realize that most people using emulators (including emulator authors) aren't using arcade controls to play them, and gamepads are a lot easier to use than keyboards. And many of those emulators would benefit from analogue controls.
1UP:
--- Quote from: Xiaou2 on June 27, 2006, 06:15:09 am --- Like a $5000 cabinet made of MDF is a hot seller?
--- End quote ---
I knew it wouldn't be long before the personal insults started. Somehow, it seems no post is big enough for the two of us. Why the hate? :banghead:
But I'll try to keep this civil.
Actually, I've gotten far more requests for cabinets (even at the stated price) than I was able to produce with a small 2-man operation. However, I am working with a new business model which will allow production of greater numbers at a much lower price point. How does the number of cabinets I've sold have any relation to whether a Sinistar stick would be a big seller? And where did you get the idea we were using MDF?
But this is getting off topic, and I was not insulting anyone's ideas, just stating the practical problems with implementing a spider into a multi-game controller. As you do remember, I was interested in making a Sinistar adapter plate and spider for the 49-way. The prototype worked very well, but I think there were like 2 people interested in buying one, so it was put on the backburner. I think in order to be a popular item, it either needs to be switchable, or cheap enough to justify adding it to a control panel just for one game. For the time being, I personally am not interested in investing any more time or money into it, but you never know.
The other point is that the design of the Ultrastick makes adding anything to the bottom a bit trickier than any other stick. So someone needs to work that out.
--- Quote --- This also works great for better control on other analog games.
--- End quote ---
But not for 4-way or 8-way games, which kind of kills 75% of what you could use these sticks for. I think a lot of people would like to keep the number of specialized controls to a minimum.
--- Quote --- It SHOULD be a technology added to those thumb sticks on gamepads... as then they
would actually be somewhat controlable and precise.
--- End quote ---
I think that the LAST thing you want on thumb controllers is increased resistance (OUCH). BTW, the same effect you are looking for could easily be duplicated by using weighted curves on the analog signal, so the farther you press, the less change in acceleration, so to get your ship really flying, you have to peg it, but the middle area of the stick is more sensitive. This should be very doable with the internal resolution of these sticks (plenty of data to work with without losing resolution.)
--- Quote ---Id bet a Sini-Stik outsells any other custom controller out there.
--- End quote ---
Come on, ANY controller? There are a lot of controllers that are usable in a much wider range of games, and let's face it, the extra parts add cost to the setup, whatever your base controller is. Just adding a molded part to the mix (the spider) is what scares most people off, as far as production goes on a small run. That said, if you can come up with a list of buyers, I'm sure someone will be willing to produce these--if they can justify the cost of production versus the number of potential sales.