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New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick

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Tiger-Heli:

I have one thing that is bothering me about the Ultra-Stick.  I don’t understand the advantage of the I-PAC mode.  I understand the stick can be simultaneously connected to the USB and I-PAC and you can specify which mode to use, I just don’t see the point . . .  Here are my conclusions and then I will get to the reasons I decided this:

USB Mode:  This may be the most versatile stick yet.  I’ll wait for the head-to-head to make that pronouncement, but it definitely is looking good at this point.

I-PAC Mode:  You lose the analog capability, you gain one less level of computation (more on that below), and (the only real advantage I can see) - you gain the ability to use the stick in PS/2 mode if you lack USB capability.  (And you gain the ability to use the stick with games that only support keyboard and not analog stick inputs).

Now the logic - let’s look at the type of games you could play:

Analog games - (Star Wars, Sinistar).  USB mode works fine.  In I-PAC mode, the stick will either be centered or hard over, making the games unplayable, AFAICT.

Digital games (PacMan, 1942, Donkey Kong) - Robin has already shown that MAME does a poor job of resolving this games with an analog input, and I have discussed how MAME sometimes guesses wrong in the 4-way games.  Now, in USB mode, the stick’s firmware is going to resolve almost any position into one of the 4-cardinal modes (4-way mode) or one of the 8 cardinal modes (8-way mode) and pass this to MAME as an analog signal which MAME has to resolve.  Robin has shown that MAME does not resolve these modes well, but if in 4-way mode, the firmware is going to tell MAME the stick is either centered, full up, full right, full left, or full down.  Similarly, in 8-way mode, the stick will be either centered, full N, full NE, full E, full SE, full S, full SW, full W, or full NW.  No matter how bad MAME’s mappings are, MAME can resolve this.  In I-PAC mode, the sticks firmware is going to make the same calculation, but then it is going to pass MAME a direct keypress value through the I-PAC.  This eliminates the clunky A-D calculations in MAME but the end result is the same, and I can’t see the MAME calculations affecting gameplay to any significant extent . . .

Am I missing anything???

Tiger-Heli:

I also came up with Revision 2, 3, and 4 to the stick last night.  These are all based on varying the amount of travel of the stick.

As has been said before, the problem with a do-all solution like this is analog games want a lot of stick travel and digital games do not.

First let’s look at some of the more common sticks and where they fall on the stick travel graph (from what others have said):

T-Stick, Mag-Stick, Omni-Stick, Prodigy, Suzo 500, MCA joysticks:  VERY short throw.  Excellent for 4-way games (Pac-Man, etc.) Fair to good for 8-way games if you get used to the feel.  I can’t imagine using one for analog games as the difference in movement between centered, a little bit right, medium right, almost full right, and full right would be almost imperceptible.

J-Stick, Sanwa, Ultra Stick (???) Reunion Stick, Wico Leaf Stick:  I am ASSuMing the Ultra-Stick has a throw in this range, since it seems to be similar to a Sanwa in many ways.  These sticks have a short-to-moderate throw.  4-way games are okay on them, but 8-ways should really shine.  Also popular for Japanese fighters.  This amount of travel might be acceptable for some analog games, but it will be at the short end of tolerable.

Happ Super, Happ Comp, Happ P360:  Moderate-to-long throw.  The travel on these sticks is less than ideal for 4-way games, although many BYOAC’ers like them (probably b/c they are some of the most common USA sticks).  They are good and pretty much standard for 8-way games and fighters.  They should also give decent play on analog games, although possibly still a little short overall.

GGG, Happ, Williams 49-way:  Long throw.  This stick actually has an extremely long throw, so much so that Markrvp and others have recommended mounted the stick so that the mounting hole actually slightly physically restricts it to reduce the amount of travel available.  I would think it would be bad for most digital games and especially for 4-way games, but most reviewers and actual users do not rate it this way.  It is really designed for analog games and should do well with them.

True Analog stick (Space Harriers (?), Space Ace (?), Afterburner, ??? someone help me here):  VERY long throw.  Hard to imagine playing 4-way games on these.  Even 8-ways could be tough.  True analog games will shine.

REVISION 2:  Look at the list above.  Some of the purists will insist on a long throw for analog games and a short throw for digital games (and a 4-way restrictor).  But many users will be able to find a compromise that will work well for them for all games.  Personally, I think I would shoot for something between a Sanwa and a Happ Super.  But this target will likely be different for each user.  So Revision 2 (possibly increases the un-restricted throw) and introduces a fixed restrictor that can be set to the amount of travel that the user desires.

REVISION 3:  Now we go after the purists.  The resistor is modified to have two adjustable stop points, a short throw digital stop point, and a long throw analog stop point.  Revision 3a introduces a method where the position of the restrictor can be changed from beneath the stick.  Revision 3b introduces a method where the position of the restrictor can be changed from above the panel, similar to the Prodigy or the T-Stick or Mag-Stick.

REVISION 4:  This is the ultimate.  We build on the concept of revision 3, but now we introduce a worm gear servo or solenoid (preferably powered directly off the USB bus) which allows us to change the restrictor position via software command.  So, using a utility like SirPoonga’s Set49Way - we can just start an analog or digital game, and the software will automatically configure the joystick correctly for us and off we go . . .


destructor:


--- Quote from: trcroyle on June 14, 2006, 08:15:21 pm ---

--- End quote ---
Wow, restrictor plate is more than required here for 4/8 way games. Throw is more than large without restrictors. Otherwise for analog mode restrictors aren't required.

Offtopic:

--- Quote ---T-Stick, Mag-Stick, Omni-Stick, Prodigy, Suzo 500, MCA joysticks:  VERY short throw.  Excellent for 4-way games (Pac-Man, etc.)
--- End quote ---
T-Stik for 4 way games? Are you sure? What with precision?

trcroyle:


--- Quote from: destructor on June 15, 2006, 11:19:58 am ---
Wow, restrictor plate is more than required here for 4/8 way games. Throw is more than large without restrictors. Otherwise for analog mode restrictors aren't required.


--- End quote ---

The perspective on the photo may be a little misleading. The top of the stick travels maybe half an inch in any direction. It's not short by any means, but it also didn't feel excessive to me. I had more issues with releasing the stick and getting a little bounce (which I think the heavier springs would fix) than I did the throw.

SirPoonga:


--- Quote from: Tiger-Heli on June 15, 2006, 09:08:49 am ---So, using a utility like SirPoonga
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