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Author Topic: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick  (Read 78968 times)

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dirt

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #160 on: July 03, 2006, 07:22:41 pm »
thanks for the info minwah. does mamewah do the programming automatically?
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #161 on: July 04, 2006, 12:14:13 am »
thanks for the info minwah. does mamewah do the programming automatically?

It looks like you can issue a command line to UltraMap to load a specific mapping.  So you should have a Mame port or Frontend that allows you to run additional commands when a game runs.  It would be cool if UltraMap could stay resident and just listen for a game, then autoload the map assigned to that game.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #162 on: July 04, 2006, 12:25:51 am »
Ack!  One of my Ultrastik 360's stopped working.  Anyone else experience this or know what I did?  It was working earlier today, then I shut the computer down, moved the control panel (and computer and everything else) to a different location to setup my prototype cabinet, re-hooked everything up, and when I booted up Windows only saw my second stick (which it correctly identified as stick #2).  I looked under the panel at the stick and its light wasn't on - no power.  Turned it all of, unplugged and replugged both ends of them USB cable, turned it back on, no dice.  Tried swapping USB cables with the other 360, nothing changed (the other one still works).  Oh, and Windows doesn't make its "USB device plugged in" sound when plugging it in, or the "unplugged" sound when unplugging it.  Looking at the underside of the stick, nothing seems out of place...

Any ideas?
« Last Edit: July 04, 2006, 12:27:57 am by Dreamwriter »

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #163 on: July 04, 2006, 02:34:17 am »
clean up register?

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #164 on: July 04, 2006, 11:51:01 am »
thanks for the info minwah. does mamewah do the programming automatically?

As 1UP says, thanks to the commandline function of UltraMap, yes Mamewah can do it :)

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #165 on: July 05, 2006, 10:03:37 am »
Ack!  One of my Ultrastik 360's stopped working.
Does it show up in the Hardware List in Device Manager.  If so, try removing it and then plugging it back in.

(Just guessing, though).
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #166 on: July 07, 2006, 06:13:30 pm »

this thread is way to confusing for me. lets say you have the controller mapped 8 way with no restrictor plate. In a 4 way game it wont see the diagnals so you get a dead zone. If your front end switches the mapping from 8 to 4 on the fly and you are not using a restrictor plate how is the situation any better. the dead zone is still there.


joys are getting to complicated :(

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #167 on: July 07, 2006, 08:09:39 pm »

this thread is way to confusing for me. lets say you have the controller mapped 8 way with no restrictor plate. In a 4 way game it wont see the diagnals so you get a dead zone. If your front end switches the mapping from 8 to 4 on the fly and you are not using a restrictor plate how is the situation any better. the dead zone is still there.


joys are getting to complicated :(


That's one of the great things about this stick, there really is no deadzone if you are using it in 2 way or 4-way, provided it is mapped properly.  It is not the same as using an 8-way microswitch stick and just ignoring diagonals.  Basically you have 4 wedge-shaped areas mapped to be either up, down, left, or right.  When you ar pushing up, then begin moving left, it still registers as up until you are a little bit past the corner, then it switches immediately to left.  Basically, just like the way a 4-way works.  I do think you will want to use this with a 4-way restrictor though, it makes it much easier to snap straight from one direction to another.  I would still proably keep a dedicated 4-way like the J-Stick in addition to using the Ultrastick, which is probably better suited as an 8-way/Analog stick.

If the above is confusing, go back and look at some of RandyT's diagrams and see if that makes more sense.  :)

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #168 on: July 07, 2006, 08:53:45 pm »
your explaination is still quit good and i appreciate the fact you took the time to post something. the clicking of my tstick is really getting to me and ive been considering something else. I would have liked to get a wico leafswitch but they are scarce and usually fought after.

any chance this will have switching 4 way to 8 way on the fly like the tstick only without the clicking. that would really rock. maybe a revision down the road. one can only hope.



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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #169 on: July 08, 2006, 08:54:58 am »
any chance this will have switching 4 way to 8 way on the fly like the tstick only without the clicking. that would really rock. maybe a revision down the road. one can only hope.
Why?

I mean maybe I misunderstood, but with the T-Stick you have to either lift and turn the stick or you have to flip a lever.

With this you will be able to simply have the stick be in the correct mode without having to do anything (once you set up all the software correctly).
It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you, it's what you leave behind you when you go. - R. Travis.
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #170 on: July 08, 2006, 04:19:41 pm »
no software could ever totally replace a restrictor plate because of the way it feels. i assume this is why this stick already has the ability to use plates by design.

lets say you map the stick for left and right movement only. so even if the stick is pointing in some random diagnal it still acts like a 2 way. yes it works as a 2 way controller but allowing the stick to freely move all over the place in these types of games feels really screwey.

so a switching version of this control would allow hard corners either 4 or 8 way but still be clickless like a leafswitch without any leaf tweaking ajustment. will it happen prob not but i still like the idea.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2006, 04:28:11 pm by Kangum »

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #171 on: July 08, 2006, 04:24:38 pm »
Yeah, what would be awesome would be above-panel switching between 4-way, 8-way, and unrestricted.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #172 on: July 08, 2006, 05:24:26 pm »
I really like the versatility and smoothness/silence of the Ultrastick, but I did do some testing in 4-way (Fast Ms. Pac-Man  :) ) and felt a little out of control--a LOT actually.  Nothing quite beats a dedicated 4-way with diamond restrictor.  You really need to be able to snap distinctly into each direction with absolutely NO PLAY to get to the higher levels in this game.  I can't tell you how frustrating it is when Ms. Pac goes off in her own direction to her doom...

Having played with it a bit in all modes, I would even consider having two or more of these on my panel now (yeah Xiaou2, I said it  ;) ) just to have a clickless dedicated 4-way.  I really wish someone could come up with a good way of switching the restrictor plate on this stick from above.

As far as functioning as a 2-way, I don't mind it at all.  You are infinitely less likely to go in the wrong direction in this mode, and really, even an 8-way functions adequately in this role, though the feeling is very different.  But you're never going to be able to have a joystick that literally does everything well, not without a very complicated mechanical restricion system that is also very expensive and prone to failure.  It all comes down to how many sticks you want on your Frankenpanel.  Grrr...Arghh...
« Last Edit: July 10, 2006, 02:19:51 am by 1UP »

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #173 on: July 10, 2006, 07:23:14 am »
Having played with it a bit in all modes, I would even consider having two or more of these on my panel now (yeah Xiaou2, I said it  ;) ) just to have a clickless dedicated 4-way.  I really wish someone could come up with a good way of switching the restrictor plate on this stick from above.

The restrictor plate is like a big gear, so as someone has suggested in the passed (for the J-Stik), I reckon a motor-driven solution could be possible...

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #174 on: July 10, 2006, 11:30:57 am »
Hey 1up - did you get this working good with Tron? I see you posted a config file, but was wondering if you set it up with an actual Tron Joystick?

(I'm thinking this Joystick + Julian's Tron repro handle)...

Tron + Afterburner = Havok Nirvana

 :applaud:

Andy: I see you are offering a handle option, how about a generic one that could be modded, for example Tron?

 :notworthy:

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #175 on: July 10, 2006, 10:05:30 pm »
I am looking at the possibility of adding the circuitry from this stick onto my existing Tron base, as a possible replacement of the 49-way design.  The 49-way adds a lot of parts I'd rather not deal with.

Have not had time to put it all together yet, so don't hold your breath.  It will be a while before a final product is available.   :(

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #176 on: July 11, 2006, 01:16:10 pm »

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.
Just to clarify, HID standard, indeed, alows for 32 bit variables.  But most (if not all) Windows applications work with USB input devices through DirectX component called DirectInput.  Internally, DirectInput scales logical range of USB variables to unsigned integer 16 bit so unless software talks directly to HID driver (this is Royal pain as you have to dig through USB devices list, find the one that looks like a joystick, get its descriptor, parse it, then work with raw data, etc) extra bits beyond 16bit resolution will be simply lost.
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #177 on: July 11, 2006, 08:29:45 pm »
Just to clarify, HID standard, indeed, alows for 32 bit variables.  But most (if not all) Windows applications work with USB input devices through DirectX component called DirectInput.  Internally, DirectInput scales logical range of USB variables to unsigned integer 16 bit so unless software talks directly to HID driver (this is Royal pain as you have to dig through USB devices list, find the one that looks like a joystick, get its descriptor, parse it, then work with raw data, etc) extra bits beyond 16bit resolution will be simply lost.

Really?  I'm not doubting you as I only know the API of directInput, not the inners, but ... then why does directInput output the analog axis states as LONG variables (32bit in winXP)?  Was this for future use? ???

Either way, 16bit or 32bit, that's at least hundreds of times higher resolution than the old 256. :applaud:
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #178 on: July 11, 2006, 09:03:49 pm »
Either way, 16bit or 32bit, that's at least hundreds of times higher resolution than the old 256. :applaud:

Which, IMHO, is also hundreds of times more than what is sufficient.

Here's a fun exercise for folks to demonstrate to themselves what that archaic old 256x256 really means in practical terms:  Crank up the res on your monitor and use your favorite drawing/CAD program to draw a 256x256 grid, making sure you can see some clear division between each and every position.  Difficult, isn't it?  Maybe close to impossible.

Each one of those dots represents a possible position for the standard analog stick from yesteryear. 

Outside of, say, a surgical simulator for the medical field, is there some killer application that requires this new level of precision?  It sure ain't classic arcade games :)

RandyT

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #179 on: July 12, 2006, 03:02:53 pm »
Either way, 16bit or 32bit, that's at least hundreds of times higher resolution than the old 256. :applaud:
Which, IMHO, is also hundreds of times more than what is sufficient.

Here's a fun exercise for folks to demonstrate to themselves what that archaic old 256x256 really means in practical terms:  Crank up the res on your monitor and use your favorite drawing/CAD program to draw a 256x256 grid, making sure you can see some clear division between each and every position.  Difficult, isn't it?  Maybe close to impossible.

Each one of those dots represents a possible position for the standard analog stick from yesteryear. 

Outside of, say, a surgical simulator for the medical field, is there some killer application that requires this new level of precision?  It sure ain't classic arcade games :)

RandyT

Some games you want it to be impossible to see the divisions you talk about:
Any lightgun game with at least one axis with resolution >= 256 and small targets.
Any positional gun game with the hardware to see better than 256, and small targets.

Other times the possible hardware output may be 256x256, but your game/mame might see less:
When the throw is restricted and the stick's firmware can't adjust (US360 does, though).  Then you have less than 256x256.  While if you started with 1024x1024, you can restrict it to one sixteenth the area (one quarter movement each direction) and still get true 256x256 at the game.  Again, the UltraStik360 with it's internal 12 bit resolution is able to adjust its output to 256x256 for both with & without restictors.


Take term2 (400x256 screen), for example.  With 256x256 joystick, you can almost hit 2 out of every 3 columns (you hit 256 out of 400, which is 2 out of 3.125).  You lose more than 1 (1.08) out of every 3 pixels; IOW you can't hit one third of the screen, interlaced with what you can hit.  It doesn't really hurt hitting the near targets, but this makes hitting the small, far, already-hard-to-hit targets even harder.

Another example, lightgun games with 320x256 resolutions (pointblank, area51, most other lightgun games after nintendo's), with 256x256 joystick, you can't hit one fifth of the screen ( (320-256)/256 = 1/5 ).  So if you hacked an analog controller with 256x256 hardware to your positional gun and moving 3/4 of the full range (distance) covers the screen, and joystick calibration is software-only (not in firmware), then you'll have 196x196 covering a 320x256 screen, meaning you can only hit less than half the pixels.


I agree many controllers and most (but not all) games don't need any more than 256x256.  IMO thumb analog sticks for example don't need more than 64x64.  But when it comes to thumb control, I'm all th--, err ... "not precise", so this might be just me. ;)  And ATM 1024 (10 bits) is all that's needed for those few games that need > 256.
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #180 on: July 13, 2006, 11:11:40 am »
Just as a non-technical comment...

I received my sticks today, and have only so far had chance to try one in analog mode at work.  My opinion so far is very good, it plays fantastic!  I have only played analog games so I am not commenting on the mapping and use in digital games, but having been after a balltop (or non-trigger handle really) analog arcade stick for some time this really is perfect for me.  Forgetting analog resolutions, the stick is very nice and precise on all the games I've tried so far :)

When I get chance to install them into a control panel I am looking forward to seeing how they perform with digital games (esp. 8-way fighters) and also how the restrictor plates affect things.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #181 on: July 13, 2006, 11:16:57 am »
Just as a non-technical comment...

I received my sticks today, and have only so far had chance to try one in analog mode at work.  My opinion so far is very good, it plays fantastic!  I have only played analog games so I am not commenting on the mapping and use in digital games, but having been after a balltop (or non-trigger handle really) analog arcade stick for some time this really is perfect for me.  Forgetting analog resolutions, the stick is very nice and precise on all the games I've tried so far :)

When I get chance to install them into a control panel I am looking forward to seeing how they perform with digital games (esp. 8-way fighters) and also how the restrictor plates affect things.

Well definetly let us know. I'm holding on these and may order depending on some reviews.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #182 on: July 13, 2006, 11:28:18 am »
I'm holding on these and may order depending on some reviews.

I'm in the exact same boat.  :)

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #183 on: July 13, 2006, 11:28:49 am »
Some games you want it to be impossible to see the divisions you talk about:

But an example of one still hasn't surfaced. :)

Quote
Any lightgun game with at least one axis with resolution >= 256 and small targets.
Any positional gun game with the hardware to see better than 256, and small targets.

Take term2 (400x256 screen), for example.  With 256x256 joystick, you can almost hit 2 out of every 3 columns (you hit 256 out of 400, which is 2 out of 3.125).  You lose more than 1 (1.08) out of every 3 pixels; IOW you can't hit one third of the screen, interlaced with what you can hit.  It doesn't really hurt hitting the near targets, but this makes hitting the small, far, already-hard-to-hit targets even harder.

That's all very interesting from a strictly technical standpoint, but in reality it is inaccurate.  The game you used in your example actually used only 256 positions in each axis with the original controller.  It used 8-bit positioning by design.  You can add 10 times the resolution to the controller and it still won't make that title play any differently.  Other existing games will probably show to be the same.

The problem here is that you are operating under the assumption that it is or will ever be necessary to be able to actually hit a target that is one or even two pixels in size.  This just doesn't happen very often, if ever at all in practice, as games are designed to be playable.  Neither lightguns nor positional guns have that type of pixel perfect precision (meaning the ability to hit where the gun is aiming,) so if the author of the game intended for tiny 1 or 2 pixel targets to be hit, they use a little trick.  They draw a "hit box" around the target that is 5, maybe even 10 pixels square.  The net effect of this is that even with very small targets, that 400 pixel screen width is probably more like 395 "free floating" 5x5 pixel target zones horizontally.  In other words, there are never any problems with being able to hit only "almost 2 out of every 3 pixels" or even half.  You don't divide by the screen resolution, rather the size of the smallest possible target (the "hit box", not the graphic) in a game.  The game's control scheme takes care of the rest.

Quote
Other times the possible hardware output may be 256x256, but your game/mame might see less:
When the throw is restricted and the stick's firmware can't adjust ...Then you have less than 256x256.  While if you started with 1024x1024, you can restrict it to one sixteenth the area (one quarter movement each direction) and still get true 256x256 at the game.

I find it curious that this is viewed as a "good thing".  One of the main reasons analog sticks (and other controllers) have extended throws is to facilitate accuracy over that large 256x256 actuation area.  We, as humans, have pretty good motor control but there is a limit to how fine a level we can operate, especially in a high-stress environment like a video game.  Imagine taking those 65536 possible positions and shrinking them down to 1/16th or even a quarter of the space normally occupied.  Would that enhance or actually decrease a persons ability to use the controller?  I have my own views on that one, but others can decide for themselves.

Quote
And ATM 1024 (10 bits) is all that's needed for those few games that need > 256.

And those games are....?

RandyT
« Last Edit: July 13, 2006, 12:45:54 pm by RandyT »

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #184 on: July 13, 2006, 01:19:02 pm »
Neither lightguns nor positional guns have that type of pixel perfect precision (meaning the ability to hit where the gun is aiming,) . . .
<lurk off>(Light)gun control means being able to hit where you are aiming.<lurk on>  :laugh2:
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #185 on: July 13, 2006, 07:51:06 pm »
Some games you want it to be impossible to see the divisions you talk about:

But an example of one still hasn't surfaced. :)
...
Quote
And ATM 1024 (10 bits) is all that's needed for those few games that need > 256.

And those games are....?

Okay, term2 was a bad example; it's only 8 bits internally. :-X 

I still stick with lightgun games with > 256 res.  I know, an analog joystick is not a lightgun, but if you control with the joystick....

Take Operation Wolf and Point Blank 2.  Op Wolf converts (for the X axis) from the 256 values to 320.  (Yes, mame will need driver source changes to effectively use an analog joystick > 256.)  Point Blank 2, OTOH, allots 687 values for the X axis input port in the first place, so no convertions are needed in the driver source.

I know you don't need single pixel accuraccy, and the original games were coded to cover the original hardware's range of error.  However, up-converting like in OpWolf & Point Blank2 in mame adds to the user's error range.  And IMO joysticks already have a larger error range than the original lightguns as you aren't getting the refferences of pointing someting at the screen (unless you're using a calibrated positional gun, not a normal joystick).

I also know that my motor control it's very precise, and that shrinking the range of movement increases the error due to me than if it wasn't restricted.  However, let's take a positional gun hack, for example.  Let's say the hacked hardware could output 256x256 before it was hacked, but after the hack it only had a little more than half the monvement (say, 144x144), but some of that shots are off-screen  (say 128x96 for the screen).  The movement is "restricted" less than the encoder was designed for, but the actually movement of the gun is a "full" range.

How many lightgun games have resolutions like Point Blank 2? Seven if you don't include clones @ 640x480, and two @ (sort of near) 512x236.

Not very many, but at least a few.

I was going to suggest Hard Drivin', but I can't hard info on it from work ATM.  IIRC, it has a 5 turn wheel, and 12 bits for the wheel, but no one has a 5 turn wheel and it's filtered to the lower 8 bits.  If it was filtered to the upper 8 bits, I'd be totally out of the water, but as is, 4096 (12 bit) / 5 = ~820 values per rotation.   These numbers are not solid, though, so I won't list this as one of the games.


On a different note, I found this from historical atari VAX mail:
Quote
From:   KIM::MILTY        18-JUL-1991 08:06:16.14
To:   @ENCODER.LIS
CC:   
Subj:   OPTICAL ENCODER USES


 I HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED THE TASK OF DESIGNING THE NEXT GENERATION "TESTER"
FOR THE OPTICAL ROTARY ENCODER (THE LITTLE GUY ,ABOUT THE SIZE OF OUR 5K
POT ).
 "I NEED INPUT"..HOW IS THIS ENCODER ENVISIONED BEING USED ?
I MEAN ,IN TERMS OF RESOLUTION.....HOW FAST WILL IT SPIN...?
THE OUTPUT RATE IS 128 PULSES/REVOLUTION PER CHANNEL (2 CHANNELS
IN QUADRATURE 90 DEGREES APART )
"BADLANDS STEERING" WAS 1:1 WITH A 58 PULSES/REVOLUTION RATE.
"WHIRLY-GIG          IS 1:1 WITH A 72   "        "        "
"RACE DRIVIN (COMPACT)" 1:1 WITH A 72   "        "        "
"ROADBLASTERS"      WAS GEARED 1:4 WITH A 36 P/R RATE....BUT THEN
                    THE STEERING WAS RESTRICTED TO 1/2 TURN,SO A
                    TOTAL OF 72 PULSES WOULD BE "SEEN" FROM
                    LOCK TO LOCK OF THE STEERING CONTROL.

....SOOO,LOOKING DOWN THE ROAD,...HOW MUCH "RESOLUTION" COULD WE
USE ,...
"GUMBALL RALLY" HAD AN ENCODER ON EACH MOTOR WHICH COULD SPIN AS FAST
AS 3600 RPM WITH 24 PULSES/ROTATION (1440 PULSES/SEC )...TO DO THE
SAME JOB THIS NEW ENCODER WOULD NEED TO SPIN AT 675 RPM.

...[snip]...

         MILTY

Sorry, it originally was in allcaps; I didn't do it.  :-\

edit: fixed quote marks
« Last Edit: July 13, 2006, 07:54:23 pm by u_rebelscum »
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #186 on: July 14, 2006, 09:59:11 am »
Umm... this argument is very enlightening, but it really has little to do with the original subject at this point... perhaps a different thread would be better suited to it?

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #187 on: July 14, 2006, 11:49:36 pm »
Umm... this argument is very enlightening, but it really has little to do with the original subject at this point... perhaps a different thread would be better suited to it?

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #188 on: July 22, 2006, 12:33:28 am »
Any reviews on this stick yet? Been about a month since it was announced, and I know I'm quite interested. Been looking for new sticks for months, but haven't had the time to really scour much.

Looks interesting, but maybe an acquired taste. So, opinions!!!

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #189 on: July 22, 2006, 07:47:03 am »
Any reviews on this stick yet? Been about a month since it was announced, and I know I'm quite interested. Been looking for new sticks for months, but haven't had the time to really scour much.

Looks interesting, but maybe an acquired taste. So, opinions!!!

* escher is also waiting for some reviews.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #190 on: July 22, 2006, 07:19:15 pm »
Hi all,

Here's my quick review after playing with the UltraStik for a few weeks. The digital restriction on the joystick works great. I wrote a program to automatically go through all the games in MAME and create .ugc files based on the type of controller each game has. I then configured MAMEWah to run Andy's executable with the ugc file before the game starts and it works great. The only thing I have left to do is get MAMEWah to return the stick to 8-way mode after the game is done and before going back to the menu. Currently, a game of Galaga will then make it impossible to move up/down in the menu to select another game! :P If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!

4-way games like Donkey Kong and Pac Man behave as I'd expect them to (I can't really play them well with an 8-way stick) and I was able to ditch the dedicated 4-way stick I had on my previous panel. Games like Space Harrier, Afterburner and even Sinistar play great when the stick is in analog mode. And of course, all 8-way games I've tried play the way I'd expect. So, from that standpoint, the stick is awesome.

One thing I noticed was that even with the longer shaft (which adds 10mm to the height) the stick is still a bit lower than the Happ Competition sticks that are also in my panel. But that's just an observation and not a problem. Oh, and a quick suggestion to Andy: can you include a diagram that shows how all the parts of the stick go together (like Happ does)? I slipped trying to replace the shaft and some parts came off -- it took a lot longer than I'll admit to get everything back together properly  :-X

My only complaints with the stick are how soft the movement is (several people have commented not liking it) and how easily the bat handle gets loose. The throw of the stick is longer than the Happ Competition sticks, but I don't find it to be a problem. I saw that Andy sells stiffer springs for the stick, but I can't justify spending $14 on shipping for a $5 spring so I can't say how much they improve the stick's softness. Has anyone else tried it? I also just noticed something on Andy's site about the stick having a screwdriver notch at the base for tightening the handle which I will have to try to solve the loosening issue.

So, would I purchase the stick again? Yes. I am considering getting another one for player 2, but will not do so until I can confirm whether the stiffer spring improves the softness of the stick. I prefer a bit more resistence than the stick currently provides.

Here's a link to a photo of my machine (the UltraStik is the red one):

http://www.farbish.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=60

Hope this was informative.

->Dan
« Last Edit: July 22, 2006, 07:24:04 pm by farb »

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #191 on: July 22, 2006, 07:26:51 pm »


So, would I purchase the stick again? Yes. I am considering getting another one for player 2, but will not do so until I can confirm whether the stiffer spring improves the softness of the stick. I prefer a bit more resistence than the stick currently provides.

->Dan

I'm still in the process of building a new control panel so I can not comment on how well the joystick works, but I did order a set of springs and they make a huge difference, if you are going to order a new joystick, and think the throw is to soft (easy), go ahead and add the springs to your order.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #192 on: July 29, 2006, 09:45:22 pm »
Hi all,

Here's my quick review after playing with the UltraStik for a few weeks. The digital restriction on the joystick works great. I wrote a program to automatically go through all the games in MAME and create .ugc files based on the type of controller each game has. I then configured MAMEWah to run Andy's executable with the ugc file before the game starts and it works great. The only thing I have left to do is get MAMEWah to return the stick to 8-way mode after the game is done and before going back to the menu.

etc..

Great review, I'm about to put in an order, I'm going to order the extra stiff springs (just in case).  But this utility you wrote to go through all the games to create the ugc files sounds like an important piece of software.  Any chance you could make it public so we can all use it?

Thanks for the review
MiKman

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #193 on: July 29, 2006, 10:10:04 pm »
The only thing I have left to do is get MAMEWah to return the stick to 8-way mode after the game is done and before going back to the menu. Currently, a game of Galaga will then make it impossible to move up/down in the menu to select another game! :P If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know!


isnt there a command in the mamewah ini files that lets you launch a program on closing the current game, similar to launching an external app before the game is launched??

i believe the line is called "post_emulator_external_app" or somehting like that anyway...

you could then set this line to run Andy's app with a ugc file that sets the stick back to 8 way

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #194 on: July 30, 2006, 08:31:56 am »
I saw that Andy sells stiffer springs for the stick, but I can't justify spending $14 on shipping for a $5 spring so I can't say how much they improve the stick's softness.

Have you tried looking at hardware stores for different springs?  Most hardware stores have a pretty good selection of springs -- you might be able to find something that will work.
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #195 on: July 31, 2006, 05:31:07 am »
isnt there a command in the mamewah ini files that lets you launch a program on closing the current game, similar to launching an external app before the game is launched??

i believe the line is called "post_emulator_external_app" or somehting like that anyway...

you could then set this line to run Andy's app with a ugc file that sets the stick back to 8 way

That's correct :)  You must use the beta release, v1.62b10, look for this section:

pre_emulator_app_commandlines             
emulator_commandline                     
post_emulator_app_commandlines

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #196 on: August 01, 2006, 04:35:42 am »
thanks minwah, i knew i'd seen it somewhere  :cheers:

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #197 on: August 03, 2006, 02:10:52 pm »
I am gauging interest here.  I might do something like HowardC did with the LEDWiz and ask for donations if there is enough interest.  Would anyone be interested in an app that is based on controls.dat to set the modes for you.  It would be equivilant to set49mode that I did for the GPWiz49.

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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #198 on: August 03, 2006, 02:21:50 pm »
I am gauging interest here.  I might do something like HowardC did with the LEDWiz and ask for donations if there is enough interest.  Would anyone be interested in an app that is based on controls.dat to set the modes for you.  It would be equivilant to set49mode that I did for the GPWiz49.

I would be interested.
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Re: New Product: Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Analog/Digital Mappable Joystick
« Reply #199 on: August 03, 2006, 05:30:45 pm »
I would also be interested.

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