OptPac/Spinner/Trackball/Joystick Question

[Magnet_Eye]

ok, so in my CP i have 2 happs optical sticks, a trackball, and a spinner. I can hook the 2 optical sticks and my trackball up to the Opti-Pac no problem, but WTH do i do with the Oscar Spinner? USB?

 

[OSCAR]

Which model spinner do you have?  Is it a Model 2, 3, or Pro?  If so, then it will connect directly to the Opti-PAC.  You listed 3 controls (2 joysticks and 1 trackball) and the Opti-PAC has 4 separate headers available that can utilize the x-axis:  2 trackball, 2 spinner.

[_Iz-]

Are the optical sticks you are referring to p360's? If so, they connect to an IPac not the optipac.

If they are ROTARY sticks you mean, then they are each basically a spinner. The optipac handles 2 trackballs and 4 spinners. You have 1 trackball and 3 spinners with inputs to spare...

[shmokes]

what is confusing you is that it's not made entirely clear that the sticks and the spinners will hook to the same place ( I think this is right)  Look at it this way.  A trackball is like two spinners since it spins side to side and up and down (x axis and y axis).  That means that a connector that will handle one trackball will handle TWO spinners (or spinning joysticks) on the same connector.  One will register on the x-axis and the other on the y-axis.

So hook up your spinner to the same connector as your first spinning joystick.  Optipac will automatically sense which one is being used and send that information to Mame.  If you stop using one and start using the other Optipac will once again sense this automatically so you don't have to switch anything manually.

[OSCAR]

As a firm believer that a picture can always help, here's a very simplified sketch of an Opti-PAC with the device connections...





By connecting the joysticks and spinner all to separate x-axes all your devices will work properly with the standard MAME build.  Just be sure you have the Opti-PAC "split-board" jumper set so all the controls are assigned to Player 1.  Dual player rotary joystick games will suffer, however.

Shmokes suggestion will work to correct a dual player rotary joystick conflict and by setting the Opti-PAC to a split-player set up, but then you would need to use MAME: Analog+ to get a spinner that's connected to a y-axis input to function as an x-axis spinner.

[shmokes]

That totally bums me out.  I'm going to have rotary sticks on my panel and I want to run under Windows XP.

Wait a minute, what am I talking about?  I have mechanical rotary sticks so they will interface through the i-paq (and a druin).  If I only have one spinner and one trackball and two mechanical rotary sticks I don't need analog+ to run 2-player rotary games do I?

Speaking of analog+, though, will it run in Win 98 compatibility mode under windows xp?

Great pic, by the way, Oscar.  You always bust out with those and they are SO helpful.  Thanks.

[OSCAR]

That totally bums me out.  I'm going to have rotary sticks on my panel and I want to run under Windows XP.

Wait a minute, what am I talking about?  I have mechanical rotary sticks so they will interface through the i-paq (and a druin).  If I only have one spinner and one trackball and two mechanical rotary sticks I don't need analog+ to run 2-player rotary games do I?

Speaking of analog+, though, will it run in Win 98 compatibility mode under windows xp?

The split mouse axis features of Analog+ work under XP, just the multiple mice features are limited to Win98/Me.  I don't believe the compatibility mode feature of XP will do anything for Analog+, but u_rebelscum can verify that for sure.

[shmokes]

Damn!  I will have two mice afterall.  I just remembered that I ordered two Act-Labs TV-out guns.  I guess I will need analog+ for that feature to work.  Nobody has a really good answer for that, though, do they.  We'll find out in May when those things ship.

Windows 98 it is then unless Act-Labs or someone else has something else up their sleeve.

[AX]

i don't get it dood.  in winxp i can lug one ps2 mouse and one usb mouse and they both work.  what's this about can't have 2 mice?  

[OSCAR]

i don't get it dood.  in winxp i can lug one ps2 mouse and one usb mouse and they both work.  what's this about can't have 2 mice?  

The reference wasn't regarding how many mice are available in Windows.  All versions of Windows above 95 will allow you connect and control multiple mice.  The multiple mice feature of Analog+ (which only works under Win98/Me) allows you to assign different USB mice to separate players.  In your configuration both mice control Player 1, correct?

[Magnet_Eye]

ok, i have 2 OPTICAL sticks i want to use at any time. I have a Happs Trackball, which opti-pac can switch between that and the sticks...but i still dont see how to make the spinner work also. Most likely spinner use will be solitary, unless i devise some strange Tron configuration....

I just want to be able to use any configuration at once, be it 2 optical sticks, one trackball, or one spinner. Trackball=2 optical boards, joysticks=2, and spinner=?

Oscar: I dont have a spinner yet, i am going to buy one from you soon as i figure this out.

I want my spinner dammit! So, what is the solution?

"Am I wrong, Dude? Am I wrong?"

 

[OSCAR]

A spinner is a single axis device.  This is how it appears you want your controls connected to the Opti-PAC if you only need the Player 2 joystick independant of the Player 1 controls:

Trackball 1  -   Trackball
Rotary 1 (x-axis)  -  Joystick 1
Rotary 1 (y-axis)  -  Spinner
Trackball 2 (x-axis)  -  Joystick 2
Trackball 2 (y-axis)  -  empty
Rotary 2 (x-axis)  -  empty
Rotary 2 (y-axis)  -  empty


You will want to use the Opti-PAC in USB mode for compatibility with MAME: Analog+ and use Windows 98 or Me for the multiple mice feature for separate joysticks.  Since you will be using Analog+, use that to reassign the Rotary 1 (y-axis) to Player one x-axis.

[_Iz-]

Magnet_Eye: We need some clarification for you on what you are calling an OPTICAL stick. Is this the Perfect 360? Or is it a rotary stick (the stick spins like a spinner for games like Ikari, etc...)

While the P360's are technically an optical stick, they DO NOT connect to an optipac. The signal is converted into standard switching for connection to an IPac.

A rotary stick is basically an 8-way joystick with the handle able to spin like a spinner. The joystick part connects to an IPac, the spinner part (single axis) connects to the optipac.

So please tell us what joystick you REALLY have. An actual name or part number, anything other than optical would be helpful.

[Magnet_Eye]

I have the Happs Optical sticks. Not Rotary. They have one optical board, whereas a trackball has 2. It is for playing Ikari type games, but does not click. The stick is basically a Super but rotates. I have hooked one of these to my opti-pac with success. Haven't tried 2 yet.

 

[u_rebelscum]

I have the Happs Optical sticks. Not Rotary. They have one optical board, whereas a trackball has 2. It is for playing Ikari type games, but does not click. The stick is basically a Super but rotates. I have hooked one of these to my opti-pac with success. Haven't tried 2 yet.

Here's where the confusion is: You have the optical rotary sticks.  Rotary == rotate shaft makes player rotate.  If you didn't have a rotary stick, it won't be for playing Ikari type games.  You just don't have the other type (mechanical) rotary stick.

Now for wiring up the TB, spinner, and optical rotary sticks, I'd put TB on optipac player 1 trackball, the first optical rotary stick on player 1 rotary X axis, second optical rotary stick on player 1 rotary Y axis, and the spinner on either player 2 X axis.  Then use analog+ "-splitmouseaxes" option for rotary (Ikari type) games (-singlemouse optional).  This setup's one limit would be you couldn't use the trackball and the rotaies at the same time.

There are other ways to do it, depending on if you want to use the TB and rotaries, or the spinner and rotaries, or have winME/98 or winXP, ect.

[Magnet_Eye]

Oh, and I forgot! How can I add an Act-Labs gun to the whole mix?

Am I pushing it?

 

[Sasquatch!]

The Act-Labs gun won't plug into any of the encoders devices - it's a straight USB connection.

[Magnet_Eye]

right, but doesnt it act as a mouse? act=labs site says the buttons are mouse buttons, etc

[_Iz-]

It does act as a mouse, but all versions of windows support multiple mice. The issue will be trying to use multiple mice to support multiple players, certain versions of windows force all mice connected to control the same cursor instead of acting independantly.

[Sasquatch!]

It does act as a mouse, but all versions of windows support multiple mice. The issue will be trying to use multiple mice to support multiple players, certain versions of windows force all mice connected to control the same cursor instead of acting independantly.

What he said.  But since you're only using the one "mouse" input (the gun) in the shooting games, this shouldn't matter.

[OSCAR]

right, but doesnt it act as a mouse? act=labs site says the buttons are mouse buttons, etc

Correct.  But it is advisable to disable the mouse input when playing lightgun games for best results.

I am using MAMEWAH on the computer I have my lightgun attached to, and for the the Extra Options #1 I have it set for "-nomouse -lightgun".  So when I go to play a lightgun game, I hold down P1B1 when I launch the game to disable the mouse input and enable the lightgun.  I keep the mouse input enabled by default.

[Aceldamor]

I personally plan on using 2 optical rotary sticks, 2 spinners, and 2 light guns, and a trackball.

Oscar has a brilliant idea on his site.  Since I won't need to use the rotary sticks and the spinners at the same time, I could hook them up to a switch so only one is active at a time.

That way, I can have p1 optical and p1 spinner hooked up to a switch and p2 optical and p2 spinner hooked up to another switch. That way when I'm playing a game that requires one or the other, I can flip the switch and voila!!  No worrying (sp?) about having enough connections to get everything to work.  

[Magnet_Eye]

Would you even really need a "switch" to do that? Couldn't you wire up one spinner and one rotary stick to the exact same connections on an optipac, so in theory they would both be working/active at the same time, but since you would only be using one of them at a time, no problem, right?

(unless someone turns the spinner knob while your playing a rotary stick game.)

 

[rampy]

Would you even really need a "switch" to do that? Couldn't you wire up one spinner and one rotary stick to the exact same connections on an optipac, so in theory they would both be working/active at the same time, but since you would only be using one of them at a time, no problem, right?

(unless someone turns the spinner knob while your playing a rotary stick game.)

 

hypothetically yes... but i've had issues with parallel optics before...  i.e. it became necessary to install the dpdt switch to isolate one from the other while hooked up to the same interace...  

Although with your proposed set up EVEN with the light guns you won't have any issue if you are using an opticpac and analog+ MAME...  

good luck,

Rampy