Will this work as a spinner for mame? Powermate USB multimedia controler

[Shattered]

Hello all,

I'm new to the sport of building my own cp, it's already on revision 2.   I want to use a spinner and trackball for the first time.  What are your opinions on the following product for use as a spinner?

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/powermate/


Thanks,

[Teebor]

Yes it does work quite well, bit dodgy in some games like arkanoid but still playable.

Best thing to do is to prise the top off carefully and remove the spongy ring from inside the powermate as it will then spin more freely.  Unfortunately with mine another part came away from the inside of the knob and now after re-attaching it, it does not quite sit perfect.  But it worked better afterwards

[Shattered]

Awesome, now to convince the wife that I need another "vitally important piece" of computer hardware.   

 

[ARTIFACT]

these are all over ebay for cheap (10 bucksd or so)

fyi this is NOT th same feel as a proper spinner such as the turbo twist 2 (which i have and love) so only buy it if its CHEAP :)p

same deal as using pc trackballs to sub a real arcade trackball

[Stobe]

They also work great as volume controls for cabs and especially jukes.  (I believe Knievel used one on the Metal Station).

[Shattered]

@Artifact:  Yup, I'm living with a small budget.  I've managed to build a 4 person cab, including the monitor (19" PC monitor) for under 135$. 

I am currently looking at my options / cost of a trackball and spinner.   Cheap is best. 

[NoOne=NBA=]

They work, but they are FAR from ideal.
I personally wouldn't recommend using one unless price is the only consideration.

[esdwa]

Hi guys, being MAME fan for years I have recently purchased Powermate spinner from Griffin. It configures pretty easily in Windows (I use Win7-32bit) allowing me to simulate keystrokes or just mouse movements on X axis for example. For some reason, I can't make it work with MAME32. I got it especially for Tempest and this is 2nd day I am trying to make it work but it just does not work. Does anyone already went through the process and would be so kind to en-light me with the proper way to configure Powermate to make it work in MAME.

Couple of facts:
- I tried to use it with Enabled Mouse Input option in controller tab, no change
- Multiple Mice enable option did not change a thing either
- tried to emulate keystrokes with dialing clockwise and anti clockwise (L and R respectively), setting Dial control in Tempest for L and R, did not work.
- it is like MAME is not getting anything from Powermate only from standard mouse and keyboard.
... just running out of options 

I went through many posts on this forum about Powermate working great with MAME, seeing that they are quite little outdated, I wonder if there is anything I am missing... one mo thing this is USB based Powermate. And I also have XP Pro installed, will try on this OS as well. Meanwhile I would appreciate your feedback, my game-room needs an personal arcade machine which without Tempest will never be complete. Thank a lot for all the help in advance

[esdwa]

Short update, although I  have reported Powermate not working with MAME32/1.41b, I have recently used it with old MAME version 0.90b running it under Windows 7 and guess what... Powermate is recognized by old MAME allowing me to use it as a spinner for Arkanoid or my beloved Tempest where is simulates mouse movements. Perfect, but why latest mame 1.41 does not support it? Too bad Mame developers are not responding, I guess no one cares about using this spinner. I do because it is twice cheaper than competitive product. Thanks goes to old MAME emulator, new version has just landed in a trash bin 

[wongojack]

I'm looking for a super cheap spinner to just pull out every so often . . . I guess compatability is an issue with this one.  If I can find it for about $10 like another posted suggested (in 2008), I might consider it.

[Derrick Renaud]

This is most likely a driver issue.  Instead of fully implementing the device as a mouse, they just emulate a mouse.  This does not work with the Rawinput that MAME now uses.

FWIW, it was not my decision to switch completely to Rawinput.

[wongojack]

@esdwa  How do Tempest and Arkanoid play with it?  Is the spinner itself a button that you can push down on?  Have you tried any rotary games like Frontline or Ikari Warriors?

[Xiaou2]

I think the device is more of a pot based knob, with software to loop it.  Not sure.

 But, from what Ive heard its Not a good device for spinner games.

A)  It does not spin freely.  Has a high frictional resistance.
B)  I dont believe the resolution is very high.

 Even some of the more expensive spinners are not able to play Arkanoid well.  The reason is because Arkanoid uses high ratio gearing not found in any other spinner game.  Which gives it incredibly high resolution... and makes it pretty much unplayable even with a lot of tweaking of settings (cheating).

 As for Free Spinning issue, its a point that does factor in.  Games like Supersprint and Sega's Turbo require you to whip the wheel around as fast as you can and let it spin hyper fast for several rotations.  Even Tempest benefits from free-spinning.
 
 Imop, You would be much better spending money on a good spinner rather than something that really doesnt work enjoyably.  Even a hacked mouse solution would be better than that thing.