MaLa, Q*Bert and other mysterious problems

[Ninja Supremacist]

For the first few sessions of MaLa, it recognized my u360 joysticks and reprogrammed them before every game.  All the keyboard keys worked as well.

I remapped some UI controls to the arcade panel and now the escape key isn't working.  I right-click to exit which, while ok, isn't really helping the situation.  The keyboard controls have not been altered at all yet they fail.  Is the joystick somehow taking precedence?  I don't see why they can't all get along.

Mapping a joystick button for MaLa Exit doesn't work.  So right clicking is the way until that doesn't work and I need to call the task manager...

A side effect seems to be that the ultramap setup isn't working anymore either.

That seemed to happen after I did some remapping under Input (General) in MAME.  Does the ultramap plug-in work only with the default settings?

Appreciate the insight.  Peace.

[fatfingers]

The ultramap plugin does not care what the MAME settings are.  Once the MAME emulator starts, the plugin is no longer involved.  When the MAME emulator exits, then MaLa takes over again and the plugin does not get involved again until you start moving through games in the game list.

Good Luck.

[kegger]

I wanted to add to this post as I can't get Qbert to work with the 45 map and I even tried to make a new one and name it something different and it still doesn't work but the plugin log shows everything looks fine, but in the game the joystick is dead any idea's?
I have searched the forums but didn't find any answers...

[Ninja Supremacist]

fatfingers,

Thank you for the plug-in and the clue on how it works in relation to the MAME map.  I resetup MaLa again which has temporarily cured the keyboard issues.  When I load a game, there's a pause with the hourglass icon for about 5 seconds.  I presume that's map switching time.  Still, I concur with kegger.  Q*Bert isn't functioning correctly.  It's still up, down, left, right without the 45 degree shift.  Everything else seems ok.  Arch rivals goes to analog.  Street fighter 2 seems to go to 8 Way.  As far as I can tell, pac-man and frogger are 4 Way.

Do you have a way of letting the user know what a controller is being remapped for?

Any suggestion?

[SGT]

Do you have the 4-Way, 45 Degree Angle.um file that needs to be in the Maps subdirectory of the UltraMap installation dir?

See the next to the last post:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=67724.0

Also have you seen the following post:

It has come to my attention that the qbert map file is missing from my package -- sorry.  It isn't clear to me which file is missing, so I'm posting two of them here.  The qbert.txt file must be placed in the Maps folder under the Mala tree and be renamed to qbert.ugc.  The 4-Way, 45 Degree Angle.txt file must be placed in the Maps folder under the Ultramap tree and be renamed to 4-Way, 45 Degree Angle.um.

Which is located here:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=59334.120

[Ninja Supremacist]

Works now.  Excellent.  The default 4 Way, diagonals only isn't a very good map.  I used the cleaner one found in the thread you suggested.  Q*Bert felt better and the directions were confirmed when I put my initials into the high scores.0

I don't think a specific q*Bert file is required.  Just the better map for 4 Way diagonal.  Having the stick register exactly as it would in MAME probably helps.  The default  Ultramap 4 Way diagonal file took should be replaced with:

MapFileFormatVersion=1.0

MapSize=9
MapRow1=W,W,W,W,*,N,N,N,N
MapRow2=W,W,W,W,*,N,N,N,N
MapRow3=W,W,W,W,*,N,N,N,N
MapRow4=W,W,W,C,C,C,N,N,N
MapRow5=*,*,*,C,C,C,*,*,*
MapRow6=S,S,S,C,C,C,E,E,E
MapRow7=S,S,S,S,*,E,E,E,E
MapRow8=S,S,S,S,*,E,E,E,E
MapRow9=S,S,S,S,*,E,E,E,E

... immediately.  It would save a lot of grief for new u360 users.

[koolmoecraig]

Man I'm lost.

I can't get Q*bert working properly either.

What is "W" in the map row that you posted?

When modifying maps in Ultramap I don't have an option for "W"

You mean west as in left? Man im confused.

[Ninja Supremacist]

North, South, East, West...

Check the current 4 Way, diagonals only.um file.  It has ne, nw, se, sw.

MAME is looking for positive and negative joystick x and y axis settings for up, down, left and right.

The default setup (ne, nw, etc.) doesn't match what MAME is expecting which is where I believe the trouble is.

If I get time this week, I'm going to make the center (C) of the map bigger on normal and diagonal 4 Way ultramap files to deal with the sensitivity and throw of the sticks.

You're almost there, kmc.  Like those who have helped me, I'll try to help you out if you're still having issues.

[kegger]

Ok here is the deal with the qbert map for the U360, Like SGT says above you have to remame the following files but they are text files to you have to click the drop down box when saving and pick "all files" so it won't be considered a text file any more. Also when you rename the .um file make sure you remove the underscores and just put spaces there so the file is renamed properly. It won't work leaving the under scores in the name.