Main > Lightguns
Lightgun Calibration is NOT fun...
wbassett:
--- Quote from: um3k on April 16, 2008, 06:37:04 am ---
--- Quote from: SavannahLion on April 15, 2008, 10:53:18 pm ---Anyhow, I'm beginning to think his problem might be the distance the gun is from the monitor. I found a review that states that the sweet spot for these guns with a 29" monitor is two meters from the screen. A 25" would be marginally closer. Positioning the IR bars vertically vs horizontally also effects his distancing.
With the Wii, I get the exact same symptoms he is describing if I stand to close to the TV screen. The "cursor" acts accelerated. Step back about four or five feet (in my case) and the calibration is dead on. Stand back 15 feet from the TV and the mouse seems to move a little on the sluggish side. I suggest using a measuring tape and measuring at least six feet from the monitor, tape off the floor, then see if the gun still has problems.
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I agree, I have the guns and they are mounted 28" apart. I need to stand about 6 feet back to get reliable calibration and firing. Make sure you redo the calibration when you stand at a different distance, make sure you are shooting the exact corners of your monitor during calibration (use the laser), and make sure that when you pull the trigger during calibration the laser goes off briefly indicating it registered all the leds (if not stand back further and/or reduce light interferance (I need to turn off my overhead lights.)
Good luck!
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I have a question about light interference... Are these really that sensitive to room lighting?
My son and I read a lot of reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos (but sadly found this site after the fact), and I saw many people using these guns with a front projector. The amount of light coming out of a projector and focused on the screen is enormous compared to a room lamp. It seems a little odd that if these guns will work with a projector they would have such a problem with ambient room lighting. I think it's more of an issue of the LEDs and the gun quality. As I mentioned before, in the exact same room with the exact same amount of lights on, the Guncon 4 is flawless, but the LED units also look 1000 times better quality. Even the LEDs are bigger even though the sensors are less than 2" square.
I am not good at doing hacks (yet at least :)) or creating drivers, but I am curious if it would be possible to use the Topgun with the superior quality Guncon LEDs.
I don't have time to play around with my Topgun until this weekend, so wish me luck that I can get it working! If I can't, I will most likely buy an Act Labs gun and VGA box and test that out. If I can even get the Topgun to work with my 55" SXRD and the PS3 or XBox 360, I'd give it to my son. If not... the cats love chasing the laser around when you flip it in calibration mode and shine it around the room. ;D
um3k:
--- Quote from: wbassett on April 16, 2008, 08:39:33 pm ---I have a question about light interference... Are these really that sensitive to room lighting? My son and I read a lot of reviews and watched a lot of YouTube videos (but sadly found this site after the fact), and I saw many people using these guns with a front projector. The amount of light coming out of a projector and focused on the screen is enormous compared to a room lamp. It seems a little odd that if these guns will work with a projector they would have such a problem with ambient room lighting.
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My experience with them has been they are sensitive to the overhead "can-type" lights in my basement. Not so much that it is wildly inaccurate, but more "jumpiness" and "sticking" to certain spots. I think it is seeing the lights or their reflections as additional led targets and getting confused. The same thing happens with my Wii sometimes (although to a lesser extent). For this reason, I usually shut the overhead lights off when calibrating or playing. I think the projector is not as much of an issue because not as much light is reflected into a single point that could be confused with the led stands. Also, I'm not sure how much infrared light is put out/reflected by a projector.
--- Quote from: wbassett on April 16, 2008, 08:39:33 pm ---I am not good at doing hacks (yet at least :)) or creating drivers, but I am curious if it would be possible to use the Topgun with the superior quality Guncon LEDs.
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That would probably depend on whether those stands use the same kind of infrared leds, same intensitiy (within reason), and the same arrangement. Basically, whether the TopGun would recognise the Guncon stands as "its own" as it were. From what I've seen/read, the led side of the system is very simple, so I imagine its fully possible, but might require some modifications to the stands...
--- Quote from: wbassett on April 16, 2008, 08:39:33 pm ---If not... the cats love chasing the laser around when you flip it in calibration mode and shine it around the room. ;D
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Mine to... everyone had to be present for calibration time. There was a lot of commotion when the laser was used on the screen, because it was reflecting off my plexi and the TV glass, so there were like three different laser points all over the room. Much fun was had by all!
weisshaupt:
--- Quote from: wbassett on April 16, 2008, 08:39:33 pm ---[ It seems a little odd that if these guns will work with a projector they would have such a problem with ambient room lighting. I
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What they have a problem with is Rogue IR light. Thats basically heat folks.. Incandesent bulbs give off heat, and if they (or reflections of them) end up in the top guns camera view, it can get confused. I would suspect some bulbs will give off heat in the right spectrum and some don't, thus leading to some degree to the uneven effects. Loading the troubleshooting driver and looking around in the IR spectrum of the gun is a really good idea if you are having problems, which might be why the manual suggests you do that if you are having problems.. :laugh:
I use mine with a projector, but all of the heat from that bulb is BEHND me when I am shooting... and widely disperesed when its sent in front of me to the screen ...
wbassett:
--- Quote from: weisshaupt on April 16, 2008, 09:35:43 pm ---What they have a problem with is Rogue IR light. Thats basically heat folks.. Incandesent bulbs give off heat, and if they (or reflections of them) end up in the top guns camera view, it can get confused. I would suspect some bulbs will give off heat in the right spectrum and some don't, thus leading to some degree to the uneven effects. Loading the troubleshooting driver and looking around in the IR spectrum of the gun is a really good idea if you are having problems, which might be why the manual suggests you do that if you are having problems.. :laugh:
In my defense ;) I did download the latest drivers and Smogs, as well as the troubleshooter- I was just pretty disgusted when one gun setup and I was playing a game with it literally in a matter of minutes, and that was in the same room with the same lights on... and then the Topgun just wants to be finicky. To me for the price it should have been just as easy and fast to setup right out of the box as the other gun was.
I use mine with a projector, but all of the heat from that bulb is BEHND me when I am shooting... and widely dispersed when its sent in front of me to the screen ...
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I'll double check my package, but I don't recall seeing the trouble shooting driver with the package, but I did download it. I was just a bit fed up with it by then to mess around with it anymore, and then I was busy with work (have to pay the bills!) so playing around with the gun again will have to wait until this weekend. Again... it has to be the LEDs or even the quality of the camera in the gun itself because there is absolutely no problem at all with the other LED Light Gun I have. That's kinda my point... the Topgun looks really cool, but it really isn't ready for prime time yet in my opinion. Shame, but maybe I'll change my mind after this weekend.
As far as IR and heat... projectors and screens are my area of expertise. I agree that even though the PJ puts out quite a bit of heat it is behind the gun, and the screen itself diffuses the light across the entire screen surface.
Here's the thing though, the only other light on in my room is a 60W lamp that is in the corner of the room and also behind the gun. You shouldn't have to turn every light off and be in a completely dark room for it to work. If so, something is definitely wrong.
One thing I was thinking and will try this weekend is the plexi bezel I have over the monitor. I'll remove it just to make sure that it's not causing a lot of scatter reflections.
I'm being honest when I say I am not trying to be negative or just trash the Topgun... I really want it to work, and seeing it cost me around $60 with shipping it's a bit expensive to use as a cat toy ;)
deano728:
I uninstalled smogs driver in order to try the ems driver and XP is still asking for me to browse to smogs driver even when I manually browse to the EMS one. Anyone else have problems removing smogs drivers and if so, how did you get it completely off?
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