Argh!! Control panel is wrecking my head - two stupid problems...

[nickf21]

got my panel built, got my cab ready, MAME32 installed, ROMs ready...
everything works and im trying to sort out a couple of quick things BUT i cant seem to find answers anywhere.

1) i want to hide my keyboard away - i am using MAME32 (no front end) and an ipac2 interface. (via USB)
everything works ok - but i cant seem to configure a left mouse button.
i have 6 buttons set up for each player, a 1player start, a 2 player start and a third button set up for this very purpose. HOWEVER, this third button is defaulting to a right mouse button and i cant seem to change it.
ive tried the default game option in MAME, downloaded software for the ipac but still cant crack it.
any ideas??

2) i have a trackball set up that works fine when im in MAME - ie it works like my mouse does.
however, when i play any game the trackball doesnt work.
i think (?) this must be a set up in MAME question - but cant find the right place for it.

apologies for asking two such stupid questions - but ive been working on my cab for the last six hours and my head is fried.

thanks so much in advance

[NoOne=NBA=]

1) The Ipac emulates a keyboard, not a mouse.
Assuming you are using a mouse hack for the trackball, you will need physical connections to the left/middle/right mouse buttons on your CP.

2) You need to make sure that your mouse is enabled in your preferences on MAME 32.
I don't actually use MAME 32, so I don't know where it is located.

In command line MAME, you would run mame from a command prompt, with a -cc switch at the end.
That will generate a config file in your MAME folder.
In that file is the setting for enabling the mouse.

[nickf21]

thanks for the note - but still havent cracked it.

if the ipac is just a keyboard emulator - how come one of the defaults is a right mouse click (and when i press this button on my cp it acts like a right mouse button...)
is this just a coincidence or can i change this to a left mouse button without going thru the hassle of setting a mouse hack?

and for the trackball - again im using my ipac and not a mouse hack.
therefore i shouldnt have the mouse enabled checked in the MAME32 option folder.... correct?

still cant get the trackball working in the games - although it works in the MAME32 general menu.

ten hours on this and still not sorted.

one thing that isnt mentioned too often on these boards is the amount of patience we need when setting up an arcade!!

[jasonbar]

thanks for the note - but still havent cracked it.

if the ipac is just a keyboard emulator - how come one of the defaults is a right mouse click (and when i press this button on my cp it acts like a right mouse button...)
is this just a coincidence or can i change this to a left mouse button without going thru the hassle of setting a mouse hack?

My keyboard on my work PC has a key that looks like a context-sensitive menu.  It pulls up "right-click" menus, just as if I were clicking on my right mouse button, but it's a keyboard key.  I bet you've got a key on your "keyboard" mapped to that key.

-Jason

[u_rebelscum]

and for the trackball - again im using my ipac and not a mouse hack.
therefore i shouldnt have the mouse enabled checked in the MAME32 option folder.... correct?

Err, The Ipac does not do mice or TBs.  Do you have a miniPac perhaps?  (It does both keyboard & mouse.)  I don't have a miniPac, but I wonder if you could map it to a mouse button?

Either way, if it looks like a mouse (ie moves the cursor pointer or sends mouse clicks), mame will ignore it if -mouse is disabled.

So enable -mouse.  (And disable -multiplemice, which is for if you want to use multiple mice for different players at the same time, like 2 player marble madness).

[jace055]

On my CP I mapped the left and right mouse buttons mapped to regular keys on the ipac.  Then I use autohotkey and load a simple script in the startup folder to change the keyboard letters to left and right clicks.  Simple instructions for this are included with the autohotkey program.

And for the trackball, press tab while in game and change the "this game settings" to use the trackball instead of mouse 1 is am guessing.  Do you have a regular mouse plugged in as well?

[surface tension]

Err, The Ipac does not do mice or TBs.  Do you have a miniPac perhaps?  (It does both keyboard & mouse.)  I don't have a miniPac, but I wonder if you could map it to a mouse button?

Nick

Which interface are you using? Like u_rebelscum says, the ipac doesn't do optical devices, so maybe you are using the minipac. So, if you are using the minipac, this has mouse buttons inputs.

[nickf21]

guys,
thanks for all the replies.

i guess im having some kind of breakdown - im using a mini-PAC and completly forgot it had the mouse inputs. dont know what got into me. i was about to start desoldering my mouse - thankfully it didnt get that far.
i'll start messing around with the Mini-Pacs inputs tonight as i guess i just need to rewire my right mouse control.

as for the trackball - still a bit confused here.
i do have a regular mouse plugged in. would this cause that weird conflict in MAME32 where the trackball works in the menu (and in windows) but not "in-game"
if i use the in tab menu during a game and try to change the "this game settings" i cant seem to get my trackball to register.

again - thanks guys. i kind of knew i was doing something dumb.
i blame hours of paint thinners.

[Portnoy]

If your TB is working in windows and in the MAME32 user interface then it sounds like you just need to enable it in MAME32’s options located at: Options, Default Game Options, Controllers Tab, and check “enable mouse input”.  My apologies if I missed somewhere that you already attempted this.

P

[surface tension]

as for the trackball - still a bit confused here.
i do have a regular mouse plugged in. would this cause that weird conflict in MAME32 where the trackball works in the menu (and in windows) but not "in-game"
if i use the in tab menu during a game and try to change the "this game settings" i cant seem to get my trackball to register.

Not sure how MAME32 does it, but it's been mentioned that more recent versions of command-line MAME can handle more than one optical input. So, if the mouse is enabled in the MAME options (as per Portnoy's instructions), then try moving the mouse in-game instead of the trackball. This will indicate that it's looking at the wrong device.

[u_rebelscum]

as for the trackball - still a bit confused here.
i do have a regular mouse plugged in. would this cause that weird conflict in MAME32 where the trackball works in the menu (and in windows) but not "in-game"
if i use the in tab menu during a game and try to change the "this game settings" i cant seem to get my trackball to register.

Which version of mameUI (used to be called mame32) are you using? 
Note that mameUI is just normal mame with a GUI FE attached.  As coded, a mouse or joystick working in the GUI to select games has absolutely nothing to do with a mouse or joystick working during the emulation of a game.  The mouse needs to be enabled to work in the emulation part.  Do as Portnoy instructed, and see if that helps.  And as st said, check if the normal mouse works (for a few versions, multiple mouse was hardcoded on, which is why I asked what version you're using).

[surface tension]

(for a few versions, multiple mouse was hardcoded on, which is why I asked what version you're using).

Can you give me some more info on this please? Like when it was hardcoded, then when it became selectable. Or point me in the right direction.

Thanks

[u_rebelscum]

for a few versions, multiple mouse was hardcoded on

Can you give me some more info on this please? Like when it was hardcoded, then when it became selectable. Or point me in the right direction.

When mame changed from DirectInput to RawInput for the mouse, no previsions were made for lots-o-mice-to-act-as-one-mouse to continue, as the change was done to add support for multiple mice to control different players to winXP.  (0.104u5)  IIRC, the thought was you could still remap to "use any mouse", and adding commandline options were discouraged.

The -multimouse and -multikeyboard options were added starting with 0.117u1.  I think the thought was too many people complained about the "mouse not working" with the above setting, even though it was working just not acting like the windows pointer cursor does.  (Now the problem is that people enable this option when they don't want to.)

So... from 0.117u1 and and on, we've had -multimouse option defaulting to off.  Disabled acts like the pointer cursor does in windows desk top with multiple mice plugged into the computer: all mice control the same pointer/player, and the app cannot tell which physical the info is coming from.  Enabled, mame can see each mouse separately, so you can do things like play 2 player marble madness.

Between 0.104u5 & 0.117 (inclusive), mame acted as if the option was "hardcoded enabled", even though there never was (yet) an option to hardcode in the first place.  Mouse 1 controlled player 1, mouse 2 did player 2, etc by default.  To map so any mouse could control P1, you could remap player 1 TB to mouse 1 or mouse 2 or mouse 3 etc, but people didn't like this or had problems remapping.

Ending with 0.104u4, mame acted as if the option was "hardcoded disabled", even though there never was (yet) an option to hardcode in the first place.

(Win9x was a different story, as it acted as if -multimouse was both enabled and disabled for a long time before 0.104u5, but I won't waste space unless you want me to go into it.)

[surface tension]

I couldn't have asked for a better explanation!

I'm running 0.116, so I'm just outside of the multimouse-selectable threshold. I'm not entirely happy with the way it works, so I'm going to try a slightly later version.

Thanks rebel