Ultimarc Optipack Board Possible issues

[slsimon]

Well, this weekend, I finally finished my PC build and am in the process of making sure all my buttons work with the IPAC4 board.  To my suprise, all my buttons work as they should.  I hardly ever have something working like this the first time around,  .  I do have a question concerning this though. 

Why are switch 5, 6, 7 and 8 on player 3 and player 4 not assigned a key code while player 1 and 2 are?  I have 6 buttons for every player and I would like for player 3 and player 4 switch 5 and 6 to be working but do not know what key to assign to those switches.  Right now I am using switch 7 on all players for the 4 admin buttons I have, pause, enter, tab and escape.  Switch 8 on all players is open at the moment. 

A couple other minor issues that I have and am not sure how to troubleshoot.  I have an optipac board with a spinner and a trackball with a left and right click buttons connected to this board.  I noticed if I use the trackball and immediately attempt to use the spinner after the trackball, there is a slight delay (5 - seconds before the active mouse will switch between the two.  This could be a problem while playing games.  Not sure though.  What if anything can I change and where to troubleshoot this issue?

Last but not least, and again this is related to the optipac board is when I use the trackball and spinner, my VGA monitor will flicker to a yellow tent display.  I can open up notepad, have a crisp clear screen and as soon as I use either the trackball or spinner, the monitor will start flickering.  I can open up the control panel and start slightly pushing in on the corner and even the optipac board chip and duplicate the issue.  Do I have a faulty board here, loose wire somewhere?  I may be out of luck with this.  I really don't want to buy another optipac board if I don't have to.

Any help or suggestions on any of the above issues will be awesome.  Thanks for all the great suggestions on this forum guys.  Keep up the great work.  Thanks, Shane

[AndyWarne]

Those switches are not assigned for two reasons: Firstly some of them have no default keycode in Mame, and second, if they were assigned the default keycodes, they would overlap the player 1 and 2 codes. The reason for that is the player 1 and 2 on the I-PAC 4 are the same as on the I-PAC 2. So I decided the best way was for the user to devise a keycode map for those buttons, either using the same codes as (unused) I-PAC 2 codes or different codes.
Incidentally the number 1 support request I get is caused by P2 buttons 5 and 6 not being assigned to anything in the default Mame config. It would be good if Mame assigned these by default.

The Opti-PAC behaviour is by design. Hopefully you would not want to use both controls in one game. When both controls are connected in this way (ie not using Player 2 connections), they appear as the same control to the PC, so you cant use them anyway for different functions in the same game.

The monitor problem sounds like a loose wire from the VGA card to monitor, One of the 3 color wires. Which color missing, ie red, green or blue, causes a yellow display? Cant remember right now...

[slsimon]

Those switches are not assigned for two reasons: Firstly some of them have no default keycode in Mame, and second, if they were assigned the default keycodes, they would overlap the player 1 and 2 codes. The reason for that is the player 1 and 2 on the I-PAC 4 are the same as on the I-PAC 2. So I decided the best way was for the user to devise a keycode map for those buttons, either using the same codes as (unused) I-PAC 2 codes or different codes.
Incidentally the number 1 support request I get is caused by P2 buttons 5 and 6 not being assigned to anything in the default Mame config. It would be good if Mame assigned these by default.

The Opti-PAC behaviour is by design. Hopefully you would not want to use both controls in one game. When both controls are connected in this way (ie not using Player 2 connections), they appear as the same control to the PC, so you cant use them anyway for different functions in the same game.

The monitor problem sounds like a loose wire from the VGA card to monitor, One of the 3 color wires. Which color missing, ie red, green or blue, causes a yellow display? Cant remember right now...

Thanks Andy for the reply.  Concerning the screen flickering, that was my first guess but if I disconnect the comm from the Optipac board, I cannot get my screen to flicker no matter what I try.  As soon as I connect the optipac board, and start using the trackball and or spinner, my screen starts flickering with a yellow tent.  I think there is something going on with the optipac board.  I am going to double check my connections while I am on my lunch break today.  I have the jumpers on the board setup just like the optipac pic on your website.  See attached...  I have left and right click buttons, 5v/ground x and y axis for the trackball spliced together going to the appropriate inputs, x1,x2,y1,y2 for the trackball appropriately installed in the correct input.  Now, I am going to have to double check the spinner cabling.  I can't remember where the wire was going to what input.  I am thinking 5v/ground, x1 and x2.  Now here is my question, if the jumpers are set duplicated to your pic, this would be deemed what mode below: 

USB Mode: One USB cable handles up to two trackballs and 4 spinners/rotary joysticks.
Serial mode: Two independent serial port inputs to accomodate two trackballs and 4 spinners/rotary joysticks.
No external power needed when used in USB mode.
In serial mode takes power from I-PAC using supplied cable, or any 5V source.

I am trying to figure out and make sure all my connections and power is correct on the optipac board.  Now the only cable going to the PC is the serial cable.  I have no cable going to the IPAC board.  There is a place for ground and 5v next to the left/right mouse inputs.  Do I need to worry about either of those inputs? 

Now concerning the keycodes.  I think I get what your saying.  Because I am not using the default keys for switch 7 and 8 on all players, specifically related to the two player IPAC, that would leave me four keys open, p1-sw7, p1-switch8, p2-sw7 and p2-sw8.  I can use those and assign to the p3-sw6 and p4-sw-6.  That would allow all the buttons to function.  Now within Mame, I would have to assign p2-sw5 and p2-sw6 (buttons five and six), to those assigned for those buttons.  I have not gotten that far yet but am guessing this is done by pressing the TAB button and going into the assignment options?  Hopefully this is not on a game by game basis? 

First step first, I need to figure out what is going on with the Optipac board.  Can you post back and let me know if I have everything setup correctly per my explaination above?  I could probably provide you a pick if you need it.  I am not sure at the moment if I need to provide the 5v and ground inputs next to the left/right buttons inputs or not. 

Thanks, Shane