Using Joystick for trackball games...

[DeLuSioNal29]

I'm sure this has been asked before on the forums, but is there a way of making a digital joystick work in trackball games such as centipede?  I know the accuracy will be horrible, but I was wondering if this was possible?

Can someone point me to the forum topic if it has been asked before?

Thanks in advance!

[Ginsu Victim]

Really, it's not worth it. It isn't playable, because the accuracy is horrible. I tried to convince myself otherwise, but it just isn't so. Avoid the joystick.

If you can't install a trackball on your CP, pick up a trackball mouse (I use a Logitech) that you can set on your CP, or buy an X-arcade trackball unit.

[DeLuSioNal29]

I plan to mod a USB stick instead of buying the pricey encoder.  It has analog controls on it.  Perhaps I can mod my panel to have the left stick visible to use for trackball games?  Would that even work?

[u_rebelscum]

I'm sort of summing up what's written in the top of src\emu\inptport.c OTTOMH, so for more details check it out:

There's two types of analog inputs: absolute and relative.  Analog sticks are absolute; mice & TBs are relative.  Mame converts from relative to absolute pretty well, but doesn't do absolute to relative very well.  (One reason is there are two way to translate, and each works better for different games, so mame didn't favor either.)

So...
Physical input for game input in mame (IMO):
digital --> absolute sucks
digital --> relative sucks
absolute --> relative sucks exactly as bad as digital --> relative
relative --> absolute okay, depending on game

For digital to either analog, remap like normal, but map to ...inc & ...dec.  These are just for this reason.  Some people (usually who never played with the real inputs) can play and have fun.

[Turnarcades]

A lot of games in MAME have joystick versions as well as track versions. Doesn't centipede have a joystick version? If not, mapping it as mentioned above won't be so bad as centipede was ported to home computers or clones were made which played well. I remember a great Spectrum game called Millimon which was basically a centipede clone and it played great with a joystick. That said, Centipede was another game I never got to play for real in the arcades so I don't know what I was missing! 

[knightrdrx]

I'm just not thinking it's worth the extra $100 for the trackball from Xarcade.  Just for Centipede?  ..well and Links 386 but I can use a mouse for that.  I don't see any other worthy games to use it for...Would rather use the money towards a Spinner.

[Locke141]

You could get one of these for $14.99.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10758

or this one for $11.00

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/4-5-cm-of-Diameter-Round-Connector-LED-illuminated-PC-Trackball-mouse-for-arcade-machine-accessories/1251402061.html?albmt=broad&gclid=CPWN_pWYhL8CFYh9Ogod1TYARg&creative=31447451305&albag=home_none_Search-ALL-PLA_1013999999870&albom=OTHERS_None_20130807_Aliexpress&albcp=Search_Search-ALL-PLA&isdl=y&ptsid=1013999999870&albst=search-text&albch=Google&src=Google&af=ppc&albkw=None_US-Shopping-Search-Product-AliExpress_none_none

or this one fore $34.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0KR1063685&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-_-pla-_-Electronics+for+Kids-_-9SIA0KR1063685&ef_id=U6HsjQAAAeyDKn0B:20140618194621:s


This one is about $17 shipped and changes colors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4-5-cm-of-lighted-Illuminated-Diameter-Round-Connector-PC-Trackball-mouse-for-ar-/281351448930?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4181da6962

There are lots of cheep trackball out there. I would ask for suggestions along the lines of " Can any one recommend a cheep track ball for external use."