Trackball and Spinner Issues in MAME - HELP!!!!!

[Mike Ahearn]

My set up:

Dell Optiplex GX260
Windows XP
Mame32 v.113
27" Toshiba CRT TV
Control Panel from Jack at ArcadesRFun (which includes a Happ Controls USB trackball and a TurboTwist2 USB spinner).

My issues:

The trackball and spinner both move the cursor and are recognized in the Windows environment.  However, in Mame, they did not work.  Under the "Options" tab in Mame I selected "Default Game Properties".  I then selected the "Controllers" tab and checked the box to "Enable mouse imput".  This still did nothing.  I then tried unplugging the keyboard.  For some reason, the trackball worked in Mame.  However, the spinner was still not recognized in Mame.  I plugged the keyboard back in and the trackball still worked (spinner was still not working).   I then plugged the keyboard back in and restarted the computer.  Unfortunately, Mame no longer recognized the trackball --- and never recognized the spinner.

My questions:

Am I going to have to unplug the keyboard anytime I want to use the trackball?  If not, what do I need to do?

Additionally, how can I get Mame to recognize my spinner?

I'm sure these questions seem very Noobish, but I am really struggling with this.  Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[u_rebelscum]

Mame32 v.113

Could you test with a current mame or mameUI (0.128 or even down to ~0.124)?  MameUI is the new name for mame32.  Make sure mouse is enabled and multiple mouse is disabled.

I think what's happening is the keyboard is being seen also as a mouse (is it a media center keyboard?), and IIRC, at that mame version era, mame was forcing -multimouse enabled, and had problems remapping mice.  Looks like the keyboard is mouse 1, TB is mouse 2, and spinner is mouse 3 (or higher).  When the keyboard is unplugged, then all mice numbers decrease by one, so that's why your TB is working and the spinner not.

I'm not sure on the version numbers that multiple mouse support was first added (and forced), and when it became an option, and when remapping mice because possible, though.

If you really want to keep using 0.113, try starting a mouse or spinner game, tab, input (this game), go to trackball or dial analog port, enter, and then spin TB or spinner.  If it works, you can remap the TB and spinner as needed.  If it doesn't, try it a couple more times with faster and slow spins and see if that works.  I'd remap in Input (general), and map your TB to only the player 1 TB analog ports, and your spinner to only the p1 dial analog port.  Do not map the analog devices (TB or spinner) to the Inc/Dec ports.  If it still doesn't, you'll have to try a different version.

You can also try two player TB or spinner games (I suggest cabal or marble madnes) and see if the TB is player 2 with the keyboard plugged in, and if the spinner is p2 with the keyboard unplugged, instead of trying the remapping.  But this is only a test to confirm the cause, and doesn't fix anything.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Why not just buy a USB to PS2 adapter for the keyboard and be done with it?

http://www.emtcompany.com/products/adapters/usbps2-usb-to-ps2-adapter.htm

[Son of Zombie]

Did you go to the "controller mapping" tab and select spinner/dial input to come from the mouse instead of the keyboard?

Simple I know but sometimes we miss the little things.

[Twinpanther]

Did you check your mame.cfg file in your mame folder?

Under "# CORE INPUT OPTIONS" make sure mouse is set to 1

and under "# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS" next to trackball_device it should say mouse and not keyboard.

This is all still quite new to me but it sounded like a similar problem I was having till I found this answer.

Good luck,
Twin

[Mike Ahearn]

U Rebel Scum:

I tried your suggestions with the particular TB/spinner games I am interested in playing.  Your advice did the trick!  Mame was recognizing the TB as mouse2 and the spinner as mouse3.  Thank you so much for your help!!

[u_rebelscum]

I tried your suggestions with the particular TB/spinner games I am interested in playing.  Your advice did the trick!  Mame was recognizing the TB as mouse2 and the spinner as mouse3.  Thank you so much for your help!!

Glad it helped.  Just out of curiosity, what keyboard do you have that's also a mouse?

Did you check your mame.cfg file in your mame folder?

Under "# CORE INPUT OPTIONS" make sure mouse is set to 1

and under "# CORE INPUT AUTOMATIC ENABLE OPTIONS" next to trackball_device it should say mouse and not keyboard.

Err, mame.ini file, and if mouse is enabled, you don't need to worry about the trackball_device option being set to mouse.  All that would do is: if the game has trackball type, enable mouse (which is already enabled).


If mame is acting like you're saying, something's wrong.  If what's wrong is with mame, it should be fixed.  What version of mame are you you using?  Could you retest mouse 1 & trackball_device keyboard again?  (It's working for me with 0.127 & 0.128.)

Why not just buy a USB to PS2 adapter for the keyboard and be done with it?

Costs money, won't fix the spinner not working part, he'd lose the mouse fixture of the keyboard, and why it wasn't working is only worked around.  If it wasn't for the first two, it would be a good solution, but I prefer attacking the why.  But's just me.