Joystick Question

[SnApRoLl]

Hello all.
I'm a noob and I hope this question doesn't sound stupid. 
Anyway I am building my first M.A.M.E. machine and am tying to build it as such to not break the bank. And one of my favorite games is Tron, and  I was wondering if the Tron joystick used pots or did it use micro switches?
The reason I ask is I have an old Game Port type Thrustmaster Flight style joystick that uses pots and it still works fine and I'm thinking of incorporating it  into my control panel. My question is, do you guys think it would work for Tron or would I be wasting my time using it?

Thanks

Shawn

[Hoopz]

The Tron stick has microswitches. 

I believe a pot based joystick would be analogue while a microswitch joy is digital.  It may have to calibrated to work precisely as a Tron stick would.  Also, the Tron stick had a restrictor in the base that made it difficult to hit the diagonals during the light cycle phase.

Have you seen the reproduction handles that RandyT from Groovy Game Gear has made?  You may be able to use those with another joystick to do this also.  Of course, that's more money spent compared to using something you already have.  I'd suggest testing the Thrustmaster now and see how it works.

[SnApRoLl]

The Tron stick has microswitches. 

I believe a pot based joystick would be analogue while a microswitch joy is digital.  It may have to calibrated to work precisely as a Tron stick would.  Also, the Tron stick had a restrictor in the base that made it difficult to hit the diagonals during the light cycle phase.

Have you seen the reproduction handles that RandyT from Groovy Game Gear has made?  You may be able to use those with another joystick to do this also.  Of course, that's more money spent compared to using something you already have.  I'd suggest testing the Thrustmaster now and see how it works.

Hello Hoopz,
Thanks for the info!
I will checkout Groovy Game Gear and I will test out the Thrustmaster as well. I just wanted to get some thoughts before I design and build the control panel with the Thrustmaster incorporated in.

Thanks,

Shawn

[u_rebelscum]

Well, the original arcade game was digital, but you're playing through mame.  Mame now has a very good analog to digital joystick, comparable to what the u360 does in firmware: a 9x9 analog to digital grid.  (Mame has the deadzone and saturation settings; the u360, though, can adjust each row/column height/width.)  A tron grid of:

788888889
4s88888s6
44s888s66
444555666
444555666
444555666
44s222s66
4s22222s6
122222223

would give you small diagonals.  (Increasing mame's saturation setting toward 1.0 will shrink the diagonals, and decreasing it will increase the diagonals.)

So the fact that POTs are on your joystick actually gives more flexibility than if it had microswitches.


However, other issues will come up.  Usually, analog sticks, including flightsticks, have softer/weaker springs and a longer throw than digital sticks.  Again, that's usually, as "correct throw" and "correct spring" vary from person to person and game to game. 

Test playing tron with your flightstick.  I'd set the above map by adding -joystick_map 78.4s8.44s8.4445. for tron.  (That number sequence is mame's shortcut for the above map.)  See if you can play the four levels, and if the diagonals are easy or hard to hit on the correct levels, and if the throw it's too long, and if the springs are strong enough.