Rotary Controls

[toxicware]

Ok, just to clarify. I am working on my second mame cabinet, and i really want to play Heavy Barrel and Time soldiers. I will also be playing alot of figthers like SF2, MK, etc.. After doing some research it seems i can use two Happ rotary Joysticks and they will work both for the fighters and the heavy barrell games. Is that correct? And if so, I have a brand new KeyWiz40-ST, but that will not support Rotary, correct? I spoke to Randy at GGG and since my Keywiz is brand new he said i could swap for a GP-WizRX-ST which should control everything as well as provide rotary, correct?

I loved the Keywiz, it worked great for my first build, but i really want rotary.

Sorry to ask so much with my first post, but i have been so stumped and really want to get this made and ready for a christmas present!

Thanks all!

[Games001]

I use the GP-Wiz40 Max controllers from GGG in all my builds.  The board will allow for 2 Rotary Joysticks (6 inputs max) and works.. ok-ish.

The issue I have found with this setup is that the Roto-X Profiler program which is used to initially upload the rotary settings to the GP-Wiz has some minor issues in some versions of MAME.

My MAME v124-127.5 tests made for crazy settings I had to tweek every time I restarted the cabinet.  As if the profiler was loading the settings correctly on the first send, but at the reload of the OS the settings were lost.  I tried this same setup on 3 different machines, each worked fine as long as every time I started the OS, I also had to manually load the Profiler settings to the board (the 'GO').

If anyone else has seen this issue before, or knows why the Roto-X Profiler seems to lose it's settings in the controller board, let us know.

[u_rebelscum]

Another point is happs rotary joysticks are supers (IIRC), with the rotary stuff hanging off the bottom.  Some (many?) fighter fans don't like supers (I like it, but I'm a shmup/platform player).  And the extra weight on the bottom of the stick might make the stick feel heavy or "slow" for fighter games.  (Fighter people can be finicky about these things. )  It's so personal opinion if it's "good"; this is a case that hands on testing before you buy would be great if you could; the reason I still brick & mortar for many items.

But as a general stick with rotary, it's a fine stick. 

[toxicware]

Hmmm, thats a good, point, i never new about. I use competitions on my current machine and they feel great for fighters. I definately dont want those messed up. I have no clue where to check out any controls local. I am in the Denver, CO area if anyone has a clue. I was thinking i could make a 4 player CP and use the rotarys on the player 3 and 4 outside controls, then for those times that i want rotary action, simply use those two, but all other times with 2 player fighting games have the competitions in the middle parts. Make sense?

[RandyT]

I use the GP-Wiz40 Max controllers from GGG in all my builds.  The board will allow for 2 Rotary Joysticks (6 inputs max) and works.. ok-ish.

The issue I have found with this setup is that the Roto-X Profiler program which is used to initially upload the rotary settings to the GP-Wiz has some minor issues in some versions of MAME.

My MAME v124-127.5 tests made for crazy settings I had to tweek every time I restarted the cabinet.  As if the profiler was loading the settings correctly on the first send, but at the reload of the OS the settings were lost.  I tried this same setup on 3 different machines, each worked fine as long as every time I started the OS, I also had to manually load the Profiler settings to the board (the 'GO').

I'm not sure I know from your descriptions what issues you are running into.  But I have been meaning to email you with the command line parameters for the profiler software.  You just need to put the executable in your startup folder, and use the following to indicate how you would like it to behave (useful for "on-the-fly" reconfiguration through a front end as well.)

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/ON x

Indicates an ON time of x

/OFF x

Indicates an OFF time of x

/R1 x

Sets the function style of Rotary 1 where if x=1 then it functions as a regular rotary, and if x=2 then it functions in the alternate mode for games like "Front-Line".

/R2 x

Sets the function style of Rotary 2 where if x=1 then it functions as a regular rotary, and if x=2 then it functions in the alternate mode for games like "Front-Line".

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Also, if anyone wants the "RX" version that defaults to auto-sensing of the rotary inputs, they just need to specify it in the comments until I can get it on the site as an option.  No software is necessary to activate normal rotary function with this version of the hardware.

RandyT