Wii sensor bars...cheap

[severdhed]

hey guys, i know that there are some people working very hard to make the wiimote usable as an arcade lightgun, so i figured i'd let you guys know.  i was at circuit city today, and since they are going out of business, their game accessories are 40% off, so i picked up a mad catz wii sensor bar for $6 + tax.  i know that the wiimote isnt quite ready to be used in mame yet with IR functionality, but i am hopeful that it will be some day.  and when that day comes, i'll need a sensor bar for my cabinet....so for the price, i figured it was a good deal.  i know you can make your own, but till you factor in the cost of the components and the time invovled, it just made sense to spend the $6


just thought i'd pass along the info.  my local store had alot of them in stock, but i'm sure they wont last long.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Sure wiimote is ready for mame

Just depends on how you want to code the script.  I have a mouse pointer script you can try out so that the IR works as a mouse pointer.  That should work decently for some mame action.

Code: [Select]

// Wiimote mouse script for Windows desktop
// Requires a sensor bar

var.ButtonFreezeTime = 250ms
var.PointerBump = KeepDown(Pressed(wiimote.A),var.ButtonFreezeTime) or KeepDown(Pressed(wiimote.B),var.ButtonFreezeTime)
Wiimote.Led1 = true

// Mouse movement
if wiimote.PointerVisible but not var.PointerBump then
  mouse.x = wiimote.PointerX
  mouse.y = wiimote.PointerY
end if

// Mouse Buttons
mouse.LeftButton = Wiimote.A and KeepDown(Wiimote.PointerVisible,0.5s)
mouse.RightButton = Wiimote.B and KeepDown(Wiimote.PointerVisible,0.5s)
mouse.MiddleButton = Wiimote.Home and KeepDown(Wiimote.PointerVisible,0.5s)
mouse.XButton1 = Wiimote.Minus
mouse.XButton2 = Wiimote.Plus

// Mouse Wheel
if wiimote.Up then
  mouse.WheelUp = true
  wait 30ms
  mouse.WheelUp = false
  wait 30ms
end if
if wiimote.Down then
  mouse.WheelDown = true
  wait 30ms
  mouse.WheelDown = false
  wait 30ms
end if


[Hoagie_one]

This will become a more viable option once nintendo released there new wiimote attachment to give 1:1 movement.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Thats not an IR attachment its another tilt/accel reader so it will help with games to give 3d position like a golf swing.  As far as IR its already actually pretty accurate its just not very fast like a light gun so playing a fast paced shooter is somewhat hard.

But some people have new scripts out that are supposed to be better that I have not tested.

[severdhed]

i managed to get the IR working as a mouse, but not within mame.  also, i couldnt find a way to get the wiimote to automatically pair up with the bluetooth adapter.. on a cabinet that loads the mala as the shell.  until someone makes it so that the wiimote will pair up automatically, and work as a lightgun in mame..it just isnt usable from my standpoint.

it has been a few months since i have looked into this though, so maybe i dont know what i'm talking about.

[drventure]

I've been doing a lot of playing with the wiimote, and it IS possible to get it to autopair.

From what I can tell, though, you pretty much HAVE to use the BlueSoleil BT stack. There are some apps out that purport to get autopairing working with other stacks, but they haven't worked for me yet.

The downside is the BS stack is $$, but not much, and the trial version is only limited by the total bandwidth per day (something like 2mb transferred data), which is more than enough to handle testing the wiimote support.

Good to know about the sensor bars. I'll have to check around for CC in the area.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Mame will not work with wiimote/glovepie after .117 due to the multikeyboard support roll back to a version no later than .117 and it will probably work

[RayB]

How much would two infrared LEDs cost? (That's basically what the so-called "sensor bar" is)

[ViciousXUSMC]

How much would two infrared LEDs cost? (That's basically what the so-called "sensor bar" is)

Not much, and thats all it is, the official bar has like 8 of them actually for better tracking.  I find that the cheap wireless ones are like 4 usually.  It works about the same in most cases but I swear its not quite as good as the official one.  You can hack the official ones for a 9v battery pretty easy to make it wireless.

[patrickl]

The good thing with a DIY solution is that you can space the LED clusters to match the distance you sit away from the thing. Especially like mentioned here if you want to use it in a cab setting. But then you could also cut apart the cheap thing.

Yet Another DIY Wii Sensor bar (with distance tables)

[AtomSmasher]

I stopped by Circuit City today and there are definately some good deals to be had, although the only wireless Wii sensor bar they had left is one that needs to be recharged every two hours.  No thanks.

I did however pick up a few other things at 40% off, so the trip was still worth it.

[ViciousXUSMC]

I went again today too, it was not worth it.  I should have known from my last trip that my store is almost sold out of everything.

But I forget to look at 2 items last time that I had to check out.  Projectors & a Lens for my Nikon.  However both are completely sold out.

[drventure]

Hmmm,  The one in Irving didn't have a lot, and what they did have was 20-40% off of some exhorbitant list, I guess,

For instance a 1tb WD USB drive for 130 and that was 30% off? Maybe from a 2007 price.

But, they did have a two pack of wiimote skins for 2$, so that was something<g>

No sensor bar though