EMS Top Gun II aiming lag

[Dizzle]

I searched around and couldn't find an answer to this so I'm hoping someone here can help.

I just purchased two EMS TopGun II lightguns for a control panel/pedestal I'm building.  I'm not 100% done with the pedestal, so I don't have a computer for it yet.  However, I wanted to test out the light guns, so I installed the drivers on my laptop (1.73GHz dual core running Vista) and hooked the laptop up to my 32" LCD through the VGA port. 

I'm getting a lot of lag (the cursor/crosshair trails well behind the laser pointer).  Is there any way to reduce this is or is it a result of me running MAME on such a puny machine?  Hopefully, it's the latter -- everything else seems to work perfectly.  I know it's not a result of the HDTV since I've already done a lag test on the set.

Any clues?

Thanks!

[DJ_Izumi]

Exactly how much lag?

[Dizzle]

I'm not sure how to quantify that. 

If I zip across the screen with the light gun, it can take the crosshair almost half a second to get to where I'm pointing at.  It's very noticeable in Police Trainer (particularly the timing stage) where I'll pull the trigger, but the shot is off because everything is lagging behind.

Outside of MAME, in Windows, there's still some lag, but it doesn't seem to be as bad.

[bkenobi]

Just a thought, but is your system REALLY old?

[Xiaou2]

FYI - Guns like these are not really meant to do realtime tracking.

 I believe when you press the trigger - it forces an Instant Tacking
"Snapshot".   So, even if there was lag when doing the realtime
tracking... when the trigger is pressed... it should then get an instant and
accurate update.

 If not... then maybe your calibration is not quite right... or maybe
there is something else slowing your system down.

- Try unplugging other USB devices to free up bandwidth.
- Shut down Unused Processes
- Install the latest Video Card Drivers  (or revert to an older driver)
- Run Malewarebytes & to check for any hidden rouge-ware
- Shut down your anitivirus before trying to run an emulator
- Install the correct Directx version your graphics card will support.
- Press F11 to see the games speed. If under 100%, and is skipping
frames... this may cause accuracy problems. (turn off Auto-Frameskip)

 Certain PCs when stressed will heat up considerably... and if your
CPUs heatsink is clogged with dust.. it will slow the pc down 
considerably.  Ive ran into this several times on other peoples pcs.

- Turn off all lights and try in the dark.  Too much light or reflections
can interfere with tracking accuracy / ability.

[Dizzle]

Thanks,

The fact that the guns aren't meant to do realtime tracking puts my mind at ease.  And now that I think about it, that actually makes sense.

[Xiaou2]

Btw - I forgot to mention... 

 The Laser on the LCD topgun is merely for calibration.   Use of it for in-game is
not recommended.   For one its cheating      But,  more Importantly,  if the laser beam
hits something reflective it can bounce back at you.

 If the Laser beam goes into your eye... it will do permanent damages.

[DJ_Izumi]

Hmm.  I'm not sure if that's irregular or not.  All my light guns are CRT guns, mostly offical guncons.  Yes there is SOME lag between input and response to movement but it's only when calibrating with a live cursor that you can see the cursor trails behind the gun to some degree.  It's short enough that I couldn't tell you how much the lag is.  This is due to the gun needing to make calculations based on what it sees and the sync signal to get the right output.  However I dunno what to expect from an infrared gun.  I know it's the same premise as the Wiimote and I've never seen that noticably lag when used as a mouse for menus.  Hrm.