Pedals

[torgo]

Is there any way to make mame or mame analog+ see the entire throw of a pedal (set up as a joystick axis) as one axis?

I'm running into this anoying problem where mame is seeing my pedal as two halves of one axis (+ and -).

I just want it to work so that when the pedal is not pressed mame sees no input. When the pedal is half pressed mame sees half input, and when the pedal is fully pressed mame sees full input.

As it is right now, mame sees nothing for the first half press, starts seeing input half-way through, and of course is at full when the pedal is fully pressed. This sucks!

There must be a solution to this crap.

I used to use Optimame (back in the day) and never had these issues. It just worked the way you'd think it should. Not this half axis mumbo-jumbo.

I understand the half axis thing for wheels and such where you want a clear centerpoint and two directions away from the center, but for a pedal all you want is one direction.

[grafixmonkey]

What exactly is this pedal you're using?  Analog joystick (pots), on the joystick port?  analog through USB?  Digital axis?


Can it be recalibrated, so that the "center position" is really close to one end?

If it's analog with pots, which I assume it is, did  you build it or hack it, or are you using a manufactured product out of the box?

[torgo]

What exactly is this pedal you're using?  Analog joystick (pots), on the joystick port?  analog through USB?  Digital axis?


Can it be recalibrated, so that the "center position" is really close to one end?

If it's analog with pots, which I assume it is, did  you build it or hack it, or are you using a manufactured product out of the box?

Essentially it's just a pot wired directly to the joystick port which is detected normally and calibratable from the Game Devices Control Panel. It worked fine in previous versions of MAME (and yes, I realize I could just continue to use an older version) but in the latest versions it has the wierd behavior.

I thought about trying to "fake out" the computer and recalibrate it, but there really is no way to do it and get the desired result. If you know a way I'd love to hear it,  though I'd prefer a "real" solution.
 
I know I'm not the only one to see this, as I've seen other folks on this board mention the issue in passing, but never address a solution.

How do the rest of all y'alls pedals behave? In a similar way? Or do you have the full throw of your pedals active and usable in MAME? If not how do you tolerate only being able to use half of the range of motion?

[GamingGreg]

I think u_rebelscum's special version of MAME, called Analog+, can help you with that.

[grafixmonkey]

Does the analog input on the gameport take a voltage between 0 and 5 as its input?  My bro says he thinks that's how it works, but I've never checked it out.  If so, connect a resistor of the same ohmage as the pot between ground and the pot.  I think that would limit the output to between 2.5v and 5v, instead of between 0v and 5v, giving you the "upper half axis" you need.

[torgo]

hmm... thats an intesesting idea, but I don't know what voltage the joystick port is using. It's a standard joystick port.

I'd also prefer a software solution so that when I use the pedal for normal PC games it still works normally (which it currently does BTW)

I'm finding it hard to believe that others are not experiencing this. Come on people what gives? Do your pedals work properly?

[grafixmonkey]

In this case, putting a simple open/closed switch in parallel with your added resistor would allow you to toggle from config to config.  Close the switch, and you no longer have a resistor there!

If you tried Analog+ and it didn't work, or if you don't wanna try Analog+, it might be worth a shot.

(and the resistor trick should work no matter what voltages the gameport is using.  Long as the pot isn't a huge resistance like 100 Kohm.)

[u_rebelscum]

Is there any way to make mame or mame analog+ see the entire throw of a pedal (set up as a joystick axis) as one axis?

...

I understand the half axis thing for wheels and such where you want a clear centerpoint and two directions away from the center, but for a pedal all you want is one direction.

I think I sent you an answer through email, but for everybody else, here's the low down.

Windows mame calculates the center point internally; it does not look for any calibrated center point.  This point is the center of that axis's range, calculated by a simple (max-min)/2 + min formula.  Mame uses the calculate center point as the zero point for analog stick type inputs.  

Most analog stick type inputs have a -128 to 128 range (internal) to mame, but pedals are half an axis with a range from 0 to 128 (internal).

Possible fixes:
a) use the windows calibrated center point instead of calculating it
b) save the default min, max and center points of the devices, then set the min, max and center point to the internal mame values.
c) have a setting for each device axis to have mame translate the device's range to an internal mame range of -128 to 128 (default, same as currently), or 0 to 128 (a "real pedal" setting).
d) have a pedal setting that acts like normal (default), or translates the normal axis -128 to 128 range to a 0 to 128 range.

I've been thinking of adding b) to analog+ for a while, but some of the others might be easier.  I'll look into them.

[grafixmonkey]

Then it sounds like the resistor/switch would be the perfect fix until the software fix comes.  Turn the switch on, calibrate the pedal, run mame, turn the switch off, and according to what u_rebelscum said you'd have a half axis.