The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls

Main => Driving & Racing Cabinets => Topic started by: kokoski on July 23, 2013, 03:50:57 pm

Title: Is a Fanatec wheel compatible with emulators?
Post by: kokoski on July 23, 2013, 03:50:57 pm
I love to play a mix of everything, from mame driving to F1 2012, to iracing even though I'm not very good. I'm looking to upgrade either to a g27 or my preferred Fanatec CSR, partly because of the reviews of the belt system, partly because of the load brakes. My question is, is this wheel workable with mame or emulators in general like model 2/3, pscx2, dolphin etc? I've read on their site the joystick isnt analog, which I assume means the stick on the wheel itself. I started to dig through the giant stickied post, thought it would be faster to just ask to see if anyone has any experience with this wheel, thanks in advance. Here is the wheel link for anyone that is interested:

http://us.fanatec.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=157 (http://us.fanatec.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=157)
Title: Re: Is a Fanatec wheel compatible with emulators?
Post by: BadMouth on July 23, 2013, 07:45:01 pm
At least one member here (MartinJames) has one (two actually!).  Hopefully he'll be along and give his thoughts.

I don't have experience with them, but the issue that usually comes up with non-Logitech wheels is the inability to switch from combined/separate pedals on the fly.   This is only really an issue with fairly old PC games and Demul emulator.

Demul emulator for Naomi & Atomiswave games (Crazy Taxi, Jambo Safari, Maximum Speed, etc) requires the pedals to be combined.  You can still change the pedals manually before launching the emulator, but most of us launch games from a front-end and it's nice to have it be automatic, which Logitech profiler does.

Model 2 requires the pedals to be marked separate.  MAME, Supermodel and most newer PC games can work either way.

I'm probably switching to an Immersion arcade PCB in the next few months, so I'll be addressing the same issue.
There should be some workaround like having an autohotkey script change the setting or mapping the pedals to a virtual gamepad joystick.
I'm pretty sure that I'll come up with something given enough time to work on it.
Title: Re: Is a Fanatec wheel compatible with emulators?
Post by: Fursphere on July 23, 2013, 09:40:54 pm
As I was reading your post, something clicked.

Where does windows store these settings?  Pedals combined, pedals separated?  99% chance its in the registry.  Find the keys (I can help), export the keys, then write a simple script / batch file to import the appropriate reg key before the game starts.

There are lots of tools out there to scan the registry for changes based on application input.  When I get my wheel hooked up, I'll work on this.

Point is - those settings are stored somewhere.  We just need to find where.  :D
Title: Re: Is a Fanatec wheel compatible with emulators?
Post by: BadMouth on July 23, 2013, 09:51:25 pm
As I was reading your post, something clicked.

Where does windows store these settings?  Pedals combined, pedals separated?  99% chance its in the registry.  Find the keys (I can help), export the keys, then write a simple script / batch file to import the appropriate reg key before the game starts.

There are lots of tools out there to scan the registry for changes based on application input.  When I get my wheel hooked up, I'll work on this.

Point is - those settings are stored somewhere.  We just need to find where.  :D

Awesome.
That was my thinking.  It has to be stored somewhere and could be most likely be altered before emulator launch.
I posted about it in the software forum hoping someone would just give me the answer, but didn't get a single response.
I'm not too knowledgeable about the tools and wasn't planning to mess with it for at least a month, so if you find it that will rock.
This would help out pretty much everyone with a wheel that's not Logitech brand.
Title: Re: Is a Fanatec wheel compatible with emulators?
Post by: kokoski on July 23, 2013, 10:09:42 pm
So basically if you want to use a front-end and go with the arcadey, buffet style of cab for when people come over, go with G27. If I'm cool with swapping settings manually and am looking to play mostly newer games go CSR. Your info was super helpful.

I'd love to go with the Fanatec as it looks like exactly the type of wheel I'm looking for, and within my budget, but my main goal is to have something that plays a large span of games from old arcades up to anything new all wrapped in hyperspin for when guests come over. It would appear I'll have to settle with the G27. I'll post a message on the hyperspin forums before I make the buy to see if they have already worked out something with AHK. I know there are a few wizards there that have used it to do a ton of different stuff, especially with 360 controller mapping so it might be relatively easy to do.