Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: Texasmame on September 13, 2011, 10:11:40 pm
-
Well, I had a Spy Hunter project almost working, then I stuck something where I shouldn't have (who hasn't? :laugh2: ) and f'ed up the boardset.
So. . . rather than sink more money in to a damn finicky MCR game, I'm again considering putting MAME guts in the SH cab.
I have the complete cab, the PC, the TV, the video card. My questions/thoughts:
1. I believe I can interface the steering wheel AND pedal with just one of 1upArcade's Sidewinder hack, by assigning the wheel to one axis and the pedal to the other axis. There are enough buttons to cover the 4 weapons, high, low and weapons van. If not, a mouse hack could ad a couple more buttons easily. I already have the Sidewinder and mouse hacks here, so that's good. I may have to change the factory pots on the wheel and pedal to 5k tho - not sure yet.
2. LEDBlinky looks like it would work well for the weapons van and bezel lights. However, will the "pinball" lights that are already there work or do they need to be changed out for LEDs?
3. On the LED question, what is the cheapest interface available for them? And is there one interface that would allow not only LED control but button inputs, too? The MiniPac does not seem to do all of that.
Think that's it for questions for now!
-
3. On the LED question, what is the cheapest interface available for them? And is there one interface that would allow not only LED control but button inputs, too?
Think that's it for now!
I got the LED-WIZ+GP and have been very happy with it so far. Does lights and joystick encoding.
-
3. On the LED question, what is the cheapest interface available for them? And is there one interface that would allow not only LED control but button inputs, too?
Think that's it for now!
I got the LED-WIZ+GP and have been very happy with it so far. Does lights and joystick encoding.
$40 plus shipping. Hmm. . . would also take care of all button problems. Wonder if two mouse hacks could do the wheel and pedal then, saving my Sidewinder hack for something else. (EDIT: After further research, nope, needs to be pot based). Also, wonder if their software would work with Spy Hunter. Will write and ask.
Thx!
-
It's a great little all-in-one device for the 4-way only single player cab I'm building. I get lights, buttons, and directions off one card.
-
Sidewinder hack is probably the cheapest way to go for the controls.
To get the lights to work as they should, MAMEhooker is your only option:
http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutmamehooker (http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutmamehooker)
If you're knowledgeable about such stuff, you might be able to use a parallel or serial port instead of buying an interface.
If not, an LED-Wiz would work.
None of this is exactly plug and play, but it can be done.
-
Sidewinder hack is probably the cheapest way to go for the controls.
To get the lights to work as they should, MAMEhooker is your only option:
http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutmamehooker (http://dragonking.arcadecontrols.com/static.php?page=aboutmamehooker)
If you're knowledgeable about such stuff, you might be able to use a parallel or serial port instead of buying an interface.
If not, an LED-Wiz would work.
None of this is exactly plug and play, but it can be done.
Isn't MameHooker discontinued?
-
Isn't MameHooker discontinued?
Not at all. The last release was in May and included major upgrades like a built in script editor.
There are tutorials on the right side of the website.
There will probably be another release before too long.
Howard was tinkering with force feedback, so that just might make it into the next build.
(even if it does, he's not going to modify all the MAME drivers by himself to take advantage of it)
FFB in MAME....that'll be the day. ;)
-
2. LEDBlinky looks like it would work well for the weapons van and bezel lights. However, will the "pinball" lights that are already there work or do they need to be changed out for LEDs?
For LEDs, you can use either the Ultimarc PacLED64 or the GGG LED-Wiz. I'm pretty sure the LED-Wiz will work with incandescent bulbs (using an external power source), but I would get confirmation before making a purchase. LEDBlinky will handle the mame events for the lights (MameHooker could also be used).
-
Almost certain I'm going to go through with this now. I'll also document it since I can't seem to find anyone who has done this and put it up anywhere as a guide! Thought for sure that someone would have put this up somewhere on teh interwebs by now. . .
-
Dear god mamehooker isn't dead. It's the only one of my projects that I still frequently update!
The new build is about a month over-due, but hey, I have a life too.
There are at least 3 or 4 projects that I know of in which mamehooker was used to hook up lights in a dedicated cabinet.
Sorry but I don't have the links off hand, but they ARE on this site. One was an Outrun cabinet... and there were a couple others.... I think there are a few linked up in my "official output wip" thread.
You need to check the software forum for that stuff.... I don't even post on the Main forum anymore... too cluttered. ;)
All of those used the parallel port interface and the slight bit of circuitry... (actually, they just used transistors).
Because you have to use transistors anyway (12v lighting system and all) this is by far the cheapest method... IF your machine has a parallel port. A db25 connector and a nice shell to put it in costs like 2-3 bucks as opposed to 40 for the ledwiz. You are limited to 8 outputs though, so keep that in mind.
And rather than reply to your email.... no I won't be doing a spy hunter tutorial like I did for digdug because they are both the same. The only difference is the name of the outputs. ;)
I hope that helps... it's late... I'm tired... bed time.
Also note about ledblinky.... fantastic piece of software, BUT I'm pretty sure it only works on commercial led controllers (ledblinky, pacdrive ect) if you want to build your own interface or use something more exotic, you are stuck with my stuff. :afro:
-
Dear god mamehooker isn't dead. It's the only one of my projects that I still frequently update!
The new build is about a month over-due, but hey, I have a life too.
There are at least 3 or 4 projects that I know of in which mamehooker was used to hook up lights in a dedicated cabinet.
Sorry but I don't have the links off hand, but they ARE on this site. One was an Outrun cabinet... and there were a couple others.... I think there are a few linked up in my "official output wip" thread.
You need to check the software forum for that stuff.... I don't even post on the Main forum anymore... too cluttered. ;)
All of those used the parallel port interface and the slight bit of circuitry... (actually, they just used transistors).
Because you have to use transistors anyway (12v lighting system and all) this is by far the cheapest method... IF your machine has a parallel port. A db25 connector and a nice shell to put it in costs like 2-3 bucks as opposed to 40 for the ledwiz. You are limited to 8 outputs though, so keep that in mind.
And rather than reply to your email.... no I won't be doing a spy hunter tutorial like I did for digdug because they are both the same. The only difference is the name of the outputs. ;)
I hope that helps... it's late... I'm tired... bed time.
Also note about ledblinky.... fantastic piece of software, BUT I'm pretty sure it only works on commercial led controllers (ledblinky, pacdrive ect) if you want to build your own interface or use something more exotic, you are stuck with my stuff. :afro:
Good info on the lights and such. Might still go with LEDs since I'm "bulletproofing" Spy Hunter - may as well do the lights, too! Still, was curious if it was even possible.
Oh, I was just asking if the MAMEhooker would produce an INI file for Spy Hunter like it did for Dig Dug, as shown in your tutorial. The Dig Dug one was pretty straight forward with the two LEDs but wondered if MH could do something with as many LEDs as SH has.
Thank you for your input! :)
-
2. LEDBlinky looks like it would work well for the weapons van and bezel lights. However, will the "pinball" lights that are already there work or do they need to be changed out for LEDs?
Definitely an interesting project.
The pinball style lights I have here are marked with 14v and 190ma. At 12v, they pull only about 172ma, so as long as you don't gang a bunch of them onto the same output bank and/or don't have them all on constantly, you should be just fine with the LED-Wiz / LED-Wiz+GP. Just spread them out over the outputs and check for excessive heat from the board/components. If it stays cool, or only gets a little warm, then it's handling it fine.
Some folks have used the LED-Wiz with loads that I would not have guessed would work, but they claim to have no issues. The driver chips we use appear to be tougher than the specs imply, but it's good to keeps things within reason.
RandyT
-
Well, I am going ahead with this and so far, so good.
Since I no longer have access to my Verizon web space (---daisies--- took away FTP access and left us with a buggy program to use instead) I can't provide pics.
Anyone with suggestions for free hosting?
-
Yeah, here .
Just post in the "not a project thread" and attach your pictures there
-
Of course that's always an option, but I'm looking more for something like this:
www.tinyurl.com/girlcab (http://www.tinyurl.com/girlcab)
Current, working URL as of 2022:
https://web.archive.org/web/20140902003932/http://mysite.verizon.net/resp2286/
That's my MAME rig that I can't update any info on due to Verizon sucking it hard and long, Trebek.
:cry:
-
Well, this project is nearly DONE! All the interfacing is complete and working properly, just need to reassemble some of the cab and do cosmetic things. :applaud:
Went fairly smoothly, with just a couple roadblocks I'd not anticipated. Look forward to doing the writeup soon!
In the meantime, here's a pic of my first high score entry on my dedicated Spy Hunter MAME rig - 60k - feels just like the real deal!
Thanks to all who gave input on this!
BTW, I have the guts to this game on ePain right now if anyone needs any - just make an offer:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/whalers9/m.html (http://www.ebay.com/sch/whalers9/m.html)
-
Well done! :cheers:
Did you get the weapons lights working?
-
Yes. For whatever reason, MAMEHooker wasn't writing the proper stuff to the spyhunt.cfg file. Just had to enter it manually.
-
As kind of a wrap up here. . .
I did get this fully running and am very happy with it. MAMEHooker does a great job with coordinating the LEDs on the "dashboard" and, once it's up and running, you can't tell you're not playing the real deal!
Here's the blog I started on it - finished the game but not the blog (yet):
http://mamespyhunter.wordpress.com/ (http://mamespyhunter.wordpress.com/)
-
Very interesting project here!
Just a couple of questions, regarding the 'led emulation' part of this project :
Software :
Can I use any mame version release (let's say the latest mame32 version available) and use the lastest mamehooker version available ?
In other words, every mame version is able to produce in real time a file that can be interpreted by mamehooker in real time ?
Just to be sure to fully understand what mamehooker do : is it a stand alone software to be used in combination with mame, and that software will drive a LED wiz ?
-
Very interesting project here!
Just a couple of questions, regarding the 'led emulation' part of this project :
Software :
Can I use any mame version release (let's say the latest mame32 version available) and use the lastest mamehooker version available ?
In other words, every mame version is able to produce in real time a file that can be interpreted by mamehooker in real time ?
Just to be sure to fully understand what mamehooker do : is it a stand alone software to be used in combination with mame, and that software will drive a LED wiz ?
Unsure. You would just have to go through the trial and error of attempting things.