Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Software Forum => Topic started by: headkaze on November 05, 2008, 04:53:24 am
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Mame Analog Joystick Map Editor Homepage (https://www.baker76.com/mame-joy-map)
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Nice utility! Thanks. :cheers:
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Great job HK. I don't know where you find time to program all of these excellent utilities.
I am convinced that you don't sleep.
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Excellent contribution to the community! Thank you!
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Awesome! Thanks! :cheers:
Has anyone created a Tron map for MAME yet?
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Headkaze, does mame allow maps of different sizes (i.e. number of cells)? Rather than using sticky cells on 4 way maps I would prefer to have some other number of cells (something divisible by 2, such as 8x8).
Ahofle, I know someone did for the u360. You could take that one and easily reproduce it in headkaze's app.
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What's different about a Tron map?
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Just making the diagonals harder to hit for the sake of the light cycle screens.
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Yeah, it would be somewhere in between a 4 way and 8 way so you aren't zig zagging all over the place on the light cycle phase, yet you can still hit the corners if you really try hard during the spiders and MCP cone.
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...does mame allow maps of different sizes (i.e. number of cells)? Rather than using sticky cells on 4 way maps I would prefer to have some other number of cells (something divisible by 2, such as 8x8).
No, mame is 9x9. One problem is an even grid has no center square, and probably why it's not used. This is one area u360 is a little better, as with UltraMap, the square sizes can be changed.
And Shan's talking about 4-way diagonal, unless the stick is mounted at 45 degrees and so using a 4-way diagonal map to get back to a normal 4-way. That's, what, four games? (Half that were ROM coded so normal 8-ways will work.) Going even grid will not change 4-way maps needing a square that's: sticky, or center, or weighted one direction or the other.
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There may not be a single center square, but there would be a center 4 squares. And yeah, I agree about that not helping for diagonal, but I'm thinking of normal 4 way games. Sticky cells are certainly not an ideal solution for 4 way games, nor is biasing/weighting.
I was just hoping that mame might be more flexible than the u360 so that I could handle these 4 way games in a slightly more ideal way.
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There may not be a single center square, but there would be a center 4 squares. And yeah, I agree about that not helping for diagonal, but I'm thinking of normal 4 way games. Sticky cells are certainly not an ideal solution for 4 way games, nor is biasing/weighting.
How does an even grid help normal 4-ways? It still needs the diagonals as sticky, center, or weighted:
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Oh yeah, thanks headkaze for the app. I posted on another thread, but probably this is a better place. ;D
Made that above "8x8" grid in a minute, including the quick 9x9 image crop to 8x8.
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There may not be a single center square, but there would be a center 4 squares. And yeah, I agree about that not helping for diagonal, but I'm thinking of normal 4 way games. Sticky cells are certainly not an ideal solution for 4 way games, nor is biasing/weighting.
How does an even grid help normal 4-ways? It still needs the diagonals as sticky, center, or weighted:
Yeah, I'm a dope. I was picturing a diagonal map in my mind but thinking of normal 4 way games. :dizzy:
I guess then what I'd hope for is to have an option to define the map not by cells, but by borders (sort of like vector vs. raster, if you get my drift). I'm guessing that will never happen though. I still stand by my statement that sticky cells are a hack to simplify implementation. ;D
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Version 1.2 Released
- Edit maps and test them in realtime using any attached joystick
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Version 1.3 Released
- Improved performance
Probably the last update on this for a while as I think it achieves it's purpose. If I could get some feedback on the realtime joystick testing feature that would be great.
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Excellent looking utility, I need to try it when I guess. You are becoming the mame utility master!
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I guess then what I'd hope for is to have an option to define the map not by cells, but by borders (sort of like vector vs. raster, if you get my drift). I'm guessing that will never happen though.
It's possible, if you're thinking angles and either a square or circle deadzone. atan(x/y) to get angle (assuming center is 0,0), and |x| & |y| > some value for square deadzone, or x2 + y2 > some value for circle value. And x & y neg/pos to see which quadrant. User just needs to give a few angles, what the direction is between said angles, and a deadzone value. As long as the quadrants are mirrored, it's not too hard to code.
Computation power needed, and fast, constant, ~60 to hundreds times per second computing, OTOH, is quite a bit higher than using grids. I think we need to wait a couple years if we want low/zero latency. IIRC, Andy said the u360 chip isn't powerful enough to do it.
I still stand by my statement that sticky cells are a hack to simplify implementation. ;D
I don't like stickies either. I prefer "nulls" (aka center) or weighted direction cells in the grid. Not having any would be nicer, but...:
This paragraph doesn't change my opinion, but does rationalize sticky as realistic. It can be thought of the sticky zone as the microswitches's close vs release overlap area. Microswitches close at a certain point, but for it to be released, it needs to go back past this point by a noticeable amount before it is released. Even if the microswitches were perfectly tuned and placed in a 4-way stick, there would be this sticky zone. Say moving from up to left, with switches needing to be pressed 52% down to close, but releases only at 48%. At exactly halfway point on a diamond restrictor plate, up has not gone bellow the release point (50% still > 48%), and left has not depressed enough to close (50% still < 52%). So even on real 4-way sticks, there is a sticky zone. :-\
Again, I'm not trying to make you like it, and of course, leafswitches don't have this microswitch activate/release overlap zone. ;D At least the 9x9 sticky diagonals are far, far better than the older 8-way to 4-way sticky diagonals (3x3 grid) mame had (and still has if you're using a (gamepad encoder) 8-way stick on 4-way games).
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This KICKS ASS -- thanks headkaze!!! Tron is perfectly playable now with an analog trigger joystick + spinner. Not a single zig-zag on light cycles and still easy to move diagonal on spiders and MCP. Here's my tronway.ini (just copy and paste this one line into your tron.ini file):
joystick_map 788888889.4s88888s6.44s888s66.444555666.444555666.444555666.44s222s66.4s22222s6.122222223.
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Thats good to know ahofle :) I've added your tron.ini map to the download for others to use. If anyone else makes a good map post it here and I'll add it aswell.
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i request a perfect 4 way map and a perfect streetfighter map :)
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Version 1.4 Released
- Fixed bug when using multiple joysticks at once
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Never mind, I didn't understand the function (though I'm still unsure of the use) of 'sticky'. I do notice that if I make a really tight map, using only the inner square - for example, an UD-biased 4-way - that I still get some blank spots in the corners in-game vs using doing only a 4-way and stickied corners with the ultimarc tool.
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Sticky cells just use the last cell value so it can improve accuracy where the cells change. For example say you are using a 4-way diagonal map and your holding the joystick top left then move it to the left it will still go left. If your holding the joystick bottom left then move it to the left it will still be moving down.
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I'm looking at switching to this app instead of umapper because I'm tired of running into games that aren't covered by umapper out of the box (tried phoenix last night, and it's apparently not covered). I'm a little unclear from your description. You say to save the files as [rom].ini. But can I also just copy all the ini files that come with the editor into mame's ini directory so that all "2 way left+right" games are covered, for instance? Or does this literally only allow me to edit the maps on a per-game basis? In other words, I want to alter mame's built in maps across ALL games.
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Great work, Headkaze!
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HeadKaze,
Any thought given to a tutorial on your program? It certainly isn't intuitive enough for me to understand it completely. Would certainly add more value to the software.
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Rise from the grave!
Just found this in a Google search and it maybe the cheap answer to what I'm looking for! How do you utilize this on dedicated 4ways (DK, Pac-Man, Dig Dug, etc)?
If I'm to read this correctly, it eliminates (in software form) diagonals so you dont get stuck?
Also, since this is a couple years old, is this the best thing to do (without getting a dedicated 4-way) or is there something better now?
Thanks for anyone's time :)
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Thanks for this! Just what I was looking for! Works a charm too!
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I seem to be lost to understand the purpose of the utility. Can someone explain in basic term the purpose/function of the utility and what it is used for and why? :dunno
D
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It's designed to give your 8-way joystick the functionality of a 4-way (or whatever way) you want without having to go in and mod the stick itself. Does pretty well, if you don't have the money to have a dedicated 4-way for classics like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, etc. This is the way to go...
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I know this works when using a USB joystick as I verified it with my USB XBOX controller. But does MAME recognize the joystick_map in the game's ini file if you're using keys and a keyboard controller?
I have created a keymap file for donkey kong where there are no dead zones and the perfect diagonals are sticky keys. But when I try to play donkey kong on my cabinet, the diagonals make Mario stop running.
-Mc
EDIT: For a test, I created a keymap to ONLY be up and down and set that for galaga. When using my USB joystick, my ship doesn't move - as expected. However, when I use the arrow keys, it moves just fine. This verifies that when using a keyboard/keyboard encoder that the keymap is ignored.
So I guess the question is, if you're using a keyboard is there any way to force it to recognize the joystic_map?
If it matters, I'm using .149u1 version of MAME.
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I have v1.4 of HeadKaze's MameJoyMap app. Thank you for a great contribution!
I have an Ultimarc 360.
Can anyone suggest a good map for 49-way joystick (Sinistar)?
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Is there a way to use this great tool to create mappings for 49-way games?
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I have v1.4 of HeadKaze's MameJoyMap app. Thank you for a great contribution!
I have an Ultimarc 360.
Than you should not use MAME maps but the mapping of the stick itself...
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Hi I would like to use the Analog Joystick Map Editor but I cant fine it anywhere. Can someone help me out?
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You can download it from this page:
https://web.archive.org/web/20091013151923/http://headsoft.com.au/index.php?category=mame&page=joymap