sucky spinning action

[rampy]

So... I hacked my wingman warrior spinner on to my control panel... but during the process I dropped the spinner counterweight/encoder wheel 2x during the operation... and it bent the plastic so it doesn't spin true anymore (it wobbles)

In use when I spin right it works "ok" (the arkanoid paddle goes right)... but it doesn't go left very well... It kinda stays stuck in the middle (NO I don't have auto center ON btw...) and only with vigorous spinning will it go, and then it only really will go right (from spinning too fast left)...

*Shrug*... so am I hosed with a wobbly enocder wheel? is what i describe a symptom of something else (maybe not having the optics lined up correctly?)

MAybe I'll have to make a more creative spinner hack or funds permitting in the future getting an oscar spinner

rampy

[OSCAR]

Hey rampy, email me your address.  I have a Wingman warrior base w/ spinner you can have.  It was left over from my trigger stick hack.  Ironically, I just found it in the back of a closet over the weekend, and I just about tossed it.  However, my pack-rat nature wouldn't let me throw out "something that's still good"!    I'd rather it went to someone who could use it than throw it away.  The last time I used it, the spinner still worked just fine.

BTW, your symptoms do indicate an optic misalignment.

[mikenotbob]

Rampy,

Any chance you are using advancemame coupled w/ optimouse that I told you about a few posts back?  Just the other day, something similar happened to me.  I loaded up tempest, and could spin in one direction perfectly, while the other direction only allowed me to move maybe 6 tempest 'spaces' and basically got stuck there.  I couldn't spin past that point.  

I thought maybe something got caught in the optics (wire, etc), but there was nothing there.  It simply didn't make sense that a spinner could move fin in one direction, and lock up in another, after going only half way or so. To further add to the complexity, this didn't happen 100% of the time, either.  Sometimes I'd boot up and it would work fine.

Changing to that dual mouse driver Oscar had on his website solved my problem, so far.  Crap, you had the stutter problem with the dual mouse driver, right?

The other things I would try, which don't really seem to make much sense, but neither does this problem:

1)  Switch your devices around... Whatever was in COM1, put in COM2, etc...

2)  Go into advmame.rc and remove the unused axis from the spinner.

Hope one of these helps.

[Chris]

Sounds like what happened to me when the tab supporting the end of the shaft broke off of my mouse hack.  Turning right worked, but turning left would move the wheel just outside of the range of the optics...

OSCAR: That's pretty darn nice of you, offering him your Warrior spinner for free when you're in the business of selling spinners!

--Chris

[rampy]

OSCAR,  that's very nice of you...  I appreciate the offer.  I will email you my molluscan address and paypal you some shipping cost.  I'd like to try some of the software adjustments mentioned in this thread first thought... but I'm pretty sure a wobbly encoder isn't going to cut it.

FWIW I was using the first optimouse driver only loading ctmouse /1 and not bothering to use optidrv to load the other serial mouse currently connected.    I do plan on trying the OSCAR dual mouse driver as I'll do my trackball hack to a ps/2 mouse just cause...

Chris... could you describe a bit more what happened to you (maybe some pictures?)

Silly question, if anyone will entertain it... is it better for the encoder wheel spokes to be closer to the optic reciever, sender, or exactly in the middle... ?

Thanks for all the help!

rampy

[Tiger-Heli]

Silly question, if anyone will entertain it... is it better for the encoder wheel spokes to be closer to the optic reciever, sender, or exactly in the middle... ?

I'll entertain most anything.

Let's think of this as vertical axis, radial axis, and polar axis.

The vertical stackup is sender, wheel, and reciever, typically.  This is the least critical.  You usually shoot for exactly in the middle, not because it reads better, but because you don't want a slightly warped encoder wheel knocking the optics around.

The critical adjustments are.  You want the optics lined up radially with the encoder wheel so they pick up the most motion.  You want the optics perpendicular to the radius, so they pick up the same amount of motion in either direction, and you want the optics the right distance in or out from the wheel center that they pick up the slot motion and not the outer rim of the wheel or the inner center of the wheel.

Hopefully that made sense.

[OSCAR]

OSCAR: That's pretty darn nice of you, offering him your Warrior spinner for free when you're in the business of selling spinners!

--Chris

Heh, well I haven't completely turned to the Dark Side yet.  I still consider it my hobby 1st, and a business 2nd.  It's the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.  


rampy -
Tiger-Heli has explained the optic alignment very well.  Sometimes, though, it helps to move the phototransistor (detector) closer to the encoder wheel if you are having problems moving in one direction.  On occasion, I have had to slightly bend the detector (carefully) towards the encoder wheel so the face of it isn't exactly parallel to the encoder wheel.  This has cleared up many instances of a spinner not moving well in one direction for me.

If different drivers or the optic adjustment doesn't help, just let me know and I'll send you my extra base w/ spinner.

[rampy]

thanks for all the info/tips... I'm pretty exasperated at the moment...  

FWIW oscar's dual mouse driver doesn't recognize the WW mouse even if force it to the correct com port.

I tried misc mouse drivers with out great results...

I tried adjusting the position of the optics board (not the individ optics...) but couldn't find a sweet spot...

The arkanoid paddle (for reference) just wants to stick far left (with reverse on)... which confuses me.

I need to do some troubleshooting and break it down... I've got too many variables and I'm not sure what's working any more...   when I'm feeling clamer/saner i'll make a more reasonable p;ost....

rampy

[Tiger-Heli]

The arkanoid paddle (for reference) just wants to stick far left (with reverse on)... which confuses me.

Something I just thought of, but it may be way off base, by defualt, Arkanoid can be controlled by the mouse, the keyboard, or an analog joystick (gameport).  Gameports often get/stay out of calibration, FWIW.  If you have a flight stick plugged into the gameport, and it is out of calibration to the left, you will see the behaviour you describe.

To fix it, either go into the UI and Remap Dial 1 from "Right or Joystick 1 X+" to "Right" and Dial 1 X to just "left" or (easier once you get used to them), create a ctrlr.ini file for arkanoid and remove the joycode references from the dial 1 settings.

Hope this helps