driving cabinet - pc gas pedal controls

[pocketz]

are there any examples of driving game cabinets? i cant find any.

also if anyone has a pc steering wheel control with pedals i would like to know if the gas pedal works in mame on games like pole position and turbo. like if you press on the gas pedal half-way your car slows a bit and the speed is variable.

i have learned to hack an arcade steering wheel with a oscar controls optic board and usb connector. now i just need to know about the gas pedal before i start on the cab.

thanks
-paul

[shmokes]

I'd like to see some examples just to get ideas for mounting the pedals that came with my wheel to an upright cabinet.  I've been going over different options in my head and I've yet to land on one that screamed, "This is it!"

[Smack]

Here's a few pics of my driving cabinet that I slapped together with some spare parts I had lying around. (This was previously "Super-Mega-Heinie-Cab". Right now it's only running Pole Position II. I'm too lazy to set anything else up right now.  







I used a left over usb mouse with optics from Oscar Controls, a shifter + steering wheel I had bought off ebay a couple of years ago, a pole position pedal I picked up for $10 off ebay. (All I had to do was swap the pot as shown on the Lew's Wheels hack and wire it in as shown on that site.) http://www.monmouth.com/~lw4750/index.html

I used a tweak to the Mame code so that the shifter works right. (as opposed to the hit the button once for low, again for high, etc. The switch on the shifter is either off or on.)

The front door is slightly ajar on the cab. Behind is is the tower.

It's got an 18" Wells Gardner SVGA monitor I got off ebay for $15. (now that's a deal!)

Word. Behold the Hackjob that is this cab!
Smack

[u_rebelscum]

also if anyone has a pc steering wheel control with pedals i would like to know if the gas pedal works in mame on games like pole position and turbo. like if you press on the gas pedal half-way your car slows a bit and the speed is variable.

Yes.  Just map the device's gas pedal to the game's pedal; mame's default isn't.

[Karman]

I used a tweak to the Mame code so that the shifter works right. (as opposed to the hit the button once for low, again for high, etc. The switch on the shifter is either off or on.)

How did you do this?

[Smack]

The source code changes were courtesy of the mighty Steph...

http://www.mameworld.net/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/showpost.pl?Board=mameworldcompile&Number=2831&page=&view=&mode=threaded&sb=#Post2831

Just make the changes to the source in polepos.c and compile.

Smack

[shmokes]

How do you like the placement of your pedal?  I was considering recessing the pedals into my cabinet a bit rather than sticking out the front completely?  Could it stand to move in some or would they be awkward to reach that way.  I'm in the planning stages of my cabinet right now so I can't really go grab the steering wheel and feel for myself to get an idea.

[Smack]

For what I 've been using it for, it seems fine to me.

I think if I were building a nice dedicated one, I'd recess it like you mentioned. Not to mention done a neater job... I'd like to take some measurements and some up close pics of a Pole Position cab too.

I kinda just slapped that cab together in about a day 'cause I needed something to do with all the parts.  

Smack

[pocketz]

thanks for the help all!

i found happcontrols offers a usb interface kit. there are three versions, one is a driving game interface. the only downside is that it costs $185 but it might be worth it to have the ease of plug n play.

do you think this would work? heres a link, scroll down to see the driving version...

http://www.happcontrols.com/industrial/joysticks/950800xx.htm

thanks
-paul

[Minwah]

Big waste of $ I think.  Use 1UP's DualStrike hack for $30 or whatever.  Or if you can find suitable replacement 100k pots then you can wire up to a gameport for next to nothing (and then use a gameport>USB adaptor if neccessary).

I have a couple of analog pedals, but have not had much luck finding decent 100k pots for the job so I think I will try the DualStrike hack.

[bdsjake]

pocketz, did you figure this out?  I'm interested in adding a wheel/pedal for older games, pole position, turbo, sprint.

Does the gas pedal on these games need to be analog, or just a switch, on/off?

thanks,

[paigeoliver]

Turbo uses a kind of strange gas pedal that is optical or magnetic or hall effect or something. Basically the pedal you step on itsn't hooked up to anything. It seems to break a light beam or something. Won't work when you shine a light at it, or if the back door is off and the room lighting is really bright.

That particular pedal seems to smoothly accelerate to all different speeds.


I don't have the machine at my house at the moment. But I am pretty sure about the fact that it isn't physically connected to any wiring, and that it doesn't work when you shine a light on it.

[u_rebelscum]

...I'm interested in adding a wheel/pedal for older games, pole position, turbo, sprint.

Does the gas pedal on these games need to be analog, or just a switch, on/off?

Mame's default for these games are buttons, so switches have to work with mame.  

With switches, it's all or nothing; mame's analog joy/key speed sets how fast you change from "nothing" up to "all" (from "all" down to "nothing" is a constant speed).  This means you can't really stay at the middle, half-pressed, speeds with switches.

Even though I find I use all the way down or all the way up ~95% of the time when racing arcade games, that ~5% of the time that I play with the pedal partially down makes a huge difference in game fun and lap speeds.  Plus, Spy Hunter is the one game I play partially down most of the time.  

Unless you always, and I mean 100% of the time for all games, play either not pressed or pressed all the way down, I suggest an analog pedal.

(Of course, I'm bias about this subject; evidence: name of the derivative I upkeep,Mame:Analog+. *shrug* )

[paigeoliver]

You have to have the force on your side to play Turbo with the pedal pegged after the timer runs out. (Unlimited lives until timer runs out, then you have two lives). My friend Dave can do it, but I think he has the enemy car patterns memorized.

[anthony691]

The pedals from the Badlamds conversion kit are analog. They have an odd pot in them.

[Magnet_Eye]

Hey, i just got a Logitech WingMan Formula GP wheel. Hooks up to USB, has brake and gas pedals. I launched mame32 and played all kinds of games without much problem.

The pedals use Y axis.  it did adjust depending where i held the pedal. (i think it acts like a spinner in theory)

Also, has 6 buttons on the wheel. Enough for 4 weapons, gearshift and weapons van in Spy Hunter! I was stoked! Of course these buttons come in handy for many games for firing and shifitng, etc.

I was even able to play Pole Position, but its a little iffy.

some other games I tried: Chase HQ, Hydra, Outrun, Road Blasters (didn't work well), Buggy challenge, Hang-on...

I did need to mess with the sensitivity on a few games, but overall i was happy.

I got the wheel last week on ebay for $9.  

[Karman]

The source code changes were courtesy of the mighty Steph...

http://www.mameworld.net/cgi-bin/wwwthreads/showpost.pl?Board=mameworldcompile&Number=2831&page=&view=&mode=threaded&sb=#Post2831

Just make the changes to the source in polepos.c and compile.

Smack -

Any chance you could email me a copy of this?  I need to do the same thing but have no idea how to compile, etc.

[Smack]

I can email you a copy of the driver file, just swap it out for the one that's included with the source and compile. ( I can't really pass my binary around due to the laws of the land surrounding unsupported games. ) If you absolutley need a binary, let me know, I'll recompile one for you with the polepos changes.

If you're not sure how to compile, you might want to take some time to learn how, its alot easier than you think. If you get stuck after the tutorial, hit the mameworld compile help board. Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can!

Plus, once you learn how, you can add various tweaks and unsupported drivers, etc. that you can find around the net. (For example the recent Qbert Mello Yello driver, Rage of the Dragons, etc.)

Your profile doesn't list your email address, if you PM it, I'll send you the driver file.

Smack

[u_rebelscum]

I was even able to play Pole Position, but its a little iffy.

some other games I tried: ... Road Blasters (didn't work well)

FWIW, both play better with spinners or 360 degree wheels.  

Road Blasters was basically a "360 degree" wheel but with restricted movement: an optical encoder wheel and sensors like a 360 wheel, but restricted in turning like a 270 wheel.  Mame emulates the input as a "dial", ie: as a 360 degree wheel.