GunCon2 driver here!!! (Bacon is tasty)

[brandon]

I'm working on modding an S-video cable to have a RCA connector spliced on it sort of like the PS2 AV cable has.

[JODY]

Jody-

[IntruderAlert]

...EDIT

ignore this.. i needed some sleep

[Billkwando]

Also, for those who're interested in using Component Video with the guncon, my understanding is that all you have to do is run the guncon off of the green plug. Apparently this is the way it's done when using guncon on PS2 with component cables.

[MiKman]

Here's something I found for you S-Video guys
http://www.hartsunlimited.com/savcabforpla.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=41059&item=8189169793&rd=1

http://search.ebay.com/guncon-cable_W0QQfrppZ50QQfsopZ1QQmaxrecordsreturnedZ300

maybe this will do what you want

Thanks for the links, but those cables look very specific to PS2.  although they may be useful as a guide to building our own "PC specific" cables.

[MiKman]

Also, for those who're interested in using Component Video with the guncon, my understanding is that all you have to do is run the guncon off of the green plug. Apparently this is the way it's done when using guncon on PS2 with component cables.

Excellent! this is good news, when I get my gun all setup I'll try and give some feedback to let everyone know if this works or not.

[IntruderAlert]

Thanks for the links, but those cables look very specific to PS2.  although they may be useful as a guide to building our own "PC specific" cables.

..ever look back at a post and wonder if you really posted it
happens to me quite often

that's what I get for not sleeping enough

..


oh well .. please ignore my previous post



You could build one of these:
http://www.hardwarebook.net/cable/av/svideotocomposite.html

or buy one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3762&item=5191729699&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

But I think either one of those is going to kill your SVIDEO signal
in other words, I don't think you could just split the svideo signal and build one of those on one side for the gun because it would screw up your svideo signal

you'd have to just run composite to the gun AND the TV which is not what you want I don't believe

there might be a converter out there somewhere that would have multiple outputs for svideo and composite but the you're talking about more $$$

I'll let you know if I run across a better idea

[stevodevo]

I have the PS2 mission light gun (got it off ebay for $26 shipped). It's a good looking gun!  Also, my 27" TV is the old "cable" input. I'm running an ATI Radeon 9250 TV-out card with s-video.  The s-video cable runs to a "converter" which in turn sends the signal to the cable tv.

The converter also happens to have the RCA inputs so I have the yellow video connector from the mission gun plugged into the "video in" yellow plug on the converter.

So far with smog's driver, XP will recognize the gun but I'm not having good luck being able to see the mouse pointer.

Here's a pic of the mission gun.  I'm gonna mess around with the driver some more tonight.  Let me know if you think this absolutely will not work!

Thanks,
stevodevo

[SirPoonga]

is it detecting the trigger?

[stevodevo]

Oh - and here's a pic of the converter.

[stevodevo]

sirpoonga, yes it detects the trigger. I can't remember right now but i think one of the other buttons also acts as mouse button 2. Like I've been telling smog on his blog I think I need to mess around with his drivers and make sure i'm using the latest and greatest.  i can see the mouse pointer only on a very small portion of the screen. other wise only a tiny movement will send the "invisible" pointer all over the screen.

stevodevo

[brandon]

Oh - and here's a pic of the converter.

[brandon]

according to the link I posted above.. pin 3 carries the luminance and the sync.. so in theory you could connect the s-video from PC to TV as normal and tap off of that pin and connect it to the Guncon2.

[IntruderAlert]

Oh - and here's a pic of the converter.  From left to right the cables are:

power for the converter, cable out to tv, video in (from the gun), and s-video from my tv-out card.

stevodevo

you can follow the action at lightgun.splinder.com

The gun needs to connect to a video out from the PC not the video in.. that's where it gets the sync signal..

plus.. i have my doubts about using that antenna connection on the TV

[IntruderAlert]

according to the link I posted above.. pin 3 carries the luminance and the sync.. so in theory you could connect the s-video from PC to TV as normal and tap off of that pin and connect it to the Guncon2.  of course the guncon would also have to be grounded so I'm guessing that would be pin 1 according to the pinout..  I really hate to cut up an S-video cable just to try this...   

1   Y ground
2   C ground
3   Y (luminance+sync)
4   C (crominance)

Feels weird quoting myself.. but anyways...

Here's a little illustration for how I plan to connect my PC to my TV using S-video but also connect the Guncon2.  NOTE:  I haven't tested this yet.  although it should work I'm not responsible for: ruined cables, video cards, TV, lightguns, house fires, domestic disputes, abdominal cramps, explosive diarrhea, etc etc.. In other words.. try this at your own risk  

Basically the idea is to slice open the insulation on one end of the s-video cable exposing the wires.  Then using a multimeter, determine which wires are pin 1 and pin 3.  Then using an old RCA cable and splicing it in to the s-video while making sure the wires stay intact and nothing is shorted.  Then tape everything up.  Then you should be able to connect the guncon2 to the RCA while having the svideo connected to the TV.  I'll be building one of these cables myself in a day or so for those of you that would rather wait until I've tested it. 

P.S.  The color of the wiring in the pic means nothing..

it's worth a try
i'm interested to know your test results

[MiKman]

according to the link I posted above.. pin 3 carries the luminance and the sync.. so in theory you could connect the s-video from PC to TV as normal and tap off of that pin and connect it to the Guncon2.

[brandon]

But according to this website you need to combine 1 & 2 and also combine 3 & 4 with a capacitor...
http://www.tkk.fi/Misc/Electronics/circuits/svideo2cvideo.html

this is only if you want to convert the signal to composite video.

[IntruderAlert]

yeah.. this is probably the only way to get the sync without ruining the svideo signal

i hope it works

by the way.. I've built svideo cables out of CAT5 and connectors from radio shack
the connectors are labled so you don't even have to test or guess about the pin numbers
but if you have an old rca cable and svideo cable lying around you could just cut them in two, test to determine the pin placement  and hack them together

...oh .. and I think you'll need a female RCA connector there brandon

[stevodevo]

Thanks brandon - yeah I wondered about the whole converter thing.  But you're right - video out not video in!

So I'll be waiting for you to finish your hack then I might give it a go! Thanks for the tip.

stevodevo

[beauds]

is there a specific reason we cant just buy a cable that does this? I found this cable online
http://www.svideo.com/prosvideo6.html
and it seems like it will do everything we want to do.

[brandon]

is there a specific reason we cant just buy a cable that does this? I found this cable online
http://www.svideo.com/prosvideo6.html
and it seems like it will do everything we want to do.

that cable adapts S-video to composite, which would allow for the connection of the guncon2 but would also significantly reduce the picture quality.

[brandon]

according to the link I posted above.. pin 3 carries the luminance and the sync.. so in theory you could connect the s-video from PC to TV as normal and tap off of that pin and connect it to the Guncon2.

[IntruderAlert]

That's GREAT Brandon!
Don't worry about your tracking problem too much for now.
That will most likely not be fixed until Smog makes the calibration software
Great work though! 

[Billkwando]

Sounds awesome....yeah don't worry about the calibration....

[brandon]

so is that typical for everyone else that's tried it?  If so then I'm not too worried about it.. I'll just wait for calibration to be added.  I may still make the homemade composite adapter just to see if I get different results.

[loddie]

http://www.netpcdirect.co.uk/ems_converter.php

Anyone used one of these?

[Billkwando]

That allows you to use an older Guncon on PS2 but doesn't really do much for PC in the Guncon sense. It's been mentioned on this board somewhere.....

[brandon]

well.. if that adapter converted guncon1 to guncon2 then would it not also work for PC sense guncon2 is almost working for PC?  who knows

[spiffyshoes]

I thought GunCon1 Allready worked for PC useing a serial port adapter?

[stevodevo]

Great work Brandon! I think everyone is having the calibration problems you mentioned...still it probably won't hurt to try as many different options as possible.  Eliminating a possible source of problem would make solving this easier...

[Billkwando]

The adaptor requires drivers to function so I sincerely doubt it will be of any use.

[IntruderAlert]

The adaptor requires drivers to function so I sincerely doubt it will be of any use.

Yeah,

GunCon2 also needs a driver but we have Smog already doing that

GunCon2 us already USB so it eliminates the need for this type adapter
Plus you'd still need a way to get a sync

[1UP]

is there a specific reason we cant just buy a cable that does this? I found this cable online
http://www.svideo.com/prosvideo6.html
and it seems like it will do everything we want to do.

that cable adapts S-video to composite, which would allow for the connection of the guncon2 but would also significantly reduce the picture quality.

[MiKman]

Yup I was just thinking the same thing. I bet it's definately doable.  If you can get ahold of a svideo Y splitter cable, thats the ticket for sure. :-)

[brandon]

Yup I was just thinking the same thing. I bet it's definately doable.

[IntruderAlert]

yep

[Billkwando]

I had to come all the way here for "yep"!?!

LMAO!!!

[brandon]

new driver released!! http://lightgun.splinder.com/   

[Flinkly]

so...does it work?  common guys, the driver comes out and no one has anything to say about functionality?

[brandon]

so...does it work?