WOW New LightGUN Info !!! Woot!!! :)

[Minwah]

Well I cannot even get into calibration mode. I tried everything................These guns are not looking good.
The box says hold A and B down for 3 secs then shoot the top left LED light. I do that and nothing happens. The gun is supposed to recoil if it works. It don't. Anyone ese have this problem??

Yes I had the same.  If nothing happens it means the gun can't see the LED's properly.  Try aligning the stands differently, more importantly stand back further.  I still have problems in calibrating when shooting certain corners of the screen, but I can sometimes get it through by moving the gun or myself slightly.  Still a bit wierd tho.

[2600]

Minwah,
It sounds like what happens when you enable an Analog Joystick and mouse at the same time.  Not sure if it is, but may be a start.

[Smog]

The reason I asked is because he is the author of MameAnalog+. Might help to get him involved?

There is already a MAME working with two guns (two mouses) and working perfect. It's advanceMame. I really don't know why none of you uses it and still sticks with analog or standard mame (I know the code inside .. it's a shame, really ... two lightguns support sucks in mame) ...
I tested Advance and can't really do without it (it is specifically designed to work with my driver, see the what0snew in 0.97 )

I don't think advance will work with gun2mouse  neither with acorn's application. But my driver is really a mouse driver ( I bet you noticed the speed difference) so .. the thing is different

However, I can share anything with him as I've made with Andrea Mazzoleni (author of Advance) to which I sent the driver sources too.

[cobey]

I can not believe i let everyone talk me into buying two guns. I hope my wife likes them, since it was money i could have spent on valentines day.

[Farmboy90]

I think I opened my gob too soon...seem to be having problems with the gun on my cab now:

Basically I have now tried Acorns, Smogs and the EMS drivers...here's the probs...

Acorn: Had a bit of trouble calibrating, but managed to get the Windows cursor moving.  However in MAME the crosshair will not move from the edges...it flicks between all 4 edges of the screen but no-where in between.  Also the gun is not always recognised...in fact I can't get it to be recognised at all any more.

Same here.  It is hit or miss (pun intended).  I am not having constant success with the gun right now.  GunCon fails to recognize gun1 half the time.  I am going to remount my led stands when I get home to see if that helps at all.

[mark6437]

Ok thx MinWah.
I will tell you I have had one gun hooked up for about an hour now and am really having ZERO luck. I can't imagin the horrors of getting two guns working. I am yet to see the slide move by itself.......I can get it to go into calibration mode now, I know this because the laser stays on, but other than that bupkiss......No slide action at all.
Wingun looked promising for about 30 secs then the mouse was jumping all over the sreen..........I guess I will keep trying...........

Thx
Mark

Well I cannot even get into calibration mode. I tried everything................These guns are not looking good.
The box says hold A and B down for 3 secs then shoot the top left LED light. I do that and nothing happens. The gun is supposed to recoil if it works. It don't. Anyone ese have this problem??

Yes I had the same.  If nothing happens it means the gun can't see the LED's properly.  Try aligning the stands differently, more importantly stand back further.  I still have problems in calibrating when shooting certain corners of the screen, but I can sometimes get it through by moving the gun or myself slightly.  Still a bit wierd tho.

[Level42]

Did you read the FAQ on the EMS site ?
http://www.hkems.com/qa_LCDTopGun.htm

Notice the remarks about infrared light sources or reflections on the floor.

Can someone explain me why EMS is not selling a set of two guns and ONE pair of infrared stands ?

[Farmboy90]

Can someone explain me why EMS is not selling a set of two guns and ONE pair of infrared stands ?

That's a good question.    On that note, I have an pair of brand new LED stands if someone wants them. 

[Farmboy90]

Ok thx MinWah.
I will tell you I have had one gun hooked up for about an hour now and am really having ZERO luck. I can't imagin the horrors of getting two guns working. I am yet to see the slide move by itself.......I can get it to go into calibration mode now, I know this because the laser stays on, but other than that bupkiss......No slide action at all.
Wingun looked promising for about 30 secs then the mouse was jumping all over the sreen..........I guess I will keep trying...........

Thx
Mark

I hear ya.  I have that same issue.  Like I said in my earlier post, these guns should fire ALL the time, regardless of where they or the stands are located.  For that matter, if they are in separate rooms of the house, as long as the gun is drawing power it should fire. 

But it doesn't.  I haven't yet figured out the trick, but if I do, I will surely let you know.

[Level42]

Can someone explain me why EMS is not selling a set of two guns and ONE pair of infrared stands ?

That's a good question.    On that note, I have an pair of brand new LED stands if someone wants them. 

Yeah, put them on E-bay

Well, I mailed EMS about it. If more people will, the might change their mind ?

[mark6437]

From the FAQ:
Q4) How to prevent the LCD TopGun from being interrupted ?

A) To solve this problem, please make sure that no infrared source is behind or beside the

     screen. Possible infrared source include sun light, strong red light, yellow light, or any very

     heat source. Also, the ground may reflect the light (infrared) from the LED stand. To

     prevent reflection, please place a cloth on the ground near the screen so as to prevent the

     reflection.


So I have to put a towel on my control panel while I play? Or a big sheet in front of my cab? And while I am at it I can't play while its daylight?
My god......................................

Mark

Did you read the FAQ on the EMS site ?
http://www.hkems.com/qa_LCDTopGun.htm

Notice the remarks about infrared light sources or reflections on the floor.

Can someone explain me why EMS is not selling a set of two guns and ONE pair of infrared stands ?

[Farmboy90]

The problem has nothing to do with light.  Like I said my P2 gun works fine and fires when I pull the trigger.  It's in the same room as the P1 gun, in the same conditions, and fires fine.

I thought it might be daylight issues as well, but at night I still have problems.

It is something else.  I am not sure yet as I don't have blocks of time to sit down and debug the issue.  But I will try to look at it when I get home.

[darthbane2k]

I dont like the sounds of this...

can you guys at least reassure me that mame works with at least ONE gun?!!

[Farmboy90]

I dont like the sounds of this...

can you guys at least reassure me that mame works with at least ONE gun?!!

If you get your gun(s) working and calibrated in windows (via GunCon or whatever) then they work fine in mame (for light gun games anyway).

No problems there.

[Farmboy90]

I just pluged mine in. I got the USB port from the gun cable going into a D-Link powered hub. Then I have the LED stands hooked up to the gun cable. Win XP recognizes that I pluged in the gun (one gun right now by the way) and wants drivers. I get the install new hadware screen. What are ya'll doing at that first screen? What drivers, if any, should I install at this first point?

And on my gun I have a little switch on the bottom that says x/p on one side and NOTHING on the other side. So now I read this, Please follow the figures below to set up the LCD TopGun system. Note that you have to switch the button at the bottom to P for PC / PS2

[mark6437]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh................DUh. Now that makes sense..............THANK YOU!

FWIW I tried the switch both ways and the gun still wont fire, at all.

If I plug the gun in a USB port and pull the trigger it should fire right?
The laser comes on but it wont fire. And it wont calibrate. I can get the laser to come on like its in calibrate mode but the gun wont fire.


Weird

Mark

I just pluged mine in. I got the USB port from the gun cable going into a D-Link powered hub. Then I have the LED stands hooked up to the gun cable. Win XP recognizes that I pluged in the gun (one gun right now by the way) and wants drivers. I get the install new hadware screen. What are ya'll doing at that first screen? What drivers, if any, should I install at this first point?

And on my gun I have a little switch on the bottom that says x/p on one side and NOTHING on the other side. So now I read this, Please follow the figures below to set up the LCD TopGun system. Note that you have to switch the button at the bottom to P for PC / PS2

[Farmboy90]

If I plug the gun in a USB port and pull the trigger it should fire right?
The laser comes on but it wont fire. And it wont calibrate. I can get the laser to come on like its in calibrate mode but the gun wont fire.

Umm not exactly.  I believe how it works (I can verify when I get home) is that if you just plugged the gun into the USB only the laser would work.  The power for the recoil comes from the second USB connector.  So that one needs to be plugged in as well.

As I recall the little y adpater thing plugs into the end of the gun wire.  Then the USB from that adapter gets plugged in as well as the USB connector at the end of the gun wire.

[Flinkly]

maybe all you guys are just too 'bright'.

[jelwell]

The reason I asked is because he is the author of MameAnalog+. Might help to get him involved?

There is already a MAME working with two guns (two mouses) and working perfect. It's advanceMame. I really don't know why none of you uses it and still sticks with analog or standard mame (I know the code inside .. it's a shame, really ... two lightguns support sucks in mame) ...

Maybe this new cheap Lightgun option will help bolster support for backporting AdvanceMAME & MameAnaglog+'s dual mouse support into the core MAME release.

I don't use core MAME, but I do use a build that starts with core MAME - which means I lose out on dual mouse support. So far it's never been an issue since my cabinet only has one trackball. But if I end up buying these guns it'll come up pretty quickly. I can easily tell MAMEWAH to launch advancemame for the lightgun games - but it would suck to lose out having a single set of configurations for my MAME setup. As well as some of the nicer features of my extended MAME release - like network play (and no not the kword version).

Joseph Elwell.

[Silver]

Sorry some of you guys are having teething problems. For the record, you don't need the y-adaptor or anything for the gun to work. just stick in the usb connector from the gun, plug in the LED stands, and everything should work there no problem.

As it says in the FAQ, if when calibrating, the laser does not go off then on when you fire, it means the gun can't see the lights or there is interference or you are too close.

I must say I've had no issues at all with my test setup.

When you get that "install new hardware" you have 3 choices. Acorns driver, smogs driver, or the EMS driver. I would go with smogs or acorns(wingun) for now.

[Farmboy90]

Sorry some of you guys are having teething problems. For the record, you don't need the y-adaptor or anything for the gun to work. just stick in the usb connector from the gun, plug in the LED stands, and everything should work there no problem.

As it says in the FAQ, if when calibrating, the laser does not go off then on when you fire, it means the gun can't see the lights or there is interference or you are too close.

I must say I've had no issues at all with my test setup.

When you get that "install new hardware" you have 3 choices. Acorns driver, smogs driver, or the EMS driver. I would go with smogs or acorns(wingun) for now.

I don't entirely agree.  Only because I had my shiz setup, and thigs were working.  Shooting ducks, etc, the whole nine yards.  The next day I wask up to play and things don't work.  Nothing changed.

I am using Acorn's driver and it did function at one point. 

Like I said, I suspect maybe the stands have moved (they were just taped on).  So I will play around and see if things work again.

Once they do though, I am betting they won't work again the next day.   

[Silver]

The reason I asked is because he is the author of MameAnalog+. Might help to get him involved?

There is already a MAME working with two guns (two mouses) and working perfect. It's advanceMame. I really don't know why none of you uses it and still sticks with analog or standard mame (I know the code inside .. it's a shame, really ... two lightguns support sucks in mame) ...
I tested Advance and can't really do without it (it is specifically designed to work with my driver, see the what0snew in 0.97 )

I don't think advance will work with gun2mouse  neither with acorn's application. But my driver is really a mouse driver ( I bet you noticed the speed difference) so .. the thing is different

However, I can share anything with him as I've made with Andrea Mazzoleni (author of Advance) to which I sent the driver sources too.

I'm keen to use both your driver and Advancemame. I've already mentioned my calibration/driver issues with your current driver, but perhaps you could assist with advancemame.

There lots of info around for config advance mame for perfect video mode etc... but none of that works well in windows. I'm trying to config advancemame to work like standard windows in XP. I've got a few things sussed:

device_svgawin_stub fullscreen
device_video sdl

and for the guns:

device_joystick lgrawinput
device_lgrawinput_calibration none
device_mouse none

but I'm finding I can't force a resolution, and that games are not filling the screen properly. What else do I need?

[Silver]

Maybe this new cheap Lightgun option will help bolster support for backporting AdvanceMAME & MameAnaglog+'s dual mouse support into the core MAME release.

I *think* the main problem here is that actually mame does support dual mice(they are all seen as the system mouse I believe), the problem is that windows 2000/XP does not. Am I right in saying that standard mame will support dual mice in Linux?

Anyway the workarounds in analogmame/advancemame (again, I think) rely on either a windows driver (CPN mouse) or DirectX (rawinput) to read the data correctly. The problem here is that both the driver and DirectX are very specifically Windows. And so supporting them in the core would make mame not cross platform, and presumably not compile without alteration on a non-windows platform.

I'm sure someone can correct some of that, and maybe even give examples where this is not true?

For the record, I'd love for it to be included, even if its a commented out option in the source by default.

[mark6437]

Ok so if I plug in the gun to a powered USB port the gun should fire and the slide should move? I dont need the y adapter? Because mine, again, dont fie even though the laser comes on which is supposed to mean the gun see's the stands............Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

As far as the install new hardware screen goes how do I install the drivers? EMS's 1.0 is just some application that comes up and asks you to assign buttons, no drivers there as far as I can tell. ANd WinGun is an application, not individual drivers I dont think.  But heck I sure dont know everything.
Wuld the gun fire even though I didnt install drivers through XP's install new hardware screen that came up?

Mark

Sorry some of you guys are having teething problems. For the record, you don't need the y-adaptor or anything for the gun to work. just stick in the usb connector from the gun, plug in the LED stands, and everything should work there no problem.

As it says in the FAQ, if when calibrating, the laser does not go off then on when you fire, it means the gun can't see the lights or there is interference or you are too close.

I must say I've had no issues at all with my test setup.

When you get that "install new hardware" you have 3 choices. Acorns driver, smogs driver, or the EMS driver. I would go with smogs or acorns(wingun) for now.

[Silver]

The gun will "fire" as far as the system is concerned, but the 'recoil' action will not move. Thats what the extra power is for.

Wingun does come with a driver. C:\Program Files\WinGun has the sys and inf file if you installed with default settings.

[mark6437]

If MameAnalog+ works, which it does, then why cant regular MAME control two marbles or football guys independently? Does not matter about the OS as far as Analogg+ goes because I have it running on XP.
I wish rebel scum would comment. I bet he is reading this.

Mark

Maybe this new cheap Lightgun option will help bolster support for backporting AdvanceMAME & MameAnaglog+'s dual mouse support into the core MAME release.

I *think* the main problem here is that actually mame does support dual mice(they are all seen as the system mouse I believe), the problem is that windows 2000/XP does not. Am I right in saying that standard mame will support dual mice in Linux?

Anyway the workarounds in analogmame/advancemame (again, I think) rely on either a windows driver (CPN mouse) or DirectX (rawinput) to read the data correctly. The problem here is that both the driver and DirectX are very specifically Windows. And so supporting them in the core would make mame not cross platform, and presumably not compile without alteration on a non-windows platform.

I'm sure someone can correct some of that, and maybe even give examples where this is not true?

For the record, I'd love for it to be included, even if its a commented out option in the source by default.

[mark6437]

Ahhhhhhhhhh well you just solved my problems then maybe. I only have one USB port plugged in. I guess I need to go install that y adapter to get it to fire. I will do it in a couple of hours and let ya'll know. my wife is working where the arcade is and I cant really work on it.

And I will redo the install new hardware thing again..............THX Silver!!!

Mark

The gun will "fire" as far as the system is concerned, but the 'recoil' action will not move. Thats what the extra power is for.

Wingun does come with a driver. C:\Program Files\WinGun has the sys and inf file if you installed with default settings.

[Farmboy90]

When the add new hardwares wizard comes up it should do a search and find the GunCon driver (which you MUST have already installed before plugging the gun in).

Well you must if you want XP to load the GunCon driver for you when it detects the gun in the USB port.

So...

- Unistall whatever you have installed.  EMS, GunCon, etc.
- Disconnect the gun and stands from the USB.
- Reboot
- Install Acorn's GunCon drivers
- Install the gun/stand USB connectors

The wizard should then launch and pick the appropriate driver for you.

Now calibrate via the "hold the A and B buttons down" technique.  It the gun doesn't recoil you might have issues.  The main thing is that the laser should flash when you pull the trigger.  if it does, go through the calibration routine - and forget about the fact that it isn't recoiling - for now.

Once that is done you can double click the GunCon icon and start calibrating.

After that you should be able to open mame and pick and game and start playing.  Configure the fire button appropriately if need be via the mame in game menu.

[Farmboy90]

Ahhhhhhhhhh well you just solved my problems then maybe. I only have one USB port plugged in. I guess I need to go install that y adapter to get it to fire. I will do it in a couple of hours and let ya'll know. my wife is working where the arcade is and I cant really work on it.

And I will redo the install new hardware thing again..............THX Silver!!!

Mark

Exactly.  This is what I was saying.  The y adapter thing is needed to supply power to the recoil function.  Otherwise you will get only laser functionality.

[mark6437]

Ok thx alot Farmboy90!! I think what happened is Silver was at first saying I didnt need it for the gun to work. I didnt make myself clear about the recoil. Sorry!! I will let yall know tonight what happens.

Mark

Ahhhhhhhhhh well you just solved my problems then maybe. I only have one USB port plugged in. I guess I need to go install that y adapter to get it to fire. I will do it in a couple of hours and let ya'll know. my wife is working where the arcade is and I cant really work on it.

And I will redo the install new hardware thing again..............THX Silver!!!

Mark

Exactly.  This is what I was saying.  The y adapter thing is needed to supply power to the recoil function.  Otherwise you will get only laser functionality.

[Fozzy The Bear]

author=darthbane2k link=topic=48982.msg480351#msg480351 Where did you buy this game? i'd kill for a copy, same story with the sega pc titles, cant find it anywhere... 

Who Shot Johnny Rock
Mad Dog Mcree
Mad Dog Mcree 2
Space Pirates
Crime Patrol
Crime Patrol Drug Wars
The Last Bounty Hunter

Are all available from Digital Leisure..... But they're over priced from there!! $29.99USD each plus shipping.

The cheapest supplier is Hoots Loot.... www.hoots-loot.com $2.99USD each

Just make sure that you buy the CD-Rom versions, becuase they're Lightgun Compatible.... The DVD versions that get listed as playable on the X-Box Pplaystation and DVD Players are not!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)   

[u_rebelscum]

FWIW, I just got my 2 guns, and will test tonight.  I'm glad I have this thread to review if I have problems!

[jelwell]

I just bought my guns! YAY I can't wait until they come.

I ended up ordering from the-console-corner.com.

After shipping and handling (To San Diego, California, USA) it was a bit cheaper than the others. I presume the following table would apply to anyone in the US.

Store	2 Gun Price	Shipping	2 Gun Total
lik-sang	$69.90	$32.00	$101.90
play-asia	$59.80	$34.40	$94.20
the-console-corner	$85.98	$8.00	$93.98
goldenshop	$66.00	$38.68	$104.68

So even though the-console-corner charges more per gun the shipping is so much cheaper that the total was lower than everyone else.

I did chart buying 4 guns as well, since I was thinking about going in with a friend. Play-asia seems to be the cheapest at $167.10 for 4 guns (including shippping). That would have worked out to me and my friend paying $83.55 each for a set of 2 guns.
Joseph Elwell.

[mark6437]

Outstanding. Smog and Rebel are on the case, cool! Two player T2 here I come.

Mark

FWIW, I just got my 2 guns, and will test tonight.  I'm glad I have this thread to review if I have problems!

[Minwah]

Minwah,
It sounds like what happens when you enable an Analog Joystick and mouse at the same time.  Not sure if it is, but may be a start.

I thought exactly that...but nope, I disabled the joystick.  I haven't really figured out the cause yet, but creating a fresh mame.ini sorted the problem on my cabinet now too   I will probably find the cause of the problem when I make more changes to mame.ini.

EDIT: This turned out to be my ctrlr file...it stops the gun working.  I think it is because I have 'mouse' mapped to lightgun inputs...not 'lightgun'.

So I now pretty much have one gun working great with Acorn's driver (& to some extent Smog's, but I have some reliability issues with that*).  A new problem I have encountered is with the recoil on - I'll be playing a game and everything works fine, and suddenly the gun stops firing (the recoil keeps going, but no shot in-game).  After around 5 seconds it starts working fine again.  I have found that turning off the recoil (unplugging the 'spare' USB plug) fixes the issue, which makes me wonder if it could be some kind of power issue (I have both USB plugs into a USB2 powered external hub).  I will try powering the recoil from a seperate hub or transformer to see if that helps.

Edit: This problem with Smogs driver turned out to be the same thing causing problems with Acorns (the recoil).  I now have Smogs driver working great on my cabinet.

Other random things I've noticed:

It works absolutely fine in low res. modes are far as I can tell.  I calibrated my gun at 640x480 and it works fine even in games at say 320x240 (AVGA 321x240).

I have my gun tip approx. 3.5 feet away from the monitor, and it just about works well.  This is as far back as I can get in my room but I am sure it would be better to be another foot away, from the testing I've done.

Edit: another thing is that for some games I can't get the 'autofire' to work quick enough (I've played with the settings in WinGun and the slide switch on the gun to no avail).  Space Gun is a good example as it has a gauge to show your weapon overheating...holding Ctrl on the keyboard for fire quickly affects the gauge, but with the gun trigger it pretty much stays constant (well goes down then up again).  I'm not sure if this is a hardware or driver issue really.

[Silver]

Edit: another thing is that for some games I can't get the 'autofire' to work quick enough (I've played with the settings in WinGun and the slide switch on the gun to no avail).  Space Gun is a good example as it has a gauge to show your weapon overheating...holding Ctrl on the keyboard for fire quickly affects the gauge, but with the gun trigger it pretty much stays constant (well goes down then up again).  I'm not sure if this is a hardware or driver issue really.

Don't use autofire. I've never used any of the autofire settings.

Spacegun/T2 are similar with the "overheating guns" gameplay, but its designed for when you just hold down the firebutton (which is what all the other lightguns can't do). No autofire, hold down the trigger, and the gun in game will overheat as designed.....

[Minwah]

Don't use autofire. I've never used any of the autofire settings.

Spacegun/T2 are similar with the "overheating guns" gameplay, but its designed for when you just hold down the firebutton (which is what all the other lightguns can't do). No autofire, hold down the trigger, and the gun in game will overheat as designed.....

I've tried this tho, and it just doesn't shoot quick enough...it's so slow in Space Gun the overheat bar barely moves.

On another note, I made a crap quality video clip of me playing Operation Wolf, without crosshair or laser sight to show that the guns are pretty accurate once setup properly: (you might need to paste this into your browser if clicking doesn't work)

[Silver]

Thats odd. I've just tried it now (spacegun) and it overheated just fine as shot loads of badguys...... 

[Minwah]

Thats odd. I've just tried it now (spacegun) and it overheated just fine as shot loads of badguys...... 

Strange...do you have the trigger mapped to mouse button 0 (this is default I believe)?  Also in MAME do you have mouse or lightgun enabled?  Does it really matter?  I have mine set to lightgun.  Oh and what position do you have the slider on the gun?  I don't really see any difference between '1' and '2 Turbo'.

I probably just need to have more of a play around...although I noticed this occurred on 2 systems...

EDIT: turned out the slide switch was on '1'...should have been on '0' (doh)

Shouldn't we be asleep by now anyway?! 

[Silver]

Yes should be asleep! And working 12 hours tomorrow... ouch.

Anyway, autofire on gun I've always had on off, and yes its mouse button 0 I think (so much changing between mame, analogmame, advancemame, Smogs guncon and Wingun its easy to lose track!)

mame I've had:

mouse                   1
joystick                0
lightgun                1
dual_lightgun           0
lightgun_device         lightgun

with no problems I can see. (no idea if i need mouse on or not).

silly question - how do you turn off the target in games (I see you don't have one in opwolf). Its prob v easy but I've liked them to help see how accurate it all is....