Light Gun question

[Shieldwolf]

Since Light guns from Happs seem cost prohibitive, I decided I could use ps2 guns and rewire for my cabinet, but here is a question is there a difference between guns made in europe vs usa. I found a model I like but I want it in black. Of course the us version only comes in blue. Any Ideas?

[HeadRusch]

Uh, you need to rethink what you're going to do here...because light guns aren't necessarily compatible with each other.  

The Happs guns that they sell, I'm not sure that you can interface them with anything other than the games built especially for them....not sure of course, but I dont recall seeing a whole lot of people using happs arcade lightguns.

PS/PS2 guns will work running PS/PS2 games on your TV, not on mame.

Act Labs makes Mame-ready PC guns, and soon (if not already) they will have released the TV-compatible version (not compatible with VGA monitors)...but those are your only real options.

And finally yes, there might be a difference between US and UK guns......our television sets operate on different standards so that may affect lightgun performance on playstation/ps2 television based systems, if they'd even work at all.  Not sure how this compares to videogame monitors or computer monitors...

[Shieldwolf]

http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/gunmod.htm

But in theory if it worked for this could you not just rewire for usb or ps2?

[Chris]

http://www.chads.arcade.btinternet.co.uk/gunmod.htm

But in theory if it worked for this could you not just rewire for usb or ps2?

No.

In this case, he's wiring it to the game board, which already understands how to talk to a gun. PC's don't already know how to talk to a gun, which is why the Act-Labs gun has a separate control box that talks to the gun, converts that into mouse signals, and passes along that info to the PC.

You could possibly use the info on that page to hack a different gun to an Act-Labs control box, but you can't go directly to the PC.

--Chris

[Shieldwolf]

thnx

[Shieldwolf]

do they make a recoil gun ?

[Chris]

Not yet...

[Shieldwolf]

could you take a ps1 or 2 gun and rewire it for a pc. I saw this done for an arcade pcb.

[rampy]

could you take a ps1 or 2 gun and rewire it for a pc. I saw this done for an arcade pcb.

even though one would think you could... you in fact cannot (or cannot easily).

The *best* and really only feasible route is to use Act Labs USB PC light gun (and even that leaves a lot to be desired)

Rampy

[Chris]

(and even that leaves a lot to be desired)

I disagree.  I love my gun!  I do wish they would sell the control box separately, though, so you could hack an arcade gun to it if you so desire...

--Chris

[rampy]

(and even that leaves a lot to be desired)

I disagree.  I love my gun!  I do wish they would sell the control box separately, though, so you could hack an arcade gun to it if you so desire...

--Chris

eh... to each his own... but I desire real concurrent 2 player light gun goodness (and better accuracy)... but then again, I'm not a lightgun guy and quickly get bored playing them...  (oooh another zombie, I better shoot him! yawn.)

Rampy

[Chris]

eh... to each his own... but I desire real concurrent 2 player light gun goodness
 (and better accuracy)

I've got a second gun on order... I'm going to test out u_rebelscum's 2-gun code.  He's got both positional and relative versions of the 2-gun code, so it should be more accurate all around...

but then again, I'm not a lightgun guy and quickly get bored playing them...  (oooh another zombie, I better shoot him! yawn.)

I'm really not, either, but my daughter and niece fight over the gun now, and they're my main customers, so as the operator I have to keep them happy!

--Chris

[Chris]

And the results are in... two USB guns ROCK!  It took me a moment to figure out I had to set up the separate triggers in the game's control setup, but it works like a champ now!

The rear gunsight piece of each gun snaps off... I'm going to paint these removeable pieces red and blue to differentiate the guns...

--Chris

[Chris]

These are the VGA Monitor guns.

[anthony691]

And the results are in... two USB guns ROCK!  It took me a moment to figure out I had to set up the separate triggers in the game's control setup, but it works like a champ now!

The rear gunsight piece of each gun snaps off... I'm going to paint these removeable pieces red and blue to differentiate the guns...

--Chris

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

[Chris]

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

What I need to find is transparent blue and red s the mettaic undercat s still visible...

I suppose the best thing to do would be to buy the Happ gun shells and transplant the Act-Labs innards to them so I'd have arcade-quality guns... bu the empty sells are another $27 per gun...

[anthony691]

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

What I need to find is transparent blue and red s the mettaic undercat s still visible...

I suppose the best thing to do would be to buy the Happ gun shells and transplant the Act-Labs innards to them so I'd have arcade-quality guns... bu the empty sells are another $27 per gun...

Plus you could break them transplanting them...

[Chris]

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

What I need to find is transparent blue and red s the mettaic undercat s still visible...

I suppose the best thing to do would be to buy the Happ gun shells and transplant the Act-Labs innards to them so I'd have arcade-quality guns... bu the empty sells are another $27 per gun...

Plus you could break them transplanting them...

There is definately that... although the guns should be very simple inside... for now I'm just going to paint the gunsight slides and be happy...

[jimlab]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but since we're on the subject of light gun hacking...

Is there any reason why a light gun couldn't be made to work with a DOS cabinet using a serial interface (like an Opti-Pac)?

The reason I ask is because my cabinet is DOS-based and I like it the way it is, but would like to use light guns and run Area 51 and other games. Heck, even Duck Hunt would be more fun with a light gun.

I read the page which detailed hacking a light gun for use with a PCB, and it seemed to be a simple 4-wire connection. What does the AL light gun "converter" do to switch the input(s) of their gun to something that a PC understands? Is it converting it to mouse x,y coordinates and (I'm assuming) button presses?

Bottom line, it'd be great to be able to use light guns on a DOS cabinet, but if I absolutely have to, I suppose I can always upgrade to ArcadeVGA and run Windows to get USB support. I happen to like the setup I have with AdvanceMenu and AdvanceMAME, though.

Thanks for any ideas or help.

[Chris]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but since we're on the subject of light gun hacking...

Is there any reason why a light gun couldn't be made to work with a DOS cabinet using a serial interface (like an Opti-Pac)?

A better path would be to find a DOS USB mouse driver, or a Linux one and port it to DOS.  You would be limited to one gun, of course....

[Chris]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but since we're on the subject of light gun hacking...

Is there any reason why a light gun couldn't be made to work with a DOS cabinet using a serial interface (like an Opti-Pac)?

A better path would be to find a DOS USB mouse driver, or a Linux one and port it to DOS.  You would be limited to one gun, of course....

After some searching, I found a DOS USB mouse driver at http://www.bootdisk.com/sushi/usbmice.zip, but I hear its large and flaky.  I don't have a DOS machine handy to test it on, but if I have some time I'll play around with it and see if it works with the gun...

--Chris

[jimlab]

Thanks Chris. I have an Opti-Pac sitting around since I don't have room on my CP for my trac-ball or my spinner, so if there's any way to tie into that, that'd be cool too...

[anthony691]

Keep me informed... www.lightgun.tk has been kinda slow as of late

[jimlab]

I also found this...
http://www.freedos.org/freedos/news/technote/179.html

[Chris]

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

Okay, here we go:



These were done using PlastiKote automotive touch-up paint from Advance Auto.  Since they're mettalic paints, they go well with the silver-grey guns.  These spray paints dry quickly, too; two coats five minutes apart, 15 minutes to dry, polished them with a cotton cloth to remove paint dust, and put them back on the guns!

--Chris

[anthony691]

I like the Red/Blue idea! Send me some pics when you are done!

Okay, here we go:



These were done using PlastiKote automotive touch-up paint from Advance Auto.  Since they're mettalic paints, they go well with the silver-grey guns.  These spray paints dry quickly, too; two coats five minutes apart, 15 minutes to dry, polished them with a cotton cloth to remove paint dust, and put them back on the guns!

--Chris

Nice! Mind if I post a pic along w/ your description (I will of course give you your credit!)

How will you mount them? Standard hook?

LOOKS COOL!

[Chris]

Nice! Mind if I post a pic along w/ your description (I will of course give you your credit!)

Go ahead!  Take anything I've ever written about the lightguns...

How will you mount them? Standard hook?

No... I have some black vinyl material; I'm going to try to create a double holster by sewing the vinyl around a pair of Koozie cup rings, and then screwing that under my control panel overhang.

Rubber-lined car cupholders might make decent holsters, too...

LOOKS COOL!

Thanks!

[jimlab]

Chris, have you done a full write-up of your dual gun setup elsewhere? I searched but wasn't able to find it if it already exists.

I plan on buying two of the Act Labs guns and then hopefully I can figure out how to hack their control boxes to work with Haps ".45" guns in pink and blue for "realism". I think that the recoil versions could be set up pretty easily, but we'll see. I haven't been able to find any documentation on two guns at once, though.

I ordered an ArcadeVGA card and I'm going to switch to running in Windows to get the light gun functionality.

[night]

i thought the PC guns were only 1 player  

[Chris]

i thought the PC guns were only 1 player  

MAME: Analog+ has support for two guns for Windows 98/ Win ME only.

--Chris

[u_rebelscum]

i thought the PC guns were only 1 player  

Officially, they are one player.  However, if you have win98 or winME, you can get the PC guns to do two player with MameAnalog+ (see sig).  Due to OS differences, winXP/2000/NT are still only one player.