Joystick sensitivity (button press vs button hold)

[Guld]

Hello everyone!
I just joined this forum after lurking for ages. 99% of the time I can find the answers I need by looking around, but not with the issue I am having now.

For some reason MAME is registering my button presses as if I was holding the button. I have been using the Wii Hori fighting stick + Wii classic controller to usb adapter, but this happens with any joystick/gamepad (This doesn't happen with a regular usb keyboard however). It also doesn't happen every single time I press a button so I can still play but it happens often enough to make it extremely aggravating. One terrible way to fix this is to turn on auto fire but then I lose the ability to hold a button entirely, less than ideal.

I can get rid of the issue entirely if I press the buttons EXTREMELY fast, so it really seems to me that there is something going with the way MAME dictates how long a button needs to be held to count as a hold (vs. pressing it) when the input comes from the joystick? I just dont know.

I am using MAME v0.140 but I have also tried different versions (Plus, 32, etc.) and the issue is still there. It also happens with most games, last one I noticed it a lot was D&D shadow over mystara.

Now my question is how can I fix this? I am making plans for an arcade cabinet but I need to know what would fix this. Would this be better if I get a different controller (like say the xarcade?), or maybe the ipac would definitely get rid of it. I just don't want to spend a bunch of money and have the issue again.

Not sure if PC specs have anything to do with the issue but I am running it on an old P4 3.2 ghz with 1 gb ram.

Thanks in advance.

[Howard_Casto]

I know this doesn't help but.... usb joysticks work just fine in MAME, so the issue is something on your end.  That being said, console 2 usb adaptors are wierd to say the least, when you say "other joysticks" make sure you are talking about a real usb joystick and not a console joystick fed through an adaptor. 

You may be getting joystick lag due to various issues.  Try messing with the "windows performance options" section of your mame.ini

[Guld]

Well I just borrowed a logitech usb joystick from a friend to test it out and the issue still happens. I did some more research thought and found that I was wrong initially.

It's not that MAME is having issues with how long a button needs to be held, it's that two sequential button inputs are blending into one. I noticed this because it never happens the first time I press the button, only when I press it repeatedly.

Well, I am out of options. I've tried every option and I still have the issue.

I am contemplating buying the xarcade tankstick but if this crap happens with it too then I have no idea what to do.

[Gray_Area]

Yeah. Ghosting.

[Howard_Casto]

Yeah. Ghosting.

There's really no such thing as ghosting on usb joysticks (It's technically possible, but extremely uncommon).... that's more of a keyboard thing. 

As I said, mess with the performance options.... it's usually a thread priority or similar issue that causes wonky joystick performance. 

It can also be caused by your FE not letting go of your joystick when mame is launched. 

[Guld]

I tried a bunch of different setting and nothing worked. I figured it could be my comp so I tried the same joysticks (wii hori and logitech usb) on two other computers.

one was running windows xp, installed from the same windows cd as my comp and the same issue happened. The other comp has windows 7 and both sticks worked perfectly...so...

Could it be that my OS is messing with the joysticks/mame? I mean...I find it very odd that both computers running the same version of windows are having the same issue.

Anyway, I am thinking of installing Linux and using SDLMame, does it run ok?

[Howard_Casto]

Well mame uses direct input, so if both machines have old versions of directx installed that could be the cause.  Windows 7 obviously has a newer version of directx installed right off the bat. 

Sdl mame works... it's slow but it works.  You'll be limiting yourself in terms of emulators and support apps if you go the linux route.... that's the main difference.