Sub simulator Seawolf 1 & 2 atomic FE + LEDWiz + plus mamehooker help

[lotus241]

Ok I have been lurking for a few months now....and finally had to throw in the towel and ask for advice

 I have been working on a dedicated Seawolf cabinet to run Seawolf, Seawolf 2, and Up Scope on.  I have the programs working in Mame 0.147 accessing via Atomic FE.  I have updated the front end to be a little more themed related.  Now in order to make these games worth any time they need to have the outputs working.  Since its in a dedicated Seawolf cab the plan is to hook up all torpedo lights, explosions and add in the few different ones for Seawolf 2.  To improve upon it more I plan to tap into the explosion / hit output signals to drive two small motors in each handle with counter weights to create vibration during hits....thats right the first seawolf force feed back.

All was going well....read, printed, highlighted every ledwiz / mamehooker thread.  I have killed a tree printing this stuff. I have read the mame hooker readme and after a few times over I think I actually understand the whole script thing rather well. 

I am lost as to what my issue is.  I am not sure if I have bum LEDWiz ( which i doubt since it shows up in supported devices ) or if some connection between mamehooker and the device are not synching.

I even went as far to try LEDblinky software....even then I could not get any lights...even through troubleshooting

So it what I know about my current point is:
Mame works
Atomic FE works
Mamehooker sort of works - it does show outputs
I ran it and it showed outputs
I have gone into the Mamehooker ini's and edited them for code mostly lws 1 1 %s%
I have even edited the ini's once for all outputs to signal off of port 32 to try and get at least one light - nadda
I have checked wiring against LEDWiz GP instructions - looks good and mimics others on here
I have check voltage from power supply  - have 12 volts. 
Light bulb works when jumpered so light works
Running tests and codes in mamehooker yields no results.

Only error or thing see is when I try to edit in mamehooker ini for parent and driver it gives me an error  - no clue on this one



Wiring plan after prove out- to lazy to draw every wire it all but it should work.  - I am bench testing with only port 32 hooked to a light bulb



Mame Folder on my computer



Atomic FE Folder on my computer



Mame Hooker INI folder




Trial of edited Seawolf ini - you can see how i tried to get port 32 to light with the ready light  - nothing



Front end game selection screen - the only thing I did right



Mame Hooker showing it supports LEDwiz #1


Trying to test in mamehooker



mamehooker showing an output...which is odd because I thought it would show the port 32 command not 22 since port 32 was listed last.  Also when exiting a game it only shows one line....even thought I should have had multiple outputs during play


Any input on what I am doing wrong or what to debug and how. 

[lotus241]

Well I got annoyed and made up a LPT port hack using 5 LEDs...changed the Mame Hooker INI for Seawolf and finally life!!   
 
I will try the LEDWiz on another computer before i toss it.  If I cant get it to work maybe some other types will work. 

Now as I try to get the LPT port to work correctly...and i know these are know issues....just not sure how to solve. 

1) LPT port powers on lights at start up....is there a way to have them reset at least before mame starts? 
2) LPT port lights do not seem to accept my Lpe 1 1 %1% ini file - it crashes Mamehooker.  Only a Lpe 1 1 1  statement seems to work.  This is nice and all but I need these values to act and turn off when mame a changes state, i actually think it acting in reverse since the LPT port is on.  I'll try writting lpe 1 1 0...who knows. 
 

Ok modified the default ini directly in Mamehooker with lpe 1 1 %s% - functions as it should , I now have topedos, reload and ready status!!!!!!! .   I still need like 14 more outputs....so I am still stuck with either trying to get LEDwiz or some other output device to work before I can claim success

time for a beer.

3) I see mention of writting SCRIPTS and RFS read from scripts in the INI in the Chase HQ thread - ok....what the heck is a Script, where do I find them, how do i edit...anything special needed?  I tried google and Wiki - head explodes .  No one writes this stuff for simple people. 
  I am still interested but since the issue is half resolved its not such a concern

4) Any recommendations for a LED / or external driver?  I see the PAC64 seems to have all of outputs I need. 

5) Also anyone else have LEDwiz issues / drivers issues?  I see mentioning of DLL and OCXs. I wrote to LEDwiz but have not heard back yet ( it is the weekend ) Anyone one know of places to down load these and where these file go once downloaded?

[lotus241]

Tried the LEDwiz with 2 other computers....nadda.  all computers recongnize it....but when using LEDBlinky to try and activate it still nothing.  Logic would say if i select all LEDs on to max intensity in the simple test it would light up my port 1 bulb.  Yes I created a port / key map.  Had it so port 1 will activate at key a.   Checked wiring to the fig 2 as included with it, even tried the USB 5V way.  Tried it again on the mame machine ...nothing. 
 

What am i missing here?? 


Will mamehooker work with other USB I/Os?  The robot guys got killer ones of these things...like 56 outputs, built in relays...

[Howard_Casto]

If it isn't working in ledblinky either, then it's either your commands, the ledwiz ocx, or the hardware itself. 

You keep mentioning setting the intensity.... you are turning the output on as well right?

Setting the intensity of a output on a ledwiz does nothing unless the state is first turned on.  After that you can set the intensity to 48 or 0 to essentially turn the output off and on. 

Also ledwiz has issues with relays.  I can't remember specifically, but I think there is a special (undocumented) intensity setting you need to use to trip a relay. 

[lotus241]

Yes had the setting set, granted to 48....figured max was best.  I am not tying relays yet....just 1 little bulb.  If i can get 1 to work I'll wire the whole thing up.  I'll try it again and make sure I set the intensity ...although I am fairly certain I did it in the same order you described.  Any updates to the OCX around?   

My commands work with the LPT port using your mamehooker so I would think they would would if changed from lpe to lws.  The fact it doesnt work on three different computers....

Thanks for the input

[lotus241]

Well spoke with Randy at LEDWiz....figured it pretty quickly.  It turns out I had it wired sort of wrong.  I assumed the LEDWiz was switching the power and sending power out each port...so in effect I was actually sending ground to a light bulb that was grounded.  So now after a quick swap of the ground on the light to +12V it works, makehooker activites it as does LEDblinky.    I figured out of the programming and coding but got the wires wrong....ugh.  So simple after you have done it right once.

Any way now I can move forward with the project.  Thanks Howard and Randy

[BadMouth]

This project sounds awesome.  Would love to see pics or video of it!