Dual Aimtrak and HotD 2 & 3 PC.

[ParkerLewis]

Hi everyone,

I'm calling for help because I have spent the last two days trying to get my dual aimtrak setup to work with HotD 2 & HotD 3 (PC versions) to work and I just can't manage to do it. I am under Windows 7 64 bits.

HotD 2 seems a more complex case as there is the question of which exact version is installed (which I have no idea, shouldnt be too hard to figure out, but might as weel start off without this additional issue), plus I simply can't figure out how to make the second player press start in this game (i must be stupid...), so for now I'll focus on trying to have HotD 3 run correctly.

I am trying with TroubleSHOOTER, the original from http://thetroubleshooter.home.mindspring.com, since I have heard TS2 from dragonking wont work well with these two games. Am i right ?

I have tried a lot of things, followed a tutorial on this (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8EU2Qo18LGEX3dRWHhMOWpSYU0/edit), but no can do.

Here is my setup :

1) Both my Aimtrak guns (firmware 9.15) are recognized and configured fine by the Aimtrak software, with separate IDs (first is Device 1, second is Device 2). They're both configured as "Emulate mouse" (as in the tutorial showed), and thus are both able to control the mouse in Windows as they should with this configuration. The guns themselves work fine (I have tested them independently).

2) I have installed TRBLSH232.MSI (ie, the "old" TroubleShooter, in its latest version, 2.32), from http://thetroubleshooter.home.mindspring.com

3) In TS config window have selected "Dual Act Labs PC USB Light Guns". To determine the correct device to select in the TroubleShooter configuration, I have simply looked at which entry appears/disappears when I plug/unplug each of the guns. I have checked, these are always the same. The config is on "Enable" (ie, the "Enable" button is greyed out, and the "Disable" button is available).

4) In the "Games" tab of TS, House of the Dead 3 properties : compatibility is enabled (ticked). The rest (autoreload, hide gun sight) is disabled for now.

5) I have set up HotD 3 controller settings as Keyboard for both players, as instructed on http://thetroubleshooter.home.mindspring.com/games/hotd3/info.htm. I have left the key settings untouched. I then close the launcher.

6) Since HotD 3 requires a registry fix to accept being launched directly (not from the launcher), I have manually edited the Windows registry to have the "Played" registry values set at 1, both in HLM/Software/SEGA/hod3/settings (the SEGA directory didn't exist, so I added the directory tree manually anyway, but I guess this was not needed) and in HLM/Software/Wow6432Node/SEGA/hod3/settings (where everything was present as expected). Since the second one is reset to 0 after each game, I switch it to 1 just before launching the exe (in the future I'll do a simple .bat to do it automatically). I can't forget this part since otherwise the hod3pc.exe warns and refuses to get launched directly anyway.

7) I then launch the game directly from "hod3pc.exe" and NOT from the launcher (just before i do that I ensure the registry keys are set to 1 in point 6).
But then it seems TS is simply not doing its job :
I launch the game.
In the menu the guns still behave as mices, which I believe they shouldn't do.
In game, both guns can shoot with their trigger, yet sometimes it is reloading instead of shooting. Also the crosshair is simply not moving according to what is done (seems to only be jumping due to ingame recoil).
(Once again, please remember the guns themselves are fine, they are both work quite cleanly under Windows, or when I use them solo without TS as regular mouse)

My keyboard is configured as French, but it doesnt feel like it would affect the aiming problems I'm describing, would it ? (tried switching to US, still same behavior).

I have been trying what feels everything and anything for the past two days to make it work and I simply can't figure out what I should do or what I could still be doing wrong.
Help would be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[TimeCrisis]

okay,

first off fantastic post, you have done your research.

I never tried to get dual lightguns to work on Hotd 2/3 PC, however I would strongly advise using dolphin Hotd 2 and 3 anyway, they work if you set up your guns as joysticks then set the IR bar as cursor/axis y- etc (you will have to note the values, as trying it to do it with automatic detection wont work).

remember Hotd 3 PC has that waypoint selection issue so its best to try and focus on the wii version, in addition HOTD2 can be run in high resolution on Wii, the PC version is stuck on 640x480.

[ParkerLewis]

Thanks for the reply.

Honestly I don't really mind the selection issue in HotD 3 (i have a wireless keyboard so on the rare occasions such a choice has to happen I can easily use it). I'd rather stick with the PC version, as I feel not much should be missing from my current setup. Plus I'd have to setup a Wii Emulator, get a Wii version of the games, etc.

1) My latest idea is that I might not be using a recognized / expected version of the exe TS is looking for.

Looking at TRBLSHTR.ini in TS' folder lets one see some EXE signatures of sorts TS is checking ; for example for HotD 3 :

EXESigAddr=0x0B00042
EXESignature=0x2E35657E

Does anyone know how I can check my exe aginst these numbers ?

I have tried converting the 2nd one into decimal, expecting maybe a filesize (in bytes or bits) for the second one, but it is equal to 775 251 326, which is far too much (be it in bits or bytes). So, any idea on how to obtain any exe's "SigAddr" and "Signature" ?

I will also try looking at the adress in hexa and seeing if the file contents matches the signature.

2) Also, just saw that in the TS folder appeared a "hod3pc.exe.log" file, containing 4 lines of "Exception in GlobalHookProc". Any idea how to troubleshoot (haha...) that ?

[TimeCrisis]

it maybe the case that you have no option but to try out the wii version for 2 player support.

also the Wii version does not show crosshairs when you fire, pretty sure the PC versions of Hotd 2/3 show your crosshairs when you shoot.

I think there may be an issue in the PC version of HOTD3 in that it auto reloads when you fire at the screen, in the wii version it at least keeps it like the arcade and forces you to move the gun outside of the screen to reload.

in addition save states are useful to skip right into the game upon launching instead of navigating menus and waiting on loading screens, you could also setup special save states like 'play stage 2 with 3 credits only' kinda stuff.

I think it would be great if someone did figure out 2 player for these games on the PC version, if it can't be done we should continue discussion of the Wii version as a viable option.

[ParkerLewis]

Well, I have seen ppl here claiming they made it work

For example, here : http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=100010.0

Or here (see and2's post) : http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130784.200.html :

Hotd3 works off ts1. I didnt do anything special to get this working. It just worked with no customisation the same as virtua cops snd hotd2

[ParkerLewis]

For information, I have made it work (both with "the original" TS whose author is unknown and with dragonking's newer and superior "TS2") and produced a quick guide to use TS2_1.2 (latest version) with PC games :

===> SETUP GUIDE FOR DUAL IR GUNS WITH TS2 <===

(please feel free to delete the post if linking to another forum isnt allowed)

(edit : updated link as the hosting forum changed its database)