Lichtknarre: Unmodified Wii remote as a sight accurate Lightgun using 2/4 LEDs

[karoloydi]

Just received my Overshot (buckshot) gun! Got it for only £5, cause the nunchuch part does not work.
I think I can still fix it. The nunchuck attachment broke off and fell inside.
The trigger and reload still work well.
I just mapped the start button to the trigger and set the games to freeplay for now.
Playing house of the dead was very good

[ZTylerDurden717]

I had assumed non button-pressed off-screen reload would only work with dolphin emulator. Turns out i can do it perfectly well with latest pcsx2.  Does anyone have off-screen reload working for them in other emulators? Which ones and how did you do it?

Demul and Technoparrot also suppport this

Awesome thanks for the info.

I'd be interested in Demul.  So all you had to do was calibrate in the test menu for whichever game and it allowed off-screen reloading? Vjoy mode using demulshooter?

[karoloydi]

Awesome thanks for the info.

I'd be interested in Demul.  So all you had to do was calibrate in the test menu for whichever game and it allowed off-screen reloading? Vjoy mode using demulshooter?

Yes, vjoy mode and demulshooter. I don't remember about the test menu. You might not need to do that.

[ZTylerDurden717]

Yes, vjoy mode and demulshooter. I don't remember about the test menu. You might not need to do that.

Confirmed this works with HotD2 demul!  But not possible with Confidential Mission.  Still pretty cool.

[karoloydi]

I tried to use Lichtnarre with Guitar Hero Arcade, with my guitar hero wii guitar, but the buttons are not recognised.
Does anyone know why?
I thought they worked as a nunchuck.

[Fusselkroete]

No this is an extra peripheral. what are the benefits to use this in LK? Sounds like out of scope?

[ZTylerDurden717]

Yes, vjoy mode and demulshooter. I don't remember about the test menu. You might not need to do that.

Would you mind testing Time Crisis 2 on PCSX2 and see if you can reproduce the issue with this emulator?  I can calibrate perfectly but after that calibration screen I can't hit the edges of the screen (like there's an invisible wall) and the aiming is off like this:

[karoloydi]

No this is an extra peripheral. what are the benefits to use this in LK? Sounds like out of scope?

I found another software, but every time I would use that separate software I would have to turn off lichtnarre and disable vjoy.
It's too many steps to just play one game.

[karoloydi]

Yes, vjoy mode and demulshooter. I don't remember about the test menu. You might not need to do that.

Would you mind testing Time Crisis 2 on PCSX2 and see if you can reproduce the issue with this emulator?  I can calibrate perfectly but after that calibration screen I can't hit the edges of the screen (like there's an invisible wall) and the aiming is off like this:

Mine is slightly off on top. It goes about 95%. Left right and down is fine.

[Fusselkroete]

No this is an extra peripheral. what are the benefits to use this in LK? Sounds like out of scope?

I found another software, but every time I would use that separate software I would have to turn off lichtnarre and disable vjoy.
It's too many steps to just play one game.

ok maybe in future i find the time to add support for this.

[ZTylerDurden717]

Mine is slightly off on top. It goes about 95%. Left right and down is fine.

I made a better video.  You don't have this issue on the sides AFTER calibration screen?


EDIT: Non-issue.  Widescreen patch was on and caused the alignment issue.

[karoloydi]

Mine is slightly off on top. It goes about 95%. Left right and down is fine.

I made a better video.  You don't have this issue on the sides AFTER calibration screen?


EDIT: Non-issue.  Widescreen patch was on and caused the alignment issue.

No, it works fine for me.

[ZTylerDurden717]

No, it works fine for me.

Works now for me too.

I believe it's a known issue with pcsx2, but if you figure out accurate 2 player split-screen time crisis 2 let us know.

[karoloydi]

Sometiems I have to turn off and on Lichtnarre a couple of times until it picks up my controllers.
Or sometimes it picks up the first controller and have to turn off and on to pick up the second.
Does anyone else have this?

[ZTylerDurden717]

Sometiems I have to turn off and on Lichtnarre a couple of times until it picks up my controllers.
Or sometimes it picks up the first controller and have to turn off and on to pick up the second.
Does anyone else have this?

Only if Dolphin emu is open while synchronizing LK to wiimotes, I may randomly have something similar.  I usually solve this by not having Dolphin open during the process.

[karoloydi]

Can you play Dolphin with lichtnarre?
I haven't tried it yet.
It should be more accurate with 4 LEDs.

[Fusselkroete]

Sometiems I have to turn off and on Lichtnarre a couple of times until it picks up my controllers.
Or sometimes it picks up the first controller and have to turn off and on to pick up the second.
Does anyone else have this?

connection problems mostly appears on low battery.

[karoloydi]

Has anyone managed to get sega clay challenge to work?
I keep getting wrong rom size error.

Edit: I downloaded the latest 0.261 version of mame and it works.

[karoloydi]

I noticed that Sinden light Gun has a 16:9 to 4:3 switch.
That would be very useful to implement for Lichtnarre, and I don't think it would be too hard.
Maybe do a long press shortcut as well? Like we have at the moment for switching between mouse and vjoy?
That would be pretty cool I think.

[Fusselkroete]

I noticed that Sinden light Gun has a 16:9 to 4:3 switch.
That would be very useful to implement for Lichtnarre, and I don't think it would be too hard.
Maybe do a long press shortcut as well? Like we have at the moment for switching between mouse and vjoy?
That would be pretty cool I think.

That will not happen. Sinden has no IR offsets/game offsets. It works a little differently here (https://geekonarium.de/en/what-is-ir-offset-and-why-do-i-need-it/). But! There will be profiles for games so that this is then automatically reconfigured when you switch to another gaming/working-process(emulators or something). Also manual switching is possible. Alot of todos already in the queue for LK. Currently you can also just copy and paste the whole installation folder from LK and then configure it for a new game.

[karoloydi]

I noticed that Sinden light Gun has a 16:9 to 4:3 switch.
That would be very useful to implement for Lichtnarre, and I don't think it would be too hard.
Maybe do a long press shortcut as well? Like we have at the moment for switching between mouse and vjoy?
That would be pretty cool I think.

That will not happen. Sinden has no IR offsets/game offsets. It works a little differently here (https://geekonarium.de/en/what-is-ir-offset-and-why-do-i-need-it/). But! There will be profiles for games so that this is then automatically reconfigured when you switch to another gaming/working-process(emulators or something). Also manual switching is possible. Alot of todos already in the queue for LK. Currently you can also just copy and paste the whole installation folder from LK and then configure it for a new game.

That sounds good to me!

[karoloydi]

Woohoo!

I managed to get ps3 move lighgun games to work.
I have played Time Crisis Razing Storm and Time Crisis 4 so far. They play great.
I'm downloading some more to try.
It's 1 player only, cause it works with mouse plugin.
If anyone is interested in a tutorial, please let me know.

[karoloydi]

I noticed that Sinden light Gun has a 16:9 to 4:3 switch.
That would be very useful to implement for Lichtnarre, and I don't think it would be too hard.
Maybe do a long press shortcut as well? Like we have at the moment for switching between mouse and vjoy?
That would be pretty cool I think.

That will not happen. Sinden has no IR offsets/game offsets. It works a little differently here (https://geekonarium.de/en/what-is-ir-offset-and-why-do-i-need-it/). But! There will be profiles for games so that this is then automatically reconfigured when you switch to another gaming/working-process(emulators or something). Also manual switching is possible. Alot of todos already in the queue for LK. Currently you can also just copy and paste the whole installation folder from LK and then configure it for a new game.

Another useful feature would be to be able to map the mouse buttons to whichever wiimote button you want. Most of the times the reload button is button A and it's hard to reach. it would be better ot be able to map it to button Z. Also to have a middle mouse button, that would be useful. Some games use the middle button for grenade.

[Fusselkroete]

I noticed that Sinden light Gun has a 16:9 to 4:3 switch.
That would be very useful to implement for Lichtnarre, and I don't think it would be too hard.
Maybe do a long press shortcut as well? Like we have at the moment for switching between mouse and vjoy?
That would be pretty cool I think.

That will not happen. Sinden has no IR offsets/game offsets. It works a little differently here (https://geekonarium.de/en/what-is-ir-offset-and-why-do-i-need-it/). But! There will be profiles for games so that this is then automatically reconfigured when you switch to another gaming/working-process(emulators or something). Also manual switching is possible. Alot of todos already in the queue for LK. Currently you can also just copy and paste the whole installation folder from LK and then configure it for a new game.

Another useful feature would be to be able to map the mouse buttons to whichever wiimote button you want. Most of the times the reload button is button A and it's hard to reach. it would be better ot be able to map it to button Z. Also to have a middle mouse button, that would be useful. Some games use the middle button for grenade.

Yes, this is already planned

It will be called somehow like this: Tracker to Connector Plugin Assignment System
Tracker Plugins can publish all kind of types. Axis, Buttons, Gyros, 3D positions etc.
This can be assigned to Connector plugin inputs. this hopefully should look like blender shader editor in future. Also Modifiers would be cool to assign inbetween .

Coding is pain and slow. so im not 100% sure if this feature will come like this. We will see. :-) But this would be the optimal solution.

Atm i try to publish this: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hr5rhfJXKckCDkUgpZxucUXRTshW1757/view?usp=drive_link

[karoloydi]

Wow,

I can't wait to try it.

[smallgamer]

Been trying out this software recently and its truly something incredible! Unfortunately I've run into an issue. I was able to pair my wiimote to my computer via BT, and am able to have it recognized in Lichtknarre. I have successfully used the Wii controller in the past through software like Wiitar thing or on Dolphin using the sensor bar so I know there is not an issue in detecting the bluetooth pairing. Once paired to Lichtnarre, I am able to do the calibration and then use the wiimote as a mouse on my desktop. However, as soon as I actually launch a game, regardless of the emulator I am launching it with, the Wiimote is no longer detected by Lichtknarre but is still connected to my PC via bluetooth. I have seen others mention that sometimes having Dolphin open can cause a fight between the programs on who detects it but I have turned off any pairing of a real wiimote to Dolphin and Dolphin has never been opened throughout my testing of Lichtknarre. Any reason why this might be happening?

[RandyT]

Once paired to Lichtnarre, I am able to do the calibration and then use the wiimote as a mouse on my desktop.

This probably isn't all that helpful, but once you have reached that point, anything which happens after that is not specifically related to Lichtknarre.   Something on the system is interrupting the relationship between the controller and the LK software, be it a third party utility which might be waiting in the background to launch with whatever app you are starting, or the app itself.  Basically, anything which hooks controllers to read them directly, even if it is not specifically geared toward BT devices, could interfere with LK's communications.

You stated that you have used other similar drivers/apps on the system prior, so my question is how much of the code from those is continuing to linger on the system, possibly even after an uninstall?  By their nature, some of these kinds of drivers use code which digs deep into the lower rings of the operating system, like at the kernal level, and might be difficult or even impossible to remove without a special piece of software specifically designed for that task, which would need to be provided by the developer.

Or, it might just be a silly configuration error for whichever application might be causing the issue   It's hard to know, but if fiddling with app configs yields no success, it's likely going to be something much more difficult to figure out, given the other software you had running previously on the system. 

[smallgamer]

Very interesting! I  thought it was strange that it worked perfectly fine until actually launching a game using an emulator regardless of which one it was. I wonder if it could be something like a frontend software such as Launchbox causing the issue. I will have to do some testing because it seems like the trigger is simply launching a game even through standalone emulators. Has anyone had experience using Lichtknarre and Launchbox?

[Fusselkroete]

Hi,

just want to mention that a new version is now available 0.9.11.25 for download:

Features:
# ViGem Connector plugin
## Tutorial: https://geekonarium.de/en/vigem-lightgun-emulator-configuration/
## more infos: https://github.com/nefarius/ViGEm.NET

# native rumble feedback from emulators for ViGem/Vjoy-connector-plugins
# key schemas for connector plugins
# Select display for mouse connector plugin
# option to invert x,y

Fixes:
# Performence update
# show to tray works now
# start minimized works now

The new viGem connector plugin also works with Retroarch or other emulators. I hope now all emulators/steam or other third party applications are compatible. Thank you RandyT for showing me the vigem driver.

let me know if you find bugs.

[firedance]

Hi,

Have dabbled quite a while ago with this program but thought i'd give the new version another try, used an official wiimote, dolphin bar with the beta firmware to make it into a normal sensor bar then used a no name Bluetooth dongle i didn't even know i had to try seemed to work ok but kept getting random pauses on either the mouse mode or the new ViGem plug-in so thought i'd try a better dongle, many to choose from but went for this one - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YLDVM6B?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 was cheap and have used their products before, much better and so far no more pauses, only tried it with Mame but will try with other emulators when i can get the chance, might also try to knock up a 4 led sensor so i can get closer to the screen, overall it works a treat and keep up the good work 

[Fusselkroete]

Glad you like it.

There will be a tutorial for Retroarch soon, when I have time. But the essence of the tutorial is to use ViGem, set the Device Type to Analogue Arcade Gun and have the aspect ratio right (strech fullscreen) or use IR Offset.

See Picture:

https://geekonarium.de/en/vigem-lightgun-emulator-configuration/#retroarch

If someone is interested to write tutorials look here:
https://geekonarium.de/en/vigem-lightgun-emulator-configuration/#submittutorial

[firedance]

Thanks for the heads up with RetroArch

Have been using BigBox (Launchbox) as my frontend, use a Xbox controller to control the menus but if Lichtknarre is running with the Vigem plugin active BigBox thinks the wiimote is the Xbox controller and just randomly scrolls through all the menus and i can't control it with the normal Xbox controller, only way to regain control is shutdown Lichtknarre which is obviously no good if trying to play light gun games such as point blank in Mame, hope that makes sense 

Is there a setting I'm missing in Lichtknarre ?

i could always hide it from BigBox using Devreorder - https://github.com/briankendall/devreorder which has come in handy in the past to keep various controllers in order so Mame behaves itself 

[Fusselkroete]

I would suggest that you start Lichtknarre first, before the game starts. Write a batch script or something Make a delay after the start of Lichtknarre and before the start of the game, so that the controllers are also set up correctly by Lichtknarre. After the game is finished, end the Lichtknarre process with a script.

Alternatively, you can also change the plugin by pressing and holding the home button. There are also settings for this. Have a look.

[firedance]

Thanks again for the quick reply, will have a look at the home button option you mentioned when I can

[firedance]

Sorted the problem with "BigBox" controls going crazy, in the controller options it was set to use the left stick AND the d-pad on the Xbox controller for the menus, changed it to D-pad only, works as intended now, feel kinda foolish i didn't check this before hand but hey it's an easy fix 

Still not looked at the other emulators yet, bit busy in real life.

[Fusselkroete]

Same here with real life.

FYI: There also calibration modes for the connector plugins. They help you to calibrate the emulators. Click on ? for more explaination. But the biggest feature is that you can calibrate the axes better because they have been mapped to the buttons.

[firedance]

Managed to grab a few hours yesterday to have a fiddle with other emulators, retroarch for me has always been a pain with controls when you have different types plugged in, used psx rearmed core for playstation, no matter what I did I couldn't get the crosshair to move in time crisis so after an hour I gave up lol,  had some food then tried pcsx2, after trial and error I got that working very well, might post a small guide when I get the chance, got me thinking that duckstation (playstation) is very similar to pcsx2, didn't take long to get that up and running, with both emulators it was tricky getting the aiming axis to register the correct movement with the wiimote, found the config/ini for both, quick manual edit and both work spot on, lost an hour playing various light gun games 

Not tried other emulators but that was the main 2 I wanted after Mame

[Fusselkroete]

Hello, I would be very happy about tutorials. Just make one on Google Docs or something similar, then I can publish it on the geekonarium website under your name. You can also add pictures. Test each step several times to make sure it works.

[firedance]

A rough guide to setup "Duckstation" for the Lichtknarre software

Download and install Duckstation to the location of choice (mine is - G:/Launcbox/Emulators/Duckstation LIGHTGUN, before running it create a blank text file called portable.txt and place that in the root folder of Duckstation, what this does is make it portable and any files that Duckstation creates will be in the same folder and not in Documents, makes it much easy to move about AND in my case I've created 2 installs of Duckstation, one just for Light gun games and one for normal controller ones, for me it just makes it quicker and easier than trying to mess about getting all the controllers to work together, Oh Don't forgot the Bios files

Run Duckstation so it creates the files it needs, exit then run Lichtknarre with the Vigem Plugin, connect your wiimote as you normally would, leave that running then start Duckstation ->

Duckstation -> settings -> Controllers

In the new window change the settings to the ones in the attached pictures (Don't know how to get the attachments inline in this forum  )

Like i said in a previous post i had trouble setting up the relative aiming with the Wiimote so manually edited the settings.ini file which is located in the root folder of Duckstation, make sure Duckstation is shutdown then open the file, scroll down to [Pad1] and change the relative positions to these, your DInput might be a different number to mine so change accordingly.

RelativeUp = DInput-1/-Axis1
RelativeLeft = DInput-1/-Axis0
RelativeRight = DInput-1/+Axis0
RelativeDown = DInput-1/+Axis1

save the file then restart Duckstation, of course your controllers maybe in a different order but once set up correctly you should now be able to play Lightgun games with your Wiimote and Lichtknarre 

Hope this makes some kinda sense as i'm in a rush 

*** Edited this post to include the cursors mentioned in the pictures, not sure where i got them from but all credit to the person  ***

[Fusselkroete]

The tutorials must always be in relation to the connector plugin -> vjoy, vigem, mouse