Problem w/ Act Labs PC Light Gun (not USB)

[Dougmeister]

Bought on eBay.  Non-USB version.

Hooked it up, and the VGA pass-through doesn't seem to be working.  I thought it would be as simple as:

1) Plug monitor into 15-pin "in" on external box
2) Plug output from box into computer 15-pin input

and voila!  It would allow the signal to "pass-through".  (Hence the name).  I haven't installed the drivers/software yet (whatever comes on the CD).  Should I be concerned or is there something simple I'm missing (only works 640x480?  Refresh rates?  What?)

It was a gift for a friend of mine.  Any and all help would be deeply appreciated.  Thanks.

[NoOne=NBA=]

What operating system are you using.
IIRC, those guns don't work on XP.

Also IIRC, you need a serial mouse hooked up (or something like that) to make those guns work.

[Dougmeister]

Windows 98 SE.

Have a mouse hooked up.  It (and the keyboard) are USB but going into PS/2 adapters.

[Dougmeister]

(bump?)

Is there at least a list of supported video cards, or recommendations?  Act Labs has not exactly been the most helpful so far...

[Chris]

Those non-USB guns aren't compatible with MAME... that's why they're all over EBay.

That doesn't solve your video issue, of course, but there may not be much point in solving it if this is for MAME.

The USB guns have a calibration switch on the right; the non-USB guns may have them as well.  Is your screen all white when plugged into the passthrough?  If so, you may be in calibration mode; check the calibration switch.

--Chris

[Dougmeister]

No, the screen is more like almost black but not quite.

Bummer about the non-USB not working in MAME thing; I had no idea.  Thanks for the heads-up.

[Lilwolf]

Not worth the time to install them...

To get them to work at all you need the beta mouse driver.   

best case..

1) remove all other mice... or make sure that they can't move (doing so will mess up your calibration.

2) force a resolution (640x480x60) and don't allow mame to swap it.  Best just keep windows there also... So there aren't any resolution.

3) Try not to get mad when it shoots off.

It was a bad design... Really too bad.  I have 2 and keep thinking of selling them on ebay.  Some are going for a lot (because people don't want to spend 150 for a usb one) but I don't like !@# people in their !@# for a few bucks.

Hope you can be happy with it.

btw, you will get better results with the other ones that Kevin reviewed.  They aren't act labs in accuracy... but better then what you got... and probalby cheaper

[Dougmeister]

Where do I get the beta mouse driver?  If I can't even get the video pass-through to work, is there any point?

Where is Kevin's review?

[Lilwolf]

Its been a few years since I looked at the old version...

But I believe you cant get the video passthrough working until you have the drivers loaded.  I kinda remember this as sucky part of the system..(Might have just been gameport plugged in like it gets power from it)... but I do remember seeing that.

Beta drivers are around the net.  I might be able to find the CD if you can't find it on act-labs site... but it should be there somewhere.

btw, these did work with a few games they came with.  But that was about it. 

[wwater]

These guns will work fine with Win 98, they simply do not work with Win XP.