Forgotten worlds and auto-fire

[jlfreund]

I've got a cab with a spinner, but alas, it's not a "push" spinner, needed for Forgotten Worlds. 

You can play by mapping the "push" part of the spinner to a separate button, but then you have to stretch your hands all over the control panel.  It would be nice if there was an auto-fire mechanism in Mame so that you just need one hand on the joystick and one on the spinner.  I don't see a reason to ever not be firing in that game.

The game internally already supports auto-fire (that is holding down the button generates a continuous stream of bullets) so an auto-repeating circuit wouldn't be needed.

Is there a way to get Mame to do the auto firing?  If not, that would be a nice thing to add.  Otherwise, I have to use some kind of weight to sit on the button

Jason

[lordtodd75]

Couldn't you wire a cherry switch that is always closed to your encoder and then set mame config so that it uses that switch as "fire", in essence giving yourself an auto fire button. It would be the same as if you just held the fire button down. Although I am not sure how that would affect things if you weren't using that "auto fire", ie repeated keyboard presses when booting into windows, in other game, etc.

[u_rebelscum]

... Forgotten Worlds.  ...

I don't see a reason to ever not be firing in that game.

To move your pod in front / in back.  For blocking and getting around/through walls/floors/obstacles.  That blocking really helps.

The game internally already supports auto-fire (that is holding down the button generates a continuous stream of bullets) so an auto-repeating circuit wouldn't be needed.

Right, so you don't want "auto-fire".  You want "continuous button press".  "Auto-fire" is something different, and there are strong feelings on it; readers might get confused and give you views on the unrelated auto-fire instead of what you want.

Is there a way to get Mame to do the auto firing [continuous press]?

AFAIK, not without editing the code.  For FW and what you want, I'd change the IPT_BUTTON1 to IP_ACTIVE_HIGH (from IP_ACTIVE_LOW, line 674 in mame 0.110u2) and recompile.  This would make it so you would fire unless you press the button, without effecting other games.  It's a hack, though, and will not be accepted in official mame.  Just like auto-fire.

[torez]

For autofire you can use Mame32FX:
http://mame32fx.altervista.org/home.htm

Click Features to see other things it supports in addition to normal Mame32.  You can always extract it to the same Mame folder and use this or other version, as desired.

[liveplaylearn]

I had this same thought about somehow enabling autofire / continuous button press for Forgotten Worlds.  u_rebelscum, thanks for the hint... I never would have figured this out without it.

In case someone else wants to attempt this, here is where I made the change.  The version of MAME I modified is v0145.

The relevant file is:
     src/mame/drivers/cps1.c

This comment identifies the relevant block:
     /* CPS1 games with 2 players and 3 buttons each */

Before changing:
     PORT_BIT( 0x0010, IP_ACTIVE_LOW, IPT_BUTTON1 ) PORT_PLAYER(1)

After changing:
     PORT_BIT( 0x0010, IP_ACTIVE_HIGH, IPT_BUTTON1 ) PORT_PLAYER(1)

It seems to have done the trick!

[Connorsdad]

I really need to learn how to compile my own version of mame

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

[DaveMMR]

I really need to learn how to compile my own version of mame

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

http://mrdo.mameworld.info/compile.php 

[Connorsdad]

How could I achieve this using AHK? The script could be launched when the rom is loaded but I've no idea what to put in the script.

Sent from Amstrad CPC464