Ultimarc UltraStik 360 Programming (Mame) Questions

[jcrouse]

For you users that have the UltraStik 360:

If you're using a FE to launch your games, how are you programming the sticks for the appropriate Mame game. I know they can be programmed from the commandline like the iPAC's but how does your FE know which "ug" file to load? The only possible way for most FE's to handle this, currently I believe (at least without parsing some files) would be to use a variable to represent the game name. This would require 6000+ profiles, ug files.

It sure is not nice to have to hop out of the FE to program the stick and then return to launch your game. How are you all handling this?

Thanks,
John

[Popcorrin]

Mala has a plugin that takes care of this.  I have used it and it works very well. 

[swindus]

Hi John,

MaLa handles it with informations form the mame.xml and controls.ini files and sends this information to the UltraStik Plugin which loads the right config file then.

[fatfingers]

And I might add that the MaLa plugin does not require 6000+ configs.  You can choose to do it that way, if you prefer (and if you're crazy), but for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

[Havok]

And I might add that the MaLa plugin does not require 6000+ configs.  You can choose to do it that way, if you prefer (and if you're crazy), but for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

Don't forget Qbert!

[Minwah]

for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

You could do the same in Mamewah, John, and in the commandline to launch Ultramap use the [input] placeholder...something like*:

pre_emulator_app_commandlines c:\ultramap\ultramap.exe c:\ultramap\ugc\[input].ugc

(* I'm yet to use the software so might not be exact usage)

That said there is probably a slight flaw with recent Mame versions where multiple input types are held in [input], but you could get round this with some more .ugc files.

[lingpanda]

For you users that have the UltraStik 360:

If you're using a FE to launch your games, how are you programming the sticks for the appropriate Mame game. I know they can be programmed from the commandline like the iPAC's but how does your FE know which "ug" file to load? The only possible way for most FE's to handle this, currently I believe (at least without parsing some files) would be to use a variable to represent the game name. This would require 6000+ profiles, ug files.

It sure is not nice to have to hop out of the FE to program the stick and then return to launch your game. How are you all handling this?

Thanks,
John

I believe GameEx also handles this via. a plugin. Not exactly sure how it works.

[Popcorrin]

for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

You could do the same in Mamewah, John, and in the commandline to launch Ultramap use the [input] placeholder...something like*:

pre_emulator_app_commandlines c:\ultramap\ultramap.exe c:\ultramap\ugc\[input].ugc

(* I'm yet to use the software so might not be exact usage)

That said there is probably a slight flaw with recent Mame versions where multiple input types are held in [input], but you could get round this with some more .ugc files.

Minwah, does the [input] option take into account info from controls.ini or just the info from mame? 

[Popcorrin]

doublepost

[fatfingers]

And I might add that the MaLa plugin does not require 6000+ configs.  You can choose to do it that way, if you prefer (and if you're crazy), but for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

Don't forget Qbert!

Yeah, yeah, the plugin includes the qbert config file too!

[jcrouse]

for the most part you just need a 2way.ugc, 4way.ugc, 8way.ugc, and analog.ugc file, all of which are included in the plugin package.

You could do the same in Mamewah, John, and in the commandline to launch Ultramap use the [input] placeholder...something like*:

pre_emulator_app_commandlines c:\ultramap\ultramap.exe c:\ultramap\ugc\[input].ugc

(* I'm yet to use the software so might not be exact usage)

That said there is probably a slight flaw with recent Mame versions where multiple input types are held in [input], but you could get round this with some more .ugc files.

Minwah, does the [input] option take into account info from controls.ini or just the info from mame? 

Well, I just wrote a small GUI that I can run as an external app from MameWAH. It accepts one commandline parameter and displays its contents in a label in the GUI. I can now check what the [input] variable is for any game in my game list by quickly pressing a hotkey.

Anyways, I am sure Mini is using Mame, since not all game are documented yet in the Controls.dat project.

Yes, the above is correct. I just tested a few games that are not in Controls DAT and they still display the inputs so they must be coming from Mame.

John

[Minwah]

Minwah, does the [input] option take into account info from controls.ini or just the info from mame? 

Just Mame atm...for this purpose that should be all that is required as the joystick types from Mame are pretty accurate now (I think)...

[Minwah]

Well, I just wrote a small GUI that I can run as an external app from MameWAH. It accepts one commandline parameter and displays its contents in a label in the GUI. I can now check what the [input] variable is for any game in my game list by quickly pressing a hotkey.

Why not just have it displayed in your layout, or is that too simple?

[jcrouse]

Why not just have it displayed in your layout, or is that too simple?

Maybe because I was too dumb to think of that!


John

PS .... Good Idea

[Minwah]

Maybe because I was too dumb to think of that!

Hah, well we all have those moments! 

[jcrouse]

Why not just have it displayed in your layout, or is that too simple?

OK, now I have a good answer. Because I wanted it to create 2 reports. One lists each game and it's controls and the other lists all the possible input scenerios based on the current version of mame. I have the output in the same format as what MameWAH reports in the layout. Now I know exactly what mappings I need. FWIW, there are 45 different combinations.

John

[jcrouse]

Just to add a little ... if using the mame output as MameWAH currently reports it, a few game specific ini files would need created for the diagonal 4 way games such as Qbert sine mame lists them as "joy4way". This would only be required for a few games though. Other than that, if your UGC files are named properly you could use the [input] variable from MameWAH to program the U360 pre game launch.

John

[fatfingers]

Just to add a little ... if using the mame output as MameWAH currently reports it, a few game specific ini files would need created for the diagonal 4 way games such as Qbert sine mame lists them as "joy4way". This would only be required for a few games though. Other than that, if your UGC files are named properly you could use the [input] variable from MameWAH to program the U360 pre game launch.

John

Indeed this is just how my mapper plugin for MaLa works.  Use the romname .ugc file if it exists, otherwise use the input value.

[lordtodd75]

Alright, I got my ultrastik mostly working. The only thing I can't figure out is how to make mamewah recognize a joystick installed in windows. I know this is probably a simple entry edit in an .ini file but I just can't find the right info.

[jcrouse]

In the mamewah.cfg file, near the bottom, change "joystick 0" to "joystick 1".

John

[Havok]

Why not just have it displayed in your layout, or is that too simple?

OK, now I have a good answer. Because I wanted it to create 2 reports. One lists each game and it's controls and the other lists all the possible input scenerios based on the current version of mame. I have the output in the same format as what MameWAH reports in the layout. Now I know exactly what mappings I need. FWIW, there are 45 different combinations.

John

Could you post the results of those reports?