Setting Mame defaults using Ultimarc Ultrastick 360, Trackball, and spinner

[Boz]

Tom's "gameex" directory is having trouble right now, so I'll post here in hopes of finding an answer.

GameEx allows you to set specific command-line switches for mame games as it shells the game. Is there an INI file that I can edit, or some other method that will allow me to specify different switches for *all* trackball games or *all* joystick games?


EDIT: renamed topic to make this easier to find from Google for others experiencing the same problem.

[headkaze]

They are called cfg files I believe which are per game configurations. You don't need to specify commandline options for specific games then, you edit the config files for the games that need them.

[Boz]

They are called cfg files I believe which are per game configurations. You don't need to specify commandline options for specific games then, you edit the config files for the games that need them.

Hmmm. I set automatic device selection in my mame.ini file, but can't seem to get any of them to use my ultrastick 360's. Trackball and dial games seem to work fine.

I was hoping not to have to edit individual INI's. Rules out playing random games unless I attach keyboard and mouse which is *really* attractive for a dedicated game cabinet.

[headkaze]

There is an ultrastick plugin on the GameEx forums I believe. Maybe you need to use that.

[Boz]

There is an ultrastick plugin on the GameEx forums I believe. Maybe you need to use that.

I'm familiar that the plugin exists, but, if I read it correctly, it's really designed to download the appropriate map for the appropriate games. I don't think it solves getting the right control working on the right games, something I think Mame is responsible for.

Interestingly, I don't know if I'm going to use the plugin, though it would make downloading maps to the joysticks easier. There's WAY too many restrictions and pathing issues. I don't want to rearrange my hard drive and reset all my other INI's just to use this plugin. Of course, I haven't even started to configure the per game maps yet. I may not have another option.

Howard_Casto helped me solve my problem with getting the controls to work properly.

The joysticks are digital. Something I knew, but it didn't occur to me that mame required tweaking for them. So, I guess my setup is a special case where my mame.ini has to have this:

#
#INPUT DEVICE OPTIONS
#
joystick            1
mouse              0

And, because I have a Happ Trackball with USB conversion and a USB Slickstick Tornado spinner, the following section of my mame.ini has to be set this way:

#
#AUTOMATIC DEVICE SELECTION OPTIONS
#
paddle_device                 mouse
dial_device                      mouse
trackball_device               mouse

I tested it pretty thoroughly yesterday, and with the exception of a few games, the joys don't interfere with gameplay on trackball and spinner games, and visa versa. In fact, yesterday was the first time that I was able to use ONLY my front end to select and play games. My feet are sore from standing in front of my cabinet and playing all night.

I had such a hard time finding help with this one. I must have spent 4 hours searching for a solution, as well as trial and error testing. With that, I'm gonna rename this topic to hopefully make it easier to find through Google or the search functionality here. It might be wise to put this in the FAQ (or somewhere) over at Tom Speirs' place. I can't possibly be the only person who has experienced this problem.

Thanks Howard. You're suggestion worked well.

[Howard_Casto]

Man it's been a while since I've used digital joysticks....  I think that if you set the "digital" setting in your mame.ini to joystick1 (or whatever number you rjoystick is enumerated in, in windows) you can turn joystick back off and it'll solve those few remaining problem games.  I was thinking the last time I tried it, it didn't work right though.  Give it a try anyway.