act-labs lightgun troubles

[Devastator]

hi all, i've got the "raygun" version of the act labs light gun,i'm running the lastest version of mame32 on windows xp pro, and i've got several problems which are all probably tied together.

i calibrated the gun using the switch at the start of each game, i have checked enable mouse in the mame setup and i've done the calibration in the game setup menu for the games i'm tryin to play. the p1 button 1 is "mouse 2 button 3". the analog lightgunx is "lightgun on mouse 2 x" and the analog lightguny is "lightgun on mouse 2 y".  this is with the switch in the forward position.  if it is in the middle, the p1 button 1 becomes "mouse 2 button 0 mouse 2 button 1" for some reason.

the problems are when playing any game, shots don't register at all (the screen flashes white, but no bullets are spent), and the reticle doesn't always move to where i shoot; sometimes i have to "double-click" or triple-click the trigger to get it to move. i also noticed when doing the calibration in the mame game setup menu that i have to double-click the trigger at the bottom of the screen for the analog y setup to register. i'm following the shoot at the top, hit enter, move the lightgun to the bottom and shoot again procedure.

the only upside to the gun is it works fine in windows. i can target and open programs with ease. any help would be appreciated.

thanx

[MustardTent]

I had these exact guns about a year ago.  From what I can remember...

1) Why do the button presses switch when the slider is in different positions?

 When you put the gun in 2p mode, the button presses change on that gun so that trigger pulls on either gun are actually separate inputs (each gun registers different mouse buttons).

2) Why don't they work in MAME?  Why does the screen flash but nothing happens in-game?

The white flash of the screen comes from the guns themselves -- not MAME.  Go to the MAME config screen (press TAB), and map the 1p buttons to the buttons on your gun.  If they are set to
"Button1      mouse1button0" and
"Button2    mouse1button1"

or similar then MAME (or just that ROM) isn't configured correctly to use your guns.

3) Then why does it work in Windows?
    Because windows just sees that a mouse button is pressed and acts accordingly.

In addition, these guns don't track the cursor.  They only update mouse position when the trigger button is pressed.

[Devastator]

so when the switch is forward it's in 1p mode and the p1 button 1 is
      "mouse 2 button 3"
when the switch is in the middle position it's in 2p mode and the p1 button 1 is
     "mouse 2 button 0 mouse 2 button 1" 
both of these buttons are filled in when i pull the trigger once.  is this correct??

i understand that the white flash comes from the gun and not mame and that the reticle does not track with gun movement and is only updated when the trigger is pulled, but my problem is that it does not update when i pull the trigger.  i have to double-pull or triple-pull the trigger to get the reticle to update to the new position.  so in effect, i'm double-clicking on each target i want to shoot, only the trigger pull does not shoot any bullets.

i have tried the gun with many different shooting games all with the same results. 

[u_rebelscum]

To add more details:

1) Why do the button presses switch when the slider is in different positions?

 When you put the gun in 2p mode, the button presses change on that gun so that trigger pulls on either gun are actually separate inputs (each gun registers different mouse buttons).

When in 2p mode, the trigger is mouse button #3 (and #4 for offscreen), instead of the normal #1 & #2.  This was needed by mame (and still needed by other applications) to have two guns work for two players at the same time.  Let me repeat: "WAS".

Mame doesn't need that anymore, as it now sees each mouse device separately, just like joysticks.  (see next.) 

2) Why don't they work in MAME? 

Because you have more than one mouse device, and since your gun is mouse 2, it defualts to player 2 (like joystick 2).  Remap (MameFAQ on remapping in general and a page on remapping lightguns).

edit: spelling

[MustardTent]

u_rebelscum:
  Is MAME able to distinguish mice on any iteration of Windows?  I remember hearing something about raw input, but I wasn't clear on the details.

[Edit]  Devastator: The input you get from u_rebelscum should take precedent over mine.  I'd also like to say that his help here is vital and greatly appreciated amongst us BYOACers. [\Edit]

[u_rebelscum]

  Is MAME able to distinguish mice on any iteration of Windows?  I remember hearing something about raw input, but I wasn't clear on the details.

Not in win2000.

IOW, multiple mice in only in win98, winMe, winXP, and Vista.  (I only tested the first three, though.)  In winXP & Vista mame goes by RawInput for multiple mice, and can have any type of mouse device.  In win98 & winMe mame goes by DirectInput, and it only works with USB mouse devices.

[Edit] ... I'd also like to say that his help here is vital and greatly appreciated amongst us BYOACers. [\Edit]

Thanks!