ACT LABS lightgun (VGA/USB model) ... calibration offset by ~100 pixels

[ARTIFACT]

(on a CRT monitor, plugged via VGA > RGB via BNC leads adapter)

the title says it all

Am I not calibrating right? ... the instructions are VAGUE at best ("wave slowly back and forth...")

It seems to work with my monitor, I can shoot and it moves the cursor BUT it is off by 100 pixels both vertically (toward the top) and horizontally (toward the left)

Do you know if this is a sign that it won't work at all with my monitor/setup?

I currently have a gray smoked plexi in front of my monitor. I haven't tried without yet. Could this be the issue?

THANK YOU!

[ARTIFACT]

OK the act labs guys are GREAT

they replied to my email (which was essentially a copy/paste of the post above) and they already got back to me (within hours!) with a long and detailed list of advice on how to calibrate the guns correctly.

I will apply what they said tonight, and hopefully the gun will work well

thumbs up to the Act Labs guys.

[weaklink]

I hope you'll share the calibration procedure.  I've been really disappointed with the gun's performance.

[ARTIFACT]

To summarize:

. in the dark (turning off room lights / 6 recessed flood lights) it works ok
. still have about ~30 pixels offset too high vertically (that's "ok"...)
. works beautifully in Model2 / House of Dead, etc
. CANNOT play in MAME ... set lightgun_device lightgun, etc... but the issue is that the gun button is not triggering the "Button 1" in MAME... Hitting the Happ pushbutton manually "shoots" where I last shot the gun.... WEIRD. MAME config???

I had fun in HOD though

[mrudie]

Any chance you can share everything that Act-Labs sent you for calibration help? (copy and paste?)

Mine is offset a little high and to the right.  The calibration instructions are pretty vague.

Thanks....

[M37R01D]

same here, mine is a lil up and to the left,
i tried taking apart the gun and reposisioning the IR LED but that didnt do anything
please share the whole process

[ARTIFACT]

I kind of got the problem solved by tweaking the screen's H and V alignments and stretch...

I also got all my gun games to keep the same resolution (switchres 0 in mame ini files) BUT for some reason games on the MODEL2 emu still have a BAD offset ... even though its all the same resolution and calibration works fine on mame games...

Grr

Also make sure you dont have a blarring light above your arcade... i did and it messed up aiming... unscrewed the 1  bulb and it helped.

lets share ideas

(oh btw no email came back from them after my post above...   ... i figure I may have become a bit too much of a demanding customer or something... I just want it to WORK)

[Banacek]

I kind of got the problem solved by tweaking the screen's H and V alignments and stretch...

I also got all my gun games to keep the same resolution (switchres 0 in mame ini files) BUT for some reason games on the MODEL2 emu still have a BAD offset ... even though its all the same resolution and calibration works fine on mame games...

Grr

Also make sure you dont have a blarring light above your arcade... i did and it messed up aiming... unscrewed the 1  bulb and it helped.

lets share ideas

(oh btw no email came back from them after my post above...   ... i figure I may have become a bit too much of a demanding customer or something... I just want it to WORK)

Hey, where can I get a list of gun games in Mame? I never even thought about setting them all to the same resolution, but it would fix the problems I'm having (I think)...

[TAG]

Hey, where can I get a list of gun games in Mame? I never even thought about setting them all to the same resolution, but it would fix the problems I'm having (I think)...

Among other places, you should be able to get one on the MAWS site.  Use the deluxe search feature and narrow the search by selecting "lightgun" under the "control" category.

[ARTIFACT]

I just made INI files for the few gun games I play a lot actually...

but the way I listed them is MALA. (the front end I use).. it has a LIST MAKER program which lets you generate these lists by genre, control, etc.

... and then there is MAWS's "deluxe search" too... just doesnt generate lists for you.

[Xiaou2]

I bought an Act Labs gun some time ago.   Utter crapola.

 The accuracy is so bad, that I permanently disconnected it in
frustration.

 
 I then got the  TOPGUN  guns, and they are a dream     Accuracy is
damn near perfection.   I highly recommend them.

 Act Labs also is known for hardware failures.   Check their forums
on pedal springs breaking in less than a few months use, and steering
wheel issues.  (If they even sell them anymore)

[Banacek]

Among other places, you should be able to get one on the MAWS site.  Use the deluxe search feature and narrow the search by selecting "lightgun" under the "control" category.

Sweet, thanks brother!