Act Labs Light gun issue

[Rhetro]

Hey.

OK. Talking about becoming befuddled. I've read through the manual (cheap menu type pamphlet) that came with my Actlabs light guns and have determined that the manual offers insight on how NOT to write a manual (or perhaps I'm just stupid -quite possible).

 I got a pair of the light guns with applicable addapters etc. (I guess that means I must be clear here:

2 guns
 - gun 1) having the calibration, 1 player, 2 player switch
 - gun 2) having the switch only with no markings.

the two vga boxes.
 - box 1 connects to the vga port on box 2
 - the monitor connects to the vga port on box 1.
 - box 2 connects to the vga port on the pc

I was trying to calibrate the guns by switching the switch on gun 1 to C for calibration. I jumped into Crossbow to give it a whirl. Clicked the tab key and got into the "setting for this game". There is a link on the Act Labs website which allows you to download some pictures (don't get excited -they did nothing for me) that kind of give you a notion to set the mouse input to 0 and then do the same with the light guns? Enough! I'll stop right here because I also have NO business writing manuals.

Again, I couldn't really follow the directions at all. It appears that I'm supposed to get the guns to "mimick" the mouse? I guess I kinda get it , but it didn't take.

I know I can't be the only one out there with this problem, and there is probably a "lightguns for idiots" book out there somewhere. If so I haven't found it.

Is there someone out there who has paved the way?

Thanks (very much) in advance.

p.s. I'm using Mame32 v 110 and I bought the guns about 6 months ago.

[BobA]

The setup instructions for multiple guns is on the actlabs site.

Link

Are these the instructions that you followed?

[Rhetro]

These seem to be more extensive then that download.

I'll give it a shot.

Thanks!

OK. I got a LOT farther this time.

 The game can see the guns but for some reason, I can't seem to calibrate the guns properly. Specifically with the Y axis. In the input this game settings (for crossbow), the instructions say to position the cursor and pull the trigger,  on left and right side of the screen before hitting the enter key? I'm not sure I follow this. I understand this is to define the range of the X axis from the left to the right side of the screen. When I hit the enter key, it will only allow for one trigger pull  (mark for only one position). According to the instructions I have a white screen with the cursor. I take it that this is the calibration setting on the gun because I get a white screen when I select the gun switch to C. but I don't get to mark it with the cursor. In other words the cursor doen't appear on the screen when I select the switch to the C position. The instructions don't mention anything about using this function.

Second, the y axis calibrates as another x axis. When I move the mouse around to check it the mouse cursor  only moves diagonally from upper left to the bottom right of the screen.

 to be sure: in mame, I have light guns enabled and mouse enabled under properties for this specific game -crossbow.

getting warmer

thanks in advance.

[Cananas]

Before to try the guns with mame, be sure that they work correctly in Windows. Push the switch in 'C' position. You will get a white screen. Now move the gun left to the right and up and down beyond the limits on the monitor.

Then return the switch to normal position. Aiming to some icon  and press fire. Selected?

[Rhetro]

Hey Cananas.

I appreciate it.

I was trying to calibrate it through the mame settings which was stupid (however this is what the instructions depicted -but your plan makes more sense.

Was also wondering if you happen to know which gun is the master gun and which one is the slave in a two gun setup Was also wondering if the vga boxes are identical. I siliconed them to a board that I have inside my cabinet. I can remove them if I need to (that's why I didn't use epoxy) but was wondering if there was some test I could run to figure which gun is the main (left player) and which one is the second (right player)

Thanks for responding.


Rhetro

[Cananas]

I was trying to calibrate it through the mame settings which was stupid (however this is what the instructions depicted -but your plan makes more sense.

Ok, but take account that if you change the resolution you will have to calibrate the guns again. The recommendation is that you set the resolution for the gun games to the  desktop resolution (Even better if you set mame to work with your desktop resolution).

Was also wondering if you happen to know which gun is the master gun and which one is the slave in a two gun setup Was also wondering if the vga boxes are identical. I siliconed them to a board that I have inside my cabinet. I can remove them if I need to (that's why I didn't use epoxy) but was wondering if there was some test I could run to figure which gun is the main (left player) and which one is the second (right player)

If think there is no really master-slave relationship. You need to set you 3-position switch gun to the 2 player position. With this, this gun will use the button 3 and 4 to fire and the other, the first and second. Remember to set to 1 de duallightgun option on mame.

[u_rebelscum]

Was also wondering if you happen to know which gun is the master gun and which one is the slave in a two gun setup Was also wondering if the vga boxes are identical. I siliconed them to a board that I have inside my cabinet. I can remove them if I need to (that's why I didn't use epoxy) but was wondering if there was some test I could run to figure which gun is the main (left player) and which one is the second (right player)

If think there is no really master-slave relationship. You need to set you 3-position switch gun to the 2 player position. With this, this gun will use the button 3 and 4 to fire and the other, the first and second. Remember to set to 1 de duallightgun option on mame.

Two ways to do two actlab lightguns.  The old way is as Cananas said.  The other way is enable -multimouse option instead.

Older way:
set 3 way switch gun to "player 2"
enable -duallightgun option
disable -multimouse option
maybe remap if needed

Newer way:
set both guns to "player 1"
enable -multimouse option
disable -duallightgun option
maybe remap if needed.


I don't know if there's any difference between the VGA boxes, but there might be.  AFAIK, the box is where all the converting to USB occurs (location & buttons).  So the box that came with the older gun (2 way switch) didn't need to worry about sending mouse buttons 3 & 4, unlike the newer box.  So the 3-way switch gun might need to go to the newer box; the older gun probably could go on either box.  I could be wrong though.  Either way, there isn't a normal "slave/master".

[Rhetro]

Hey Thanks U.

I had to disassemble my ctrl panel for a tweek and I've just put it back together to try out your instructions.

Between the older and newer way to enable the light guns:

Is one better than the other?

I was just looking at my mame v (I'm using 88 -I know, it's old) I haven't been messing with the cabinet until just recently. I can't remember if it had a multimouse option on it. I'll check.

Thanks.

[Rhetro]

Well. Using Mame32 v 88 doesn't give me the multi mouse option (not that I could find anyway). All I have is Enable lightguns with a dual lightgun box to check or uncheck and a reload box to check or uncheck. It has an enable mouse box as well.  Right now I have both enable mouse and enable lightguns (dual guns checked). This seems to work.

I guess this doesn't fall into either of the two previously mentioned parameters - old or new. Perhaps because it's such an old version.

I did download the lightgun test for xp from the act labs website. It really doesn't do much other than show you a target where the shots are being fired. It doesn't have anything to correct or truly calibrate the gun. Mine was shooting high and right of center.

I called Actlabs and talked with tech sup to see if there was a way to correct this. They said there wasn't, and that the guns are either defective (which he doubted) or there was something wrong in my settings.

I wasn't calibrating the guns with the switch correctly either. I would pull the trigger after sweeping it from left to right and from top to bottom. Apparently this would mess it up. I realized that I wasn't supposed to pull the trigger. Anyway, it is still firing high and right but at least it's usable. Is there anyway to correct this misalignment?

Thanks

[u_rebelscum]

...Perhaps because it's such an old version....

Yes, that's a pretty old version (Oct 2004).  Nothing wrong with using it, except due the changes since then, some of us won't be able to help since not all of us still have that version; be sure to let us know which version you're using so we won't tell you too new info.

... lightgun test for xp from the act labs ... doesn't have anything to correct or truly calibrate the gun. Mine was shooting high and right of center.

... Is there anyway to correct this misalignment?

Depends.  By how much is it off? 
Is it off more in the upper right corner than the lower left?  Or by about the same on the whole screen?  If former, check the screen so all of it shows all the way to the edges; if what windows draws doesn't match what you (and the gun) can see, calibration will be off.
(that's the simplest fix.)

[Rhetro]

Yeah, sorry. It didn't occur to me that my version was that old (I had actually shelved the cabinet project for a while). I thought my version was more recent. It wasn't until you mentioned the multimouse mode that I realized I was a little outdated. I actually have a full install of 110 but never got around to installing it. I'm not even going to bother and just splurge for a full 121 set (or 122 by the time I get around to it).

I digress.

Anyway, it seems to be shooting a little high and to the right of center. Didn't think of the screen orientation being a factor; hmmm. So what I could do then is shrink the screen -just a little. To make sure that all the edges are visible, then calibrate, then fit to the size of the monitor?



thanks