With new multi-mouse support in Mame .68

[HeadRusch]

Does this mean you can plug 2 USB trackballs into your pc and have 2 player Marble madness without anything extra fancy going on?

Does it support WIN98 or 2000? I'd love to run my cab with 2000 as Win98 locks up like every 2 hours

Also, does this mean if you have an OptiPac with the Serial interface, you're out of luck (I guess it only works with USB?)? if you wanted to do 2 arcade trackballs...

[SirPoonga]

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=3;action=display;threadid=7623

[u_rebelscum]

Does this mean you can plug 2 USB trackballs into your pc and have 2 player Marble madness without anything extra fancy going on?

Does it support WIN98 or 2000? I'd love to run my cab with 2000 as Win98 locks up like every 2 hours

Also, does this mean if you have an OptiPac with the Serial interface, you're out of luck (I guess it only works with USB?)? if you wanted to do 2 arcade trackballs...

AFAI can tell, it has the same limits as mame:Analog+:

• USB only (sorry, not serial, not PS/2)
• win9x only (win98, winME, maybe win95; but not win2000, not winXP)
• directX 7.0 (analog+ is currently 8.0, but I plan drop back to 7.0, too)

These are all limits due to windows OS & directX.  Mame can't do anything about them.


Plus two big differences:

• Mame has player 1 is controlled by all mice, player 2 is USB mouse 1 only, player 3 is USB mouse 2 only, player 4 is USB mouse 3 only.  Analog+ has player 1 controlled by all mice only if no USB mice are connected; if USB mice are connected, USB # = player #
• Mame can't change the mouse to player setting; Analog+ can with either -switchablemice or -switchmiceaxes option set

Because of that first difference, no two player marble madness in official mame, yet.

[HeadRusch]

Ok, I'm not getting it (thats the reason for this 2nd thread).

When you say DX7, does that mean if I have DX8 or DX9 installed on the box I'd have to downgrade to 7.0?

Ok...on to the real confusing part: You say Player 1 is controlled by all mice, P2 is USB mouse 1 only, P3 is usb mouse 2......I'm...not.....understanding.

Does that mean Player 1 is essentially not able to be played since its inputs are a mash of all the other inputs (in the case of a Marble Madness 2 player trackball game that player 1's moves will be over-ridden by player 2's movements, but not vice versa....

>> Sorry if I'm being dense here.. <<

[Howard_Casto]

As with all versions of directx since the beginning of directx, when you have a higher version installed on your system it will run all apps that use that version or lower in their codeing calls.  

Think about it man, if it didn't then everytime you upraded dx all of your old games wouldn't run.  

[u_rebelscum]

Ok, I'm not getting it (thats the reason for this 2nd thread).

When you say DX7, does that mean if I have DX8 or DX9 installed on the box I'd have to downgrade to 7.0?

No, the user needs 7.0 or later; 8.0, 8.1, or 9.0 are fine, too.  When I talked about analog+ going back to 7, that's for compiling.  Sorry for not making that clear.  

BTW, (windows) mame has been compiled with dx5 until this version, which is dx7.

Ok...on to the real confusing part: You say Player 1 is controlled by all mice, P2 is USB mouse 1 only, P3 is usb mouse 2......I'm...not.....understanding.

Does that mean Player 1 is essentially not able to be played since its inputs are a mash of all the other inputs (in the case of a Marble Madness 2 player trackball game that player 1's moves will be over-ridden by player 2's movements, but not vice versa....

>> Sorry if I'm being dense here.. <<

Yup, That's what I mean.  Weird numbering stuff going on.  The number of mice mame finds is one more than the number of USB mice installed (up to mame finding 4 mice), unless zero mice are installed (if that ever happens in windows ).

The first mouse, mame's "mouse one", is the "system mouse", ie all the mice joined.  This is just like the mouse cursor in windows; it is controlled by all the different mice you have installed.

The second mouse, mame's "mouse two" is the first USB mouse.  This mouse's movements is also going to the "system mouse", aka mouse one.

The third & forth mice are the same way, being the 2nd and 3rd USB mice.

All remaining USB mice (USB mouse 4 and up) mame only sees their inputs in the "system mouse" aka mouse one.  This is due to mame's limit of four players = limit of for mice = 1 "system mouse" + 3 USB mice.


For Analog+, it's a little different.  It calls the "system mouse" mouse zero, or "sysmouse".  This lets all the USB mice drop down a number and seem more normal.  Also, Analog+ can see up to 8 USB mice's individual inputs plus the "sysmouse", for a "total" of 9 mice.  

Opps, I think I went into too much detail.  I'll end this with:

Analog+ can play marble madness with 2 USB trackballs.

[HeadRusch]

..and if I go to yer site and download analog for .68, it behaves much like regular executable mame? find anice front end and use that then?  I've got two uSB trackballs here and I'd love to try out MM with 2 players.

Hmmm...time to download...
and read..

THANK YOU for the dumbed-down explanation

[u_rebelscum]

..and if I go to yer site and download analog for .68, it behaves much like regular executable mame? find anice front end and use that then?  I've got two uSB trackballs here and I'd love to try out MM with 2 players.

Hmmm...time to download...
and read..

THANK YOU for the dumbed-down explanation

My site sucks on the info side.    If you have problems, feel free to ask (email or here is fine).

Yes, Analog+ should work on FEs, but the new Analog+ options probably won't be settable from the FE.  If you have exactly two USB trackballs, you won't need any of the options though; MM should play fine 2 players from a FE with winME/98.

[Howard_Casto]

Actually rebel, most of the fe's around these parts don't allow you to set any settings for the emulator.  That's the user's job.  Now "uglier" front ends like emuloader do but that's because if they didn't they would simply be a lame ripoff of the already lame mame32 gui.  (Ok my rant is over, go back to your business.)

However virtually all front-end's allow you to pass command line options, so as long as switches are included you are good.  

[shmokes]

When you say two usb trackballs will work fine do you mean they have to be on separate USB channels or will two trackballs hooked to one USB optipac work fine?

[u_rebelscum]

When you say two usb trackballs will work fine do you mean they have to be on separate USB channels or will two trackballs hooked to one USB optipac work fine?

Optipac is designed to be seen as two USB mouse devices.  It works.

Hubs are fine (two USB mice plugged into one hub, the hub plugged into one port in the computer).

As for other stuff, as long as the trackballs are seen as separate devices in windows, it'll work.  If they're seen as one USB mouse, windows can't tell the difference.  (Don't know of any other stuff, but gotta cover myself.)

Actually rebel, most of the fe's around these parts don't allow you to set any settings for the emulator.  That's the user's job.  Now "uglier" front ends like emuloader do but that's because if they didn't they would simply be a lame ripoff of the already lame mame32 gui.  (Ok my rant is over, go back to your business.)

However virtually all front-end's allow you to pass command line options, so as long as switches are included you are good.  

D'oh.  For some reason I was thinking of mame32.  I know most FEs aren't like that.

Sorry about insulting all the FE writes out there.

[SirPoonga]

Urebel, So, mentioning mame .68+ has multiple mouse support isn't really worth it right now?

[u_rebelscum]

Urebel, So, mentioning mame .68+ has multiple mouse support isn't really worth it right now?

I guess you could say it's not.  

I was really excited when I first saw mame 0.68 with my different TBs working separately, and I guess I didn't realy look into the full extent of the (very) partial support.  

[SirPoonga]

Yah, it's a good thing to note though.  It means your life will hopefully be easier now

[u_rebelscum]

Yah, it's a good thing to note though.  It means your life will hopefully be easier now

That's for sure.  The cleaner code will make things earier for others trying to compile their own, too.

[HeadRusch]

Ok....I'm going to be building a Verti-Mame mamecab for vertical games.  Included in the endeavor will be 2 Spinner joysticks from Happs, probably the opticals and not the mechanicals.

Question:  Whats the recommended way of mounting this configuration using analog mame....

OptiPac USB or....

[SirPoonga]

Ok....I'm going to be building a Verti-Mame mamecab for vertical games.  Included in the endeavor will be 2 Spinner joysticks from Happs, probably the opticals and not the mechanicals.

Question:  Whats the recommended way of mounting this configuration using analog mame....

OptiPac USB or....

Either each spinner on their own mouse, but then you NEED win98, or both spinners an axis of a single mouse and use analog+ mame to split the axis.  Optipac is an easy way, otherwise you could try a mouse hack or purchasinga  prehacked mouse from oscarcontrols.

[HeadRusch]

Hmmmm...with an optipac can I run dual spinners without 98?

i thought with an Opti I had to run windows 98 to get the dual spinners/dual trackballs plus run advance mame.

con-fus-ed

[SirPoonga]

Hmmmm...with an optipac can I run dual spinners without 98?

i thought with an Opti I had to run windows 98 to get the dual spinners/dual trackballs plus run advance mame.

con-fus-ed

No, you need win98 if you want two mouse inputs.  You can use what ever windows for single mouse input and use the split axis option in analog mame to have two spinners.  Each spinner would be an axis of the single mouse.

[HeadRusch]

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

Axis splitting is done via AnalogMame or is it a function of mame at this stage of the game.......?

[SirPoonga]

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

Axis splitting is done via AnalogMame or is it a function of mame at this stage of the game.......?

Right now, only a function of analog mame.

[u_rebelscum]

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

Axis splitting is done via AnalogMame or is it a function of mame at this stage of the game.......?

Right now, only a function of analog mame.

FWIW, AdvancedMame does it, too.
But, for some reason, I suggest Analog+ (see sig).