Its Here: Ultimarc AimTrak Light Gun Module

[Ginsu Victim]

Have you assigned them their own device IDs?

[kronic24601]

well ... I don't currently have them both plugged in at the same time. I was unplugging one, then doing the other. The "standard" reasons for why this may be happeneing aren' the case. (aka, the gun is not to close, and it is pointing at the LEDs).

[Ragtag83]

Try changing the device ID. Mine seemed happier when I did so and I was doing the same as you.

[kronic24601]

After a good hour of  , , &  ... I finnally got it working. I was getting a critical error and the program was crashing when I would try to define the light gun. I'm not sure what the "fix" was, but after several reboots, and several updates to the firmware ... it just started working and let me chnage the ID (before each time I clicked "ok" it would crash ...)

So ... it's working now, both of them, and I got them working in mame as well, which was a lot of fun.

Thanks!

[Ragtag83]

I found the issue to the crashing, at least on my computer. When I have the device menu selected and point the AimTrak at the leds it would crash due to the AimTraks auto scrolling down. Easy fix is to not have it highlighted or if the new firmware is out to fix it, haven't checked.

[Ed_McCarron]

Pointblank.  Any tips for calibrating?  I get into gun calibration, sight on the little blinky dot, and pull the trigger.  Tracks true near the center and not even close near the edges.

Pointer tracks pretty true in windows.  Area51 I was able to calibrate with no probs.

Am I missing something?

[kronic24601]

Pointblank.  Any tips for calibrating?  I get into gun calibration, sight on the little blinky dot, and pull the trigger.  Tracks true near the center and not even close near the edges.

Pointer tracks pretty true in windows.  Area51 I was able to calibrate with no probs.

Am I missing something?

Sadly this is another game that does not fully work. It has an imperfect Driver Status (see link below)
http://maws.mameworld.info/maws/romset/ptblank

One of the listed bugs on this page is "Gun calibration error. MAMEBase (ID 02686)"

I'm assuming that's your problem.

[Ed_McCarron]

Ah.  Oh well. 

[TeutonicDarkness]

 Ok maybe this is a dumb question...
ah well here goes:


Does anybody know how many Gun Games actually use more than
2 buttons?

If they can use offscreen reload but also map to a 3rd button...
well Lets not count those. 

[kronic24601]

I don't think any "arcade" guns use more than 2. Some of the new HOTD games (I was somewhat drunk last I was at Dave n Busters ... so I think it was HOTD4??) or one of them has a grenade button ... but those would not even be close to mame-able.

I think the "point" of all the extra button capability is for people who might want to remove the other cab buttons, and for custom buttons. Aka, a button for calibration, or a button for the "start" button, or coin even...

Not my cup of tee. My gun has 3 buttons, trigger and one on each side, but I just wired both the left and right sided buttons to the same AUX switch because I really didn't have need for anything else.

[TeutonicDarkness]

 The gun I'm looking at installing the AimTrak into only seems to have a trigger and
1 other button ( I think).
I haven't actually got the proposed gun in the mail yet to examine closely.

 So I was really just trying to plan ahead and see if 2 buttons would be enough.

[bkenobi]

RomLister could help you out immensely.

[kronic24601]

RomLister could help you out immensely.

A Truly useful tool.

@bkenobi, on a side note thanks for the 360-to-270 driving games post. I haven't quite figured it our yet for HyperSpin, but will be working on it soon.

[Drakin]

Andy:

No matter what I check or uncheck helps. "Disable Trig Cal" is still active. When I f.ex. uncheck it and click "Send" it alters settings for "Disable Auto Gain" and "Tilt / Z Correction instead. (This is after closing and restarting the config program: Reading this data from AimTrak.)

I have posted a hotfix version which cures this problem: http://www.ultimarc.com/aimtrak.zip

I see no reason why any button presses should be reported to the system during calibration since this is done internally in the MCU only. What I mean is that the moment calibration is activated, no buttons is reported until calibration is finished.

I agree with Ginsu that it would be nice to choose what button (Trig, Aux, P1-5) to activate calibration with. Take an example with "Crayon Physics" where you draw objects by holding the trigger maybe longer than the available setting allow.

Above makes sense, I will implement this in next version

If you plan to save a text file with config data for command line programming, please include your planned "Monitor Size" in this config text. This is because by setting "Fixed Aspect Ratio" in GPU settings would actually make a widescreen function as a 4:3. Calibration data from the AimTrak must be able to be saved and reprogrammed for this to have any reason.

One last strange thing: If I am in a browser window or a text file when pointing the gun at the screen, it actually scrolls down. Could there be a fault Z axis reporting here ?

Yes, that was a very strange one. It appears to be a Windows bug. I have a workaround and it will be fixed in next firmware.

Just checking in and wondering if the new firmware has been posted?

[Dazz]

 I just got my module in today and getting anxious to get this installed.  I have 3 Guncon 2's just out in my garage collecting dust, but really tempted to install this into a NES Zapper like above just for nostalgia.  However, I would like the option of having other buttons though, so does anyone have a good tutorial for using a Guncon 2?

[Bobulus]

I haven't tried it, but wouldn't the spring on the NES zapper be a little too hard for a mame gun? It's good for single shots, but you'd really wear your finger out for any sort of multifire.

[Drakin]

Dazz.....

Did you see my thread on the Hyperspin forums on my build of the guncon2? I however didn't wire for the other buttons.

[Ragtag83]

I finally got around to trying to get both my AimTraks working in HOD3 PC and it's not going so well. The best I could get was a full functioning player 1 but player 2 will only fire and reload but no cursor control.   I had GunCons working a couple years ago for the game but I don't remember exactly what I did... Has anyone got this to work?

Well HOD2 will work so in theory there is something I can do to get HOD3 to work...maybe a few more hours of fiddling...


Nvm....It decided to work after I left it for a bit and came back. I remember something similar happening when I dealt with the GunCons.  Oh well, a few hours of frustration is worth it to have House of the Dead working with two players now 

[Dazz]

Dazz.....

Did you see my thread on the Hyperspin forums on my build of the guncon2? I however didn't wire for the other buttons.

That's where I saw that thread at!  I knew that I saw one somewhere, but didn't think to check our own forums for it.  Thanks!

BTW if anyone needs it, the thread is right here.

[Dazz]

Ok, just hooked up my Aimtrack to my computer running Windows 7 X64.  As soon as I plug in the USB the driver loads and then all of a sudden the mouse drifts quickly to the upper left corner of my screen.  During this I am unable use my normal mouse or do anything at all.  This seems to have happened when I upgraded to the 13 firmware since it asked when I first run the Aimtrack software.

Just sent an email to Andy, so hopefully I can get this fixed.

[1UP]

Wow, been off the board for awhile, so I completely missed this!  $80 for two of these beats out $200 for the Opti-whatever.  Gotta give these a try in the two 45 cal Happ recoil guns that have been dormant in my garage for the last 3 years...

[Dazz]

Ok, just hooked up my Aimtrack to my computer running Windows 7 X64.  As soon as I plug in the USB the driver loads and then all of a sudden the mouse drifts quickly to the upper left corner of my screen.  During this I am unable use my normal mouse or do anything at all.  This seems to have happened when I upgraded to the 13 firmware since it asked when I first run the Aimtrack software.

Just sent an email to Andy, so hopefully I can get this fixed.

Ok, after emailing Andy everything is working great.  The Aimtrack was stuck in calibration mode after upgrading the firmware.  I had to disconnect the wiring harness and then plug the Aimtrack usb back in.  That seemed to clear it and I was able to get it properly calibrated.  Once I got it working I decided to go ahead and wire up the D-Pad and side buttons on the Guncon 2.  For those of you looking for a tutorial on hooking up the Aimtrack to a Playstation 2 Guncon 2 gun, check out the thread we have on the HyperSpin forums.

After playing a couple games with the Aimtrack gun module; I must say that this product deserves some kind of award.  Anyone that is simply considering purchasing one; do it.  I'm about to pull the trigger on a second module for a second player gun.

[1UP]

Just received my 2 Aimtraks today!  Few years ago I plunked down for the Happ 45 Cal Recoil Kit when the ROR3 USB board was supposedly being released...    Today I pulled out a very dusty box to check out the guns for the first time in ages.  They're super heavy duty with industrial hosing and strain reliefs, and looks like there's just enough room to snake a thin USB cable through for the new board.  Nice thing is these guns come with built-in solenoids for recoil!

Looks like I'll need to keep at least a couple of the original wires to power the built-in solenoids and send trigger presses to the recoil board though.  I'll have to add a second button to the frame for reload/grenade/rocket/whatever, but there looks to be plenty of room inside for that, the optic board, and any additional wiring with extremely minor mods.  I'm hoping it's ok to add a lexan cover in the barrel tip to prevent dust on the lens...we'll see.  Thanks Andy for making these boards--that Happ kit was way too expensive to just rot in the garage!

Edit: Tested quickly in T2.  Not too shabby for a from-the-hip calibration with the LEDs taped to the top of my laptop.  I had to turn down the analog sensitivity to 1, and reverse the X-axis, but I was able to get enough accuracy to hit all the targets quickly and get rocket lock-ons.  Been waiting a long time for that!   Hehe

Hmm, wonder if I could get the LEDwiz to pulse the solenoids...hmmm.... 

[drventure]

I'd think you could, using an opto isolator and relay or triac. I've been experimenting doing exactly that with controlling ELWire segments via LEDWiz. But I've never worked with those kinds of guns.

[1UP]

I'd think you could, using an opto isolator and relay or triac. I've been experimenting doing exactly that with controlling ELWire segments via LEDWiz. But I've never worked with those kinds of guns.

Well, with this setup, I'm pretty sure all I really need to send is a button press to the recoil board.  The board is made to fire the solenoids on every trigger press with no feedback from the game.  Maybe I just need a small relay in place of an LED to do the switching.

[drventure]

Yeah, but you gotta be careful of driving inductive loads with the outputs of the LEDWiz. They warn about that all over the place.

An optoisolator isn't inductive like a relay, so no danger with it.

[mwong168]

I hacked into an old squirt gun and mounted a leaf switch and the Aimtrak camera module into it.  It looks bad, but is very functional.

I just ordered this from Dealextreme for $8.82usd that comes in a pair.  Might not be as pretty as a guncon2 or a retro nes zapper but might serve it's purpose well.




http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29212

I'm guessing that the trigger much hit something where the top barrel is so I can hopefully mount a leaf switch there next to the AimTrack PCB.

[Karnako]

I just ordered this from Dealextreme for $8.82usd that comes in a pair.  Might not be as pretty as a guncon2 or a retro nes zapper but might serve it's purpose well.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.29212

I'm guessing that the trigger much hit something where the top barrel is so I can hopefully mount a leaf switch there next to the AimTrack PCB.

Those are supposed to be used with Wii remotes so trigger should work with some sort of lever to hit the "B" button from a Wii remote that would be sitting nearby the front of the gun. It's much possible you'll remove part of the mechanism and have enough room to adapt the switch.

I bought exactly this pair two months ago to use with AimTrack, but never got my hands on them. I only received a letter from customs stating they were considered real gun replicas here and therefore sent to the Army. It would cost too much to get an authorization to import them compared to their price...so I left them for destruction.   

Now I have two Virtua Guns from Saturn waiting for me to start...let's see how it goes.

[mwong168]

I bought exactly this pair two months ago to use with AimTrack, but never got my hands on them. I only received a letter from customs stating they were considered real gun replicas here and therefore sent to the Army. It would cost too much to get an authorization to import them compared to their price...so I left them for destruction.   

Wow, customs must be really stupid if they think they can go to war with those weapons of mass destruction    Hopefully Canada customs won't be as dumb and my package will make it through. 

[Ginsu Victim]

It's Brazil. Who are they going to war with?

[Karnako]

I bought exactly this pair two months ago to use with AimTrack, but never got my hands on them. I only received a letter from customs stating they were considered real gun replicas here and therefore sent to the Army. It would cost too much to get an authorization to import them compared to their price...so I left them for destruction.   

Wow, customs must be really stupid if they think they can go to war with those weapons of mass destruction    Hopefully Canada customs won't be as dumb and my package will make it through. 

Well...like any other customs, it's pretty random. They check the packages by sample and the individual has the authority to define what to do with the goods...and there's a law approved two years ago here that forbids the import of almost anything gun-alike, including toys. So they have to send it to an army office that's responsible to define if it's a replica or not....seems I was really unlucky on those inspections. I'm pretty sure I could recover it, but I would have to spend something around $100 for it on a process...

On the fun side, they probably thought I was a modern version of this guy: http://kotaku.com/5160608/brazilian-man-holds-woman-hostage-for-10-hours-with-a-sega-light-gun 

[1UP]

Yeah, but you gotta be careful of driving inductive loads with the outputs of the LEDWiz. They warn about that all over the place.

An optoisolator isn't inductive like a relay, so no danger with it.

I'm not sure what you mean by inductive.  Isn't a relay just a switch?  If the recoil board is controlling the solenoid, using the input of a switch to tell it that the trigger has been pulled, then the recoil circuit is probably already isolated.  I'll have to take a closer look tonight but I think it makes sense.

Edit: NVM, I reread and I see what you're saying....so an optoisolator then.  Or a solid state relay would be good enough?

[drventure]

Right, but that relay actually has a solenoid in it to trigger the "switch" action, and that's also an inductive load, which, from what I know of the LEDWiz, it doesn't like to drive.

Maybe I've misunderstood what you were wanting to do. It sounded like you wanted to be able to control the recoil solenoid via an output from the LEDWIZ?

To do that, you definitely wouldn't want to drive the recoil solenoid +directly+ from the LEDWiz, but you probably don't want to drive a relay to drive the recoil solenoid either.

But, an email to the guys at Ultimarc might be your best bet for a concrete answer.

[1UP]

I'm using a kit from Happ that is made to retrofit non-recoil games to use recoil guns.  There is a board included for this purpose, with a microcontroller of some sort.  It looks for various conditions, like having to insert a coin and press start in order for the recoil to be enabled, then it activates the solenoid whenever the trigger is pressed.  So all I'm looking to do is send that button press, which must be read by the controller before firing the solenoid.  For this purpose, all I need is to send a momentary contact to the trigger input on the board.

[drventure]

Ahhh. I see. you just need that signal, you don't actually have to power the solenoid with it.

Hmm. That might work. But I'm no EE either, so don't take my word for it 

I've let plenty of magic smoke out doing just these sorts of "Hey this oughta work" things. 

[Kirky]

Few questions, I just got my AimTraks in the mail this week...

I've got mine hooked up in a GunCon with the light bar mounted on top of a Samsung 22" widescreen LCD.  Calibration seems to be OK in WindowsXP, but not accurate within MAME.

1.  Did the widescreen "issue" ever get resolved?  In calibration the cursor doesn't go to the edges on my widescreen LCD.  Is this a part of the problem I might be having?
2.  Would the LEDs be impacted by a glossy monitor case?  I've greyed out the area around the LED bar, and things got a little better, but not as good as it probably should be.
3.  Has anyone had problems with accuracy in daylight vs night?  Games seems to be unplayable during the day, but no changes to the guns or config and things are better at night.

Are there any setting in Windows that I should check, like cursor precision, etc?

Been having a blast in Carnevil and Terminator 2, but something tels me it could be better.  Putting these bits into a GunCon gun was CAKE!  I want to take a look at using the extra button header but I've been OK with what's already there for now.  Getting a start button on the gun though would save me a few steps to start up a game.  Not a deal breaker by any means.

[Dazz]

I want to take a look at using the extra button header but I've been OK with what's already there for now.  Getting a start button on the gun though would save me a few steps to start up a game.  Not a deal breaker by any means.

I ended up wiring up the trigger, bottom button, 2 side buttons and the D-pad on my Guncon 2.  Everything works great.  If you need more information you can check out this thread on the HyperSpin forums.

[romshark]

Hopefully someone could help me with a small problem.
I found out, in the Model 2 emulator, enabling Raw Input (for mouse) prevents the "click on the edge of the game and it loses focus" problem. I would need to use this anyway when I get a second Aimtrak gun.
The problem is, in Raw Input mode, the crosshair / shots only appear at the 4 corners of the screen. I can't shoot anything like that.
It only happens with the Aimtrak on the Model 2. The trackball works fine for Player 2 in Raw Input mode. And the gun works on the Desktop, MAME, and everything else.
Any ideas?

[Firebat138]

I have  a Dual Quad Core 3 Ghz at work with 16GB Ram and TC DOES NOT WORK... I doubt anyone has anything beefeir than that.  :-)  LOL...  But this looks awesome...  Just ordered my panel also...  Almost there...

So has anyone made these and sold them yet...  I need TWO>  :-)

As far as Time Crisis goes, what are our real options here...  Mame can't run it...

I mentioned a few posts earlier that MAME *CAN* in fact run Time Crisis.  If that game is one that you absolutely have to have, then it may be worth it to you to build/buy a system with a powerful enough CPU to handle it.

[northerngames]

I use tactile switch's for 360 rapid fire controller mods to switch mode's between the firing rate's.

http://www.lambind.com/images/large/ts.jpg

for those that need or want more buttons you could easily put more then enough of these in there just drill a hole and hot glue or epoxy them in and they will stay in there.