The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Reviews => Topic started by: Analog-X on August 28, 2002, 10:02:56 pm
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If you are easily offended than dont read.
To my surprise the The Act-Labs gun arrived in the mail today. So here is my initial review of it.
- Upon opening the box you will find the Gun and CD-ROM, Advanced Users: You know what to do here.
Novice Users: There is no indication of what to do next, and how to proceed with installation.
- When I inserted the CD-ROM a menu poped up with a Macromedia Director Created Menu with options of Gun Installation Game support etc... upon clicking the Gun Installation button, I got an Run Time error and C++ Visual Library error (Win98SE) to proceed exploring the CD Manualy to find the installation instructions as a Text File.
- When you finaly install the Gun and Turn your PC on in my case (Win98SE) it looks for your Win98 Installation CD, so you better have that handy since no Drivers or Inf Files were included on the CD Included in the package.
- The installation instructions talks about Button #2 located on the left side of the gun but does not go any further on explaining what its function is.
- One of the selling features of this Gun is Mame32 Compatibility but again there is not explanation anywhere on how to get it working properly in mame32. I tried and failed. I tested Duck Hunt, Point Blank, Terminator 2 in all games I can fire but the aim is stuck off to the side of the screen.
- The Calibration, the method for calibration is pretty simple, however and onscreen vertical/horizontial guide line would have been much help in calibrating the gun properly, after many attempts at calibration, the gun aim it still off centre, and I've been using the Supplied Macromedia Game to test this.
The Gun is very simplistic and lacks features compared to playstation 1 guns that I bought for the same price range, for example my PS1 Guns have the option of Recoil effect, Lights on the side of the gun when firing, Auto Fire or Pulse Fire options.
The Cord going from the PC Adaptor to the GUN is only 6' (feet) long and might not be long enough for people who might want to install it in a Cab installation. I know ActLabs didnt design the gun for Cab installation but its something to consider.
The Gun did work pretty straight forward out of the box, but I think the product was rushed a little. Some printed instructions should have been included for the novice user, and since Mame is one of the Advertised features of the gun on their site, a little faq should have been written on how to configure it properly in mame32.
Thats my 2 Cents.
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I've gotten the feeling that it has been rushed too, and I've never even used the damn thing! Sucks that it might look to be that way...
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Just so ya know... Terminator 2 used Pots (gun was a big joystick), so Im not sure on optical compatibility. I also know that you have to manually calibrate the gun in mame by going into the test menu. This may be true for other games as well... as its not just the pc that needs to know the guns coordinates... its the arcade machine that needs to as well.
Also, Ive heard that the Duck Hunt driver was temporarily broken in mame.
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Terminator 2 is a big joystick, BUT right now in MAME gun is simulated witht he mouse. The act labs gun "simulates" a mouse so therefore it should work...
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Check out the games mame supported gamees list.
http://www.act-labs.com/gun_gamelisting.htm or
http://www.act-labs.com/gun_mamegames.htm
Terminator 2 and Duck Hunt are listed that is why I tried them out. I also tried out, Zero Point, Point Blank, but same results. I followed the included instructions and calibrated the gun inside the game but didnt get it working either.
I will try your suggestions of calibrating the gun inside each individual game use each games test screen.
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I don't think they ever said that they will work with mame32... but mame.exe
That was why they added lightgun support to mame (add it in the mame.ini).
I would get it working there first. Then move the mame32 if you feel inspired.
Also, different refreshs did different things to the old version. So try increasing refreshs and see if that helps.
Last... if it was easy, then there would be a ton of guns out there. Consoles have one type of monitor, one refresh (for most that is) and people writing to that device (instead of writing a driver to act like another device).
I'm hoping they got it right... but it doesn't sound like it.
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It specifacly says MAME32
http://www.act-labs.com/gun1_support.htm
Q: Will the gun work with shooting games under the MAME emulator?
A: Yes, provided that you are running the Windows version of MAME (MAME32).
I didnt make this up, they claim it supports mame32 go to the link and look at it yourself.
I've tried reducing to Recommended refresh rate of 75mhz.
Refresh rate is not the problem. The included Flash Demo works fine with the gun.
Mame32 however needs some configuration which is not explained anywhere in the act-labs website or included instructions on CD-ROM.
Since Mame32/Mame is being used as one of its selling points and openly advertised they should have included some information on how to get it to work in Mame32.
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I may be just stating the obvious but make sure you go to the
options--default options -- controllers menu
in mame32 and check the box for enable light gun input.
I am expecting to receive my gun today but when i was checking out some of the gun games the aiming sight would go offscreen until I enabled the light gun input.
I can't wait to get my gun, When I do I'm gonna spend some quality time with Zero Point.
hope this helps
Slug54
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Something else... you might want to disable the mouse.
they get data differently
also, really try getting it working with mame.exe since it was what was changed to get it working. I'm not sure if they were combining win32 version of mame and mame32 together.
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I've just been in touch with Act-Labs to find out if there is a UK reseller, and alas, there isn't :(
So as I'm not prepared to pay as much for shipping as the gun is worth, I'm just going to have to live without one for the time being :(
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I just got my email.
Analog-X, btw, don't forget that there is a money back guarantee. I'm banking on it since they said it should work with my EYGO monitor... but might not
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I received my gun today and it works like a dream! The only game that I had any problem in was T2 but I haven't really messed with it (T2) yet. Duck hunt is a blast along w/ Point Blank and Police Trainer. Ive also got HOTD2 and it rocks!!!
Oh by the way, I'm using an Eygo 27" monitor 60hz refresh at 640x480
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Oh, man... I was in an arcade that had Police Trainer the other day... THAT GAME IS AWESOME (er, well, with 2 players)!!!
I generally don't like gun games - Area 51 and games like that make me walk away looking at passers by with an intent to kill... ?!? Police Trainer ain't like that - it's just rad, man.
My gun has shipped, I can't wait to play PT...
That's awesome that it works with the Eygo... I'm hoping it'll work with a 15hz monitor, but it's not looking good.
By the way, that arcade had most of the greatest classics - all broken... Track and Field (the player controls were reversed), Arkanoid (the spinner needed lubing), Defender (Out of order)... A four player driving game Car Crash derby or something - cocktail style (sort of), broken.
Working games included After Burner, Thunderblade, Outrun (sit-down), Police Trainer, and a lot more... Old Forge, NY.
I started getting crazy ideas about buying the whole place so I could fix up those games.
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Just to add to my earlier post, T2 is now working and is awesome with the gun!!!! I just calibrated w/ my TB and played w/ the gun. Looks like I'm gonna be busy for a while :)
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I was scratching my head wondering what this Light Gun Option was that everyone was talking about. So I checked my version of Mame32 and what the F****? It was version v060 I was sure I had upgraded it...so upon closer inspection It looks like I unzziped the update to the wrong folder :-[ so anyways, I fixed the sitation and got the light gun up and running.
For those who were also having the same problem as I did. You need MAME32 v061 earlier versions like v060 will not work.
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hehehe! Glad to hear you got it working :)
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Has anyone tried it with Quake 2?
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???
I have to say that the gun does seem to work good with almost everything I have ried it with except for Zero Point (mame32). It seems to shoot off to the left about 2 inches no matter how many times I calabrate it. It works fine with T2, Chiller, and my NES emulator for Duck Hunt. Anybody know why it does this? I was rally looking forward to playing Zero Point too....