Ultimarc A-Pac with 5k Potentiometers

1500points · 8 Apr 2018, 01:06

quick update and a personal revelation.
I learned by pure googling accident today that 1979 Atari Football was also released in a 4 player trackball cocktail model! Who knew.....and it is in MAME.

I set up a new trackball cabinet for Golden Tee. So I tried Warlords with the 3inch happ trackball. IT PLAYS GREAT!

Now I'm thinking a new 4 player trackball cocktail is on the horizon for football and warlords. Since it is mouse based inputs there is no deadspot in Warlords, nor is there a calibration issue. the knight shield travels properly.

caver01 · 8 Apr 2018, 07:32

@1500points that would be quite a project. I remember those football games. They were huge. Are you going to try a CRT display?

1500points · 10 Apr 2018, 13:04

@caver01 said in Ultimarc A-Pac with 5k Potentiometers:

@1500points that would be quite a project. I remember those football games. They were huge. Are you going to try a CRT display?

It actually looks pretty good on a cheap computer LCD.
I'd have to see how to hook up a pi to an old color TV maybe with the rca jacks to pursue a CRT.

The biggest drawback I noticed when I fired up the 2player version is that it lists the plays right on the screen, so you'd have to make a physical vision shield to hide your choice from the opponent.

Might be Fall before I actually take action on anything, which gives me time to round up a handful of happ trackballs on the cheap and look around on curbs for an old tv with rca jacks.

1500points · 10 Apr 2018, 14:39

one more follow-up. I got around to trying the newer warlords art package from Mr. Do with mame 184 and a PC.
It looks much better than the old art, BUT the top right castle bricks are invisible, kinda like happened in my pi tests. I tried lots of intensity variations to fix it but couldn't with Pi.
So it looks like it is a no go with newer MAME. That is too bad, the mote looks soooooo cool.

caver01 · 10 Apr 2018, 15:59

@1500points Is this artwork visibility because it is off screen, or are you saying there is a brightness/overlay situation that is making it too dark?

1500points · 11 Apr 2018, 00:33

@caver01 said in Ultimarc A-Pac with 5k Potentiometers:

@1500points Is this artwork visibility because it is off screen, or are you saying there is a brightness/overlay situation that is making it too dark?

it is a brightness/darkness or a color conflict that causes the bricks of the upper right castle to be pure black. you can't see them in the gameplay.

similar problem happened with advmame1.4 and the older art at Mr. Do.

caver01 · 11 Apr 2018, 16:10

@1500points I will try to take a look. I will send myself a reminder to see if I can make it work.

caver01 · 13 Apr 2018, 01:37

@1500points Well, I just tried it and the artwork loads up just fine for me. However, for whatever reason, the backdrop renders at a very low resolution, even though I have the video setup to a 4x magnification. What am I missing? The artwork backdrop is 1200+ pixels wide but advancemame is clearly scaling it way way down before displaying that layer. It is very disappointing, but maybe I have a bad setting.

1500points · 4 Jul 2018, 16:48

I just saw there is a potential calibration option via an xbox controller tool.
I haven't tried it but maybe it is useful for an A-pac?

https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Universal-Controller-Calibration-&-Mapping-Using-xboxdrv

caver01 · 8 Jul 2018, 22:19

@1500points Interesting. Might be worth looking into. I wish I could use xboxdrv with my IPAC but it apparently does not work with a keyboard controller. Might work with your analog inputs though.

biglouieuk · 2 Sept 2018, 13:45

Back from the dead! This Warlords project has been sitting idle for a while for me. I was reading your comments above and it has inspired me to look at these joystick calibration and dead spots in advj and advmame.

Maybe device_joystick auto is a good place to investigate. And I'll look into your suggestions above. I like the track ball idea but I really want those potentiometers!

biglouieuk · 2 Sept 2018, 13:47

@1500points this looks like a good place to start more investigation...

Specifically... "Correcting the inner and outer deadzones of analog sticks for finer control and to prevent drifting problems in overly-sensitive or well-worn controllers."