Aimtrak gun loses alignment when I aim off the screen. <tag> Aimtrak <Tag>

Efriim

@dureq83
Were you able to set a framebuffer?
There are some keyboard controls for Advmame, it doesn't look like the options here will be helpful

F2 for the ROM menu
1 & 2 for player 1 & 2 start
I had to use a combination of controller and keyboard to navigate.

TAB for the Advmame menu
there are only a few video settings.

Have you tried any other emulators. lr-mame2010 or even FBA.
There are a lot of incompatibilities with romsets and emulator versions. Advmame may very well be the only one that is compatible with that romset, one would need a different romset for the other versions.
The versions are only slightly confusing as they increment integer decimals and they may cover a range of romsets.

Advmame  0.94        MAME 0.94
Advmame  1.4         MAME 0.106
Advmame [3.9]        MAME 0.106 - ???

MAME4ALL             MAME 0.37b5 - ???

lr-mame2000          MAME 0.37b5
lr-mame2003          MAME 0.78
lr-mame2010          MAME 0.139
(under experimental packages) [build failure - ran out of memory]
lr-mame2003plus      MAME 0.78 - MAME 0.188
lr-mame2015          MAME 0.160
lr-mame2016          MAME 0.174
lr-mame              MAME 0.208

And what is the driver that you are using?

dureq83

I think I'll mess with the video settings a bit later after I finish my game stream for the evening. Maybe I need to make sure that the rom's video resolution is matched with the televisions resolution (which I thought they already were). I'll also check the mame versions and post them. Also, when you ask was driver I'm using, are you referring to which Aimtrak gun driver?

Efriim

@dureq83
Yes which aimtrak driver? Knowing the source I may be able to investigate and find an answer for you.

Your're right the video settings should match by default. In advanced mame menu (F2_key) there is basically only the resolution scaler in menu, but odds and ends like [Resize] [Vsync] and [SMP]? are worth a shot (Defaults: Resize=integer Vsync=no SMP=yes)(SMP stands for Symmetric Multi-processing so probably no resolution here).
I didn't look into the input options, maybe there is a double-mapped button

Opening the runcommand there is a setting for the linux framebuffer, it is only a wild guess that this is a solution to the problem. Anyways its worth a try, it is an easy configuration to add and remove, try a small framebuffer.

Once none of that works and the advmame.rc with different options doesn't work either.
Unless there was a configuration that was missed, I guess it is time to either explore the aimtrak driver or try a different emulator/romset.

dureq83

I'm going to try to remember everything that I tested tonight. ::SPOILER:: I still had the same issue each time.
Firstly, I checked the model number of the tv and found that it's resolution is 1.366 x 768 HD 720p, and I'm currently running in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
I tried to run Aliens 3, and Lethal Enforcers 2 using Advmame 3.9 (which was default), 1.4, and 0.94. Each of the three emulators showed the same issue where if I went off the screen and came back that the crosshairs were off their original configuration.
I manually went into the Raspberry pi config and set the native resolution of the pi to 1,366x 768 (Same as the tv) and tried each of the three emulators, still no change.
I opened the Run Command and first changed the default video mode for Advmame, I tried numerous video modes with no change.
I then opened the Run Command again and changed the default framebuffer for Advmame, I tried numerous framebuffer modes with no change.
I tried to change the Vsync and SMP modes with no change.
In the game options of each game I changed the resolution/magnification from 1,2,3,4x each time having no change in the
My Firmware version for the Aimtrak guns is the latest (9.19)

Efriim

Oh well, I should have researched more before proposing so many ideas.
Leaves to remain these changes for advanced mame
/opt/retropie/configs/mame-advmame/advmame.rc

device_fb_fastset yes #  description from advmame doc: "Don't set the video mode if it's expected to be idential at the current one. This can be used to avoid a screen refresh when not required."
device_mouse raw
device_raw_mousedev[0] /dev/input/mouse0
device_raw_mousedev[1] /dev/input/mouse1
device_raw_mousedev[2] /dev/input/mouse2
device_raw_mousedev[3] /dev/input/mouse3
device_raw_mousetype[0] ps2
device_raw_mousetype[1] ps2
device_raw_mousetype[2] ps2
device_raw_mousetype[3] ps2

#defaults
device_fb_fastset no
device_mouse auto
device_raw_mousedev[0] auto
device_raw_mousetype[0] pnp

if you haven't already.

It is likely these problems will not persist in lr-mame, but if they did then it would tell us that it is device interface/driver problem since all the screen/resolutions have been tried.

dureq83

Just an update, I moved the rom from the Advmame folder to Arcade and ran it with LR-Mame2010 emulator, still having the same issue. So we know that using two different emulators that the problem is persisting.

dureq83

This is what my advmame.rc looks like (doesn't look like yours)

device_mouse auto
device_raw_firstkeyhack no
device_raw_mousedev[0] auto
device_raw_mousedev[1] auto
device_raw_mousedev[2] auto
device_raw_mousedev[3] auto
device_raw_mousetype[0] pnp
device_raw_mousetype[1] pnp
device_raw_mousetype[2] pnp
device_raw_mousetype[3] pnp

Efriim

@dureq83
Well at least it works and it is probably right, I'm probably wrong I think I scanned it here
https://github.com/RetroPie/RetroPie-Setup/wiki/Spinners,-Trackballs,-Lightguns,-and-other-Mouse-Devices#advancemame
but I read about it searching for aimtrak in two places.
There is a firmware on the gun device itself? And the windows program allows it to have different configurations maybe these apply. Setting it to Mouse mode only.

dureq83

The firmware on Aimtrak guns are stored in the gun themselves. I updated the firmware while plugged into my windows machine. I currently have the aimtrak gun configured as a mouse.
This is what I don't get. I run gunconf on my raspberry pi and am able to calibrate it correctly. (while in the calibration screen, the crosshairs don't become misaligned after moving off the screen.) ((So we know that the sensor bar is reading the gun correctly)) I then load a game using two different emulators (not just different versions of the same emulator) and both emulators have the same problem (which tells us that it's not an emulator problem, or at least I don't think so.) So if it's not an emulator issue then where, Dear Watson, does the problem lie?

Efriim

@dureq83
Quick question. When the aimtrak is pointed way off screen and the trigger is pulled; does the alignment over-compensate proportionately, only parabolic? Or rationally with condensed values?

dureq83

@Efriim I'm sorry, I dont understand the question.

Efriim

@dureq83
When reloading and the alignment gets adjusted, is this adjustment equal to the distance off screen reloaded? If you were to shoot the lowerleft without going offscreen will it make any adjustment? And if you were to shoot the lower left off of the screen is the adjustment diagonal or will it show only x and y adjustments? Finally if reloading several times off screen does the misalignment compound itself limitlessly?

dureq83

Whether or not I go to reload the gun, when I aim off the screen it loses the alignment.

Efriim

@dureq83
Could you try?
lr-mame2010
/home/pi/RetroPie/roms/arcade/mame2010/ini/mame.ini
line 80/115

offscreen_reload          1

I could not find this setting for advmame.

dureq83

I changed the Offscreen_reload from 0 to 1 in LR_Mame2010, and ran Aliens.zip and still am having the same issue with the calibration being off when I aim off the screen. I tried to launch Lethal Enforcers 2 with Mame-2010 and it won't run, probably because of the rom family which is for Advmame.

Efriim

@dureq83
Like a mouse it is trapped on the screen. Then it needs some sort of off-screen scroll. Or perhaps a way to disable the some of the mouse cursor functions yet not make inoperable the tracking.

Efriim

@dureq83
While I thought the above configurations for advmame.rc were to enable the device functions maybe they are used to make separate the mouse events of the aimtrak. Can you confirm this function.
advmame.rc post #16

dureq83

I'll have to check this later when I'm in front of my game. Has no one else on this forum (300 views) ever had this problem? It would be great to have additional details or ideas from others.

mitu

I don't have an Aimtrak, so I don't know how it can be configured, but I suppose that - like other lightguns - it emulates a mouse in Linux.
The only idea that pops to mind for the behaviour you're seeing is that the emulator is reading the mouse movements as relative coordinates and once it's off screen it looses the correct position. I know that some Libretro cores have an option to use 'absolute pointer' (for instance mame2003-plus), but I don't know if Advmame has this kind of option - or maybe it's not only up to the emulator, but there's something that can be configured for the gun itself.

dureq83

@mitu thank you for the reply, I will explore this when I'm more awake.