Trackball working in mame4all but not Advmame??

Riverstorm

Thanks Caver, I tried this last night and it worked superbly! I really appreciate the help and tutorial. Now my only issue is figuring out where to drill a hole to add the spinner. :)

caver01

@Riverstorm About the hole for the spinner--You probably already have an idea about that, but if I could do it over again, I might try a little play-testing with a cardboard panel to make sure my spinners are not mounted too close. It depends on your panel, of course, but I wish I had a little more room around my joystick to keep flailing hands from bumping into the spinners!

Riverstorm

@caver01 said:

@Riverstorm I might try a little play-testing with a cardboard panel to make sure my spinners are not mounted too close.

Yes, I definitely need to do that. I was looking at it last night but didn't want to be hasty about drilling a hole since it's painted, clear coated and a clear acrylic plate on top. It's kind of a one shot deal if I mess it up.

My layout is tight and I don't know if trying to squeeze it up between the joystick and buttons or down a little lower. I have plenty of room on the right side (button side) but I think most spin with the left and press buttons with the right. The spinner was an afterthought once the case was mostly completed so it's going to be a bit awkward no matter where I place it. Not to mention for me it's indeed almost inevitable I will have flailing hands once I start playing. :)

space invader

Hi!

I've tried this configuration:

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
...
...
input_map[p1_trackballx] mouse[0,x]
input_map[p1_trackbally] mouse[0,y]
input_map[p2_trackballx] mouse[2,x]
input_map[p2_trackbally] mouse[2,y]
input_map[p1_dialx] mouse[1,x]
input_map[p2_dialx] mouse[3,x]

In order to have one trackball and one spinner for every player.

Trackballs work fine, I can play Marble Madness perfectly alone or with a friend.

The problem is with the spinners. If I play Arkanoid 1P it uses player one's spinner. But if I try to play 2P, the player two's spinner does not work and is controlled with player one's. Spinner too.

Entering in the TAB menu, input (this game) option, there is configuration for:

dial dec (left or j:stick:x+)
dial inc (right or j:stick:x-)
dial 2 dec (d or j2:1:1+)
dial 2 inc (g or j2:1:1-)

But neither d nor g work.

Summarizing, both player one and two can be controlled via player one's keys, pad or spinner.

It is a game's bug or I am doing something wrong??

Thanks in advance!

space invader

Well, continue trying and with Millipede I have the same problem.

Only player one's trackball works for both players. Is as if games that players plays separately can only be controlled with player one's controlers, but then I don't understand why in the TAB menú appear player two's controls and they do not work, even the keyboard ones...

BuZz

The original arcade game only has and supports one trackball.

space invader

Then this would be the reason, but as i saw in the TAB menú player one's and two's spinner configurations...

Thanks!

BuZz

maybe because the hardware supports more than one controller.

space invader

I've been searching in google images of he Arkanoid's CPO and all of them have only one spinner, so I asume that the game does not support the second one.

So I will not worry anymore about it, one less mouse to buy...

caver01

I have seen this too. Some games, no matter what you try, want to use the single control.

A game like Golden Tee for example supports 4 players, but they all take turns using the single trackball. That makes sense because they take turns. For games with simultaneous control, like Rampart (multiple trackballs), or Blasteroids (multiple spinners) you can usually get them working fine on separate controls.

Also, the MAME gui allows some adjustment (analog input) but I have never had luck choosing inputs--they need to be mapped first in the .rc file. Then, use the gui to adjust sensitivity.

Finally, once I have the analog controls working the way I want, I always go into the gui menu and remove the joy + - inputs so guests don't accidentally use the joystick by mistake.

By the way, you can do some amazing putting with a spinner on Golden Tee! ;-)

Abqshark

I'm sorry if this is a noob question, but where do I find the advmame.rc file to edit it?

caver01

@Abqshark I always connect via samba share to the configs, but the .rc file I edit for advmame 1.4 is /opt/retropie/configs/mame-advancemame/advmame-1.4.rc

dsstrainer

@Roberto Did you have to do anything to get it working with mame4all?

buggydad

My trackball (X-Arcade Tankstick) worked natively in mame4all but not in Advmame even after making the changes recommended above. My spinner (Turbo Twist 2) also worked natively in mame4all but not Advmame.

Big problem I'm having is getting the spinner working in Tron. It's working in Tempest but in Tron, I hit TAB for the configuration menu and can't get the spinner to register in the DIAL settings. Appreciate any tips or thoughts as I really want to get Tron and DOT working!

dsstrainer

@buggydad Yea I think it is ok for me too in mame4all. Haven't tried a trackball game yet. AdvMame appears to be gone now in RetroPi 4.0 so I guess lib-retro is the new hotness

hakan1708

@buggydad I thought that spinner doesn't work in mame4all. How did you make it work? Thanks.

buggydad

@hakan1708 Spinner (Turbo Twist 2) worked out of the gate in mame4all on the games I tested (Super Sprint and Tempest). I'm using RetroPie 4.0 on a Raspberry 2. Can't seem to get it recognized in Tron or Discs of Tron, though. Anyone have any luck with that?

hakan1708

@buggydad Thanks. I'll try.

caver01

Advmame is still there. Just not installed by default.

I have been able to make spinners and trackballs work fine with any applicable game that can be launched with AdvMAME. I am happy to assist with your config. Have you read the Wiki I wrote since this original thread was started? There are several tests you can do to ensure AdvMAME is seeing the input from your device.

It sounds like at least Linux is seeing it. I expect you merely need to configure your .rc file correctly for AdvanceMAME. The details are in the wiki, but you should be able to run the advm utility and quickly determine how AdvanceMAME is indexing your mouse device, then use that info to configure the DIAL inputs. You will need to know which mouse# and which axis. Depending on how you connected your TurboTwist 2 to the USB interface, you may just need to configure the correct axis. AdvanceMAME can be more complex (and more capable) than lr cores because it can see up to 4 different mouse devices at the same time, and this matters because you have to setup the right ones in the .rc file (or map them all).

caver01

Oh and by the way, gameplay will be limited in Discs Of Tron if your spinner isn't a "push-pull". Not everyone knows about this. In fact, when I was a kid playing DOT, I didn't even realize this was an option while playing, but on the actual arcade panel, you can lift the spinner and push it down and it will raise and lower the aim point of your discs--in addition to spinning it. The spinner in DOT is unique in that regard. Your typical TurboTwist 2 just spins and doesn't have this push/pull switch (although you can get one that does). Anyway, DOT is still fun without it.