NES Emulator Light Gun

jimd0586

I searched the forum and the wiki before posting and couldn't find anything, though my guess is this has already been asked.

Can retropie and its NES emulator work with an NES Zapper or the Aimtrak Usb light gun?

I know the issues arise with the type of screen. But can I take the Aimtrak light gun setup and plug it into the USB port on the Raspberry Pi and have it record hits on say Duck Hunt? It looks to work on standard PCs but I am curious if Retropie detects it and allows the Roms to be modified to work with it. Anyone know?

Thanks for the help.

Jim

Pi Model: 3B
RetroPie Version Used: 3.6
Built From: SD Image,
USB Devices connected: PS4 Controller

herb_fargus

Nobody has done it as far as I know. Not to say it cant be done but likely would need extra coding in the emulator itself to work and will also vary depending on the screen used, hardware, etc.

Twitch0815

So the official answer to this is that, as long as the Aimtrack displays as a standard HID controller, and the emulator (which the retropie devs have little control over) supports mouse input then it should work.

BuZz

yeh - if you can for example control it using a mouse in the emulator, and the lightgun emulates this it "may" work (but perhaps not well depending on how the movement is handled) - I guess if the game works with an absolute pointing device it would.

eg I have an O2 Joggler with touchscreen that works as a mouse - but absolute rather than relative for X/Y - it used to require some changes to get Kodi to play nice with it because SDL needed some hacks to work with it even though Kodi had mouse support. Kodi supports it now out of the box though.

Connorsdad

If using an aimtrak I would try and get it working with mame first as we know this emu supports them, has anyone even tried plugging in aimtrak and lightbar yet ?

jimd0586

@Connorsdad

I would totally try this, but my limited pi experience would bar me from getting it working. Someone on another forum said it would work, but I just don't know how To program it in. I'm still trying to remap my ps4 dualshock to have both thumbsticks exit games back to the Retropie home when clicked. I have no idea what conmand to type in. I do know he buttons are "10" and "11".

😢

LumpyLemming

Couldn't you use a Wii Remote as a Bluetooth controller and have it be the gun using a sensor bar (pair of LEDs)? That way you could also use the Wii controller as a NES gamepad too.

jimd0586

@LumpyLemming

I have been told the Wii Remote and light bar work. However, my concern is how do you take the Wii Remote or Aimtrack lightgun and configure it to work with a rom that originally used a light gun on an CRT screen? Will the emulators suddenly recognize the new led light gun? I mean, aren't they simulating a mouse click on screen? If that's the case, then you'd be mouse clicking on the screen and not actually scanning the screen at 15khz for light... so I don't see how they would work with older games... Anyone have thoughts on this?

mediamogul

@jimd0586

you'd be mouse clicking on the screen and not actually scanning the screen at 15khz for light... so I don't see how they would work with older games.

The emulator itself translates the differences between the two control schemes. A lot of emulators employ this method and as such it is possible to have an emulation setup with arcade and console light gun titles. Needless to say, this setup is highlighted by the inclusion of gun-shaped mouse devices that round out the experience, such as the AimTrak guns and various Wiimote-based solutions.

kcc406

I am sorry for asking this dumb question, however i want to make sure before i spend the money.

so to get the wii remote to work all i need to do i connect the wii remote to the pi (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiy3uWo16rOAhUBR2MKHVBTBJMQtwIIIzAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbO5-FjLe5xE&usg=AFQjCNHV-Z0C4eHQYRdrY8UL43omm8x_hQ&sig2=lGFWkTV6bkUH4ThMe48Oig&bvm=bv.129391328,d.cGc) i can do that,
then i need to power the sencer bar and the roms will auto detect that i am using a light gun and i can play games like duck hunt, point blank, area 51, and other shooter games?

if this is the case, ITS AWESOME!!!! please let me know, Thank you

edmaul69

@mediamogul have you been able to get the mouse to run in nestopia? I have not. And in the snes amd genesis i can shoot but the mouse movement does not work.

mediamogul

@kcc406, @edmaul69

To my understanding, lr-mame2003 and lr-mame2010 are currently the only emulators that have light gun games in their libraries that will support mouse movement as gun input. However, traditional mouse input uses relative coordinates and the Wiimote/DolphinBar and AimTrak options use absolute coordinates. I have both a DolphinBar and a set of AimTrak guns and while I haven't tested the new mouse additions to lr-mame2003, I have tested them with lr-mame2010 and the difference in coordinate input renders them unusable.

You can however make use of standard mice, trackballs and even gyroscopic airmice, although the airmice can be a little unwieldy for proper control. Earlier I made mention of the Mame options as being the only emulators that have light gun games in their libraries that support mouse movement. Strangely enough I have been able to make the DolphinBar and AimTrak guns respond as mouse input in the UAE4ALL2 Amiga emulator in Retropie and the ScummVM software in Recalbox, but not RetroPie. I can only guess that these two examples have absolute mouse coordinates as part of their core.

kcc406

@mediamogul said in NES Emulator Light Gun:

@kcc406, @edmaul69

To my understanding, lr-mame2003 and lr-mame2010 are currently the only emulators that have light gun games in their libraries that will support mouse movement as gun input. However, traditional mouse input uses relative coordinates and the Wiimote/DolphinBar and AimTrak options use absolute coordinates. I have both a DolphinBar and a set of AimTrak guns and while I haven't tested the new mouse additions to lr-mame2003, I have tested them with lr-mame2010 and the difference in coordinate input renders them unusable.

You can however make use of standard mice, trackballs and even gyroscopic airmice, although the airmice can be a little unwieldy for proper control. Earlier I made mention of the Mame options as being the only emulators that have light gun games in their libraries that support mouse movement. Strangely enough I have been able to make the DolphinBar and AimTrak guns respond as mouse input in the UAE4ALL2 Amiga emulator in Retropie and the ScummVM software in Recalbox, but not RetroPie. I can only guess that these two examples have absolute mouse coordinates as part of their core.

i am thinking with all these restrictions retro pi has i think i may be leaning more towards a pc to run my emulators.

mediamogul

@kcc406 said in NES Emulator Light Gun:

i am thinking with all these restrictions retro pi has i think i may be leaning more towards a pc to run my emulators.

As much as I absolutely love RetroPie and the Raspbery Pi in general, I made the same decision when building my arcade cabinet. If light gun games are important to you, a more powerful PC board will not only open up more options for Windows supported hardware, but also a whole slew of game titles that just won't run on the Pi.

Variety is the spice of life and when it comes to emulation, I use a standard PC for my arcade experience and a Raspberry Pi and Hacked Wii for my console/arcade-lite experience. That said, I still find myself having the most fun with the Pi, as it also delivers on the communal hobby experience like nothing else I've personally used.

docHar

Resurrecting old post for a new inquiry... I have absolutely no idea whether a Pi is capable of this but I was wondering if using a webcam or something to record physical laser hits using a SIRT pistol (http://lasrapp.com/store/sirt-107-pistol) for example?

Having a program that both outputs targets on a screen or to a projector, and is using the input from camera to look for laser hits from the pistol throughout. Could even go as far as having it respond with gun shots and hits sounds. Again, I'm new and honestly don't know shit. So I could be way off on that possibility. Just kinda thought about it now.

markwkidd

@jimd0586 yesterday, RetroArch added support for light guns in the same category as the AimTrak. I've tested this new functionality with a Dolphinbar/Wiimote and it works great.

Since I don't have an Aimtrak gun I'm hoping someone who does will be willing to rebuild RetroArch from source and try out the new feature. Any chance you have one and would be willing to give it a try?