Ultimarc A-Pac with 5k Potentiometers

1500points

@caver01 can you clarify what you mean by background art? Like a Retropie theme, you mean?

caver01

@1500points No, I mean like the original game which had a semi-transparent mirror which superimposed the graphics over paper cardboard "castles". This cardboard artwork has been scanned and retouched such that you can load it as a background so the game looks like it is being played on original hardware. The .art file also has an overlay to tint the color of the players on screen. You definitely need the old (.106 and earlier) artwork file for Advancemame. Find that, download the .zip artwork file, and put it in the artwork folder that is referenced in your .rc file. Then, make sure background art and overlays are enabled.

Here is an example of me using the artwork file as a background for Asteroids. Similar art is available for games like Omega Race, Space Invaders etc.

The format can be a little tricky to modify, but most of the time I have been able to use these as-is, or what I like to do is darken them somewhat. To do that, you need to unzip then edit the .art file which is a simple text file with parameters that are pretty self-explanatory.

1500points

Update on calibration of pots-
Plugged A-Pac into win10 pc, used the calibration steps found at https://www.ultimarc.com/a-pac.html

Indeed it showed that one side of each movement wasn't going clear to edge of the test grid. Calibrating the pots in settings then fixed that on the PC. Applied the settings.

Plugged back into Raspberry Pi. Calibration fixes didn't come over.
One corner of each pot won't go clear to edge, but it doesn't affect gameplay.
The groovy game gear spinner does allow the shield to travel full range on warlords but wow that would be expensive to buy 4 turbo twists.

1500points

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

@1500points No, I mean like the original game which had a semi-transparent mirror which superimposed the graphics over paper cardboard "castles". This cardboard artwork has been scanned and retouched such that you can load it as a background so the game looks like it is being played on original hardware. The .art file also has an overlay to tint the color of the players on screen. You definitely need the old (.106 and earlier) artwork file for Advancemame. Find that, download the .zip artwork file, and put it in the artwork folder that is referenced in your .rc file. Then, make sure background art and overlays are enabled.

Here is an example of me using the artwork file as a background for Asteroids. Similar art is available for games like Omega Race, Space Invaders etc.

The format can be a little tricky to modify, but most of the time I have been able to use these as-is, or what I like to do is darken them somewhat. To do that, you need to unzip then edit the .art file which is a simple text file with parameters that are pretty self-explanatory.

wow! never heard of that before. I'll look. Very cool.

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

@1500points No, I mean like the original game which had a semi-transparent mirror which superimposed the graphics over paper cardboard "castles". This cardboard artwork has been scanned and retouched such that you can load it as a background so the game looks like it is being played on original hardware. The .art file also has an overlay to tint the color of the players on screen. You definitely need the old (.106 and earlier) artwork file for Advancemame. Find that, download the .zip artwork file, and put it in the artwork folder that is referenced in your .rc file. Then, make sure background art and overlays are enabled.

Here is an example of me using the artwork file as a background for Asteroids. Similar art is available for games like Omega Race, Space Invaders etc.

The format can be a little tricky to modify, but most of the time I have been able to use these as-is, or what I like to do is darken them somewhat. To do that, you need to unzip then edit the .art file which is a simple text file with parameters that are pretty self-explanatory.

wow never heard of that. i'll check it out. very cool.

caver01

@1500points Bummer. So the calibration in Windows stays with the driver and does not save to the board. Oh well, now we know.

Yes, the GGG spinners are expensive. I have two of them, and glad I do, but it was difficult to justify. It could be a good case for a set of DIY spinners. There are many tutorials, and even someone here who did it with a cheap little optical USB mouse. You can build encoder wheels using cardboard and an x-acto knife, but access to a 3-D printer would be more consistent.

caver01

@1500points said in Ultimarc A-Pac with 5k Potentiometers:

ow never heard of that. i'll check it out. very cool.

Here is a scaled down version of the background file from inside the zip archive. You will have to imagine the players in color, superimposed over this:

And if you adjust the artwork parameters you can imagine this background getting a lot dimmer if needed so you can see the action a little easier. It's all up to you.

1500points

Here is a quickie vid to show the finished project-

caver01

@1500points that looks fantastic! Congrats on the build!

1500points

BigLouie figured out the final details, I have it properly working now.
Had to wipe the sd card and start fresh to get it fully working.
Now to figure out the mote effect....

Part 2 vid-

biglouieuk

@1500points so now we are just trying to solcve the deadspots issue with potentiometers when using an APAC , Advmame and joystick axis faking!

I guess a joystick will always have a deadspot in the middle, when its 0,0... thats what I see on the pots, they have deadzone of maybe 5% either way from middle. Pots are fine when I put them on a voltmeter, so its defo software.

I tried changing retroarch configs: input_axis_threshold=0.0 doesnt seem to make a difference.

Does advmame use Retroarch??

caver01

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

Does advmame use Retroarch??

Nope.

caver01

When you define a device_joystick in AdvanceMAME, does the GUI menu give you an option to calibrate? According to the Advancemame documentation, the advj utility does, but it says the utility does not save the calibration data, that you can do it in MAME.

biglouieuk

@caver01 Hi good evening, apologies for delay, been working on a different cab project.

I don't define a joystick in advmame GUI, I do that in the .rc file EG input_map[p1_paddlex] joystick[1,0,0]

The GUI doesn't let me calibrate joysticks, when I click the option, it just flashes, never opens.

advj doesnt show the deadspot, when I move the pot, it goes all the way through and round. Very odd...

caver01

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

@caver01 Hi good evening, apologies for delay, been working on a different cab project.

I don't define a joystick in advmame GUI, I do that in the .rc file EG input_map[p1_paddlex] joystick[1,0,0]

The GUI doesn't let me calibrate joysticks, when I click the option, it just flashes, never opens.

advj doesnt show the deadspot, when I move the pot, it goes all the way through and round. Very odd...

I was't suggesting that you define it in the GUI, but the documentation alludes to being able to calibrate somehow.

biglouieuk

@caver01 hi, yes I hear what you are saying. I cant for the life of me find anywhere to calibrate in advmame itself, and have it hold settings. Ive seen a few posts where they can change a figure to be a percentage for the deadspot.

I tried that a little while ago, but that only seems to be a retroarch config and nothing to do with advmame..

Maybe its time to give up and go with a post in the advmame forum. :)

1500points

Just a fast update with a side-note. My theme is that I think for Rpi and spinner games that a mouse-based spinner is a better option.
I'll post a couple example vids below.
1- mouse spinner has no deadspots
2- mouse spinner moves the whole player range
3- apac pot doesn't control stella properly, just causes it to move to ends of movement.
4- mouse spinner works great in stella which opens up kaboom, super breakout and night driver.

Vid example 1-

Vid example 2-

caver01

@1500points TurboTwist2 spinners are really nice. So nice that I put two of them in my system. However, they are just so expensive, especially if you are building a dedicated Warlords cabinet.

Maybe you get what you pay for compared to DIY solutions, but you might be able to get away with mini optical mouse hacks to build bunch of spinner devices. I would consider the hack from this post, especially if you can lay your hands on the parts for cheap.

1500points

@caver01 I'm finally at the point of exploring artwork.
Can you give me another nudge toward where I would find that warlords background for Raspberry Pi, then what folder the file would be stored in for retropie?

I just figured out how to add artwork from regular mame on a pc by going into the tab UI>video>enable backdrops.
And I found art at mr do's castle site under in-game art.
For Warlords it adds a whole marquee/bezel effect which is overkill, I'd kinda like to have just the faint mote.

learning, learning, learning.
thanks for your help as always! :)

caver01

@1500points A common source of in-game artwork for years has been Mr. Do's Arcade page which is very easy to find. There are no ROMs on that site at all, but a lot of very helpful support files. The catch is that you will need to use the OLD ARTWORK that follows a format that is no longer used by current MAME (but exactly what is needed for AdvanceMAME). For that, you need to find the archive which is linked on one of the first paragraphs of the Artwork FAQ on that site. Once you are browsing the nice list of old artwork you should be able to find a zip file for warlords. It is over 3 megs in size, and inside the zip file are several very nice images. One is the background, but it also contains the overlays, bezel, and crucially, the .art file which is a text file that controls how the images get used.

For advanceMAME, you need to look at your .rc file and find the line that references the path for artwork. I think I changed mine a long time ago. You need to put your .zip file into the folder listed. I think there is also a setting to enable artwork.

Now, the trick will be fine tuning the .art file, which is embedded inside the .zip. If you crack open the zip, you can mess with the settings, rezip, and see how it plays. It sounds like you would probably disable the bezel, perhaps keep the color tinting overlay, and adjust the brightness of the background art. It is the background that really takes the cake I think. In the original arcade version, this is actually a cardboard castle behind reflective glass. This gives the TRUE illusion of depth, but the artwork file in the zip file a very good replacement. You will see what I mean once you get it downloaded.

1500points

alright, progress.
Checked the artwork path found in opt/retropie/configs.....advmame1.4.rc
which led to putting the warlords.zip in
/home/pi/retropie/roms/mame-advmame/artwork

Rebooted, now the backdrop appears in warlords correctly, BUT it is too bright as it is obscuring the king and castle on 2 of the corners.

so i'll see how to edit the files in the original zip next......