Generic Light Gun Support Without Crosshairs

mediamogul

This post is really just to float an idea that I believe might be possible. Light gun games are steadily becoming more of a possibility on RetroPie thanks to the stellar work of the RetroArch team and forum regular @markwkidd. However, one problem that arises with basic support for pointer devices is that to achieve the needed accuracy to be useful in game play, they either need to employ crosshairs, which effectively neutralizes the appeal of skill-based targeting, or a method of calibration for the pointer device. The latter removes the need for crosshairs, allowing the pointer device to function in the same way an original light gun would have. Several arcade games and even a few SegaCD games have a means of calibration already built-in to the their software natively. However, this leaves a somewhat large amount of games out in the cold.

Enter the gunconf configuration utility for Aimtrak guns. I recently came across this and it obviously works only with Aimtrak arcade guns. This is already a huge plus for anyone who has an Aimtrak gun, or set of guns, like myself. However, Aimtrak guns are very expensive compared to lower-costed alternatives such as the Mayflash Dolphinbar. I may be wrong, but I believe that a developer interested in authentic light gun gaming on RetroPie could possibly adapt this utility to configure virtually any pointer device to be used as a gun for skill-based aiming games. The fact that it doesn't require an x server makes it particularly attractive for use with RetroPie.

Again, as I first said, this is just to get the potential idea out there. Regardless, I can personally use the existing gunconf utility with my own set of Aimtrak guns and I feel most fortunate to be able to do so. This is only meant to perhaps raise interest in a more universal solution that would further open up authentic light gun gaming on RetroPie. Heck, the introduction of something similar into RetroArch itself would benefit all platforms, but this specific utility just caught my eye as something that might be of interest to RetroPie users and perhaps developers in particular.

edmaul69

@mediamogul this would be awesome for the dolphinbar. I am thinking about buying the aimtrak kit which is cheaper than the full kit and sticking it in an nes zapper.

mediamogul

@edmaul69

At $44, that kit is very well priced. I've had a similar idea in mind and even have a shelled Zapper that I've been meaning to convert to PC use for a while. That's probably going to be the best option, especially with the gunconf utility. My hacked Wii has easy support for light gun games, using the Wiimote for every major system that supported it back in the day. However, as you well know, the crosshairs take a lot of fun out of it and even make a few games like 'Wild Gunman' completely pointless.

edmaul69

@mediamogul only problem is im not sure how to remove the crosshairs in lr-fceumm.

mediamogul

@edmaul69
There's a 'Show Crosshairs' in the core options. I'm not sure if it's functional or not.

Rion

@edmaul69 said in Generic Light Gun Support Without Crosshairs:

@mediamogul this would be awesome for the dolphinbar. I am thinking about buying the aimtrak kit which is cheaper than the full kit and sticking it in an nes zapper.

Ohh existing! Can't wait for the finished results 😀

mediamogul

I'm not promising anything, but I've had a look at the code and since there's not a lot to it, relatively speaking, I can actually make sense out of enough that I believe with some further study of Python, I could get the mouse calibration part of this working for generic, three button pointer devices. At the very least, I think I could adapt it to look for and calibrate the Dolphinbar specifically. From there, it would take a little more study to know how to customize the UI and code to omit the Aimtrak-specific features.

UDb23

Anybody tried Blue Shark (really old school ;-) ) with Dolphinbar/Wii controller ?
Does it use crosshair ?
It's supposed to work both in lr-mame 2003 and 2010.