GRS Spinner sensitivity problems in RetroPie MAME

Teh_Lurv

Pi Model or other hardware: 3B+
Power Supply used: Canakit power adapter
RetroPie Version Used: 4.7.1
Built From: Official image
USB Devices connected: GRS SpinnerV2 & GRS Trackball V3 connected to a 12-in-1 board, Dragonrise USB controller encoder, Logitech keyboard receiver
Controller used: GRS Spinner V2
Error messages received:
Verbose log (if relevant):
Guide used: Guide linked below
File: (File with issue - with FULL path)
Emulator: lr-MAME2003, lr-MAME-2003-PLUS (pre-built binaries)
Attachment of config files:
How to replicate the problem:

For a winter project I've been converting my old A1U Asteroids cabinet into a general purpose MAME cabinet with a spare Pi 3B and RetroPie. I'm at the point where I'm tweaking MAME settings for the various games when I hit a snag with Tempest.

I'm using a GRS Spinner V2 and I've been following the formula described in this thread:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,164017.0.html

The GRS spinner has dip switches to change the spinner sensitivity to 16/64/512/1024 pulses per rotation.

Setting the GRS pulses to 1024/512 and adjusting the analog sensitivity in MAME accordingly to the formula results in the blaster moving much slower than it should (free spinning the knob as hard as I can barely gets the blaster one full rotation on level 1). The blaster does move five spaces per 1 full turn. I can increase the sensitivity until the blaster is moving at a familiar speed, but doing a full turn has it moving across a dozen spaces.

Oddly, setting the GRS spinner to 64 pulses and following the formula does result in the blaster behaving as it should. The problem now is the spinner pulses are now too low for games like Major Havoc. Even setting MAME sensitivity to 255% isn't enough for Havoc.

Reading the Retropie docs, I've tried adding mouse polling of 2 to my retropie boot config file, but that hasn't fixed my issue.

So far, I've tried MAME 2003 and 2003 plus. I did see some videos on youtube using the spinner with AdvMAME, however these videos are a couple years old and I've read that AdvMAME is no longer being supported, so I haven't tried that emulator yet.

I was wondering if anyone with a GRS spinner has run into the same issue I have and might know what the problem is?

mitu

@teh_lurv said in GRS Spinner sensitivity problems in RetroPie MAME:

So far, I've tried MAME 2003 and 2003 plus. I did see some videos on youtube using the spinner with AdvMAME, however these videos are a couple years old and I've read that AdvMAME is no longer being supported, so I haven't tried that emulator yet.

Advmame is still supported, you can still install and use it from RetroPie.

Teh_Lurv

@mitu

I thought I read somewhere that AdvMAME hadn't seen updates since 2018. In any case, I installed AdvMAME to give it a try. I got the spinner set up and set the GRS DIP switches to 1024 pulses, however AdvMAME is also giving me slow speed even with analog sensitivity turned down to 7%.

barbudreadmon

@teh_lurv said in GRS Spinner sensitivity problems in RetroPie MAME:

I thought I read somewhere that AdvMAME hadn't seen updates since 2018.

Well, does it actually matter here ? mame2003 hasn't really been updated since 2003 :)

FWIW, retroarch has a setting at Settings> Input > Analog Sensitivity which might help you, note that this setting might be multiplicative of whatever you might have set directly into MAME configuration (core options or MAME OSD). Also, i don't know anything about spinners, are they recognized as mouse or as the analog axis of a controller ? That setting might be only compatible with the later.

@teh_lurv said in GRS Spinner sensitivity problems in RetroPie MAME:

Even setting MAME sensitivity to 255% isn't enough for Havoc.

Did you try other emulators ? As one of its developpers, i can vouch for FBNeo going up to 400% through core options.

Teh_Lurv

Thanks for the responses so far. An update on this issue: I gave the analog settings in Retroarch a try but they had no impact on the sensitivity.

I decided to go back and dig deeper into mouse polling. I came across more information about mouse polling in Linux: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Mouse_polling_rate#Polling_rate_and_polling_interval

I added usbhid.mousepoll back to the boot config file, set the GRS spinner to pulse at 512, and did some testing. Without that command or when I set it to value 0 (system use polling rate requested by device), my spinner runs slow. When I force the system to poll at either 1, 2, 4, or 8, the spinner runs at a much faster speed. The spinner moved at the same speed with all four values, so I left it on 8 to save CPU cycles on the Pi.

I set MAME sensitivity according to the formula (14%) and the blaster now free spins at the familiar speed. I can also properly adjust Major Havoc. Interestingly when I do a 5-space full turn test, a full turn with the GRS is exactly 10 spaces. The blaster isn't moving twice as fast; the blaster clicks at the same speed as this guy's setup with a turbotwist:

I wonder if the GRS is reporting a half turn as a full turn.

In any case, I'm willing to call this issue resolved to my satisfaction.