Quixote Quest

Ben: It's working. Thank you for all the patience and help! This is cool!

Okay, I found your test app by just clicking the thread tree. Anyhow: an update first: I used REGEDT to delete the PID for my Stiks, replugged them and now they are both working great. Ultramap 1.19 is working too. Firmware IDs at v2.3. Now as to your test app: I'm not sure exactly how it is supposed to work, but here is what I did: I chose ID 1 in the ID field; Chose "joy4way" in the Map drop down list; clicked the "Set Map" button at its right. Then, in the Map File directory field I browsed to set the path to your UltraStikTest "4-Way.um" file and clicked "open"; this filled the path field in your UltraStikTest app interface; Lastly, I clicked the "Set Map File" button at its right. I did not do anything with the "Set Flash" and "Set RAM" buttons. Then I ran Pac-Man directly via MAME3264 (v.111) app but not via GameEx. It definitely was not playing as the 4-way. I quit MAME. Does that mean that your plugin is not/will not be working? Something different I should be doing? Thanks

HK: I see your "PlugInUltraStik.zip" at that link but not your UltraStikTest program, nor at your Soul Caliber site. (Cool cab and nice GameEx skin, BTW.)

Shaunopp: Thanks for the suggestion. I did upgrade my firmware on Stik #1 while Stik #2 was unplugged (and vice versa). #1 never became seen and functional after the "successful" firmware upgrade. Theoretically it should be reset at ID1. Stik #2, naturally, when I updated it, was reset to ID1 but I changed it to ID2. It's been functional ever since the update. Andy suggests that the PID for my Stik #1 is likely corrupted, so it looks like I'll have to mess around with regedit this weekend and see if that resolves things. HK: When (and if) I get Stik #1 to be seen again I'll run your program as a test before I mess around with Ultramap and GameEx. Thanks for the utility. Cheers!

Last night I "successfully" upgraded firmware (v2.3) and now I have one Stik that is seen and another that isn't. My Stik #1 after updating showed up as unseen. In Device Manager it showed up with a yellow exclamation mark. After selecting, un-installing and rescanning (like it sounds you did too) it is not seen. Neither plugging and unplugging the USB nor rebooting helped. Rather it shows up as a "working" USB device but not an "HID device" as my Stik #2 shows up in the list. Similarly in Ultramap Stik #1 shows up as "not plugged in" while #2 is working great. I haven't seen the yellow exclamation mark in the devices list since that first time. No matter which version of Ultramap I use, either the newest (1.19) or the former I was using (1.15), I get the same results. Now I wonder what I'm gonna do. I'm sure Andy may have a suggestion. The Stik isn't fried (LED lights are working underneath), and, like I say, it appears to be in the USB devices list (but without an exclamation mark), but I can't get it to be seen and accessible by Ultramap. If you have any suggestions I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

This happened to me with firmware 2.1 so I'm leery. But Andy sent me firmware 2.3 -- so I think I will try the upgrade, at least on one Stik, and then I'll report. Tempest, what firmware did you downgrade to? I've been at 1.5 up till now. Or, are you saying you merely had to do the upgrade cycle twice to get it to work? (I haven't tried that. Also, by the way, how do you uninstall firmware? I just replaced 2.1 with 1.7, .6 and .5 till I got the Stiks to recognize again without having to plug and unplug them from the machine's USB each time I started up.)

Okay, here is a log. From the report it doesn't look like anything is malfunctioning. Yet I've confirmed our Stiks are malfunctioning not just on 4-way map. On 2-player you press left and it will sometimes go right, or just keep going right, or switch the opposite direction when it should be centering. Same deal on 4-way, sometime directions will just switch, or you press one direction and it'll go another. Very wacky. But when examining the plugins map files in Ultramap they are identical to what I have in the Ultramap folder. Yet if I load the maps manually and run MAME directly rather than via the plugin via GameEx, the Stiks are functioning fine. Any thought on what may be going on? Thanks PlugInUltraStik_616log.zip

Here's the result so far: Tom was right. I did a list update and now the debug report is showing that the plugin is loading maps to the Stiks. Oddly, my son reports that on 4-way games that when he presses upward that there are routine lags or stalls, such that it's still irritating and affecting gameplay. But he says the 2-way and 8-way games he's tested so far seem normal. (I still haven't given QBert a spin. I'm working remotely with him today to test this.) Also, after quitting GameEx the left (player 1) Stik is still unusable. We have to re-run UltraMap to make it active again. Re-running GameEx does not make it re-activate. Stik 2 sounds to be functioning fine. So I don't know what's up. Don't know if it is UltraStik firmware. Don't know if it is the MAME version. Or if something else. But we're making some good progress. Thanks, gentlemen, for the assistance!

I'm on the road at the moment. I know we're running MAME32. I seem to remember it is v.111 from around Dec 06. Is this too old a version? I don't like installing the "u" versions -- though there is probably a new "whole" version advance that has happened since then. Otherwise, when I'm back I will try updating the game list as Tom has suggested. Thanks for the help, guys.

Ben, thanks to you and Tempest, well I did get the plugin turned on. Unfortunately it didn't make it work for me. I've attached my log from running a test after I noticed that maps didn't appear to be loading. It says, 6/14/2008 5:56:19 PM: ERROR @ UltraStikMap (PlugIn) 6/14/2008 5:56:19 PM: Length cannot be less than zero. Another strange thing I notice: First, upon starting GameEx both my Stiks are default analog. Then I noticed the maps aren't working in game. So then, after quitting GameEx, my Stik A is not working at all. I have to manually reload my default analog map via UltraMap for it to be "seen" again. But Stik B is still working as analog upon quitting GameEx. Odd, yes? PlugInUltraStik_log.zip PlugInUltraStik_log.zip

Stub, I actually think you are right. My Stiks do load as analog as the default setting. Was playing a few games with my son last night and could tell that the distinct maps were not loading. The 4-way and 8-way functionality was subtly quirky. SO I do think I was premature to report that the plugin was working for me. I definitely can set the maps the former way and have them function better. So to make sure the plugin is "active and marked to load" is there anything in the GameEx setup/config wizard I need to have selected that I haven't? The last GameEx version I had was 7.96 and just upgraded to 9.36. I've never used any plugins with it -- or at least none that I intentionally installed. It appeared the plugin for the UltraStiks came installed, active and just part of installing v9.36. Maybe there is something intentional I need to be doing to make sure the plugin is active. When I'm home I'll start with checking the GameEx/Logs folder to see what is generated in there. Otherwise, will look forward to hearing if there is something I need to be doing to make the Stik plugin active. Perhaps GameEx doesn't even "know" that I want the Stiks plugin to be functioning. Cheers!

trying again... PlugInUltraStik_ini.zip

HK, so I made the change to the INI file as you recommended so that it would run the debug. Odd thing is that after running GameEx again a few times the log file is not being generated. I've searched the drive to see if it was saved in a different directory. Can't be found. Anything else I should be doing?

Thanks for the instructions. Will work on it when home tonight. Then I'll return and post. I'm a Mac guy by day, so bear with me. :-) Cheers.

Sorry HK, I'm pretty obtuse when it comes to something as technical as debugging and running logs. One thing I can say, this morning I went and copied the QBert map that comes with your plugin over unto my Ultramap so I could look at the settings visually. It looks identical to the one I built for myself -- though mine may have a slightly larger sticky center. Anyhow, via GameEx I can confirm that QBert is not loading your .um file on the fly -- at least for me. (It appears to be playing a standard 4-way or 8-way; definitely isn't playing right. QBert keeps jumping wrong ways.) Yet if I load your map into my Stiks and play MAME direct -- not via GameEx -- the map is playing fine. Honestly I'm still a little new to your software; just spent time updating GameEx and testing out your plugin yesterday. So possibly other maps are not loading properly. But I ran through 12-15 different games. Pac-Man appears to be loading a 4-way; Joust appears to be loading the 2-way; Sinistar appears to be loading the analog; Fighter games like Marvel seems to be loading 8-way; etc. Most seem to be doing fine. QBert was the first that raised my eyebrows. Well and besides that I'd love to be able to also load some of my optimized maps for some specific games. Also a note: I am not running the latest UltraStik firmware. About a year ago Andy and I were trying like to devil to figure out why my Stiks didn't recognize using his latest firmware at that time (1.1.18) -- always forced me to manually plug and unplug them on every startup. So I ended up downgrading to 1.1.15 and staying with that since then in order for my Stiks to load "seen" and functional every time I turn on the machine. I don't know if that would be connected or not to any issues that may or may not crop up with your plugin. Just thought I'd mention in case. Yeah, I'd always be willing to share my .um files -- if that's what you're asking for. Honestly, some aren't perfected, like mine for Sinistar, which is damn hard playing just via analog settings. It gets to be a pain when you have to manually run Ultramap before every game. That's the only thing I have had a love/hate reltionship with these Stiks. But with something as slick as what you've developed so they load on the fly, if there is a way to easily marry maps with games -- would be so cool if you could just choose via drop down in the frontend -- there's no reason we shouldn't all be sharing optimized maps one with another. BJ