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Lightgun does not work

alexdelarge

By alexdelarge
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alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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Hi guys,

Today I plugged in the Arcade Lightgun from Ultimarc on my arcade cabinet. I configured and calibrated the gun and it works like a charm. But only if I execute MAME on the commandline, like 'mame [gamename] -lightgun'.

When I use Gameex, the gun will not work, although I executed every step in Ultimarcs manual: I altered mame.ini and configured the gun in the MAME menu. I tried the MAME commandline options in GameEx but it makes no difference, the gun is still not working. What am I missing? The lightgun works okay, untill the moment the Mame game is loaded. So, MAME via commandline = fun with lightgun. MAME via GameEx = no lightgun :(

RIP-Felix GameEx God (Top Rank)

RIP-Felix

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Would you please provide us with your GameEX.ini file, so we can better assist you. Follow this link for where to find it, http://www.gameex.info/forums/topic/6451-guide-how-to-ask-for-help/#entry47474

... I tried the MAME commandline options in GameEx but it makes no difference, the gun is still not working...

So in the "Advanced MAME settings" section of the GameEX wizard you put -lightgun in the box of "mame options?" Is that what you mean?

You could try setting up MAME as an emulator for testing purposes, as this gives you access to a comand line that is sent to the emulator as gameex is launching it. I've found that sometimes the order of the comands matters. Try moving the order of "-Lightgun" around in the "Mame Options" box, assuming your using the standard set of commands here (eg. -nowindow -joy -skip_gameinfo). If it's not that and your config is setup correctly, then IDK. I'll be folowing your progress. If you find a solution be sure to post what it was, as I'm planing to get a lightgun also, and want to know how this turns out. Good luck, and welcome to the GameEX community!

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u-man GameEx God (Top Rank)

u-man

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if you have a running MAME outside of GameEx, than i guess you have a working mame.ini file, because you allready started MAME with a lightgun successfully. If that is the case, it would be enough, just to put "-readconfig" (without quotes) in the MAME Options field of the setup-wizard. GameEx will read your mame.ini then. If there is nothing wrong with your mame.ini, it should all work.

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alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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So in the "Advanced MAME settings" section of the GameEX wizard you put -lightgun in the box of "mame options?" Is that what you mean?

Yes, I did. There where some other commands in the Mame options box, but I removed those commands to be sure.

if you have a running MAME outside of GameEx, than i guess you have a working mame.ini file, because you allready started MAME with a lightgun successfully. If that is the case, it would be enough, just to put "-readconfig" (without quotes) in the MAME Options field of the setup-wizard. GameEx will read your mame.ini then. If there is nothing wrong with your mame.ini, it should all work.

That's right, I have a working mame.ini file. The gun works outside GameEx so the mame.ini must be okay. I'll try to use the '-readconfig' in the MAME options field of the setup-wizard. If that doesn't work, I'll will post the GameEX.ini file.

For the next couple of days I do not have the time for trying to solve this problem. As soon I have any result, I'll post it in this thread.

By the way, the gun is a lot of fun! I did not play much, but shooting a little bit around was great :) Only the price was ugly: 100,- euro's for one 1 gun and a led bar...

Thanks guys,

RIP-Felix GameEx God (Top Rank)

RIP-Felix

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BTW, how's the Accuracy and tracking on that thing? Does it track as fast as you can aim or does it lag behind slightly. I'm thinking it's like a wii controller, but mine lags big time. I hate that. And when calibrated doe it shoot where you point consistently without need for constant re-calibration?

Basically, is it worth the money?

alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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The gun basically acts like a mouse and there is no, to very little lag (not noticeable to me anyway). Of course, if you move the gun very fast and with big movements, the led bar maybe can't process the movements as fast as you move with the gun. For the most shooting games you have to aime acurate, so you will not make big and fast movements anyway. To go short: I played for about 15 minutes and had no problems with lag. A factor for lagging is also - I presume, the hardware setup (CPU, GPU, memory). I have a 1.8 Dualcore and a 4 year old mid-range GPU.

The accuracy of the gun is good, no problem there. You have to calibrate the gun only once. Installing the gun and led bar is just plug & play actually. I had some problems with MAME though, but that had nothing to do with the gun. Once I removed AdvanceMAME, the gun worked great in MAME. Maybe I had not configured AdvanceMAME properly, I really don't know. I'll figure that out later.

The gun has really a great fun factor for me. I'm even considering buying a second gun.

But to my opinion, the Arcade Lightgun from Ultimarc is a bit too expensive. The gun is entirely made of plastic. It's solid and strong, not like some 10 dollar water gun from your local toystore. But beyond this, no fancy stuff. The fabrication of the gun, the led bar and the electronics is so much cheaper than the selling price (100,- euro's). But to me, the fun factor beats the price.

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  • 3 weeks later...
alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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Today I bought a Playstation 1 lightgun at a pawnshop here in town. I paid 10,- euro for the gun. When I came home with the gun, I compared it with my 100,- euro lightgun from Ultimarc. And guess what? The guns are exactly the same, except for the logo and the connector.

I just ordered a Playstation 1 to USB PC adapter. Maybe it will work. If it does, I'll post it here.

RIP-Felix GameEx God (Top Rank)

RIP-Felix

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Today I bought a Playstation 1 lightgun at a pawnshop here in town. I paid 10,- euro for the gun. When I came home with the gun, I compared it with my 100,- euro lightgun from Ultimarc. And guess what? The guns are exactly the same, except for the logo and the connector.

I just ordered a Playstation 1 to USB PC adapter. Maybe it will work. If it does, I'll post it here.

Hmm... now that does sound intriguing :cheers:. I'll be eagerly awaiting your results. At least you won't be out much if it doesn't work. A PS1 to PC adapter is cheap and always nice to have around somewhere. I wonder if the 2 port adapter (the triangular clear blue one) will work with 2 PS1 lightguns? I'm thinking Area 51/maximum force baby!

u-man GameEx God (Top Rank)

u-man

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The accuracy of the gun is good, no problem there. You have to calibrate the gun only once. Installing the gun and led bar is just plug & play actually. I had some problems with MAME though, but that had nothing to do with the gun. Once I removed AdvanceMAME, the gun worked great in MAME. Maybe I had not configured AdvanceMAME properly, I really don't know. I'll figure that out later.

Advance MAME is actually a special MAME version and a very old one too. Its usage is aiming to CRT-TV-Tubes setups and can create pixel perfect resolutions for MAME games. It was created by the italian Andrea Mazzoleni, it is discontinued without no further development and it support MAME only to version 0.106.

So if you dont use that MAME, you dont need it ;) and I am sure that caused your problems with the gun or your "normal" MAME in general.

Today I bought a Playstation 1 lightgun at a pawnshop here in town. I paid 10,- euro for the gun. When I came home with the gun, I compared it with my 100,- euro lightgun from Ultimarc. And guess what? The guns are exactly the same, except for the logo and the connector.

I just ordered a Playstation 1 to USB PC adapter. Maybe it will work. If it does, I'll post it here.

Yeah, I am also interested in this. Please post pictures of your model, if it turns out that it works.

And I am glad to hear, that everything works now...

alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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I'm expecting the adapter one of these days. I'll let you know if it works.

I must admit that adding a light gun to my cabinet had brought much fun into my house :) Adding a second light gun would be twice the fun of course :)

alexdelarge Super Member!

alexdelarge

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Today I received the Playstation 1 to USB PC adapter. Unfortunately, Windows and the Ultimarc light gun utility did not recognize the Playstation gun. A solution would be buying the lightgun electronics kit from Ultimarc. Ultimarc sells these kits for 38,- euro's. But considering that the gun is not in a great condition and that I must pay at least 20 or 30 euro's extra for shipping and taxes, I take a pass on this solution.

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