light guns with mame

[gerble1000]

does anyone know of a pair of light guns that run well with mame on windows xp.using a crt monitor.

ive also heard of the ps2 light gun wireless.

that must be usb for playstation 2 ?

if so i wonder if it would work on a pc...

[rygars#1#fan]

Yep,if you are in australia you can pick up a set from Arcade Gaming Australia.

If not,go to Ebay and search under Arcade machines,Pinnys,etc-and you will come across a seller named Scorbstar.He is the seller for abovementioned and i have purchased numerous items from him with no problems.

Hope this helps,

[Smiff]

anyone know any reasonable quality lightguns that work on a 100Hz TV (in NTSC mode i think that's 120Hz)? anyway its a double scan AABB TV. the few guns ive read the boxes of claim to not work on these :/

[MrScary]

These work on TV's...

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=132

and these work on Computer Monitors....

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=92

And these are new Arcade specific....

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=866 (must have VGA Gun box though)

These guns are rated very high by many sites that have reviewed them, for example...

http://www.retroblast.com/reviews/actlabs-04122006-01.html

L8R!!

[Smiff]

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=132

"Works on most TVs with S-Video or Composite Video-in connections"

"S-Video to composite adapter"

i need something that works on a 100Hz TV with RGB input.. do i get the feeling this product doesn't exit? i wont run the video signal through any kind of adapter and ruining the quality. (what's a VGA gun box?)

im thinking possibly i need a monitor version - if they support interlacing!

edit: sorry for hijacking the thread i just was thinking about lightguns the other day

gerble1000 wants one for CRT which i know exist, the problem with PC guns ive seen is most are terrible quality.

it needs to be accurate and durable.. i guess buying a console one is one solution, but then console guns arent likely to work on progressive scan CRT monitors? :/ and most need 50/60Hz ordinary CRT TVs aswell.

is there a site that specialises in lightgun technical info anywhere anyone knows>?

[hansolo77]

Just heads up... A Playstation controller adaptor connected to a Namco GunCon lightgun DOES NOT WORK. The standard controllers work fine, but the lightguns, steering wheels, mice, etc all seem to have problems.

[eXo]

Something I've been considring trying to figure out is the possibility of ordering an arcade light gun from happs and then trying to interface it with the pc... has anyone heard of anyone doing anyting like this?

[sc1103]

Quick Lightgun Summary

Quckest Route, probably most expensive:

Act-Labs guns seem to work the best if you want a plug-and-play solution

Time Varies, Cheapest:

Use GunCon2 guns from a PS2. There are 2 drivers out there to use...GunCon2Mouse is one and i forget the other. If you look over at www.byoac.com in the forums youy can find links and more detailed information

Fairly QUick, medium price:

LCD TopGun is a new product which relies upon two infraraed strips placed on the sides of the monitor. Again, look at the BYOAC forums for more information. This is, however, independent of the type of TV/Monitor used.

[eXo]

Quick Lightgun Summary

Quckest Route, probably most expensive:

Act-Labs guns seem to work the best if you want a plug-and-play solution

Time Varies, Cheapest:

Use GunCon2 guns from a PS2. There are 2 drivers out there to use...GunCon2Mouse is one and i forget the other. If you look over at www.byoac.com in the forums youy can find links and more detailed information

Fairly QUick, medium price:

LCD TopGun is a new product which relies upon two infraraed strips placed on the sides of the monitor. Again, look at the BYOAC forums for more information. This is, however, independent of the type of TV/Monitor used.

You left out a few key things.

A: Act lab guns have crap accuracy and they have to be calibrated EVERY time you turn them on

B: the guncon requires an actual circuit board to be pressed to go between the monitor and the guncon. The guy who was making them dissapeared recently.

The LCD Topgun will work with anything, doesnt matter on the type of monitor used - it will even owrk on an image projected against a wall. The problem with using this in a cab arises from the fact that you have to mount these strips on your cab somewhere. The gun is also known for locking up do to it's recoil function.

[hansolo77]

In my earlier post about the GunCon... this is the original/wired GunCon. It has 2 wires, one going to the playstation, and one going to the tv. The TV wire is your standard RF-Video (yellow) cable. I connected it both ways, from the computer, to the guncon, to the video, to the tv, and the other way, from the tv, to the guncon, to the video, to the computer. Neither worked.

Looking around.. that LCD Topgun looks like it does everything. Dont really like the bars you have to mount.. especially if they're always lit up when not in use. I'll have to see if they are or not.. If not I'll probably buy one.

[eXo]

earlier I mentioned the guncon required a circuit:

http://xoomer.alice.it/smogdragon/VideoCon1.htm

read it and weep

[eXo]

After responding to this I decided to reearch the options myself.

I got the guncon driver, installed it, and got the pc tor ecognize my guncon. Without the circuit that connect the composite cable to my video input however - it's useless. Closest i got to emulating a light gun was using my mouse to move the cursor and clicking the lightgun shoot button to shoot things... less then optimal.

I just ordered an LCD TopGun to see if the calibartion/accuracy/distance problems are as big of a deal as I've heard.

I know for a fact that the Act light guns are NOT the way i would go. They are the most expensive solution, they feel cheap and light weight. The only benefit to them is the quick set-up time.

I'll let you guys know how the lcd topgun turns out, i'm leary about the ickback feature that is known to lock up.

It also apparantly cannot emulate rapid machine gun fire, needed for games like time crisis 3.

[hansolo77]

Thats cool that you ordered one. Where did you buy it from? I saw prices anywhere from US $34.95 to US $48.50. Let us know how well it works out. And for me, I'm curious about the LED light bars and if you have to have them on all the time or not.

[jthompson]

Is it true that you can only use one lightgun in mame with windows xp due to a restriction of how many different mice can be used as seperate controllers? I've read a little on this but I'm still somewhat unclear about it. I thought I read that there was a special driver you could install to make a second gun work with a cab but I'm not sure how it works. Is this a real mode driver and does it slow your system down any? Can someone elaborate? Also does anyone know if the leds on the sidebars for the lcdtopgun stay lit all the time or just during calibration? Are there any GameEx specific things to think about before purchasing a lightgun (or two). Thanks in advance.

Jay T

[gerble1000]

i found these two pics of the lcd topgun

it gives you an idea of what you get when you buy it.

im wondering if the bars could be mounted in the arcade cabs without looking stupid.

and i think they do glow up when you are playing the game..

are there any more light guns out there.

what about actual arcade light guns .i wonder if you could get them to work on a pc.

and where would you bye them to??

[eXo]

Thats cool that you ordered one. Where did you buy it from? I saw prices anywhere from US $34.95 to US $48.50. Let us know how well it works out. And for me, I'm curious about the LED light bars and if you have to have them on all the time or not.

www.Play-asia.com - for $35, about $50 after shipping.

Is it true that you can only use one lightgun in mame with windows xp due to a restriction of how many different mice can be used as seperate controllers? I've read a little on this but I'm still somewhat unclear about it. I thought I read that there was a special driver you could install to make a second gun work with a cab but I'm not sure how it works. Is this a real mode driver and does it slow your system down any? Can someone elaborate? Also does anyone know if the leds on the sidebars for the lcdtopgun stay lit all the time or just during calibration? Are there any GameEx specific things to think about before purchasing a lightgun (or two). Thanks in advance.

Jay T

That is not true. I don't know the specifics, but I know there are cabs that run 2 lightguns through mame. To answer both your questions, all the reviews Ive read so far have not mentioned the LED lights being on or off, but every screen shot I have seen, they are on. I'll give you a specific answer when mine arrives. As far as gameex is concerned, as long as your control cfg files for your emulators are set up properly, it should have no effect on GameEx.

i found these two pics of the lcd topgun

it gives you an idea of what you get when you buy it.

im wondering if the bars could be mounted in the arcade cabs without looking stupid.

and i think they do glow up when you are playing the game..

are there any more light guns out there.

what about actual arcade light guns .i wonder if you could get them to work on a pc.

and where would you bye them to??

The bars can control an area the size of a 100" projection screen. so they dont necccesarily have to be directly on either side of the screen. You could potentially place them above, below, or furhter to the side then the screen is. The only side effect i can imagine would be that the further the LED bar is from the monitor, the furhter you would have to stand away.

Given the proper time / tools Im sure the LED bar could be integrated directly into the cab - with minimal intrusion. I dont plan on modifying my cab just for a light gun however, and I figure even if this gun isnt optimal for my cab, I can use it on my projection screen television.

I know there is a lightgun that works by attaching a camera to the top of your screen, which then tracks the movements of your gun. t got horrible reviews though, and the camera looks like crap.

I had considered ordering real arcade guns from happs, they have the Namco Time Crisis 3 machine guns with solenoid kickback. After looking at the conenction though, they are designed to plug directly into the JAMMA harness. The harness not only handles the movement axis, trigger, fire rate switch, it also provides the wires that sync with the monitor frequency. The guns themselves seem to be programmed to only handle to frequency that the time crisis game outputs. I have no idea how I would be able to rewire all that through the JPAC (even if I had enough free slots on it). Plus they run around $100 each, and thats quite an investment just to see if it is possible to hook them up.

The sad fact seems to be that the LCD topgun is the best bet, even with it's LED bars and such.

Even if you can get the Guncon driver laoded and you can get a working circuit to convert the signal - it is known to have problems with "Rolling X" (imagine how a game looks when it looses horizontal hold, and now imagine thats is happening to your gun cursor), and it's also got a known weakness with any black spots on the screen becomign dead zones (ie: all the joystick shooter games, such as Revolution X).

And as I've said before, the Act Guns are really expensive, innacurate, they feel light weight and cheesy (like nerf guns), and overall they have a very second rate feel to them.

The LCD Topgun does not suffer from deadspots or horizontal sync issues. The downsides with it are the LED bar (which Im sure can be hidden well) and the distance you have to stand (apparantly furhter then the light guns).

Trying to research all this on BYOAC is a nightmare, as the few usefull threads are over 20 pages long (with tons of outdated links), and the rest of the forum is full of people asking the same questions over and over (I installed my guncon driver, but it wont work - WHY?????)

If I ever get all this figured out might put together a handy PDF that puts all this information in one place. in the mean time, trial and error reigns supreme.

[Vynce]

If the LEDs in those light bars are IR LEDs, then you won't see them at all, even when they're on. It's just the CCD panels in digital cameras that are sensitive to infrared light.

If you take a picture with a digital camera of a TV remote while holding down a button, you will also see the IR led on the front lit up.

[GotMame]

You left out a few key things.

A: Act lab guns have crap accuracy and they have to be calibrated EVERY time you turn them on

Exo, I wouldn't go so far as to say that they are crap. You may have just had a bad experience.

I do have one I purchase about two years ago. I was having trouble with the accuracy of the gun and it finally turned out to be a conflict with a USB ps2 like controller I had plugged into the computer. Once I removed that controller, the accuracy of the gun was dead on.

I don't have to calibrate everytime either. It just depends on the game resolution.

I am using a 27" Wells-Gardner WGM2792-U0TS42A so that may make a difference also.

[gerble1000]

If the LEDs in those light bars are IR LEDs, then you won't see them at all, even when they're on. It's just the CCD panels in digital cameras that are sensitive to infrared light.

If you take a picture with a digital camera of a TV remote while holding down a button, you will also see the IR led on the front lit up.

i actually thout of that

your probably right

you never see infra red light

im hoping i can mount them in my cab without it obstructing your view of the monitor...

i.d like to no all the pro's and cons of the lcd topgun..please post your reviews

[gerble1000]

After responding to this I decided to reearch the options myself.

I got the guncon driver, installed it, and got the pc tor ecognize my guncon. Without the circuit that connect the composite cable to my video input however - it's useless. Closest i got to emulating a light gun was using my mouse to move the cursor and clicking the lightgun shoot button to shoot things... less then optimal.

I just ordered an LCD TopGun to see if the calibartion/accuracy/distance problems are as big of a deal as I've heard.

I know for a fact that the Act light guns are NOT the way i would go. They are the most expensive solution, they feel cheap and light weight. The only benefit to them is the quick set-up time.

I'll let you guys know how the lcd topgun turns out, i'm leary about the ickback feature that is known to lock up.

It also apparantly cannot emulate rapid machine gun fire, needed for games like time crisis 3.

have you recieved that gun yet because i just ordered one.

post here if its any good

thanx

gerble1000

[eXo]

have you recieved that gun yet because i just ordered one.

post here if its any good

thanx

gerble1000

Not in yet. Im expecting it either tomorrow or tuesday.

[Mike_Fu]

I've ordered a LCD Top Gun as well. Unfortunately mine is on backorder from Cliff Racer. I too will try to post some sort of review when I get mine.

[gerble1000]

it says its got a laser pointer

do you think it is a real laser pointer??

and what is the recoil function everyone is on about,and what problems could happen with it?

gerble1000

[eXo]

it says its got a laser pointer

do you think it is a real laser pointer??

and what is the recoil function everyone is on about,and what problems could happen with it?

gerble1000

Yes - its got a real laser pointer. They only cost a few cents to produce these days. Apparantly it makes it EXTREMELY easy to play light gun games with that on, but it's meant to be used while your trying to get used to the correct disatnce, to help the learning curve.

the recoil is a slight kickback that takes place everytime the gun fires. After an hour or 2 of play its been reported that the kickback gets stuck in the "kicked" position. It can apparantly be fixed by simply manually pushing it back in place. Not very convienent however in the middle of a gunfight.

Due to the nature of the recoil, the gun does not mimic burts fire, such as time crisis 3.

You can check out a full review over at IGN.

http://gear.ign.com/articles/689/689009p1.html

Hopefully mine arrives today so I can verify some of these statements. Ive seen IGN be totally wrong in the past.

[812MANY]

My 2 LCD TopGuns work perfect using the latest guncon2 drivers and the current version of mame. Not the easiest to setup and you will probably run into a problem or two while setting them up but they do work great. Oh and the only driver that works with mame 104.u5 and up is the guncon2 drivers. Check out this unnoficial FAQ:

http://www.wizardsworks.org/chod/gun/topgun.htm