Advmame for Lightguns games, mame32 for all else?

[PhoneLine]

Hi all,

I have been trying to get my dual lcd topguns to work in the newest mame32 and I have been unsuccessful. I have advmame working great with all my lightgun games, but as that has not been updated in a long time, its not too useful for running newer working roms.

Here is my question.

Is there any way to have gameex use advmame for all lightgun games and mame32 for everything else?

I've tried so many settings with the guns, and even tried mame ++, and can't get it to work with both guns at the same time. Advmame works flawless though with all the 2 gun games for me.

Worst case, I can launch them via a batch file I guess and list them in the other apps section of gameex, but considering certain versions of mame do run certain roms better, I thought there may be a way to do this?

Appreciate any assistance you all can offer!

James

[fRequEnCy]

New version as in MameUI32.121.2? Try this link and see if it helps with setting up 2nd gun. Multiple Lightgun Setup

[PhoneLine]

New version as in MameUI32.121.2? Try this link and see if it helps with setting up 2nd gun. Multiple Lightgun Setup

Yep, using 121.2

Basically in most games, both guns control the same cursor. I have dual mouse support enabled, and tried toggling options till I was exhausted. Either no guns work, or both guns control cursor 1. I've made sure multiple mice is on, and in the control panel application for the guns, it sees 2 guns.

Then on some games like terminator 2, they just don't work at all.

But in advmame, they all work great.

I followed the guide you posted, pretty much the same even though I have the LCD guns, but was using Area 51 to test it out, and both guns control the player 1 cursor.

[fRequEnCy]

Hmmmmmmm. And you downloaded new version with new settings or copied over another one?

[PhoneLine]

I'm testing in a new mame32 folder I created and just copied over my roms/chds. But all the configs ect are new.

I didn't touch my advmame folder as that one works, so don't want to mess that one up. Doing the testing in a new folder and pointed gameex to the new folder.

[fRequEnCy]

Just for giggles try copying over your config that works to mameui and see if that does anything.

[PhoneLine]

Just for giggles try copying over your config that works to mameui and see if that does anything.

Well, the one that works is the advmame RC file, so would not be able to do that. Advmame does not use a standard mame.ini type file. It stores all its info in a file called advmame.rc

Its a totally different format and series of settings.

I've attached it so you can see what I mean if you never used advmame. It opens in any text editer for wordpad or notepad. But, does not use the standard mame.ini strings.

advmame.zip

[bkenobi]

This has to do with the new controls system incorporated in MAME v0.117. My dual gun setup worked fine prior to upgrading. If you use advanceMAME, you will see that they still work since it uses the old controller setup. I'm currently struggling with the same problem and have decided that the easiest way to get them going is to set the gun games up in their own emulator and run an older version of MAME. Only problem is that I screwed up the driver that was working trying to get MAME going. So, now I get to start from scratch with them when I have time...

[DamageCase]

I have two of the LCD topguns as well... Using Smog's Guncon driver. I played around with things on a Mame v121 setup for a few days but decided to use AdvanceMame for the Lightgun games in the end...

In the newer versions of mame, like you said, both guns control the one cursor. This is different to the earlier versions (such as Advancemame 106) because they control the cursors individually.... Anyway, I stepped through the mame controls and got them set up fine.. They do both control the one cursor but the trick is to disable the cursor so it doesnt confuse you... Mame updates the position of the cursor when the trigger is pulled... Both 1 & 2 player can play but if you have the cursors on then it skips all over.

My Girlfriend (as well as some of my friends) do not like to play without the cursor (complain that they dont know where they are shooting!!!) so I installed Advancemame as a second emulator... Picked out the best lightgun games and made batch files for each (basically just copying the command that Gameex uses in launching Advancemame and entering the rom name). All working great so far and keeps the 2 cursors. It also seems to pick up the different buttons on the gun better (Lists as Joystick 1 Button 1 etc.... The new mame121 would give funny combos of mice & buttons).

If you are unsure of the bat files then I could post an example.... Sounds like you got AdvMame setup fine already So you dont need to modify that.

I actually only finished my cab a few weeks ago... I'll probably get a pic up in the cab section after I finish this post

[PhoneLine]

This has to do with the new controls system incorporated in MAME v0.117. My dual gun setup worked fine prior to upgrading. If you use advanceMAME, you will see that they still work since it uses the old controller setup. I'm currently struggling with the same problem and have decided that the easiest way to get them going is to set the gun games up in their own emulator and run an older version of MAME. Only problem is that I screwed up the driver that was working trying to get MAME going. So, now I get to start from scratch with them when I have time...

Hmm, ok. So I'm thinking I may do this for now.

Have gameex use mame32. And create some batch files with the advmame command line to each gun game, then just put those in the external app section of gameex. Can also just remove them from the normal games listing so they don't show up there.

Then I just have to run them from the applications section. I have Mugen there anyway, so what the heck

But if this is an issue, maybe a future feature of gameex could incorporate a way to run certain selected roms under an alternate mame version?

Thanks for the info bkenobi.

[PhoneLine]

I have two of the LCD topguns as well... Using Smog's Guncon driver. I played around with things on a Mame v121 setup for a few days but decided to use AdvanceMame for the Lightgun games in the end...

In the newer versions of mame, like you said, both guns control the one cursor. This is different to the earlier versions (such as Advancemame 106) because they control the cursors individually.... Anyway, I stepped through the mame controls and got them set up fine.. They do both control the one cursor but the trick is to disable the cursor so it doesnt confuse you... Mame updates the position of the cursor when the trigger is pulled... Both 1 & 2 player can play but if you have the cursors on then it skips all over.

My Girlfriend (as well as some of my friends) do not like to play without the cursor (complain that they dont know where they are shooting!!!) so I installed Advancemame as a second emulator... Picked out the best lightgun games and made batch files for each (basically just copying the command that Gameex uses in launching Advancemame and entering the rom name). All working great so far and keeps the 2 cursors. It also seems to pick up the different buttons on the gun better (Lists as Joystick 1 Button 1 etc.... The new mame121 would give funny combos of mice & buttons).

If you are unsure of the bat files then I could post an example.... Sounds like you got AdvMame setup fine already So you dont need to modify that.

I actually only finished my cab a few weeks ago... I'll probably get a pic up in the cab section after I finish this post

Hey

Great minds think alike it seems. Thanks for the info. Its exactly what I think I am going to do. I already made a batch for terminator 2 and area 51, and those work fine, so will just go though and see what I play.

I'm going to post a link to this thread in the feature request section. Can't hurt

Again, thanks for the info/help guys!

[headkaze]

My Girlfriend (as well as some of my friends) do not like to play without the cursor (complain that they dont know where they are shooting!!!) so I installed Advancemame as a second emulator...

...Or download Mame Compiler and compile Mame with the hi_*.diff applied. Then you will always have the crosshair on by default (and other cool stuff like hiscore/cheat/skip disclaimer).

[bkenobi]

Actually, the cross hairs were enabled by default in v0.111 or thereabouts. If you want to turn one or both either on or off, you can simply hit F1 to toggle through. As far as AdvanceMAME working, it should. BUT, you could also just use another version of MAME that's pre v0.117. There are advantages to AdvanceMAME as well as MAME+, MAME++, AnalogMAME, etc. I've tried a few, but stick with vanilla MAME for my primary use although MAME++ has a nice volume leveling thing that's cool.

Anyway, my point is that you can use ANY derivative version of MAME prior to 0.117 and you should be ok with the guns.

[popcorrin]

I am using dual guns with vanilla mame 117 and they work great. All I had to do was set lightgun_device to lightgun and then go into the control settings in the mame menu and assign the first gun to player 1 and the 2nd gun to player 2.

If you want to use the lightgun for games like terminator 2 that used positional guns then you will have to set those up individually.

[bkenobi]

Maybe the new controls were 0.118...in any case, they broke a bunch of stuff like all of my SF configs...

EDIT: Here's a link that says it was 0.118 that incorporated the lightgun change.

[popcorrin]

Maybe the new controls were 0.118...in any case, they broke a bunch of stuff like all of my SF configs...

EDIT: Here's a link that says it was 0.118 that incorporated the lightgun change.

I read thru the link and it said that the problem was that he had dual lightguns enabled. After disabling that it was good to go.

[bkenobi]

Yeah, it looked like he was able to get a pair of LCD top guns to work with MAME 0.117. If so, then they should work with any current version since that was the major change that broke everything. When I get my drivers back up, I'm going to try reading the thread really carefully to see what I need to have in there for settings.

Btw, he said something about T2 and positional guns. I have never gotten Golly Ghost to work. Did it have positional guns or standard light guns?

EDIT: Just looked at the picture of the GG cab on klov and it looks like they were positional guns!

[fRequEnCy]

Found this interesting for you who had this problem. I don't have a light gun setup so not sure if it helps. Found it in the new version of mameui.

Input device options

--------------------

-[no]dual_lightgun / -[no]dual

Controls whether or not MAME attempts to track two lightguns connected

at the same time. This option requires -lightgun. This option is a hack

for supporting older dual lightgun setups. If you have multiple

lightguns connected, you will probably just need to enable -mouse and

configure each lightgun independently. The default is OFF

(-nodual_lightgun).

[bkenobi]

There is little difference between a mouse and a lightgun as far as MAME is concerned. In fact, the only difference I know of is how it tracks. With a mouse, the gun's cursor is tracked all the time, so if you move the gun across the screen, the cross hairs will follow. If you use the lightgun option, the gun will only track when you pull the trigger. So if you click on the right side of the screen the cross hair pops up there, then if you move to the left side and fire, it will jump to the new position.

I think my guns may actually have been in mouse mode before, come to think of it. They were supposed to be in lightgun mode (based on what I had entered into the MAME.ini), but now that I think about it, they were tracking the whole time. Thanks for the post, it sparked a thought!

[NizZ8]

There is little difference between a mouse and a lightgun as far as MAME is concerned. In fact, the only difference I know of is how it tracks. With a mouse, the gun's cursor is tracked all the time, so if you move the gun across the screen, the cross hairs will follow. If you use the lightgun option, the gun will only track when you pull the trigger. So if you click on the right side of the screen the cross hair pops up there, then if you move to the left side and fire, it will jump to the new position.

I think my guns may actually have been in mouse mode before, come to think of it. They were supposed to be in lightgun mode (based on what I had entered into the MAME.ini), but now that I think about it, they were tracking the whole time. Thanks for the post, it sparked a thought!

Hey so did anyone figure out the lowdown for using the new Mame Builds with dual TopGun LCD's--if so could you post the configs switches that you have enabled?

[MKchamp]

Hey so did anyone figure out the lowdown for using the new Mame Builds with dual TopGun LCD's--if so could you post the configs switches that you have enabled?

They got broke in 120u4. So, don't expect them to work in 121 until they get the input sorted out. It's bug id lcdlightgun0121u3gra over at mametesters.

[NizZ8]

They got broke in 120u4. So, don't expect them to work in 121 until they get the input sorted out. It's bug id lcdlightgun0121u3gra over at mametesters.

Cool thanks MK

[bkenobi]

Just to update on my previous comments. I spent some time last night playing around with my guns and got them back up and working in Windows correctly (what a pain in the arse!). I tried WinGun, but decided to stick with GunCon2PC since that worked before just fine. I have MAME v0.119 accepting input from both guns and tracking correctly with both guns. The only problem I'm currently having is that both guns fire with either trigger pull. When you fire gun 1, gun 2 fires at screen center and vica versa. I'm not sure how to handle that one, but I'll take a look next chance I get. At least I have my guns back...mostly!

[NizZ8]

Just to update on my previous comments. I spent some time last night playing around with my guns and got them back up and working in Windows correctly (what a pain in the arse!). I tried WinGun, but decided to stick with GunCon2PC since that worked before just fine. I have MAME v0.119 accepting input from both guns and tracking correctly with both guns. The only problem I'm currently having is that both guns fire with either trigger pull. When you fire gun 1, gun 2 fires at screen center and vica versa. I'm not sure how to handle that one, but I'll take a look next chance I get. At least I have my guns back...mostly!

I think this is a mame related bug.. i was seeing something similar myself where when you configure the trigger it maps to the same key for both guns . I think this was one of the issues that was broken in the 118 build... not entirely sure though--it's tough to keep track of all the various emu's and the versions where things work/break in

[MKchamp]

Just FYI...the LCD lightguns appear fix on my end with MAME 122 released last night...