Gun/LightGun Games

[BrutalDeluxe]

Hey Again

Just sat here watching Area 51 running an a thought just entered my brain...

Am I right in thinking that not all arcade "Gun Games" use light gun controls?

If I assume correctly that games which have the gun control pivoted on the cabinet arent light guns?

Also does anyone know if there are any light guns available with USB connection and Windows compatible?

Ty..

[chriss]

one possibility would be to buy a wiimote and use this as lightgun over bluetooth. that's what i did and it works... well at least kind of... there is still a bit of lag and sometimes the pointer jumps over the screen

any way it is still fun but you would probably get better results with arcade like guns

e.g. the act labs light gun seem to come pretty close to an arcade feeling:

http://www.act-labs.com/scripts/proddetails.asp?Pid=866 (don't get fooled by the price.. you still need an adapter to connect the gun to vga which costs 80$)

alternatively you can use the mouse or keyboard to play lightgun games but thats not really fun

[bkenobi]

LCD TopGun's are supposed to be really nice. Tempest has one but probably hasn't pulled it out of the box yet

I went with a pair of PS2 GunCon2 compatible guns. Unfortunately, one of them died and I've yet to replace it (or them). When they worked, they were pretty awesome though!

Yes, there are games that use guns that are not light guns. The games like Terminator 2 or Mechanized Attack used guns that were essentially gun shaped analog sticks with triggers built in. I believe all of these games have been set up to work with a light gun control in MAME though.

[Rochabian]

From my experience :

If you use a composite gun like Guncon 2 from PSX you have to download the WinGun driver on this site http://www.guncon2driver.com/

It seems to be down when i write this.....try to find it elsewhere version 0.8

But it's the best driver for PSX & PS2 Guncon2 Guns

If you own an ATI Card then try this mod : http://ryoandr.free.fr/english.html

Whenever you have an Nvidia card try this one : http://www.nexusuk.org/projects/vga2scart/circuit

I've tried the first one with no result on a Nvidia card because just the ATI cards seems to output a real video composite signal ( it works on a TV but the gun don' t works with nvidia cards)

So i'm trying to do the second one and it seems to works according to a french forum...

I'll let you know about my experience.......

If someone have tried this, let us know your results please

[Brian Hoffman]

Not all gun games actually used guns...

I believe either terminator 2 or Revolution X actually used Guns on top of joysticks..

[Tempest]

LCD TopGun's are supposed to be really nice. Tempest has one but probably hasn't pulled it out of the box yet

I went with a pair of PS2 GunCon2 compatible guns. Unfortunately, one of them died and I've yet to replace it (or them). When they worked, they were pretty awesome though!

Yes, there are games that use guns that are not light guns. The games like Terminator 2 or Mechanized Attack used guns that were essentially gun shaped analog sticks with triggers built in. I believe all of these games have been set up to work with a light gun control in MAME though.

You must not have seen my post in another thread. I did manage to get my guns out of the box, but they do not have drivers for XP64... Their solution? Buy the LCD Topguns II. I'll be damned if I'll buy another set of guns.... I already own two Guncon2, The last time I checked, I thought it was almost impossible to hook them up. It seems that it required a hardware circuit that people were reporting mixed results on. I haven't looked at it since last winter....

I see Rochabian's post below, I will check it out, but I would definately like some more input on this...

[bkenobi]

I don't know what hardware circuit people are required to build. I guess it depends on what gun you get though. I chose guns that had USB plugs, so all I had to do was plug it into the PC and install the drivers. The only problem was that my guns had laser sights (which I never use) but required the gun be plugged into the PS anyway. I had to build a power adapter for them, but it wasn't "impossible". Had I been smarter I would have bought original Namco guns which are USB and don't require power (other than that provided by USB). They probably wouldn't have broken either

[chriss]

I'm thinking about getting the LCD TopGun... some questions for you guys:

1. does anyone know if it is easy to install two of the guns? I heard there are some issues in mame with having two lightguns...

2. what about the sensor bars? do I need to put 4 in total for 2 guns or are 2 bars enough?

3. can I put the bars on the side of the cabinet or does one has to be horizontal and one vertical?

[bkenobi]

There's some good discussions on these points at BYOAC forums, but to summarize:

* Two guns should work fine in Windows.

* Two guns should work fine in MAME, but it may take a little time to get them configured just right.

* Two guns only require one light bar. Both guns will use the same bars.

* The light bars can be mounted in any orientation technically, but vertical or horizontal would be typical.

* If you have a very large display where the screen is much larger then the bars, you might need to get the longer set.

The bars are there to emit IR light so the gun(s) can figure out where they are pointed relative to those points of light. You will need to configure the guns in Windows, but then they should work just like a mouse for any game you need. Since they use the light bar for position, you don't need to worry about the display type like you do with other guns. You can project the gameplay on a wall/screen and you will still be able to play. AFAIK, this is the only gun that can do that!

On the down side, you do need to have the light bars visible in order to use the guns. So, you won't have quite as clean a cabinet if you use TopGuns. However, if you have a bezel, you might be able to punch 3 holes in each side for the LEDs to show through and hide the bar itself. I've seen pics of someone who actually disassembled the bars and just put the LEDs sticking through the bezel. I guess it works fine!

[Tempest]

BK,

I have the PS2 orange namco guncon2 guns. Are you telling me all I have to do is plug them in, and install the driver? What about the composite video plug?

One comment in regards to the post above about the Topguns, I ordered the "Topgun Blaze stands" for projector use, they are identical to the ones that come with the Topguns, except they are white, instead of black. I was expecting something that would set on the floor in front of the screen, Instead they send double faced tape to use.... I don't plan on trying that. I think I've seen stuff that is tacky, but won't stick permanently... The instructions say that they are needed for 4:3 screens > 60 inches, or 16:9 screens > 42 inches.

[chriss]

thanks for the detailed answer, bkenobi

now i know everything i need to know!

[bkenobi]

I was pretty sure the Orange Namco guns had 3 plugs (1xUSB, 1xPS/PS2, 1xYellow RCA). In order to use on a PC, AFAIK you just plug the USB into the PC and the RCA into the video from the PC. If you are using a TV via S-Video, you can get a splitter and an S-Video -> RCA adapter to make it work. It is possible to build a VGA -> RCA adapter, but it's really not necessary.

[Tempest]

Thanks for the info BK, Mine definately do not have a PS2 plug... I will have to give it a go...

Chris,

Regarding mounting the led stands, did you see post #83 in this thread?

http://www.gameex.info/forums/index.php?sh...=5403&st=80

[chriss]

no, didn't see that!

nice one m8! this looks good! I still have space between monitor and cab on the left and right... so maybe i'll do it this way!

[Stub]

* The light bars can be mounted in any orientation technically, but vertical or horizontal would be typical.

* If you have a very large display where the screen is much larger then the bars, you might need to get the longer set.

I've seen pics of someone who actually disassembled the bars and just put the LEDs sticking through the bezel. I guess it works fine!

There is a minimum distance the gun has to be from the screen. Roughly 3x the distance between the bars. It can be annoying, the gun needs to see all the IR emitters to locate itself. This means you want to install them above and below you screen. The bars are closer together and allow you to get closer to the screen. On the up side you high scores are more believable because its not possible to stand 12" away and cheat on Police Trainer.

There is no longer set. The blaze stands are the same size but in white plastic. They are for actually putting in the middle of a large front projection screen. It can be annoying if you pay attention to them. But to use them with my 10' 6" front projection, with the bars outside my screen, I would have to be 32' away.

I have removed the emitters in one of mt sets and Im building them into my bezel. It is made of black foamboard. I will post pics later.

What I like about the guns are the 3 buttons and a 4 way pad right on them.