Trackball and Spinner Backspin

[Gizmo]

Dear Forum,

I suffer a big problem with my trackball / spinner vs. Game options. Here is what happened:

My Mame system was running untouched for about 2 years. 3 months ago the trackball and the spinner started to create backspin problems - no settings were changed before. I only rarely use my Mame cab. I am working with a Win XP computer using Mameuifx32. The trackball and the spinner are connected via USB and Optipac. Joysticks and buttons are connected via JammaASD to PS2.

When starting Centipede or Arkanoid (Revenge of DOH) via Mameuifx32 there is no problem with the trackball or spinner. I can use the trackball as a mouse on Windows desktop and have no problems. If I start Centipede or Arkanoid via Gameex there is heavy backspin and all movements are delayed; it looks like the movements are buffered and released a little time later. These backspin issues occurred before and after updating XP and Gameex. Playing Marble Madness via Gameex is possible with no trackball backspin. Could it happen that Mame settings do have other impact on Mameuifx32 than on Gameex? What should I change or try?

Gameex is such a wonderful frontend working fine and stable and looking good. I like it so much. But now I have to solve the issues with the trackball backspin. I hope I did not miss a solution offered in the forum although I was looking around via search function.

Has anyone out there a solution for me and is willing to help? Do you need more information on my system? I hope for your ideas. Thank you!

[Draco1962]

A good place to start would be to upload a copy of your log.txt file and gameex.ini (you will need to save the gameex.ini file as a text file before uploading it to the forum). Your mame.ini file (again, saved as a text file) may also be useful.

[Gizmo]

Certainly. Here are the log file and the 2 ini files.

log.txt

GameExini.txt

mameini.txt

[Draco1962]

OK, the first thing I noticed in your mame.ini is that you are using ddraw - Direct Draw instead of d3d - Direct3D. GameEx is loading Direct3D. I wonder if this may be contributing to some of the apparent lag between your actions and the response on the screen. Can you try changing your settings in MAME to utilize D3D and report back with the results? If you should error, please provide a new copy of the log file.

I also noted that you are using an ArcadeVGA card. Can you tell us what model and if you are running the latest XP drivers? If not using the latest driver for your graphics adapter, try upgrading. Again, let us know the results.

[Gizmo]

Thanks for your hints.

I changed Mame to D3D. Unfortunately no effect on my backspin problem. But the picture is now a little bit blurred.

My ArcadeVGA is an ArcadeVGA2 (PCI). It uses ATI Drivers Version 9.400.0.0 and Date 13.02.2008. I do not know if there are newer ones.

Do my informations help to solve the problem or do you need additional ones?

[Draco1962]

The only other thing I know to try is setting the resolution higher to 800 x 600 and D3D enable and see what happens there. I am not experienced with ArcadeVGA but have seen where issues with some users have cleared up some by increasing the screen size from 640 x 480 to 800 x 600.

[Gizmo]

I am sorry. There are no differences with the backspin problem by setting the resolution to 800x600. Gameex Configurator says that the resolution should be 640x288 (see: comment on Display Settings). If I switch the ArcadeVGA to 640x288 the picture is very narrow. The best picture on the Arcade monitor is by ArcadeVGA set to 640x480.

I just discovered that some more games (eg Crystal Castles) also show those backspin. All movements in Centipede, Arkanoid or Crystal Castles are buffered and then released. It is horrible and unplayable.

Could it be another reason than the ArcadeVGA or can I change or try something else with the Display Settings?

[Draco1962]

One other question - are you using an arcade monitor? Again, not familiar with using the ArcadgeVGA adapter, so taking my best stabs at a possible solution. There are quite a few that use this adapter and it seems that there is often issues with the drivers that conflict with the performance when used within GameEX, but seem to be a non-issue with other video adapters and resolutions or an updated driver.

[Gizmo]

I am using an arcade monitor Nanao MS8-26. I am not quite shure if I understand which adapter to update or change.I am using the ArcadeVGA2 PCIe X550 drivers. I just looked them up at the Ultimarc page. There are no newer drivers - I assume. The unexplainable problem is that those drivers haven't been changed since Centipede and the other games worked fine via Gameex. And now they don't. Is there any other solution?

[Draco1962]

hmmm... a little perplexing to say the least. What kind of PC/motherboard are you using for your build? Does it have an onboard (built-in) graphics adapter? One of our other members was having an issue with an older PC that had a built-in GPU that was not thoroughly disabled. Not quite the problems you are having but would be curious none-the-less to find out.

[R-DUB]

I am not familiar with Mameuifx32, I use MameUI32, maybe similar setting anyway.

when you start the game can you get into the settings option by pressing the tab?

There should be a analog setting list that you can adjust the sensitivity and speed of the trackball and spinner. when these are set to high I get the same issue.

Hope this may help.

[Draco1962]

R-DUB - thanks for the feedback! Hopefully this will resolve Gizmo's lag issues to the trackball!

[Gizmo]

Thanks for your ideas.

@R-DUB: The Tab-Settings are available in Mameuifx32. I tried to adjust the sensitivity. But it doesn't solve the problem. If I start Centipede via Mameuifx32 I can use the trackball without any problems. If I start Centipede via Gameex without changing any settings, the backspin is back!

@Draco1962: My computer (HP Workstation XW4200)does not have an onboard graphic card.

Are there any other ideas to solve my backspin problem?

[Draco1962]

Have you upgraded to the latest release - 11.64? You say it worked well before. Do you recall what version of GameEx you had installed. Since the spinner and trackball are USB, have there been any recent additions to your rig that require USB connectivity? If it turns out to not be a graphics issue, that would be my next target for troubleshooting.

[Gizmo]

Gameex is v 11.63. I updated a version of last quarter 2009 - I don't really remember the version number. No additions were made to my Mame system since end of 2009. USB and all other systems were not changed or added with new components. I did no changes and that makes the troubleshooting thus complex. Could it be a drivers problem? Should I install new drivers? And if which ones? I don't know where to look at my system. I'm really despaired.

[Draco1962]

Probably wouldn't hurt to update your version of XP to SP 2 or 3. Start with your windows updates, then work on devices - see if there are updates available for your USB, etc. Best place to start would be the HP site for your PC so that you can get the latest drivers they have available. You could try plugging them in into different USB connectors to see if that makes a difference. Maybe updating your version of mameuifx if you haven't done so yet will help.

[Adultery]

^^If you update your mame build though, be advised that some game sets will need to be updated as well!

[R-DUB]

Just out of curiosity, have you tried testing a different Mame build other than Mameuifx32 and see if it does the same thing?

Just a thought.

PS. Don't forget, like Adultery says, that if you update MAME, say to 0.141, to run same rom set 0.141.

[fRequEnCy]

I don't think GameEx should have that much of an affect on it though. Weird that all is working outside of GameEx. Perhaps the command-line that's being ran or the settings. Do you by chance have 2 mame.ini files somewhere in your mame directory and sub-directories?

[Gizmo]

Thanks for your new ideas. Here are my answers (please excuse the delay, I was travelling on business the last week): My XP is SP3. The HP drivers are all the lastest I can get at HP-Homepage. I can't use a newer Mame version because I don't have an actual rom set. I now tried another frontend (MaLa). I just configured the basic settings and tried to play Centipede. And: the trackball worked without any problems and no backspin. Then I switched back to Gameex and updated it today to the newest version. And: in Gameex the backspin problem is back.

So I think the backspin problem must have something to do with Gameex. I could find 3 mame.ini files on my mame computer. One is in the Mameuifx32 ini directory; the other one is found in the directory of NeoMame. And the third one in the Gameex directory config/emulators/import-export. What can I check or improve with my Gameex settings? What could be wrong there? The Gameex .ini file is posted above.

By the way: How can I switch off the game descriptions in Gameex menues?

I hope we can together find the solution to the backspin problem.

[Draco1962]

Alrighty then - no actual ROM set? How is this possible for you to play games with MAME but no ROMs or CHDs?

[Gizmo]

Sorry. My rom set is .131 and not .141. So I can't use a newer mame version.