MAME resets controls when AimTrak unplugged

[bubsy54]

For some reason, whenever I unplug my AimTrak lightguns, MAME changes the controls.

I have two AimTrak lightguns as well as a trackball. All three are registered by my PC and are able to move my mouse cursor. I have MAME set up to use the trackball as well as the two lightguns for gun games.

Everything works just fine, but then I unplug my guns, and then I can't use my controls to operate any games.

When I went into the UI, I noticed that most of my controls have been changed (I do not know if it is a total reset or not). Certain commands have weird assignments, for example, Button 1 which is usually assigned to Ctrl and Gun X 1 is now assigned to Ctrl and Gun X 1 and Mouse 0.

I am assuming that when I unplug the guns, MAME is trying to figure out where those devices went and instead of just leaving the controls as is, it is changing them around. But even controls such as P1 Up which is only assigned to a keyboard button and not another device still gets changed.

Does anyone know what the problem could be?

If I leave the guns plugged in and shutdown/turn on my PC, the controls remain unchanged...it is only when I unplug the devices.

I have read in another forum that if I delete my default.cfg file and redo the controls that it should be fine. I did that, and there was still the same result when I unplugged. Someone also said something about nvram being messed up. I see the folder and files for stuff in that folder but I am not sure how to approach that if those are messed up.

Any help would be great.

[32assassin]

that is normal, and its always going to happen.

I spent hours configuring 4 xbox controllers, I shut mame down restarted it with only one controller active and the entire Default.cfg was updated. All the changes to controllers 2-4 where gone.

the only way to save this is to configure all your buttons,

exit mame and set your Default.cfg as a "Read Only" document.

This way every time you run mame and you have missing controllers, mame will not be able to auto configure and change the Default.cfg file.

[bubsy54]

Awesome,ill will go ahead and make it read only then, thanks

[connorsdad]

I don't think that will make any difference to your aimtrak problem, it's to do with how windows assigns ids to usb devices. There is an app over on byoac that that will re-write your mame config on every boot up so that your controls will always be set correctly, fine if you're only using mame but if you're wanting to play sega model 2/3 lightgun games this is no good. The only way is not to unplug your aimtraks.

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

[bubsy54]

Do you remember the name of the app? I have been searching, but I can't seem to find anything related.

As of right now, I tested the Read Only, and it seemed to work. I put MAME on, saw that everything was set correctly. Went out of MAME, unplugged both guns, went back into MAME, and everything was correct. I then plugged the guns back in, went into MAME and still, everything was correct. I don't know if I just got lucky, or it did the trick. Since one gun is black and the other is red, I have been putting the black one in first everytime, just in case Windows is assigning one gun to a certain id...which doesn't really seem to be the case since when I unplugged the black one my mistake during use, the red gun took over the controls...don't know if that was a fluke thing, but time will tell on that one.

But if you could find that file or give me a name, I would appreciate it.

But do you suggest never unplugging the guns?

Thanks

[connorsdad]

Here you go

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=108767.0

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

[connorsdad]

I have a spinner, trackball and 2 aimtraks plugged in, has to be in certain usb ports on my mb or they change id on every boot up. They have to remain plugged in or my controls stop working with my different emulators.

Sent from Amstrad CPC464

[bubsy54]

Thanks for the link, I took a look at it, looks too complicated for me. I think I am going to just try and keep everything plugged in.

Thanks again.

[bubsy54]

So I do not think that I can just keep everything plugged in, which is posing all sorts of problems for me in MAME.

I have two Aimtrak guns and two PSX controllers connected to my PC. The side buttons of the Aimtrak guns register as Joypad inputs as do the inputs from the PSX controllers. As far as I know, MAME does not work well with JoyToKey or Xpadder as many people on other forums have had trouble with them as well.

So what happens is, MAME recognizes my guns perfectly since MAME sees them as Guns. If I unplug my guns, reconnect them, they still work because MAME sees them as a Gun and they do not conflict with the settings as far as movement and the trigger goes.

The problem that arises is that during use of the cabinet, the PSX controller may be disconnected/connected. This affects the side buttons of my Guns.

If MAME is configured with the PSX controller connected, MAME sees the controllers as JoyPad 1 and 2 and the guns as Joypad 3 and 4. Once the PSX controllers are removed from the equation, MAME sees the side buttons of the Guns as JoyPad 1 and 2.

So my only thought was to do this:

In the AimTrak utility, set the two Aimtrak side buttons as Gamepad 7 and 8 (this is the highest the utility allows you to go)

In MAME, set Player 1 controls to three inputs: the button on my arcade stick, the side buttons on the gun, and the buttons corresponding to the Gun's input on the PSX controller.

So theoretically, if MAME's button 2 was set to [Alt, Joypad 1 Button 7, Joypad 3 Button 7] whenever I unplug my controllers, the Gun will go from Joypad 3 to Joypad 1 and still function.

I am not at home to test if this will work, but I assume it would.

[tastyratz]

I just had a pair of Aimtraks show up last night and only tested with 1 without using the controllers, so I have a feeling I will both run into the same issue and be happy to see the last post. I will be testing tonight too.

[bubsy54]

I just tested it out myself and came on here to share my results.

Everything I said I was going to do in my previous post, I did, with the exception of one thing. I went into my control panel, game controllers, and I set my 1st Aimtrak gun to preferred controller. I don't know why, but by doing so, it allowed my configuration to work better...probably was just some weird thing that happened that I didn't realize, but this corrected it.

Anyways, by keeping my guns plugged in, I was able to disconnect/reconnect my controllers without affecting my guns. The only problem that I saw in the future with this setup is that if you do use the controllers for four player games (since my arcade only has two arcade controls, I do this) the people with the controllers could hit buttons mapped to Player 1 and Player 2 characters. The only way around this is if you use controllers with 6 or less buttons (since the Aimtrak can only be mapped up to button 8, making the side buttons on the gun to be buttons 7 and 8, which would be mapped to the controller buttons 7 and 8). If the controller does not have a button 7 or 8 everything will work just fine. Since mine do have buttons 7 and 8, i just have to assume that the people playing wouldn't be much of an ass to actually hit those buttons

So what I have discovered is that as long as the PC doesn't change the device name of the guns, everything should work almost perfectly. Keep the guns plugged in and remove the controllers as you like (as long as MAME isn't running). If you do have to unplug the guns for any reason, put them back in the same ports and in the same order. I have to unplug the guns every now and then since my mouse will randomly start to act crazy requiring an unplugging of the guns to fix the situation.

I have tested this in multiple scenarios, and so far only once did the guns change from Guns 3 and 4 to Guns 2 and 3...but I couldn't reproduce that so I am not sure exactly what happened there...when that happened, I just unplugged the guns again, reconnected them, and everything was back the way it should be.

Also, as mentioned by 32Assassin, make your default.cfg read-only so that MAME doesn't just change the control settings.

Please post if you have a better solution.

[eezetee]

Could you run multiple versions of MAME or separate your light gun games into a separate wheel?

That's what i'm going to test later later as I also have a trackball and will use some controllers.