Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I just picked up an X-Arcade tankstick, and my biggest disappointment with it is that the 8-way stick causes a lot of problems getting "stuck" in games that were originally 4-way (Mr. Do, Pac Man, etc). My question for X-Arcade users... is there a way in MAME to disable diagonal movement in these games? I read that you can modify the sticks on the X-Arcade to make them 4-way mode, but the problem is that I don't want to re-open the box and make modifications each time I want to play an 8-way or 4-way game. Please let me know what solution you are using. Thanks a bunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Unfortunately there is no easy solution. Your options are either A) Just get used to it and learn to play those games on the default sticks. B) Replace the sticks with ones that are easier to swap between 4 and 8 way or C) Build your own 4 way controllers and use those. I own an X-Arcade tank stick and I am in the planning stages of building a standalone 4 way arcade emulation mini cab. Cost wise the parts other than the computer and monitor it isn't terribly expensive if you have the tools and skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I had considered putting in some new sticks... I'm mostly into the older games so ball tops would be nice. Do you have a recommendation for a good all-around stick for 4 and 8 way games? I have heard the name Sanwa as a good brand but I don't know much about it really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Pac-Man blows with an 8 way joystick badly. I looked for a 4 way USB stick but can't find one anywhere it really sucks because some time you just want to play some Pac-Man and it isn't worth playing without the right controller. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yeah, I agree... My problem is that I may want to play some pac-man and then go to some Smash TV and you need the diagonals (or any other number of games, I just picked that off the top of my head). I'm trying to find the best way to do this without a hardware operation on a daily basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yeah the only way I really saw was to buy a 4 way joystick and buttons and put your own box together or make your own arcade board but since I don't have an arcade machine I don't really want an arcade control panel. I have the Mayflash USB fight sticks and they are pretty nice but they suck for 4 way games too. I looked for a software solution and didn't find one and didn't see any out of the box hardware solutions so I put it on the way back burner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 There is no easy switch joysticks as far as I am aware. The easiest you can get is the Omni2 from GroovyGameGear (link) and here is a video showing the procedure (link) The Build Your Own Arcade Controls forums has a lot of information over there on different joysticks and building them. (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,1.0.html) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I'd like to have a nice spinner control (would be great for MAME and for some Atari 2600 Ka-Boom) and trackball also but you pretty much have to build those yourself too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Doing a quick search I did find this information on the matter. Link "If you are playing a game like Pac-Man™ or Donkey Kong™ and find that the joystick gets stuck when changing directions, this is because these original arcade games used 4-way restricted joysticks, while the X-Arcade™ is set to 8-way mode by default. You can solve this with the X-Arcade™ by changing it to 4-way mode. Note that newer versions of MAME seem to have a built-in software 4-way emulation automatically used for 4-way games (more info see 8). NOTE: If you are using a newer version of MAME or playing a console version of a 4-way arcade game, you do not need a dedicated 4-way joystick. This is because they have a software emulated 4-way mode that simply interprets diagonals as the next direction instead of getting stuck. " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 DOS76 said I'd like to have a nice spinner control (would be great for MAME and for some Atari 2600 Ka-Boom) and trackball also but you pretty much have to build those yourself too. Yeah, I got the tankstick because of the trackball and it's supposed to be pretty easy to add a spinner, which I would like for Tempest and Arkanoid and some others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 lordmonkus said NOTE: If you are using a newer version of MAME or playing a console version of a 4-way arcade game, you do not need a dedicated 4-way joystick. This is because they have a software emulated 4-way mode that simply interprets diagonals as the next direction instead of getting stuck. " Thanks for that info... that's exactly what I'm looking for. I need to find out how to get that working in MAME because it doesn't seem to be activated by default. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DOS76 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yeah google search brought up one post where I guy asks about it and other posters say they don't know what he is talking about. I'd like to set this up I played Ms. Pac-Man today for about 5 minutes and remembered how much I hate it without proper controls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 The second guy down in this thread says the Happ Super set to 4-way will also allow diagonals... Isn't that the controller that comes in the tankstick? http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=100531 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 According to the X-Arcade site you can switch the sticks between 4 and 8 way but you have actually go inside and modify it, it's not a simple easy to do thing like the OP was looking for. Some of the sticks here on Ultimarc claim to be easy to switch. Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 That Mag-Stick plus seems like a pretty good solution. You just pull up and twist to change from 4 to 8 way. Pretty expensive to do both sticks with ball top, though... maybe I can just start with changing out the left stick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 One other thing to take into consideration is how well it would fit into the X-Arcade control panel. It may need some modification. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 I hope not... lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I was just doing some reading over on the BYOAC forums and came across this crazy cab build link. The guy used these Ultimarc Servo Stiks link that change between 4 and 8 way on the fly depending on the game. They have a small servo motor in them that changes as needed on the fly. Check on the second page reply #45 for a video showing the cab in action and you can hear the servos changing the stick between 4 and 8 way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drybonz Posted March 11, 2016 Author Share Posted March 11, 2016 Wow... that setup is absolutely awesome. Even just the cab is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordmonkus Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Yeah it's pretty badass. Love the marquee idea and the tv mounted vertically and the ends hidden behind to see everything in it's proper aspect ratio is a really slick solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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