Posted by Druin on 7, 2000 at 2:46 PM:
In Reply to: rotary sensitivity config posted by AUX on 7, 2000 at 12:25 PM:
For myself, I don't mind clutter, in fact whenever I get around to building a cabinet I might indeed have some little indicator lights just for show, with no real significance...
And I can easily have indicators for what setting is picked. And I can easily have a selector switch for the fixed positions..I guess only one or the other is needed...either the lights to show what setting is active, or a fixed position switch to know by looking at the position...
You can get 6 or 12 position rotary switches, at least used to, at Radio Shack for under $5. I'm trying to think of some method that is optimally universal so people can use whatever method they prefer without being locked into a designer's wishes...so if I chose to use preset switches...it could be implemented by either a little rotary knob switch, or the same connections could be just wired to a straight jumper-type header for people to place jumpers....or individual push on-push off switches lined up in a row...etc..
And if I went with the Light indicator method (it would have to be one or the other, or of course both, visual feedback of the switch settings, but overkill) then the current method could be used with the shift fire button to use the joystick to change the settings and just have the lights to verify what setting is on. I just didn't know how well people would like to go adding potentially distracting lights or extra switches anywhere...
I could have the OPTION of visual feedback....so people who want to see what's going on can use lights, but if they don't wire any up, it still works the same, they just don't get to see the settings visually...
As for the light indicators...it doesn't even have to be a permanently "on" light array...it could be just a single LED somewhere, that flashes the number of times of the setting, and then stays off...so you hit the shift button and move the joystick, putting the unit in setting 5, so the LED will blink 5 times and stay off...
You only need to look at the light while setting it up, no need to really know what it's set at while playing anything. I'll put some thought into it.
Another thing I was trying to really avoid is recompiling custom versions of mame...because it's something tedious, and with all the other custom compilations, people would have to either stick with the Rotary compiled version and forfeit the other features they normally might want in other compiles, and it would be hard to go manually changing the stuff every new release....it's best to have the interface itself configurable so that any version of mame on any platform can use it equally well...
Also it would only really solve part of the problem, that being the variance in similar games like time soldiers and ikari both being 12 position rotary stick games...having different delay needs....that would be fixed...but the unit would still need to be reconfigured for rotary OPTICAL games like caliber 50, which really does NEED the more sensitive touch...and then the Tron and XYbots type uses of the unit may want tweaking.
But I think it would be good to have the single light that blinks the # of times of the sensitivity delay setting upon configuration, with the option of not being used, and leaving the user to put the shift button separate or double wired to an existing button. If they only DO play one specific rotary game without being tempted to play others..they can just use the unit with the boot up jumper preset delay and not bother with a light or shift button...
Otherwise I guess compromise is needed for installing this unit with full accessibility.