Posted by Bill Lash on 20, 2001 at 8:27 PM:
In Reply to: Related Question for Board Regulars posted by Tiger-Heli on 20, 2001 at 12:54 PM:
: I think Derrick's idea is very good and I realize his IC will work with any program, not just MAME.
: However, the post below by jeoff krontz implies that the "sticky" mode was already implemented in the MAME 37b4 source code.
: Also, I seem to remember a post about a -usejoy4way command line switch?
: Could someone familiar with this subject or with the MAME source code please review this and comment?
: Thanks,
: Marshall
I have looked at the source code for mame36 final, and it seems to have code in it that would turn an 8way joystick input into a 4way input. There may have been some changes made to make things better in the 37b4 though. I know that playing some 4way games in mame 36 with an 8way joystick is frustrating, though.
The code in mame36final did not use a command line option, it looked at the game info, and if it needed a 4way input, it would process the input accordingly. If I remember correctly, the code in mame at that time would behave as follows:
Assume that the joystick is in the "right" position, if you move the input to the "right-up" position, the game will release "right" and assert "up".
This made sense to me at the time, since it gives a switch as soon as you start your move. Others here (and the "sticky" mode in Derrick's implementation) suggest that it may be better to continue to put out "right" until the "right" switch no longer registers and only "up" does. Perhaps this was the change in behavior in 37b4.
I haven't played around with any of the 37 betas
as of yet.
In the end, I think I agree with the folks that say a real 4way joystick will work better (or at least feel better). On the other hand, I can see why people are looking for something that doesn't require adding another joystick, or taking off the control panel and messing around with the bottom of the joystick.