Steering Settings

[jonhughes]

Hi everyone,

I have a racing set-up (or 2) that I use for console based driving games. I decided I might as well use the set-up for MAME driving games also. Everything is fine except for the steering settings - I'm using a Fanatec Forza 4 wheel and have also used a Logitech G25 wheel but both yield the same problem. The PC configuration menu for both wheels shows precise steering linearity. However, when I load a game in MAME 0.146 I discover there is a very large dead zone within the steering range. I need to turn the wheel approximately 45 degrees in either direction to generate any response input. Anything slightly beyond 45 degrees and the 'vehicle' turns at full turn (rapidly). The steering range is acting between 45 and 60 degrees (on the left or right side) making control virtually impossible. It's like I turn the wheel and nothing then wham, the full turn all at once.

I've tried adjusting any setting I can but I'm finding it makes no difference to the dead zone. Can anyone help me? The options menus seem limited in MAME 0.146 (see pic 2) not like MAME32 that I'm used to seeing. Am I missing an options page in MAME 0.146 - I don't have anything like a complete list of the games, favourites, game type, screen orientation type, etc (see pic 3). that are found in MAME 32. It's a pity that MAME 32 does not recognise the wheel, all functions are fine in 0.146, except for the dead zone.

jonhughes2013-08-20 14:40:16

 

[jonhughes]

Here is a user who had the same problem. I wouldn't know how to adjust the MAME steering setting when I have no idea where to find the setting. If someone could point me in the right direction please?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=83194.0

He doesn't state which version of MAME he's using but I can't find anything, yet, in the list of options in MAME 0.146 on the user interface. The dead zone appears in the core input options:

Core input options:

965 -joystick_deadzone <value> / -joy_deadzone <value> / -jdz <value>
966
967 If you play with an analog joystick, the center can drift a little.
968 joystick_deadzone tells how far along an axis you must move before the
969 axis starts to change. This option expects a float in the range of
970 0.0 to 1.0. Where 0 is the center of the joystick and 1 is the outer
971 limit. The default is 0.3.

I can't seem to find this option.

jonhughes2013-08-20 15:59:30

 

[grobda]

isnt it in a config file? mame.cfg or something. not used mame for ages hopefully someone more knowledgeable will answer.

 

[strykr]

Thats a pretty old version of mame you've got there!

The setting your looking to change is the joystick deadzone I believe. I use mameuifx and just change this with a slider in the options menu.

Its been a while since i did this, but I think. If you havent already got a mame ini. you can create one by using the command prompt
type cmd into "run" on xp or just the search box on windows 7 (both in the start menu

type in
cd
followed by whatever directory your mame.exe is in
C:/program files/mame for instance, then hit enter

then type
mame -cc

and hit enter

this should give you an ini file in that folder

Open it and look for Joystick deadzone and joystick saturation

then enter values of around 0.1 or 0.2 for the deadzone.

I think my saturation is set to 0.8 and that feels ok.

strykr2013-08-20 18:21:29

 

[jonhughes]

Thanks for the info, but I'm going to download the latest version of MAME and try that instead. Should I be downloading mame0148s.zip or mame0148b.exe? I'm assuming the zip file contains all the folders while the exe file is just a version update - is this correct?

 

[strykr]

I use mameuifx and its great, hi score save support etc, and all settings easily changeable in the gui

http://mame32fx.altervista.org/download.htm

 

[jonhughes]

Thanks strykr, you've been a great help. I uploaded the MAMEEUIFX file (10th Anniversary) and the ini file is generated on executing the file and is really easy to adjust. The steering settings are now fine. It even works if I copy the ini file to the MAME0146 folder (which didn't have an ini folder) which reads the file and adjusts the settings to match the EUIFX settings. There's only one issue though. Where all my rom files were good in MAME0146, MAMEEUIFX now gives bad dump readings on a few games, one of which is Pole Position (gutted). It even does it in the MAME0146 version permanently where I copied the ini file. I've tried an earlier version of EUIFX but that still gives bad readings. I'll try and work a way around that somehow.

jonhughes2013-08-23 08:49:53

 

[strykr]

Cool, glad your up and running

Mame can be picky about romsets, might take a bit of scouring t'internet but im sure you'll be able to find the appropriate rom.

Not sure how well Pole Position will play on those wheels though tbh. Might need to pick up a 360 optical wheel.
strykr2013-08-23 09:02:52

 

[jonhughes]

Boy, have I had some trouble getting this to go smoothly. The MAMEUIFX file won't read certain ROMs that I had, so I decided to go back to the MAME 0146 version with the idea of using the ini file from the UIFX version. It didn't work properly (still mis-reading ROMs) so I re-installed the O.S. about 7 times. Every time I tried to run MAME the system crashed and suffered a serious error. Through a process of elimination I found out it was the graphics drivers (I must have had an early version in the original set-up). I had to install a 2010 version of the Geforce GPD to get MAME to work. Even the default driver in the OS crashed the system.

I then tried about 3 different scenarios with the ini file and those didn't work, again. Finally, I decided to create a config file in dos (after some reading) and everything is now normal. I did all this to be able to play Pole Position. Ironically, the steering is still too sensitive to play pole position with the wheel but at least I have the full range of games to play.

Nice learning curve......

 

[strykr]

Like I said mate, PP used a 360 degree optical wheel (free spinning) , I doubt you'll ever get it playing right on a 270 tbh.

 

[ZedEx48K]

Like I said mate, PP used a 360 degree optical wheel (free spinning) , I doubt you'll ever get it playing right on a 270 tbh.

This, it's horrible to try and play on a PC wheel, it goes for a few more games, the Final lap ones spring to mind, I have a Sega rally cab with about 40 or so emulated arcade racers and gave up on a few games, never got Hard drivin to work right either even though it is supposed to be easier to do now.