Pi4 "Lightguns" testing and comparison

[Macs]

Apparently there is a new driver circulating to support original lightgun on RPi4 across all the emulators, it would be nice to have it included in the arpicade image: https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroPie/comme ... urce=share

[FrizzleFried]

Question: Have you had any chance to test guns on the Pi5?

In your opinion... bottom line... which gun solution works best with the ARpiCADE and what would you put the experience at? Near arcade? A way to go? I'm concerned about purchasing toys versus actual arcade equipment.

[dee2eR]

I have not tried any guns on Pi5, will eventually but not yet. I've found around 70 gun games run great on Pi4 though, there's probably more too.

If you are going to try a 'lightgun' for a modern flat screen the Gun4IR is the best I've used. Not sure if the guy has released a finished version yet (he was going to at some point), it may still be DIY or AliExpress only - no idea if the ones on Ali are any good (they look like they used the 'Named' Namco ripoff shells). IF I make a non CRT guncab it will almost definately use Gun4IR, then again I have a 32inch CRT TV in the shed whose entire purpose was lightgun games before my kids were born... prob needs some electronic love at this point though.

If you want to use a CRT probably the best bet is to go with GunCon2s (Playstation 2 USB lightguns) - but I haven't tried it yet, need to look into the Linux kernel side of it. It would also be possible to modify an arcade gun with guncon2 electronics (assuming guncon2 is the way to go for a real lightgun).

I've back to back played with a Point Blank original cab (with good original Namco guns and mirrored CRT) and a Sinden on LCD... Normally the Sinden feels pretty good, games are playable etc. but compared with the original Namco arcade gun it has a toyness to it you won't like (I suspect). I say that as someone who is generally happy to play on the Sinden too (*unless you back to back it they do feel good).

Basically:
Sinden are a bit toy like in some regards (when compared directly against Namco arcade guns), if 'arcade quality' is an absolute must they probably are not going to make you happy. They are accurate and fun but there's some compromises.

Gun4IR is awesome but requires DIY or custom builds. Also needs four IR lights around the screen, which isn't a big deal unless you want to move them around a lot. Quality, feel, etc will come down to the individual build. Can have arcade quality force feedback etc. and can be made into SEGA/Namco/Happ/MCA/whatever arcade gun shells if you want.

GunCon2 is not yet supported in ARpiCADE, unless the driver has made its way into the Linux kernel without me noticing... GunCon2s are very good lightguns but lack the force feedback of some original arcade guns.

Original arcade guns (via an adaptor to USB) would probably be the best, but I haven't tried. It is possible we are in the middle of a there are no USB to lightgun adaptors being made period, they have been made in the past and the Gun4IR guy was planning one too...

[FrizzleFried]

I'm leaning toward the Sinden for the simple fact that it's working... easy... and accessible. If the Pi4 plays 70 games, I'm guessing the P5 covers those 70 plus a few more... but even 70 is plenty. I realize I'll have to deal with the less ruggedness of the guns as well.

I am not a fan of non-arcade gun feedback... it's usually cheesy and weak. I'll likely get the the cheaper non-feedback model. The idea is to get one to run on my current Pi5 ARpiCADE cabinet... once I build the display/games list that works to my liking, I'm going to build another Pi5 rig to run in my dedicated Multi-Gun showcase cabinet. 36" CRT screen... it'll take one of the 6 slots. It already has 4 guns (2 HAPP and 2 Atomiswave Shotguns)... what's another 2 PC oriented guns?

Can attract mode be made to be navigated with the only a gun + START button? I'd essentially need to be able to click upward and downward some way plus the start button to enter/exit games. For example, do you know if Attract Mode supports a "trigger" area where you could "fire" at an image it and trigger UP/DOWN, etc? Maybe a question for the folks at Attract Mode? EDIT: Wait... nevermind. The Sinden has a 4-way and buttons built right in to the damn thing...

Also... what are the chances of getting that 70 game list?

[dee2eR]

I need to get around to trying my PS2 lightguns (guncon 2) on CRT.

If you do buy Sinden guns keep in mind you need to be able to put the border around the image using the emulator as well as run a driver for each gun, making software setup potentially more complex than other solutions.

Here's what I've got playable on Sinden guns on Pi4. This is based on ARpiCADE_4 there's 60 games in the list (for some reason I thought it was 70....):
Title Emulator
Alien 3 The Gun fba
Area 51 mame078
Baby Boomer nintendo
Barker Bill's Trick Shooting nintendo
Confidential Mission (GDS-0001) naomi
Crime Patrol daphne
Crime Patrol 2: Drug Wars daphne
Deer Hunting USA V4.3 fba
Vs. Duck Hunt advmame
Duck Hunt nintendo
Elemental Gearbolt (USA) playstation
Extreme Hunting naomi
Freedom Force nintendo
Ghost Hunter advmame
Ghoul Panic playstation
Gumshoe nintendo
Hogan's Alley nintendo
The House of the Dead 2 (USA) naomi
Jurassic Park advmame
Jurassic Park Lost World model3
The Last Bounty Hunter daphne
Lethal Enforcers (ver UAE, 11/19/92 15:04) fba
Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters (ver EAA) mame139
Lethal Justice - 1 Player Only mame078
Line of Fire / Bakudan Yarou (World, FD1094 317-0136) fba
Lord of Gun (USA) [Imperfect graphics and sound] fba
Lupin The Third - The Shooting (Rev A) (GDS-0018A) naomi
Mad Dog McCree daphne
Mad Dog II: The Lost Gold daphne
Maximum Force v1.05 mame078
The Maze of the Kings (GDS-0022) naomi
Mechanized Attack (USA) nintendo
N.Y. Captor mame078
One Shot One Kill fba
Operation Wolf (World) advmame
Operation Wolf 3 (World) fba
Operation Thunderbolt (World) fba
Point Blank advmame
Point Blank 2 (GNB5/VER.A) advmame
Point Blank 3 (USA) playstation
Police Trainer advmame
Project - Horned Owl (USA-gcon) playstation
Rail Chase (World) fba
Ranger Mission naomi
Space Gun (World) fba
Space Pirates daphne
Steel Gunner (Rev B) fba
Target Hits (ver 1.1, Checksum 5152) fba
Terminator 2 advmame
Time Crisis (USA) playstation
Time Crisis - Project Titan (USA) playstation
To the Earth (USA) nintendo
Trophy Hunting - Bear & Moose V1.0 fba
Turkey Hunting USA V1.0 fba
Under Fire (World) fba
Virtua Cop 2 dreamcast
Who Shot Johnny Rock? daphne
Wing Shooting Championship V2.00 fba
Zero Point (set 1) fba
Zombie Raid (9/28/95, US) fba

[FrizzleFried]

If you get around to trying them... please report. I won't be buying for a bit ... but I do eventually want to do it.

[dee2eR]

compiled the guncon2 driver module on pi5 today. Only got it working on a 64bit build that was in high res and still have to hook up the sinc signal for the gun(s hopefully, I have 2) but one was working as joystick and mouse button inputs (no posistion signal without sync). So, not much to report yet but some progress.

Might have to migrate to a 64bit build in the future, 64bit kernel with 32 bit userland doesn't contain kernel headers which keeps complicating things... There will be a few complications with a few bits of software on pure 64bit but dealing with that is starting to become inevetible/preferrable. Or maybe I do a gun build that is separate, or I figure it out another way... IDK but it's close.

EDIT: I did some hacky things and forced the driver to compile on 64bit kernel / 32bit userland! Also added a sync RCA jack to my test setup. I have 2 guncon2s working independantly. Still need to figure out some fine tuning & setup but it's a start. So far i've figured out gun1 works as a mouse, gun2 works as a joystick. Maybe I can have some sort of Guncon2 support in the next release... (don't think it will be an update though, it would possibly have the potential to break the kernel if something unexpected happens... WINE was bad enough)

[dee2eR]

Seems the GunCon2s work best as joysticks (I was hoping they'd work well as mice because that's how Sinden and Gun4IR are both setup in my previous gun build of ARpiCADE_4), testing in MAME274 at the moment. I have 2 independant guns working but hitting controller order issues similar to @cool_factors USB Star Wars yoke issue.

Also haven't tested offscreen reloading yet as I have been running Point Blank 3, obviously more testing to come. Also still need to calibrate but otherwise aim seems consistant so far.

There is some weirdness I assume comes from the driver (although there's also the possibility I've caused it, I guess). As a mouse the trigger is left click as you would expect, as a joystick the trigger is b5... Also in joystick mode the reload button on the heel of the gun triggers 2 button inputs simultaineously, which is a bit odd. All buttons work though, including the Dpad.

On my GunCon2 that also supports PS1 it needs to be in the guncon2 switch position to work, but that's no surprise really. In the GunCon1 and Blaster modes it isn't picked up by the driver.

EDIT: offscreen reloading works fine in Lethal Enforcers. Joystick order thing is annoying but otherwise they work great.

[FrizzleFried]

Progress... nice.

[FrizzleFried]

A friend is offering to sell me his Aimtrak guns ... two of them ... for a hundred bucks shipped.

Sorta hard to beat that price I think. While I realize they aren't the BEST option... they certainly are the cheapest option at this point.

Opinion... a hundred dollars US ... worth it for the Aimtrak (2 of em)?