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Arcade and Arcade controls Question and Query
Question from James: I have a question for you about getting trackball controls to work properly. I have a Slikstik MAME cabinet that is a pre-fab cab that you put together kind of like a bookshelf. The cabinet has an old MacMini and a large set of controls. It is running an older version of MAC OSX. When I try to play games such as Quantum, the trackball is slow, does not make a tight circle like on the original arcade machine, but makes a large square shape when you try to make a tight circle. I do not know how to take apart a trackball or work on electronic hardware. Is there a software way to make a trackball control work differently or change some kind of settings?
The controls look awesome, but they are not good for actually working so far. The spinners go so fast you can’t play, and the sticks are sluggish and stiff. The ball works the cursor and works in most games, but it seems quite slow and you have to roll it extra to get it across the screen. Any suggestions?
1 answer
Response from Jonathan: James,
We are very familiar with Slikstik cabinets and control panels. We ordered at least 3 different control panels from them in the past and still have one that we use on a regular basis. Unfortunately we have not seen this problem on any of the other panels we have dealt with. Of course, we have always used Windows PCs instead of Macs for our MAME computers. To be honest with you, this square shape pattern problem almost sounds like some sort of driver issue with the trackball. The trackball should also act as a mouse when you are in the OSX desktop. Just wondering if you have any problems controlling the mouse cursor with the trackball.
As far as speed goes, there are settings that you can modify in MAME to adjust the spinner and/or trackball speed. I’m not sure what the MAME menu key is on the Mac but in Windows it is the Tab key. When you press this key, a menu pops up with all sorts of game settings that you can modify to your liking. There’s usually one for Analog Controls (or something like that) that has some different adjustments for these types of special controls.
As far as the joysticks being sluggish and stiff, this is pretty normal when you have new joysticks. It can take several games to work that stiffness out of the joysticks. Of course, you can always replace the joysticks with a different type if you don’t like the feel of what’s currently installed on the Slikstik control panel.
Hope that helps. Thank you for your question and good luck with your repair.
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