Configuring a Saturn USB Pad to (Mac)MAME

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alpha5099
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Configuring a Saturn USB Pad to (Mac)MAME

Post by alpha5099 »

I just got a Saturn USB Pad -- the white kind with the colored buttons --, and I'm having some trouble setting up the joystick options in MacMAME. (I was worried at first that nothing would work with it, but I was so excited to load rRootage and have it work automatically).

Mapping the D-pad to the four directions seems to be difficult. Setting Up and Down or Right and Left, it seems to indicate that both side of an axis are considered the same button. But when I load a game, pushing left and right does nothing, and up and down moves the ship left and right.

I know most people here use PCs, but maybe they can help nonetheless. Any other Mac-users, if you can offer some advice. I've had problems with MacMAME accepting the keypad for different directions. I think it regarded Down as diagonally down to the right, somehow mapping one of the keys to the mouse key seemed to fix that. I can't find any such way around this bug.
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Neon
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Post by Neon »

All I've ever had to do was check off 'enable joystick input.' If MacMAME works the same way, try reinstalling and going that route.
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alpha5099
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Post by alpha5099 »

Neon wrote:All I've ever had to do was check off 'enable joystick input.' If MacMAME works the same way, try reinstalling and going that route.
No, no that doesn't work. Unless there are vast caches of options I have yet to stumble upon, there's no box to check to enable joystick input. I checked their website, and their description of the options doesn't even match the options in the program.
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Stormwatch
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Post by Stormwatch »

Maybe Gamepad Companion will help somehow?
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alpha5099
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Post by alpha5099 »

I wish this post wasn't anything more than a shameless bump, but it is.

To add some minor content to this, no, Gamepad Companion is no help.
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stoneroses
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Post by stoneroses »

Yes I am am a Mac User as well and rock out to MacMAME from time to time. First off, I am assuming that you are using OSX (I have 10.1.5). My gamepad is a USB Wingman by Logitech. Some general pointers, some stuff you might not need, but others might be able to use this down the road:

1. I remember when I first got into MacMAME I had to go to Apple's website and download a thing called Imput Sprockets. This OS9 file is kinda like a driver to run joysticks and such.

2. I have versions of MacMAME for OSX and in 9 that will run in the classic environment. Weird, but there are a few games than run better in the 9 version, and some that won't run in 10 at all. I think Food Fight is one.

3. Try using the 9 version of MacMANE and configure your joystick. I think it is under the Misc tab on the right, then there is a box called Configure Joysticks. If everything is cool, it will say USB Wingman at the bottom. Somehow it knows that it is plugged in. I also remember spending a day or so at the time having a lot of trouble with this recognizing process.

4. Once you have the joystick working in the 9 version. Close it out and fire up the OSX version. You should now be able to configure the joystick in this version. I always have to re-set the configuration everytime I play MacMANE after I restart my computer or it is in sleep for a long time.

5. The Wingman button layout is very similar to the original PSX setup. I am able to duplicate two stick games like Robotron and Crazy Climber. For the 6 button Saturn pad, I am not quite sure how you would do it but let me tell you how my setup is and you might be able to adapt it to yours.

Left, Right, Up, Down (on the D pad) this one is pretty simple of course and MacMANE should recognize it without clicking any buttons on the MacMANE interface. For the 4-way firing to be enable in the games listed above I use:

Button 1 (left most button, Square on the Sony pad)
Button 2 (up most button, Triangle)
Button 3 (down most button, X)
Button 4 (right most button, Circle)

This is all the buttons on my controller, I usually set the 2 trigger buttons where L1 and R1 would be for buttons 5 and 6, but they don't usually do much in the games I play. But, I don't think I play many 6 button games so that might be the case.

Hope this helps man !
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alpha5099
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Post by alpha5099 »

Wow, stonerose, thanks. You're method didn't really work, but it did lead to the solution.

I started by following your directions, and went to MacMAME to download the last version to be compatible with OS 9, which was .66. As it turned out, it was compatible with OS X, so I didn't need to launch Classic, but when I tried it out with the controller it worked fine.

So I figured that somewhere between .66 and .87 the controller compatibility had gotten fucked, so I started by downloading the previous update, which was .77. Incidentally, I ended up downloading the Italian version, strange. Anyway, as luck would have it, .77 worked perfectly.

So I dunno, something must've gotten majorly screwed up in the latest version.

I noticed that every time, the game I tested the controller with was Dogyuun. Not sure why, I guess it loads quickly and as a shmup I can easily evaluate how the ship moves in both dimensions.
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