my Monaco GP cockpit to MAME PP conversion.

vintagegamer

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Shifter Connectivity Update 4/14/11:

Well I was dying to make some progress on this tonight, so here goes. For anyone who is reading this thread out of sheer curiosity (and hope to do something similar one day), here's my update:

1. for info for anyone who's looking to do a similar project with their Monaco GP, the wiring for the shifter is as follows: yellow wire is NC, green wire is NO, and white wire is Com; the switch found under the arcade shifter is a MICRO roller switch. Under the roller is the switch piece that pushes in on contact.

2. I have not yet removed the switch button off of the mouse PCB because I wanted to be able to use it as a backup check in Windows (to make sure there wasn't something wrong with that PCB or its connectivity to the PC); what I did was hook up the wires from the arcade shifter to the pins on the BACK of the mouse pcb using those alligator-clip wires. The set I have comes in a variety of colors, so I was able to use the yellow, green, and white alligator-clips to match the wiring presently found attached to the arcade shifter

3. Windows recognizes both the original mouse switch, as well as the shifter (YAY), in the regular OS mode. However, MAME is not seeing either the mouse button switch OR the shifter action (BOO). I looked in the setup section, and tried switching the function from the spacebar (currently the default for MAME PP1) to either the switch button OR the arcade shifter (this is at the P1 button 3 setting), and it's not recognizing the response from either one. If I go back into Windows, the OS is seeing the mouse, it's recognizing that it's a PS/2 mouse, and it's saying it's working correctly according to the control panel. I also went into the "input (THIS GAME)" section, where one of the first settings is "gear up down" and it's showing as SPACEbar also, and trying to change that using either the arcade shifter, or its mated mouse button switch, is not being recognized.

Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated. The mouse is a PS/2 Microsoft Intellimouse.

We're not there yet with the shifter, but it's the first real "progress" I've had with the Monaco GP in any way shape or form so, I'm happy!
 
Well, here's today's update:

I removed the opto transmitter on the X-axis from the Intellimouse, and replaced it with 2 wires. I ran those wires to the original encoder board on the control panel (pics of the encoder PCB board here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=111085.0). I ran the +5V and the ground from one of the extra plugs inside the PC to the yellow/red wire (believed to be +5) and white wire (believed to be common) on the encoder PCB.

I powered up the machine and the 2 LED's on the encoder power board began working again as they had when the original Monaco GP components were in there. I started a game of PP and did not see any movement of the car when I moved the wheel, even though I did enable the mouse in the command line while launching MAME, and also made sure that the settings indicated that "mouse x axis" was chosen to be used for the dial/steering.

I exited the game and looked to see if the pointer was moving on the screen in Windows if I turned the wheel. Once in a while, I'd see a very brief movement, but the pointer definitely wasn't being moved much. I went into the Windows Control Panel and set the pointer setting to its highest point, that made no difference.

I went back into MAME, and for the dial sensitivity I put it at the max which was 255%. It made no change.

I tried swapping the connections going from the encoder PCB to the PS/2 mouse's x-axis as well, no change.

Does anyone have any ideas what I am missing? This is really bumming me out. I was sure that once the LEDs were lighting up on the original encoder PCB board, I'd had it licked. I was wrong.......
 
SUCCESS!!!

After basically getting to the point where I wanted to throw the original Sega encoder PCB across the front yard, I decided to go back to the initial plan of using the original mouse PCB and its optos for steering recognition. I had bailed on this original plan because it was going to require fabricating some type of bracket to mount the mouse PCB on, and when it came to that, plus the fact that I might be able to save the original encoder PCB, I chose to try saving the original PCB. Wrong choice in this specific case!

5PM EST 4/17:

After I yanked the original encoder PCB, and sat looking at the Intellimouse PCB again, I remembered that I'd brought up 3 mice from my storage tub to use as potentials for this project. 2 were Intellimice, and one was an HP one. For giggles, I popped open the the HP one to see if its internals were the same as the Intellimouse, and although I recognized that a lot of the components were similar, I got to see something that I'd seen during my research readings, that I'd remembered was a nice thing to have if at all possible: this mouse's PCB is more like one of the ones you see in various mouse hack pics where it looks like the PCB had been cut in half. When I first started with this project, and I opened up the Intellimouse, I noticed that if I went down the path of "InsaneDavid"'s project with my setup, I'd have a really tough time trying to mount this PCB in its current form against the gears for the steering wheel. I thought maybe the board I was seeing in the InsaneDavid shots had been cut somehow, but upon reviewing the one I had, the traces on the back ran the full length of the board. So, trying to cut it down would have been troublesome with someone of my skillset who doesn't know all of the 'magic' regarding adding jumper wires to the traces to keep continuity blah blah blah.

However, the HP PCB is actually manufactured by Logitech (which was the PCB some recommended to be used in some of the other mouse hack articles I'd read). Looking it over, the only real difference I noticed (apart from the overall length of the PCB compared to the Intellimouse one) was that the axis wheels were different than the kind that was in the Intellimouse. I removed the Logitech PCB from the HP mouse, took one of the Intellimouse wheels, and spun it in between the optos of the Logitech mouse to see if it would register: it read the wheel perfectly! This was a great find for me, because in order for this project to work for me, I was going to have to use one of the axis wheels from the Intellimouse, rather than the HP ones. In order for the project to be a success, I needed to remove the original encoder wheel from the Sega Monaco GP control panel, replace it with an encoder wheel from one of the mice, and then mate the PCB to that. Well, the encoder wheels from the mice are plastic, and the bigger of the 2 options (the ones from the Intellimouse) is only .75" in diameter. On top of that, both types of axis wheels do not have a hole in the middle, which is what is required to mount them to the steering wheel gear of the Monaco GP control panel. I'd already been able to set one of the Intellimouse encoder wheels up for this (since I originally planned on using the Intellimouse PCB and wanted to keep apples with apples), but since this Intellimouse encoder wheel worked fine with the Logitech PCB, I already had everything I needed to make this setup work. All I had to do was fabricate a mounting bracket for the mouse PCB, and I was on my way!

6:30PM

I wanted to make the mounting bracket out of plastic so I wouldn't have any shorting issues, and I decided to make it out of an old plastic storage drawer-type thing I had lying around. The drawers were all clear plastic, and had the dimensions I needed for the bracket once I trimmed away the parts I didn't need. Using my Dremel, I cut out an L-shaped bracked that I figured would be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the PCB, as well as be strong enough to resist the pressure from the steering gear.

7:30PM

I must have test-fitted the bracket 10x, trimming and checking, trimming and checking, drilling holes to mount it to the panel, as well as drilling holes where the zip tie would go that would hold the PCB against the mounting bracket. Once I got that all squared away, next was to make sure that there wasn't any binding between the steering wheel gear, the axis gear, and the mounting bracket. I also kept checking the movement of the mouse on the screen in Windows, to ensure I hadn't lost any of connections or functionality during my test-fitttings.

8:30PM

I loaded up my first game of Atari PP, to be played using a 32-year old Sega steering wheel, steered by a 40-yr old driver. :) From my prior tests with trying to get the steering wheel to be detected, I'd jacked the analog dial sensitivity up to its max setting, which is 255%. Since I wanted to make sure everything worked, I just left that setting where it was, and started the game. As the game kicked off, I noticed immediately that the steering was working!! Only problem was, it looked like I'd had 6 Long Island Ice Tea's prior to driving it- I was all over the road!!! I immediately hit tab and launched the 'Analog Controls' portion of the menu, and dropped that analog dial setting back to 100%. After I exited the menu, the controls were MUCH better, but now, in my opinion, a bit too low. I went back in and bumped the sensitivity up again, but this time only to 150%. After playing about 10 games back-to-back (big grin), I settled on a dial setting somewhere around the 150-mark (it may be at 152 now)- I was just so happy that it was working that I didn't write down the exact number. I continued playing the game until about 10PM last night, totally overjoyed by the fact that this cockpit game, which has been sitting dead in my (g)arcade for over 7 months, was now not only breathing with new life, but its original controls were being used with a NEW, and in my opinion, much better, game!

I still have to wire up the shifter and the gas pedal (which I now know how to do), and then will come the final test of trying to sort out the controls I'm using against the Shiftermame 125 software I downloaded. Either way, I'm simply happy that the steering is working. In my opinion that's the hardest part to set up if you want to use an original arcade wheel.

I hope that this post/thread/article will help some others out there who, like me, were somewhat apprehensive about using this technique to get a driving game into their home lineup. I am so happy that I went this route with this game!
 
When I mamed my PP to play PP, I used the encoder wheel and pcb from the mouse. I used a lot of hot glue to keep the PCB in place.

I need to get the shifter software to get the shifter correct but it works for now.
 
When I mamed my PP to play PP, I used the encoder wheel and pcb from the mouse. I used a lot of hot glue to keep the PCB in place.

I need to get the shifter software to get the shifter correct but it works for now.

Very cool DD- I have the software but haven't loaded up that version of the game yet (my daughter is fighting me about loading that version because it will enable using the gas pedal rather than the keyboard, and she can't reach the pedal from the seat LOL).

The software is shiftermame v.125. It is available if you do a search for "MAMEWAH shiftermame". I am so happy I have made this decision with this cockpit. Can't wait to have everything 100% done. I keep playing it in its mid-transition state, if I would stop playing it and just git-r-done I'd have it finished in no time! What can I say: I'm an addict.
 
Hey VG, Any chance you want to sell the sound board from the Monaco GP?

Sure. I know it was working before I pulled it too. You could hear initial boot music, and upon trying to start a game, you'd hear the engines revving by (I am guessing of other cars) and also the squealing that you hear before you crash. I never got to hear the fanfare because I never got to play an actual game of it. I'll shoot you a PM.
 
Here are some pics. The first one is of another machine 'like' mine so you can see how the inside bezel-setup looked originally.
 

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"HEY!!!! You got your MICROSWITCH in my ANALOG!!!!!"
 

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"Come tah-GEH-tha............. right.... now.........." -The Beatles

(note monitor frame has had a brief shot of flat black applied to lose the white distraction- I'll be hitting it again and making it a much nicer coat before closing up the front- wheel, shifter, and pedal are now all 100% functional)
 

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