An improved JVS-PAC (JVS-PAC 2)

[invzim]

Actually, with the recent Jotego updates, you will not need the jamma_vid stuff in the ini at all, just plain keyboard - then the F12 menu etc should show up fine within the core, bonus is there is no need to remap input This may not work with all cores from day 1, but I believe standard MAME keys should be the way forward for cab use to avoid all the complexity of setting things up.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/47166232


Going to do a bit more testing before releasing an official firmware update, and I'm working on a guide to set this up MiSTer for a jvs cab like I did with GroovyMame, https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/mame-for-31khz-cabinets

 

[tonyt76]

I had time to test the new firmware on the MiSTer as well.

Changing the SHIFT mode to MiSTer on the JVS-PAC 2 works on all cores that I tested, including the Menu core.

I discovered that at some point MAME changed Player 2 Button 5 from I to E. Would it be possible to change this in the new MiSTer firmware?

https://docs.mamedev.org/usingmame/defaultkeys.html#player-2-controls

Also, all of the MAME shift functions from the original JVS-PAC are missing. ie: 1P Start + P1 B1 for insert coin.

Great work!

 

[jassin000]

Going to do a bit more testing before releasing an official firmware update

Would this update have any benefit for PC/MAME users, or is this only the address Mister functionality?

I do like the idea of sticking with MAME default keys for simplicity, but I'm wondering if we could have a quick/easy way to switch left CTRL and left ALT to avoid the Windows system hotkey combo issue (when not properly suppressed by emulation software, outside of MAME its pretty common).

 

[invzim]

Firmware update to make MiSTer happy, and a tutorial on how to get it up and running (it's easy )

https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/firmware-update
https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/mister-for-jvs-crt-cabinets

Player 2 button 5 is changed to MAME standard, so if you have an SD card with saved config, you should delete the ini file to get the fresh mapping.

 

[muckyfingers]

Any update on the joypad/gamepad mode?

 

[invzim]

Any update on the joypad/gamepad mode?

Not really, with the current firmware MiSTer should work well. Do you have a good use-case for gamepad mode?

 

[twistedsymphony]

Do you have a good use-case for gamepad mode?

The Lack of this feature is what has kept me from buying these.

Many PC fighting games (like Mortal Kombat). only allow 1 player per input device.... which means you cannot map more than 1 player to the keyboard.

Similarly a lot of these games block the mapping of certain keyboard keys for certain functions, or will lock certain keys to specific functions without an option to remap, which means that the default MAME mapping doesn't work, or other problems like inconsistent mapping between games (Game A might disallow the mapping of a keyboard key that is a hard mapping on Game B, etc.)

using CTRL, ALT, and SHFIT keys is also quite annoying as windows will try to tie these to shortcuts like screen rotation or accessibility features, meaning those options need to be tracked down and disabled.

All of these problems are solved by using gamepad inputs rather than keyboard.

 

[jassin000]

Do you have a good use-case for gamepad mode?

It would be a stepping stone to other system support like Switch or PS3 just for example.
No reason why your device couldn't work with these systems, the hardware is great its the software that needs work.

It would also solved the problem I've been complaining about...
Which is use an emulator other than MAME (like Dolphin for example) and Ctrl + Alt keys become a royal Windows 10 system shortcut combo you can't fucking suppress game breaking nightmare.

 

[muckyfingers]

Not really, with the current firmware MiSTer should work well. Do you have a good use-case for gamepad mode?

Steam use, even if it’s just 2 generic no name game pads that it’s recognized as, would be great. Steam will allow you to remap/bind them as 360 controllers as far as the game is concerned.

As others have said, some PC games just won’t allow 2 players to be mapped to the keyboard or 1 device in general.

 

[invzim]

which means that the default MAME mapping doesn't work,

Which is use an emulator other than MAME (like Dolphin for example) and Ctrl + Alt keys become a royal Windows 10 system shortcut combo you can't fucking suppress game breaking nightmare.

You can remap keys if MAME mapping is problematic - see "Changing keyboard layout" at the bottom of this page, https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/keyboard-operation

the hardware is great its the software that needs work.

Let me show you what needs work

Joking aside, oddball PC/steam titles and consoles that allow for normal USB controllers.

Thanks for input!

 

[twistedsymphony]

You can remap keys if MAME mapping is problematic

the problem isn't that keys need remapping is that there is no one mapping scheme that will work for all games.

Here's an example:
One Game uses the Enter Key as "start" and does not allow remapping in game.
A different game uses the Enter key as "menu" and does not allow remapping in game.

Sure the JVS-PAC can be remapped, but I have to essentially change the mapping every time I change games.

And this isn't even the biggest problem.

The biggest problem is still that I can't play 2 player on the JVS pac with most PC games because they only allow 1 player mapped to the keyboard. This shouldn't be news either as I pointed out this problem back on the first page of this thread in 2018

 

[Brettster]

Mine sits unused in my cab because it's not got a joypad mode as yet, Mostly steam use for me, its fine for emulation but as others have said, most games are a pain to use with keyboard remaps some games dont even let you map every key to something else.

 

[clintkolodziej]

I think gamepad mode would help with Mister support in cores that don’t support MAME keys, such as console cores? 1p console games may be able to map to a virtual keyboard device but 2p games I believe still require separate gamepad device ids.

Looks like JPAC firmware (v1.36) provides two gamepad ids via the single USB port. I think that was geared towards PS3 support or other consoles if I recall, but the same mode I think would help a variety of use cases if available on the JVS-PAC2 for us JVS folks. At least that could prove the approach is feasible.

It would be awesome to play some of the older 2p NES games like Contra or Life Force on my cab via Mister. I love the arcade cores on it but there are a lot of other console games that would feel right at home as well on a cab.

 

[GuileWinQuote]

Having a "game pad" mode where windows detects the JVS-PAC as generic game pads would be a MAJOR game changer.
Like stated before, most modern games don't let you map keys from one device to multiple players, and now with the MiSTer, many console cores are stuck to single player only because the cores only accept one input device per player.

I wanted to play some SNES fighting games vs. a friend and sadly couldn't....

Love your work Irken and hope you understand this would benefit JVS users so much!

 

[twistedsymphony]

I recently bought a JVSPAC2 so that I could create a JVS Mister setup following your guide here: https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/firmware-update
I used all new parts and didn't change any configs other than the ones specified in the guide.
I have it installed in my Vewlix, and the JVSPAC identifies the Vewlix IO on the OLED

Everything seem to work properly except the coin switch isn't recognized. (service switch works fine, as does test and all the gameplay buttons)

Also I have no idea how to quit a game to return back to the Mister menu.

Any Advice?

 

[invzim]

I recently bought a JVSPAC2 so that I could create a JVS Mister setup following your guide here: https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/firmware-update
I used all new parts and didn't change any configs other than the ones specified in the guide.
I have it installed in my Vewlix, and the JVSPAC identifies the Vewlix IO on the OLED

Everything seem to work properly except the coin switch isn't recognized. (service switch works fine, as does test and all the gameplay buttons)

Also I have no idea how to quit a game to return back to the Mister menu.

Any Advice?

For coin, not entirely sure. The "coin key press" is very short, could be mister needs a bit more time to pick up on it. The length is synced to how quick the IO board is, and the vewlix is a bit quicker than the sega. Someone else requested a longer "coin key press" for some obscure "HSFBOX15K" system, so I may increase it. Come to think of it, I have a vewlix IO so I will put it on the bench and to a check.

For the menu, use the MIster SHift mode, then 1pstart + right to bring up the menu. Details on keyboard/shift modes here https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/keyboard-operation

 

[sammargh]

I actually have a new Sega IO that likely brings this issue back, I suppose I can test it

Sega 837-1527-91

It's around 4-7ms on average for latency

 

[invzim]

It's around 4-7ms on average for latency

Can you describe the test setup?

 

[sammargh]

Sure! I've got my scope hooked up to button 1 on the control panel and button 1 on the jamma edge connector of jammafier. Compared to the stock io I get around 15ms latency in Net City/New Net City

 

[invzim]

For coin, not entirely sure. The "coin key press" is very short, could be mister needs a bit more time to pick up on it. The length is synced to how quick the IO board is, and the vewlix is a bit quicker than the sega. Someone else requested a longer "coin key press" for some obscure "HSFBOX15K" system, so I may increase it. Come to think of it, I have a vewlix IO so I will put it on the bench and to a check.

For the menu, use the MIster SHift mode, then 1pstart + right to bring up the menu. Details on keyboard/shift modes here https://irkenlabs.com/jvs-pac2/keyboard-operation

Nope, I was wrong. It was start that was the issue with HSFBOX15K. Coin press is hardcoded to last 100ms, which should be plenty. @twistedsymphony is coin working properly with other JVS systems you have?