Re: Apple 2 emulator

[oliver@jantzer-schmidt.de (Oliver Schmidt)]

On Mon, 09 Oct 2000 20:10:41 GMT, ConCEPT.Control@t-online.de (Oliver
Schmidt) wrote:

>On Sat, 30 Sep 2000 06:49:13 -0500, Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>
>wrote:
>
>>     One thing I've noticed on AppleWin and Oasis is that they seem to have a
>>problem getting full-range coverage from PC joysticks. (This figures, since the
>>PC stick is 50k too small.)
>>
>>     A //e ROM mod fixes the problem for all software using the monitor Paddle
>>Read routine; but, of course, it does not help for programs (like Serpentine)
>>which use their own routines.
>>
>>     A simple stick mod (or adaptor) is a general purpose fix; but, some users
>>may not be interested in a hardware approach.
>>
>>     Is there some reasonably non-messy way to fix the problem via a change in
>>emu code?
>
>I can't tell you anything about this right now cause I don't even own
>a joystick.
>
>The only thing I can promise ad hoc is to add the facts to my "Open
>Issues" folder. I don't even call it "To Do" since I unfortunatly
>don't know when I'll be able to continue working on the applewin code.
>
>But I'm quite sure that it'll be done some day - and positive feedback
>like yours helps motivating :-))
>
>Oliver

In the meantime I checked this out - and your web page at:
http://206.14.25.120/~cturley/a2zine/gswv/AppleizePCstick.html

AppleWin used the Win32 API joyGetPos(). Docs at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/psdk/multimed/mmfunc_4y0j.htm

This API is supposed to delivered already calibrated values! So
manipulating the returned values in any way would not be a solution
but a workaround - and that would be bad in other cases - for example
when used with those cool digital joypads. So this workaround would
have to be configurable...

For ordinary analog joysticks there is a calibration routine
accessable through the windows control panel. It generates values in
the registry that joyGetPos() uses to transform the raw input before
returning it to the caller. So far so good.

Anyway I suffered exactly the problems you described!!! When I used
some apple // diagnosics program inside AppleWin, the paddle values
reached no more than 130. Of course every ordinary game interprets
this as the neutral position  :-(

So I assumed that there is something wrong with the windows
calibration routine for analog joysticks. So what I did was this:

When asked by the calibration routine to move the joystick all around,
I didn't really move it completely down and to the right, but only a
little down and right from the neutral position. After a few tries I
got calibration values that work perfectly well :-)

Now I can even play zaxxon and place my shots at the robot's guided
missle as precise as 15 years ago ;-)

Oliver

My new AppleWin version with DirectX based fullscreen mode is
available at:
http://www.jantzer-schmidt.de/applewin/