8 replies to this topic

[jcutler0902]

Hello,

I just installed the above Stella version on my Windows 7 64 bit machine. I was able to get a joystick to work and my trackball. For some reason my Atari Paddles are not working (They do work and were tested). From what I read you can specify paddles for certain games. I was trying to play breakout.

Can someone please provide some suggestions as to what needs to be configured.

Appreciate the help.

Jason

[stephena]

Are these real paddles you're using? If so, how are they plugged in? Otherwise, what type of device are you trying to use to emulate the paddles? And what ROM did you try (attach it to this message if possible).

[jcutler0902]

Thanks for the reply. It is the original paddles plugged into a "bliss-box" adaptor. My atari joystick was also plugged into this adaptor as well and worked without any issues. I will have to check for the specific Rom title, but it was Breakout for the 2600.

[stephena]

Sorry to say that I've never heard of the adaptor you speak of. And as such, I strongly doubt it will work with Stella. The reason joysticks work is that they're quite similar to ordinary gamepads, which are easy to support. In contrast, paddles are specific to the original 2600 console. There are devices called Stelladaptor and 2600-daptor that allow Stella to work with real paddles, but it does so by having special code that recognizes these devices. I would guess similar code would be needed to work with a 'bliss-box'.

I'm not even sure how this device sends data over the USB port. Does it send analog or digital data? And in what range??

EDIT: I just did a search for 'bliss-box' and came across this message on their main webpage:

Quote

Version 1.0 was intended to support controllers only. This excludes things like guns, paddles, dance pads, multi taps, and robots. Version 2.0 ( not yet released ) , may support these devices.

So I'm not sure that paddle data is even being sent through the device. But even if it is, Stella would probably still need to be updated to work with it.

[jcutler0902]

Thanks for the replies. The strange part is the paddle buttons actual move menu choices up and down and at one point even moved the horizontal paddle in Breakout left and right but no longer does.

[stephena]

I just found this on the Bliss-box homepage:

https://spreadsheets...uIg&output=html

It seems to imply that to get paddles mapped to mouse input, you do the following: "Mouse mode ( hold player 2 button )". I'm not sure what that means, but if you can get the device to act as a mouse, then Stella will automatically work with it (because by default, the mouse acts as a paddle).

[stephena]

I'm in the process of getting one of these devices for testing, due to a generous donation from its manufacturer. Once I get it, I can more properly answer your questions.

[SoulBlazer]

That's cool that they were willing to do that.

Also kudos to you for taking the time and effort to work on this.

[spacedueler]

jcutler0902, on Mon Jan 9, 2012 6:17 PM, said:

The strange part is the paddle buttons actual move menu choices up and down and at one point even moved the horizontal paddle in Breakout left and right

You probably got those movements because the paddle buttons use the same pinouts (on the connector) as the joystick's left and right direction pinouts.

I checked their website too.

I'm curious to see what stephena finds out when he gets one. I read the how to - atari paddle section at the bottom -
http://spawnlinux.dy...-Box/howTo.html
It says the paddles are slider and dial on the usb HID - Does Stella map slider and dial or just X and Y analog axis? If yes on slider and dial I think he should be able to map those to paddles within Stella.