Hi,
I have an extra Pole Position steering wheel and shifter that I'm thinking mame(ing). What's the easiest way of doing this?? Will the Opti-pac work? Thanks.

Mike.

Well first enable joystick support
And edit in your mame.ini (joystick support and sterring wheel to the joystick name..)

I think he means how to connect it physically to the pc

Thanks Mr. Hide. Sorry about that. Yes I'm looking for an opinion as to what interface I should use. Thanks.

Opti-pac is probably the best product but groovygamegear.com has a cheaper option with the Opti-wiz.  I have one of these I am going to use for a trackball and optical spinner in the next few months.

The Pole Position wheel is basically a big optical spinner so either optical interface will do.  You could also try a mouse hack, it's the cheapest option but the most work.
newf

I had a look at the opti-pac. I see inputs for the spinner control which is pretty staright forward.  I see that there is a player 1 input on the Opti-Pac board and I assume that is for the credit button(input). What about the gas and shifter inputs? Now in my case I have a dedicated Pole Position cabinet which is complete other than the computer and monitor so I am going to use the existing shifter assembly and gas pedal. From what I saw on each of those it's just a simple on/off microswitch. Do I need to piggy back the opti-pac on some other interface to accomodate the gas pedal & shifter inputs? Thanks for all of the help. Mike.

I thought the gas pedal was analog on Pole Position?  Or is it just on/off with a microswitch?  If it is analog you are going to need the "aPac" from Ultimarc as well.

The shifter you can connect to a button contact on the interface.  I'm not sure which keyboard button in MAME corresponds to each shift postition but you can easily map the keyboard button to any interface contact through the software provided.

I'll have to double check the gas pedal. Did PP have multi speeds? I can't remember. I thought there were two speeds - go and stop. I know if you play it on mame on my computer, I think it is the space bar that is the pedal control and there are only two motions - go and stop. Hmmm.

You'd think I'd know this since I have a PP2 at home,
but I don't "think" it's just a mirco-switch.
(ie. it's probably an anolog POT or something like that...)

The reason I think that is that the acceleration rate
does change depending on the pedal position.
ie. if you don't press it, you slow down, if you press it
all the way down you accelerate to the max speed,
...BUT, if you hold it half-way, you maintain your speed.

...then again, what do I know,  I'm just a Robotron addict !



Cheers,
Steph

Quoted from Steph

You'd think I'd know this since I have a PP2 at home,
but I don't "think" it's just a mirco-switch.
(ie. it's probably an anolog POT or something like that...)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's an analog pot, you are going to need the A-Pac or something like it...
http://ultimarc.com/a-pac.html

Good news is you can connect buttons to it so the A-Pac will handle your shifter/pedals and the Opti-pac (or Opti-wiz) will control your wheel.  

Well if it's only one steering you need why don't you do an mouse hack ?

Or maby an joystick hack..

WOW, I can't beleive the resources on this web site.

I checked the manual on KLOV and there is a pot on the gas pedal. There is also a switch which if I remember correctly starts the game once a credit has been inserted simply by dipressing the pedal. So I will need the A-pac and the Opti-pac. Should I order these directly from Ultimarc or is there a cheaper or Canadian source for these components that anyone out there knows of?