Opti-Pac Plus FAQ

What controls can I use?
The Opti-Pac Plus supports all controls which use an optical wheel sensor system. This includes trackballs, spinners and rotary joysticks of all makes. It supports buffered types which include Happ devices, unbuffered (Suzo), high or low polarity. Don't worry if you don't know what these terms mean, there are easy wiring instructions for the various types of controls.

Do I need a power supply?
Not if you use in USB mode.
In serial mode the board does need a 5 volt supply. A cable is supplied which plugs into the I-PAC board if you have one, to provide this supply. If you are not using an I-PAC board, a 5 volt supply can be obtained from a joystick port, ps/2 mouse port, or any other 5 volt source from the PC.

But I have heard the serial port can supply power?
Serial ports supply a tiny amount of power, not enough to drive a device such as a Happ trackball which have interface circuitry which consume power.

Why two serial ports?
The support of two serial ports arrived in MAME with "EMU+". This uses two mouse drivers to allow two players to use controls via the two serial ports. Current "official" MAME versions also have added this functionality. The PS/2 mouse port is untouched so is available for use with an ordinary mouse. You don't have to use both serial ports. Only one port is needed for single player games.

Are both serial port connections the same?
No there are a few differences. Player 1 port is a "master". This port receives any reset and initialization signals from the PC and returns a Plug and Play ID to Windows. It also supplies the interface 12 volt supply. If you are only using one serial port it MUST be Player 1 port. Player 1 port will work with any normal serial mouse driver including Microsoft, and the Windows drivers. A trackball connected to Player 1 port can be used as a mouse in Windows.
Player 2 port is designed to be used only with certain mouse drivers including the EMU+ and MAME second-port drivers.

What about mouse buttons?
Four inputs are provided for mouse buttons, two for each port. These inputs can be wired up together with I-PAC button inputs so that control panel buttons can perform dual function: mouse buttons and normal key-type inputs. So you could use your trackball as a mouse with two of the control panel buttons working as mouse buttons and also have these buttons work in games via the I-PAC.

What does the labelling on the input connections mean?
The input connections are labelled Player 1 Trackball, Player 1 Rotary and Player 2 Trackball, Player 2 Rotary. There is no difference in functionality between a Trackball input and a Rotary input. The different terms are used only for convenience. Each of these four inputs has two axes. This means each of these four can handle one trackball or two spinners or two rotary joysticks. There are also power connections. Multiple power connections are provided for ease of wiring, they are actually commoned on the board.

What happens if I have (say) a trackball connected to Player 1 Trackball input and a spinner connected to Player 1 Rotary input. How does the board know which one I actually want to use to play the game via Player 1 serial port?
From an idle state, if one control is moved in any direction, that control becomes active. the other control is disabled to avoid it affecting the game if accidentally moved. If both controls are not moved for 10 seconds, the first one moved after this time becomes the active control and the other is disabled.

What does the "P1, P1+2"jumper do?
Normally the board is split into two halves. Player 1 controls are routed to Player 1 serial port or USB mouse device and Player 2 controls routed to Player 2 serial port or USB mouse. When the jumper is set to "P1", all controls are routed into Player 1 port. This means you can rearrange controls from a two player set-up to a one player without having to re-wire. With the jumper set to "P1", Player 1 and Player 2 trackballs both control the cursor in the same way, and Player 1 and Player 2 Rotary inputs both control the cursor in the same way. On older boards this jumper was marked "JP1".

What modes can I use the board and controls in?
Here are some examples:

• USB Single Player mode with trackball and spinner. Any MAME version with Windows.
  
• USB two-player mode using MAME One USB cable handles both trackballs.
  
  
• Serial MAME two-player mode: In mode you could have two trackballs and two spinners, one for each player. You would load the regular mouse driver for Player 1 port and the EMU+ special second-player driver for Player 2 port.
  
  
• Auto-switching single-player mode: Just connect one trackball and one spinner to the Player 1 port inputs and use one serial port or the USB port. Either the trackball or spinner is used with the first control to be moved becoming the active one.
  
  
• Software-switched single-player mode: In this mode connect a trackball to Player 1 inputs and spinner(s) to Player 2 inputs. Connect PC to both serial ports. Enable the trackball by issuing the command "CTMOUSE /1" or swap to the spinner by issuing "CTMOUSE /U" then "CTMOUSE /2" via batch files.
  
  
• Manual Switch Mode: If you need any controls that can be enabled/disabled by a manual switch, connect them to Player 2 inputs and connect a switch to JP1. Use only Player 1 serial port. The switch will enable/disable the controls.
  
  
• Controls selected by MAME: You can connect two spinners to USB or one serial port and configure games in MAME to allow 2 players to share one port, one player going via the vertical mouse axis and the other player via the horizontal axis. MAME now has this functionality.

I don't know anything about wiring or how trackballs work. Will I be able to wire up the controls OK?
The wiring instructions already include colour-coded wiring info for Happ and Suzo trackballs. Other controls to be added. The Happ trackballs come with their wiring harness. The large plug on the end has to be cut off and the wires connected into the correct terminals on the Opti-Pac. The Suzo trackballs come with plugs which require wires to be pushed in like some telephone plugs.