Problem with CV Roller Controller.

[CV Gus]

I have tried the games without it, and they work fine. So, it's not that "controller port" problem (at least I know how to repair THAT).

 

You can play both joystick and roller controller games normally; the problem comes in when you try to play a joystick game using the roller mode.

 

In Defender, for example, it's as if you are jamming a joystick left or right (depending on how you first move the roller). If you play "normally," every time you shoot you set off a smart bomb.

 

All other games act as if you are jamming the joystick left or right.

 

Thanks for any help in advance!

[joeybastard]

If it works as a roller in roller games and works as a joystick in joystick games, there's nothing wrong. That's the way it is. When you switch it to Roller Mode for joystick games the CV isn't getting the expected joystick info so it freaks out. Joystick mode is just an on/off type of input. For example, push a joystick right and that switch is turned on. Move the stick back to center and it's off. Roller mode doesn't work that way. It's measuring the speed the ball is rolling as well as direction, it's not just an on/off thing.

 

Defender on the CV doesn't not work properly with the RC hooked up in either mode. I don't know why but I do remember that being being the case even back in '84 with my original setup and that hardware was pretty much new.

[CV Gus]

Only problem is, until recently it DID work just fine (including Defender). And Coleco's old commercials for it pointed out that you could play joystick games with the roller (they showed Pepper 2). And that is actually what I did with games such as Star Fortress. So these problems I'm having with it now must be some sort of malfunction (note that this occurred in 2008, and I've had the thing since mid-2000).

 

That's what the Joystick/Roller switch was for, too.

Edited July 31, 2008 by CV Gus

[joeybastard]

Only problem is, until recently it DID work just fine (including Defender). And Coleco's old commercials for it pointed out that you could play joystick games with the roller (they showed Pepper 2). And that is actually what I did with games such as Star Fortress. So these problems I'm having with it now must be some sort of malfunction (note that this occurred in 2008, and I've had the thing since mid-2000).

 

That's what the Joystick/Roller switch was for, too.

 

Huh?

 

You can play joystick games with the roller but the switch has to be in joystick mode. There might be joystick games that work with the switch in roller mode but it's not the majority.

 

I think you're mistaken about Defender and the roller. I've owned 3 different rollers over the years and 5 different CVs. On none of them did Defender work correctly with a roller controller. Of course it's possible they all had the same problem but I think that's pretty unlikely.

Edited July 31, 2008 by joeybastard

[CV Gus]

All I can tell you is that I played those games- including Defender- just fine until recently.

 

But now you cannot play Pepper 2 or Star Fortress, or any such game, with the RC in "roller mode." You could before, but not now. So doesn't that mean that it must be an RC malfunction?

 

Oh- I did try it on three CVs. Same exact thing every time.

[joeybastard]

I guess you have some kind of magical roller controller then.

[CV Gus]

Well, I'll take it apart over the weekend. Maybe it's a simple enough problem.

 

Besides, don't YOU remember the Coleco TV ads pointing out how you can play joystick games with the trak ball?

[joeybastard]

Well, I'll take it apart over the weekend. Maybe it's a simple enough problem.

 

Besides, don't YOU remember the Coleco TV ads pointing out how you can play joystick games with the trak ball?

 

Actually no, I don't. You're saying the commercials said you could play joystick games with the trakball in trakball mode? Wouldn't it be more likely they had it in joystick mode but used the trakball?

[CV Gus]

That's just it here- if you switch it to "Joystick" mode, it does not work- you get those problems I described. You must keep it in "Roller" mode at all times. Period.

Edited August 1, 2008 by CV Gus

[joeybastard]

That's just it here- if you switch it to "Joystick" mode, it does not work- you get those problems I described. You must keep it in "Roller" mode at all times. Period.

 

Ok, that makes more sense but you didn't say that before. The joystick/roller switch probably just needs cleaning or one of the contacts came loose.

[CV Gus]

Repaced the switch. Identical problem. I'd suspected that, too, but no dice.

 

What's interesting is the vertical is not affected, but the horizontal is- it's as if the joystick is jammed left or right. When you spin the trak ball to the left, it's as if the joystick is jammed to the left, and a spin to the right "jams" it to the right.

 

Both sides are affected, as can be seen in the 2-player version of Omega Race.

[CV Gus]

Any ideas?

[GonzoCV-1]

Any ideas?

 

 

When the roller controller is in "roller" mode, its communicating a Gray's code over pins that aren't used for either joystick or keypad functions on a regular controller. If memory serves, player one's pins carry the Gray's code for horizontal rotation, player two carries the code for vertical rotation.

 

When the controller is in "joystick" mode, I think the roller controller's circuit takes the signals from the rotary encoders and instead of transmitting them over the lines reserved for Gray's code, it uses a logic gate to read the Grays to figure out which direction that axis (h or v) is moving, and then feeds a corresponding signal to the U,D,L,R pins on the cable to the Coleco board.

 

Now, I don't have a R.C. anymore, and what I don't remember is whether it latches the signal so long as the roller is moving in the direction in question, or whether it pulses the the direction in question with every Gray's transition. I seem to recall that its a pulse, as if you were going right with the regular controller, and instead of holding it to the right, you sort of smacked the controller in that direction 100 times a minute.

 

In any event, whether its a latched signal or a pulse, under either of these, the behavior you describe would suggest you've got a logic gate failing which is the most likely, or (if you're lucky) a capacitor that has crapped the bed. Try to replace all the caps inside the R.C. and see if that works. Otherwise, find some replacements for the logic gate chips and see if that gets you anywhere. You may be better off just buying a new roller controller.

 

It cannot be the Coleco console's controller logic, or you would find you have the same problem using regular joysticks.

[CV Gus]

I know that it's the controller, at least.

 

I was hoping it was the switch, but it didn't work.

 

Judging by the "wheels" the ball spins, it would be the pulse. I figured that it was, as you say, quickly tapping the controller in effect.

 

Since you can normally play joystick games with the roller, it seems as though the controller "translates" the rolling to what a joystick would do. The reverse is not true, since you cannot play Slither with a joystick.

 

What I'll probably have to do is "trace" the circuitry, and figure out what goes where. At least maybe I can narrow it down.