Harmony does not work with Sears video arcade II joysticks

[+hloberg]

Just got my Harmony cartridge and it's great. But, have an odd problem. With my Sears video arcade II joysticks on the menu it always defaults to the paddles even if I have the button on the console set to joystick. also, the button does not work when not in the menu. No big problem as I hardly ever use the SVA II joysticks but use power player joystick. Still, something to point out to see if anyone else has ever had the same problem and maybe Fred can address in some future BIOS update.

[+batari]

What you can try is holding down the joystick button during boot. This should bypass autodetection and use the joystick.

 

Yes, I agree that the menu could address this in a better way, Sega controllers do the same thing and I forgot about half the time to hold down the button. Maybe we should change the menu to revert to joystick control anytime the button is pressed so no reboot is necessary.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I am open to any improvement in the menu. Also a few other things need fixing (e.g. the long file name display).

[+hloberg]

could you put an 'options' choice on the menu to what joystick you are using and how you want to default? or maybe a hot key on boot up to bring up options?

having to hold the button down on start is a bit cumbersome.

[+SpiceWare]

As I recall there is very little room left in the code for the menu, which is why they went with hold down the joystick button at powerup to force it to recognize the joystick.

 

The change that batari suggests, of hitting the joystick button at any time to force it to recognize the joystick, can most likely be done without using any additional space in the program. Basically the code that does the test would be relocated from the init-routine to the normal program loop.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

Yes and no. The paddle detection, which is affected here, has to run over about one frame. So that cannot be simply moved into the normal loop. But I think we could split that code. Though I think this is not even necessary here. We only have to be able to switch from paddle to joystick.

 

Hitting the fire button at any time should work to switch from paddle to joystick. That's an easy fix.

[maiki]

So that counts specifically for Mega Drive controllers right?

[+hloberg]

another oddity, or unknown feature, the buttons on the Sears VA II don't work either on the menu. you have to press the joystick right to click on anything.