Pinball Plunger Assignment

[SoylentGreen]

Sorry if this is already answered but couldn't find it. Trying to use press of plunger to bring up instruction card. I've managed to get it to work half way using xpadder. One press shows the instruction card and second press of plunger makes it go away. Perfect...

The problem is when you pull and release the plunger it records that as a button press of the plunger and it brings the instruction card back. I tried adjusting the release or button press time but nothing seems to work. Just want it so that a plunger press in has to be 1-2 or 3 seconds to register and show the instruction card so that when you pull the plunger and it moves back in the .1 or .2 second button press that results does not trigger the instruction card again.

I see a Cycle 1 that is telling the computer to recognize a button press even on .1 second, which I'm sure is what is triggering the card when the plunger is released but I am not assigning that and can't get rid of it. My release is considered "Cycle 2" -- how do I get rid of Cycle 1?

Appreciate any help!

[Jonathan]

Try adding a short pause slot after the assignment.
This will turn the assignment from a key to be emulated while the plunger is held to simply outputting a sequence once the plunger is used.

For example:
Slot 1: X
Slot 2: Pause 0.10s

When the assignment is activated, Xpadder will simulate tapping X instead of holding X while the plunger is in use.

[SoylentGreen]

Thank you very much for responding. Unfortunately that didn't work. The problem seems to be that I can't get the key press to be a longer press. It seems to be recognizing a very short press, which is what happens when you release the plunger and it goes back in -- it registers that as a key press the same as if you push it in.

What I'm trying to do is get it to only register a key press when you push it in, even if you have to push and hold for 1-2 seconds, that would be fine, but not when you pull the plunger and release it. That .1 second key press that it's registering should not be a key press.

Is there a way to do that?

[Jonathan]

If you click the tab for the controller in the top-left of main Xpadder window you will see the raw data.
Is the plunger movement being represented by a sliding bar (analog) or a button press (digital).
If it is analog (similar to a stick or trigger) then you may need to increase its deadzone (via the wrench icon on the main Xpadder window) so Xpadder only treats it as active when it is at its fullest position.

[SoylentGreen]

Thanks for that. I checked as you suggested and yes, the plunger is analog so I increased the deadzone but that doesn't seem to make a difference.

Any last ideas?

[Jonathan]

I'm still a bit unsure about the relationship between the plunger and the game.
Can you give a step by step example?
Does it work if you select a key press in the game and ignore Xpadder completely (for now)?

[SoylentGreen]

So this is video pinball. The plunger when pulled back and released simulates a real plunger and launches the ball. It's a physical plunger just like a real pinball machine but connected digitally to a board that translates it as a key press.

The plunger when pushed in, instead of pulled out and released, also recognizes a key press but a different one than releasing the plunger.

I've successfully used xpadder for the press in of the plunger to be recognized to bring up an instruction card on my DMD screen. A second key press also works correctly to make the instruction card disappear. The problem is that if you pull and release the plunger the forward motion of the plunger is recognized at the end as a key press and it brings up the instruction card again (hiding the DMD/score screen).

My intent is that a press of the plunger will bring up the instruction card as it does now and a second press will make it disappear as it does now but when you pull and release the plunger the return of the plunger won't register as a key press. I was trying to make a key press to bring up the instructions be a longer press instead of the fraction of a second that the return of the plunger is registering but I can't seem to get it to work that way.

If I could, you'd have to press and hold the plunger for 1 second for the instructions to come up and press and hold for another second for them to go away but the pull and release/return of the plunger would not register a key press because that is a fraction of a second of a press.

Does that make sense?

Really appreciate that you're still trying to help. I was able to successfully use xpadder for my other alt key press functions but this one has me stumped and the plunger press is the only key left that doesn't already have an alt assignment so that's why I'm really trying to figure it out. My only other option will be to add a whole new button to the cabinet and I don't want to do that.

Thanks!

[Jonathan]

I think I see now.
The spring back when the plunger is pulled causes the plunger to return to centre but then appear as if pressed too.
Have a look at Hold and Release Zones here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3714

For example, if the plunger pull action triggers the key Z and the plunger push action triggers the key Q then for the plunger push action:

Slot 1: Hold Zone 1.00s
Slot 2: Q

This means the assignment will only trigger if the plunger is pushed in for 1 second. Hopefully, the spring back action from pulling the plunger will not hold the button in that long and so the problem will be avoided.

[SoylentGreen]

Thanks for staying with me. No luck with that solution but I have a question that may help:

When I do that (putting a hold zone in) the system automatically creates two hold zones. The first says "Holdzone 1/2 if button moved 0.01s>0.49s) and then I have my "Holdzone 2/2 if button down for 0.50s+".

How do I get rid of the first hold zone? I think that's the one that's making it sensitive. If only the hold zone I add was there then it wouldn't register unless it was a long button push.

[SoylentGreen]

So I tried to insert a tap time and that sort of works. The plunger returning doesn't activate the key, at least right away, but after a second it starts activating the key over and over again, kind of like it's blinking...

I wonder if it's the accelerometer that's triggering something...

I'm super stuck. I was able to get my other keys programmed very well using xpadder but this last one just doesn't seem to want to work. I may be out of luck on this one but if you have any final suggestions I'd welcome them.

Thanks!

[Jonathan]

In the Xpadder main window, click the tab for the controller in the top-left of the screen.
This will show the raw data of the controller.
Use the plunger and see how the data alters. It's possible it's doing something non-standard.