Knight0fDragon
Patron Supporter
Just making a note post here about the lm1881 (https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/l...29495&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F), a chip that can separate out the vsync.
This could potentially be used for light(camera) guns on LCD TVs.
Capturing the vsync means we can calculate where the scan is at any given time. With that information, we should be able to use something light the Sinden gun (Sinden Lightgun® – The official site for the Sinden Lightgun®) with the Saturn.
For those that are not in the know, the Sinden gun is a camera gun that essentially works on LCDs. It looks for a white border and uses that to determine where your camera is currently pointing and treating it as a keyboard and mouse.
It looks like they already have a means of using it with Playstation Guncom games on Playstation hardware. I have a feeling that the same thing can be done on the Saturn thanks to this chip.
The way I believe the playstation version works is that the Sinden is connected to a raspberry pi since most of the processing are done on a computer, and the raspberry pi sends over the XY coordinates to the Arduino for the Arduino to translate into a PSX controller.
We can do something similar. The way Saturn light gun games work is when you pull the trigger, there is a tiny camera on the light gun looking for the electron beam hitting the phosphorous the CRT. When this is detected, it allows us to know where on the screen we are pointing at.
Well with something like the Sinden, we know where we are looking prior to the trigger being pulled because the camera is always trying to determine where your position is. With the lm1881 chip, we know when vsync starts. This means when we pull the trigger on the Sinden gun, we should know how much time has passed after vsync. Since we know the time, we can calculate where the electron beam should be at, and if that electron beam is within our XY area, we send down the signal saying we detected a hit.
Now keep in mind, this current hypothesis does not account for latency issues between any device, and games may still need to be patched, but it seems like a good starting point to get Saturn light gun games playable again in the modern era.
This could potentially be used for light(camera) guns on LCD TVs.
Capturing the vsync means we can calculate where the scan is at any given time. With that information, we should be able to use something light the Sinden gun (Sinden Lightgun® – The official site for the Sinden Lightgun®) with the Saturn.
For those that are not in the know, the Sinden gun is a camera gun that essentially works on LCDs. It looks for a white border and uses that to determine where your camera is currently pointing and treating it as a keyboard and mouse.
It looks like they already have a means of using it with Playstation Guncom games on Playstation hardware. I have a feeling that the same thing can be done on the Saturn thanks to this chip.
The way I believe the playstation version works is that the Sinden is connected to a raspberry pi since most of the processing are done on a computer, and the raspberry pi sends over the XY coordinates to the Arduino for the Arduino to translate into a PSX controller.
We can do something similar. The way Saturn light gun games work is when you pull the trigger, there is a tiny camera on the light gun looking for the electron beam hitting the phosphorous the CRT. When this is detected, it allows us to know where on the screen we are pointing at.
Well with something like the Sinden, we know where we are looking prior to the trigger being pulled because the camera is always trying to determine where your position is. With the lm1881 chip, we know when vsync starts. This means when we pull the trigger on the Sinden gun, we should know how much time has passed after vsync. Since we know the time, we can calculate where the electron beam should be at, and if that electron beam is within our XY area, we send down the signal saying we detected a hit.
Now keep in mind, this current hypothesis does not account for latency issues between any device, and games may still need to be patched, but it seems like a good starting point to get Saturn light gun games playable again in the modern era.
