Playing shooters as an old man with bad hands

[city41]

Anyone else in this predicament now? I can only play shooters that have a decent auto fire solution now. Cave is the best, as the auto fire is built into the game and on a separate button. For games with no auto fire built in, usually the best you can do is set auto fire on the main shot. But when that main shot has two modes (ie charge up for big shot), you can't really play the game properly.

I mostly play on the mister nowadays. I really wish it had the option of setting auto fire on a different button, basically bring the Cave approach to any game you want. That would be amazing.

Anyone else found any good solutions?

 

[kernow]

Just get a stick with autofire, or a lil box inbetween and ting

 

[city41]

Just get a stick with autofire, or a lil box inbetween and ting

I guess technically that solves the problem, but it's very clunky in most games as you have to constantly turn auto fire on and off again.

Maybe one of those boxes already does what I want, assigning a different button to auto fire. But if they don't, I can probably make one with an arduino.

 

[ggallegos1]

I feel this with some of the more egregious games, usually my hand will start tensing up around 8-10 min in. I find there's a way to mash the button quickly by rotating my wrist a certain angle, but that's temporary

 

[city41]

I feel this with some of the more egregious games,

I just gave Blazing Star a shot because I wanted to participate in SOTM. One very short game and my hand was toast. Ah getting old is fun. I might still participate anyway with auto fire and just never use charge shots. Thanks to @NERDtendo for adding an auto fire board.


This project has promise: https://gitlab.com/luckynate4/turbo_mapper

I am already using pi pico with GP2040. I wonder if this functionality could be added to it. That would be so awesome.

 

[GohanX]

Yeah I have bad hands. The answer pretty much is a Saturn pad.

Also if I'm using a stick the exact feel of the stick and buttons are of paramount importance. If it's too stiff it's going to cause pain, but if the buttons don't offer enough resistance (like Sanwa buttons) then you reach the bottom of the throw too quickly and the hard stop isn't good either. You need something in the middle like a Seimitsu or Hayabusa button.

For me the sticks are more of an issue than the buttons though. I like a tight spring but my hand can't take it for long. My compromise is to use a JLF with a stock spring (to keep it loose) and an oversized actuator (to keep it from being sloppy) and a bat top for a little more height and a better grip.

 

[Neo Alec]

Not quite there yet myself.

 

[kernow]

my hands are lithe and soft, and aesthetic

 

[skate323k137]

I use mostly sanwa stuff now, try to keep it comfortable. Finding a good angle / height for the stick/panel, and having space to rest the base of your hands if needed can help. Also this sounds dumb but have a snack and wash your hands with hot water 1st. Keep the blood moving and your focus up

 

[kernow]

you old bastards

 

[ChuChu Flamingo]

Start doing hand exercises and making sure to get enough omega 3. Also do these hokuto shinken exercises

 

[Burning Fight!!]

Unironically get a PC Engine controller if you think turning turbo on/off is awkward. You do that with the flick of the thumb on that controller.

 

[ShootTheCore]

For arcade games, I use the HAS SuperGun - it lets you both remap buttons and assign autofire, so for a game with charged shots (like R-Type) I'll bind two buttons to Shoot and then turn AutoFire on for one of them.

 

[city41]

For arcade games, I use the HAS SuperGun

I didn't realize the HAS does this. Good to know. I am using a HAS now, but for Cave games which have a nice built in auto fire solution.

I'm hoping to find a cab level solution so no matter what I put in my cab I can get this.

 

[Neodogg]

I'm 45 and haven't hit this yet...yet
For when I can't use an autofire solution I use a 2 finger trick, just not on @roker's mom, where you alternate fingers hitting the button (clit). That way you don't burn out your index finger.

I guess you could make custom CP for your cabs kind of like STC does with the HAS. Old Man Panels

 

[ShootTheCore]

I didn't realize the HAS does this. Good to know. I am using a HAS now, but for Cave games which have a nice built in auto fire solution.

I'm hoping to find a cab level solution so no matter what I put in my cab I can get this.

RGB, the creator of the HAS, also sells the RECO board which adds the same autofire and control remapping functionality the HAS uses to a cabinet.

RECO PCB V4.1

About The RECO is a PCB that connects in between your arcade cabinet/supergun and the JAMMA PCB game offering features such as on-the-fly button layout remapping, rapid-fire, 6 profiles to store your settings, and more. General JAMMA, JAMMA+ compatible Programmable button layout Programmable...

rgbslab.com

 

[sirlynxalot]

What are the hand issues you're dealing with? Carpal tunnel? Hand shaking?

There ought to be some strategies to use an arcade stick a little differently to better deal with the issues.

 

[The Chief]

I think it’s more to do with fatigue and stiffness caused by mashing buttons for extended time.

 

[butthurt coconut]

Is it just me or do some characters in Blazing Star require you to tap the button faster than others?

 

[Neo Alec]

I am honestly sorry to hear about the situation. I fear the same is not long in my future. My hands are already too unsteady for some soldering and holding up objects on camera for Youtube. I hope my parody thread at least provides a laugh and not offense.

 

[_rm_]

Anyone else in this predicament now? I can only play shooters that have a decent auto fire solution now. Cave is the best, as the auto fire is built into the game and on a separate button. For games with no auto fire built in, usually the best you can do is set auto fire on the main shot. But when that main shot has two modes (ie charge up for big shot), you can't really play the game properly.

I mostly play on the mister nowadays. I really wish it had the option of setting auto fire on a different button, basically bring the Cave approach to any game you want. That would be amazing.

Anyone else found any good solutions?

If you play a PCB on a Jamma cabinet you can do as i do:

You can simply connect the same wire from button "A" to button "C" (for example, and "B" is for bombing) and add a small autofire device only to the ground of button "A".

Now you have Button "A" and "C" to fire but only "A" is autofire, if you hold "C" you can still use the charge function.

It's incredibly easy and effective.

 

[city41]

I think it’s more to do with fatigue and stiffness caused by mashing buttons for extended time.

Yup, repetitive strain injuries and tendinitis. Even if young, humans weren't meant to tap buttons that rapidly for so long. I also type all day for a living, so even minor stress I really want to avoid (I type on a special keyboard to avoid injury there).

RGB, the creator of the HAS, also sells the RECO board which adds the same autofire and control remapping functionality the HAS uses to a cabinet.

Nice, but sadly it's JAMMA. My cab is often not. It's also sold out. But I do like the idea.

This board would do the trick beautifully, but also sold out and no sign of it being restocked

R.M.A.F. – Re.Map.Auto.Fire

R.M.A.F. – Re.Map.Auto.Fire The R.M.A.F is a PCB that sits between your arcade stick’s buttons and the controller PCB offering a convenient way to add remapping and auto fire support to…

arthrimus.com

This project looks like it would work, I'd just need to figure out how to flash a microcontroller, which can't be too hard I would hope?

ln4 / turbo_mapper · GitLab

Microcontroller firmware for arcade button remapping and turbo fire.

gitlab.com

But, I think I can add this functionality to the GP2040 firmware. I've got time off from work coming up and I plan to play with that then. If I do, I'll see about getting the feature merged into the main firmware.

Thanks for all the comments. I think I mostly have the lay of the land on auto fire solutions now.

 

[sirlynxalot]

I think the multiple fingers tapping on one button is an ok workaround. I've done that before to avoid strain and that is even a technique used by some keyboard musicians and classical guitarists to hit the same key or string very quickly so it doesn't have to have an old man stigma.

 

[HellioN]

One option I've found on switch, for a pad at least, is the Hori split pad pro.
It has 2 buttons on the back that can mimic a face button.
So like in TMNT I'll assign turbo to the face attack button but then mimic that same button minus turbo on the back for the charge up hit.
Does that make sense?
It does in my head.

 

[StevenK]

I am honestly sorry to hear about the situation. I fear the same is not long in my future. My hands are already too unsteady for some soldering and holding up objects on camera for Youtube. I hope my parody thread at least provides a laugh and not offense.

I'm finding my handwriting, which was always bad, is getting much worse. I had to fill out some forms a couple of years back on a property sale and the bank rejected the paperwork based on my signature. I phoned them and told them it was insane (I was actually surprised anyone even still checks signatures anymore), but sure enough I checked the signature against an old driving licence from over a decade ago and they were completely different.