GUN2CRT, the new universal CRT lightgun adapter

[JayBee]

Hey everyone,

Some of you might know me already for my GUN4IR system, the lightgun system that works on pretty much any system/screen, inluding the MiSTer.

I have been teasing this for a while now, but here I officially announce my next upcoming lightgun system, that this time is focused only on CRT based gun.
It will take the shape of a VGA/USB box that will allow you to plug any Guncon/G-Con45 compatible gun on any system with a CRT screen.

Here are few of the features of that system;

• Plug and play, just connect the adapter to your device and connect a GCon to it, and you're ready to go.

• No IR sensor or any other special device needed. As it's using the native GCon protocol, that uses analog CRT raster, it will work out of the box

• No special software/processing needed. Like my other system, it will have a standard input that works on any system (Windows, Linux, RPi, MiSTer...)

• No need for special switches for different video mode. The device should be detecting every video mode automatically and adapt to it.

Here is a small demo of it working on the MiSTerFPGA;

[LamerDeluxe]

That is fantastic! I still have my Guncon somewhere, for some reason both my CRT TVs and 15Khz monitors would always lose sync when the display flashed, not sure why, so I could never properly use the Guncon.

Maybe it would work with the MiSTer, that would be great, especially when the Playstation core comes out.

[hiddenbyleaves]

Will this allow you to use a Guncon for all cores? Could you play snatcher and then Duck hunt etc with a Gcon? Is that what this is?????!!!!@ If so then Holy moly!!!!

[JayBee]

That is fantastic! I still have my Guncon somewhere, for some reason both my CRT TVs and 15Khz monitors would always lose sync when the display flashed, not sure why, so I could never properly use the Guncon.

Maybe it would work with the MiSTer, that would be great, especially when the Playstation core comes out.

Sounds like an overvoltage of the rgb lines? Not sure tho

Will this allow you to use a Guncon for all cores? Could you play snatcher and then Duck hunt etc with a Gcon? Is that what this is?????!!!!@ If so then Holy moly!!!!

Yes that's exactly what it is, it should work with any core that supports lightgun from hid joystick and/or mouse

[Lightwave]

Very cool!

Will this work with a PC VGA CRT?

[LamerDeluxe]

That is fantastic! I still have my Guncon somewhere, for some reason both my CRT TVs and 15Khz monitors would always lose sync when the display flashed, not sure why, so I could never properly use the Guncon.

Maybe it would work with the MiSTer, that would be great, especially when the Playstation core comes out.

Sounds like an overvoltage of the rgb lines? Not sure tho

Could be, a common factor here would be the SCART cable of my Playstation, maybe it needs (different) resistors.

[MiSTer_Kirk]

I thought the Guncon was composite only ?
Anyway, this looks great. I have a couple of Namco Guncons boxed up in storage with my old PSX, will have to get them out.
How long are we from a purchase, if you don't mind me asking ?

[elvis]

I thought the Guncon was composite only ?

No, it needs to tap into the sync signal, which it commonly does via the composite video plug. But if you've got a SCART cable with either the composite video or any valid video level csync signal available (pure csync, sync-on-luma, cvbs, etc) you can use Guncons with any 15KHz display and RGB.

If you look at most PS1 and PS2 SCART cables, you'll see CVBS and audio RCA connectors mid was along the cable. Plug your Guncon's sync connector to that, and off you go.

[MiSTer_Kirk]

Ahh, I see. I had, or still have, the official Sony Scart grey cable, and it didn't have a way to plug in the Guncon.

[JayBee]

Very cool!

Will this work with a PC VGA CRT?

Yes it will! From my test it runs perfectly until around 960p@60Hz in rgbhv.
I will do another video showing that soon

How long are we from a purchase, if you don't mind me asking ?

Quite far I'm afraid since the whole process slowed down lately with the pandemic.

[hiddenbyleaves]

How does it get the sync signal?

[JayBee]

How does it get the sync signal?

It will be a vga box, including a vga passthrough and a sync combiner.
So it gets sync from there

[hiddenbyleaves]

I can't wait!

[suprcrackers]

When you say, "will allow you to plug any Guncon/G-Con45 compatible gun on any system with a CRT screen.".

Does that mean any model of Guncon or just Guncon model 1s?

[JayBee]

When you say, "will allow you to plug any Guncon/G-Con45 compatible gun on any system with a CRT screen.".

Does that mean any model of Guncon or just Guncon model 1s?

Yes the G-Con45 is the model 1
For now it will be focusing on this model yes, but I might try other guns eventually once this one is fully supported.

[retrorepair]

When you say, "will allow you to plug any Guncon/G-Con45 compatible gun on any system with a CRT screen.".

Does that mean any model of Guncon or just Guncon model 1s?

Yes the G-Con45 is the model 1
For now it will be focusing on this model yes, but I might try other guns eventually once this one is fully supported.

Surely gcon2 will work with a linux driver as a HID mouse. You'd only need an adapter for composite sync.

I've actually done this before on linux, I'm not sure how to compile a linux driver for MiSTer though.

[lomdar67]

Hi,

how would the setup be for a CRT TV with RGB Scart?

From Mister VGA to your GUN2CRT and then into something like that: https://hackaday.io/project/165634-the- ... rt-adapter and from there into the TV Scart connector?

Best regards,
Michael

[JayBee]

When you say, "will allow you to plug any Guncon/G-Con45 compatible gun on any system with a CRT screen.".

Does that mean any model of Guncon or just Guncon model 1s?

Yes the G-Con45 is the model 1
For now it will be focusing on this model yes, but I might try other guns eventually once this one is fully supported.

Surely gcon2 will work with a linux driver as a HID mouse. You'd only need an adapter for composite sync.

I've actually done this before on linux, I'm not sure how to compile a linux driver for MiSTer though.

It can be done, but usually has more latency, require manual adjustments to match each resolution, and can't really work reliably with games that require screen flashing.
The whole point of my system is not requiring those, it should be plug it and forget it

Hi,

how would the setup be for a CRT TV with RGB Scart?

From Mister VGA to your GUN2CRT and then into something like that: https://hackaday.io/project/165634-the- ... rt-adapter and from there into the TV Scart connector?

Best regards,
Michael

Almost, it will be
MiSTer == VGA ==> GUN2CRT ==VGAtoSCART==> TV
Or
MiSTer == VGA ==> GUN2CRT ==GenesistoSCART==> TV
Since my system should have both.
Note that it's not decided yet if the RGBs out will be genesis type or something else.

[JayBee]

Two small update videos on the development progress;
They are showing the new resolution detection and processing.
Both games are running on PC this time, to be able to increase the screen resolution to 1024x768@75Hz.

[Ryuoken]

Already bought a Guncon 1 in anticipation!

Amazing work

[callanabrown]

Surely gcon2 will work with a linux driver as a HID mouse. You'd only need an adapter for composite sync.

I've actually done this before on linux, I'm not sure how to compile a linux driver for MiSTer though.

I have a gcon2, hopefully you're right that it can be supported. Makes sense for it to be.

[dmckean]

Surely gcon2 will work with a linux driver as a HID mouse. You'd only need an adapter for composite sync.

I've actually done this before on linux, I'm not sure how to compile a linux driver for MiSTer though.

I have a gcon2, hopefully you're right that it can be supported. Makes sense for it to be.

I think you misunderstood him.

[callanabrown]

Surely gcon2 will work with a linux driver as a HID mouse. You'd only need an adapter for composite sync.

I've actually done this before on linux, I'm not sure how to compile a linux driver for MiSTer though.

I have a gcon2, hopefully you're right that it can be supported. Makes sense for it to be.

I think you misunderstood him.

OK thanks for that? Maybe you could tell me what I misunderstood?

[retrorepair]

I have a gcon2, hopefully you're right that it can be supported. Makes sense for it to be.

I think you misunderstood him.

OK thanks for that? Maybe you could tell me what I misunderstood?

I don't see what you misunderstood, seems like you got it to me!

[dmckean]

I think you misunderstood him.

OK thanks for that? Maybe you could tell me what I misunderstood?

I don't see what you misunderstood, seems like you got it to me!

You're working on this then?

[Matsu]

3 questions, regarding various peripherals/controllers:

Would it be possible to add Namco Paddle/Volume controller support? That would be great for Arkanoid and other cores that support it.

I have an arcade stick with a Cthulhu pcb, that supports legacy console including PS1. It's plug and play an recognizes which console is connected (if you use the correct rj45 cable).
Will it act the same with Gun2CRT and think it's connecting to a PS1?

And finally, I have an official Saturn controller for PS1. Can you make this work?

This device is already a dream come true, but additional support for any of these above would be tremendously awesome.

[metalfacemark]

following this for when its released.

[JayBee]

3 questions, regarding various peripherals/controllers:

Would it be possible to add Namco Paddle/Volume controller support? That would be great for Arkanoid and other cores that support it.

I have an arcade stick with a Cthulhu pcb, that supports legacy console including PS1. It's plug and play an recognizes which console is connected (if you use the correct rj45 cable).
Will it act the same with Gun2CRT and think it's connecting to a PS1?

And finally, I have an official Saturn controller for PS1. Can you make this work?

This device is already a dream come true, but additional support for any of these above would be tremendously awesome.

Yeah any native controller should work on it, it's just a matter of adding them to the list of detected devices in my firmware.
For the Cthulhu, I'd say it should work too, but I am not entirely sure.
I do have one too so I might test that out.
I'd be curious to know how is the latency of the PSX port vs usb on the Cthulhu tho.
My adapter should have super low latency (less than 1ms), but the Cthulhu itself is encoding the buttons to the psx port protocol.

[Matsu]

That's great to hear. Hope you can get your hands on a Volume controller or find someone who can give you the needed data

The Cthulhu doesn't score that well in some lag tests. But I never really noticed it myself. It still would be cool if it works.
I'm already thinking of just swapping it out with a Brook Retro Board for ease of use. Works better with PC too.

Follow up question: Have you considered making a GUN2CRT version with 2 controller ports? Is this even possible?

[JayBee]

That's great to hear. Hope you can get your hands on a Volume controller or find someone who can give you the needed data

The Cthulhu doesn't score that well in some lag tests. But I never really noticed it myself. It still would be cool if it works.
I'm already thinking of just swapping it out with a Brook Retro Board for ease of use. Works better with PC too.

Follow up question: Have you considered making a GUN2CRT version with 2 controller ports? Is this even possible?

Yeah I will test as soon as I can for the Cthulhu.
For the 2 controller ports... That's actually what I am working on lately. More info coming soon