Console Light gun on CRT monitor?

[Navin_Johnson]

I've been thinking about getting a couple of light guns. I have a 36 inch Gateway Destination CRT monitor that runs at 800x600 off a PC. I also have a Gamecube, Xbox, PS2 and Dreamcast connected to the PC through a TV card which I display using Dscaler. The Gamecube, Xbox and PS2 are connected via S-video and I plan to get a VGA connect for the Dreamcast. On the PC I run Mame and console emulators (NES, SNES, Genesis, N64).

Does anyone know what my options are for light guns with this setup? I'd like to run the light gun games on the NES emulator (duckhunt, hogan's alley) and MAME, but I'd also like to run the light gun games on as many of the consoles as practical (Dreamcast - House of the Dead, PS2, maybe Xbox?).

I'm guessing there are PC light guns that should work fine for the emulators. But would a PS2 gun work on my monitor? Would that same PS2 gun work through a USB adapter for PC games/emulation? Would the Dreamcast gun work on my monitor?

Thanks for any help.

Navin_Johnson

[Ziggy]

I know they make PC light guns with a game port interface. While I've never seen a USB before, I'm willing to bet they make one. If the particular emulator is capable of using a light gun then it should work fine, if it detects the light gun. I have a USB Gamepad that every emulator I've used recognized.

[Niode]

The G-con will not work. It needs a composite video signal directly into the gun for it to work. You can't get that from a CRT Monitor. I'm not hundred percent sure how horizontal refresh works on CRT monitors either. IT would highly depend on a 50/60Hz refresh. Getting the game to sync with an externally set refresh rate would cause a lot of problems. You'd be lucky to get it to work at all.

Don't get me wrong, the technology is technically the same but I think there are some fundamental differences with how each one works that will allow Cathode Ray Timing (the way most 90s-early 00s light-gun games work) to work.

[NotBlaine]

You'd have to break out the sync signal from the console and run that to the light gun. You'd also need to upscan the video and sync signals to 60khz to run on the monitor (consoles and arcade boards are usually 15khz).

Off the top of my head, you'd probably have to amplify the signal if you're going to be splitting it up like that...

Now, talk to daddy - why do you wanna go and do this?

If your heart isn't set on this monitor, you can always go buy a Tri-Sync or Tri-Mode monitor that will support 15khz and VGA. It'll cost a lil' more, but you won't have to dick around. Just wire up whatever you want to it and you're rocking.

Super Nintendo? Plug it in. Dreamcast VGA? Plug it in. Wanna buy an old arcade board? Plug it in.

Then again... not a cheap fix. Sorry.

[Navin_Johnson]

Thanks for the responses. It is complicated with my particular set up, as I feared. Sounds like the best solution is to get a specific gun for the consoles (and play them on a tv). For mame, there might be the pc only gun to look into.