Very First Build - Questions (To Ipac, or to Hack. That is the question)

[highholyme]

Probably my only build, but meh.

Working on Scratch Build Cabinet, mostly Talking Octopus/Lusid Style. (Wanted to have 4 players so my wife and kids can join in...) 

Was going to just do a couple of USB joypad hacks as PCB's, but then stumbled across the IPAC4. I just wanted some of you more experienced gents opinions.

My Setup is/will be:
4 Player Start Buttons
4 Sticks
-2 w/ 6 Button (Standard Capcom Style)
-2 w/ 3 Button (For X-Men, Simpsons, TMNT, Etc.)
Throwing in a few admin buttons, (Not sure how many)
No trackball or spinners, can't be bothered.

Software is mostly MAME based, with Makaron for Naomi games and (CPS3 Emulator <Can't remember name>) so I don't have to wait for them to initialize in MAME. Also throwing in Street Fighter 4. (Super if it EVER comes out for PC) Using Maximus Arcade as my frontend, Micro XP as my OS.

Hardware I was looking at was KeyWiz or Ipac 4 , XArcade Arcade Pack to get me started and picking up extra sticks/buttons while i'm there. Monitor will be PC, i'm too lazy to bother with an arcade monitor.

Any opinions? I'm mostly concerned about which encoder would be better for my partiular setup idea.

[evitagen]

KeyWiz and Ipac are both pretty great, imo.

Although you may save a little shipping by getting the KeyWiz if you haven't bought your parts yet... because you can order everything from RandyT all in one swoop(if you're doing happs stuff, of course).

Either encoder will work okay... I'm not at all familiar with the XArcade one though.

[Nation]

I would definitely go with an ipac (or keywhiz). Its not that expensive in the grand scheme of things and they work great.

[Comtek]

if you do a keyboard hack with that many buttons u will run into ghosting and blocking problems
if you do a joystick hack most u can get from them is like a dozen or so buttons (well depends on how many buttons the Joystick has)
IPAC is so easy to hook up
i'm currently doing a joystick hack for a 1p control pannel and just have enough buttons on the joystick to make it work

Go with the ipac

[BobA]

You can order everything from Divemaster127 over in Buy/Sell.  He sells Happs and Ultimarc (IPAC4) at good prices.

[dezblack]

from experience..
I tried a gamepad Hack, it worked great for a while, but had to deal with ppjoy and some other stuff to get it configured correctly for all my EMUs. Kind of a headache. The solder points started coming undone, I was constantly having to repair it. Then, I ended up having to buy a second set of gamepads eventually. I finally ended up getting an IPAC and kicked myself for not going that route in the first place. I was trying to save money, but I think its worth paying a little bit more and doing it right the first time!

[Ginsu Victim]

Just buy an Ipac4. You'll be better off in the long run.

[Ed_McCarron]

You can order everything from Divemaster127 over in Buy/Sell.  He sells Happs and Ultimarc (IPAC4) at good prices.

Second Divemaster.  Just wish I knew he sold ipac stuff too.

[J.Max]

The Ipac will save you a ton of time, plus, if you do later decide to add a trackball or spinner, it's right there...

[highholyme]

You are all fantastically helpful.

Give you an update when theres something to say, thanks!