Button layout and interfacing

[RobotNinjaTim]

So, I am trying to plan out my first cab, and was trying to nail down some of the properties of my CP.  I wanted to do a universal two-player layout, with 8-way joysticks, trackball, spinner, 4-way joystick, etc.  Something along the lines of the Classic Controller from the Mame Room.  I had a couple questions about the layout along the top of the panel.  Would people recommend that layout around the spinner and 4-way joystick?  Would a cluster of buttons in between the spinner and joystick be better?  And if that was the case, would it be better to switch the sides that the spinner and joystick are on of the buttons?  I'm sure some of it would be preference, but I was just trying to get an idea to get the most versatility out of my CP.

Onto the second part of the topic... I was thinking of using the I-PAC 4 from Ultimarc to interface the buttons and the OptiPAC from Ultimarc for the trackball and spinner.  Those interfaces should be able to handle all the inputs as well as allow for other CP configurations I may have in the future.  My questions about the interface were as follows:  If I wanted to do something like the layout discussed above, how would I connect it all up?  Would the buttons for the spinner and 4-way joystick be connected to the same inputs as the other buttons for player 1?  And what about the pinball function buttons, player 1 again?  Or should those buttons be connected to player 3 or 4 and configured to function as intended for certain games?  And also, probably a slightly dumber question, but how would exit, pause, etc. type buttons be connected into those interfaces?  All through configuration?

Thanks in advance for your guy's suggestions and help.

[darcyp]

personally, i wouldn't recommend that layout. it seems to me that the top part of that cp is laid out like that for the sole purpose of playing asteroids correctly. if that game is not that big of a deal to you i wouldnt have most of those buttons cluttering up the top. you can always use player 1 and 2 buttons for any games that you are using the 4way or the spinner, and i find that works great.
another thing i would get rid of are the 3 mouse buttons to the left of the trackball. I think you will find that once you have your cab set up, they never need to be used. as said before, your player 1 and 2 buttons will work great for any trackball game without the need for 3 dedicated buttons.
as for the 4way, i would just wire it up to the same inputs as the player 1 8way. very simple and you dont have to bother reconfiguring for every game you want to use the 4way in.
i dont really play much pinball, so sadly i cant really recommend anything there.

[RobotNinjaTim]

Thanks so much for the suggestions.  Feel free to keep more coming guys.

[drventure]

I'd ditch the 3 buttons near the trackball, and nix the 4 way in lieu of 2 u360's (which can be 4 way, 2 way, 8 way, diagonal (for qbert), or analog). I WISH I'd know about that before I built my CP. Doh!

I can't really comment on the button arrangement at the top, it does look a little cluttered, but then, it just depends on what you're after.

[RobotNinjaTim]

I originally just liked the buttons up top because it gave a set of buttons for the spinner and dedicated 4-way up top.  I wasn't a huge fan of the extended layout because it was a little too game specific.  I like the idea of having versatility of the U360s.  I could clean up the top a lot with that and maybe figure out a different arrangement for the spinner.

[saleem]

if you play games like asteroids where the game originaly used buttons for left and right if you can squeeze them into the panel,perferably near your 1player stick,say to the bottom left.i did and i tried it out today and man its soo much better.i just used the player 1 default buttons for the thrust/fire etc.its a 6 button layout,once you know where the buttons are your life will be easy then.

i kept plenty of space (or as much as i could) between the spintrak (spinner) and the buttons that way my arms wont feel cramped together so i can use the spinner comfortably rather than being tight and wandering what way to spin the top,i can just move my hand then up and down it rather than grabbing the spinner top and trying to twist it.
 

[RobotNinjaTim]

I do like Asteroids, but I don't know if I need a dedicated layout for such a thing.  I would rather have just a versatile layout that can play many games.  So I can probably clean up and simplify that layout a lot.  Maybe I will try something where I have the spinner above the trackball with it's own small set of buttons to the left or right of the spinner.  If I got rid of the buttons for the trackball, I could probably just use the player 1 buttons to the left of it for needed funtions.  And I'm still not quite sure about the pinball function buttons, but I assume that they would just be interfaced into the player 1 keys.  I've been looking at a lot of pictures trying to figure out good layouts and what works for other people.  And seeing what comments they had about their own layouts, like things they would change.  I am still unsure how button for pause and exit work... does it require the use of the shift commands?  Or do you just reprogram the function of one of the keys for the I-PAC encoder?

Thanks again for all your help guys.

[RobotNinjaTim]

Or, maybe up top I could have spinner, set of buttons, then a trigger joystick or something to allow for Tron play    The more I looks at things, the more I want to do and the more ideas I have, haha.

[mwong168]

When I was designing my control panel I wanted the maintain symmetry and to my own preference since I am left handed for using joysticks and right handed when I use the spinner for Arkanoid.  But if I have someone play my cabinet that is the opposite I could always map buttons from P1 for my dedicated 4 way stick (one with the red balltop) or P4 for the spinner.  An added bonus to my layout is it is left and right hand friendly when it comes to the trackball since buttons are on both sides. 

[RobotNinjaTim]

I think I am finally figuring out my layout.  mwong168, I like how your CP can cater to righties and lefties.  I don't think I'll do that just to make things a little more simple to figure out.  I think I will do a 2P setup with a U360 and seven buttons for each player, trackball in between the setups.  Above that will be a spinner and a trigger style joystick with an undetermined number of buttons in between them.  On the sides of the top will be the coin, player, pause, exit, etx buttons.  I've seen some pictures of CPs similar to this and I like the look and the functionality.  Hopefully I can make it happen.  I have a question from all of this though.  If I wanted buttons 1-3 of player 1 to function as left, right, and middle click for the trackball, does that require extra mapping or would that kind of be a default?