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"Murdered Out"/ The BlackOut Bartop - Artwork Update
Epyx:
Great job with this bartop. I love the curves but even more, I love the sleekness of the design, like a boomerang. :cheers:
javeryh:
--- Quote from: jholman76 on August 03, 2010, 10:21:23 am ---My dad played some Pac-Man and I think I need to get him a dedicated 4 way stick because he was complaining about the controls! I showed him how to be more deliberate with his controls, but he still had fun.
--- End quote ---
Your bartop is great. Have you considered using a U360 stick to avoid control problems? They are great once you get used to them. :cheers:
jholman76:
Thanks for the compliments. I'm going to try to get some pics of it without the flash, that way you get a better sense of the blackout look.
I didn't look to deeply into the U360's for this project simply because of the cost involved. I read up on them in the past for my soon-to-be completed upright, but I decided to go with supers. I must confess I can be cheap sometimes. (you did see the USB hacks right?? ;D)
The issue I was seeing isn't new (infact its OLD) and I actually found a lot of other threads on the same subject. When you plug in a P2 gamepad, P1 sometimes will default to P2 and the gamepad will be P1. Frustrating.
Well, from what I can deduct, XP enumerates the USB ports and then that determines their hierarchy. I have a bank of 4 USB's and another bank of 3 under the NIC card. Two scenarios have to be in align for the gamepad to always be P2.
1. The 1P gamepad has to have a higher alphabetical name that is recognized by windows (closer to A, not Z) or has to be IDENTICAL to the 2P gamepad (see notes below)
2. The 1P gamepad has to be on a higher level USB port than the 2P gamepad
In #1, I have 2 identical USB gamepads (thanks GGG) and when plugged in at the same time, certain USB's are have higher priority than others, so they will always be 1P and the other will move to 2P. I found that even with a different gamepad plugged in the same way, it overtook P1. The reason I can best find is that the problematic gamepad was detected as a "Logitech Gamepad USB" and the P1 gamepad was similar to "USB Gamepad". L comes before U, therefore the Logitech is player 1 regardless of what USB it is plugged into. These names can be seen under Control Panel>Game Controllers.
Fun, eh??
In #2 I just had to poke around until I found the "alpha" USB port that would never change. Once I had that cornered, I use that for the P1 cabinet controls.
I have tested it several times under different conditions and every time, as long as I plug in BEFORE the game starts, P1 is P1 and P2 is P2. woo!
Now, I know I may be incorrect on the findings above, and I KNOW that simply buying a iPAC or KeyWiz would have solved this earlier, but now I get to make a P2 joystick that will double as a single player lap-top joy for my living room tv as well! Another project!
The findings above may be long winded again, but in all seriousness, it took me about 15 minutes to figure it out. It took longer to type and format this post than it did to troubleshoot and find a solution.
joe
jholman76:
Alright, another update! This time its time for the marquees, vinyl button labels, and the newly painted bezel!
I finally had a night to work on this again, so sorry for the delay.
Here are the vinyl button labels courtesy of Pongo:
There are only 4 on the front panel, and its all that I find I need. No franken panel here!
Next up is the painted bezel. It wasnt that fun to mask off and paint/fit, but it got done. It helps by drawing more focus to the screen.
Ok, and now what you really want to see... the MARQUEES!
I got all of these printed from EMDKAY. He was awesome to work with and I would suggest using his services.
I chose these games because they were either my favorites growing up, or heavily influenced my gaming preference.
1943
Double Dragon
Dragons Lair (Thanks to supadave for the assistance!)
Galaga (it was this, or waste a big chunk of marqee. The blank areas will be filled in later with black paper)
MatMania
Mortal Kombat II
Street Fighter II
Let me know what you think!
joe
chopps:
fantastic bartop! and the mat mania marque brought a huge smile to my face! :) spent waaaaaaaaaaaay too many quarters on that game... awesome :applaud: