ps3 fightstick as interface + other ?'s

[jmohr1]

Hello there. I'm new here and in the late planning stages for my 1st arcade attempt. I was hoping for some opinions on the route I'm taking. My plan is to use 2 sf4 fightsticks (standard not te) as the "brains" for a control panel. Basically I will build my own panel with new buttons and joysticks wired to the fightstick innards to work with both the ps3 and my pc (by simply swapping the usb and hdmi cables from the pc to ps3 when I want to change systems, no fancy hacking involved).

Questions;

I have yet to try any ps2 games with the sticks, can anyone confirm they will work (ps3 is software backwards compatible, I just don't have any ps2 fighters)?

I think I can get by with 15 buttons total (6 + start for each player and one "shift") with the first player a dedicated 8-way and the second switchable but it seems like most cp's have far more, am I forgetting something?

Any games where I need the ps button still accessible, or will it be OK to hide that one?

If I have my entire control panel top cut from 1/4" acrylic will it hold up (likely between 14x22 and 16x24, I was thinking of adding one brace down the center)?

So far when I turn the pc on with both sticks plugged in it sees the same one as p1, will this always be true (I'm a little concerned about having using 2 separate usb inputs rather than just 1.

Thanks for all the work on this site, and any help you all can give me.

[Donkbaca]

I don't know what you mean as shift, the fightstick pcb doesnt support shift functions.
If you are going to be playing Mame, you will need buttons for coin, and you will need a button to exit the game.

I don't think 1/4 inch arcrylic will be string enough for the cp, but give it a shot.

Only other thing to think about is that you may new xpadder or a similar program for some emulators, as some need keyboard inputs

Other than that it should work like a charm

[jmohr1]

Thanks for the quick response!

 You're probably right about the acrylic. I've seen people with acrylic 1p panels for street fighter and the like, but those aren't permanently mounted so if you apply a little too much pressure, the whole unit will move rather than break. Ill probably just stick with MDF as my design is already drawn up with 3/4 inch MDF. I was a little concerned about accurately cutting the button holes and figured I could have a shop computer cut an acrylic panel.

 As for the buttons, I currently have MAME set so my fight stick "select" is my shift key (and unless I'm imagining things it's working 100% as intended). Simply pressing select and any other button doubles the functions; For example p1 start is my start button, and p1 coin is done by pressing select+start. Instead of a dedicated "esc" button, I press select+left, etc. There are some emu's that will not be so easy, but there are joystick keyboard mappers that should fit what I need. I'll likely only run MAME, fba, and u64emu (MAME isn't fast enough on the netbook I'm powering the system with, otherwise I'd just go 100% MAME), so not too many progs to figure out.

 Sorry for the wall of words... Any one else want to throw their two cents in on any of this?