Franken-panels Vs. Multi-Swaps

[TopJimmyCooks]

And I don't understand what you mean by having to remap the keys. You only have to keep the controller at it's default and just wire each control panel once the correct way.

Eds1275 is referring to using usb devices as part of your swappable setup.  For instance, if your swap involves two u360 analog sticks being plugged in via usb, there could be a mix up of joystick 1 and joystick 2, therefore player 1, player 2.  The usb system does not give any permanent or repeatable identification or priority to one of two devices of the same type, best I can tell.  for this reason, in my swappable system, there is never more than 1 usb joystick in play, 1 usb mouse, 1 usb keyboard and the key encoder is PS2 to make doubly sure.  You are coming at this from more of an original, digital controls angle so this problem probably won't affect your setup. 

[drventure]

@TopJimmyCooks

have you checked out my little ControllerRemap utility

It's specifically for situations like this (where multiple USB devices are being swapped out of a cab)

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=108767.0

It's not terribly pretty, but it gets the job done and makes swappable Cps, and removable gamepads much easier to work with (as in pretty much automatic).

[TopJimmyCooks]

I bookmarked that in case the need arises - Thank you. 

[clok]

* Frankenpanel owner*

My original plan was a clean 2 joystick 6 button panel. Nice looking as many have stated and functional.  But I soon came to the understanding my most vivid arcade memories are multi player games (especially marthon Guntlet and Smash TV ones with friends) So my panel evolved into 4 joysticks and buttons. With the descision to go 4 joystick the panel grew quite large to "fit" some slightly out of shape adult males. Once the panel grew this big I had alot of room to add.  A giant 4 ojoystick panel with "vast... tracts of land" or a busy do all..  I love the idea of claen swapable panels, but we all know lazy is part of human nature and to skip game just cuz i dont want to swap penels seemed silly.

And since I was never going for showroom, but fun.. I carefully added stuff so it didnt obstruct other stuff. In the end my fun outwieghed how it looks.. by a long shot. I dont regert it ever when I can fire of Discs of tron, play crystal castles and pacman, and then get in a few hours of guantlet with 4 buddies without killing the play seesion with a panel swap.. I know many can do it in 30 seconds.. and all that.. Nobody tht plays with me cares if I have 4  8ways, 1 4way, a trackball, spinner and flightstick.. I do have to attach a stearring wheel.. cant have it all no matter how hard I tried.

To each there own, a clean arcade cab is wonderfull to look at (and play)  i just wanted to play um all 

[jimmy2x2x]

* Frankenpanel owner*

My original plan was a clean 2 joystick 6 button panel. Nice looking as many have stated and functional.  But I soon came to the understanding my most vivid arcade memories are multi player games (especially marthon Guntlet and Smash TV ones with friends) So my panel evolved into 4 joysticks and buttons. With the descision to go 4 joystick the panel grew quite large to "fit" some slightly out of shape adult males. Once the panel grew this big I had alot of room to add.  A giant 4 ojoystick panel with "vast... tracts of land" or a busy do all..  I love the idea of claen swapable panels, but we all know lazy is part of human nature and to skip game just cuz i dont want to swap penels seemed silly.

And since I was never going for showroom, but fun.. I carefully added stuff so it didnt obstruct other stuff. In the end my fun outwieghed how it looks.. by a long shot. I dont regert it ever when I can fire of Discs of tron, play crystal castles and pacman, and then get in a few hours of guantlet with 4 buddies without killing the play seesion with a panel swap.. I know many can do it in 30 seconds.. and all that.. Nobody tht plays with me cares if I have 4  8ways, 1 4way, a trackball, spinner and flightstick.. I do have to attach a stearring wheel.. cant have it all no matter how hard I tried.

To each there own, a clean arcade cab is wonderfull to look at (and play)  i just wanted to play um all 

Do you have any pics?

[Rando]

Post 4 - I once dated a girl who had Ds, but she would wet the bed.

One of the prettiest girls I ever met in real life had a really bad habit where she would:

• Get drunk
• Trip random people
• Make out
• Pass out
• Wet the bed

Great fun for a night.  Not so much if you fell asleep next to her.   

[Gatt]

Modular,  Modular all the way.

I bought a Slikstick Frankenpanel,  while it was convient,  it was also the size of Kentucky and completely unusable without a 50" screen.

I then tried building swappable panels,  which worked ok except I need like 8 panels and they took up an incredible amount of space.

So then I build a modular panel,  bought a cheap bookshelf,  and have any layout I could possibly want with no more complexity in use than a swappable,  and significantly less space requirement.  I'll never go back.  Heck,  just today I saw the 2-way joystick,  and I can fit it into my control scheme with a very minimal amount of effort.  My only wish is that there was a place to buy clean wiring harnesses for the controls ending in ethernet ports,  it took me longer to work out the wiring than it did to design and build the panels and box,  due entirely to all the wiring fuss.

Honestly,  if you're looking at Swappable panels,  you really should consider modular.  Outside of the artwork and the slight edges between them,  there's really not much difference in design or use.

Though I admit,  the artwork issue is definitely a valid complaint,  I understand it's important to many.

[arzoo]

clok - love the Holy Grail ref!

I'm also a Frankenpanel owner - mine is double level with the trackball, spinner, and Tron stick on the upper deck. The lower deck supports four players with six sticks (so Smash TV can be played). I also made sure the button layout worked well for single player (classics) and left/right handed players. Although it's large, the cab itself is large (with 27" monitor) - so the 40" wide cp does not seem too big.

As my first cab/cp build, overall I've been very pleased. Whenever we have family or friends over, everyone seems to find a game to play and nobody has trouble with the controls. Were I to do it again, I'd drop the trigger stick - it never gets used.

[Xiaou2]

Arzoo, you just gota find & introduce them to the good trigger stick games.

 Try 'Mad Planets' for a starter.

[CheffoJeffo]

Arzoo, you just gota find & introduce them to the good trigger stick games.

 Try 'Mad Planets' for a starter.

C'mon Steve, why do you have to start making sense ?

 

[pinballwizard79]

I'm just going to plug my Frankenpanel now

[Cakemeister]

There are two other options. Modular panels and a rotateable control panel.

[drventure]

@Arzoo
Didn't realize you went with a panel modeled after the "supercade". Nice job!

I haven't found much use for my flight stick either, but I'll have to check out 'mad planets'

[leapinlew]

To me, it comes down to if you will be having guests play. I can tell you first hand how disenchanted someone gets with an arcade if you have to say any of the following:

"This is a 4 way game, you need to life the joystick and turn"
"This game requires those joysticks"
"If you want to play this game you need to uninstall this panel and install this panel"

If your the primary player, build a frankenpanel but if you are going to be entertaining and have a desire to not be asked questions all night, build a machine with minimal controls and a smaller game list.

[arzoo]

@Arzoo
Didn't realize you went with a panel modeled after the "supercade". Nice job!

I haven't found much use for my flight stick either, but I'll have to check out 'mad planets'

Yup - I've only seen one other double-deck cp aside from mine and supercade. The layout works well but building was an effort. I've since built two other 'normal' cp's and they took way less time!

Ditto on Mad Planets!

[Donkey_Kong]

I thought one of the big reasons a guy would do a flight stick would be for TRON! Isn't that game reason enough?

[telengard]

Or... how about MULTIPLE Frankenpanels.

I wouldn't want multiple panels. Where do those extra ones even go? In a big pile next to the cabinet? I like my semi-frankenpanel. It's got a good selection of things so I don't have to worry about most games (No Tron stick.. but honestly, ---fudgesicle--- Tron.) I think as long as you plan well, and aim for aesthetics, you can have a good variety of things to play most games.
I really think that damned Tron stick is a key component to most frankenpanels!

I had multiple (not franken) panels at one time.  It was a real pain as you said.  Storage was a huge issue.  I went to a modular approach and am very very happy (see sig for pics).

~telengard

[drventure]

@Telengard

That's a nice setup, but it looks like it'd be a pain to swap panels out to play different games. How much work is that?

[telengard]

@Telengard

That's a nice setup, but it looks like it'd be a pain to swap panels out to play different games. How much work is that?

Thanks!  It's not as bad as it looks.  4 screws with an electric screw driver and plug in a network cable to swap joysticks.  Takes < 1 minute.  If I need to do a very specific layout it may take 2/3 minutes.  Totally worth the flexibility for me.  I think the machine spends half of its life w/ the Robotron and Defender configs though, I can play those forever.     

~telengard

[Paul Olson]

I have had the Robotron setup on mine for months now. I have been playing a lot of Black Widow.