joysticks for Battlezone

[blub50]

When making a 2 player CP for MAME, do I need a second player 1 firing joystick to play Battlezone?...How do you guys wire your CP for this game...Im planning my control panel and am trying to do it right...THANKS!!

[drventure]

Keep in mind that in MAME, you can map just about anything to just about anything, on a per game basis.

That means that you can build a 2 player control panel, with 2 typical joysticks, one for each player, but, for Battlezone proper, you can map player1 joystick to the left tread control and player 2 joystick to the right tread control.

Another great example is SMASH TV or Robotron. Those games used 2 joysticks, one for move, one for fire. But, if you build a typical 2p CP, you can just map P1 stick to MOVE, and P2 stick to fire (or whatever you want).

If I'd realized that up front, I'd have never put a diagonally mounted 4-8 way stick for qbert and such on my cab (I'd have just mapped my U360's to mimic that behavior), but, ah well, live and learn.

[blub50]

Drventure, thanks for the info...I'm an old guy trying to figure this all out, My Nephew has my MAME system up and running...I'm a furniture-maker, so now it's time for me to put my skills to work...when it comes time to wire my CP, I'll have lots of questions im sure...Thanks Again!!

[drventure]

Furniture maker? Nice. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

We've got several guys around here that either are, or certainly could be furniture makers, with the kind of builds they're doing.

Back to mame. yes, it's super configurable.

The only real things you need to consider are what kinds of games you're likely to be running.

Most people opt for a 2 player, with between 4 and 7 buttons per player.

But then you can also opt for a trackball, spinner, pinball buttons and plunger if you lean that way, the list goes on.

Definitely browse around. In particular check the Hall of Fame thread for some great builds and great info.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=103103.0

[blub50]

I'm going to go with a 2 player with 2- 8way joysticks, a 4 way joystick, a spinner and trackball...As an old gamer, I like the old games...Donkey Kong...Frogger...Alpine Ski...I'm not into the fighting games like Mortal Combat, but I do want a light gun to play Hogans Alley and Duck Hunt...I'm not going to try to re-invent the cabinet, just build a nice classic cabinet...put some cool side art on it...maybe a few led buttons...and I was thinking a 19' led arcade screen, which is 4:3 aspect ratio...Do the games look ok on the wide screen monitors? I'll take any suggestions you might have on which brands of hardware to get...I dont understand a lot of the technical things, so any help is greatly appreciated...

[darthpaul]

Why have separate 4 and 8 way Joysticks, just buy 2 Joysticks that can convert to 4/8 way with the flick of a lever, than automate them using servos and the Controlchoose plugin.

[drventure]

Why have separate 4 and 8 way Joysticks, just buy 2 Joysticks that can convert to 4/8 way with the flick of a lever, than automate them using servos and the Controlchoose plugin.

+1 Don't bother with the third stick. I use a couple of MagStickPluses for P34, and they're even switchable from the top of the CP (you just lift up slightly on the stick and turn one way for 4way, the other for 8way), if you don't want to try out the automatic approach

[boardjunkie]

Most light guns only work with CRT monitors.

[tony.silveira]

those old games you like, many run on vertical monitors.  so a 19" 4:3 horizontal monitor will make vert games seem a tad small, in my opinion.

keep yur eyes open on craigslist local to you, maybe you could pick up a machine with a 25" crt screen for very cheap (monitor works, game doesn't kind of deal) and gut it for the screen.

[BadMouth]

Most light guns only work with CRT monitors.

True light guns only work on CRTs, but the new guns use IR LEDs for tracking, so they'll work on anything.
Not as good as real light guns in my opinion, but they do work.

http://www.ultimarc.com/aimtrak.html
www.arcadeguns.com

[ChadTower]

The issue with Battlezone in particular is that while you can map 1P stick to left tread and 2P stick to right tread you can't come up with a third hand for a fire button that isn't on one of the sticks.

[drventure]

The issue with Battlezone in particular is that while you can map 1P stick to left tread and 2P stick to right tread you can't come up with a third hand for a fire button that isn't on one of the sticks.

Right, did I forget to mention that? 

Guys here +have+ modded sticks to place a button (or LEDs) on top, but it doesn't look like a simple mod.

[ChadTower]

If Battlezone is specifically important to you I would say just make one of the sticks a topfire stick.  You can wire the topfire button in parallel with any of the regular fire buttons.

[tony.silveira]

mmmmm magnetic trigger stick hack mmmmmmm

[Cynicaster]

I’ve got a 2-player panel with run-of-the-mill Happ Competition sticks and 6 buttons per player (2 rows of 3).  To play Battlezone, I map the two sticks in the obvious way, and map the fire button to the left-most button in the second row on the P1 side.  I find I’m able to play just fine by gripping the joysticks overhead (i.e. like a gear shifter in a car), and using my thumb to hit the fire button.  Since in Battlezone you don’t mash the fire button like you would in, say, a standard vertical shooter, this control scheme works much better than it probably sounds like it would.

I find the game quite playable this way, but it probably has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve never played a real Battlezone.  I’d have to imagine that anybody building a generic upright MAME cabinet to pursue Battlezone nostalgia is going to be sorely disappointed.  Between the simulation of vector graphics, lack of the immersive scope view, and the ersatz control scheme provided by a general purpose control panel, you have too many things conspiring against you.  Obviously it’s your choice what you do, but I’d question the wisdom of doing something specific (like a top fire joystick) just to play Battlezone, when the end result will still be so half-assed. 

Another thing to think about is, if you put a top fire joystick on one side, you’ll probably want to do it on both sides.  Maybe I’m wrong but I think twin stick games like Robotron and Smash TV would feel awful weird if you were using two different types of joystick. 

[Major Mame]

I set up MAME with MaLa, and read the threads, trying to set up a two stick layout for Battlezone.  Still not sure about this, so I posted on this old thread.  I have the iPac board.  How do you "map" MAME so that one stick can connect to the joystick 1 terminals, and the second right hand stick to joystick 2 and this work?  Will it work using the iPac board without further mapping?  I have not picked up the sticks yet to try this. 
Please, do not blast me for not understanding the "mapping" part of MAME.  I just finally got a computer set up and running with a few ROMS on it, one of them being Battlezone.
On the keyboard, letters E, D, I, and K operate the tank treads, that is how I am currently playing the game.  I was prepared to hack a keyboard and wire up the joysticks this way.  I really would like to play Battlezone with the sticks! 

[PL1]

To set MAME inputs, start by pressing tab to bring up the menu.

The menu you want is "Input (this Game)"

To set the controls, use up/down arrows to highlight the desired input and do this:
1. Press Enter
2. Press the control you want mapped to that input (Sets the input)

Repeat as needed.

If you make a mistake and want to reset any MAME inputs to default, use up/down arrows to highlight the desired input and do this:
1. Press Enter
2. Press Escape (Clears the input)
3. Press Enter
4. Press Escape (Returns the input to default keys)


Scott

[Major Mame]

Thanks PL1.
I worked out how to map with your instructions, but it was still interesting with Battlezone, since two sticks are inputing movement, at the same time for some moves.  Looking at the iPac2 setup, I found that the right stick could be connected to terminals (2SW5) and (2SW6), thus operating the default setting (for the iPac board and the Battlezone ROM) of letter I for Right/up, and [K] for Right/Down  or
if the second stick (the right side stick) were connected to terminals 2 Up and 2 Down, MAME should be remapped as
Right/Up    [R]
Right/Down    [F]

Major MAME

[paigeoliver]

When we are still in terms of theory builds I like to combo a Ms. Pac reunion (4-way0 joystick immediately to the left of both normal joysticks. (The bases can even be touching and it still works, the pac stick is so short compared to standard ones).

[sshaw10]

Battlezone was a game I wanted controls for and I found a joystick on Ultimarc that looks good.  It's called a MiniGrip stick and has to buttons on the stick, top and front.  I'm going to put it right next to the right joystick so I can use two joysticks for Robotron, etc. and a joystick and the MiniGrip as a flightstick or for Battlezone or Tron.