7 button question

[soslo]

On my last CP, I had my 6-button layout wired like this:

456
123

I am now making a 7 button CP (top 3 buttons are black, and the bottom 4 are like neo-geo).  How should I wire them up? Which button gets repeated?

Example:
 456
1234



Thanks

[cdbrown]

Many people have there layout like
  5 6 7
  2 3 4
1

And have button 1 and 7 wired together.  The thing to remember is if you've got a group of 6 buttons each of them should be wired differently, it's that extra neogeo button that can be wired with a button on the top row.  

Good luck

[soslo]

with the layout you just mentioned, it looks a little crazy for SF type games...or perhaps my understanding of the button numbers is off. I am thinking in terms of IPAC wiring.

I use buttons 7 and 8 for both players as admin buttons (pause, escape, menu, select)

 

[cdbrown]

Sorry mate - I just numbered those buttons without the wiring

So if I do it again
   4 5 6
   1 2 3
6

Or a different way
  1 2 3
  4 5 6
1

Just remember have your 6 SF buttons wired to spots 1->6, then that extra button on the bottom line (be it on the left or right of the SF buttons) wire that to the same IPAC spot as one of the buttons on the top row.  It doesn't really matter which one.

This is where ctrlr files are very important.  You can wire it up any way you want and you assign which buttons do what in the ctrlr files.

I hope that's clearer - if not shout.

[soslo]

much clearer - thanks!

[Hellfromabove]

Actually I made a cemetric layout. When you print it out (which you can on a regular printer) the holes will be the exact drill sizes. Also on th left it has a joystick mounted with exact place to drill for stick and places to drill for the carriage bolts. I'll post it later since it's not on this comp. Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[2slk]

 I think you can wire the buttons however you want (with the exception of hardwiring two buttons to the same encoder connector) and just use the MAME ctrlr files to change how MAME interprets them.  Don't ask me exactly how to do it because my cab isn't completed yet. I think SirP does it that way though.

[Hellfromabove]

Here's that layout I made that I promised, hope you like:

Thanx.

-See Ya!!!

[u_rebelscum]

I think you can wire the buttons however you want (with the exception of hardwiring two buttons to the same encoder connector) and just use the MAME ctrlr files to change how MAME interprets them.

Shhhh.... Don't tell them that; it will just confuse them.  

[Howard_Casto]

No joke don't tell them that.
 
It's important to get your layout right in the hard-wired sense first and then turn to software on special cases.  Remember you can mass-redefine easily for mame, but not for other emulators.  

[u_rebelscum]

No joke don't tell them that.

It's important to get your layout right in the hard-wired sense first and then turn to software on special cases.  Remember you can mass-redefine easily for mame, but not for other emulators.

I meant it as a joke, and still do.  I left out a part to keep down the confusion.  Here's that part:

The best reason to hardwire the physical button1 to the ipac port labeled button1, which is by default "left_ctrl", which is the default mame button1,  is so you don't get confused when you hear or read the term/label "button1".  Hence my "don't tell them.." joke.

OTOH, the Ipac, as most CP encoders, can be remapped for that all emu "mass-redefine".  
For example, the mk64 encoder instructions say (paraphrased): hook up the wires any way to want (except for ground, and the rotary, shift button and LED exceptions if you use them), and then use the encoder software to reprogram the encoder to output what you want each button/direction to output.  
Yes, it's more work to reprogram the ipac than not to, but it's not all that much more. [shrug]

True, it is easier and less confusing to just wire it the way it's labeled and ignore many of the encoders' features, and for us helpers to pretend that that's the only way.  But there is more than one way, and sometimes are usefull (example: you can easily do a 3 player CP (up to 4 buttons each) with the ipac2 even though it's only labeled for 2 players).

Of course, if you only use mame, you can do as 2slk said.  (With some problems with "hardcoded" inputs, however.)

[grafixmonkey]

I remapped P1B1 off of ctrl.  Same for everything that was an alt, shift, etc., because the dang things kept doing windows shortcuts.  After my panel had been working great for a week, it took me forever to figure out why Mame kept jumping from fullscreen to windowed and back when I played Turtles.  Turned out player 3 had never been used at the same time as P1 before then, and one of its buttons was 'enter' while one of P1's was 'alt'.  Grrrrr.