Need some help with controls and I-Pac.

[MBaran]

Ive been checking stuff out and i had a few questions. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3247603979&category=13716

On /\ machine, what are 7 user buttons for and what is with the single 4 way black joystick at the top, and how would all that be wired to one  2 player ipac?

I appreciate all advice on setting up a good 2p control panel. Thanks!

[dirt]

the 7 user buttons are what you use to play the games and the 4 way stick is for older games such as pac man and donkey kong. I wired my 4way stick to my player 1 8way stick that way i can use either of them for player 1 and i could stay with the ipac2.

dirt

[SirPoonga]

Well, use them for whatever:)

Ok, the 4-way as mentioned is for classic games so you ahve the 4-way feel.

The 7 buttons are there so you have them to use  I think it is  bad format where they put the 7th button, but most people who have a 7 button layout like that want a row of 4 buttons for neogeo.

[grafixmonkey]

I bet the seventh (yellow) button is for mortal kombat 3, and its run button.  

But holy wow, is that laid out awful!  Player 2 is backwards, for crying out loud.  Everybody would be fighting for player 1, and whoever ended up on player 2 wouldn't be able to do anything.  Buttons all over the place...  5 of them I have no idea what they're for, one looks like it's just there to get some kind of symmetrical effect around the 4-way joystick...   *shudder*

[OSCAR]

But holy wow, is that laid out awful!  Player 2 is backwards, for crying out loud.  Everybody would be fighting for player 1, and whoever ended up on player 2 wouldn't be able to do anything.  Buttons all over the place...  5 of them I have no idea what they're for, one looks like it's just there to get some kind of symmetrical effect around the 4-way joystick...   *shudder*

And that's not all!  See how the bottom of the joystick handles rest right against the control panel.  Bleh.  And even though they recessed the t'ball mounting plate for the plexi, they still left it visible?  Tacky.  I'm normally not one to criticize someone else's cp, but that is a pretty poor example IMO.

[grafixmonkey]

I'm not usually critical of work like that either, but he's trying to sell the thing with games included, and for the $2,700 range if the "buy it now" button is any indication of his reserve!  Plus, he's using the "and get this act-labs gun FREE with purchase" technique, and putting a bunch of titty-pictures in the screenshots to show he has porn games on it.  If I had a monitor and marquee on my cab, I would not sell it for more than $1500 or $1600.  I think that would give me more than fair profit for labor above cost of parts.  And mine is a 4-player rig, with 4-player coin door, trackball, spinner, and artwork printed on a spool printer.  I'm sure that guy could only justify $800 or so for parts.

[grafixmonkey]

oh in answer to your question, an ipac has 8 button inputs for each player in addition to the coin / start buttons.  So, two things can happen:  the seven buttons next to the two main joysticks would wire to buttons 1 through 7, or one of the buttons in the 7-button layout would double up and they would wire to 1-6.  For MK3 (looks like what they had in mind), you'd probably double the extra yellow button with the top middle button in the bank of six, so that the bottom middle would be block, the ones on the left and right be punch and kick, and the top middle and extra yellow one would be run.  Then Neo Geo games could map the extra yellow and the other three bottom buttons as buttons 1 thru 4.

That leaves either one button each or two buttons each for random admin buttons, which it looks like he has on the top row.  Since there's a trackball, he probably has an Optipac in there - that gives four more buttons that can be wired, so he has a total of 6 to 8 available admin buttons (looks like he uses 5 of them...   why?  why?).

The remaining buttons would end up having the same functionality in games as the first few buttons on the player 1 joystick, so they would just be doubled up with those wire connections to the ipac.  Of course, this also means that people can reach up and smack those buttons while you're in an intense fighter match and make your character do stuff, and those buttons can't be unmapped for games that don't use them.  The 4-player joystick in the middle would just wire in parallel with the left joystick.

Well, this is how I'd wire that panel to the IPAC-2:
1.)  remove all controls and buttons
2.)  start fire using existing control panel
3.)  cook s'mores
4.)  make new panel
5.)  wire intelligent button configuration to ipac-2
6.)  eat s'mores (eew, they got cold!)

[paigeoliver]

Also realize that a lot of the expensive Mame cabinets on ebay are not even built yet. The guys are just waiting for someone to bite, then they will use the money to build the cabinet.

Best way to find out if that is the case to is email the seller, and tell them you are local, and ask them if you can pick it up today if you use buy it now. You will likely find that the answer will almost always be no.

Also, I see pictures of at least 3 different cabinets on there. Which one would you be getting?

There is the cabinet that is first pictured (the one with the sideart).

There is the one with the skirted spinner.

Another with a standard spinner.

The auction text specifies a 25" monitor, while the cabinet in the first picture has a monitor that stretches from wall to wall, filling the entire cabinet. That cabinet has to be at least 28" wide (judging from the controls on the panel), so the pictured cabinet would have to have around a 29" or larger monitor.

Not that I believe the cabinet in the first picture even exists. It looks like a 3D render to me. Specifically look at the area below the marquee, and the REFLECTION of one of the joysticks on the GRAY PLASTIC MONITOR BEZEL! Also, I have never seen a gray plastic monitor bezel for sale anywhere, have you?

[grafixmonkey]

Holy cow, you're right...   it is a render!  How did I miss that?  (I'm supposed to be the grafix monkey?   )

the perfect red color of the coin door slots, no textured look on anything, the three distinct Phong reflections in the joysticks and trackball, and the metallic key holes being unnaturally reflective and visible...

BTW, I just noticed this too - they lead you on the whole time saying "plug it in and ready to play" and saying "also contains adult roms, which can be removed upon request" but then halfway down they say "There will be NO ROMs or MPEG VIDEOS included EVER for legal reasons"

I think you're right Paige, it's not built yet.

[EggZilla]

I'm coming late to this party, but I might as well pile on. I've noticed that we have yet to mention that locating the 4-way directly above the track ball is the surest way in the world to torpedo your Golden Tee scores. In fact, if you're clumsy enough, you could legitimately injure yourself, or at least jam a finger. Pretty bad injury for a gamer, lemme tell you.

Or am I the only Golden Tee player uncoordinated enough for this to be a concern? If so, it's Doughcade's fault -- he's the reason my cab has cupholders and my bartender has forgotten my "usual".

[paigeoliver]

I'm coming late to this party, but I might as well pile on. I've noticed that we have yet to mention that locating the 4-way directly above the track ball is the surest way in the world to torpedo your Golden Tee scores. In fact, if you're clumsy enough, you could legitimately injure yourself, or at least jam a finger. Pretty bad injury for a gamer, lemme tell you.

Or am I the only Golden Tee player uncoordinated enough for this to be a concern? If so, it's Doughcade's fault -- he's the reason my cab has cupholders and my bartender has forgotten my "usual".

In my opinion, if you MUST mix control types on a panel, then the place for a 4-way is directly tot he left of the player one joystick. Right next to it, with the bases nearly touching. Most of the monster panels you beavers build have plenty of room to put it there (and just let it share buttons with the normal 1 Player button bank). That way nothing gets in the way of anything else.

Really, nothing should be on top of anything. All the controls should line up.

[grafixmonkey]

In my opinion, if you MUST mix control types on a panel, then the place for a 4-way is directly tot he left of the player one joystick. Right next to it, with the bases nearly touching.

Good idea, that's within easy swatting distance for annoying people who try to mess up your game by twiddling extra joysticks.  (I have younger cousins who come over for holidays.)  

[SirPoonga]

you are worried about someone screwing you up just because of that?

Could they just grab your joystick and hit your buttons at anyime?  

[grafixmonkey]

Trust me...  In street-fighter and mortal kombat competitions, with 8-to-13 year old cousins, any free controls that also control your character are like catnip to a kitten.  You should see them try to play Halo multiplayer on their xbox.  It's more of a competition just to get the game started with two people hitting 'cancel' on their controllers as fast as they can while the other two try to navigate the menu.

That's also why I've decided to put my 'esc' button on the back edge of my control panel - that way it sort of requires a minimum height to reach over and swat it.

[Tiger-Heli]

that gives four more buttons that can be wired, so he has a total of 6 to 8 available admin buttons (looks like he uses 5 of them...   why?  why?).

I think those 5 "admin" buttons are for asteroids, ala Slikstik Classic, FWIW

[u_rebelscum]

Trust me...  In street-fighter and mortal kombat competitions, with 8-to-13 year old cousins, any free controls that also control your character are like catnip to a kitten.  You should see them try to play Halo multiplayer on their xbox.  It's more of a competition just to get the game started with two people hitting 'cancel' on their controllers as fast as they can while the other two try to navigate the menu.

I hear you.  I don't know the halo menu, but with my younger "cousins" at that age and bomberman, one would want to zoom through the menu to start the game as fast as possible, two would try to set different settings to what they want, but at the same time so they'd conflict with each other, and the fourth would just randomly mash buttons and directions until the game started.