Questions before purchasing.

[rtpb]

Hello I have been snooping around this site for a while and I believe I am finally ready to order the parts for my control panel. I am going to make a 4 player control panel. I was originally planning on using the I-PAC4 to get the desired number of inputs. However it appears they are out of stock for that product. I did read on another site that I could use 2 GP-Wiz40s. Would this still be fairly easy to setup? On groovygamergear.com it asks to select the USB device number when ordering. If I ordered two would I switch that to 2?

Aside from the control interface, I was orignally planning on having 4 buttons for players 3 and 4. I have been downloading and testing games, I do not believe I have found any 4 player games that require 4 buttons. Does anyone know how many 4P games use 4 buttons (guessing not many)?

Thanks a lot for the great website and bountiful information!

[thatpurplestuff]

I know RandyT (the owner of GGG) frequents these forums so he can answer your question better, but I think what you would do is order one of the GP-Wiz devices as Device 1, then add a second GP-Wiz to your cart as Device 2.

[shponglefan]

Does anyone know how many 4P games use 4 buttons (guessing not many)?

IIRC, there are only a few.  The Dungeons & Dragons game use 4 buttons/player and are 4-player games.

[rtpb]

I know RandyT (the owner of GGG) frequents these forums so he can answer your question better, but I think what you would do is order one of the GP-Wiz devices as Device 1, then add a second GP-Wiz to your cart as Device 2.

Gotcha, I added it that way on the order form. I don't see to many people using the setup of 2 cards, or at least nothing comes up in my searches. Is it something that would require a lot of extra configuring?

IIRC, there are only a few.  The Dungeons & Dragons game use 4 buttons/player and are 4-player games.

 I read about that D&D game, haven't tried it out yet. I do love and am a long time pen and paper D&D player. I guess I'll add 4 buttons just for the the rare occasions I play 4 button games.

[RandyT]

An emulator or application which does not have full support for gaming controls, will require a little extra effort when used with any device which identifies itself as that type of control.  That's just one of those things which needs to be considered.  MAME is the "gold standard" for compatibility when it comes to this, so it takes takes very little effort to get full use of these types of devices.

I usually recommend a KeyWiz for primary 1 & 2 player controls and admin functions, where a PS/2 port is present on the system, with a GP-Wiz  as the secondary controller for the extra required inputs.  This provides the least fuss for compatibility outside of MAME, while providing excellent performance, as each controller has it's own processor and distinct path to the system, and every input it's own dedicated line to the processor.  There are a lot of folks using two GP-Wiz's on a single system, which does the same thing, but requires a little more setup when used with front-ends or other apps where the authors did not fully accommodate gaming controls.  The fact that you don't hear much from folks using this type of arrangement likely indicates that things are working fine, so there isn't much to discuss. 

[Nephasth]

4 player control panel? Without a doubt, get a Lono².

[RandyT]

That is an option.  However, there are differences.  It is 72 inputs, as opposed to 80, does not have support for rotary joysticks, uses a matrix with diodes to prevent ghosting which means some controls/devices won't work if they expect a true constant ground, and multiple "commons", as opposed to 1 dedicated CPU pin per input and a single true ground line shared with all controls.  These differences may or may not be important to the OP, but they should be considered to make sure the encoder does what is expected in a particular installation.  It is also a gaming controller, so the same setup considerations apply.

If the OP has a specific need for the device to report as 4 individual game controllers, has no plans to use any devices which it doesn't support, and is not concerned with additional steps to produce key output for certain applications (this would also apply to dual GP-Wiz's), it should certainly be properly researched and considered.

[shponglefan]

FYI, the I-PAC 4 seems to be back in stock.

[divemaster127]

Ipac4 are back in stock at Ultimarc.com
dm