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New here...looking for advice and guidance
nick3092:
--- Quote from: shponglefan on August 01, 2013, 08:00:04 pm ---
--- Quote from: spiderpig on July 31, 2013, 01:31:16 pm ---2) Looking at the Mame games and controls I'm torn between what kind of control setup I should use. I like a lot of classic games that only need a couple buttons, but one of my favorite games is Karate Champ - which uses two joysticks for each player. So do I design a panel with four joysticks and lots of buttons, or design two panels that can easily swapped as needed. I'm leaning towards the later since later on I could add other panels (like for driving games).
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I'd go for swappable panels. Like you say, you can later add other panels to accomodate different control schemes. And designing swappable panels is not terribly difficult, just make sure you have a place to store them where they can't get damaged.
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+1 for swappable panels. It allows you to be able to play games with authentic controls/button layouts, and not have a giant franken panel. I personally like the classic look of the narrow cabs I recall from the 80's, and swappable panels allowed me to keep it narrow.
Another advantage is you can get your cab up and running with basic controls right away for the majority of games, and add new specialty controls later on when the budget allows for the smaller number of games that require special controls. There are lots of good examples to look at. I personally went with Doc's method (link below), but instead of precisely drilled dowel pins, I went with more forgiving industrial strength velcro. Still holds great, and no worries about perfectly aligning the dowels/holes. But I've seen other neat ideas posted here too. I just found that method first and went with it.
http://www.beersmith.com/mame/controls.htm
DrumAnBass:
WahCade looks like a pretty viable front end for OSX: http://www.anti-particle.com/wahcade.shtml
Hadn't seen it before, glad there are more options for OSX out there than when I originally got into the hobby!
spiderpig:
Thanks for all the suggestion guys.
I had a spare GP-Wiz40 and a HAPP joystick and two buttons I had used on a simulator build before that I put together to test things out. So on the mac side using Mame OS X the app would crash as soon as I made any joystick movement. Did a search online and it's consistent with that combination - so I'll test out the software you guys mentioned.
I have no issues putting windows 7 on the Imac (it actually already has it) and using that. I"m actually testing MAMEUIFX on my windows7 machine and enjoying it quite nicely.
I did order some more joysticks and buttons from groovygamegear today and decided to build a panel with everything I need for now. I figure I can play most of my games without issue. When I start building a full vertical cabinet I'll make the control panels smaller and swappable. Here's the current layout I have planned:
So three joystick on each side. This means I can play normal games (like Double Dragon) and also play Karate Champ which requires two joysticks. I made it so playing Karate CHamp my hands shouldn't hit the first joystick. We'll see how this lives in practice.
The CR1 and CR2 I'll use for credit or other functions.
Btw, Is there a way to get an email reply when someone replies to a post? I know other forums have it, but can't seem to find it on this forum.
shponglefan:
That... looks extremely problematic. Three immediate issues I can see are:
1) The two karate champ joysticks are going to be difficult to use having to reach over the other joystick & buttons. People tend to lay their hands/arms on CPs for support, but you won't be able to in this case. It will likely be uncomfortable to play.
2) Why are the player 2 joystick and buttons backwards?
3) The button layout is odd. Ideally you want the 1st and 2nd row inline or very slightly skewed in the other direction. The way you have it now is very non standard and will likely be challenging to use.
yotsuya:
I agree with Shponglefan. It appears you're going for symmetry there, and you don't need to. Fix player two to look like player one.