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shwnicus:
Thank you very much for the replies.  I'll admit, I hadn't thought about all of those possible admin needs, just coin and start per player.  I like the advise to hold on those until later.  I can always use a stashed keyboard until I get a feel for actual need.

I guess the main point I'm stuck on is the encoder boards, their needs, and possible interactions between them.  Since I'm stuck with USB only, I'm worried about simultaneous key-press issues.  Hell, I see this just playing around in MAME with my plain old keyboard now, and I'm not really doing anything.  When it comes to boards, so far I see mostly three options for USB: xgaming's 2 player keyboard based interface, GGG's gamepad based interace, and Ultimarc's IPACs (keyboard).

The IPAC4 appears to be the only way to get full 4 player support in one board.  Is this and advantage over 2 IPAC2s?  I've read quite a few threads about button clashes over USB keyboard interfaces, will having multiples hooked up make it worse?

In theory, the gamepad interfaces would circumvent some of these issues, but would seem to be more difficult to configure in MAME.

Any advise and experience with these boards for 4 player controls?

I admit, my first inclination is to follow the KISS programming moto: Keep It Simple, Stupid.  Which frankly, would be by starting with a 2 player setup to keep the cost down, and add more later.  Which is really why I keep cycling back to the efficiency of 1x 4 player interface VS 2x 2 player interfaces.

thanks much!
PL1:
If you know you're going to eventually do a 4-player panel, you might as well do all the drilling/finishing/mounting hardware for the panel so you don't waste time removing wires/controls or trying to keep the P1/P2 controls clean/undamaged while drilling/finishing the P3 and P4 part of the panel.

Also if you top-mount your sticks, mount the P3 and P4 sticks at the same time as P1 and P2 -- under-mounted sticks can easily be added later.

If you decide to do the keyboard-style encoder route for a 4P panel, be sure to "de-conflict" the P2 Button 5-8 inputs mentioned here (there may be others, too) before you start configuring individual MAME games.


Scott
yotsuya:
Of the 15 must haves you listed there, only 4 of them use more than two controls, 3 of them use a trackball, and 2 require a spinner. Just something to consider as you plan your cab.
Slippyblade:

--- Quote from: shwnicus on May 11, 2014, 11:51:02 pm ---I guess the main point I'm stuck on is the encoder boards, their needs, and possible interactions between them.  Since I'm stuck with USB only, I'm worried about simultaneous key-press issues.  Hell, I see this just playing around in MAME with my plain old keyboard now, and I'm not really doing anything.  When it comes to boards, so far I see mostly three options for USB: xgaming's 2 player keyboard based interface, GGG's gamepad based interace, and Ultimarc's IPACs (keyboard).

--- End quote ---

I may be wrong on this, but I don't think I am...  I think you might be either mis-reading or over-reading information.  The simultaneous key-press issues do NOT apply to the encoders like the IPAC or the KeyWiz.  It's an issue that is a specific to matrixed keyboards, NOT the USB connection itself.  The encoders sold for our hobby are not matrixed and do not suffer from MOST of the problems you've read about.

As far as configuring in MAME, there is no such thing as difficult.  Whether you are using keyboard encoders or gamepad encoders.  It's a matter of finding "P1 Joystick Up" hitting ENTER then tapping the control you wanna use.  MAME doesn't care what the control is, whatever control you just tapped is what is mapped.  It's so simple it borders on stupid.
PL1:
Matrix encoders like keyboard hacks can result in "ghosting" or "blocking" which are different from the 6-key limit.

The 6-key limit (ctrl, alt, and shift don't count toward the limit) applies to USB keyboards running in "boot protocol" mode.

This includes almost all normal keyboards. (and the X-Arcade encoder when connected via USB)

The IPac and KADE don't have the limit.

PS/2 devices (like KeyWiz) and gamepads don't have the limit.


Scott
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