4 PLAYER MAME SETUP - SUGGESTIONS

[kwagner101]

All -

I'm looking at building out a 4 player setup for my current 2 player MAME cabinet.  Question - is IPAC4 simply the only way or best way to go here?  I currently have a J-PAC in place for the 2 player setup - and could just hack away the jamma harness cables and utilize those in the IPAC, then use unused jamma harness cables and other older jamma harness wiring for the other 2 player setup - and purchase some sticks/buttons and be done.

However, I'm looking to re-use a trackball I already have - purchasing a USB modification for happ trackballs from the jammaboards.com page. 

I just didn't know if I purchased a 2 player MAME setup (with wiring and encoders - which I've done before for friends and they work fine) - if I purchased 2 of these - if they'd show as P1, P2, P3, and P4 - or if they would show as P1 and P2 twice since they'd have separate USB connections into the PC.

Thoughts?

Kevin

[Generic Eric]

All -

I'm looking at building out a 4 player setup for my current 2 player MAME cabinet.  Question - is IPAC4 simply the only way or best way to go here?  I currently have a J-PAC in place for the 2 player setup - and could just hack away the jamma harness cables and utilize those in the IPAC, then use unused jamma harness cables and other older jamma harness wiring for the other 2 player setup - and purchase some sticks/buttons and be done.

However, I'm looking to re-use a trackball I already have - purchasing a USB modification for happ trackballs from the jammaboards.com page. 

I just didn't know if I purchased a 2 player MAME setup (with wiring and encoders - which I've done before for friends and they work fine) - if I purchased 2 of these - if they'd show as P1, P2, P3, and P4 - or if they would show as P1 and P2 twice since they'd have separate USB connections into the PC.

Thoughts?

Kevin

Look at groovygamegear.com, ultimarc.com and http://www.wolfwareeng.com/?page_id=62 for 4 player options. 

If you don't get something that handles all 4 players, you need to communicate with the vendor to specify the second board be given hardware id 2.

I'd advise against hacking your jpac wiring.  Maybe try to sell the jpac with the wiring?  I just think you might have less to troubleshoot later on.

I don't have any input on the trackball.

[Yenome]

i can tell you with USB you can generally assign diff controller IDs so you could have 0 1 2 3 i know my xin mo shows up as 2 controllers and i can change the ID of each side individually.

[kwagner101]

Nice.  Thanks for the information on the XinMo.  I don't have any currently in use, but I've built them out and used them with other 2 player cabs I've made for friends.  Seems like the response time is good and the "prewired" configs make the package ordering sort of a no-brainer.  Maybe I'll just order two kits and go from there. 

[Yenome]

now that i think of it. just use the jpac for player one and two and get a second item for players 3 and 4 is always an option.

[mvolke1]

I've had an IPac 4 for about ten years now. Never a single problem, and it's super easy to hook up.

[Locke141]

I've had an IPac 4 for about ten years now. Never a single problem, and it's super easy to hook up.

I agree with this and I love my I-pac4 but its not cheep.

If you have an I-pac already, I'd try using two Zero Delay encoders first.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zero-Delay-Arcade-USB-Encoder-To-PC-Joystick-For-MAME-5Pin-Happ-Push-Buttons-/191162571247?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c822d59ef


That way you still get the sweet setup tools for P1&2 and save some money on the players that don't need lots of adjusting. If the set up is not to your liking you could use them in another build.