Advice re buttons

[deano71]

Hi, I am in the process of putting my control panel together. I have 22 buttons in total. I am using 2 x 6 button config and a button either side for pinball.

That leaves me with 8 buttons for functions. I am going to use as follows-

1 x Player 1
1 x Player 2
1 x Credit
1 x Pause
1 x Favourite
1 x Exit


Any suggestions on what to use the other two for or would you do different? 4 of the buttons in red are on the control panel and the other 4 are on the front upright of the control panel.

[Malenko]

1 credit per player, and maybe exit.  Ive paused my MAME cab maybe twice in the 15 years Ive had one. No need for a favourites button either.

[BadMouth]

Player 2 credit is a must unless you want the hassles of working around it.

The only admin button you really need is exit.  pause is nice to have though.

What will favorurite do?

[BadMouth]

Do 2 buttons per side for pinball.  Use the second set for nudge.

[deano71]

Favourite for adding games to favourites in hyperspin. Too late re nudge buttons as its all drilled out. Wish I had done that now.

[mgb]

I would drop the favorites button in order to pick up the player 2 coin.
You can always use a shift key to toggle favorites

[behrmr]

don't need an exit if you can config your gamepad/encoder for P1+P2 for ESC

[Malenko]

don't need an exit if you can config your gamepad/encoder for P1+P2 for ESC

then he doesnt need pause (P1 start + P1 down) either

[deano71]

Judging by the replies, 8 function buttons is a bit of overkill.

[gildahl]

I have P1, P2, Pause, & Exit

but the Pause key is also a shift key when held down, so...

Pause + P1 = credit P1
Pause + P2 = credit P2

Hiding the credit buttons nice if you have a coin mech.

Pause + Exit on mine displays a button map for the game, but perhaps on yours could add to the favorites list.

[BadMouth]

Judging by the replies, 8 function buttons is a bit of overkill.

Normally. (although I don't consider credit and start buttons to be admin buttons, so you really only have 4)
Personally I like having a dedicated exit button rather than having to explain combinations to people.  Pause is kind of nice sometimes.
I'd consider having save game and load game if the slot system in mame worked differently.
I still may add it to my cab since it's Neo Geo themed and Neo Geo had a card system for saving games.

Since they're already cut, would volume up and volume down make sense in any of the current locations?
You haven't mentioned what interface you're using, but I know the IPAC can be remapped to post the keyboard volume keys.
There are workarounds if not using an IPAC, as well as it being mappable in MAME.

[bulbousbeard]

Almost every game has a free play setting, and the games that don't are almost invariably less than 6 buttons, so you could just map a coin button to button 6 or something.

There's no point in coin buttons.

[mgb]

Almost every game has a free play setting, and the games that don't are almost invariably less than 6 buttons, so you could just map a coin button to button 6 or something.

There's no point in coin buttons.

Unless of course, you want coin buttons

[yotsuya]

Almost every game has a free play setting, and the games that don't are almost invariably less than 6 buttons, so you could just map a coin button to button 6 or something.

There's no point in coin buttons.

Unless of course, you want coin buttons

You could just use shift and map each player button to joystick directions, so theoretically you can just play Mortal Kombat with a joystick, 1 button, and the start button.

There's no point in any buttons, brah.

[deano71]

Hi using a 2 Player Xin-Mo USB Controller Board

Judging by the replies, 8 function buttons is a bit of overkill.

Normally. (although I don't consider credit and start buttons to be admin buttons, so you really only have 4)
Personally I like having a dedicated exit button rather than having to explain combinations to people.  Pause is kind of nice sometimes.
I'd consider having save game and load game if the slot system in mame worked differently.
I still may add it to my cab since it's Neo Geo themed and Neo Geo had a card system for saving games.

Since they're already cut, would volume up and volume down make sense in any of the current locations?
You haven't mentioned what interface you're using, but I know the IPAC can be remapped to post the keyboard volume keys.
There are workarounds if not using an IPAC, as well as it being mappable in MAME.

[paigeoliver]

I have a big old frankenpanel with 5 sticks, a trackball and spinner and I don't have 8 function buttons. I have 4. Player 1 Start, Player 2 start (both on the panel). Tab and exit (both underneath the panel out of site).

For the few games that don't have free play you either assign the start button to also credit or assign the 6th button as a credit button since everything had free play mode by the time 6 button games started coming out.

I have pause on a combo, I almost never use it. Never saw any need for favorites. I add and configure each of my games with purpose. I don't just dump the entire mame rom collection into the thing. That is a great way to have you and your guests spending all your time playing and exiting garbage.