Xin mo key encoder worth using?

[aldub516]

Hey guys. I'm on my phone and can only do minimal research or I souls be searched but it's kind of time sensitive. A buddy of mine gave me a cp he'd like me to wire up and finish for him.. He ordered one of those kits on eBay for about 70 bucks which comes with 2 joys, led buttons etc but also comes with the xin mo key encoder. My buddy forgot to throw it in the box when he gave me the parts.. Before I stop at his house after work which is a bit away, is the xin mo worth using or should I grab an ipac 2 or something. I'm running Windows 7 x64 with hyper spin using only mame and mess for systems up to like snes at most. So, suggestions? If I'm going to waste time with stupid hassles I'd rather get a ipac

[eds1275]

I know people like to talk down on anything cost effective, but really we live in the future, technology is fantastic and I bet it works just fine.

[Slippyblade]

Xin-Mo is perfectly fine.  The one thing that might be an issue is that it registers as a gamepad instead of as a keyboard encoder.

[aldub516]

Thanks for the replies. as long as there's no huge known factor of problems, i guess it should be fine. What problems might arise from it registering as a game pad and not keyboard ? Worst case scenario I'll stop by and grab the xi mo and try it. It came with all the wiring harnesses which was a god send.

[JDFan]

Thanks for the replies. as long as there's no huge known factor of problems, i guess it should be fine. What problems might arise from it registering as a game pad and not keyboard ? Worst case scenario I'll stop by and grab the xi mo and try it. It came with all the wiring harnesses which was a god send.

Usually not a problem Esp. with MAME since it allows setting pretty much any button press to any action -- Problems sometimes arise when specific games/emulators require a certain key press for a certain button and the game maker has hardcoded those keys rather than allowing changing the config files. Even in those instances there are usually work arounds in software like Joy2Key etc. so not really a problem other than initial setup. And as you mention the Xin Mo comes with the wiring so it makes setting up the hardware easy and MAME/Mess are easily configured so you shouldn't have any problems using it.

[Slippyblade]

When I used a Xin-Mo, the only problem I ran into was actually in the front end I used, Mala.  I tried to include an intro video and mala expected a keypress to interrupt.  Since the Xin-Mo sends game pad signals, you had to watch the whole video every time you started the machine.  I ended up removing the video.

[aldub516]

Great to hear. Thank you. I'll be honest, while the random color schemes and such are not personally my thing, for a quick build or project this kit is pretty great. I had it wired and running in no time. Quality is good. I personally love zippyy joysticks as they are. Not a bad lot for 70 bucks

[woosdom]

one issue I had is that I needed to change the button connections for coin up and player start. I set them up the same as the actual select/back and start buttons that the newer pc games recognized.  I believe the xin mo emulates a PlayStation controller.  I was used to using Xbox 360 controllers.

[leapinlew]

One issue I had I documented here. The computer didn't recognize the gamepad correctly using the native USB. I ended up using a USB add-in card to resolve the issue.

I still use iPacs because I like the shift key functions.