To be honest, I've been struggling to grasp the mapping of the buttons to the software, let a lone dabble in the "Shift Function..." and I'm a software engineer. You'd think the concept would be simpler. Your statement seems to imply two things. 1, I can daisy-chain 2 buttons together using the same input on I-Pac. 2, yes there's the shift button but I don't fully understand how that's supossed to work in real life.
Your encoder is a programable keyboard.
1. Check your emulators/front end program to see if there are any fixed-function keystrokes.
(i.e. Some emulators will
only exit when an "ESC" keystroke is sent)
2. Make a list of what keystroke each button/encoder input will need to send so they will work with all your emulators and front end -- re-map the emulator keystrokes as needed.
(i.e. MAME uses "1" for P1 Start and "5" for P1 Coin, NES emulator can use "1" for Start and "5" for Select)
You may want to change the keys that some emulators use to avoid key combos like "Alt + Tab", etc. -- the first four P1 buttons in MAME (Ctrl, Alt, Space, Shift) are a good place to start.
3. Program your encoder with the list of desired keystrokes.
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Regarding shifted functions:
On a regular keyboard, pressing "shift" + "2" sends the keystroke "@" instead of "2".
On your encoder, P1 Start is the default "shift" button.
If you press
just P1 Start, the encoder outputs a "1" keystroke when you release P1 Start. (shift pressed, but no shifted functions triggered ==> acts like a normal input)
If you press/hold P1 Start then press right on P1 joystick, the encoder outputs a "TAB" keystroke. ("shift + right" shifted function triggered)
When a shifted function is triggered, the encoder assumes that you want to send the shifted keystroke (like "TAB") instead of the "1" keystroke.
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The term "daisy-chaining" could mean that the switches (_/_) are wired in series like this:
Encoder input _____/_____/____ ground
If you wire it like that, both switches have to be pressed at the same time to connect ground to the encoder input.
The way to do it is to wire the switches in parallel like this:
_____/______
Encoder input __| |__ ground
|_____/_____|
If you wire it this way, either switch can be pressed to connect ground to the encoder input which will cause the encoder to output the related keystroke.
Also - With the I-Pac's mapping software, people using Joy2key, and other software.... That has added an extra layer of confusion as to the proper mappings. I assumed simply that since the I-Pac Ultimate has it's own software, each input has it's own keyboard mapping already so I don't really see the point in Joy2Key unless it's needed for something else.
You don't need Joy2Key unless you are translating button presses from a joystick-style encoder to keystrokes.
The I-Pac and I-Pac Ultimate can both output keystrokes so you are correct that Joy2Key is not needed.
Scott