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Author Topic: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?  (Read 2346 times)

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Lamaman1971

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Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« on: September 07, 2017, 12:11:51 pm »
Hi Folks, Ive a large control panel and am using the mame keyboard layout at the moment -which is not ideal since the use of shift, control, alt and so on is a pain in the behind. Do anyone else on here have a control panel key layout which works for 4 players? My setup is as follows :

Player 1
Coin, Start
6 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right

Player 2
Coin, Start
6 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right

Player 3
Coin, Start
4 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right

Player 4
Coin, Start
4 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right

Plus a spare button which Ive mapped to Escape.

45 unique keyboard codes required.
26 letters of the alphabet
4 cursor keys
10 numeric keys
What else?

keilmillerjr

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2017, 02:32:16 pm »
I don't understand why the use of those keys is a pain in the behind, especially if your using mame. Use name default keys. Make life easy.

Lamaman1971

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #2 on: September 07, 2017, 02:50:47 pm »
Well, for a multi player cabinet there are lots of scenario's where Player One mashing away on either the Control, Shift or Alt keys while another player hits other keys (like Player 2 Enter for example) will cause problems.

PL1

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #3 on: September 07, 2017, 03:29:00 pm »
The five default MAME "modifier" keys are:
- P1B1
- P1B2
- P1B4
- P3B1
- P3B2

In addition to those five keys, there's an overlap in the I-Pac4 defaults for P2B5-P2B8 and P3 Joystick. (both use I, K, J, and L)


Scott

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2017, 07:01:03 pm »
So Xarcade USB is out as it appears you cannot hit all six buttons at one time (I could never imagine or duplicate it).  So, that just leaves us 2 (or 4??) KADEs or Keywiz encoders for your project.  Do you really need that many player buttons?

You could get a minipac but I would want something of excellent quality and reliability in such an important product as an encoder, thus my recommendations above.  The KADE is a clear winner here if you can resource four.

Let us know how you get on.  :applaud:
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PL1

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2017, 08:08:03 am »
Several clarifications:

1. I wouldn't recommend the oiginal KADE miniArcade due to the difficulty/expense finding Minimus AVRs, but you'd only need 2 AVRs to handle the 45 inputs OP mentioned (40 regular inputs and 5 shifted inputs) or 3 AVRs if you wanted to avoid the slightly-more-complcated wiring and/or diodes for shfted inupts. (assuming dedicated admin buttons instead of a separate shift button)

2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.

3. KeyWiz has 40 inputs and has to load custom keymaps during boot-up -- a great product, but probably not the best fit for OP's setup.

4. I'm shocked, shocked that you forgot to mention the easiest and most popular high-quality option for a setup like this -- an I-Pac4.   ::)


Scott

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2017, 12:32:46 pm »
Several clarifications:

1. I wouldn't recommend the oiginal KADE miniArcade due to the difficulty/expense finding Minimus AVRs, but you'd only need 2 AVRs to handle the 45 inputs OP mentioned (40 regular inputs and 5 shifted inputs) or 3 AVRs if you wanted to avoid the slightly-more-complcated wiring and/or diodes for shfted inupts. (assuming dedicated admin buttons instead of a separate shift button)

2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.

3. KeyWiz has 40 inputs and has to load custom keymaps during boot-up -- a great product, but probably not the best fit for OP's setup.

4. I'm shocked, shocked that you forgot to mention the easiest and most popular high-quality option for a setup like this -- an I-Pac4.   ::)


Scott


1.  Like I said, if you could resource them.

2. Really?  I didn't know that.  Thanks.

3.  Yeah, well the OP is button crazy.

4.  Haha. Now I know who has been deleting my posts. 
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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2017, 01:37:58 pm »
Don't forget the Howler....












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PL1

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2017, 02:00:19 pm »
2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.
2. Really?  I didn't know that.  Thanks.
Related info:
How many input ports are available?
Mapper has 47 available Button Mapping IDs. (0-46)
The Button Mapping ID "Input As" indicates which of the 24 Normal input ports or 23 Shifted input ports (Shift + B7 is reserved for Shift Lock) will trigger the related output.

Don't forget the Howler....
:duckhunt


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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2017, 03:37:06 pm »
I don't understand why the use of those keys is a pain in the behind, especially if your using mame. Use name default keys. Make life easy.
Because people playing together simultaneously on a 4-player panel (using the MAME default keys) causes problems.  For example, Player 1 may press button 2 (ALT) as Player 3 presses button 3 (Enter) which will cause the screen in MAME to become windowed instantly.  Try playing NBA Jam to see what I mean (holding button down for turbo while another player presses another key).  Highly annoying.

Read more about it here:  http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77803.0

To answer the OP's question:
You can also map buttons on an iPac to:  [ ] \ / , . ' ;   These all seem to work well, even for most console emulators as well which do not like the shift or alt buttons.

Hope this helps!

DeL
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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2017, 04:47:51 pm »
Get an IPac4 from Andy over at ultimarc. Works great!
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AndyWarne

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Re: Arcade Control Panel - Choice of Keys for Encoder?
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2017, 08:31:15 am »
Get an IPac4 from Andy over at ultimarc. Works great!

Another solution if pre-made wiring harnesses are preferred would be 2 X Mini-PAC, each assigned with unique keycodes.

Or one I-PAC Ultimate I/O would handle it, along with 96 LED channels.