Which button(s) do you guys use for MAME admin?

[crapjoint]

Just wondering how you guys set up admin buttons in mame, like start, pause, etc?  Thanks

[Pete Harcoff]

I've got three admin buttons in the center of my CP for Escape, Tab and Enter.  I also have two pause buttons located above the player 1 and player 2 controls.

I'm thinking about possibly adding another admin button for Reset (F3).

[GroovyTuesdaY]

I prefer to just keep my keyboard handy for that stuff. I hate a cluttered control panel.   Also, have you guys thought about using SHIFT keys, if your using the ipac or SHAZAM function of the KEYWIZ if you have one of those?    By using those functions you avoid the need to have a ton of extra buttons on your panel and still allow access to other mame features such as the reset, tab,etc.  

groovy~

[Lilwolf]

I have 4 buttons on the side... 2 on each side... that double for pinball buttons for vpinball/vpinmame.

Works pretty well... but my daughter is known to hit escape while watching me play... that sucks.

[PacManess]

What is this "Shift" function you speak of? I have an I-Pac 4 which I purchased off of EBay. So, I don't have "official" documentation for it. I'm sort of curious how I can maybe get by with just having 1 "admin" button on my CP.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!

[Brad Lee]

What is this "Shift" function you speak of? I have an I-Pac 4 which I purchased off of EBay. So, I don't have "official" documentation for it. I'm sort of curious how I can maybe get by with just having 1 "admin" button on my CP.
Any thoughts?
Thanks!

http://www.ultimarc.com <- check the pages, the docs should be all there
(in a nutshell, the shift allows you 2 functions per button- for example P1 start, but when the shift button is pushed it does p1 coin instead)

My CP has none other than p1-p4 start(or p1/2start, p1/2 coin) Ive got 4 mounted & recessed on top of my cab for esc, f2, f3, pause. For anything else Ive got a wireless keyboard handy

[Witchboard]

If I read the ultimarc website correctly, the player 1 button is the "shift" key.  Is there a way to assign a stand alone button as shift so you could press the shift key and then the player 1 button as the function?

[Apollo]

Player 1 button is the default shift key when the jumper on your IPAC is set to "MAME". Just set the jumper to "Alt" and you can program any button to be any keyboard function. Easy.

[GroovyTuesdaY]

Im kinda surprised at how many people don't think about the shift function or even know about it.   They just plan all these buttons on the top panel to do all the extra stuff, but if you plan it out right and assign a shift button in such a way so it doesn't effect your game play, it can really be a powerful way of adding enough "virtual" buttons to meet each and every need you could ever ask for.  Most would only use it for 5 things at the most, like the TAB, ESCAPE, RESET.etc.

groovy~:D

[Pete Harcoff]

I thought about using the shift key, but I prefer having the dedicated buttons.  It's also handy for other people who haven't used the controller before, since they can automatically see which buttons are for pause, quit, etc.

Besides, there's enough inputs on the Keywiz that I can get by without needing a shift button, and still have all the buttons I need.

[Witchboard]

Player 1 button is the default shift key when the jumper on your IPAC is set to "MAME". Just set the jumper to "Alt" and you can program any button to be any keyboard function. Easy.

When you set the jumper to "Alt" do you have to assign all the keys from scratch or are they still defaulted to the "MAME" settings until changed?

[Brad Lee]

If I recall correctly, they stay as the mame defaults until you change them

[namzep]

I have 4 admin buttons (esc, pause, ~, and another one that I currently forget).  I'm thinking that when I redo my cp (which should be fairly soon) that I may try and "hide" the admin buttons on the side of the cp but far enough back that no one would hit them on accident.  

[GroovyTuesdaY]

I have 4 admin buttons (esc, pause, ~, and another one that I currently forget).  I'm thinking that when I redo my cp (which should be fairly soon) that I may try and "hide" the admin buttons on the side of the cp but far enough back that no one would hit them on accident.  

Thats a good idea Just put all the buttons on the left side of the panel for player one to reach.  You could always color code each one.

[wpcmame]

Got 3 "admin" buttons on the panel: Pause, Exit and Coin.

The Pause button is also my shift button.

[Sasquatch!]

Only two: Pause (P) and Quit (Esc).  They're buttons that I wanted to be easy to see and use immediately.  

[Iori]

Coin buttons next to p1 and p2 start buttons and a single pause button back center on top of the cp.  On the p1 side of the cab, an esc button and a button for the shazam key...  

[bigmoe]

Got 3 "admin" buttons on the panel: Pause, Exit and Coin.

The Pause button is also my shift button.

I have been considering using Pause as a shift button, but I was worried that if I paused, and then hit it in order to use shift keys, that the game would unpause.  Have you experienced this?

Thanks!

[Witchboard]

If I recall correctly, they stay as the mame defaults until you change them

Thanks for the info.  I had planned on only having a "Shift" button on my CP until I noticed that Ultimarc said it was the Player 1.  Now I can go back to my original plans.

[mahuti]

I don't have any dedicated admin buttons.

When guests play the machine, all they have to be told is 2 things. Player one starts the game, player one plus player 2 ends it. Simple. That info is on a the information card... like real arcade machines had. To them, everything else is like a real arcade.

I don't tell them about pause, tab, enter, etc. To them, I have a really amazing multi-arcade machine. I don't tell them how to configure a game, because I already configured them all, and I designed my main panel to be pretty straitforward on most games. I don't tell them about pause, because that isn't what a real arcade machine does. For myself, after the first few times, I got used to using shift-left for enter, shift right for tab, etc. My business partner plays the machine all the time, and he had no trouble learning the extra shifted keys. Like I said, though, I don't think the average guest  need to be given the extra power.

[pfriedel]

I have been considering using Pause as a shift button, but I was worried that if I paused, and then hit it in order to use shift keys, that the game would unpause.  Have you experienced this?

  Not with the iPac, anyway - that's how I have mine set up - two center control buttons.  Left one is pause, right one is enter.  Left is also shift.  Shift+enter=esc.  Shift+P1Start = F11.  Shift+P1Coin=Tab, etc.  And the iPac is smart enough to send only the correct code if the shift key is activated as a shift key.

[Witchboard]

I don't have any dedicated admin buttons.

When guests play the machine, all they have to be told is 2 things. Player one starts the game, player one plus player 2 ends it. Simple.

What happens if two of your guest players hit their start buttons at the same time?  Does it exit the game, or am I not understanding how the shift option works?  I haven't got an Ipac so I haven't got to play with one yet.

[eightbit]

What happens if two of your guest players hit their start buttons at the same time?  Does it exit the game, or am I not understanding how the shift option works?  I haven't got an Ipac so I haven't got to play with one yet.

This is an unfortunate side effect of using that key combination. But its simple to remember and easy to use.
 
I prefer a less button panel and usually don't do any extra buttons.

A thing that is often forgetten is that you can use shifted buttons inside of mame. You can program just about any key combination to do something. You can set key combinations to just about anything even set it to more than 2 keys to do something. I don't know what the limit is. You don't have to define one as the shift button, any button can be shifted to do a different function. Then the only extra buttons that you would need on your control panel for admin functions would be those that you would use outside of mame. I have a cabinet with a gamepad hack set up with shifted functions even though the gamepad doesn't support custom configurations.

[bigmoe]

 Not with the iPac, anyway - that's how I have mine set up - two center control buttons.  Left one is pause, right one is enter.  Left is also shift.  Shift+enter=esc.  Shift+P1Start = F11.  Shift+P1Coin=Tab, etc.  And the iPac is smart enough to send only the correct code if the shift key is activated as a shift key.

Great tip, thanks!

[Luxury]

1 admin button = esc.  
its located on the backside of the cp away from accidental pushes.  thats all anybody ever needs.  pause doesnt really belong on an arcade game - but if it is needed, then i use the shift funtion for it (p1 start + p2 start)  

ive never known why people put tab on their cp.  sounds like just asking for trouble.  

[hulkster]

true, pause is not typically an arcade function, but its great for those times when you are needing to go to the bathroom.

[bigmoe]

true, pause is not typically an arcade function, but its great for those times when you are needing to go to the bathroom.

Kinda goes with the cupholder...

[mahuti]

What happens if two of your guest players hit their start buttons at the same time?

[hulkster]

yeah i guess, but im going to use the tab button only on the keyboard, so the only buttons ill have on my cp is a pause and escape button, the only buttons that users need.  

[shmokes]

I'm a big fan of having no admin buttons, but I'm considering hiding enter somewhere cos I'll play a lot of PC games on my cab, especially driving games and a few like Mutant Storm and Virtua Tennis.  P1/P2 buttons are fine for MAME and Frontends, but once you get into the menu system within PC games you almost always have to make selections either with the mouse (at least one of my panels used for driving games won't have a trackball) or using the arrow keys + enter.

Se la vie

[mahuti]

I have "enter" mapped to "shift" + "left". You can easily map "enter" to another button in the iPac and configure your games to use enter as a control. I also have the 2 mouse buttons mapped to the up down on my DOT spinner (but they could easily be mapped to anything else) using the accessibility control panel (or whatever it's called) in windows. That way I can navigate windows without any additional admin buttons.

[Stingray]

esc and tab are the only two I have on mine.

-S

[eightbit]

I'm sure this could happen. In a few thousand games, I've never had this happen. If it does, OH Well. You have to have the SHIFT button pressed at the SAME TIME as the other button. Since the normal player-one player-two button presses are only momentary, this is not a big worry for me.

With the ipac the shift button needs to be pressed first. It doesn't matter if someone presses p2 and then p1, it only matter if somepresses p1 and p2 is pressed before p1 is released.

Another note- cup holders are common in arcades that serve alchohol.

[mahuti]

Yeah, what he said.

I'm surprised nobody got on me for admitting to  only a few thousand game plays.

[bigmoe]

Another note- cup holders are common in arcades that serve alchohol.

Wow, never been in one of those.  It's why I started playing at home  .  But then, my city is down to one real arcade, and it's all dance machines, lightguns, and fighters, so I think why bother?

[MrBond]

I use the IPAC's shift key for all the admin buttons plus some.  I like my control panel uncluttered.  I kept the default 1-player start button as the shift key, but I'm considering changing it, to something like a pinball button, (as I have had player 1 press start and then player 2 press start, activating esc and thus ending the game, meh).
Press and hold player 1 start and then press:
player 2 start: esc (exit)
up: ~ (volume...)
down: p (pause)
left: tab (mame configuration menu)
right: enter
p1button1: F1 (hide cross hairs)
p1button2: F2 (service mode)
p1button3: F3 (reset)
p1button4: F10 (turbo button)
p1button5: F5 (save game state)
p1button6: F7 (load game state)
...and some others like F11, pgup, pgdown, 3, and 4
These not only serve in Mame as the function stated above, but help out in )p('s 3D-arcade frontend.  (filter, search, menus, config...)
I also find them useful for other emulators and pc games.

It may seem overkill, but they're there if I need them, and if not, no harm done.  Basically, I have double the buttons I mounted, and half of them are hidden to the common user.  All they need to know is "press player 1 start and then player 2 start to exit the game".  I'd like to make a instruction card though to make it idiot proof, and more realistic.

[Witchboard]

I'm sure this could happen. In a few thousand games, I've never had this happen. If it does, OH Well. You have to have the SHIFT button pressed at the SAME TIME as the other button. Since the normal player-one player-two button presses are only momentary, this is not a big worry for me.

With the ipac the shift button needs to be pressed first. It doesn't matter if someone presses p2 and then p1, it only matter if somepresses p1 and p2 is pressed before p1 is released.

Another note- cup holders are common in arcades that serve alchohol.

I know that a lot of you guys are probably more old-school than I am.  I enjoy older games, but fighting games are my bread and butter.  Using the 1-Player button as admin isn't really an option for me.  A lot of fighting games use special codes by holding the player start buttons and using joystick movements and button combinations.  I would really need a dedicated admin button.  I know you guys aren't condemning anyone of using them, but I thought I would throw out a reason of why one may be needed.

[screaming]

I know that a lot of you guys are probably more old-school than I am.

  FYI, "old-school" is *not* a better way of saying "older'n a sum'b.tch".

  mmmmhmmmm

/S

[Witchboard]

I know that a lot of you guys are probably more old-school than I am.

  FYI, "old-school" is *not* a better way of saying "older'n a sum'b.tch".

  mmmmhmmmm

/S

It must be.  I didn't have to substitute any letters in in my words for them to be posted.  

[vibez]

I use the IPAC's shift key for all the admin buttons plus some.  I like my control panel uncluttered.  I kept the default 1-player start button as the shift key, but I'm considering changing it, to something like a pinball button, (as I have had player 1 press start and then player 2 press start, activating esc and thus ending the game, meh).
Press and hold player 1 start and then press:
player 2 start: esc (exit)
up: ~ (volume...)
down: p (pause)
left: tab (mame configuration menu)
right: enter
p1button1: F1 (hide cross hairs)
p1button2: F2 (service mode)
p1button3: F3 (reset)
p1button4: F10 (turbo button)
p1button5: F5 (save game state)
p1button6: F7 (load game state)
...and some others like F11, pgup, pgdown, 3, and 4
These not only serve in Mame as the function stated above, but help out in )p('s 3D-arcade frontend.  (filter, search, menus, config...)
I also find them useful for other emulators and pc games.

It may seem overkill, but they're there if I need them, and if not, no harm done.  Basically, I have double the buttons I mounted, and half of them are hidden to the common user.  All they need to know is "press player 1 start and then player 2 start to exit the game".  I'd like to make a instruction card though to make it idiot proof, and more realistic.

How did you manage to setup p1button5: F5 (save game state). I thought save game state was a 2 button combo? (shift+f5)