Author Topic: I'm an idiot (Read 3882 times)

jedimason · « **on:** February 11, 2004, 12:33:45 am »

I'm building a mame cocktail cabinet and have just recieved an ipac4 in the mail. I thought I needed the ipac4 because of the third control panel i was building for the side. But now, I'm pretty sure I'm never going to be playing with four people at the same time while two of them have to tilt their heads to see the screen. Why didn't I just buy a keywiz and save myself 30 bucks.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't feel like an idiot? I could have still had the third panel and had everything hooked up to the player 1 and 2 controls. I guess I can go button crazy on all the panels.

Still new to all of this so can someone tell me if my logic is correct.

orntar · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:41:49 am »

just save it for the next project, there is bound to be one.

Iori · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:44:46 am »

Sounds like you could have gotten away with a KeyWiz or ipac2 for sure. Why not save the ipac4 for a 4 player panel in the future and get the KeyWiz for what you are doing now? Or just use the ipac4 for now and you can always pull it out and replace it with a keywiz if you want to use it for another project. That way you aren't out any extra now.

jedimason · « **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:56:40 am »

But, I have 7 nieces and nephews running around all the time at my house so when they are jerking on another joystick on another panel it won't effect my gameplay.

If say the four joysticks were connected to only two inputs, they could be jerking around with the other one connected to that input and it would mess up my gameplay.

If that is right....
Man, I'm so smart. I knew this would all work out.

Iori · « **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:59:00 am »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 12:56:40 am

But, I have 7 nieces and nephews running around all the time at my house so when they are jerking on another joystick on another panel it won't effect my gameplay.

If say the four joysticks were connected to only two inputs, they could be jerking around with the other one connected to that input and it would mess up my gameplay.

If that is right....
Man, I'm so smart. I knew this would all work out.

Then it all works out well...

paigeoliver · « **Reply #5 on:** February 11, 2004, 01:17:30 am »

Well, no real reason to "go crazy" on the vertical control panels. There is only one vertical game I know of that uses more than 3 buttons (Mouse Trap, it has 4). Most use 2 or less.

cdbrown · « **Reply #6 on:** February 11, 2004, 01:20:51 am »

It sounds like you need to make a 4-player upright cab to ensure the ipac-4 is properly utilised. That's your only option.

Iori · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2004, 01:29:36 am »

Something else to keep in mind. If you do go with wiring the 4 control sets up to different inputs and you don't want the ones not in use to be active while they are not in use you will have alot of configuration to do in mame to get it to work like you want it to. From that point of view it would be much easier to double up the wiring...

cdbrown · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2004, 01:40:50 am »

Quote

and you don't want the ones not in use to be active while they are not in use you will

Whaa?

If you double up the wiring then basically you can use say control 1 and control 3 for player 1. So if you've got all these young kids around you don't want them to be able to stuff up your game when they are playing with the other controls. I would wire 4 controls to the different spots on the ipac4. Then when they move the other joysticks or push the other buttons it will have no effect on your game. Configuration is very easy to do using the ctrlr folders.

jedimason · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2004, 01:56:09 am »

So,

Are you saying it would be easy to have all the vertical games use the 1st and 2nd player controls on each side of the cabinet, but on horizontal games have the 1st and 2nd controls be the two(3&4) on the third control panel box.

I've just started to play around with mamewah and don't no too much about setting up multiple games with the same inputs. Can you not create a list of certain games that use the same inputs(2 seperate folders for vertical and horizontal games)?

paigeoliver · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2004, 04:51:20 am »

Yes the vertical games would best be served by using the controls on the sides of the cabinets (especially since most vertical games flip for cocktail mode), while the horizontal games would go best on side control panel (which I am assuming has two player spots on it).

Of course there will be exceptions. Some (GOOD) vertical games are 2 player simultaneous. You can either play them from the horizontal size and have them not take up the whole screen, or you can remap the player 2 vertical side so the person can properly control the game that he is viewing upside down.

I personally tend to set up controls manually for each game, although there are some ways to automate that process a bit via cntlr files and such. But there are so many "exceptions" that I just like to tweak them myself.

JamIt · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2004, 08:05:56 am »

You're not an idiot. Gauntlet is reason enough to alone to wire up 4 joysticks independently. Of course I'm assuming that you want to play Gauntlet; if not then apparently I've misjudged your idiocy

--JamIt

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #12 on:** February 11, 2004, 08:06:49 am »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 01:56:09 am

So,

Are you saying it would be easy to have all the vertical games use the 1st and 2nd player controls on each side of the cabinet, but on horizontal games have the 1st and 2nd controls be the two(3&4) on the third control panel box.

I've just started to play around with mamewah and don't no too much about setting up multiple games with the same inputs. Can you not create a list of certain games that use the same inputs(2 seperate folders for vertical and horizontal games)?

See http://www.mameworld.net/easyemu/mamecontrolini.htm

for an introduction to controller.ini files. I don't know of a way to make a "vertical.ini" file, but if a game uses the same button layout, you can simply copy the existing gamename.ini file and rename it and it will work with the new game.

NoOne=NBA= · « **Reply #13 on:** February 11, 2004, 08:50:54 am »

It is my belief that you can never have too many button CONNECTIONS available.
I've seen some control panels with too many BUTTONS, but never too many button CONNECTIONS.

Something else to consider is that you may want to put more than one joystick/player.
There are some great 2-P simultaneous games that use more than one joystick/player (Assault and Smash TV, notably--but also alot of the tank games and such).

jedimason · « **Reply #14 on:** February 11, 2004, 09:32:52 am »

So I have my ipac4 hooked up to each individual controller(1-4) on standard mame settings.

So I have the default config which will be set up for the with 1 and 2 players on the side panel and 3 and 4 on each end.

Then I add another .ini with the configuration of the 3 and 4 players as the 1 and 2 for the vertical games...

All I have to do is use that same config with all of the vertical games and everthing should work out. I just have to make hundreds of them with the name of the individual game's title.

Is this correct?

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #15 on:** February 11, 2004, 09:45:10 am »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 09:32:52 am

So I have my ipac4 hooked up to each individual controller(1-4) on standard mame settings.

So I have the default config which will be set up for the with 1 and 2 players on the side panel and 3 and 4 on each end.

Then I add another .ini with the configuration of the 3 and 4 players as the 1 and 2 for the vertical games...

All I have to do is use that same config with all of the vertical games and everthing should work out. I just have to make hundreds of them with the name of the individual game's title.

Is this correct?

Yep, basically,

Here's a few shorcuts:

You can define a neogeo.ini file which works for all the neogeo games. MAME has some other shortcut files but I'm not sure what they are (vector.ini, I think, etc.)

I'm pretty sure if you define an .ini file for the parent games, all clones will use that setting as well.

Finally, think through all the possibilities on the FIRST file BEFORE you copy it over. It's easier to make one change in the beginning than find you need to change 400 files later. . .

Wade · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2004, 12:58:30 pm »

If it makes you feel any better... I'm an idiot, too.

Wade

jedimason · « **Reply #17 on:** February 11, 2004, 02:40:48 pm »

Okay,

I've been messing around with mame32 even though that's not what I'm going to be using in the end, but for right now with my limited capablities it is the easiest to use.

Since I will be having a third panel on the side and my monitor will be oriented thay way, I will still have to go into all of the vertical files and tell it to rotate the screen.(I think the command is ror 1) At that time I can just tell it to also use my new ctrl folder i set up for the vertical games with the player joystick controls flip floped.

Does this sound right? Am I making any sense?

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #18 on:** February 11, 2004, 02:46:49 pm »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 02:40:48 pm

Okay,

I've been messing around with mame32 even though that's not what I'm going to be using in the end, but for right now with my limited capablities it is the easiest to use.

Since I will be having a third panel on the side and my monitor will be oriented thay way, I will still have to go into all of the vertical files and tell it to rotate the screen.(I think the command is ror 1) At that time I can just tell it to also use my new ctrl folder i set up for the vertical games with the player joystick controls flip floped.

Does this sound right? Am I making any sense?

Regarding the -ror stuff, JoyMonkey did a lot of work on the vertical games and he might have a batch file to do this. Try to search old posts by him or PM him.

I don't know about MAME 32, but in MAME, you set the ctrlr.ini folder in the mame.ini file (different purpose files with the same extension

) and then MAME automatically looks there for your key assignments. You don't have to tell each game where to find the files.

jedimason · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2004, 03:52:57 pm »

Not following you there.

Some of the games will be vertical, most will be horizontal.

The default control setting will be the horizontal ones with the two joysticks on the third control panel as 1 and 2.

Won't I still have to tell each vertical game to rotate the screen through it's own .ini file?

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #20 on:** February 11, 2004, 03:56:38 pm »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 03:52:57 pm

Not following you there.

Some of the games will be vertical, most will be horizontal.

The default control setting will be the horizontal ones with the two joysticks on the third control panel as 1 and 2.

Won't I still have to tell each vertical game to rotate the screen through it's own .ini file?

The ctrlr.ini files ONLY set key assignments.

Screen rotation might be controlled in a different .ini file in a different folder, not sure. I think joymonkey wrote a batch file to automate this part of the process, not sure?

jedimason · « **Reply #21 on:** February 11, 2004, 04:20:30 pm »

Well,

Yes, I have a control ini file that is set up under the folder "jonny" for example.

Then under each .ini file in the "ini folder" I have each game rotating and calling ctrl "jonny"

This is one way to do it in mame32, I know in original mame that there is no ini folder so I still don't know how screen rotating is done.

I will pm joymonkey on the rotation batch file.

Thanks,
Jonny

said7 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 11, 2004, 04:36:41 pm »

cant you play gauntlet from any angle?

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #23 on:** February 11, 2004, 04:50:55 pm »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 04:20:30 pm

Well,

Yes, I have a control ini file that is set up under the folder "jonny" for example.

Then under each .ini file in the "ini folder" I have each game rotating and calling ctrl "jonny"

This is one way to do it in mame32, I know in original mame that there is no ini folder so I still don't know how screen rotating is done.

I will pm joymonkey on the rotation batch file.

Thanks,
Jonny

Original MAME does have an INI folder (at least mine does) But . . . I have .ini file in three different folders.

Here is what I mean:

I have C:\MAME\INI\ In this folder, I would have 1942.ini and it would have autorol 1 under MAME CORE VIDEO OPTIONS.

I also have C:\MAME\CTRL\MYINPUTS\ and in this folder, I have 1942.ini with my default key assignments for 1942.

I also have mame.ini in C:\MAME with the following entries -
### Windows path and directory options ###
inipath C:\mame\ini
ctrlr_directory ctrlr
### Input device options ###
ctrlr myinputs

Hope this helps

eightbit · « **Reply #24 on:** February 11, 2004, 05:56:35 pm »

There are a handfull of 4p games that can be played from any angle to the screen. Iron man stewarts off road, super sprint, guantlet there are others.

Configuration is going to be a royal pain but you'll have a very cool cab when your done.

NoOne=NBA= · « **Reply #25 on:** February 11, 2004, 06:36:52 pm »

I'm not sure about mame32, but if you run a -cc switch in mamepp it creates a mame.ini FILE in your mame directory.

Once you have this file, there are settings for autoROR and autoROL.
If you figure out which one works for your setup (my Portrait Pivot monitor uses ROL), you can set this value to =1, and mame will automatically rotate all the vertical games to the side for you.

Someone posted this same question in the mameworld forums about advmame, but couldn't get it to create the ini file for him.
That's why I'm not sure about mame32.

SeanFu · « **Reply #26 on:** February 11, 2004, 06:58:00 pm »

Quote from: jedimason on February 11, 2004, 12:33:45 am

Why didn't I just buy a keywiz and save myself 30 bucks.

If it makes you feel any better: that $30 is going to be a spit in the ocean by the time you are finished...

eightbit · « **Reply #27 on:** February 11, 2004, 06:58:50 pm »

Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on February 11, 2004, 06:36:52 pm

I'm not sure about mame32, but if you run a -cc switch in mamepp it creates a mame.ini FILE in your mame directory.

Once you have this file, there are settings for autoROR and autoROL.
If you figure out which one works for your setup (my Portrait Pivot monitor uses ROL), you can set this value to =1, and mame will automatically rotate all the vertical games to the side for you.

Someone posted this same question in the mameworld forums about advmame, but couldn't get it to create the ini file for him.
That's why I'm not sure about mame32.

Mame32 has check boxes for this, I'm not sure if it uses a ini file or not but you can just check the box.

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #28 on:** February 12, 2004, 08:39:44 am »

Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on February 11, 2004, 06:36:52 pm

I'm not sure about mame32, but if you run a -cc switch in mamepp it creates a mame.ini FILE in your mame directory.

Once you have this file, there are settings for autoROR and autoROL.
If you figure out which one works for your setup (my Portrait Pivot monitor uses ROL), you can set this value to =1, and mame will automatically rotate all the vertical games to the side for you.

Someone posted this same question in the mameworld forums about advmame, but couldn't get it to create the ini file for him.
That's why I'm not sure about mame32.

Great info, I thought that would Rotate ALL the games, but I tested it out and only the vertical games rotated. Pretty cool.

NoOne=NBA= · « **Reply #29 on:** February 12, 2004, 08:48:17 am »

ROL/ROR rotate EVERYTHING.
AUTOROL/AUTOROR only rotate the vertical ones.

I found that by accident awhile back while playing with my rotating monitor.
I was going through my mame.ini, came upon that, and thought "Gee, I wonder if that does what I think it does"--so I set it, just to find out.

Aren't you glad I don't work at the nuclear plant near you?
I don't know how long I could resist pushing that BIG RED BUTTON--just to see what it did.

Tiger-Heli · « **Reply #30 on:** February 12, 2004, 09:23:22 am »

Quote from: NoOne=NBA= on February 12, 2004, 08:48:17 am

Aren't you glad I don't work at the nuclear plant near you?
I don't know how long I could resist pushing that BIG RED BUTTON--just to see what it did.

I doubt I'll vote for you for president (or especially for president of a country that might nuke me).

Thanks for the info, though!

Lilwolf · « **Reply #31 on:** February 12, 2004, 09:25:38 am »

As for the controls... I spent a LOT of time getting that working on JFront (without spending a great deal of time)...

How I ended up doing it is to copy the default.cfg file around (because it was before the control.ini existed and it still works so I haven't touched it).

Anyway, what I do is define a game type that you want to play with what controls.... And what control panel you are using. Then I copy the appropriate default.cfg file in mame\cfg\ directory before launching a game... You set the defaults once... and all other games that meet the same requirements are set.

So you could sperate the control panels that you want enabled... (V, H, V (both), All three)... Then configure the defaults 4 times (once for each) and from then on your done.

I used it mainly to change all 2player 8way 6 buttons games (sf games) and flip the top row and bottom row of buttons).... Setup mortal kombat once for all of those (but I do this with a special tag for MK games).

Anyway, it was nice... but not needed as much with the ini files. I could easily switch to instead of copying cfg files, specify the .ini file... but there aren't any ingame editor for the ini files... So until I write one, I will copy cfg files.

jedimason · « **Reply #32 on:** February 12, 2004, 07:00:35 pm »

I'm confused.

Are you saying that you each time you change the default settings, you then play the games that you want those setting to use.

I understand the first part, but I'm lost as to how each different setup actually gets setup.

jedimason · « **Reply #33 on:** February 13, 2004, 06:10:46 pm »

If anyone cares, I found out a way to make this work without having to manually go through each one.

I just used arcadevga m.a.m.e resolution tool and added in a line of code to point to the control setup"ctrlr jonny" for each vertical game.

All you do is go into one of the games, enter the command into the additional options, select "All games with this orientation", enter ok. Then file generate .ini files.

5 seconds and I was done.

Great tool even though I'm not using it for any resolution adjustment.


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