RBG control panel. Is it worth the extra expense?

[ringram]

I'm re-building an old cabinet. I'll be installing sticks and buttons. The RGB lighting looks cool, but is it really worth the extra time/effort/money? For those who have it, other than some bling, does it do much for the whole cabinet/experience?

[Howard_Casto]

Well when controls.dat was active there was some effort made to make a games buttons (as you have them mapped in your layout) light up the appropriate color and leave all the other buttons unlit.  I think that's about the only useful feature of lit buttons other than you can easily play in the dark. 

[javeryh]

Well when controls.dat was active there was some effort made to make a games buttons (as you have them mapped in your layout) light up the appropriate color and leave all the other buttons unlit.  I think that's about the only useful feature of lit buttons other than you can easily play in the dark. 

Have to agree with this.  I never saw the appeal of lighting up buttons although I have seen a bunch of projects that do it very well and when it is done tastefully I think it can look really cool.  Especially if it incorporates lit controls that are active for a particular game.  If you are just lighting buttons all red or blue and blinking them on and off or whatever then I don't really see the point.

[mahuti]

I've been working on the Linux side of things and I have enjoyed making the coin inputs and player 1 buttons flash ysing MAMEs output system... and using controls.ini and colors.ini to light up the required controls. And I also wired up a qbert knocker which amuses me.

To the question: is it worth it? If you have 3 buttons... no. If you have 7 or 8... if you're using the LEDs to highlight the selected controls then probably.

[ringram]

I'm not planning on a frankenpanel. Two player, 6 buttons, trackball, spinner and maybe a third dedicated 4-way joystick for older games. Plus the MAME control buttons. If done well, the whole RGB thing could be nice. I've seen a few nice examples, but I've also seen several poor ones too.

The attack mode, and lighting up the buttons that are needed for the game, etc. are a nice touch. I don't want it to be tacky. RBG lighting needs to enhance the whole experience.

[fwiler]

I think it is extremely helpful.
How many people that don't play games non stop remember the buttons used?  Answer, not very many.

Plus you don't get the question "What buttons do I push?"

If using RGB, it's nice to have the button color match the original button color from the arcade.

I personally don't think, coin, start need to be lit but that option is there with led blinky and mame.

[Phreakwars]

RGB is pretty!! OF COURSE IT'S WORTH IT!!

But yeah, one of the things I really like (using an Ultimate I/O), is being able to assign button colors for specific games. Let's the person playing know which buttons have functions. When programmed properly, it not only is functional, but looks pretty neat as well. My kids really dig it.

[vertexguy]

I think one part of the OP not yet answered is the RGB part.  Yes there are debates if looking pretty with different colors is worth it vs improved user experience knowing what buttons to use, but let's not forget, you can achieve the usability benefits of lighting up the relevant buttons while utilizing a fixed color led that goes with the fixed color theme of your cab too.  To me that's a simpler in between rather than full RGB vs no lights at all.  RGB adds a lot more complexity and cost.  If you're gonna go lights at all, decide if its just for aesthetic or usability, or both.  That may help you arrive at your answer.

[mahuti]

6 buttons, trackball, spinner and maybe a third dedicated 4-way     

I use lighting to specify the controls used as well. Which is really handy, especially for games that use a combo of controls, like a joystick and spinner, or games that use a  joystick only.

As for RGB vs Single color leds...  I've done it both ways. Usability is pretty much the same. I prefer the option of RGB. It requires a lot more wiring and a bigger LED controller, but to me that bit is fun.

[Phreakwars]

I guess one thing I want to point out, is the different brands of RGB button. Ultimarc sells 3 kinds, Classic RGB, Goldleaf, and Ultralux. I tried all 3... stay away from the Goldleaf garbage. The Goldleaf probably has the best representation of white, but the wires connecting to the button are very flimsy and easily break away from the solder points. I had to re-solder several of them right out of the package because of broken off wires. I did so much soldering and re-soldering I finaly got frustrated with them and pulled most of them out. I do like the caps for them though and they put off a real nice color. The Ultralux aren't too bad, pretty easy to work with, but I noticed the white looks more like a real light pink, also, the Ultralux needs a bit of assembly into the rgb housings before use. The Classic RGB would be the ones I would recommend. Nice solid connectors, cables are braided, and the best part, is they are very much like Happ type buttons so you can put most any cherry switch in it you like. They are concave, which is what I personally prefer, and they put out some really nice color. On the current project, I'm using Ultralux on the admin buttons, Classic RGB on the joystick/fire buttons, and those useless Goldleaf on the P1 & P2 start. I'll probably use the spare junk goldleaf ones in some other project.

[MartyKong]

I'm using LedBlinky to light the in game buttons and to speak the game controls. As for the rgb debate, I just ordered some led lights and resistors off ebay, drilled holes in solid color Happ buttons and installed. They work great;). By the way I got the idea from another member who showed how it was done

[ringram]

Thanks for the replies. For me, I'm more nostalgic of playing in arcades back in the 80's. No fancy lighting back then. (or games for that matter).

I priced out a control panel with 2 8-way sticks, 1 w-way stick, 6 buttons/player, trackball, spinner, 2 mouse buttons, 4 MAME control buttons and encoder. The cost difference between a non RBG lit panel and an RGB lit panel using Ultimarc materials, is roughly $400. (I-PAC Ultimate, RGB buttons, trackball lighting, j-stick lighting)

Now, I have a old WICO leaf j-sticks, HAPP trackball, a spinner and encoders from GGG, so that reduces my over cost. Hard to justify the extra money that I would have to spend.

I am putting in new leaf pro j-sticks (2 8-way and 1 4-way) and classX leaf buttons from GGG. This will give me the old look and feel of the 80's arcade. I'll save the extra money that I was going to spend on the virtual pinball that I would like to build.

[Howard_Casto]

If you are nostalgic about arcades in the 80's why are you putting all that crap on your control panel?

2 8-ways (switchable to 4 way if you insist) and 4 buttons per player..... that's all 90% of people actually use.  If you like fighters add more buttons.  Trackball isn't necessary unless you REALLY like older trackball games like missile command.  You shouldn't put a spinner on a control panel if you are going to have all of that junk.  Everybody thinks a 4 player panel will get used, but in reality it's rare for most people to use player 2 more than occasionally.  YMMV of course, but I've been at this for a lot of years.... if you need all of that stuff you really need to buy/build dedicated cabinets for each control type, or at least split that mess over two or three cabs.