Xtension 4-player w/ Trackball controller - which firmware to use?

[slikrik98]

I have an Xtension 4-player controller with trackball in my cabinet. It's from ~2018. I wanted to upgrade my firmware so that I could toggle to x-input mode.

That's where the problems started. I downloaded WinIpac as well as the latest firmware files. I didn't know which firmware to use, my options were:

• IPAC_ULTIMATE_155c
• IPAC_ULTIMATE_ID2_155c
• IPAC2_155c
• IPAC4_156x3
• MINIPAC_155c

I started by trying the IPAC4_156x3 and after upgrading all of the buttons on my controller were triggering the incorrect keys. So then I tried essentially each of the other firmware choices. Some worked "better" than others, but in each case none of the Player 4 controls worked. Other random buttons would be missing here and there, but Player 4 seemed to be the most FUBAR'd.

How do I determine which firmware I need? I saw a post on Reddit where the author implied he needed both IPAC2 and MINIPAC for his 4-player controller. It's unclear to me how I'd upgrade two different boards as the WinIpac application doesn't give me a choice.

[PL1]

I have an Xtension 4-player controller with trackball in my cabinet. It's from ~2018. I wanted to upgrade my firmware so that I could toggle to x-input mode.

That's where the problems started. I downloaded WinIpac as well as the latest firmware files. I didn't know which firmware to use, my options were:

• IPAC_ULTIMATE_155c
• IPAC_ULTIMATE_ID2_155c
• IPAC2_155c
• IPAC4_156x3
• MINIPAC_155c

I started by trying the IPAC4_156x3 and after upgrading all of the buttons on my controller were triggering the incorrect keys. So then I tried essentially each of the other firmware choices. Some worked "better" than others, but in each case none of the Player 4 controls worked. Other random buttons would be missing here and there, but Player 4 seemed to be the most FUBAR'd.

How do I determine which firmware I need? I saw a post on Reddit where the author implied he needed both IPAC2 and MINIPAC for his 4-player controller. It's unclear to me how I'd upgrade two different boards as the WinIpac application doesn't give me a choice.

There are two aspects to doing this upgrade.
1. The firmware upgrade that controls how the encoder PCB works so you can switch to x-input mode.  WinIPAC should identify which type of PCB is connected.  Each firmware only works with the associated PCB.  For example, the IPac4 firmware only works with an IPac4 PCB.
2. The profile that defines which keystroke/button is sent by the IPac when the associated input is triggered.  It sounds like you're using the IPac default profile.

I've never worked with your controller setup, but at 0:58 in this video, it mentions that there are two USB connectors on the 4P + trackball version.
- WinIPAC shows an IPac4 board connected at 1:26 so I'm guessing that the other USB is probably connected to a MiniPac or other optical (mouse) encoder PCB that handles the trackball and mouse buttons.
- Connect only one encoder board at a time to the computer when updating the firmware or profile.



After you update the firmware, you'll need to load a profile (or create one) that changes the keystrokes the IPac sends because the default IPac4 firmware uses some different keystrokes than the MAME defaults and you'll have some overlaps like the ones in yellow below.

If the profile mentioned/linked in the video doesn't match your current setup, you'll either need to find the correct profile or create one.
- Launch MAME and jot down what key it is expecting to see for each button or joystick direction from MAME's "Input (general)" menu.
- Use WinIPAC to change the IPac defaults to what MAME is expecting to see.
- While you're at it, you might want to consider changing any "modifier keys" in your setup to make it more bulletproof.  For example, if P1B2 (L-Alt) is pressed at the same time as P3B3 (Enter), it will toggle between full-screen and windowed views.

1. Overlapping defaults
There's an overlap in the I-Pac4 defaults for P2B5-P2B8 and P3 Joystick. (both use I, K, J, and L)



2. Modifier keys
Good advice from BadMouth here.

There are five default MAME "modifier" keys that can cause problems:
- P1B1
- P1B2
- P1B4
- P3B1
- P3B2

Scott

[slikrik98]

life saver, thank you.

It had been so long since I put this thing together I had forgotten that my controller had two separate USB connections. Doing them independently was in fact the solution. Thanks again.