Thoughts on this software way to disable my coin buttons

[jimj]

I want to disable easy use of my coin buttons to encourage use of my coin slots.  I'd like to control this via software so it's quick and easy to undo should I get tired of using quarters.  I've read about using a physical switch to enable/disable the coin buttons, but I'm not interested in that.  I'm using a SlikStik Classic Controller with an I-PAC4 inside of it and currently have dedicated coin 1 and coin 2 buttons (its default configuration).

I thought I had read that the 5 and 6 keys (normally mapped to coin 1 and coin 2) also sometimes serve other functions (like maybe a SELECT button for consoles or other emulators?).  Does anyone know of uses for 5 and 6 besides coin 1 and coin 2?  If they have uses besides just coin 1 and coin 2 then I don't want to lose the ability to easily enter 5 and 6 from my control panel.

Assuming there's a good reason to leave my current credit buttons mapped to keys 5 and 6, then my initial thought on disabling coin button use is to:

• Leave the credit buttons on my control panel mapped to 5 and 6
• In MAME globally remap coin 1 and coin 2 to two unused keys (numeric keypad 5 and 6 don't appear to be used much, see below for my rational on choosing these keys)
• Wire my two coin doors to new inputs on my I-PAC4 that are mapped to numeric keypad 5 and 6 respectively
• With normal 5 and 6 now unused by MAME I could assign them to other functions, like maybe show speed display
• I'll also probably add a shifted function to my credit buttons to send numeric keypad 5 and 6 so I can cheat and give myself credits when no one is looking

With this configuration I can easily revert to a normal "coin button enabled" configuration by configuring MAME to accept 5 or numeric keypad 5 as coin 1, same with 6 and coin 2.

Anyone have any thoughts or constructive criticism of my current "disable easy coin button usage" plan?  Yes, I know that anyone that knows how to configure MAME can undo my configuration, I don't need high security on this.    The only other negative I've thought of is that I'll now have two unused buttons on my control panel which could be confusing, but I can live with this confusion. 


My plan above caused me to discover that finding unused keys in MAME looks like it could about be a project in itself! 

• Is there a good way to find keys that aren't already in use by MAME?
• Is there a way to tell if the key you're assigning/mapping is already in use?
• According to the MAME documentation numeric keypad 5 isn't used and numeric keypad 6 is used for player 4.  Since I have just a two player cabinet I assume I'll be safe using these two keys, but I also don't think this site lists every default MAME input.  Are they better/safer keys to use instead of numeric keypad 5 and 6?

[Mike A]

Just disconnect the buttons. If you want to use them again just reconnect them.

Everybody here wants to make simple ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- really complicated all of the time.

[Thenasty]

one switch on/off to cut off the feed to the Coin Buttons

quick draft diagram.

[Ropi Jo]

That looks like 2 big aliens beating sh*t out of a little alien

[DoghouseReilly]

I thought I had read that the 5 and 6 keys (normally mapped to coin 1 and coin 2) also sometimes serve other functions (like maybe a SELECT button for consoles or other emulators?).  Does anyone know of uses for 5 and 6 besides coin 1 and coin 2?  If they have uses besides just coin 1 and coin 2 then I don't want to lose the ability to easily enter 5 and 6 from my control panel.

I had a similar concern when setting up my emulators. I have a fair few console emulators along with Mame, and I wanted to find the best candidates for a universal "save state" button and a universal "load state" button, and also a couple buttons for save slots. The Fusion Genesis emulator has F5 and F8 hard-coded for save and load, so I over-wrote Mame's default functions for those keys (I don't use whatever those default functions were), and use "5" and "6" for save slots. The rest of my emulators allowed me to map these four buttons without conflict. For the console games I play, most of them don't even use the "select" button. For the few that do, I mapped "select" to one of the other, unused-for-that game emulator buttons. I didn't have to deny myself any game because I use "5" and "6" for load/save functionality.

[jimj]

Mike A, yes I think we're prone to over-engineering, I think it goes with the hobby...

Thenasty, thanks for your diagram, that looks easy enough to implement, but the more I think about it the more I want to retain the ability to use my credit buttons (instead of just disconnecting them).

That looks like 2 big aliens beating sh*t out of a little alien

lol, now that you mention it that drawing does bear a resemblance to The Tallest from Ivader Zim. 

Thanks for sharing your experience DoghouseReilly.  I've never used save states before, but I think that sounds like a really good use for my credit buttons