Buttons for FE

[Scoobie]

Does anyone else use dedicated buttons for the FE on their cabs?  I'm considering putting a couple dedicated buttons, either under or on the side of the cp.  In Mamewah, these would allow for quick changes between gamelists and emulators.

Since keys 5 & 6 are used and mapped for coin 1 & 2, would these also work in MW for changing game list (previous) and emus (next)?  If so, I was thinking of adding bottons for keys 3 & 4.  These would allow quick changes to gamelist (previous) and emus (next).

Are these are worth adding?

Thanks!

[PiNPOiNT]

im planning on doing the same thing, because i want to make my cab completely mouse/keyboard free for my gaming expierence.

[Minwah]

You can remap the keys in MW, and the next release will accept mouse buttons / joy inputs too...

So I wouldn't add any extra buttons, unless you do not have enough 'normal' buttons (eg if you have a 1 stick + 1 button setup).

[derek1800]

when is that next realease going to come out. I need it to be able to accept buttons from my steering wheel or hacked joypad.

[Tilzs]

There is no need to add any extra buttons to a CP just for a front end. Well maybe if you made a single player CP with only 1 button you might have a need but I think you could still figure something out.

[Howard_Casto]

Agreed....  the average two player rig has 2 players, 6 buttons per player.  That's 20 inputs!  24 if you count coin and start buttons.  Your telling me you would need more?

Dedicated buttons just make a panel look unauthentic and cluttered imho.  

[Scoobie]

Agreed about the clutter.  However, if others are going to play the cab...let's just say my instruction card is becoming pretty long.  

By having buttons with more than 2 functions, it seems to confuse people that aren't used to the setup.

I'm still considering the extra buttons...only they would probably be on the front instead of on top with the main panel controls.  

[pointdablame]

Here's my feelings on the subject (not that anyone really asked for them   )

I agree with Howard that dedicated buttons on a CP make it look very cluttered.  If you want dedicated buttons, putting them somewhere besides the CP (speaker panel, under CP, monitor bezel, etc) is a bit better IMO so that your CP stays neater.  I still however don't see the need for many dedicated buttons.

As far as confusing people, here's how I feel about that:  While I am building a cab so that everyone can enjoy it, I am the one who has to look at it 99% of the time.  If you don't like cluttered CPs, don't make one just for others.  Also, in my case (and I'd guess most), you'll have a few regular people playing it, not 5 random people everyday, so it won't be too difficult to show the person once and be done with it.  If a person is unable to comprehend "hold this button X while pressing that button X to exit" or the like... well... I don't know I want someone like that to even LOOK at my cab, let alone use it. Children would be a different story perhaps, but let's face it.. they aren't going to be reading an instruction card anyway.

Just my .02

[Scoobie]

Good point.  I could always add dedicated buttons later...

[Howard_Casto]

And besides that.... just because a fe has many possible inputs doesn't mean that they will be used.  

Take dk for example.  It has around 12 inputs!  12!  However only three are needed to navigate, namely uiup, uidown and uiselect(start).  And most people can figure out on their own that the joystick navigates through the list and the start button launches a game.  Of course I could also map the prev,next list buttons to the joystick but I find that more confusing to others.  I just have them on the top row of p1 buttons and if I ever need too, I can label them with those little button label thingys.  

[Lilwolf]

btw, I just added two to mine.

but they are to swap control panels..  These don't change when changing control panels.

So its nice to know I always have two buttons that dont' change.