Control Panel Layout - Will this fit?

[chanson]

I know this type of thing has been asked before in various formats.  I've read most of the archives and I know that I will get various oppinions.  But, I am interested in people's oppinion on this one.

My first MAME machine has 1 player (4 way for PacMAN, 4 buttons, a trackball, and spinner).  For the next, I want to go with 2 players (8 way joy - 1 with the oscar restrictor for 4 way play) 6 buttons each (streetfighter type layout) and a trackball (my idea was for in the center of the CP).

Will that fit usabally in a "regular" sized CP and be playable?  By "regular" I mean 23-24 inches by about 8 inches.  That's the size of my Ms.PacMan shaped cab, and seems to be pretty standard in the older cab types.

Thanks for your input!

Chris

[Keith O]

This are not exact measurements but this is what I figure.

You'll need approx 9" across for a joy and 6 buttons.
So with two sets you'll already be taking up 18" of space and that leaves very little room (approx 5-6") for a trackball. It might be possible but probably not very playable. Also, with a Ms. Pac cab, the cp is recessed within the sides leaving little room for freedom of movement. If you really want the trackball, I would suggest having 4 buttons for each player.

[Sasquatch!]

I actually just attempted this last week for a 26"-wide control panel.  I plotted everything out in Visio to where it looked good, but when I made a mock-up of it, it was just too damned cramped.  The trackball was the real issue, as the right-hand joystick was just too close to it.

Of course, this is my personal take.  I'd recommed doing a mock-up control panel yourself and see if it feels comfortable to you.  From my personal experience though, it wasn't.

[chanson]

Thanks for the thoughts so far.  Here's the scale "vision":



I too am a bit worried about the left joystick and the trackball interferance...

[Ryan]

 
Your panel looks good.  The player two is not going to interfere with the joystick.  Besides what game is going to be using the trackball and the 2player joystick.  Looks very nice.

[Faded Knight]

You say your first machine.  Are your going to ditch hat one completely or are you going to have two.

If you have two, then have different pannels and have different games on each.  I personally would want to have a vertical and a horizontal dedicated machine - the first would need four buttons max and the latter is unlikey to need 4 way sticks.

Alternatively have hot swapable control pannels.  You don't say what interface you are using, but regardless of this, wire your interface up to the female end of a null modem cable and your control pannles up to the male end of a null modem cable.  Have some clips inside the machine to hold the panels down and hey presto - as many control combinations as you want.  A full sized cab is normally big enough to house the CPs not in use.  I have:

CP A: 1 4 way stick with 2 buttons either side (2 buttons mirrored for left or right hand use)
CP B: Trackball & three lit buttons
CP C: 2 8 way sticks & twelve buttons.

I keep my Player 1 & Player two buttons on the front of the cab so I never need to swap those and using Arcade OS, I don't need to have extra buttons to run MAME as I think they ruin a good machine.

[Lilwolf]

DEFINATELY go with hotswap control panels over having multiple machines... unless you have time and money.

but other control panels that I like

classic  (4way.. then the asteroid buttons... then a qbert 4way)

4 joysticks with 4 buttons each... for 2play smashtv and 4player games... cramped but great when you need it

8way flight stick with trigger and thumb buttons (tron-ish) next to a trackball next to a few buttons)...  for tron type games and for trackball games.

[rampy]

Your diagram looks good, but ditto on the build prototype suggestion (even on cardboard)

a couple of thoughts...   do you think you'll smack the glass of the monitor with the trackball placed up thahigh? (may dependon monitor mount orientation I guess, and style of play)

Have you seen arcadeFX control panel?  He posted a picture in This thread here   I think his approach to fitting streetfighter control layout and track ball (and a few other things) is a good way (and the approach i'm gonna take) to fit those type of controls on the smaller "classic" cabinets.

Regardless of what you end up doing please post pictures on your site...  as I'd like to see what you end up with.

rampy

[Thenasty]

My CP is 24" and I have 2 8-way w/6 buttons ea.
and in the Center a 4-way stick, trackball and a spinner.
The only thing I had to change was the second player 8-way joystick. Instead of it being near the center, it is installed on the far right of the CP. So my two 8-way are at the ends, this is the only to get a decent layout on a 24" and its nice to play ROBOTRON, CRAZY CLIMBER series type game.

[chanson]

Thanks for all the thoughts!  My first machine is for home and is vertical.  Those are my favorite games, so I had to do that one first.

Believe it or not, I have 3 more planned.  The next one is for a friend.  I'm going to try out the new CP and make him a horizontal game.  After that is another horizontal game but because of the age of the kids who will be using it, I will probably do 2 sticks, 4 buttons each and a TB.  The last one planned is for my office (I'm a pediatrician so I get away with making toys and having them at work!)  I may make a larger CP for that one.

I need to make some photos of my existing machine and get a site up.  I'll let you know.

[chanson]

OK, I've reconsidered it all, and think I'll go with a modified version of the LuSiD cab.  My version will be 23" interior width (just like my Ms.PacMan shaped cab), and will have a 30" CP  (LuSiD original was 34")

Here's the render of the plan...

[nullb0y]

what did you use to render that???

[chanson]

That was 3ds Max... Another hobby of mine - I'm not working on graphics much right now, but all that time learning it comes in handy!

BTW, if anyone could really use a render mockup of their panel, I should be able to do it easily since I have the basic buttons, etc. modeled.  I'd need a photo preferabally, as well as a few of the dimensions....  could render it from just about any angle.

[cdbrown]

Chanson,

The rendering looks cool.  I'd love to have a look at what my panel would look like.  I have my button spacings for each player, just haven't put all the 4 players together.  Do you have an email address I could send some dimensions?  

I've tried playing with gmax but have no idea what I'm doing, nothing seems to come out right.

Let me know if you could do something.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[neuromancer]

OK, I've reconsidered it all, and think I'll go with a modified version of the LuSiD cab.  

Here's the render of the plan...

The rendering is awesome. I might be concerned with the space between the trackball and the right hand joystick. If you give the ball a good left-to-right spin, your wrist might keep going and hit the stick.

If it is possible to re position the ball further left (off center) it might be better. Depends in part on how you play trackball games, too.

Bob

[chanson]

I'll actually mock it up before actually doing it.   As you see, there's more room to move the controls outside a bit more (joys and buttons).

My email is:  chanson1 (at) midouth (dot) rr (dot) com
if you want me to do a render for you.