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4 Player CP layout
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unclet:

1) You might need to move your buttons and joysticks closer in from the sides if you are using 2x2 to construct you control box to give it strength (ie: dont want the underneath part of your buttons or joysticks to be hitting wood

2) Not sure what games you like to play, but I think your P3 and P4 joystick positioning is too rotated.   I like to play two-player (or one-player) Karate Champ and Smash TV games which rely on each player having two joysticks.  This would mean that one player would use P1 and P3 joysticks and the other player would use P2 and P4 joysticks.  With the P3 and P4 joysticks being so rotated, I would think it would be hard to play these types of games since it would be hard to generate a multiple UP movement on both joysticks quickly (ie: since P3 joystick is rotated, it might produce a LEFT click instead)  ..... does this make sense?

3) You should make sure when someone is really flipping that trackball that their wrist (or forearm) does not slam into the P2 joystick shaft.

4) If you are thinking about installing a control panel door to house a keyboard (which could slide in/out) then you must make sure to allow room for mounting buttons up through the underneath part of your control box......just something to think about regarding positioning.    

You can check my 4-player control panel out at
http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com if you are interested.

Good luck
UncleT
WwonderLlama:
Doug,

  Thanks for the input, but I'm not really sure I understand what you mean. Can you give me a link to some pics of your cab?

As a side note, I drilled out my test cp with P1 and P2 horizontal and P3-P4 are approximately at the angles shown in the design.

-Phill
DougHillman:
Ooops, meant to include the link to the thread showing the CP I just finished.

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=23028

BTW, have you already purchased your Happs Competitions?  If not, get Ultimarc T-Stik Plus switchable 8/4-ways instead and you can dispense with the dedicated 4-way.  IME, any 8-way is NOT acceptable for serious 4-way gameplay.
unclet:
Basically some arcade games (ie: Karate Champ and Smash TV) were designed so a player must use two joysticks themselves to play the game.   If you were going to play two-player Karate Champ with a friend on your cab, you would hold P1 joystick in your right hand and P3 joystick in your left while your friend would hold P4 joystick in their right hand and P2 joystick in their left hand.

If you wanted to do a nice Karate move and kick your friend in the head, you would move the joystick which is in your right hand UP while at the same time moving the joystick in your left hand to the LEFT (I think that is the round about kick to the head move.... ;D).

Anyway, you ge the picture .... two joystick for each player.   If you wanted to play these type games, it would be hard for you to quickly move your P4 joystick (the one in your left hand) to be in the LEFT position due to the way the joysticks are positioned (ie: turned diagonally a bit).  Basically you might register a DOWN instead of a LEFT movement by accident.

I gave you my link before ..... here it is again -->

PS: I am not sure the reason why you are trying to keep the width of your control panel so small for 4-players, but just keep in mind you most likely will have this cabinet for a very long time, so just make sure you try to do everything right the first time.  Dont want to make it too small (or too big I guess).   Not to say, the control panel wont work for you, but I would recommend not cutting any corners unless you absolutely must.   Of couse if your girlfriend/wife is just looking at you saying something like "you are going to make what .... and put it where.....", then you most likely wont have clearance to make the control panel wider anyways ..... :D

Good luck.....
WwonderLlama:

--- Quote from: unclet on August 19, 2004, 05:37:30 pm ---
1) You might need to move your buttons and joysticks closer in from the sides if you are using 2x2 to construct you control box to give it strength (ie: dont want the underneath part of your buttons or joysticks to be hitting wood

2) ....

3) You should make sure when someone is really flipping that trackball that their wrist (or forearm) does not slam into the P2 joystick shaft.

4) If you are thinking about installing a control panel door to house a keyboard ....

You can check my 4-player control panel out at
http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com if you are interested.


--- End quote ---

UncleT,

  I'd actually come across your cab in my search for a 4player design; that's quite the cab!  Unfortunately, space is at a premium for me, so I have to keep the cp as small as is practical. I'm currently working with a 36.5" width, but will probably expand it to 39-40" to free up some elbow room for the players.

Thanks for the input!  I'll start at the top and work my way down.

1) I'm planning on using 3/4" MDF scraps for the sides of the control panel box, so the sides shouldn't be overly thick.  I'm probably going to be widening the cp box as well, so that should help with the angles on P3-P4.  

2) I've actually never played a game that required the use of two joysticks.  Honestly, I only made the cp 4 player to accomodate games like xmen and TMNT, so I'm not worried about the joystick angles for those types of 2 player games.

3) This was one of my worries.... I don't forsee any golf-type games being played on this cab.  I decided to put the trackball in for centipede and such, but the placement of that P2 joystick is definately a concern.

4) I'm currently running debian, so I won't need a keybaord for the most part.  Now if I can only get the video card's TV-out working, I'll be in business.  Anyone know how to get a Voodoo3 working with debian?  Modelines, etc?

Thanks again,

-Phill
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