mapping buttons help

[broomy]

im trying to map out the buttons for my mame cabinet

ive set the player buttons and joystick fine but am having problems with other buttons

such as a button to exit the game and to go back to mame and for giving credits

is this possible without having to use an ipaq or converting a keyboard? is there an option through mame or a front end to just assign one button as a keyboard press?

id also be glad of any advice on using a button as a shift key so it can be held down and allow the acces of other fucitons through button pressing

thanks for any help and sorry for my lack of knowlege

james b

[Thenasty]

you can use your existing buttons to EXIT, CREDIT etc...
Just go to the Defualt Configuration and change it.
Example. You want to insert coin.
1. GOto the Defualt config
2. Select Coin 1
Hit Endter to change it
and hit the 2 buttons you want it to be. Hitting the 2 buttons must be done quickly. Hit 1 then 2.

Then you should see it change to those buttons. Now try it out. Just hit 1 button of the buttons, and no credit is given, then push the 2 button at the same time, and wala credits accepted. Do the same thing for the others.

[Tiger-Heli]

you can use your existing buttons to EXIT, CREDIT etc...
Just go to the Defualt Configuration and change it.
Example. You want to insert coin.
1. GOto the Defualt config
2. Select Coin 1
Hit Endter to change it
and hit the 2 buttons you want it to be. Hitting the 2 buttons must be done quickly. Hit 1 then 2.

Then you should see it change to those buttons. Now try it out. Just hit 1 button of the buttons, and no credit is given, then push the 2 button at the same time, and wala credits accepted. Do the same thing for the others.

The Nasty is right, and this is what I would suggest, however, he picked about the worst example for this (which gives me something to highlight).  Coin input with 1P Start as a shift function is usually trouble.  Other functions, such as Pause, Escape, Exit, work fine.

Here's the problem:  Say you do the mapping above.  Now you want to start a 2P game.  You press 1P and 2P and add one credit.  Now you press 1P and 2P again to add credit 2.  Because MAME reads the keys on input, it will now start a 1P game and you never get to add the second coin to start your game.

NOTE:  The I-PAC gets around this b/c it sends the shift functions on the button RELEASE.  I.E.  Shift key pressed and released, send unshifted function.  Shift key pressed and another key pressed, send shifted function.

More detailed info is available at http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/keyhack2.html  (See Paragraph KEYBOARD HACK DISADVANTAGES (REAL AND PERCEIVED), Items 13 and 14.