Trackball Panel

[IncrdblHulk7]

I am in the process of making a modular CP.

I am going to have a 3"TB panel with necessary buttons.  I dont want to assume the use of buttons from another panel - because I might ONLY have TB panel in at a given time.  

So how many buttons should I put on this panel (2 or 3)  

Also - what should they be connected to (IPac, OptiPac, or both)?  I noticed some people tie the optiPac and Ipac wires together - is that worth it?

I also want to be able to play games like PC GoldenTee - does this require 3 mouse buttons.  I guess I could always push both mouse buttons together to emulate a third button???

Any advice is appreciated!  Thanks

[GGKoul]

Golden Tee PC needs 1 mouse button, via the Opti-pac, you can wire Left & Right mouse clicks.  And for any addition buttons like "fire", you need an IPAC.

I think it'll be best if you have 3 or 4 buttons on your trackball panel.  As I don't think there's many trackball games that have more then 4 buttons.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I would vote for NONE.

If you are really going modular, I would make the button panels separate.
That will allow you the option of a trackball only panel for games like Quantum and Marble Madness, but still allow you to tailor your button panel any other given game.

You also need to consider the size of a trackball panel with buttons, and whether you will be able to have TWO trackball panels for Marble Madness.
I couldn't fit two trackball panels with buttons into my modular system--even if I had included them onto the trackball panels.

Also, you don't have to tie yourself to the I-pac OR Opti-pac with the buttons.
With a modular system, you could connect them to whichever is most convienent for a given game.

[DougHillman]

Missile Command is a 3 button trackball game.  Are there any 4 button ones?

Check out the modular CP thread.  

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=16932;start=40

Personally, I'm going with no buttons on the TB or spinner panels (disregard the fact that there are buttons on the spinner panel in my 3D rendering in the linked thread).  As long as you have room for your regular button panel to fit at the same time, there's really no reason to have them on there.  Just taking up space.  Plus, ergonomically, if the only place you can place them would be ABOVE the trackball, it's gonna suck.  The only reason that I can see to have buttons on the tb panel would be aesthetics.  If you REALLY want a cleaner layout when you're playing tb games or something.

[NoOne=NBA=]

The only reason that I can see to have buttons on the tb panel would be aesthetics.  If you REALLY want a cleaner layout when you're playing tb games or something.

I disagree with this reasoning.

Aesthetically, I would prefer a NO button panel for Quantum/Marble Madness, a ONE button panel for Centipede/Millipede/Crystal Castles (ideally one button on EACH side), a 3 button panel for Missle Command, and a NO button panel for Wacko (with a 4-way Wico).

I can't think of any 4 button trackball ARCADE games offhand.

[telengard]

I am in the process of making a modular CP.

I am going to have a 3"TB panel with necessary buttons.  I dont want to assume the use of buttons from another panel - because I might ONLY have TB panel in at a given time.  

So how many buttons should I put on this panel (2 or 3)  

Also - what should they be connected to (IPac, OptiPac, or both)?  I noticed some people tie the optiPac and Ipac wires together - is that worth it?

I also want to be able to play games like PC GoldenTee - does this require 3 mouse buttons.  I guess I could always push both mouse buttons together to emulate a third button???

Any advice is appreciated!  Thanks

Do you mean swappable?  If not I would recommend having the control be a separate module.  Right now I have a trackball module in, plus other modules ( 2 button module, start buttons module, and some blank modules ).  The idea of modular panels is to be able to recreate all kinds of different layouts.  Putting buttons w/ your trackball wouldn't be right for a game like marble madness for example.

I have no idea about the golden tee, the opti pac supports mouse buttons, but I'm not sure how many.

Whoops, just noticed NoOne=NBA= said the same thing I did.  I need to learn to read all the posts instead of just the first and responding.    

Also, I am **absolutely** hooked on Reactor which uses two buttons and a trackball.  I had never played this in the arcade and it ranks up there w/ Robotron and Defender for me in terms of stress, fun and difficulty.  Lots of fun!

[DougHillman]

The only reason that I can see to have buttons on the tb panel would be aesthetics.  If you REALLY want a cleaner layout when you're playing tb games or something.

I disagree with this reasoning.

Aesthetically, I would prefer a NO button panel for Quantum/Marble Madness, a ONE button panel for Centipede/Millipede/Crystal Castles (ideally one button on EACH side), a 3 button panel for Missle Command, and a NO button panel for Wacko (with a 4-way Wico).

I can't think of any 4 button trackball ARCADE games offhand.

Ummm, aesthetics.  That's what I mean.  Having a 3 button panel instead of a 7.  Yes, you could carry it so far as to have a no button, 1 button, 3 button for each game, but that's just carrying the aesthetics to a further extreme.

[NoOne=NBA=]

That's how I have my modular panels set up.

I have 1 button, 2 button, and 3 button panels for use with whatever other controller I put them with.

[Doc-]

I decided to include three buttons on my modular trackball panel (see the panels page on the website) above the panel.

The reason for doing so is multifold:
  - My trackball is a USB mouse hack, so I already had the mouse button inputs available.
  - While I don't use the mouse buttons much in mame games (I use a regular button panel next to it for missile command for example) I do find the mouse very useful in PC and Windows games where remapping the keys is not as easy.
  - Sometimes you do need to use the trackball as a mouse - and often you need mouse buttons.

 I'm sure you could achieve the same using a separate button panel set up with mouse buttons, but since mame allows easy mapping (and many PC based games don't) why not have both?

Cheers!
 Doc-