I-PAC2 capacity

[Xerxes]

I am building a MAME cabinet and am about to order my control panel parts.  I was wondering about the capacity on the I-PAC2.  It only seems to support two joysticks and I was wanting to have 3.  Two 8-ways and a dedicated 4-way.  Is it possible to wire the player 1 joystick and the dedicated 4-way to the same terminals on the I-PAC?

[Bgnome]

the ipac2 has 28 inputs.  you can hook up however many joysticks you want, whatever way you want to, as long as you dont require more than 28 inputs.

most people who have a dedicated 4-way, have it wired in parallel with the player 1 8-way.  this is accomplished by either daisy chaning the end connectors or running two wires to the terminal strip on the ipac.

my personal opinion is to forego the dedicated 4-way.  you can get a t-stick plus when you get the ipac and have 4 to 8 way switchability without having to open up your cp.  the omnistick prodigy is also a good option to consider.  most people who come into this hobby always try to cram everything into a huge frankenpanel.  in my opinion, a simpler, less cluttered panel would be much better.

[Xerxes]

I was considering the t-stick plus as an alternative.  Can you attest to their quality?  Also, while we are talking about Ultimarc, what about Happ vs. Ultimarc?  Any real overall difference in quality?  I was leaning towards Ultimarc, but everybody seems to be using Happ.

Thanks for your input!

[Wizard of DelRay]

If you plan on playing games like Street Fighter and KOF then get a Happ Competition and a dedicated 4-way.  The throw on the T-Stik Plus is too short to pull off special moves consistently.  If you don't play fighters, then go with the T-Stik Plus.

[Xerxes]

Thanks for that input, Wizard!  I play figting games once in a blue moon.  My interest lies more in games from 1981-1984.

[Pyro]

One resource that I utilize often is http://www.retroblast.com/

Kevin Steele has great hardware reviews on the site as well as other good infomation.

Hope this helps,

Pyro

[Lilwolf]

then get a good happs mspacman anniv 4way.  

Wire the 4way and player 1 8way to the same connections..

But add a switch to break the ground to either the 4way or the 8way.   (so the ground is only going to one or the other at the same time.

This switch is important when playing a fighting game with a friend... and you are about to do the super upper cut super ultra move to finish him off... but he grabs the 4way stick and mess up your thunder back spin!  

But anyway... doing this doesn't require any extra connections to a keyboard encoder... plus allows you to have the same settings for your 8way games in mame and the 4way games...  IE, mame setup is EASY