3 joysticks - Need experienced help here

[MameMe]

What I want to do
Create a control panel with 3 joysticks.  The two joysticks on either ends I want will be 8-ways with 6 buttons each for the fighter type games.  The joystick in the middle I want is a 4-way dedicated for games like Pac Man and having NO buttons (unless I need one or two).

Question from experienced group
1)  Is this possible to configure?

2)  If it IS possible, what kind of special control panel wiring will I have to do so that when I want to play Pac Man I can simply grab that middle 4-way and start playing?  Do I wire 2 of the joysticks to the same connection?  One 8-way & the 4-way to the same connector on the I-Pac?  I plan on using an I-Pac by the way.

3)  Has anyone done this before?  Please show me with pictures if possible because I've a visual guy, how you did this.  Plus I've been planning for a month or so now and still second guessing my ideas.

4)  Is this a dumb idea?  I thought of this idea because I'd hate to play Pac Man off to one side, hence the middle 4-way in the center of the control panel.

[Knievel]

Yup that's how it's done. The 4-way and the P1 8-way are wired to the same connection or just daisy-chained together.
Then you can just grab the right one depending on the game.

You'll find most mame CP's have a 8-way on either side, trackball in the center with a 4-way and spinner above it

[Apollo]

Yes exactly my first CP layout, although you will probably want at least a couple of buttons for the 4 way.
Just wire up the 4 way stick and buttons to the same terminals that the 8 way stick and buttons are wired to. Easy peasy.

Check mine out

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=10;action=display;threadid=12212;start=msg95105#msg95105

[GGKoul]

Why don't you get a 4/8 way joystick?

[MameMe]

Why don't you get a 4/8 way joystick?

Like I mentioned I don't want to be off to one side when playing Pac Man.  It would be much better to be standing straight in front of the game since its a "one-player at a time" game anyways.

Yes exactly my first CP layout, although you will probably want at least a couple of buttons for the 4 way.
Just wire up the 4 way stick and buttons to the same terminals that the 8 way stick and buttons are wired to. Easy peasy.

Apollo, that is pretty much exactly what I had in mind.  Thank you very much for the picture.  Do you have a T-Stick PLUS in the middle?  What are your joysticks on the ends?

[MameMe]

For anyone that followed this small thred I ended up buying a WICO 4-way leaf joystick off eBay for my Pac Man joystick.  It was $24.95+7.00 US shipping to Canada.

As for the other 2 joysticks, I think I'll end up buying 2 Happs Supers or Happs Competition controllers.  I don't care if these are switchable 4/8 way, as long as the "feel" is good.  I guess the Ultimates are garbage from what I've been reading.

By the way, I had bought an X-Arcade single player controller and those things are horrible.  The joystick "clangs/chunks" when moved in circular motions.  That's my 2 Canadian cents, so roughly 1.5 cents US.

[hyiu]

if the 4 way is at the same level as the other sticks, and the buttons are not far away... you can actually use existing buttons for the 4 way games....

but you have to try it to see if you feel comfortable or not...
(that's what I'm going to do and I kinda like it...)

[Apollo]

The 2 joysticks on either end are Happs Comps which are great and the stick in the middle is a MsPac/Galag reunion stick also from Happ.

[blueoakleyz]

this is exactly what I"m going to do for my PS2 cab, but I'm going to have the Ms. Pac-Man 4-way attached to both P1 and P2 (cuz namco Museum is funky, if you have 2 controllers plugged in, it forces you to use the second player, but if only one controller plugged in, you gotta share like the original cabinets. I may rethink this though and just hook it up to p1)

[The Man]

this is exactly what I"m going to do for my PS2 cab, but I'm going to have the Ms. Pac-Man 4-way attached to both P1 and P2 (cuz namco Museum is funky, if you have 2 controllers plugged in, it forces you to use the second player, but if only one controller plugged in, you gotta share like the original cabinets. I may rethink this though and just hook it up to p1)

I could be wrong but I don't think you can do this without some kind of of inline resister.