Common buttons for joysticks/trackballs

[dagimp69sme]

I've searched the message board up and down, and I'm trying to create a 4 player control... I was wondering what are common button configurations?  For the two players on the front of the panel, I already know I want the 7 button Neo Geo configuration, and for the two outside players, I know I want diamond shaped 4 player button configurations... However, I have a trackball, a spinner, a dedicated 4 way, and a top-fire joystick and I have no idea how many buttons any of these games entail nor where to place them near these items... I was just wondering if anyone has any suggestions of where to put the trackball buttons, etc.  Btw, I'm thinking about putting the trackball between the front two players... anybody have any experience with such and any recommendations?

Mahalo,
Ryan

[Minwah]

Trackball buttons are usually placed to the left of the trackball.  Why not just use your P1 buttons?

[pointdablame]

I'd consider using the P1 buttons for trackball buttons as mentioned.

I'd also consider putting the top fire and 4way directly to the left of the P1 and P2 joysticks.... it sounds odd at first, but works out really well, and saves a lot of panel space.

Of course, if you have a lot of dead space in the upper middle area of your CP, you may not want to do that with the joysticks, but I always think it looks good that way.

[Hiub1]

Here is what I did:



My 2 buttons all the way at the top are the buttons actually hooked up to the trackball, and act as the mouse buttons. For MAME, I use the P1 buttons for the trackball. This is a good idea since you still have all 6 regular buttons for mame for P1, and at the top you still have mouse buttons to navigate anything you need.

[dagimp69sme]

Oops, after reading my post, I realized why everyone only answered my trackball question.  My original intent was to ask:

How many buttons do I need for trackball games? I've seen control panels with three buttons above the trackball...

How many buttons do I need for 4-way joystick games? I've seen two buttons usually.

How many buttons do I need for spinner games?

How many buttons do I need for top-fire games?

Also, if I need x buttons for a certain joystick, do you suggest I try to manipulate the console configuration so that I take advantage of using other buttons such as the player1 button as suggested.

Finally, I'm designing the configuration using Visio, but I was looking at some of the NEAT console overlays that people have made. I was just wondering if they use visio for this, or is it better to export the visio project into something let's say Illustrator can read.

Btw, I totally appreciate all the helpful suggestions I've gotten on this board. Being all the way out here in Hawai`i, nobody does these kinds of things and without you guys, this project of mine would be non-existent.

Mahalo,
Ryan

[Hiub1]

If you go with my suggestion, it will not matter how many buttons you need for a TB game since you will be using the 1P and there are 6 available there. Same thing with everything else, If I were building it, I would position things so that say the 4 way and the spinner used the same buttons as maybe p1 p2 and p3 or soemthing along those lines.

[Kobex]

If you haven't grabbed it already, download the visio stencil set from the download section of the main byoac page.  The one I used was the one from Jason at the very bottom of the downloads link.  It's handy if you're using Happ controls.

I took that file and started a new project from scratch.  I just completed the control panel tonight (for the most part).  Maybe you can use something in there as an example.  My visio file can be found here:  http://pages.sbcglobal.net/kobe/arcade_controls2.vsd

The control panel looks like this:

[Lilwolf]

ahhh

ALL THE BUTTONS ARE ON THE WRONG SIDE....

but I'm left handed...

[GGKoul]

I put 3 buttons on top of my trackball for Left / Right mouse clicks.  Makes web surfing and playing Golden Tee alot easier.  Also wired the 3 buttons to act a Fire1 Fire2 Fire3, primarly for Missle Command and some other trackball games.

[paigeoliver]

You really use your Mame cabinet for web surfing?

[Kobex]

I just put the mouse buttons (yellow in the pic) by the 4-way in case I wanted them to double as regular buttons.  I figured they were nearby anyway in my original layout (above the trackball), so I thought I'd see how it went if I moved them over.  Plus, it originally seemed odd to me to have the buttons directly above the trackball if you're actually using the trackball, so I thought an offset made sense in both cases.

I have a feeling I'll just be using the 4-way with my right hand and hitting player 1's buttons with my left anyway.  This is why I posititioned the 4-way right of center above player 1's buttons, so I can choose which hand to control the 4-way and still have somewhat comfortable button options.

That was my thought process, anyway.  I'm a new to this whole thing (been reading the board for months), so planning might not meet up with expectations on a first try!

[dagimp69sme]

Yeah, I've read about a lot of people putting three buttons directly above the trackball, but I'm still wondering for 4 way games, top fire games, and spinner games, how much buttons do people normally put near them? I just want to see if I'll be able to use other buttons on the panel instead of placing buttons specifically for the joystick.

Btw, nice pics!

_Ryan

[Hiub1]

Just think that all the 4-way, top-fire, and spinner games are in the older spectrum of mame, so they need 4 buttons at best. You would probably be just fine using 3, as I believe you can count in one hand the number of 4-way games that use 4 buttons. Do some research, I believe there was something being talked about that had to do with all this.

Keep us posted, Fred.

[subzero23]

Has there ever been a 4-way game with more than one button? more than two?