How Many Buttons?

[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
Got some questions here before I start ordering parts. I am building a Gauntlet style 4 player CP. I will have 1 (maybe 2?) trackballs, (4) 8-ways, (1) Tron stick, (1) spinner, (1) 4/8 restrictor joystick mounted at an angle for Q-Bert and whatnot, and (2) light guns. The CP is fairly large and I am building a 'backsplash' under the monitor and in front of the CP to hold system buttons, so I have room. I have questions about how many buttons I need for all this...

* For Players 1 & 2, I am putting in 7 buttons each. Players 3 & 4- do they only need 4 buttons? More or less?

* Does the trackball need any dedicated buttons? Perhaps a left/right click button? a 3rd button?

* Does the Tron stick need any other buttons other than what comes on the stick?

* Does the 4-way (8 way restrictor) need any buttons dedicated to it's use?

* Does the spinner need any buttons?

And the most important part...

System buttons- What all do I need? I know I'd like to pause the game, get into the options, obviously the 1-4 player select as well as credits for each player- but what other system buttons do I need? I'd like to have this CP be as versitile as possible.
Thanks for all the help guys!!!
D

[SirPoonga]

* For Players 1 & 2, I am putting in 7 buttons each. Players 3 & 4- do they only need 4 buttons? More or less?

If you are just going to use mame, this will be fine.

* Does the trackball need any dedicated buttons? Perhaps a left/right click button? a 3rd button?

Only if you want to navigate the operating system via your tball.

[neuromancer]

Sounds like the panel from hell.

I'd never make a single panel with so much stuff, but if you are, you may as well buy a few extra buttons for your backsplash and map some of the other functions. It's not like anyone will notice them.

Bob

[Tiger-Heli]

What SirPoonga said, also:

* Does the Tron stick need any other buttons other than what comes on the stick?

Discs of Tron used an up/down spinner to aim up and down

Discs of Tron also used a thumb button on the trigger stick for "Deflect".  There were several other Trigger stick games with two thumb buttons (Xenophobe comes to mind), but I think all of these COULD be played with standard buttons.

Regarding Admin buttons - I like a dedicated Pause and Escape.  I DON'T like Tab or config buttons, but that's personal preference.

[eyal8r]

Hi there-
Thanks for the replies. Yes, it's a fairly large CP. Just like the SuperMame CP, just not 2 different levels. I think it'll be ok since it's large enough to space it out well enough...

Hmmm- so, throw a few extra buttons on the backsplash for the admin functions- which is what I am planning on doing. Esc, Pause, Quit, etc. Anything else?

I plan on using the IPAC4 for the encoder- sound about right for my setup?

Yes, I was going to go with a 3" USB TB and also have a drawer built for a keyboard (USB also), so I should be ok there I think. The TB will run as the mouse, right?

RE: Tron- is it possible to get the same type of spinner- ie- does someone produce one that works the same?  What joysticks, other than the $110 from Happs, will work in its place as well? Any other flight sticks worth getting that have the same trigger/thumb buttons?

Thanks for the help guys!
D

[Shape D.]

you can get the tron replica at oscarcontrols.com

[Tiger-Heli]

Hmmm- so, throw a few extra buttons on the backsplash for the admin functions- which is what I am planning on doing. Esc, Pause, Quit, etc. Anything else?

Escape is Quit, I think 

I plan on using the IPAC4 for the encoder- sound about right for my setup?

Yep

The TB will run as the mouse, right?

Yep

RE: Tron- is it possible to get the same type of spinner- ie- does someone produce one that works the same?

www.oscarcontrols.com sells the DOT spinner for about $110 last I checked.

What joysticks, other than the $110 from Happs, will work in its place as well? Any other flight sticks worth getting that have the same trigger/thumb buttons?

specialtyplastics (link in RandyT's versa-stick thread) sells Tron repro handles.  1Up had a tutorial on how to hack these to a Happ Super base.  A link to the google cache of it was in a recent thread.

Otherwise, you could just hack a PC flight stick to an arcade base.  There have been several threads on this, mostly using a raider Pro joystick.

[eyal8r]

Tiger-
Thanks for the reply. Excuse my ignorance, what do you mean when you say the 'arcade base'? I'll go search the forums as well for this info. 

OUCH on the spinner cost! Jeez...  anything else that will do?  Do most people use this spinner, or, do you guys all just skip it and not play Discs of Tron with it? Are there any other games that use the tilting spinner to justify the cost? I might just skip that and do a normal spinner, ya know?  OUCH...
Thanks again,
D

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks for the reply. Excuse my ignorance, what do you mean when you say the 'arcade base'? I'll go search the forums as well for this info. 

What I meant was mounting a flightstick handle to the shaft (modified) of a Happ Super or Competition (or other joystick) and using the bottom of the Happ Super for the controls.  In this case, the base refers to the joystick shaft, plastic base, microswitches, actuator, basically everything except some of the handle.

OUCH on the spinner cost! Jeez...  anything else that will do?  Do most people use this spinner, or, do you guys all just skip it and not play Discs of Tron with it? Are there any other games that use the tilting spinner to justify the cost? I might just skip that and do a normal spinner, ya know?  OUCH...

I think most people skip it and and don't play DOT.  You don't need it until about the eighth level in DOT IIRC, and I've never gotten that far.  The problem is, if you CAN get that far, there aren't many other ways to play it (Controlling a trigger stick with thumb button in the right hand and spinner with the left doesn't leave a lot of free appendages to mash additional buttons).  AFAIK, the only other games that could used a similar control were Zwackery, and "Lost Worlds" ("Forgotten Worlds?"), something like that.  The spinner would also be ideal for FrontLine/TinStar/WildWestern, but the MAME drivers don't support using it for these games. . .

[eyal8r]

ok perfect!  Answers my questions on it!  LOL... No special DOT spinner for me! 
Thanks bud...
D