What "extra" buttons should I consider including on my 2 player CP?

[Wyluli]

I'm finishing up the top of my CP (for the second time...don't ask) and I have all my joystick buttons ready to go.  I was wondering what other buttons have you guys included on your control panels?  For example, did you include an extra button for "insert coin", "start game" "1player & 2player" etc...?
I want to make sure I have thought of everything and drilled every hole before I paint this baby up (again lol).

Thanks!

[Apollo]

I have coin up for players 1 & 2 and also player 1 & 2 start i.e. the keyboard equivalents are buttons 5 & 6 and buttons 1 & 2.

[walls83]

Pause, Exit and Start

along with 1 and 2 player start and coin

[Jabba]

If you have the I-PAC, you will not need to add extra buttons. Just shift the extra ones you need to existing buttons. Thats what I'm doing and it looks much neater that way. Just my .02 cents.

[LordDamo]

I use a Keywiz Max, so I have a shazam key as an extra key. I also have P1 & P2 start and  P1 & P2 coin buttons - 5 extras in all that runn along the top of the CP. Dosnt look too bad, hope this helps

[Wyluli]

I will be using the I-Pac.

[thrash242]

With an IPAC, you can assign one button as a shift key and then press the shift key and another key to get a shifted function.  The reason for this is so that you don't have to have a ton of other buttons on your panel, allowing it to look more authentic.

What I'm planning on doing for mine is having 7 buttons for each player, along with player 1 and 2 starts.  Then I'll have a shift button hidden away on each side of the control panel box.  Shift+1P will be coin for 1P, Shift+2P will be coin for 2P, Shift+Button7 will probably be Exit game, etc.  I'm planning on hooking up a coin door and using either quarters or tokens most of the time for that authentic feel, so this should work fine, I think.

[Wyluli]

With an IPAC, you can assign one button as a shift key and then press the shift key and another key to get a shifted function.

[Apollo]

You don't need pause or enter or escape. P1 start +P1 joystick down is pause. P1 start + P2 start is escape etc. I think the functions are on the Ultimarc web site.

[eyal8r]

oh wow- I didn't know all this! Shoot- maybe I need to do some reconfiguring here...

What about the 'ok' buttons? How can you configure those?

What about the TB 3 buttons/mouse buttons?  Same question...
thanks!
D

[Oddfeld]

You can waggle the joystick left and right instead of hitting OK to get past the nag screens in MAME - or just disable them so they don't show up in the first place.

This is the default keymapping for an IPAC:
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac2.html

If you're using an OPTI-PAC to wire up a trackball, that will handle mouse buttons (it only simulates a 2-button mouse though). From the Ultimarc website:

What about mouse buttons?
Four inputs are provided for mouse buttons, two for each port. These inputs can be wired up together with I-PAC button inputs so that control panel buttons can perform dual function: mouse buttons and normal key-type inputs. So you could use your trackball as a mouse with two of the control panel buttons working as mouse buttons and also have these buttons work in games via the I-PAC.

[eyal8r]

Hmmm- yup- just looked at my opti-pac- I didn't realize it had capability for buttons on it. So- since I don't have holes in my CP for TB buttons- is there a way I can tell Mame that I want to use the 1st 2 buttons on each player button set (fire, jump buttons) for the left/right buttons, instead of adding more buttons on the CP for this?
D

[Jabba]

You don't need pause or enter or escape. P1 start +P1 joystick down is pause. P1 start + P2 start is escape etc. I think the functions are on the Ultimarc web site.

Hey Apollo. Thanks, great info...

[Oddfeld]

Hmmm- yup- just looked at my opti-pac- I didn't realize it had capability for buttons on it. So- since I don't have holes in my CP for TB buttons- is there a way I can tell Mame that I want to use the 1st 2 buttons on each player button set (fire, jump buttons) for the left/right buttons, instead of adding more buttons on the CP for this?
D

Yes, you'd wire those 2 buttons to the mouse button connections on the OPTIPAC. If you don't want to go to the bother of configuring the mouse buttons to be the first two fire buttons in MAME, you can just wire those buttons up to the IPAC too, so that when you hit the P1 fire button, say,  the computer sees it as hitting the fire key (space or whatever) and a left mouse click, both at the same time.

[PhoneGuy]

I have a dedicated pause button so either player can quickly/easily pause the game.  I added separate mouse buttons near the trackball since I didn't want run into some other emulator or software that did not react well to mouse and keyboard buttons being pressed together.   I also have Player 1/2 start and coin buttons.  It gets old dropping tokens into the coindoor for credit eating games like the Simpson's.  Pinball buttons on the side.

The shift key with a player button works OK for ESC. A couple of my three year old relatives were playing during a thanksgiving visit. I have since re-assigned ESC to the shift key (player 1 start) + two separate player buttons.   They were kicking themselves out of the games as the parents were pressing player start  for them.

The default IPAC ESC setting is Player 1 Start + Player 2 Start.   This combo inadvertently ended a number of two player Metal Slug games when we both hit the player starts at the same time to continue the game. Other games would also have this problem.

Shift key + your standard player buttons and joystick directions offer plenty of "hidden" admin functions.

[Kremmit]

You might want pinball flipper buttons on the sides, and a pinball plunger button on the front.

Even if you use shifted inputs for most of the admin functions, I'd use a dedicated button for Pause- when you need it, you need it right now, with no messing around.

[thrash242]

That is why I'm having two dedicated shift buttons (wired in parallel, so either will work) rather than using 1P as a shift button.  It really seems like it would be too easy to accidentally hit 1P and something else at the same time, particularly with two players.  Having two shift buttons on the sides of the panel box seems to be a good solution to me.  I guess I could use them for pinball buttons too if I ever feel the need to.

[eyal8r]

Hey guys-
Question for you here- IF I DID want to wire some of these buttons separately- how do I do that w/ Ipac2? I already have holes drilled out for the extra buttons- but how do I wire them so IPac2 recognizes them correctly?  I currently have 2 unwired spots open on the IPac- where would I wire other functions/buttons within the IPac?
Thanks
D

[Daniel270]

If you're a Stargate/Defender fanatic, you definitely want to be sure you have enough buttons to cover that too.....

[Gunstar Hero]

Don't forget the "O" and the "K" for those annoying MAME messages. 

[TalkingOctopus]

Don't forget the "O" and the "K" for those annoying MAME messages.

[eyal8r]

ok- so can someone tell me how do I physically wire extra buttons to the IPac2?  Mainly I am wanting Pause/Escape- possibly the game reset button.
Anyone?  Bueler?  Bueler? Bueler...

lol-
thanks!

[Gunstar Hero]

Don't forget the "O" and the "K" for those annoying MAME messages.

[Apollo]

Yeah maybe we need to point out that  = SARCASM, lol.

[elvis]

I have a single extra button on my CP that is configured to exit MAME, and once out of MAME and back into MAMEWah is used as the "random game" button.

Shifted keys are OK, but take too much explaining for drunk mates.  A single button in the middle of the cab doesn't look so ugly as a row of half a dozen extra buttons.

[bigle]

ok- so can someone tell me how do I physically wire extra buttons to the IPac2?

[eyal8r]

Right- but what if there are no open spots on the IPac- I'm SOL and gotta use Shifted keys at that point then?
Thanks
D

[thrash242]

I guess if you're using 8 buttons for each player, then you're SOL unless you want to get a IPAC4 instead.  You'll have to use shifted buttons, which IMO is the better solution anyway.

[TalkingOctopus]

Don't forget the "O" and the "K" for those annoying MAME messages.

[Gunstar Hero]

Yeah, I knew I should have included an "insert sarcasm here" tag!!

[Tiger-Heli]

Right- but what if there are no open spots on the IPac- I'm SOL and gotta use Shifted keys at that point then?
Thanks
D

Reply #17 says there are two open spots, Reply #26 says there are none.

Confused