Opinions on Admin buttons

[RayB]

OK I am trying to plan out the final stages of my CP design. It's down to the last touches before printing my overlay. I am trying to decide on admin buttons.

Previously, I was of the opinion that they are unecessary or best kept hidden. But the more I think about it, the more I think at least a couple admin buttons would be really useful, such as Pause and Escape. (I am using a JPAC and wish to avoid using "shifted" inputs, based on feedback from people who say they sometimes hit shifted input by accident in the middle of a game).

For any visible admin buttons, I plan to use small Radio Shack buttons, so they won't be very prominent.

Here  are my thoughts:

On the control panel:
 Pause
 ESC  (if this button were hidden, I might hit it accidentally when trying to press one of the other hidden buttons)

Hidden:
 ` for volume adjustments
 TAB for the configuration menu
 F3 Reset  (Do I need this??)

Optional (I'm undecided about needing these):
 F11 To view the frame rate
 F12 to take a screen shot in games that I don't have a screen shot (it gets displayed in the Front end)

So those are my thoughts. The reason I am thinking to include the last two is for adjustments without plugging in a keyboard. Same goes for the ` key. Seems like a quick and easy way to lower the volume on those games that have higher than normal volume. Eventually, when all games are set properly, I will no longer need this button...

~RayB.

[Bones]

Just a thought, I added a dedicated shift button to my CP that is also wired in series to another hidden switch on the same circuit.

If the hidden switch is not turned on then the circuit from the shift key can never be completed and this avoids shifted function being accidentally accessed.

I put a deeper explanation here---> http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35285.msg334376#msg334376

If you are concerned as I was about the accidental shifted keys this might give you something to think about....

[tivogre]

I set up ESCape on my admin panel so that TWO buttons must be pressed at the same time toexit the game.

[wpcmame]

I compile my own mame where you need to press esc twice to exit the game.

[Minwah]

A have one 'admin' button, which is set to Pause.  Also, it is the shift key, which I use in combination with the start buttons for Escape & Tab.  This way the shift function never gets accidentally used, and quitting requires two simultaneous button presses.  Using the shift function I can access as many admin functions as I want (tho I only use Tab).

BTW Reset isn't really required, since you can do that from the Tab menu.

[PedroSilva]

I've used:

Off CP:
ESC
F3
TAB
COIN1
COIN2
ENTER
~

On CP:
PAUSE

[whammoed]

current machine has pause and escape but next machine will only have one button that works for pause and escape.  Press to pause , press and hold for a second to exit.  You can do this with a script in advmame.

[RayB]

I did a bit more testing last night and discovered that ~ is a useless input to have. MAME does not seem to save the volume setting. It resets it to full volume every time the game is started. Would I be able to set an INI file for each game I want reduced volume in?

Minwah, yours is an excellent idea. But what happens if you are paused and you use that button to "shift" and hit another input... Doesn't the game unpause?

Pedro brings up one input I forgot about. "Enter"

[menace]

my thinking is to only put buttons that are used on a daily basis--pause and escape--i typically incorporate the coin buttons into the coin door so that you have to press the credit return to get a credit (i like the irony of that)  as far as tab, enter and all the rest--just leave a keyboard in the coin door for those occasional times you need to access menus--if they are out where people can hit them, then they will definitley hit them.

[Wade]

"Exit" is the only additional button I want to add to my control panel.  Player 1 Start selects the game from the menu.  There is a hidden button under the CP which works as a shift so I can change controls or settings if I need to.  I don't want everyone else doing any admin functions.  Coins are added through the coin door, no buttons for that either.

Mine is set up with about 50 games, all configured correctly.  If you have one of those setups with all 4000 ROMS, I guess you will need more buttons.  I like them to seem more like a real arcade game than a PC.

Wade

[quarterback]

my thinking is to only put buttons that are used on a daily basis--pause and escape--

That's what I have.  I have working coin doors but there was a point that I did not have the coin doors hooked up, so I currently also have a coin-up button.  All my buttons are those mini radio shack momentary pushbuttons and I have them mounted on the side of my CP so they're not accidentally pushed.

[PedroSilva]

I did a bit more testing last night and discovered that ~ is a useless input to have. MAME does not seem to save the volume setting. It resets it to full volume every time the game is started. Would I be able to set an INI file for each game I want reduced volume in?

Minwah, yours is an excellent idea. But what happens if you are paused and you use that button to "shift" and hit another input... Doesn't the game unpause?

Pedro brings up one input I forgot about. "Enter"

[Timoe]

Unless you're using your cab in a public situation (?) or you have lots of random people stroll through your house that touch and poke your electronic toys....

dont be afraid of your admin buttons.  You will enjoy them if they are in a convenient place.  I use mine all the time.


But if you can hide them in a convenient place I guess that would be better.


pic to follow.....

[Timoe]

seen here

[javeryh]

I'm planning on using:

"Exit" (to frontend)
"Pause"
"Coin"

and I have room for one more that I don't know what I'm going to use it for.  I think they will be very handy for everyone who wants to use my cab.

What are these "Radio Shack" buttons mentioned?  I ordered the small buttons from Happs but they aren't exactly what I was expecting - I'd love to see some alternatives.  Thanks!

[Kobex]

I put 4 admin buttons on my CP.  I think they're very handy.  I use pause all the time.  Exit is very useful as well, as I didn't want to use standard shifted buttons for that.  Before I set up a button for that, I had already exited out of a few games using the defaults.  I currently use the other two admin buttons for save and load state, which is most handy on the console emulators.

My pause button is my shift button (ipac).  There's no problem doing this, because as long as you hit a another key while holding down the shift key, you won't perform the standard function of that key.  So if you pause, hit shift-something, you'll still be paused when you let go of the button.

I don't use the default MAME keys on my ipac, so I also programmed shifted functions for the arrow keys, tab, and enter.  The rare times I need to change settings in the game I can do so without breaking out the keyboard.  This wasn't necessary, but with all those shift functions you can program, I figured I might as well assign some of them for a useful purpose.

[MameJunkie]

I have a "Admin" control plate in the front with 7 buttons.
Esc
Tab
Enter
P1 coin/start
P2 coin/start

The panel is enabled/disabled thru a switch inside the cab.

[Minwah]

Minwah, yours is an excellent idea. But what happens if you are paused and you use that button to "shift" and hit another input... Doesn't the game unpause?

No, as the 'normal' input does not register when you hold the button down and activate the shift function.

Pedro brings up one input I forgot about. "Enter"  Where would this be required? I understand AdvanceMenu using Enter to select games, but if my FE doesn't use Enter, would there be a need for it?

No need for enter, you can use any other input as select in MAME's tab menu.

[MameJunkie]

Pedro brings up one input I forgot about. "Enter"

[MKChamp]

I wanted my cp to not have a bunch of 'non-gaming' related buttons, so I only have 2 buttons that are 'admin' buttons.

1-escape
2-pause/tab

I made it where the one button will pause/unpause and bring up/down the menu.

[RTSDaddy2]

For what it's worth, I have enter, pause and escape on the CP, but they are along the back edge of the panel.  When we put the CP together, I wound up with a need for spinner buttons (duh) and so having the administrative ones along the back "evened things out."

Oh, we also put in a coin up button on player 1's side only (it's wired to put in two credits).

At any rate, I like having those buttons out front and handy.  I would hate to be in the middle of a heated version of Joust and not be able to find the pause button when needing to take a break!

[Mr. Bubblehead]

On my upright I have admin buttons for the following:

credit
tab
pause
enter
esc

For all those I used small buttons from Radio Shack that require a good solid push to operate; an accidental bump of the hand will not exit the game or bring up the emulator menu.

In addition to that I added a 3-way switch accessable from inside my coin door:
- position 1 - all admin functions are accessable
- position 2 - only the credit and pause are available, so I can lock it on a single game in "free play" mode
- position 3 - only pause works.  A coin must be inserted for game play.

[Minwah]

I just tried it last night, wasn't able to use any of P1's buttons to select in the Tab menu.

You need to remap UI_SELECT from Enter to your desired key(s).

[SirPoonga]

FYI, my layout, more or less.  I think I;ve tweaked it a little since I made the webpage.
http://free.hostdepartment.com/S/SirPoonga/keys.htm

But you will see I just have a dedicate pause and exit button.  My pause is my shift button and you will see what I have shifted.

Yes, F3 is nice to have, go ahead, play joust without it

The only change that I can see off hand is player 1 button 3 is now enter as I leave button 1 and 2 in mouse mode most of the time.  I have a switch that switches those buttons to mouse buttons.

[jdjuggler]

My 2 cents - I will have esc,pause,coin - enter (not sure).
But, no ADMIN buttons on my CP - mostly because I will have a keyboard & kb drawer.  No one needs admin menu access except me... And, if you have kids (or plan to), this is a concern.

I'm still in the design process of my CP - but, I'm surprised that no one sees a need for a button to cycle thru different emulators.
I'm planning on using a few emulators with MameWah and I want players to be able to swap emulators with the tap of a button.
JD

[SirPoonga]

I'm still in the design process of my CP - but, I'm surprised that no one sees a need for a button to cycle thru different emulators.
I'm planning on using a few emulators with MameWah and I want players to be able to swap emulators with the tap of a button.

That's what left and right on a joystick are for   I have Game Launcher setup to switch through lists using left and right.