Possible solution to Frankenpanel confusion

[erictrumpet]

Hi all, I am busy designing a Frankenpanel for my 2-player cab and I had an idea to help deal with the confusion associated with the myriad of controls on the CP. We've all heard it a thousand times: "Which sticks/buttons do I use for this game?"

After my control panel is completely finished I would take some still photos of my hands actually on the controls in playing position for the half-dozen or so "standard" game positions: for example, left hand on player 1 8-way stick, right hand on player 1 button bank (fighters); or left hand on spinner, right hand on flight stick (Tron, DOT, etc); or right hand only on 4-way (PacMan, etc). Do this for all the positions necessary to play the games, then with Photoshop I would overlay the pictures with any explanations as necessary, which buttons fire/jump, etc.

Then when a game is selected, before actually loading, the appropriate image for that game's hand position comes up full-screen and shows the hands actually on the panel, indicating quickly and easily where the player(s) is/are to put their hands for the game they are about to play. At the bottom of the picture it says Press any button to continue. Press any button, then the rom loads and off ya go.

What do you think?

Eric.

[Bones]

I am new to the emulator scene and slowly working my way through the different programs (with average success I might add).

GameEX has the function of showing controls before actually selecting a game. I don't know if the others emulators do or don't have similar abilities at this stage but it might be worth checking it out and see if this helps with your thoughts.

So far I have found GameEX the easiest to set-up and get running quickly with limited software experience.

[erictrumpet]

Thanks for the reply. How can you be new to the scene with almost 3,000 posts here? I have checked out the GameEX screenies and decided against it due to the look. But, I will give it try just as a learning thing, so thanks for the suggestion.

I guess what I am really looking for is a FE (or add-on to any FE) that will let me put up a full-screen image that awaits a button press to bypass it. Then I can use it for controls, or informational text, or whatever I want. I think a photo of actual hands on the control panel would be much better than something that says, "Use 8-way and two buttons" -- which buttons? What's "8-way" mean? etc etc. I want my cab to be totally usable by a complete newbie without me standing over their shoulder, and that's tricky when there's ten thousand controls on the CP. The photo idea seemed like a good one. The main question is, can I set up an intermediate screen that comes up between loading the game from the FE and before the game actually loads up?

Eric.

[Bones]

Thanks for the reply. How can you be new to the scene with almost 3,000 posts here?

Errr.... EE, the great time wasting black hole.

[cdbrown]

I think you may want to look for threads that relate to Johnny 5 and CPViewer.  These apps along with the controls.dat will provide an image of your cp (once you have created it) and then indicate what controls are used and what the button labels are (as taken from original cabinet labels).

[Howard_Casto]

yeah... rtff comes to mind. 

Also the solution to frankenpanels is far more simple.  Just don't build them!!!  Two sticks, 6-7 buttons per stick, some start buttons and possibly a trackball/spinner are ALL you need.  Admin buttons?  Not needed, use your shift functions.  Dedicated buttons for the trackball/spinner?  Nope don't need those either if you place them properly.   Want to play ikari warriors?  Replace your supers with the happ rotaries, which work just as well for fighters as they do rotary games. 

Need a 4 player panel?  No you don't.  No really, you don't trust me... 90% of the people who build 4 player panels realize after the fact that player 3 and 4 controls rarely, if ever, get used.  This is despite the fact that their friends all said they'd love to play tmnt with them all the time or the fact that all your friends regularly come over to play the latest game console with you.  Only 1 out of 10 people are retrogamers, remember that. 


OK I'm done ranting. 

[Bones]

You forget about people with kids. 4 player CP's definitely have their place.....

[erictrumpet]

Well maybe mine is not a Frankenpanel after all. Here's what I have:

2 8-ways with a 7-button bank each;
1 four-way
A spinner
A flight stick
A trackball
One button dead center (the "save your butt" button -- Asteroids hyperspace, Tempest super zapper, etc), also serves as fire button for single-button games (Galaga, etc) because the 4-way is right next to it

No admin buttons, no coin button, Player 1/2 start buttons set aside and clearly marked as non-play buttons.

So, maybe this isn't a Frankenpanel by the strictest definition, but it has four joysticks, a spinner, and a trackball... and believe me that's enough to scramble the eyes of a casual user who just wants to play a quick game.

Eric.

[Necro]

From what I've seen, GameEx only works with the default panel layout that's included with it right now. (If you use the built in functionality).

With Johnny5 or CPviewer you can setup a diagram of your own panel, and have it automagically add labels to the buttons in the diagram for each game.  Pretty cool.  Tigerheli has a tutorial and a ton of info on his site (http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/).  I used that for the basic directions on setting it up.

Sorry if that's not what you meant, seemed like it   Good luck.

[erictrumpet]

Yeah Necro this helps a lot, thanks!

Eric.

[Necro]

No problem.  

Back to waiting for Christmas