MAME Control Panel Poll!

[cscon115]

Just tossing this out.

I hope the discussion may help someone decide how to approach their first Mame. The discussion has to do with (of all things) building your own arcade controls.

When you finally decided to Mame a cab, how do/did you decide on the control panel layout. Do you want a series of cabs, each custom to certain types of games. For example, cab 1 might have two joysticks and two buttons per joystick and this cab would only house a few games. Cab 2 might have a spinner and buttons, Cab 3 might have trackballs, etc.

Or do you only go with one cab with a series of control panels that can be removed and replaced to fit the game you are playing.

Or do you go with the mega 4 player, every possible combination, 4 joystick, 800 buttons, three trackballs, 2 spinners, steeringwheels, bridge of the Enterprise design.

As a college professor - you will need to explain your answer to get full credit.

Was your decision made by space limitations? Money / Cost? Your spouse? Your favorite game? Was your decision made by the angle of the panel (is there a standard?) If you could do it over, what would you change? Pictures and Diagrams of your control panel(s) are encouraged and may be worth extra credit.

Please focus your comments to why your way is best and try to limit the comments on why another way is stupid. I am genuinely interested in how people decided on their layouts.

[nipsmg]

I went with the megapanel.

Basically, I wanted this as self contained as possible, and I'm not nearly talented enough with wood to do the amazing rotating panels that some people hvae done.. so I made a franken panel.

I think that switching panels (and finding a place to put them while not in use) is more of a nuisance then just having everyting in one panel.  And I really like my layout.

http://arcadia.gerety.net/gallery

[MYX]

My first was just a desktop to see how I liked certain ideas. Glad I did this. I have decided to do one main controller to hit a majority of games. Then I will have a couple of simpler CPs that are more single game or genre oriented. It will be similar to Knievel's CP. But it will be a tad smaller w latches so I can change it out.

[ahofle]

I went with a Frankenpanel as well, although I *REALLY* spent a lot of time custom designing it towards the games I like to play.  I have yet to see another CP that is good to play both Tron and Toobin for example.    Also there are only 3 players, which gives a little more room for things.  I'm very happy with the results.  If I was more talented with wood working I'd have tried a rotating or switchable CP.  And if I had a bigger house, I'd have gone with multiple cabinets.

[More Cowbell]

Mark me down for a frankenpanel. Now that my cab is done, I don't want to quit so I'm thinking about another cab just for driving games.

[MameJunkie]

Multicab.

Gives me a reason to build more.

[eccs19]

I've only so far done one cabinet, and it's not a crazy CP, but not bare bone basics.  I don't play many games that use spinners, or trackballs, so I wasn't that worried about it.  I put 4 buttons, but 95% of the games I used to play only ever used 2. I figure I will do one more, that way I will have a machine for vertical and horizontal games.  I will probably follow the same type layout.

The part with this panel that you may think is strange, is that I actually attached it to the CP box with Velcro.  It actually holds very well, and is quickly removable to switch from 4 way to 8 way!

[cscon115]

ECCS19

Very nice, VERY VERY NICE. I like the curved buttons (kinda like your fingers would naturally lay).  CUDOS on the CURVE (+4 ec points)

Dan


PS the points are pretty useless and mean absolutely nothing.

[eccs19]

ECCS19

Very nice, VERY VERY NICE. I like the curved buttons (kinda like your fingers would naturally lay).

[pointdablame]

I'm curious why there isn't an option for a mid-range panel.  You don't have to either have swappable panels or a frankenpanel.  There are a good many people on here, including myself, that have panels with something like 2 joys/6 buttons and a trackball, or 2 joys and a spinner, etc.  They aren't swappable... aren't meant to be one of 5 machines... and aren't frankenpanels.    Just curious why you jumped to both extremes and didn't offer up a more neutral option.

And BTW... it's "Kudos" not "Cudos"     -5 points for the Professor

[pmc]

I started with a simple panel (two joys w/6 buttons each) and a universal keyboard encoder connector. The universal connector led to a 2nd panel (wheel) and a 3rd (spinner and trackball) is being built. So I guess I'm "swapable" without initially intending for it.  I really do hate the look of the Frankenpanels tho.

Mine is a Defender cab so I have like 8" x 24" to play with. No way to Franken it without ruining the aesthetics of the cab design.

I expect to build a 4th panel that's a true Defender layout and graphics -- just for playing Defender properly. I think the low cost of a small piece of MDF, one joy, and a few buttons makes the replaceable CP worth it. It grows with you incrementally, and for cheap too.

- pmc

[80sMike]

Don't quite know how this would fit the poll, but I'm currently working on a metal CP that will have a standard 2 player joy/button layout and spinner fixed, but will have a center section that will swap controls that aren't used as often: Trackball, Star wars yoke, flight stick, steering wheel, etc.  Of course the trackball would probably be in place most of the time.

I'm not sure if I will be able to fit a 4-way stick in a permanent location...If not it will be in a swapping section also.  This would have the added benefit of putting the 4-way right in the center of the CP.

I'm doing this because I don't have a lot of room for the cab in my pub and I wanted to keep the width of the CP the same as the cab, but I really didn't want to have to do full CP swapping.

[Doc-]

Go modular!
   http://www.beersmith.com/mame

The panel is very close to "one mame to play them all"

Doc-

[sliddick]

I'm curious why there isn't an option for a mid-range panel.

[erictrumpet]

What do you mean "looks like the bridge of the Enterprise?" If you load up Star Trek in MAME, you will see that it only takes a spinner and a few buttons to fly that ship.

Eric.

[Zero_Hour]

I've been planning for so long now, I think I've drawn up just about all of the options above. But I keep coming back to THIS.

I've pretty muched matched the original as far as parts are concerned, got my wood, picked up all the required tools, just have to wait for winter to pass, as I have no indoor workspace currently   

For me the design is the best of all worlds. Controls for just about every conceivable game I'll play (sadly Marble Madness for 2 players will have to wait for a second cab  ), while still keeping each CP relatively clean looking.

[cscon115]

Sorry I did not respond to some of the comments a bit sooner. I got a chunk of cast iron in my eye

[CheffoJeffo]

sliddick - +1 for citing your source. More points would have been awarded if you would have included a pic or a link to a Knievel CP

I toss this out for you all to chew on... (closed book but open notes)

  Does the cabinet change your decision for the CP? For example, if you have an old Pac Man, do you try and keep the CP simple and if you have a custom box that holds a 42" plasma does that mandate a FRANKENPANEL? Or once you decide on a style of CP you stick to it no matter what.

Questions, Comments, Clarifications? Anyone... Anyone...

-5 for not checking the HOF before posting a CP design poll. 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=33268

I would say, yes, cabinet design has a huge bearing on CP design ... frankenpanelling the lines of a beautiful classic  requires some painful adjustments to the cabinet ... and merits a special place in arcade purgatory.

While I'm definitely more a dedicated cabinet guy now, my multi-game and emulator cabinets have fallen into PDB's medium range (e.g. Multi-Jamma with standard 2-player fighter, trackball, guns and analog stick ; 3-sided cocktail with std fighter layout on the horizontal) -- no protruding CPs allowed.

Cheers.

[pointdablame]

pointdablame - Midrange hmmm.... I guess that could be an option. I considered the few controls to be the first option. I guess it is in your definition of "Small number". But I will accept your comment and say I should have put a "Medium number" of controls as an option. Good Idea (even if it was technically correcting the professor AGAIN!  ) + 4 

My comment was more along how you mention that a "small" number of controls meant that you wanted or "needed" multiple cabs.  I was trying to point out how there are quite a few people here that have one cab with something along the lines of 2joys/6buttons/maybe a trackball... and that's all they'll ever need.  That midrange panel will play 99% of the games in MAME and a lot of people would be perfectly happy with it as their one and only machine.

When I read your first option about multiple cabs, I envisioned a cab with just a 4way and 2 or 3 buttons, then a cab with a spinner and a few buttons.... etc etc.  It's a much different situation where your controls only work perfectly for a few hundred games, compared to a few thousand.  Thus, my thinking you might wanna have another option

And as for losing points for correcting the professor... yeah... I tend to have that problem    Maybe I'll learn one day

  Does the cabinet change your decision for the CP? For example, if you have an old Pac Man, do you try and keep the CP simple and if you have a custom box that holds a 42" plasma does that mandate a FRANKENPANEL? Or once you decide on a style of CP you stick to it no matter what.

Absolutely.  This coincides with my last statement.  If you have a PacMan and you MAME it... first of all... shame on you   

But if you do, I'd keep the original control panel and just play whatever games I could with those controls.  Same with a lot of classics... I personally would only put controls that would fit on the original CP size... or preferably use the original CP itself.  No Frankenpanels on Pacs for me.

As for the 42" plasma..  I don't think it REQUIRES a Frankenpanel... but you'd certainly be able to comfortably fit a few more controls near it heh.

[Tahnok]

My first cab was a full-size stand-up with a basic 2 joystick (T-Stik Plus), 6 buttons per player, trackball layout. Since it was my first, I wanted to be able to play most games. I am now working on a bartop that is designed for older games (four-way joystick and three buttons). So, in other words, build something with a wide range to begin with and then create specialty cabs.

BTW, "cudos" would have been caught by the built-in spell checker if you had run it.

[Jabba]

I voted the third option...

My first control panel had two switchable 4-8 way T-Sticks each with 6 buttons, and a few Admin buttons thrown in for good measure. Very hard to control Windows without the trackball and I had to have a mouse on my control panel. I hated it (I guess I could have put on a front-end like MAMEWAH, but I was used to using MAME32.

Also, I didn't like it because I could not play spinner games or trackball games.

My second control panel now has everything from original, plus a trackball and a spinner and a 8 way top fire for games like Tron. I really like this panel as it allows me to play 99% of the games in MAME.

But, now I'm thinking of building a couple of single player machines, one modelled to look like a Tempest, one to look like a Pacman/Donkey Kong, etc. One will be for a 4 way games, the other for 8 way games. Each with 2 to 3 buttons each controlled by MAMEWAH so I don't have to install a Trackball...

So, my recommendation for someone new is start off with something that is all purpose, then move to something else...

(Sorry for the crappy pic, but I think you get the idea..)

[specfire]

I'm for the mid-range panel option; at least, that is what I have been planning on for, oh..., about 6 years now

Jabba, your panel, and more importantly your artwork are almost exactly what I would like to create!!  Protruding panels usually look terrible, but I don't mind the protrusion if it is straight out and not to the sides.  Do you have more pics or a website?  Did you build it using an original Defender or Williams cab?  I like, I like, more info please.

specfire

[Jabba]

specfire: Thanks...I wanted a Defender type theme so I found a graphic I liked from the Arcade Art Lbrary link in the Artwork child board here at BYOAC.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=17346.msg137566#msg137566

I copied a Defender .ai file and modified it to fit the new dimensions of my control panel, added in space for spinner, trackball, buttons, top-fire etc.

I did it all in Adobe Illustrator.

It is specifically sized for the size of my control panel but it could be easily resized. You (and anyone else) can send me a PM with your email address and I'll e-mail you the .ai file...

I never liked the protruding panel either. My previous control panel had it. I had nightmares of my kids running into it full on....ouch!

You can go to www.garry.ca for more info on my build, but it doesn't include any links to Control Panel 2 (i.e., the Defender one above).

[missioncontrol]

you got to go with specific controls for specific cabinets. It gives you a reason to build another one.

My cocktail is going to have 2 buttons per joystick

my upright is designed for 3 buttons per joystick + trackball in center

once I complete those two I'll probibly do a steering wheel one

[cscon115]

Jabba, wonderful cab graphics! The execution was really nice! I understand your fear of the kids cracking their skulls on the panels!

[thesmit]

Mark me down for a frankenpanel. Now that my cab is done, I don't want to quit so I'm thinking about another cab just for driving games.

I would love to build a stand alone driving cab. Put a mix of console and arcade racers in it.....

Second thought, I had better not build it as my girlfriend will hate me for never spending any "time" with her... 'cause I would probably just about LIVE in a cab like that!!

[maxlamer]

Interchangeable control panels is the route that i took, it means that i can add to the cabinet without building another and haveing to find room for more cabinets. 

Aesthetically im not a fan of the franken panels, i wanted my cabinet to look and operate authenticly