used all 56 inputs on ipac4, now how do i get 3 admn buttons to work?

[muffin man]

ok this is sort of confusing but here it goes

i have a ipac4 56 inputs now i used 4 joystick, 8 buttons each player (yes i am doing console games), 1 character select each, and 1 coin each. so all that is all of 56 inputs

now i have 3 buttons that i want for admn, that are pause, esc, and tab

what should i do? i heard something bout shift keying but i think it would make me confused when i want to pause of something

thank you

[electricd]

Not sure what else you can do except use the shift function.

[leapinlew]

ok this is sort of confusing but here it goes

i have a ipac4 56 inputs now i used 4 joystick, 8 buttons each player (yes i am doing console games), 1 character select each, and 1 coin each. so all that is all of 56 inputs

now i have 3 buttons that i want for admn, that are pause, esc, and tab

what should i do? i heard something bout shift keying but i think it would make me confused when i want to pause of something

thank you

less friends

then you won't need so many joysticks and buttons. You'll also save money buying less parts.

[AtomSmasher]

buy an ipac2 as well

You could probably get away with connecting all the coin-up buttons to one insert coin slot, then configuring mame so that one button inserts a coin for a every player, that way it'll still work for 4 player games requiring coins in each players coin slot.  I'm just guessing that you could get away with that, it may end up causing more trouble then its worth.

[markrvp]

Seriously, use the shift button.  It is the player 1 start button.  The default shift keymappings are on Ultimarc's site.

[Tiger-Heli]

buy an ipac2 as well

Good plan.

You could probably get away with connecting all the coin-up buttons to one insert coin slot, then configuring mame so that one button inserts a coin for a every player, that way it'll still work for 4 player games requiring coins in each players coin slot.  I'm just guessing that you could get away with that, it may end up causing more trouble then its worth.

Bad idea.  If you wanted to play a two player game of X-men, or Gauntlet, you will always have four characters on screen and won't be able to move on until the other two die.

With an I-PAC/4 and MAME - if you want those three buttons only, you could wire P1 UP and P1 Down using Diodes to activate Esc, P2 Up and Down together using diodes for Pause, and P3 Up and Down together for Tab, using the concepts at http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/pausekey.htm  (Ooops, won't work for console emu's)

This MIGHT work: http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/startkey.htm

Your best option would probably be to use the shift function and if you wanted, you can wire the buttons as dedicated buttons that activate the shift function, as mentioned at http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/shiftkeys.htm under I-PAC Stealth Mode.  If you do this, you will be better off, rethinking your panel a little bit - i.e. you might want to have a DEDICATED I-PAC input for Pause - set it as the shift function, a dedicated Esc and Tab button, and then have Coin 2, Coin 3, and Coin 4 as stealth-shifted buttons.  See my comments at the bottom of the linked page for details.

Finally, you realistically could use the I-PAC in USB mode and get a KeyWiz Eco (or even a keyboard hack) for those additional buttons.

[muffin man]

would this work if i solder the three buttons to p, pause, and esc on the keyboard? lol

[ahofle]

You could probably get away with connecting all the coin-up buttons to one insert coin slot, then configuring mame so that one button inserts a coin for a every player, that way it'll still work for 4 player games requiring coins in each players coin slot.  I'm just guessing that you could get away with that, it may end up causing more trouble then its worth.

Bad idea.  If you wanted to play a two player game of X-men, or Gauntlet, you will always have four characters on screen and won't be able to move on until the other two die.

Not that I think it's a great solution, but it would technically work.  Your characters in Gauntlet do not appear just by inserting coins.  You also have to subsequently press the start/magic button after inserting the credits.  Not sure about Xmen, but I suspect it would behave similarly.

[muffin man]

heres me control panel and ipac and stuff






this is the three buttons i want for admn\


thank you gusy for help and info

[MajorLag]

I'm curious. What prompted you to believe that you needed 8 buttons each for players 3&4? I can't think of any 4player game that uses more than 4 buttons each...

[AtomSmasher]

I'm curious. What prompted you to believe that you needed 8 buttons each for players 3&4? I can't think of any 4player game that uses more than 4 buttons each...

He said it was for console games, several consoles use 8 buttons on all 4 players.

[Thargok]

Shift is the easiest way, just crimp 1+2 player start together so ground triggers both.  That will give you escape.  1 player start + 1 player down is pause. 1 player start + 1 player right is tab.  1pStart+1pLeft is enter. etc.

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac2.html

If it does seem to work, make the line going to 1 player longer than any others, and hold the button until you get the key press.

Of course you could buy an additional encoder.

[pointdablame]

Not that I think it's a great solution, but it would technically work.  Your characters in Gauntlet do not appear just by inserting coins.  You also have to subsequently press the start/magic button after inserting the credits.  Not sure about Xmen, but I suspect it would behave similarly.

Nope, Xmen, TMNT, and a bunch of other 4p games pop a character on screen once you drop a coin in.  The coin slots correspond to certain characters, and coining up puts the player on the screen. 

You could choose characters in those games by using the 2p versions, but that's silly if you have a 4p control panel.

The point: DO NOT MAKE ONE CREDIT BUTTON INSERTS COINS FOR ALL PLAYERS.

[muffin man]

i think i im gonna route 3 wires from 1p select and 3 shift keys for my 3 key buttons. i hope nothing goes wrong. Has anyone done this?

[Tiger-Heli]

would this work if i solder the three buttons to p, pause, and esc on the keyboard? lol

Yes - But you really want to disassemble the keyboard, trace the inputs back and then solder the buttons to the input's on the keyboard PCB.

I have an overly detailed write-up on it at http://www.mameworld.net/emuadvice/keyhack2.html and Spystyle has a much simpler write-up here: http://spystyle.arcadecontrols.com/index79.htm

[Tiger-Heli]

Shift is the easiest way, just crimp 1+2 player start together so ground triggers both.  That will give you escape.  1 player start + 1 player down is pause. 1 player start + 1 player right is tab.  1pStart+1pLeft is enter. etc.

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac2.html

If it does seem to work, make the line going to 1 player longer than any others, and hold the button until you get the key press.

Of course you could buy an additional encoder.

That won't work - You need the resistor and capacitor circuit b/c the I-PAC sends the shift function on key release - on a KeyWiz, you need diodes or pressing either the shazaaam! button alone or the button that will be shifted will send the shifted input.

[Tiger-Heli]

i think i im gonna route 3 wires from 1p select and 3 shift keys for my 3 key buttons. i hope nothing goes wrong. Has anyone done this?

See my previous post.

You can do that, but you need the circuit from http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/shiftkeys.htm. 

That will work except for the possibility of pressing 1P and 2P start together and ending a game.

That was what I was getting at initially - when you press a shift button, all the other buttons send their shifted input, so you are better having a dedicated Escape, Pause, and Tab and shifted inputs for 2-4 Player start buttons - then if you accidentally trigger a shifted input, the worst that can happen is you will send an uninteded start input.

[Harry Potter]

The keyboard hack sounds like a good idea. Since the buttons are not used in actual gameplay, they shouldn't interfere with anything.

[JamIt]

Just a thought, but the three admin buttons you mentioned seem like geared towards mame.  And since there are no 8 button mame games (that I know of at least), couldn't you borrow each player's 8th button (maybe even 7th) for those functions. 
I don't play much consoles, so I'm assuming these admin functions (especially esc and tab) are not applicable.  Of course you may be running these off an emulator in which case they may be and my thought is null.
I think you understand what I'm trying to say, so I'll stop rambling
Good luck!
--JamIt

[Harry Potter]

That's a good point. My control panel has the same 8 button layout for both players because I couldn't really find anywhere to stick the 8th buttons for admin purposes..

All it ever really gets used for is multi key stroke commands in MAME, so this would be a good solution.

[ahofle]

Not that I think it's a great solution, but it would technically work.  Your characters in Gauntlet do not appear just by inserting coins.  You also have to subsequently press the start/magic button after inserting the credits.  Not sure about Xmen, but I suspect it would behave similarly.

Nope, Xmen, TMNT, and a bunch of other 4p games pop a character on screen once you drop a coin in.  The coin slots correspond to certain characters, and coining up puts the player on the screen. 

You could choose characters in those games by using the 2p versions, but that's silly if you have a 4p control panel.

Well I tried TMNT and it does not 'pop up' a character either when you insert a coin.  It just says 'press start' next to the player 2-4, similar to gauntlet.  I don't have Xmen to try though.

The point: DO NOT MAKE ONE CREDIT BUTTON INSERTS COINS FOR ALL PLAYERS.

Note I didn't think it was a good idea either, just nitpicking a minor incorrect statement.

Using the I-PAC shift functionality is obviously the way to go.

[pointdablame]

Well I tried TMNT and it does not 'pop up' a character either when you insert a coin.  It just says 'press start' next to the player 2-4, similar to gauntlet.  I don't have Xmen to try though.

yup, you're right, Xmen actually does the same.  Either way though, there ARE games that put characters right on the screen, so I still say its a bad idea.  Shift keys would work out much better.

[rwhip41]

Just as an option...

Could you buy an IPAC 2 and hook it up to the IPAC 4? I'm pretty sure you can do that with IPACs, although I've never looked into it.

[GoPodular.com]

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[RayB]

GoPod beat me to it.
Hack a mouse.