Keywiz help needed

[kiddk1]

Well I am getting ready to install my controls and program using my keywiz. I am very confused  b/c it came with an instruction sheet consisting of 1 page.  according to the pic attached you have default rom and default ram.  The keywiz states it allows up to 32 inputs(not including shazaam which confuses the hell out of me) I have 26 buttons  and two 8 way controllers.  I dont understand default rom and ram.  it appears that for example the #1 spot on the keywiz activates two different keys under normal conditions the "L ctrl" and the "q"  which one is it?  I am really confused so if anyone could offer any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

[Fozzy The Bear]

In the default setup.... The number one position offers "Left Ctrl" if you don't have the Shazaaam key pressed and "Enter" if you do have the Shazaaam key pressed.  Think of the Shazaaam Key as being similar to the "shift" key on a keyboard.  It changes the function of the input line when you have it held down.

The diagram you are showing is two separate default keysets.  The ROM set on the left hand side and the RAM set on the right hand side.

The ROM set is permanently stored on the Keywiz interface and is basically the default Mame Keys.  It is also the keyset that is immediately available when you power up the keywiz.

The RAM Set you can program yourself, to alter what keystrokes are produced when an input (button press) is detected on a particular line.

To switch between the RAM and ROM sets you hold down the Shazaaam Key and push joystick1 left or right.

Hope that helps.....

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

that makes a little more sense fozzy, what I also dont understand is the "profiles" regarding the keywiz the manual states that each letter in the application (A thru O) is a separate profile, does that mean I can program 15 different profiles and switch between them?  Also regarding the default rom and ram can I disregard both and create my own programmed keys(maybe this is what the profile is for).  thanks in advance.

[whatisk]

that makes a little more sense fozzy, what I also dont understand is the "profiles" regarding the keywiz the manual states that each letter in the application (A thru O) is a separate profile, does that mean I can program 15 different profiles and switch between them?  Also regarding the default rom and ram can I disregard both and create my own programmed keys(maybe this is what the profile is for).  thanks in advance.

You can have 15 different profiles, but you can only have 1 of them uploaded to the keywiz at a time - enabling you to switch between the default (Mame) set and the profile that you have uploaded.
On my keywiz, I created my own profile and have this upload to the keywiz on bootup of the cab.

[SteveJ34]

It has been a very long day for me but...

If you have 26 buttons and (2) 8-way joys representing 8 more switches thats a total of 34 inputs meaning you're 2 short for a 32 input keywhiz.

Is this a two player Control Panel?

[Fozzy The Bear]

If you have 26 buttons and (2) 8-way joys representing 8 more switches that's a total of 34 inputs meaning you're 2 short for a 32 input keywhiz.

Not necessarily!!! If some of those buttons are hardwired  as dedicated "Shazaaam + input" buttons then you can have a lot more buttons if you want them.

That said, I'm not sure why he has quite so many buttons to start with!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear) 

[Fozzy The Bear]

that makes a little more sense fozzy, what I also dont understand is the "profiles" regarding the keywiz the manual states that each letter in the application (A thru O) is a separate profile, does that mean I can program 15 different profiles and switch between them? 

You can indeed program 15 different profiles in the Keywiz Uploader Software. But you can only send one of them to the Keywiz interface at any one time.  Those profiles overwrite the default RAM set.

Also regarding the default rom and ram can I disregard both and create my own programmed keys(maybe this is what the profile is for).  thanks in advance.

That is indeed what profiles are for..... When you design new button asignments in the Keywiz software, and upload them to the Keywiz, they overwrite the default RAM set.... you can then switch to that RAM set by holding down the Shazaaam Key and pushing your joystick to the right.

You can NOT however overwrite the keys in the default ROM set... (they are stored permanently in the keywiz)  ROM = READ ONLY MEMORY. Which means you can't write to it.

After you finish and power down the keywiz, your custom button set is lost and the Keywiz resets to having the Default RAM set available. This means that the next time you start up your computer you will have to send your custom keyset to the keywiz again.

Your custom Keyset will only be stored in the Keywiz RAM while it has power on.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

yes this is a 2 player panel, the extra buttons are proably ones I may not use but thought I should include them, they are 0-service coin, F1-raster special effects, F2-Test service which I may not include.  these are the buttons I am inculding:

6 buttons on each joystick for street fighter bringing the total so far to 12
Tilde
tab
enter
pause
F3 reset
backspace & Home used for Gameex to get back to main screen and backspace to previous screens
1P
2P
Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me)
I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way.

I am looking to you guys for advice on what I do and dont need. thanks

[whatisk]

yes this is a 2 player panel, the extra buttons are proably ones I may not use but thought I should include them, they are 0-service coin, F1-raster special effects, F2-Test service which I may not include.  these are the buttons I am inculding:

6 buttons on each joystick for street fighter bringing the total so far to 12
Tilde
tab
enter
pause
F3 reset
backspace & Home used for Gameex to get back to main screen and backspace to previous screens
1P
2P
Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me)
I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way.

I am looking to you guys for advice on what I do and dont need. thanks

Personally, I have 12 player buttons (6 for each player), Coin 1 & 2, Player 1 & 2, Shazaam and Pause. Everything else is Shazaam + one of the other buttons. Though I'm running Mamewah so I don't need the keys to navigate as in Game-ex - just remapped some of the functions in Mamewah to keys that I already have.

I also have a flipper and tilt button on each side of the cab for pinball as well...

[kiddk1]

I kinda like the look of all the buttons which is another reason why I have them all,  I guess I could shazaaam them if I needed to, I will probably shazaaam 2-4 buttons. thanks

[Fozzy The Bear]

Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me)

Yes... that is pretty much correct for around 98% of games... although there are some that require a specific separate player 2 coin input. Mine are actually wired to the coin door on my machine. This is probably the most authentic looking and feeling way of doing it. However, on my machine you can either insert a coin or you can just press the coin reject, to get a credit.

I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way.

YUP! Absolutely correct..... you just wire the 4 way up to the same connections as your 8 way.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Tiger-Heli]

Good info so far, just wanted to add a couple of things:

Shazaaam! (typically) requires a dedicated button on the KeyWiz, but does not rob an input - you still have 32 total inputs, but you would have 33 buttons if they were all used (counting joysticks as buttons).

The KeyWiz default codeset is very well designed for MAME.  You can probably use it and just adjust your frontend to use the remaining unused default inputs.

If you don't want the default codeset, the KeyWiz will reset to it on re-boot, but you can then load a custom codeset by placing a shortcut to the KeyWiz software in the startup folder.

You can actually have more than 15 codesets.  Been a while since I've done it, but it involves something like the following (unfortunately, I don't have the software on this machine, so can't verify):  Program the desired codeset and save it as (for example) Codeset M.  Locate and copy the Codeset M (M.kwz ) file and rename it something like daphne.kwz (extension ).  Call daphne.kwz instead of M.kwz from your command-line shortcut (batch-file, for all you DOS-literate types).

You can add a virtually unlimited number of codesets this way.

My opinions on buttons (Red - Not recommended, Yellow - Marginal, Green - Required

0-service coin - Don't think I've ever used this, even on the keyboard

F1-raster special effects - Same as above.

F2-Test service which I may not include - Used once or twice on the Williams games, only on initial setup.  Would at most assign this to a Shazaaam function, if that.

6 buttons on each joystick for street fighter bringing the total so far to 12 - Agreed, in fact, consider 8 buttons per joystick if you plan on using console (Nintendo, etc.) emulators, although I prefer gamepads for these.

Tilde - Very rarely used, could be on a Shazaaam! function, IMHO

tab, enter - Kinda mixed feelings on these.  I didn't plan to include them, but my pinball flippers mapped to them since I use the default codeset, and I ended up using them quite often.  Recommend putting them somewhere that they won't get accidentally activated.

pause - Definitely

F3 reset - Pretty dangerous to have on a cab.  Make sure it can't be pressed accidentally

backspace & Home used for Gameex to get back to main screen and backspace to previous screens - I don't use GameEx, but if you do and feel you will need them, I would include them.

1P, 2P - Definitely

Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me) - As Fozzy said, most games can get by with only one, but I would include both, just to not eliminate games from the cab for lack of one input

I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way- As Fozzy said, yep.

Not mentioned - Esc or some way to end the emulator.  Recommend setting this as a combination of two other buttons or Shazaaam'd off the Pause key.

HTH!

[emerica]

backspace & Home used for Gameex to get back to main screen and backspace to previous screens

Button 3 for player one acts as a backspace button in gameex  and as for the home button, it is located in the upper right hand corner of the screen. All you would need to do is use the joystick to highlight it and press player one start button to execute it. Player one start button acts as the enter or foward button in gameex. So those are two more buttons that you would be able to lose on your control panel.

[kiddk1]

Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me)

Yes... that is pretty much correct for around 98% of games... although there are some that require a specific separate player 2 coin input. Mine are actually wired to the coin door on my machine. This is probably the most authentic looking and feeling way of doing it. However, on my machine you can either insert a coin or you can just press the coin reject, to get a credit.

I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way.

YUP! Absolutely correct..... you just wire the 4 way up to the same connections as your 8 way.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I wanted to wire mine thru the coin door but was lost, on the coin door I have 2 wires a white and a white with a black stripe, are these the ones i use for wiring?

[kiddk1]

EXCELLENT adivice guys, I am definitely going to shazaaam alot more keys and possibly eliminate some.  I have a much better understanding just reading what you guys have said.   One more question, if I install a trackball(Happs controls), does it act as a mouse also?

[Tiger-Heli]

One more question, if I install a trackball(Happs controls), does it act as a mouse also?

Sure, but you still need the proper interface.

Happ sells trackballs with a built-in USB interface, or you can use an Opti-Wiz from GGG or an Opti-Pac from www.ultimarc.com, or hack a mouse.

See the Optical interfaces section of my page, but I haven't added the Opti-Wiz yet.

[shardian]

If you are uncomfortable with doing a mouse hack for a trackball interface, you can sometimes buy them from members on here for a small fee. I got one from kremmit for $11 shipped. He did a SUPER job on that one. I am not sure if he has any left, but you could always ask.
Also, remember that you don't need dedicated mouse/trackball buttons. you can use player 1 or player 2 buttons 1,2,& 3 instead. 

[Fozzy The Bear]

Coin 1 & coin 2 ( i think only one of these is necessary please correct me)

Yes... that is pretty much correct for around 98% of games... although there are some that require a specific separate player 2 coin input. Mine are actually wired to the coin door on my machine. This is probably the most authentic looking and feeling way of doing it. However, on my machine you can either insert a coin or you can just press the coin reject, to get a credit.

I am also wiring a 4 way joystick but I assume I can wire that with the same connections as the 1player 8way.

YUP! Absolutely correct..... you just wire the 4 way up to the same connections as your 8 way.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

I wanted to wire mine thru the coin door but was lost, on the coin door I have 2 wires a white and a white with a black stripe, are these the ones i use for wiring?

Depends on your Coin Door and what coin mechanisms it has fitted to it..... Can you post some photographs???

The very simplest system is the sort that just has a microswitch near the bottom that activates as a coin passes it.  If you don't want to discriminate between different coins all you have to do is connect your coin input line on the Keywiz to that microswitch and make a chute that runs between the coin slot and the microswitch, for the coin to go down. No coin mech needed.

The next option is to fit a coin mech, that can discriminate between different coins and reject any that not the correct denomination.

There are various levels and complexities of coin mech, the most basic ones just accept one type of coin and send a single pulse out when the correct coin is detected, while rejecting any other coin type. These can be either mechanical, or electrical (sometimes using a magnetic system)

The most complex type of coin mech is a programmed discriminator... (Electronic Mech). They can detect and accept different coins and give different numbers of pulses depending on the coin. but they are quite expensive for a home setup.  With one of these you could (not sure which side of the Atlantic you're on so I'll give this in US Coins... I'm actually in the UK)  send one pulse when Quarter is detected Thus 1 Credit..... Send 3 Pulses when 50 cents is detected Thus 3 Credits etc etc etc.....

It all depends what you want to achieve and how much you want to spend.

Mine is the very simplest system, with no coin mech.... Just a chute for the coins to run down past the microswitch.  But I also fitted a stiff piece of wire to the coin reject button that can activate the microswitch as though a coin had passed it.... works like a dream! and means that visitors get to put a few coins in before I tell them how to get free credits 

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Fozzy The Bear]

EXCELLENT adivice guys, I am definitely going to shazaaam alot more keys and possibly eliminate some.  I have a much better understanding just reading what you guys have said.   One more question, if I install a trackball(Happs controls), does it act as a mouse also?

Excellent answers on this from the other guys..... Just to add to them.... You could also look at getting an arcade trackball that is PS2 the same as a normal mouse. The one by Groovy Game Gear is a Betson Imperial with a built in PS2 Interface and requires no extra trackball interface! As far as the PC is concerned it is a mouse, and works perfectly in Mame.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

I ordered this one http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Translucent-Trackball-Track-Ball-Red-Blue-MAME-tm_W0QQitemZ6278923387QQcategoryZ13718QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

here is the coin door pic, the two wires on the right are white the one on the left is white with a black stripe and the black wires are the grounds running from the coin door lights located above.  Is the microswitch you are talking about the piece of metal(like a paper clip in diameter) that gets triggered when the coin passes thru it. you can see it on the left attached to the blue switch.

[Fozzy The Bear]

I ordered this one

OK! Yes you will need a separate interface for that one....

Is the microswitch you are talking about the piece of metal(like a paper clip in diameter) that gets triggered when the coin passes thru it. you can see it on the left attached to the blue switch.

Yes!  the whole thing there (the blue switch and the paperclip type thing) form the Microswitch...

You will need to do some re-wiring though!!  The ground for your coin door lights should not also be used for the microswitches......  This works in a real arcade machine, because it has a comon power supply and voltages at the coin door. But in your case you need to rewire the microswitches separately from the coin door lights.

Imagine those Microswitches (the blue ones) as being the same as the microswitches that are on the bottom of your arcade buttons.  You need to wire one common ground wire to both switches which you should connect to the COM connection on them and run it back to a ground connection on the Keywiz.  Then you need 1 wire from each switch, connected to the NO (normally open) terminal and run each of those wires back to the coin1 and coin2 inputs on the Keywiz. 

The coin mechs you have, will discriminate the correct coin type and if the coin is found to be correct, they will then drop it into that switch otherwise they will drop it out of the reject slot. 

I can't actually see the coin mech type that you have but I suspect from looking at the part I can see, that they may need a 12V power supply as well.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

Cool I kind of figured out what you meant, I will run the grounds separate and then attach the coin mechs to the coin 1 and 2 from there where would the 12v power connect to?

[Fozzy The Bear]

Cool I kind of figured out what you meant, I will run the grounds separate and then attach the coin mechs to the coin 1 and 2 from there where would the 12v power connect to?

Yeah! you've sort of got it..... It's the microswitches you connect to the keywiz though.... Not the coin mechs.

As for the suspected 12V power, I would need to see the actual coin mech,if you can get a good photograph of the mech and I can read the type from it then I might be able to answer that one.  They do look to be a fairly modern mech.  Any idea which machine this came out of??

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

birdie king II, what/how would you like me to take a pic same one but further out front of door etc... lmk thanks a million

[Fozzy The Bear]

birdie king II, what/how would you like me to take a pic same one but further out front of door etc... lmk thanks a million

From the side please... The coin mechs are the two black boxes with the blue and white labels on them.... I need to see the mech and be able to read the label.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

birdie king II, what/how would you like me to take a pic same one but further out front of door etc... lmk thanks a million

From the side please... The coin mechs are the two black boxes with the blue and white labels on them.... I need to see the mech and be able to read the label.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

the side of the door correct?

[Fozzy The Bear]

the side of the door correct?

The coin mechs are the black boxes above the blue microswitches.... I need to see the side of them and the label that is on them.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

here it is, it is made by coin controls

[Fozzy The Bear]

I thought I recognised them..... We use a lot of Coin Controls Mechs at work and these are really good ones.  Ours are obviously set for UK currencies but yours is clearly set for $0.25 cents.......

The good news is that you can forget my concerns about a power supply to them as they are a basic mechanical mech that discriminates $0.25 Cents coins only.  They are very reliable and that's why we use them so much. Yours were made around 1998 or 1999 and are IMHO the best mechanical mechs that they ever produced.

A few things to watch with them, are coin jams and false rejects..... These are usually cured by blowing out the mech with compressed air. You can buy it in a can, sold as an air duster.

The other thing that we find works well with these mechs, is to very lightly spray the coin path through them with silicone wax furniture polish. Keeps them running smoothly.

Good luck with the rest of your machine.... Don't forget to yell up if you need more help.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

I connected the white wire to the #5 on the keywiz and dropped a quarter and viola a credit, my next question is how can i wire it so it will credit when I push the coin return?

[Tiger-Heli]

I connected the white wire to the #5 on the keywiz and dropped a quarter and viola a credit, my next question is how can i wire it so it will credit when I push the coin return?

Here's one way to do it: http://1uparcade.robandmitsue.com/projects-coinbuttons.html

[kiddk1]

the coin return stick a little, can I use wd-40 on the metal parts inside to free it up?

[Fozzy The Bear]

the coin return stick a little, can I use wd-40 on the metal parts inside to free it up?

Not recommended.... The WD40 will make coins stick to the surfaces rather than slide through.  Use the air duster to clean them then use the silcone polish on them.  You can use very very small amounts of WD40 on the springs and bearings BUT VERY VERY SMALL AMOUNTS!!

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

cool thanks, I was going to post again but I will try to get an answer here. I just got my happs trackball and cant figure out how to wire it to my pc, I did do about an hour worth of searching and reading and came across a mouse hack which mostly came up "page not found"  I dont want to hack this thing up and ruin it, is there a way to connect this otherwise.  thanks

[Fozzy The Bear]

cool thanks, I was going to post again but I will try to get an answer here. I just got my happs trackball and cant figure out how to wire it to my pc, I did do about an hour worth of searching and reading and came across a mouse hack which mostly came up "page not found"  I dont want to hack this thing up and ruin it, is there a way to connect this otherwise.  thanks

Yes... Go back to Groovy Game Gear and buy one of their OptiWiz interfaces.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[Fozzy The Bear]

I connected the white wire to the #5 on the keywiz and dropped a quarter and viola a credit, my next question is how can i wire it so it will credit when I push the coin return?

COOL!! Glad it's working for you.

The other method than adding an extra microswitch is the mechanical one.... This is what I did with mine, which actually has no mech at all.


The brass wire running from the red reject lever down to the bottom microswitch, acivates the switch, just as though a coin had passed it.

You might have to route the wire differently to avoid your coin mech, if you do it this way.

Sorry the picture is a bit rough. it's the only one I have from before it was installed.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

[kiddk1]

thanks just ordered

[kiddk1]

I connected the white wire to the #5 on the keywiz and dropped a quarter and viola a credit, my next question is how can i wire it so it will credit when I push the coin return?

COOL!! Glad it's working for you.

The other method than adding an extra microswitch is the mechanical one.... This is what I did with mine, which actually has no mech at all.


The brass wire running from the red reject lever down to the bottom microswitch, acivates the switch, just as though a coin had passed it.

You might have to route the wire differently to avoid your coin mech, if you do it this way.

Sorry the picture is a bit rough. it's the only one I have from before it was installed.

Best Regards,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

thanks, I may give this a shot.

[emerica]

the coin return stick a little, can I use wd-40 on the metal parts inside to free it up?

I would use regular silicone spray (you can find it at most local automotive stores or hardware store) as opposed to WD40. In my experience, WD40 attracts dust and dirt.

[kiddk1]

the white stuff correct?  I have some I use on my garage opener chain