Keyboard wrapper?

[tore-]

Hello BYOAC!

Im currently rebuilding my CP (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=55293.msg542745#msg542745)

And for that matter, im adding pinball buttons to the CP. I just came across Epic Pinball, which I think is a great game. But, the game uses left and right shift button for flipper.

What is the best approch to get my J-PAC to use left and right flipper in most pinball games, but STILL remain mame compatible?

I was thinking about reflashing the EPROM every time I run a game that needs special controls, but then there must be some kind of reflashing when I exit the game. Come to think about it, if I want to run say Moonstone, the same problem will accour.

What options do I have? Is there some kind of keyboard wrapper or something?

Thanks a bunch!

[mahuti]

Just remap the shift keys in Mame, using the "tab" menu.

Problem solved.

[tore-]

I don't see how that would fix my problems, since I have to find a way for the IPAC to be programmed for different games (like mame, scummvm, dosbox).

Come to think of it, wouldnt it be possible to create a bat file, which did the following:

-> Reprograms the IPAC for the given program
-> Launchs the given program
-> Pauses untill the given program is terminated
-> Reprograms the IPAC to default settings

That might work, will have to look that up.

Or does anyone have tested this with no luck?

[severdhed]

why not just configure your different emulators to use the keys you want, instead of trying to change your keys to match the emulator?

there are very few games/emus out there that wont let you customize the controls. 
obviously your pinball buttons are flippers for pinball, what do you want them to do in Mame?

i run Visual Pinball in my cabinet, it lets you customize which keys are used for the different functions.  Mame will let you customize which keys do what as well. so does zsnes.....see my point.  map the buttons to keys, then make your software work with that layout.  The only problem i have ran across doing this is DOOM.  i found that doom works very well with an arcade control panel, however it will not allow you to completly customize the controls.  it will let you change the basic action buttons, but there are no buttons to scroll through weapons, so you have to have a dedicated button for each weapon, and you have to used the number keys..no way to change it.  Fortunatly, im using an x-arcade, which lets you have 4 different programmed configurations that are accessable by flipping a switch which i have mounted on the side of my panel.  but for everything but DOOM, i dont have to switch it because i customized the software to match my layout.

just a thought...



oh, and i just checked out epic pinball, and man if you are happy with that, then you will love visual pinball, it works well and had a 3d view for a much more realistic appearance.  the only issues i have ran into with it is that people who designed some of the tables are idiots and dont use the variables to define inputs.  but that is easily fixed.  future pinball is also pretty cool and has a 3d interface aswell.  epic pinball looks really crappy and is slow, plus you dont see the entire playing field when playing.  visual pinball makes it like you are actually infront of the machine, not playing some pc pinball game.

[ArcadEd]

Google software called AutoHotKey

It does keyremapping and works great. 

You can make a script that will.

Launch Epic Pinball
Remap the keys you need
Exit when Epic Pinball closes

You can then turn the script into an exe file.