My current setup is an IPac which is mapped pretty clsoe to the mame defaults, i.e. p1 buttons 1-4 are ctrl/alt/space/shift. I was playing some regular PC games and a couple had problems mapping funtions to these keys. What I did was jsut reprogram the ipac to use A/B/C/D for the buttons and was able to use them
While I was poking around in winipac i played with shifted keys a little bit. RIght now I dont have anything assinged for a shift button or shifted keys. How exactly is hte shifted key handled? If I wire P2button8 to a toggle(or other on/off button, not a momentary contact) and flip the switch so that circuit is closed, If i hit p1button1, I assume it sends whatever is programmed to the pc. Does the ipac stay shift-ed for as long as the circuit is closed?
Is this an effective way to do on-the-fly remapping?
Also since p2button8(or maybe 7?) is the 3rd led output, and if I wire my toggle to that line, when it's closed, the led should light, right?
Short answer is you are using a non-standard application of the shift function. It's main function is to allow you to use extra functions (admin functions - enter, tab, etc.) without having extra buttons on the keyboard.
Shift key explanation is here
http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac3.htmlI think your idea would work, except that the I-PAC will send the keycode on key release in shifted mode. Probably not a problem for buttons, but it will be bad for buttons - what you want to do is the following -
Save your standard configuration in the WinIpac software as mame.ipc. Save your other confiq as pcgame.ipc.
Write a batch file (yes they still work in windows) as follows. (You might need to add cd commands to change directories and/or include full paths).
winipac.exe pcgame.ipc
pcgame.exe
winipac.exe mame.ipc
Make a shortcut to this batch file to launch your pc game. The batch file will load the custom codeset, launch the PC game, and then load the mame codeset back when you quit.
(I think you also have to change the MAME/ALT jumper setting as well).