Need some CP guidance!!

[wrast]

I'm about ready to start purchasing all the controls for my CP but I seem to be stuck in "analysis paralysis". I have a lot of questions below and my hope is that this community can help push me in the right direction. Sorry for the length of this post. I really appreciate the assistance!

Background Info:

I'm going for a red & blue theme on my artwork. My brother is working on the CP art right now. Imagine the left side being red and the right side being blue. The construction of the cabinet is identical to saint's book.

Planned controls:

Spinner:  Apache Controls Blackhawk push/pull spinner with silver knob. Use the built-in encoder.

Trackball:  Happ 3" translucent red high-ball trackball with Happ trackball mounting kit. I plan on using the Blackhawk's encoder to save on having to purchase an opti-pac.

Player 1/2 joysticks:  Ultimarc 360s, medium springs, 1 red and 1 blue ball top. I think I'll want the extra long shafts as well. For encoding, there's an encoder harness available for purchase. Does this make sense or should I go with an iPac?

"Tron" joystick:  Happ heavy duty 8-way trigger joystick w/1 fire button. I don't see a reason to get 2 fire buttons. What should I use as an encoder here?

P1/P2 button:  Was thinking white for these buttons but maybe black?

P1/P2 main buttons:  6 Happ translucent red/blue pushbuttons. Should I use an iPac to encode or use U360?

Spinner buttons:  I plan to have 2 pushbuttons to use with the spinner. Was thinking black for these but maybe translucent clear? These buttons will be located to the right of the spinner at the top of the CP in the center.

Admin buttons:  I need pause, reset, and exit. Was thinking black or translucent clear. Not sure where these will end up going. I know the iPac supports a "shift" function and I'd like to use that if it will reduce the number of buttons I need.

Pinball buttons:  Adding these worth it? There aren't that many arcade-style pinball games out there. And the design of the CP box itself doesn't seem conducive to having buttons placed on the sides (2 flipper buttons and 2 nudge buttons).

Coin door:  Happ over/under 2-entry mini door. Plan is to wire it up and avoid needing buttons for P1/P2 "coin" buttons on the CP.

Misc items:  ArcadeVGA, pushbutton wrench, marquee retainer, 2 Happ control panel latches. Should I use 4 latches instead of just 2? They'd be used to secure the CP box to the cabinet.

What about wiring? Do these controls have all the wiring I need or do I need to purchase a wiring kit as well?

I really, really appreciate whatever thoughts you have on anything I've mentioned. My biggest questions revolve around encoding the signals from all the controls. Based on everything I have listed, do I really need the iPac or can I get away with the built-in encoding provided by the controls themselves?

Thanks in advance!

[leapinlew]

What games do you plan on playing? This sounds like a busy panel with 3 joysticks, spinner and trackball.

I would still put coin buttons on the CP. Adding coins is a great novelty, but once your into a game, it loses it's charm.

I've used 4 ipacs and I've been happy with all of them. I can't speak about the u360's.

For the spinner, you can use any of the players buttons instead of dedicated pushbuttons for it.

[Bill Mote]

To light your trackball I'd recommend a multi-LED tail light assemply from a car.  Model number?  I have no idea, but we bought one that has a bunch of LEDs and hooked it up to a separate 12V transformer.  The LED assemply fit PERFECTLY in the HAPP trackball hole below the ball.  We had to use the low-beam setting to not go blind from the trackball

b

[Donkey_Kong]

I just spent like 20+ minutes doing a big 4-5 paragraph write up about how you should get an Ipac and not the U360 wiring harness and how i setup my buttons on my CP and stuff W/ pictures, then I clicked "save" or post you know, and...Poof it was gone. So anyway yea...Just get the Ipac cause it will essentially give you more button power...

I.E. shift key= your # of buttons X2, -1 for shift itself. You cannot do this with the U360 buttons.

[wrast]

What games do you plan on playing? This sounds like a busy panel with 3 joysticks, spinner and trackball.

I would still put coin buttons on the CP. Adding coins is a great novelty, but once your into a game, it loses it's charm.

I've used 4 ipacs and I've been happy with all of them. I can't speak about the u360's.

For the spinner, you can use any of the players buttons instead of dedicated pushbuttons for it.

I'm mainly aiming to play as many as I can while maintaining playability. I don't think it's any more busy than saint's panel. I'm basically just replacing his 4-way stick with the 8-way "tron" stick.

I reason I chose not to have coin buttons is to control how much my kids play. "Go finish your homework" has a lot more force that way. 

I think if I use P1's buttons for spinner buttons I'll either have to play "backwards" or move the spinner so far to the left it would make Tron or DoT unplayable.

Thanks for looking my list over!

[wrast]

I just spent like 20+ minutes doing a big 4-5 paragraph write up about how you should get an Ipac and not the U360 wiring harness and how i setup my buttons on my CP and stuff W/ pictures, then I clicked "save" or post you know, and...Poof it was gone. So anyway yea...Just get the Ipac cause it will essentially give you more button power...

I.E. shift key= your # of buttons X2, -1 for shift itself. You cannot do this with the U360 buttons.

Thanks DK. If you just have a link to some pics that would be sufficient for me! I am thinking the iPac is the way to go.

[RobotronNut]

your set of controls looks very much like mine. perhaps you might find an idea or 2 at my website (see my signature).

VERY IMPORTANT - make an exact-scale mock-up. if you don't, you'll find some controls are placed such that they are uncomfortable or impossible to use.

for the U360's - i wouldn't choose the longer shafts unless it's the only way to fit them. generally, longer shafts have an adverse effect on game play.

tron stick - i use 2 thumb buttons to play vindicators. position your joysticks so that your left hand can use one of the exisiting joysticks, while the tron stick is in your right hand, so you can play all the tank-style games.

pinball buttons - i never use mine. P1 and P2  buttons work great for me.

you need wires/connectors/crimp tool - ultimarc / divemaster have a nice kit.

[leapinlew]

Have you actually purchased the "tron" joystick? Did you know it doesn't work well with the light cycle stages of tron?

If this is news to you - do a search for tron and 8 way joysticks and do some reading. Lots of people use the heavy duty stick for tron, and switch to a 4 way stick for the lightcycle stages.

[wrast]

your set of controls looks very much like mine. perhaps you might find an idea or 2 at my website (see my signature).

VERY IMPORTANT - make an exact-scale mock-up. if you don't, you'll find some controls are placed such that they are uncomfortable or impossible to use.

for the U360's - i wouldn't choose the longer shafts unless it's the only way to fit them. generally, longer shafts have an adverse effect on game play.

tron stick - i use 2 thumb buttons to play vindicators. position your joysticks so that your left hand can use one of the exisiting joysticks, while the tron stick is in your right hand, so you can play all the tank-style games.

pinball buttons - i never use mine. P1 and P2  buttons work great for me.

you need wires/connectors/crimp tool - ultimarc / divemaster have a nice kit.

Fabulous info RobotronNut. After just glancing at your set up, I am after the same goals as yours. I have an extra CP top I plan to use as my mockup (er, practice). I also have a piece of cardboard with some taped on templates (for now).

I think I'll be top-mounting the joysticks so it sounds like I ought to go without the longer shafts.

I need to think about what you said about the tank-style games. Having not played any, are those left-hand joysticks normally 4 or 8-way?

I'm thinking I'll forgo the pinball buttons, at least for now. I could always add those later.

Good to know about the wiring.

Great info! It really helps. Thanks.

[wrast]

Have you actually purchased the "tron" joystick? Did you know it doesn't work well with the light cycle stages of tron?

If this is news to you - do a search for tron and 8 way joysticks and do some reading. Lots of people use the heavy duty stick for tron, and switch to a 4 way stick for the lightcycle stages.

Haven't purchased anything as yet, which is the primary reason I posted this in the first place. I'd like to get it as right as I can before buying.

Couldn't the P1 or P2 U360 be used for lightcycles reasonably well? I hadn't thought about the lightcycles being 4-way so thanks for pointing it out to me.

[RobotronNut]

I need to think about what you said about the tank-style games. Having not played any, are those left-hand joysticks normally 4 or 8-way?

example tank games: battlezone, ultra tank, vindicators, assault
(btw, if you're not familiar with a game title, try: arcadehits and klov)

most of the ones i'm familiar with actually use 2-way vertical trigger sticks. they work perfectly with 8-ways, probably pretty well with 4-ways. assault is a cool game that uses 4-ways. unfortunately, it isn't perfect with 8-ways, but nobody puts in 4-way trigger sticks...

if you're not already a fan of tank games, i wouldn't put in an extra joystick for them, just make sure there's some joystick somewhere that you can have in your left hand while the trigger stick is in your right hand (assuming you're right-handed).