Best 3rd party control panel

[brianoneill]

Hi,

I'm building my own cab and am not building my own control panel.

Iwas wondering if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with any of the following ?

a> X-Arcade
b> HotRod
c> OzStick

Cheers,
Brian.

[DeathMonk]

I say.....  Make your own control panel! =)

I've only used an x-arcade cp and they're pretty good.

[Brax]

Lets see....... I'd be considered a 3rd party.... So MINE is the best!


.....just as yours would be the best also.

[MilitiaMan]

Hi,

I'm building my own cab and am not building my own control panel.

Iwas wondering if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with any of the following ?

a> X-Arcade
b> HotRod
c> OzStick

Cheers,
Brian.

I've only used the X-Arcade so I can't vouch for the others, but I will say this:

"After playing with the X-Arcade for about a week, I knew I had to build my own. It is just not versatile enough to do everything you are going to want it to do."

"Playing Tempest with no spinner truly SUX!"

MM

[shmokes]

www.slikstik.com

Expensive, but great.  Also for a somewhat less polished, but still totally professional stick at a better price than the Slikstik check out:

www.tomheroes.com

Click on the link for the Devastator arcade stick.

[Tiger-Heli]

Hi,

I'm building my own cab and am not building my own control panel.

Iwas wondering if anyone has had any good or bad experiences with any of the following ?

a> X-Arcade
b> HotRod
c> OzStick

Cheers,
Brian.

Haven't had any first-hand experience, but here's what I consider the pro's and cons:

X-Arcade - Sometimes go for about $130 on E-bay or something like $150 direct.  Is programmable.  Uses a proprietary programmable interface.  Uses similar buttons to the Happ Horizontal and similar to the Happ Super joysticks. Best controller to buy if you also want to use your cab for console games.

HotRod -  Goes for around $100 on E-bay as opposed to $200 direct.  Uses Happ Super joysticks and Happ horizontal buttons.  NOT Programmable.

OzStick Ultimate - Goes for around $150 U.S. plus Austrailian shipping.  Uses non-Happ joysticks, although most reviews seem to like them.  Uses the I-PAC interface, which is probably the best on anything in a commercial product.

There are also differences in construction/appearance, but that's a matter of opinion and fairly obvious, so I'll let you sort that out

[GroovyTuesdaY]

From what i can tell, the SLIKSTIK looks to be one of the BEST out there!   Just go take a look at their site and compare theirs to everyone elses.   Those things are made to STOMP on.  lol  I think if you don't mind spending a little extra it seems like the slikstik's design is one of the best.

I have ordered one and am just waiting to receive it. I will post my own personal review of it once i get it and  check out all the bells and whistles.  I'm excited and can't wait to get it.  

[2slk]

Just out of curiousity, why would you be building a cabinet but not the panel?

[brianoneill]

I'd love to build my own panel but don't think I have the knowledge/skills    required to wire/hack together a panel.

[Drexdamack]

I have had my X-Arcade for many months. The customer service is great, and so is the product! All I can say is, it IS the reason I wanted to build my own cabinet. Not because the control panel sucks...because it reminds me so much of real arcades and how much fun it is. It IS limited, it IS small, but to drunken friends that come over to get they're but whooped in KoF98...you cant go wrong. I plan to sell mine after my cab is built. It allows me to be very patient in building it though.

D-

[Tiger-Heli]

I'd love to build my own panel but don't think I have the knowledge/skills    required to wire/hack together a panel.

Hmmmn, I'm building my own panels, but doubt I have the skills (or space) to build a cab.  It's not that complicated and this is a great place to ask if you need assistance.

Just a thought

[brianoneill]

so it seems that in general, the 3rd party solution is good but not 'the' solution.

Do people think it is possible to build a panel if you have NO previous experience wiring ANYTHING together ?

Cheers,
Brian.

[Moebius]

Definitely. The wiring, mainly, is very simple - just that there's a lot of it to do. If you also get a keyboard encoder like the I-Pac, it' sjust a case of tracing a wire from each pushbutton to a terminal on the encoder. The I-Pac even has descriptions on each terminal, telling you where each button should be connected to. Easy  

[Drexdamack]

Anything is possible. I am the tard of tards...and when you see my cabinet (one day) you WILL soil yourself. You can do it. IMO, order the stuff...get to a problem, then search for the solution. If you cannot find that solution, post here. That is what I intend to do. Good luck!!

D-

[Tiger-Heli]

Definitely. The wiring, mainly, is very simple - just that there's a lot of it to do. If you also get a keyboard encoder like the I-Pac, it' sjust a case of tracing a wire from each pushbutton to a terminal on the encoder. The I-Pac even has descriptions on each terminal, telling you where each button should be connected to. Easy  

There's two other advantages that made me reject all the pre-built controllers - First, I want a diamond plus 2 button layout, second the encoders are usually programable.

Short summary is - I can build the panel exactly the way "I" like it.  On a cab, if it doesn't work out, I just unbolt everything, get a new piece of CP top wood, and come up with something new.

And - with the encoder being programmable, I know my controls will work with any emulator I choose to play.

[brianoneill]

OK. So i've checked up on this I-Pac and it seems there are 2 versions. I-Pac2 and I-Pac4.
If I wanted a 2 Player panel with also a dedicated 4-way joystick for Pacman and such.... would I need the i-pac4 as the i-pac2 only has... 2 joy inputs ?


cheers,
brian.

[Moebius]

You can still go with Ipac-2.
Two options.

1 - 4-way and one of the 8-way joysticks share the same terminals on the I-Pac. This will work, so long as you don't plan on using these 2 joysticks at the same time.

2 - Use the "Button 7" and "Button 8" terminals of te I-Pac for the 4-way joystick. This will allow you to use the joystick at the same time as the 8-ways (not sure if that is useful?)
Disadvantages of this are, you can't have 8 buttons per player (most use only 6 or 7 anyway), and some key config work will need to be done on either MAME or the I-Pac, nothing big though.

[Tiger-Heli]

OK. So i've checked up on this I-Pac and it seems there are 2 versions. I-Pac2 and I-Pac4.
If I wanted a 2 Player panel with also a dedicated 4-way joystick for Pacman and such.... would I need the i-pac4 as the i-pac2 only has... 2 joy inputs ?


cheers,
brian.

You can use the /2 . . .

Okay, here's a short primer - I-PAC/2 has 28 inputs. (you don't have to wire like it shows).  There are 2 joystick inputs, eight buttons per player and player 1 and 2 coin and start inputs.

For a street fighter layout (six buttons per), you could use the P1 and P2 buttons 7 and 8 inputs for your 4-way joystick (this will make the LED's flash when the 4-way  is used, if you are using LED's, but I assume you aren't).

The easier option is to wire your four-way and Player 1 joystick both to the joystick 1 inputs.   (2 wires to the P1Up terminal, etc.).  The drawback to this is that if someone bumps the P1 stick it will mess up your 4-way game, and vice versa.

You might also consider the KeyWiz from www.groovygamegear.com which has 4 more inputs, but lacks a constant keyboard pass-thru and LED support.

[bloodyviking77]

If I wanted a 2 Player panel with also a dedicated 4-way joystick for Pacman and such.... would I need the i-pac4 as the i-pac2 only has... 2 joy inputs ?

well . . . that all depends on whether you anticipate using your 4way at the same time as either of the 8ways!!
AFAIK most people with a dedicated 4way use an Ipac2, with the 4way wired to the same inputs as player 1 8way.
Of course, remember that an ipac2 has (i think) actually 28 separate inputs. make sure you read all the instructions at andy's site - www.ultimarc.com.

IMO an Ipac4 is really only necessary if you want to have 4 players simultaneously with more than 2 buttons each.

re the original post: i've never used any of the three products mentioned, but I have bought some stuff from Chris at Ozstick and I can tell you he is super helpful (and if you're in Australia his prices are really quite reasonable!!).

Cheers
viking

[brianoneill]

thanks guys. Your help is much appreciated.

I'm still a bit nervous about this stuff.
I have no idea of what type of buttons/joysticks or wires/tools needed but it is beginning to sound like a really good option.

I have been in contact with Chris from OzStick and am considering buying a custom panel from him once he sends me the quote for it.

Cheers,
Brian.

[Lilwolf]

1) Building the control panel is MUCH easier then building the cab if you spend some money on a good encoder.  IPacs, MK48/64, Hagstroms, are all GREAT (and the new one I hear is good.  Too new to get it capitialized reply without getting one myself... but it will probably be GREAT).

2) This converts an arcade joysticks and buttons to a keystroke.  So the joystick is really like having 4 buttons (one up, down, left and right).

3)  If you go with ipacs, the wiring is super easy (screw tabs).  (I went with a MK64 because it used to be the only big one... and it has some REALLY SWEET new features coming out!)

4)  The last thing to know is there can be ONE ground!  So you wire the ground from the encoder to a button (or joystick direction) to button to button... you can daisy chain them (one to the next) or star it out (one breaking it up to many).  

5)  Then you have ONE wire to the other side of the button or joystick to the other side.

It really really is easy and there are tons of examples out there.  

And dont forget

you ALWAY get us... warm snuggly feeling inside should be felt now... hugs.......  (WARNING!  DONT ACCEPT HUGS AND WARM SNUGGLY FEELING WITH HOWARD C... HE WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!!!)

OK. So i've checked up on this I-Pac and it seems there are 2 versions. I-Pac2 and I-Pac4.
If I wanted a 2 Player panel with also a dedicated 4-way joystick for Pacman and such.... would I need the i-pac4 as the i-pac2 only has... 2 joy inputs ?

[2slk]

Brianoneill,

 Take the plunge and build your own panel then. It's a great learning experience and very gratifying. Besides, those damned retail panels are way too expensive. Also, shortly after you buy the panel, you'll start wishing it had 'this' instead of 'that' or want to change the configuration and guess what? You'll be building your own anyway. Don

[brianoneill]

thanks for your help.
I might just try it