How many buttons do you "Really" need on a CP...

[Mattiekrome]

Did a search, but didn't find much.  I am getting ready to order my sticks and buttons in the coming days (once I settle on colors), and I was just wondering how many buttons are needed to make everything "come together"?  Not really wondering how many buttons to play certain games with, but more along the lines of what am I going to need to make MAME easier to play (ESC button, P1 coin, P2 coin, P1, P2, etc...)  Also, going to add a power button for the PC + monitor somewhere.  I'm just not sure of what "standard" buttons are needed.  I'd hate to get my CP built, and then be missing a button that should have been there from the start, but I was too boneheaded to realize it.

Oh and BTW, reason I "dont know" is because I have very little experience with MAME.  Barely played it (using a keyboard/joypad just isnt the same), so naturally I have very little experience with what keys are used on a normal basis. 

I am going with a 6 button SFII layout (might add a run button, not sure yet) and 2 Happ supers.  Probably a dedicated 4 way and a couple action buttons with it as well.

Thanks!

[brianoneill]

Well the Util btns I have are...

P1 Start
P2 Start
Coin 1
Coin 2
Tab (with P1 pressed -> F10)
Enter (with P1 pressed -> F11)
Esc (with P1 pressed -> F12)
Pause
PC On/Off

And that has served me well so far. The only btns I would add in to my own setup are a 7th btn for P1 & P2 to allow for a Neo Geo friendly layout.

[unclet]

I have a 4-player control panel and have the same buttons "brianoneill" mentioned but also have the following:

1) Reset (so I do not have to Exit and restart a game, very handy)
2) Right/Left/Plunger pinball buttons (I like playing the Visual Pinball tables)
3) Remove crosshairs (for lightgun games)
4) Right/Left mouse click buttons for my trackball

[headkaze]

Bare minimum admin buttons you need are ESC and Pause.. the rest depend on if you have a keyboard drawer available below your CP.

[javeryh]

I'd say the bare minimum you need are Exit (Esc), P1 Start and P2 Start (and COIN if you aren't installing a coin door).  The Exit button will allow you to exit a game back to the front end to select another one.  The P1 Start button will allow you to launch a game from the front end as well as start the game once you insert a coin.  The P2 Start button is necessary to get another player to join certain games (like Street Fighter).  Adding a pause button is also important to me, but not essential (arcade games didn't come with a pause button!).

Everything else maintenance-wise can be accomplished by hiding a keyboard somewhere inside of the cabinet and only pulling it out when you really want to switch things up.  Once you get the settings and games configured you might never need to touch the keyboard again.  If I have to configure my cocktail cabinet I actually get an extra keyboard I store in a box and hook it up each time I need to do something which is very very rare.  On my latest cabinet I only have 4 admin buttons (Exit, P1, P2 and Pause) on the CP and I really like how it's not cluttered at all.  Also, ease of use is hugely important - when friends come over they will ask the same question about a million times so the simpler you make everything the better.

[Mattiekrome]

Wow, thanks for the responses.

And that has served me well so far. The only btns I would add in to my own setup are a 7th btn for P1 & P2 to allow for a Neo Geo friendly layout.

Tab (with P1 pressed -> F10)
Enter (with P1 pressed -> F11)
Esc (with P1 pressed -> F12)

Ah, thanks!  I had totally forgotten that MVS used 4 buttons in a row.  I used to love some Samauri Showdown, and will definitely be playing it often.  Now I am building my P1/P2 controls with 4 buttons along the top row for MVS thanks to you! 

And the TAB/ENTER/ESC, you hit P1 and then press another button to get a different effect?  Is this set up on the MAME side, or is that something configured in the CP interface (I-PAC, Keywiz)?

2) Right/Left/Plunger pinball buttons (I like playing the Visual Pinball tables)

Is this something that is done in MAME or something totally unrelated?  I would love to play some Addam's Family Pinball again... Its been years!

Bare minimum admin buttons you need are ESC and Pause.. the rest depend on if you have a keyboard drawer available below your CP.

I am planning on having a pull out keyboard/mouse tray.  My CP will not have a trackball on it, and am I also planning on using it part time as an internet/music PC.  Nothing intense, but if I'm in the garage sometime and wanna hear some MP3's I can fire up the PC in the MAME cab...

And another question I just thought of.  If i have a dedicated 4 way stick to go along with my P1 + P2 8 way HAPP supers, how is this wired to the interface?  I have heard that its wired along with the P1 stick.  Does this make both the P1 8 way as well as the 4 way both active at the same time?  And if this is the case, I should be able to just use the buttons from the P1 controls along with the 4 way?

Thanks

[Aurich]

Just get an IPac and use shift buttons, admin buttons are ugly and unnecessary.

I have a coin door, but still have a shift button for coins for when I'm lazy, as well as esc, pause, volume, tab, enter and reset. It's easy and keeps the machine looking authentic. Make a little cheat card for guests if you're worried about that.

I hate giant frankenpanels too though, if it doesn't look like a real machine it's usually not my cup of tea, so YMMV.

[Bobbler]

1UP, 2UP, COIN and Ipac Shift.

No need for anything else IMO. If you need a huge amount of buttons you may as well put a wireless keyboard on top of your cab or something.

I just use:
Shift + 1UP = Tab menu
Shift + 2UP = Pause
Shift + COIN = Escape

[Mattiekrome]

Ok, so both the Keywiz and Ipac have a function built in that allows the user to set up a "shift" or "Shazamm" button.  I remember reading that the Ipac defaults the shift button to the P1 button, which means when its configured correctly, pressing the P1 button and another button at the same time will act like a totally new "virtual button" of sorts, which really sounds like the way to go!  Is there any way to set up a dedicated "Shift" button with an Ipac?

I've heard of the Shazamm button from the keywiz... Is this just a dedicated "shift" button, which acts solely as a "shift" button, and has no other function unlike the Ipac (where P1 serves as both the P1 start and the shift button?).  I like the fact of not having to use the P1 button as a shift key for some reason  )

The more I read over this thread, the more its looking like a P1, P2, coin1, coin2, and power, with all other admin functions (ESC/ENTER/PAUSE/TAB/ETC) being used with a shift button or the shazamm button.

[Kaytrim]

It is really your choice what admin buttons you have on your CP.  I have some of the usual buttons but I also have navigation buttons for my front end.  See the links in my sig.

TTFN 
Kaytrim

[Bobbler]

  Is there any way to set up a dedicated "Shift" button with an Ipac?

I've heard of the Shazamm button from the keywiz... Is this just a dedicated "shift" button, which acts solely as a "shift" button, and has no other function unlike the Ipac (where P1 serves as both the P1 start and the shift button?).  I like the fact of not having to use the P1 button as a shift key for some reason  )

Yep, no problem setting a dedicated button, that's exactly how I have mine setup. I just reprogrammed the IPAC to use Player 1 button 8 as my shift rather than the default 1UP button.

[Donkey_Kong]

Here is another option for you.

I went to my local radio shack and bought a handful of these. I might hide them for use as a shift key or maybe even drill some on the control panel as they are not an eye sore or anything. They can be used for all of these functions including the shift or shazam key.

Neat little space savers.

RADIO SHACK LINK

[Chris G]

In my current setup, I'm using the shift + other buttons for certain admin functions.  Personally I think it's a hassle, at least for pause and exit which are used frequently.  In the redo I'm doing, I'm going to have those 2 plus the basic player buttons.  I agree with others that a ton of buttons can be ugly, however, there are some really great looking CPs that include a few admin buttons... check the CP database.

[um3k]

3) Remove crosshairs (for lightgun games)

I'm assuming you have this button setup because you have real lightguns attached and don't want to see the cross hairs on gun games.  If so, there is a source patch for MAME at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63130.0 that, among other things, sets the default for crosshairs to "off" so you don't need to toggle it manually each time you start a lightgun game.  Or you can download the transparent crosshairs artwork from Mr. Do's page at http://www.mameworld.net/mrdo/mame_artwork_supp.html to keep them from showing up at all without a patch.

[fragasaurus]

Can someone just verify for me that the 2nd Player coin slot is redundant?  ie:  hitting playing 1 coin twice will do the same job?   I see this on a lot of panels but I wasn't planning on adding one to mine.  I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake.  Thanks in advance.

-Jonathan

[horseboy]

Can someone just verify for me that the 2nd Player coin slot is redundant?  ie:  hitting playing 1 coin twice will do the same job?   I see this on a lot of panels but I wasn't planning on adding one to mine.  I want to make sure I'm not making a mistake.  Thanks in advance.

-Jonathan

Well, for some games it might, but not for 2/3/4 player simultaneous games.

[um3k]

Can someone just verify for me that the 2nd Player coin slot is redundant?  ie:  hitting playing 1 coin twice will do the same job?

Some multiplayer games (gauntlet and simpsons 4player come to mind) require you to insert the coin in the slot corresponding to the player you want to use (e.g. slot 1 credits only can be used for warrior, slot 2 for elf, etc)  so the additional coin slots are not entirely redundant.   I only have a two player CP (so 2 different coin buttons/slots). For those type of games, the controls and coin inputs have to be remapped (either on IPAC or in MAME) if you want to play player 3 or 4's character.

[Mark70]

14.

you need 14 and only that many because you need six per side for fighters.  If you didn't play fighters at all, I'd probably recommend 10.

I have a p1, p2 and six for each of my two joys.  Two of the player 1 six button set are actually mouse buttons hooked into the trackball.  This works fine except for my nintendo emulator won't use the mouse buttons and controller buttons.

The shift function which is tied to the p1 start button by default for the Ipac is more than enough to escape, pause, shift, tab etc..

[Jeff AMN]

Yeah, I'm trying to get away with the bare minimum on buttons myself. I've always favored a nice, clean look and am going to try to get the most out of the shift function.

[Thurman]

The more buttons you put on your cp, the more confused your guests will be when they try to start up a game.  P1 Start, P1 coin, P2 Start, P2 coin, Exit.

[headkaze]

pause is handy for beer swigging time 

[Apollo]

38 hope this helps

[fragasaurus]

Can someone just verify for me that the 2nd Player coin slot is redundant?  ie:  hitting playing 1 coin twice will do the same job?

Some multiplayer games (gauntlet and simpsons 4player come to mind) require you to insert the coin in the slot corresponding to the player you want to use (e.g. slot 1 credits only can be used for warrior, slot 2 for elf, etc)  so the additional coin slots are not entirely redundant.   I only have a two player CP (so 2 different coin buttons/slots). For those type of games, the controls and coin inputs have to be remapped (either on IPAC or in MAME) if you want to play player 3 or 4's character.

Ahhh (light bulb goes on).  Thanks for the info.  This really helps.  I would have hated to see the look on the elf's face when he realized he couldn't play on my arcade cab's opening weekend!

[amerish]

Total needed = 64

First you need 32 buttons for your 4 player, trackball, spinner frankenpanel

player 1 and 2 - 6 buttons each - total 12

player 3 and 4 - 4 buttons each - total 8

coin button and start button for each player - total 8

pause and reset button - 2

two buttons for the track ball and spinner to share - 2

Now once you have it all wired you can pull out all of these buttons and then replace them with 32 lighted buttons....

Total buttons needed = 64   

[fixedpigs]

  Is there any way to set up a dedicated "Shift" button with an Ipac?

I've heard of the Shazamm button from the keywiz... Is this just a dedicated "shift" button, which acts solely as a "shift" button, and has no other function unlike the Ipac (where P1 serves as both the P1 start and the shift button?).  I like the fact of not having to use the P1 button as a shift key for some reason  )

Yep, no problem setting a dedicated button, that's exactly how I have mine setup. I just reprogrammed the IPAC to use Player 1 button 8 as my shift rather than the default 1UP button.

was this response just for the ipac...?
can the shazaam key be mapped to the player 1 button(or any other button) too...?
or do you have to have a dedicated button for the sole purpose of being the shazaam button...?

thanks...

[Mattiekrome]

Can someone just verify for me that the 2nd Player coin slot is redundant?  ie:  hitting playing 1 coin twice will do the same job?

Some multiplayer games (gauntlet and simpsons 4player come to mind) require you to insert the coin in the slot corresponding to the player you want to use (e.g. slot 1 credits only can be used for warrior, slot 2 for elf, etc)  so the additional coin slots are not entirely redundant.   I only have a two player CP (so 2 different coin buttons/slots). For those type of games, the controls and coin inputs have to be remapped (either on IPAC or in MAME) if you want to play player 3 or 4's character.

Ahhh (light bulb goes on).  Thanks for the info.  This really helps.  I would have hated to see the look on the elf's face when he realized he couldn't play on my arcade cab's opening weekend!

Been busy lately, so havent had much time to check out this post, but the weird thing was today at work, I was thinking the exact same thing, maybe being able to shave off the 2p coin button, looks like thats a negatory.  Pretty confident now that I will be going with the 7 button MVS layout (3 on top, 4 on bottom) for both P1 + P2.  Then the P1, P2, P1 coin, P2 coin.  And I'll definitely have a dedicated shift button too, but am still tossing around the idea of adding a dedicated "ESC" and a dedicated "Pause" button...  Just seems like you would be using the ESC key so much, it would almost be a pain to not have it.  And like Headkaze said, that pause button comes in handy for beer swiggin 

[alandrogers]

I really appreciate seeing this thread. I'm still trying to figure out my CP layout. I've got a full complement of controls (4-way, spinner, TB, 2 joys) and so it's just the button layout that always gives me headaches.

I wish I had visio at home so it would be easier to figure out.

I did see one thing someplace that I really liked, I just saved it in email so I have no idea where it came from. Here's a snippet of it:

My favorite layout (which works well for almost any game you can throw at
it), is a modern oversized panel with a trackball installed dead center,
8-Way joysticks with 7 buttons each to the left and right of the
trackball, a single 4-Way joystick mounted high and slightly left of
center, with a spinner mounted high and slightly right of center.

_________________________________________________

                  4-Way      Spinner
                  Stick
          Buttons                        Buttons
  8-Way   1 2 3 4      Track     8-Way   1 2 3 4
  Stick   4 5 6        Ball      Stick   4 5 6


_________________________________________________

Look carefully at the buttons, notice how there are 2 different ones
labeled as #4, that is because many 4 button games (Neo-Geo especially)
have 4 buttons in a single row. While most games with 6 buttons have 2
rows of 3. So you simply make button 4 in 2 different places (making
both types of game feel correct).

I like the 4 on top (1-4) and 3 on the bottom (4-6) set up.

Other things I've seen that I really like are 3 dedicated buttons right of the 4-way stick, 2 buttons left of the spinner, and 2 mouse buttons left of the TB. I plan on incorporating these, too. I guess that makes it a franken panel already, but in my mind... the buttons are next to the controls that use them.

Also pinball buttons (2 each side, 1 on right front)

Regarding the function buttons, I designed in the following:
Pause on left and right upper corners of the cp
Escape, on the left side and an F3 on the front

I also want a recessed Control-Alt-Delete combination for the PC, but plan for a microswitch without a button, accessed via a pencil or something through a small hole.

[alandrogers]

PS ... forgot to mention that my 4 way is planned for the upper right and the spinner  on the upper left, that should help clear up my comment about the placement of the associated buttons for those.

[paigeoliver]

You need 14 buttons for a 2 player panel and not a single additional button. 6 buttons for each player and 2 start buttons. All your admin functions can be run as combos with the start buttons. My machine is set up that way. Dedicated admin buttons just confuse guests and get accidently pressed during play. But holding down start and pressing button 6 is pretty much impossible to do on accident.