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MiniPAC vs. GP-Wiz
btp2k2:
Hey guys,
I need some help. I am getting ready to wire up a new cabinet. I have always used the Minipac for my interface solution, so this will be my first foray into actually wiring instead of using the pre made wiring harness.
I need a couple more inputs than the standard 28 the Minipac or Ipac comes with, and saw both the keywiz and GPWiz have 32. I am looking more at the GP Wiz, just because the whole keyboard thing is kind of a bummer and I am looking at having Madden 2007 running on my Seahawks themed cabinet and the gamepad style setup of the GP Wiz would make that transition easy.
Does anyone have any feedback on the GPWiz?
Tiger-Heli:
--- Quote from: btp2k2 on April 05, 2007, 02:56:24 am ---I need some help. I am getting ready to wire up a new cabinet. I have always used the Minipac for my interface solution, so this will be my first foray into actually wiring instead of using the pre made wiring harness.
--- End quote ---
The wiring is pretty simple. We'll help you out as needed.
--- Quote ---I need a couple more inputs than the standard 28 the Minipac or Ipac comes with, and saw both the keywiz and GPWiz have 32.
--- End quote ---
As does the I-PAC VE, not that I necessarily am recommending that over your other choices, but just to keep all your options open. (Also, the Mini-PAC has the mouse buttons (I think) so you have at least 30 inputs, if you wanted to stay with your comfort zone).
--- Quote ---I am looking more at the GP Wiz, just because the whole keyboard thing is kind of a bummer and I am looking at having Madden 2007 running on my Seahawks themed cabinet and the gamepad style setup of the GP Wiz would make that transition easy.
Does anyone have any feedback on the GPWiz?
--- End quote ---
I have never used the GPWiz, but lots of others have. Most (non-MAME) emulators are geared more toward keyboard control (oddly, IMHO), so if you want to use it for emulation, the keyboard encoders seemed like a better choice to me. (Yes, you can use RBJoy or similar to get keyboard output out of a GPWiz, but why work around the solution when a dedicated solution is available.)
Running Madden 2007 if it doesn't support keyboard inputs would be a good argument for the GP-Wiz, but a couple of points:
Is Madden 2007 looking for analog joystick inputs? (If so, the GP-Wiz doesn't support this, so you might want to have some flush USB ports on the cab and use PC gamepads).
Is Madden 2007 looking for one joystick per player? (The GP-Wiz is seen as one joystick (d-pad, basically) and 28 buttons). For MAME, you can set Buttons 15-18 or whatever to Player 2 directionals, but for 4-player Madden, you might need 4 GP-Wiz Eco's to get the game to see them all.
Another option for Madden 2007 would be to use a program called PPJoy with a keyboard encoder from Madden07 as I mention here: http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/main.htm#Gamepad_Hack_Emulator
Kaytrim:
I use a GPWiz eco as my main interface on my current MAME system. There is a stick, 6 action buttons, coin and start for each player. Plus there is room for a few admin buttons. I also plan on using a GPWiz for my portable systems. The eco version needs soldering but there is a solderless version that uses a IDE cable header. However IMHO the max version is worth the extra cash for the screw terminals.
JoyToKey or RBJoy are free programs that will take care of any keyboard needs. I haven't used them because I haven't needed to but there are people that like them.
TTFN :cheers:
Kaytrim
bfauska:
So far you're getting the same advice I think I would give as a current GPwiz user. MAME allows flawless use of the GPwiz, some of the other emulators I run however have a few problems. Nestopia doesn't recognize buttons above number 20 I think so it made carefull button assignment necessary, but I was able to make it work. Either Stella, or my SNES emulator (I don't remember which SNES one I have, I've only used it to see if I should set it up) only allows inputs expected to be joysticks to act as joysticks, so while I can use all the buttons for player 1 and 2 I have no way of adding a joystick to player 2. Little things like that are less likely with a KB encoder, but I think they are all workaroundable if you use the GPwiz with some extra software. The size and price of the GPwiz eco is hard to ignore, but I think next time I may go with the screw terminal version. I added terminal strips to my setup anyway so part of the cost is there and the setup is nowhere near as clean as it would be with the screw contacts on-board, however if you soldered, you could get some REALLY clean results.
btp2k2:
--- Quote from: bfauska on April 05, 2007, 11:55:53 am ---however if you soldered, you could get some REALLY clean results.
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Not if I solder! I could burn down the neighborhood with a solder iron.
I don't run any of those emulators on my cab, pretty much MAME, Daphne and Visual Pinball.
I think I have narrowed it down to the GPWiz and the Ipac VE. I noticed the VE has 32 inputs as well.