| Main > Main Forum |
| 5 joys, 2 spinners, 1 trackball. What encoder(s)? |
| (1/4) > >> |
| mimic:
oh and about 37-40 pushbuttons, (about 6 or more will not be used at the same time) 4 joys 8-way (2 top fire) 1 dedicated 4-way 2 spinners 1 trackball all on one cp. What encoder(s) should I use. I guess I'd prefer the screw in connectors. (what are the no solder ones? On pictures look like jumper pins on a motherboard) I read about them on manufacturers web pages and it just very unclear to me what should I get, and whether ps/2 or usb? Oh yeah, forgot that I'd like to add 2 light guns at some point. (Will light guns work with games that used analog controllers, like terminator?) |
| leapinlew:
--- Quote from: mimic on April 23, 2007, 11:02:19 pm ---oh and about 37-40 pushbuttons, (about 6 or more will not be used at the same time) --- End quote --- What? |
| bleugh:
Use multiple IPAC's, USB type too |
| Fozzy The Bear:
--- Quote from: mimic on April 23, 2007, 11:02:19 pm ---(what are the no solder ones? On pictures look like jumper pins on a motherboard) I read about them on manufacturers web pages and it just very unclear to me what should I get, and whether ps/2 or usb? --- End quote --- From the description, you're looking at the Groovy Game Gear "Keywiz Eco" ..... http://www.groovygamegear.com The header pins you can see, are an IDE Header. You take an IDE Hard Drive cable and plug it on there. Cut the plug off the other end and split the cables out of the ribbon to connect your buttons and sticks to. The Keywiz does NOT come in a USB variety. USB has some severe limitations over the number of simultaneous key presses, whereas PS2 does not have that limitation. You are clearly building a 4 player panel. So you should ideally go via PS2 to avoid such button conflicts. Not sure why you need 5 sticks though.... This really sounds from your description like a bit of a Franken-panel. Newbies to this hobby often make the mistake of wanting everything on the one panel. This is not the ideal way to go. There were not may real arcade machines that were 4 player anyway, and you'll find that it's actually a bit of a waste of time, space and money because it will be very rare that you will play as 4 player. Best Regards, Julian (Fozzy The Bear) |
| Tiger-Heli:
Without knowing exactly what you are planning: The 4-way can be combined with the P1 Joystick to get rid of 4 inputs (Note that both sticks will be active so people MIGHT cheat and use the 4-way to mess up P1 in two-player games. You can rig a swith to deactivate the ground to the 4-way if you are concerned about this.) No 4-player arcade games use more than 4-buttons. 4-player console games are better played with USB gamepads plugged into a front-mounted USB hub, IMHO. This may get rid of more inputs. Use can use shift functions for the admin buttons and not have buttons on your CP and not need as many inputs. Factor in the above suggestions and you can get a more realistic idea of the number of inputs required. For the spinners and trackball - there are basically two (three) options: Opti-PAC - Supports two trackballs and up to 4 spinners - Auto-Switching means that your spinners will not interfere with the trackball and vice-versa. Two Opti-Wiz's - Each supports one trackball and a spinner (3 axes). You can either hook the spinners up to the Z-axis on each Opti-Wiz - in which case they will not conflict, but basically the spinners will only be useful in MAME, or hook the trackball to X and Y on one Opti-Wiz and the Spinners to X and Y on the second Opti-Wiz for greater compatibility, they will fight over the windows cursor, but MAME will split them out. (Be sure to order with different USB device ID's if they will both be permanently plugged in and not on separate motherboard headers (USB port pairs). Some trackballs and spinners have a built-in interface so this might eliminate one of both interface requirements. Also, see http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/index.htm --- Quote from: Fozzy The Bear on April 24, 2007, 07:07:25 am ---USB has some severe limitations over the number of simultaneous key presses, whereas PS2 does not have that limitation. You are clearly building a 4 player panel. So you should ideally go via PS2 to avoid such button conflicts. --- End quote --- Errrrm, no - not really. USB has a limitation of something like 14 or 16 simultaneous key presses which PS/2 does not. 4 players pressing diagonals at the same time as each mashing two buttons comes close, but this is unlikely to happen often. USB has some speed and through-put and packet-size limitations, but that's an "Andy vs. Randy"TM debate for a different thread. Generally, I recommend PS/2 for permanent installations and USB for something like a removable CP, but that is more of a guideline than a hard and fast rule. If you really want as many inputs as you think you do, you will need an I-PAC/4, so either one will be available, and PS/2 is probably recommended. The rest of Fozzy's advice is good. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |