Main > Main Forum
Question on control panels
(1/4) > >>
wonkalow:
Ok, After months of research and reading, I think Im finnally ready to start ordering parts. Im down to one last detail... the control panel. I have a fairly basic understading on how much of this works, and could get by im sure, but before i start spending tons of money, I want to be sure.

I plan to have the cabinet run the following emulators.. Maybe not all off the bat but eventually I want to add these, as well as 2 LED gun's, so I want it to support it if I add extra emulator's (By that I mean, have enough buttons to cover them).. I dont have any plans for a trackball or spinner or anything other than what I listed, if I consider any of that, it'll be for my next project.

Atari 2600
Sega genesis
NES
SNES
Dreamcast
Mame

I am thinking so far, of  2 Players, with 6 buttons per, with a P1 and P2 start a Pause button and a shift button, with 2 joysticks...Would that be enough to cover all of the games for these systems? or atleast 99%?

Here's the things im not too sure on.

Using the Shift button would let me have more commands without using more spaces on an ipac correct? for example, Shift +p1 start would work as p1 coin in or Shift pause could be esc to front end. The command is a simple key binding right? not hardware related?

and im not too sure how many slots on an ipac alot of these things use yet, would I be able to get away with the small one, or would I need the biggest?

and finally, I went to an arcade auction recently and while none of the machines were on, some of the hand built ones were there, and I noticed some buttons were stiffer than others, and I believe there are different types of joysticks, some I believe 8 way, some 12? etc, Im a little confused as to the differences in the two, and which would suite me best? If it matters id like to cover a wide veriety of games esspecially fighting.  and was it just the machine wasnt broke in? or are hand built machines buttons allways much stiffer?

Also, looking at buttons there seems to be two kinds listed on happ, "Ultimate push buttons with microswitch" and "competition" Is there any difference in the two other than accuracy? If the better ones dont use extra spots on ipac or anything I think id prefer them
falkensmaze:
I asked my self all these questions like everyone else who builds there first cab so ill give u my shillins worth.
I went with gameex as front end and will run all your emulators you mentioned you might want to consider using 2   8-way happ supers as these cover a LOT of games but you also might want a 4 way as well possibly at the top of your CP to play games that really require a 4 way joystick eg. popeye, Mario brothers etc. As for buttons i went with the 7 button layout  ( which is 3 buttons top and bottom and one extra to the lower left for some 4 button games eg neo-geo fighting games )and should cover virtually all games . Happ or ultimarc buttons will do the job. As for shift key the i-pac is extremely easy to program your key assignments and a big thing you want to think about is changing the shift key to another key like the pause button i was recommended to do this --BINGO! Either that, or I was attempting to say "before" but it was too many letters to type-- i built my cab and am glad i did  as it avoids using shifted keys by mistake. Also depending on how many admin buttons you want think about how important pause and exit will be also coin as well these are popular choices amongst cab builders. But u can shift them if u want a minimalist approach. hope this helps...
wonkalow:
cool thanks for the help. I think ill go with the 7 button setup to be safe, and I assume ill need atleast the biggest IPAC.  On the joysticks though, will some games not work with the 4 way? or not work as well? I was hoping one would cover everything. I assume the 8 way would be a requirement for fighting games, unless theres something better? I assume 8 directions would be about all you would need.
Havok:
Get The Book

If this is a two player panel, you do not need the biggest Ipac. You might even want to consider GroovyGameGear's KeyWiz
BradC:
You won't need the biggest IPAC unless you're doing a 4-player setup. The IPAC-2 has room for:
Two controllers (4 switches each)
16 buttons (8 for each player)
Player 1 Start
Player 2 Start
Player 1 Coin/Credit
Player 2 Coin/Credit

Then it has built in Shift buttons for Pause, Esc, Enter, Tab and ~ (for volume & gamma adjustments).

Some of the older games that used to use dedicated 4-ways will have issues with an 8-way, and may not respond properly. You can install a dedicated 4-way, or get a switchable. You can find 8-ways that switch to 4-way by getting inside the control panel, or there are also some that are switchable without opening up the CP.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page

Go to full version