Now to the control panel... 360's? Advice please!

[pboreham]

Hi,

I will be constructing my cab today after a few weeks of cutting & painting (see link below for blog!).

My thoughts will be turning to the CP very soon.

I've priced up what I need at just under £200 from Ultimarc. These were 2 8-way sticks, enough buttons, wires, boards etc. Plus a 2 1/4 trackball - no spinner.

Now, my questions please!

1) Are 8-ways ok, or do I need the 360s? I do like racing games - some old school like Indy Heat, Iron Man Off-Road, Power Drift etc. I know I need a wheel, will make another CP in time! - But in the mean time, I dont think 8-ways will work well - was also thinking of getting a spinner to control the racers? Would that work? (sorry, thats about 8 questions in one!)

2) Is the 2 1/4 trackball ok? I will be using it for Golden Tee, Dunk Shot and Tekhan World Cup mostly. Should I get the bigger one?

3) Any other newbie CP tips you can give - or what to avoid would be great thanks.

Will want to order these asap!

Cheers, Paul.

[Disturbed013]

First of all    nice work on the cab and the blog!

You sort of answered your own question in that it is more about the games you know you want to play, make your selections based on that.  Some crossover works, some doesn't.  ie. pacman on an 8-way...  fighter fans have the opposite problem.

trackball size is more a matter of preference too.  whatever works best for you, it is your cab.  the 2.25 inch is just too small for my hand size so it doesn't feel right at all. 

no spinner?  for me that's unthinkable but again, what works for you is what you choose.

the only newbie tips I can give you are to mock it up on cardboard and test it for feel and find an arcade or two and check out some designs.  you'll read the same thing here in these forums, and about a million other useful bits of info.  read the threads, do searches, keep asking questions.

Again, my compliments on your cab work and nice documentation, I wish I had that kind of persistence.

[Doom bucket]

360s are still technically 8 way they aren't analog

[pboreham]

360s are still technically 8 way they aren't analog

I thought they have an analogue range - so I can use it for flight games and racers?

If not, then I'll just get a normal 8-way.

What about the idea of using a spinner to control racers. I guess in theory, they are just a mini-steering wheel anyway? May make some sort of attachment for it with a mini steering wheel on?!

Thanks for the help!

[pboreham]

First of all    nice work on the cab and the blog!

You sort of answered your own question in that it is more about the games you know you want to play, make your selections based on that.  Some crossover works, some doesn't.  ie. pacman on an 8-way...  fighter fans have the opposite problem.

trackball size is more a matter of preference too.  whatever works best for you, it is your cab.  the 2.25 inch is just too small for my hand size so it doesn't feel right at all. 

no spinner?  for me that's unthinkable but again, what works for you is what you choose.

the only newbie tips I can give you are to mock it up on cardboard and test it for feel and find an arcade or two and check out some designs.  you'll read the same thing here in these forums, and about a million other useful bits of info.  read the threads, do searches, keep asking questions.

Again, my compliments on your cab work and nice documentation, I wish I had that kind of persistence.

Thanks for the message - will be updating my blog later with pics of the build process! Was a very exciting day  Been good fun all the way so far, considering I have never done anything like this before!

With the trackball - is the ball on the smaller model the size of an pool ball from a 9-ball set? If so, they are quite chunky (the official size ones that is!).

From the trackball games I mentioned, I remember them having quite small balls in the cabs... I think I will try to get the best I can afford at the time - back to the loft to find some ebay stuff!

I've never liked spinner games really - Arknoid and Tron are the only 2 I can think of in fact. But I am warming to the idea of having one to simlutate the 360 wheels of Iron Man, APB, Indy Heat etc... would this work ok do you imagine?

Anyway, thanks again! 

[pboreham]

OK, after some research, I've found out that a spinner with a steering wheel already exists!!! 

Soooo... anybody know where I can get the TT2 Spinner in the UK? I've seen it on GGG - what are they like for UK based deliveries?

Thanks, Paul.

[RobotronNut]

360s are still technically 8 way they aren't analog

I thought they have an analogue range - so I can use it for flight games and racers?

depends on which "360" you're talking about. happ P360's are 8-way digital. ultimarc U360s  provide both analog and digital outputs.

[pboreham]

It was the U360's - so I guess they are analog?

If I go the spinner route for the driving games, I may not bother with analogues... arghhh! Decisions, decisions!

[fatfingers]

It was the U360's - so I guess they are analog?

If I go the spinner route for the driving games, I may not bother with analogues... arghhh! Decisions, decisions!

The U360s are definitely analog-based.

[AlexKidd]

The U360 works well for an analog flight stick. It works okay for 270 wheel games although the movement range is sorta short so it can be twitchy. They work very well for super hangon though. With creative mapping in mame and two U360s you can get analog steering, throttle and brake. Even in analog mode mame does a good job of making them work in 8 way games but you can have it load different maps to adjust where the directions activate.