help choosing encoder

[stevemartins]

i've been doing quite a bit of reading but i'm still having trouble deciding on which cp encoder to use. i want my cp to be very user friendly because most people who will play it will not be familiar with special key combinations to control the admin functions. for that reason i want dedicated buttons for enter, esc, pause and menu. i will also have 7 buttons per palyer in the sf2/neogeo hybrid config. along with 1 coin per player and 1 and 2 player start buttons. including joystick controls (typical 8 way) i'm looking at 30 inputs.

the encoders i'm deciding between are the groovy game gear gp-wiz max 32, the keywiz st or the ultimarc ipac2 or ipac ve.

i play mostly 2 player fighting games; mortal kombat, sf2, killer instinct, primal rage, etc. right now i'm just setting up mame and using Mala as the gui but i'm looking to add more emulators in the future

can anyone give me advice on which to choose?

since the groovy game gear has 32 inputs it seems like a better choice for me since i wont have to use a shift function in the ipac. but i dont know much about the other functions/features of these encoders that i might need to know.

some questions i have:

is the gpwiz better than the keywiz?

is the gpwiz more difficult to set up than the keywiz? i've heard some people on here having problems controlling mame and mala using the gpwiz.

would there be any advantage to using an ipac in my application (does it do anything the keywiz or gpwiz cant)?

thanks for your help. i've already recieved my buttons so i'm anxious to get the encoder

[Tiger-Heli]

As you said, KeyWiz or GPWiz is probably better due to 32 dedicated inputs (for your application).  You can do similar with an I-PAC with shifted inputs and a resistor capacitor circuit, but it's much more complicated.

Main advantage of the I-PAC is it can be config'd to use USB, it can flash the LED's (Caps and Num lock), and I think the programming software loads quicker if you reprogram it, also it uses EEPROM, so if you don't use the default codeset you don't have to re-program it on startup.  If you do use the defualt codeset or your programs let you assign keys to use, this doesn't matter.

Can't advise you on MALA compatibility.

The KeyWiz emulates a keyboard, the GP-Wiz emulates a gamepad.  For MAME, this doesn't matter much either way.  Some emulators can't recognize gamepad keys above button 15, for example, so you end up using software like RBJoy with it to send keystrokes and the KeyWiz would be better.  Some PC games only recognize gamepad inputs, which means you have a hard time using the KeyWiz with them (but there are software workarounds for that as well).  Overall, I think the KeyWiz is likely to be more compatible, unless you know you want to load a lot of PC games on the cab.

More than you ever want to know here:  http://www.mameworld.net/tigerheli/encoder/index.htm

[stevemartins]

thanks for your advice. i'm gonna pick up the keywiz. the only computer games i plan on playing on this is mk4 and possibly a few other fighting games. hopefully i wont have much trouble. thanks for your help

[genesim]

Well here is a curve ball.

I say go with the Ipac 4 because all those extra inputs come in handy if you change your mind down the road.

Zero problems, super great product.

As far as PC games, most all have support for keyboards because that is the standard..problem solved.   You can load up new inputs in a blink.

I was once where you were.   Wanted it mainly for fighting games, then I got into more and more games.

On a sidenote, the Xarcade is great and unlike the others, has a switch on the back to change on the fly setups.   Use their DIY board for your own setup(i.e. you don't need to use their rig) and then you get the added benefit of console games..which of course opens up a whole new world for fighting games such as the newer Mortal Kombat Armageddon which I LOVE!

Good luck.

[Lilwolf]

I have both an IPac and a keywiz.  Love them both.  Figure out what you need (exactly) and go with it.

IPac's ability to save keysettings though a reboot is very nice.  But that being said... I ended up rewiring and moving them all to default anyway, so no big deal there.

Pay the extra few bucks for the easier cabling options with keywiz.  worth your time for a nicer solution.

But as features go.  They both have a ton of features that you probably don't really need.  Find what you need and get the cheapest solution that fits...  Both are great.