Project Arcade's control panel question

[smurf]

I'm preparing to order the parts for my arcade machine but I'm kind of stuck. In the book, three joysticks are in the plans (one 4-way and two 8-ways). I'm trying to follow the plans as closely as I can but I'm not really sure about the 4-way joystick. It appears to be at an angle that would be awkward. It looks like you'd have to maneuver your right hand in an odd way to use the joystick and use your left hand on the buttons. I'm pretty sure that that would feel very unusual/uncomfortable. At first I wanted to just use the two 8-way joysticks and not bother with the other joystick... but then I read a lot of the posts here saying that it is a nightmare to control a 4-way game with an 8-way joystick. So, my question is for those of you that have any clue what I'm talking about; do the controls feel unnatural at all when using the 4-way joystick? If so, how can this be overcome? I know that Mag-stik isn't the best option due to the short travel and it cannot play fighters very well.

[javeryh]

Buy 2 Ultimarc 360s and ditch the 4-way.

[GAtekwriter]

Smurf,

Javeryh has good advice, but didn't say why - the Ultimarc 360s can be programmed to respond as 2 way, 4 way, and more... so you can program them to match a game that requires a 4 way and the joystick will act as a 4 way... for a game that requires a 2 way, it can be customized to behave that way... a nice option to consider.

Jim

[Xam]

If I remember right, I switched where the spinner and 4-way go on the panel.

Here is a pic of my PA CP.

Xam

[smurf]

Thanks for the great ideas, you guys.

GAtekwriter, I think I read somewhere that the 360 is great for 8-way but 4-way still has the dead zone problem when you hit diaganols. Have you experienced any problems with games like Pacman and Donkey Kong?

Xam, that is a great idea but doesn't having the buttons on the left feel unnatural?

[Xam]

Thanks for the great ideas, you guys.

GAtekwriter, I think I read somewhere that the 360 is great for 8-way but 4-way still has the dead zone problem when you hit diaganols. Have you experienced any problems with games like Pacman and Donkey Kong?

Xam, that is a great idea but doesn't having the buttons on the left feel unnatural?

Probably a bit unnatural for most people. I always played the games with my arms crossed (left over right) to play comfortably in the arcade, so it worked out for me. You could always map player 2 buttons for your 4 way games...but the spacing is a bit far that way.

Xam

[javeryh]

Thanks for the great ideas, you guys.

GAtekwriter, I think I read somewhere that the 360 is great for 8-way but 4-way still has the dead zone problem when you hit diaganols. Have you experienced any problems with games like Pacman and Donkey Kong?

Xam, that is a great idea but doesn't having the buttons on the left feel unnatural?

I haven't had a single issue with "dead zones" using my U360.  Each "tile" on each "map" is tied to a specific action so there are no dead zones by design.  You can configure the joystick to act any way you want... down could be up! right could be up-left!  it's up to you!

[smurf]

I haven't had a single issue with "dead zones" using my U360.  Each "tile" on each "map" is tied to a specific action so there are no dead zones by design.  You can configure the joystick to act any way you want... down could be up! right could be up-left!  it's up to you!

That's great to hear. My only concern is that I'll accidentally hit the diagonals when trying to go from right to up. Does anyone have any other ideas on what I could do when it comes to joysticks? If I have to I'll just have the buttons on the left and 4-way on the right with an 8-way on the left of the buttons like Xam has.

[bfauska]

That's great to hear. My only concern is that I'll accidentally hit the diagonals when trying to go from right to up.

I don't think you're quite grasping the way the u360 works, but I also don't think it's been super clearly explained in this thread yet.

The U360 is set up so that with software you can have any position on the motion of the stick send any directional signal to the computer you want.  When it is set up for 4 way games there is no way to send a diagonal signal to the games, it behaves (in the software) as if it had a restrictor on it.  Here is the section of the Ultimarc website that discuses the mapping set-up of the stick.

With the U360 on the panel you won't need any stick in the 4-way location so you don't have to worry about reaching the buttons with your left hand.

[smurf]

Okay, I understand now. Thanks for explaining that clearer. One last question though, do you have to set up a map for every game or does mame take over?

[javeryh]

Okay, I understand now. Thanks for explaining that clearer. One last question though, do you have to set up a map for every game or does mame take over?

The stick comes preloaded with various maps.  I've never made one myself.  If you use MaLa as your front-end and fatfingers's plug-in (search the software forum) the correct map will load behind the scenes for any game you choose.  The user will never know the difference.  You can go from 4-way to 8-way to diagonal 4-way (Q*bert) without ever knowing it.  The stick works seamlessly.  The only set-up is getting the plug-in to work which takes about 30 seconds - plus, fatfingers is very quick to respond to questions and stuff if you have trouble with it...

[smurf]

Okay, yeah, this is defiantly the way to go. I found out that it supports 8 buttons. That pretty much means I don't have to buy I-Pac, which is nice.

[polaris]

Okay, yeah, this is defiantly the way to go. I found out that it supports 8 buttons. That pretty much means I don't have to buy I-Pac, which is nice.

i believe that it has the shift function too , giving you more button options

[smurf]

i believe that it has the shift function too , giving you more button options

Oh, wow. Really? This joystick keeps on getting better and better. The more I read about it the more I want it. You'd have to be crazy not to buy it. You get what you pay for... and more.

[polaris]

read here