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Rethinking the 4-player control panel...

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vidmouse:

Delusions link to the 4p mini quad was interesting... it's actually similar to my angled design except the panel is 1.75" deeper.  I tried it out w/ my drawing program and the only advantage I see over what I have is that it gets the players a little further from the screen, maybe improving viewing angle.

I gave this some more thought last night and am back to the modular idea once again... I abandoned it for awhile b/c I wasn't sure how to attach the module "wings" but last night I thought about maybe just using some large bolts and wing nuts, shoot through the side of the CP boxes and use the wing nuts to hand-tighten in whenever I need the 4p capability.  The downside... my pinball buttons get covered up by the wing modules but these can be taken down.

Any other suggestions on how to attach/detach easily?




arzoo:

I've never had a problem playing with angled controls on P3/P4 - up is forward, down is backward, etc. It's all relative to the player position, not the monitor position. The reason for angling players 3 and 4 is because that's the natural position the player will take to face the screen. Unless you have a wide-screen monitor, players 3 and 4 will stand to the left and right of the screen - if they were to face forward, they wouldn't be looking directly at the screen. Anyway, my 2 cents. Vidmouse - I'd go back to your original design.

Sir Auros:

With that modular design, think about the 40 wire connections you'll have to make every time you want to hook those up. Try your original with a cardboard mockup and some friends and see if angled will work for you.

vidmouse:

1 joystick = 4 connections
6 buttons = 6 connections
1 ground, daisy chained

Total 11 connections per module.  The P1 and P2 modules
wouldn't have to be unhooked at all.

The plan was to use two 6-pin block connectors for
each module.

unless I'm missing something...?


Sir Auros:

I didn't see where you mentioned that you were going to do that. I was counting the connections for the grounds to the switches, too.

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