Admin Buttons

[Heavy6r]

New guy here.  Interested in hear whether most folks have dedicated buttons for the various admin functions, or if they set up up various buttons to have dual use.

[TheShanMan]

You forgot an option for "mix of both". I think it's common to have buttons for pause and exit, and leave everything else like tab to a shifted button (that's what I've done).

[NOP]

A real keyboard is my admin buttons.

P1+P2 = ESC
ESC out of any game, ESC again to exit the FE and shut off the machine.  Any button then turns it back on again if needed.

My machine is essentially locked when in use.  If I need to tweak something, I attach a real keyboard+mouse and work on it, then lock it down again.  Works well because too many buttons are confusing for people who don't know that it's actually a PC, and it keeps people from getting into things they shouldn't.

-jeff!

[severdhed]

i have dedicated Escape and pause buttons, everything else is shifted

[Teknique]

Mixed.

3 admin buttons. 

Dedicated play button (from FE to game) and pause.  Shared exit button (from game)- shifted escape.

Tek   

[milhouse]

I have 4 on my Bezel - Exit, Pause, "Yes" and one further off to the side for power.  I also have a wireless keyboard/trackball which I use when I have to.

I already have too many buttons since it is a 4-player panel.

[michelevit]

i'm with the school of thought that less admin buttons is more.
i have a hidden pause and esc button located under the control panel.
they are black buttons.  everything else is done with a wireless keyboard and mouse.

in party mode, i just pick a game and hide the keyboard and mouse, so drunks
dont mess up the games. nothing like a drunkard remapping joystick buttons
on your arcade.

[pmc]

i have dedicated Escape and pause buttons, everything else is shifted

Ditto. Lot's of threads on this topic to search too. It's a popular topic.

-pmc

[u_rebelscum]

Mixed.  Two admin buttons ('p' & 'esc'), the rest being button combinations.  I do NOT use hardware shift/shazam, but I only use mame which doesn't need shift.


I started with all shift, but I exited far too many games by accident, an couldn't find a button combo never, ever pressed while playing without adding an extra button, but still let others exit when they wanted.

And

P1+P2 = ESC

is the exact reason I started moving to mixed.  Two player games where both players die at the same time resulted in exiting more than a couple times (and once is too many). 

Nothing is worse then almost beating the boss, both you and your friend dieing, both trying to get back in the game, and BAM!! no more game, just a list of games, the one you just were playing highlighted, adrenaline still pumping but no game to play.  But the expressions are priceless; wish I had the set of pics of me and my brother the first time it happened.
WTF ...look at each other.... ........ ......... ARRRGGG!!!!

[TheShanMan]

That's a great point, u_rebelscum. I'm going to get my admin stuff hooked up to my new panel probably this weekend, so I will definitely try that approach.

[Ginsu Victim]

u_rebelscum:
Luckily, I thought of that right away. I knew that would be an issue. I've never understood the use of P1+P2=ESC. Just an accident waiting to happen.

[NOP]

u_rebelscum:
Luckily, I thought of that right away. I knew that would be an issue. I've never understood the use of P1+P2=ESC. Just an accident waiting to happen.

Ah!  I'm a little slow today-I could not figure out how P1+P2=ESC could possibly cause issues, then I realized that you're all running a horizontal (probably upright) machines.

I've got a vertical cocktail machine, so only 1 person is ever in control of P1+P2, and being vertical, there are so few 2 player multi-games that this doesn't really cause any issues.

I also only have 9" CP's so button space is at a premium.

So yep, I totally agree that P1+P2=ESC would be a bad idea on anything else.

-jeff!

[Ginsu Victim]

I've got a vertical cocktail machine, so only 1 person is ever in control of P1+P2, and being vertical, there are so few 2 player multi-games that this doesn't really cause any issues.

So do you have to hold P1, then reach to the other side of the cabinet to hit P2 to exit? If so, that doesn't sound like fun...

[NOP]

I've got a vertical cocktail machine, so only 1 person is ever in control of P1+P2, and being vertical, there are so few 2 player multi-games that this doesn't really cause any issues.

So do you have to hold P1, then  reach to the other side of the cabinet to hit P2 to exit? If so, that doesn't sound like fun...

heh. No, the CP for player 1 has the start buttons for P1 and P2.  It's a standard galaga cocktail cabinet, so the control panels look like this:

http://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=CPOGALCT

It just means that whoever is P1 is always in control over the entire machine.

-jeff!

[Ginsu Victim]

Ah...ok. Much better.

[u_rebelscum]

Ah!  I'm a little slow today-I could not figure out how P1+P2=ESC could possibly cause issues, then I realized that you're all running a horizontal (probably upright) machines.

I've got a vertical cocktail machine, so only 1 person is ever in control of P1+P2, and being vertical, there are so few 2 player multi-games that this doesn't really cause any issues.

All vertical co-op shmups (1943, strikers, ikari, etc) can have this problem.

I also only have 9" CP's so button space is at a premium.

Of course, a vertical cocktail with CPs for one person on each side makes playing the co-op verts, um, interesting.  
But ya, I see why you don't have problems.

[Ginsu Victim]

yeah, I think he's only playing "one at a time" games on that vertical cab