Ipac2 question

[gman314]

Before I start wiring by CP to my Ipac2, I realized a potential problem:  I have more player 1 buttons than player one inputs on the Ipac (I am building a bartop, so everything is player 1).  I have 6 face buttons, 2 flipper buttons, and 5 admin buttons (which include a coin button and a player one start button). 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I figured that one solution would be to wire some of the admin buttons to the player 2 side, and then just change the default settings in the MAME button config tab.  I don't think it would matter if my Player 1 "Pause" button (on my CP) is wired to, let's say, Player 2 button 1 on the Ipac, right?  Just as long as I tell MAME that Player 2 button 1 is "Pause". 
Another possible solution that I thought of was to wire 2 different buttons to the same connection on the Ipac.  Is this even possible (or safe, for that matter)?  If so, what I figured was that I would wire both my primary face button and my left flipper button to Player 1 button 1 on the Ipac, and wire both my seconadry face button and right flipper button to Player 1 button 2 on the Ipac.  I wouldn't think that this would cause a conflict in MAME since I would only use the flipper buttons in Visual Pinball. 
Would either of these solutions work?  Is one recommended over the other?  Is there a better solution?  Any help would be greatly appreciated   

[Stobe]

You're on the right track.

Multiple buttons can be wired to the same input on the IPAC.  I'm not sure what the ideal inputs for the flippers would be.  I've seen some use the left and right joystick inputs for the left and right flippers before, but there are more than one way to skin a cat.  I'm not sure about using the 1P 2P buttons for flippers, since most pinball games use 1P as the start button.

So in summary.  You should have plenty of inputs.  Use the Joy UDLR, 6 buttons, Coin 1 and Start 1 inputs.  And as for your admin buttons, there should be a few of those mapped to the default config of an IPAC.  And don't forget the shift capability, saves you buttons and inputs.

Hope this helps,
Stobe

[gman314]

And as for your admin buttons, there should be a few of those mapped to the default config of an IPAC.  And don't forget the shift capability, saves you buttons and inputs.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by mapping some admin buttons to the "default config" of the Ipac.  The only admin inputs that I fould on the Ipac are for "player 1 coin" and "player 1 start".  Two other admin buttons on my cab will be a "pause button" and an "exit game" button.  Where would I wire these buttons to, since the Ipac has no inputs for these buttons?  Would it be wise to wire them to player 1 buttons 7 and 8 (since they are not in use)?  Or how about to two inputs on the player 2 side of the Ipac?  Thanks for the advice, by the way 

[Stobe]

Yes, you could easily program the IPAC to use buttons 7 and 8 for those, or any of the player 2 buttoms for that matter.  Most of the time, I think people use the default 1P+2P for exit (if your going to have a start2 button on the CP?) since having a dedicated Exit button can sometimes kick you out of a game in a fit of button mashing rage. 

-Stobe