Question on Dreamcast adaptor with the IPAC.

[evitagen]

So I'm wanting to set-up my Dreamcast in my cabinet(Honestly mainly for Marvel vs. Capcom 2) and I would love to be able to use my control panel for the Dreamcast.  I have an Ipac, so is this possible without re-doing a lot of stuff?

I noticed on the ultimarc page there is this:  http://www.ultimarc.com/dreamcast.html

That's just a PS2 adaptor hooked up to some Dreamcast to PS2 adaptors.  So obviously this would work, I assume?  Anyone try this?

Another question I had is this.  I found this at playasia:  http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-h5-49-en-70-45.html

Says it can also use a PC keyboard and convert it to use for the Dreamcast... It is also very cheap.  So, since I have an Ipac, would it be possible to use this adaptor from playasia and connect it straight to the Ipac(I'm assuming using the Keyboard Passthrough that's currently not even being used anyway.)

I really hope I'm explaining this well... I really just want an easy way to switch from playing my Dreamcast in my cabinet using my control panel back to playing MAME on my PC that's also in the cabinet.

Any answers will be greatly appreciated.  And yes I am very new to this.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Sigh I wish I had gotten an Ipac and just an adapter, I tried to save a few $$$ and got the i-pac value with usb only and now I have this huge project at hand making my own adapters by hacking dreamcast controllers and modular connections.

I think that adapter from playasia is just for actual keyboard stuff not for turning a keyboard into a controller.  As games like phantasy star online used the dreamcast keyboard.

Ironicly enough MVC2 is pretty much the only reason I am going through the trouble myself.  $100 worth of trouble in my case.

[srarcade]

If you have some soldering skills, just toss everything on jamma fingerboards, mount your stuff and you're gold. I have PC, 360, DC and PS2 wired on JAMMA fingerboards mounted neatly on 1/4in plywood and can swap systems into any cab just like any other pcb with no effort. All those systems can use the native VGA output to directly drive the video making it easy, but I added 15k RGB out to some as well. Component audio is cake since they all obviously support it too. Cost is minimal, just have to buy pads to hack and fingerboards from either Bob Roberts or jammabaords.com. You may need a tiny 5watt amp to drive audio if your cab does not have one.

Ipac seems to be the way to do it if you don't want to get your hands dirty but you have to buy all these separate cables and adapters and still need to install the thing, seems just as difficult to me.

[ViciousXUSMC]

If I had a jamma machine I would start that route in my case I just have a PC and a CP.  I wanted to add Dreamcast connection half way through my planning phase.

There are a few pins that confuse me on the jamma boards though, the few tuts on how to do that really dont mention where to get those odd wires from.

[srarcade]

Nice thing about JAMMA is it only uses what you throw at it. You don't need to route all the wires on the loom like coin lock, coin counter, test switch, service switch etc etc. If all you use it for is the control panel, then (to me) it still makes it much easier than dealing with all these expensive IPAC cables. Which wires are the ones that have you confused?

Just for the books, not trying to say its better than IPAC or anything like that. I am mostly an arcade enthusiast, not really a MAMEr so I am all in the JAMMA thing, I'm sure theres plenty of guys who will tell you how easy the IPAC is as well. I just prefer the flexibility and cost effecive benefits of JAMMA.

[evitagen]

Well I already have an Ipac, but I only use it for MAME currently.

So apparently I would have to buy the $99 Dreamcast set-up from Ultimarc and just plug it into my existing Ipac, right?  I wonder if I could plug it in through the "Keyboard passthrough" part of the Ipac so I could have both the Dreamcast hooked up using my control panel and the PC at the same time.

Any thoughts on that?  Also I'm looking at emulation.  I hear NullDC and a couple others can emulate the game... but can you use a DC emulator in a frontend since it isn't as simple as "play rom" ?  Any body have any experience with it?  All I really want is Marvel vs. Capcom 2, to be perfectly honest.  That is all.  I just want it in my cabinet using my control panel without having to modify too much.

Thanks for all of the help guys.

[ViciousXUSMC]

Well I already have an Ipac, but I only use it for MAME currently.

So apparently I would have to buy the $99 Dreamcast set-up from Ultimarc and just plug it into my existing Ipac, right?  I wonder if I could plug it in through the "Keyboard passthrough" part of the Ipac so I could have both the Dreamcast hooked up using my control panel and the PC at the same time.

Any thoughts on that?  Also I'm looking at emulation.  I hear NullDC and a couple others can emulate the game... but can you use a DC emulator in a frontend since it isn't as simple as "play rom" ?  Any body have any experience with it?  All I really want is Marvel vs. Capcom 2, to be perfectly honest.  That is all.  I just want it in my cabinet using my control panel without having to modify too much.

Thanks for all of the help guys.

NullDC does not emulate MVC2 very well for me, it could be because I am on Vista x64 though.

I have had it emulated perfect in the past but I was on XP then and think it was Chanikast.  That emu wont run on Vista so I cant test it.

so IMO the NullDC emu of it was not good enough and what has put me in the same position as you finding a way to integrate my arcade CP into the dreamcast system.

$99 is hard to take down for the I-PAC adapter but it cost so much because its actually 3 adapters.  Its the Playstation adapter they sell, and then two aftermarket playstation --> dreamcast adapters.

Still $100 is too much to ask and why I am doing it myself now, the X-Arcade route is much cheaper than the I-PAC, they only want like $20 for there adapter.  But you will find mixed opinions about the x-arcade stuff.  Some say it has lag, others own it and say its fine.  I would take an owners opinion at a higher value though.

[evitagen]

NullDC does not emulate MVC2 very well for me, it could be because I am on Vista x64 though.

I have had it emulated perfect in the past but I was on XP then and think it was Chanikast.  That emu wont run on Vista so I cant test it.

so IMO the NullDC emu of it was not good enough and what has put me in the same position as you finding a way to integrate my arcade CP into the dreamcast system.

$99 is hard to take down for the I-PAC adapter but it cost so much because its actually 3 adapters.  Its the Playstation adapter they sell, and then two aftermarket playstation --> dreamcast adapters.

Still $100 is too much to ask and why I am doing it myself now, the X-Arcade route is much cheaper than the I-PAC, they only want like $20 for there adapter.  But you will find mixed opinions about the x-arcade stuff.  Some say it has lag, others own it and say its fine.  I would take an owners opinion at a higher value though.

Yeah I'm honestly as we speak trying to figure out how to use Chanikast.  I'm reading the instructions now, and stuff.  I already have a gdi of MvC2 and the emulator set-up, I just can't seem to get the game running... Plus I want to be able to use this in my front-end so It's at least SOMEWHAT seamless, even though I'll have to lift up my Control Panel to swap out one cord(if I go the route of the Ipac adaptor)...

Speaking of, though... You can save a lot of money by purchasing the Total Control DC adaptors from playasia and just buying the PS2 adaptor from Ipac.  They are only like $18 at playasia.  So two of those plus one PS2 adaptor from Ultimarc should only be like 75 instead of 100.  Still high, though.

I hope this emulator works well.  If anyone has any help on getting this to work with a frontend(I use mala) then any help would be greatly appreciated.

[pmc]

So I'm wanting to set-up my Dreamcast in my cabinet(Honestly mainly for Marvel vs. Capcom 2) and I would love to be able to use my control panel for the Dreamcast.  I have an Ipac, so is this possible without re-doing a lot of stuff?

What I did was to hack some controllers and then wire them to the Control Panel via a connector I made. I unplug my IPAC and plug in my hacked controllers. When I'm done with the Dreamcast and want to use MAME, I just switch back. Personally, I like keeping the DC and the IPAC/PC electrically isolated. And it was cheap and fairly simple to do.

If you don't want to hack your own controllers, HarumaN will sell you them.

-pmc

[ViciousXUSMC]

So I'm wanting to set-up my Dreamcast in my cabinet(Honestly mainly for Marvel vs. Capcom 2) and I would love to be able to use my control panel for the Dreamcast.  I have an Ipac, so is this possible without re-doing a lot of stuff?

What I did was to hack some controllers and then wire them to the Control Panel via a connector I made. I unplug my IPAC and plug in my hacked controllers. When I'm done with the Dreamcast and want to use MAME, I just switch back. Personally, I like keeping the DC and the IPAC/PC electrically isolated. And it was cheap and fairly simple to do.

If you don't want to hack your own controllers, HarumaN will sell you them.

-pmc

Same thing I am doing except I got this: http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10103&cs_id=1010305&p_id=1354&seq=1&format=2

So I can just turn a dial to swap over to the different system.  Not that swapping a cord is incredibly difficult.  But the DB25 cables & swtich were cheap.

What kind of cord/interface did you use so that you can plug/unplug them?

[HaRuMaN]

If you don't want to hack your own controllers, HarumaN will sell you them.

This is true. 

I can also do custom wiring to DB25 to make a switching setup.

[ViciousXUSMC]

If you don't want to hack your own controllers, HarumaN will sell you them.

This is true. 

I can also do custom wiring to DB25 to make a switching setup.

Im probably just gonna get it from another radioshack since the one close to me is out of them, but do you know the digikey part # for the DB25 female adapter that has the metal tubes on the back side for easy soldering.

[thepathlesstaken]

Pad hack is by far the easiest and cheapest route to go.

With the current global economic problems DC controllers are going for around $5-$8 shipped on ebay.  Check your local Craigslist and buy a set from there for around the same price.

Personally I would just eschew doing any sort of emulation of these newer 3D consoles and just own the real deal instead (cost you like $30.00 to own one).  Then I would have a few of these made up to mate with your cabinet http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=131230

[evitagen]

I'm really not wanting to do a padhack because I've already wired my Ipac up and I don't have a way to disconnect each wire easily, so I'm probably going to buy the PS2 adaptor and the Total Dreamcast convertors and hook it up to the Ipac.

My only question is, if I purchase those... How do I hook it up?  Can I just hook it to the Ipac using the Keyboard Passthrough and then hook the adaptors to the Dreamcast?  Will that work?  I'm just confused on how it will work.  I'm assuming since it's an Ipac adaptor I won't have to worry about redoing any keys or anything.

[Dizzle]

I don't think that method will work.  I believe the IPAC has to be in ps2 mode and have an actual keyboard hooked up to the passthrough.  I just purchased one myself and that was my understanding.  I'd just email Andy and check to make sure.

[evitagen]

How would you put the Ipac into PS2 mode?  I've honestly only had it for about a week now and pretty much just plugged in and started playing MAME.

[ViciousXUSMC]

How would you put the Ipac into PS2 mode?  I've honestly only had it for about a week now and pretty much just plugged in and started playing MAME.

The I-PAC has 2 outputs PS/S wich is the old style keyboard/mouse connections, or USB.

If your not using the USB to hook it to the computer your using PS2.

The I-PAC value (the one I got) does not have the PS/2 output.

[evitagen]

Hm.  Mine is a USB Ipac, but I do not think it is the "value" Ipac... I just checked the Ipac and it says "PC USB/KB" on the port I plug into the Ipac.  Does this mean I can simply use a PS/2 cable instead of a USB cable?

I guess I should just say that I have the Ipacē.  Since this isn't the Ipac Value(which ONLY has a USB port) I should be okay with this adaptor, correct?