Is it possible to daisy-chain two I-Pac or KeyWiz encoders????

[jhsmith321]

Hello!! I?m designing a 4 player CP, and I would like to get more that 56 inputs from an encoder, due to my CP design. And my question is it possible to daisy-chain two I-Pac or KeyWiz Encoders in order to get more pushbutton inputs??? I know that the only encoder that supports more that 56 inputs is the Hagstrom KE72, but I would rather use either the I-Pac or the KeyWiz, because they seem to be easier to install (no soldering), and I have read very good reviews from this two encoders (especially from the I-Pac )?? Thanks in advance!!!!!

[Generic Eric]

Not sure.  You'd be better off buying an encoder that "natively" has enough connections

the ipac-4 might be the one you want.

This website is more than this forum

[Tiger-Heli]

Hello!! I?m designing a 4 player CP, and I would like to get more that 56 inputs from an encoder, due to my CP design. And my question is it possible to daisy-chain two I-Pac or KeyWiz Encoders in order to get more pushbutton inputs??? I know that the only encoder that supports more that 56 inputs is the Hagstrom KE72, but I would rather use either the I-Pac or the KeyWiz, because they seem to be easier to install (no soldering), and I have read very good reviews from this two encoders (especially from the I-Pac )?? Thanks in advance!!!!!

First the answers and then some questions -

You can't daisy chain two KeyWiz's b/c you won't have two PS/2 ports.

You can daisy chain two I-PAC/2's but that only gives you 56 inputs.

I THINK you could daisy chain or indepently USB connect two I-PAC/4's, but I can't say for sure.

The KE-72 does NOT require soldering, but you would need to cut apart an IDE ribbon cable and maybe use terminal blocks.

Have you considered the MK64 from http://www.arcade66.homestead.com/files/ which has 64 inputs (but again needs a ribbon cable and maybe TB's.)

Now, how many inputs do you need and why so many.  MAME only requires 54 absolute max (for 6-player 3-button games that aren't working yet).  So . . .

Let me know what you're looking at and I might be able to suggest ways to combine inputs where a smaller encoder would do the job.

[Generic Eric]

Hello!! I?m designing a 4 player CP, and I would like to get more that 56 inputs from an encoder, due to my CP design. And my question is it possible to daisy-chain two I-Pac or KeyWiz Encoders in order to get more pushbutton inputs??? I know that the only encoder that supports more that 56 inputs is the Hagstrom KE72, but I would rather use either the I-Pac or the KeyWiz, because they seem to be easier to install (no soldering), and I have read very good reviews from this two encoders (especially from the I-Pac )?? Thanks in advance!!!!!

Have you considered the MK64 from http://www.arcade66.homestead.com/files/ which has 64 inputs (but again needs a ribbon cable and maybe TB's.)

This product also supports rotary sticks if you buy the right version.

[REBIRTH]

Also keep in mind, not sure what you are atempting with your CP, but you can wire more than one button to the same input on the I-Pac.  The two buttons will send the same signal (same keystroke/letter) to MAME, but that might be alright.  For example, if you plan to have say player 1 buttons 1,2,3 right next to your player one joystick and then somewhere else on your CP have another set of player 1 buttons 1,2,3 next to your trackball and/or spinner - you can wire the player 1 button 1's to the same IPAC input (player 1 button 2's to another, etc.).

The IPAC is allowing you 8 buttons per player, so it is hard to imagine how you would have more than 8 buttons per player.  I'm thinking maybe you are planning on have more than one set of the same button as described above.

[Shieldwolf]

jhsmith321

How many buttons are you planning on having?

I'm building a four player cab with 5  (4 8way 1 4way)joysticks and
a total of 47 buttons.

[HeadRusch]

Yeah, perhaps if you explain to us why you are planning on having MORE than 56 or so discrete inputs on your control panel, we might be able to help you out.

For example, I have 2 joysticks wired into my IPAC's player 1  UP/Down/Left/Right inputs.  One is a 4 way stick, one is an 8 way stick.  Its ok cuz I'll never have a game that requires both of THOSE sticks at the same time.

[Shieldwolf]

Yeah, perhaps if you explain to us why you are planning on having MORE than 56 or so discrete inputs on your control panel, we might be able to help you out.

For example, I have 2 joysticks wired into my IPAC's player 1  UP/Down/Left/Right inputs.  One is a 4 way stick, one is an 8 way stick.  Its ok cuz I'll never have a game that requires both of THOSE sticks at the same time.

I'm such an idiot I didn't even know you could do that

[jhsmith321]

Thanks all of you guys for your replies. What I?m planning to do with my CP is to have a 4 player set up, with 8 way joysticks and 8 buttons each (mainly for console emulators PSX one, etc.), and I?m planning to add the Esc, Enter, Tab, Page Up and Down keys directly to the CP. As I mentioned on one of my past messages on this board, I?m trying to design my CP in order to be able to play first person shooters pc games (quake, unreal, etc), with out the need of a keyboard. By now I have come up with a design that allows me to have all the most common functions that I use in this type of games, but it requires about 10 to 12 buttons for player one. I know that this is a huge buttons configuration, but I want to keep my CP as future ready as possible, due that this kind of games usually involve that many inputs, and newer games seem to need even more??.  Any comments are welcome  

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks all of you guys for your replies. What I?m planning to do with my CP is to have a 4 player set up, with 8 way joysticks and 8 buttons each (mainly for console emulators PSX one, etc.), and I?m planning to add the Esc, Enter, Tab, Page Up and Down keys directly to the CP. As I mentioned on one of my past messages on this board, I?m trying to design my CP in order to be able to play first person shooters pc games (quake, unreal, etc), with out the need of a keyboard. By now I have come up with a design that allows me to have all the most common functions that I use in this type of games, but it requires about 10 to 12 buttons for player one. I know that this is a huge buttons configuration, but I want to keep my CP as future ready as possible, due that this kind of games usually involve that many inputs, and newer games seem to need even more??.  Any comments are welcome  

Ok, you can do this with an MK64 and possibly with an I-PAC/56.

Here is how I see what you are saying:

First, see my comments in these two threads:

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=7327;start=msg53049#msg53049

http://www.arcadecontrols.org/yabbse/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=8351;start=msg63244#msg63244

But these will only work in MAME so maybe they're not for you.

Ok, you need 4 joystick inputs +8 buttton inputs = 12 inputs per player X 4 = 48 inputs + the five additional inputs above, + the four coin inputs = 57 inputs.  Plus four start buttons = 61 inputs.

For your twelve button FPS games, you can use some of the P3 and P4 buttons dual wired next to Player 1 to add up to an additional 24 inputs.

Now like I said, with the shortcuts, this MAY work with an I-PAC/4 or shouldn't be a problem with an MK64.

If you need more inputs down the line, you can either use an I-PAC/56 in USB mode and a KeyWiz in PS/2 mode or an I-PAC/2 in either mode . . . or I think you could maybe use a second encoder plugged into the MK64's keyboard pass-thru  . . . or you could hack some gamepads for the additional inputs.

Post back if you have more questions.

[REBIRTH]

Thanks all of you guys for your replies. What I?m planning to do with my CP is to have a 4 player set up, with 8 way joysticks and 8 buttons each (mainly for console emulators PSX one, etc.), and I?m planning to add the Esc, Enter, Tab, Page Up and Down keys directly to the CP. As I mentioned on one of my past messages on this board, I?m trying to design my CP in order to be able to play first person shooters pc games (quake, unreal, etc), with out the need of a keyboard. By now I have come up with a design that allows me to have all the most common functions that I use in this type of games, but it requires about 10 to 12 buttons for player one. I know that this is a huge buttons configuration, but I want to keep my CP as future ready as possible, due that this kind of games usually involve that many inputs, and newer games seem to need even more??.  Any comments are welcome  

Assuming I am understanding this, you can do this with an IPAC/56 as Tiger-Heli said.  Two main points:

1)  If you need 10-12 buttons for player one for such FPS like Quake/Unreal - you can use your 8 button player 1 Mame buttons plus half of your 8 buttons from Player 2  Mame.  In Quake/Unreal/Etc you could just remap the default buttons to those 10-12 buttons you set up for Mame.  All the FPS's allow you to remap.  So for example, in Quake if one of the buttons you need is "Enter", just remap it to the player 2 button #3 (which happens to be a "Q").  That way yo u do not actually need to set up a Cp with 12 player 1 buttons.

2)  As for the Tab/Enter/Esc/etc buttons...  Since you want 8 buttons per playerm you couldn't have hardwired Tab/Enter/etc. buttons with the IPAC.  The IPAC though does allow all these buttons with their Shift technology (see the Ultimarc website).  Basically for an "ESC" you hold the Player 1 start button down and then hit the Player 2 start button - that equals "ESC".  That may be OK for you since these buttons are not used during actual gameplay.   I only have 6 buttons per player, so I used the extra IPAC buttons for hard wired Enter/ESC/etc. but you do not have to.

[Tiger-Heli]

Thanks all of you guys for your replies. What I?m planning to do with my CP is to have a 4 player set up, with 8 way joysticks and 8 buttons each (mainly for console emulators PSX one, etc.), and I?m planning to add the Esc, Enter, Tab, Page Up and Down keys directly to the CP. As I mentioned on one of my past messages on this board, I?m trying to design my CP in order to be able to play first person shooters pc games (quake, unreal, etc), with out the need of a keyboard. By now I have come up with a design that allows me to have all the most common functions that I use in this type of games, but it requires about 10 to 12 buttons for player one. I know that this is a huge buttons configuration, but I want to keep my CP as future ready as possible, due that this kind of games usually involve that many inputs, and newer games seem to need even more??.  Any comments are welcome  

Assuming I am understanding this, you can do this with an IPAC/56 as Tiger-Heli said.  Two main points:

1)  If you need 10-12 buttons for player one for such FPS like Quake/Unreal - you can use your 8 button player 1 Mame buttons plus half of your 8 buttons from Player 2  Mame.  In Quake/Unreal/Etc you could just remap the default buttons to those 10-12 buttons you set up for Mame.  All the FPS's allow you to remap.  So for example, in Quake if one of the buttons you need is "Enter", just remap it to the player 2 button #3 (which happens to be a "Q").  That way yo u do not actually need to set up a Cp with 12 player 1 buttons.

2)  As for the Tab/Enter/Esc/etc buttons...  Since you want 8 buttons per playerm you couldn't have hardwired Tab/Enter/etc. buttons with the IPAC.  The IPAC though does allow all these buttons with their Shift technology (see the Ultimarc website).  Basically for an "ESC" you hold the Player 1 start button down and then hit the Player 2 start button - that equals "ESC".  That may be OK for you since these buttons are not used during actual gameplay.   I only have 6 buttons per player, so I used the extra IPAC buttons for hard wired Enter/ESC/etc. but you do not have to.

Good points, I always forget about the shift functions, b/c I hate having to remember the combinations (P1Start plus J1 Right does such-and-such  . . . or was it P1Start plus J1 Left), but this does expand your options.

[jhsmith321]

THANK YOU Tiger Heli and Rebirth!!!!! You guys gave me great new ideas for my CP, I think that I will do just what you guys suggested me?? Greatly appreciate it!!!