This CP layout any good?

[ogisha007]

I've been planning to make a control panel for the last few weeks and have managed to make a mockup of what it may look like.

Since I don't have any hardware ATM, it's kinda hard for me to judge if it would be comfortable or not, so I'd appreciate your input.

Also, do I need any additional control buttons? I'd use a frontend and it would be a nice touch to control everything with just the control panel.

Thanks in advance.

P.S. In case anyone is curious, the joysticks I'll order will be Sanwa JLW's, and the buttons are also Sanwas, OBSF-30.

[severdhed]

looks good...i'd be a little concerned about the exit button being so close to the pause button.  it is easy to accidentally hit the exit button when you are trying to pause.

[diggso]

Yeah looks good, 2 things I'll mention though
1. I'll second severdhed's concerns about the exit & pause buttons. I use the same button for both using the shift function on the ipac. So when ya hit it normally it's pause, and when you hold shift (start1) it's exit. Or you can just move the exit button out of harms way.
2. The button layout you've got is a straight slant instead of a curve. If you're playing something where you've gotta hit several buttons at once (like the 3 punch buttons in sf alpha for example) it's a bit easier to do with a more natural curve. My advice would be to draw to scale on a sheet and see if it feels comfortable.
Best of luck!

[severdhed]

a curved button layout is nice.  i had straight rows of buttons on all of my panels until my most recent i went with an arched layout...i am very happy with it.

your best bet is to make a cardboard mockup and try it out

this is the layout i used...

[brock.sampson]

I have used curved layouts on my last couple cabinets and have been happy with them.  Best bet is to mock it up on carboard first.  Severedhed you wouldn't happen to have the pic below in visio by and chance?

[ogisha007]

Hey, thanks for the input, I really appreciate it 
I'll certainly try a curved mockup, and the pause/exit shifted button never crossed my mind.
Thanks again. This is truly a great community. 

[severdhed]

I have used curved layouts on my last couple cabinets and have been happy with them.  Best bet is to mock it up on carboard first.  Severedhed you wouldn't happen to have the pic below in visio by and chance?

no, i dont have that in visio format...i didnt use a paper template when i made my panel..i used a ruler and a compass and marked the holes on my MDF.  i just made the drawing in photoshop after the fact,  to document it.

[ivwshane]

I like it (including the curved layout) but I prefer my coin buttons in a more authentic location (on the coin door).

[ghettodish]

What controller interface will you be using? You can get rid of the Exit and Pause if you use an ipac.

[u_rebelscum]

What controller interface will you be using? You can get rid of the Exit and Pause if you use an ipac.

You could "get rid of" them with mame.  Sure ipac2 has shift button, and keywiz has the shazzam button, as will as the u360, gpwiz, etc.  But mame can do it too without any shift/shazam stuff, with multi-button "and" mapping.

However, I hate, Hate, HATE having exit easy to be mistakenly pushed.  The first time I played on my brother's hotrod CP very soon after learning of mame, in the heat of a 2 player game, we both pressed our respective player starts at the same time, and that was the end of the game.  I always have a button used for nothing but exit comboed with another button to exit on my CPs now.  But that might be just me, since I got burnt so early so badly.  Just be careful with the "exit button" or "way of exiting combo", okay?

[ivwshane]

I don't think making P1 + P2 exit is a good idea either.

So far my setup has worked for me without one single random exit. However the game has been paused before (I don't know how since it's no where near the player buttons).

[CathalDublin]

If you do use P1+p2 mameplus has a confirm exit feature which is handy

[Goatz18]

a curved button layout is nice.  i had straight rows of buttons on all of my panels until my most recent i went with an arched layout...i am very happy with it.

your best bet is to make a cardboard mockup and try it out

this is the layout i used...

Sweet, I am totally using this as a reference, it's the exact layout I want to use. Thanks severdhed.

[Turnarcades]

I'm pretty sure those are the same templates as found on the slagcoin website. Many variations there, all with measurements. Most will print out at the correct size to use as a template if you need it.

We use more than most on our panels, with a credit button for each player, plus Enter, Escape, Tab and Pause. I personally don't like shifted functions and like to use only these 4 admin buttons for jukebox functions.

[severdhed]

there are lots of layouts available at that slagcoin site turnarcades mentioned...

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

i looked through them and tried a few, and then i made some modifications and came up with the one i posted.  it is similar to the standard Hori layout, but the bottom row is shifted to the right by 1/2 inch, which made it more comfortable in my opinion.  i couldn't really use those templates, because they were in metric.  yeah, i know metric makes way more sense, but in america, we don't use it.  inches and feet have been imbedded into my brain for my whole life, so i just can't seem to make myself use the metric system. 

plus, i wasnt sure i'd be able to get them to be positioned properly on the panel.  so i figured i'd do it the old fashioned way, with a ruler, square and a compass.  it didnt take that long and it worked out well.


i just knew that i wanted my buttons to be 1 1/2 inches apart, which is what they were on my first few panels of straight rows.  i just raised the second column up half and inch, and the 3rd column up an additional quarter of an inch.  the bottom row is the same as the top, but shifted half an inch to the right.

[Goatz18]

Good site. Thanks fellas.