buttons and stuff

[Firebat138]

I will be getting my control panel soon, and I was wondering...What is everyones WISHLIST for buttons on the panel? I mean..I would hate to order it and then wish I had a pause button or something like that. Let's start a little poll and let me know what you have or wish you had...

Thanx

Camper

[OldTymeToys]

I will be getting my control panel soon, and I was wondering...What is everyones WISHLIST for buttons on the panel? I mean..I would hate to order it and then wish I had a pause button or something like that. Let's start a little poll and let me know what you have or wish you had...

Thanx

Camper

Not sure I completely understand.  You can map your buttons to be anything that you want.  If you're talking about labeling your cp overlay and this is your first control panel, I would advise against it.  You never know when you want to change placement.  But once you're completely comfortable playing all of your favorites, then label the cp overlay on your next panel.  On my first one, I found that I placed the pause button too far away and every time I was interrupted I had to reach and would lose a split second of game time.   

[drventure]

Pause and Exit buttons. Close enough to be handy, but far enough away to not accidentally get hit.

I've sent this link before but he has a nicely done Frankenpanel (I know, those get some bad press around these parts ) but his page has a nice explanation of why he laid out the controls that he did.

Personally, I put the coin and player start buttons on the vertical panels between the top and bottom level. That seemed to work better for me and it helped to declutter the bottom level.

[drventure]

Oops forgot the link

http://cosmicjive.net/arcade/super/control_panel.shtml

[severdhed]

i like my panel as clutter-free as possible.... 6 buttons per player..start buttons, exit, and pause...anything else is not needed

[ivwshane]

I like mine as clutter free as possible as well but I like the 7 button layout. The reason I like the 7 button layout is not only because I have a dedicated neo geo like layout but because the first button is in a location that makes one button games easy to access with out hitting other buttons.
If I play a one button game (or someone who has never played my cab) I/they know exactly what to press. Of course my buttons light up depending on what buttons are needed per game but still you get the point:D


Other than that I have a 1 and 2 player start button (to be arcade authentic and make the layout more natural for those that have played arcade games) and I have a two admin buttons. I did this because they function as a left and right mouse button (handy for windows stuff and needed since I don't have a keyboard readily available) and I have them set as pause and menu/tab in mame (which makes on the fly button configurations super easy).

The only button I have shifted is for exit and I did that so there is a minimal chance that someone would accidentally exit out of the game (to exit you have to press p1 start and pause).

For coins I actually have a coin door that works with coins or you can press the coin return to register a credit, again I did this to keep it as arcade accurate as possible.


Other than showing people how to exit a game, there is very little input needed from me to get them going.

[smalltownguy]

Would you mind showing how you rigged the coin return in the mech to register credits? I'm pondering this now, trying to get rid of my Coin1 and coin2 buttons on my CP.

[Underhill]

Of course my buttons light up depending on what buttons are needed per game but still you get the point:D

What are you using to light them as needed?  I guess I should ask what interface or software are you using.

~Underhill

[ivwshane]

The software that controls what lights up and what colors they light up is called ledblinky.
There is a thread about it posted in the software forum.

[Turnarcades]

Decide what you will really need and then what you really want - a control panel is a personal thing, so If you don't want clutter/extra controls that are rarely used/frills then only you will know. It's not really a matter of what is 'the norm'.

[Jefferson]

Do I need P1-4 start buttons? I have a 4P coin door so 'coin' is taken care of. I'd rather not clutter up the CP with 4 more buttons (and just have Pause and Exit for admin). Is there a way to do it without dedicated buttons OR shifted keys? Like can I have each 'start' go to button 1 for every player? That might cause issues with some games.

I know the real answer to this question is play around with MAME and a mockup CP, but gimme some opinions here!

[bungy]

I think most 4p games require each player to hit their designated start buttons, so I'd say yeah.  If you don't want them on the CP, maybe mount them on the front.  Like Turnarcades said, it's a personal thing.