my new control panel design....

[hyiu]

Hi All:

I was originally thinking a 2 player SF style layout with a trackball in the middle in the beginning.... (about 28 in wide...)

will be using a 21 in computer monitor. cab will be around 26 in wide...

but then.... after I played mspacman and stuff using a dedeciated J-stick as a 4 way.... I realize I have to have a 4 way....

I was thinking put like 2 trigger sticks, 4 way, and a spinner on another panel that can be swapped....

but then when my friends come over... if they switch games too often... I'll be switching panels too often.... (NOT FUN !!!)

So, I'm now trying to extend my ctrl panel to like 38 in....
have a standard SF 2 player layout...
in the middle.... have a spinner and trackball... (spinner on left)... and also to the left of 1 player's stick, put a dedeciated 4 way J-stick....

(I was trying to put up some pics....) but geocities is bad....
so.... I have to describe it for now.....

anyone has any suggestions to this layout ??

how about if I put the 4 way to the left of the 2 player's stick instead ??.... (then when playing 4 way games, you'll be in the center....)


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any comments welcome....

[hyiu]

appearently... noone has any comments....
 

[SNAAAKE]

If I were you I would build something like that mamestation 2 panel.
trackball and pacman stick in the middle.
I know  his panel is like 43" but you can modify the design to suit your needs.

[spidermonkey]

You may want to check out the control layout and the cp dimentions on the slik sticks. From the looks of them they seem to do a pretty good job at control placement and makeing the most out of the cp real estate. And no I am in no way affiliated with the slik stick gang  but I did model my control placement very similar to classic model. I think a couple of guys around here have them and may be able to tell you if they are in fact ergonomically comfortable.

[Unkis17]

I too modeled off of SlikStik.  My CP is 40", but could easily be brought down to 38", hell prolly 34" if you wanted.  I had the room so i took it.  I would stay away from swapping if possible, unless of coarse you are a Tron nut or want something exotic like dual Crazy Climber / Toobin' effects.  I would put that 4 way in the upper middle if possible.  This way you can map buttons to both sides for left handed / right handed preferance.  As well as you won't hit the 4 way when using P1 or spinner (if i understand your layout).

[mastercave]

my recently completed cp has the exact same layout except for no 4way and an extra 7th button for neogeo games. i made it 36x14 and the 2 front corners are angled. i think its the perfect layout for me since i dont play the old-school games much except for pac and that i dont even play much.

[F|end]

I think the coolest think is to place the pushbuttons set by your fingers positions!

8 way balltop joys, a glowing trackball by leds due to temperatures and a oscar 'tempest' spinner type!

[EggZilla]

I've actually just come up with the following design, which I won't actually be building until this weekend. You might want to give it a look.

The vertical rectangles are eight-ways, and the horizontal are a 4-way and spinner, respectively. the two green buttons are an added player 1, button a and b, and could be removed, as could the pinball buttons on the sides.

Dimensions of this layout are around 16" x 34", but it could easily be squeezed down to be shorter. It's designed to keep the top row accessible without banging into the lower joys or hindering the violent flailing of my Golden Tee playing.

Incidentally, I did this with the Interactive Control Panel Designer at http://www.move360media.com/mame/icpd/Launch.htm

I'm pretty sure it was designed by someone on this board, and it's an absolute godsend. I absolutely recommend it. (by the way, if you do use it, press space bar to begin and end a line, and left mouse to stop drawing lines altogether)

Good luck.

[hyiu]

I see.... 1 thing I would like to avoid is 2 lines of controls...

most other panels will have like the 4 way and the spinner on top....

I play my spinner lefty... so.... the 2nd player 8 way might be in the way when I use the spinner....

that's why I would prefer a longer panel than a 2 "layer" panel....

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I have give it even more thoughts....
and I ahve an idea....

the bad thing about this panel is that when I'm playing alone.... (1 player... 4 way especially...) I'll be all the way to the left.... not facing the monitor....

how about if I put a slider below the CP and it can slide to the right about 6-8 inches ??.... (it'll still not be dead center...) but I'll be comfortably playing 1 player games !!!!! (a few inches off center is acceptable....)

I'm currently giving this more thoughts and see....