Hacking a keyboard or something else for controls?

[endrien]

A gamepad doesn't have enough buttons, so what would be the best way of going about hacking a keyboard or something else for use with a mame cab?

[wooowman93]

don't do it

its crazy hard and doesn't work good and takes a lot of time.

just get the keywiz from ggg

[endrien]

I'd prefer to not wait 2 weeks to get controls working.....

[bkenobi]

If you don't know what you're doing, you will spend more than 2 weeks futzing around with a keyboard hack.  A joystick hack is easy (depending on the gamepad you destroy), but you have to own one or have a local store to get one from to save yourself from that 2 weeks.  Just order an encoder and you will likely have it within a week anyway.

[endrien]

I live in canada ---Cleveland steamer--- takes forever. I'm going back to school in a few weeks I don't want to ---fudgesicle--- around with it then. All I need is a tutorial on how to use a keyboard for it. A gamepad doesn't have enough buttons.
This is a "Arcade Controls" forum isn't it or am I mistaken?

[Beretta]

dude calm down, if you taken the time to check the board you'd find guides on controls.

keyboard hacks suck, in the early days before USB was real popular it was your best bet, not anymore.

there are ready made encoders.. those are great i know your tight on time but this is a good way to go.

otherwise get you a couple of game pads and hack those.. so you have'nt found a single pad that can do it all.. then hack 2, hack 3 or 4, or how ever many inputs you need.. i think windows 2000,xp,etc can handle 16 game pads iirc.

keyboard hacks are a pita, i've done 2 of them.. just for haha's on broken keyboards and neither actually gets used for anything.

also if you need a lot of inputs keyboards are'nt good sources anyway.. namely because of ghosting or blocking..

i've heard of a few people getting as many as 27 simultaneous inputs going, with a lot of work in the process and very selective inputs.. most keyboards are'nt reprogrammable either so that limits you options.

finally keyboards are'nt universally the same so each hack will be a bit different brand for brand and model for model.

game pad hacks are easy depending on what pad you got, and are all roughly the same.

for your time frame the quickest and easiest solution is to hack a couple of game pads if one is'nt enough then hack as many as you need.

here's a thread  with some pictures of some i hacked recently.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=95549.0

here's another http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=84548.0

[DJ_Izumi]

My Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 has 12 digital buttons, two analog sticks and a D-pad.  And that's just if you use one of that style for the CP, how many buttons do you need?

[garnerb350]

endrien...You can do a search for Keyboard Hacks...I did one ( but I only needed it for the use of 3 buttons)...Dont do it UNLESS you are good at soldering...The guys are right...its easier to just get an encoder...but hey you got to do what you got to do...
The hard part is the soldering and figuring out the matrix....
Good luck....

[CrazyKongFan]

Bah, it's not THAT hard. I did it, and it only took a couple hours. The hardest part was wiring the encoder to a terminal strip (I soldered cat-5 cable to the encoder, and wired it to the terminal strip). The other tedious part was wiring the control panel, but I had to do that regardless of whether I used a keyboard encoder or not (I just didn't have a common ground). The other thing that came in handy was a voltmeter. This was so I could map out the keypress on the matrix (setting the voltmeter to the ohms setting). Of course, I'm not using a ton of buttons either, 3 per player, plus 2 joysticks. I don't play fighting games, so I didn't need the 6 buttons needed for Street Fighter type games.

[endrien]

What encoder can I use(Someone suggested keywiz or something)? I have 1 gamepad but its a little spaztik at the moment, probably because its missing the analog stick board(says 4 and 6 button are always pressed), I might have enough buttons for a single player.

[bkenobi]

Keep in mind that you can only press 3 or 4 buttons on a keyboard simultaneously (unless that's been updated and I'm just not aware of it).  If you go with a keyboard encoder, that problem has been dealt with by storing the keystrokes and sending them in a special way (I don't use one, so I can't explain more...).

I personally recommend a gamepad encoder (I use a GP-WizRX), but keyboard encoders work just fine too (KeyWiz or Ipac are two very common choices).  If you go with a gamepad hack (I've done a MS Dual Strike hack for my driving cab, so I know it's not that hard), just make sure you start with a working stick.  If the gamepad doesn't work to begin with, you might have problems when you finish with the hack.

[Beretta]

key wiz eco is the cheapest route it's like 26 bucks, some soldering required for the connections instead of screw terminals.

the ipac is another way to go little more expensive but it remembers it's programing after a power off.. if im not mistaken the keywiz has to be reprogrammed at power on.

that is only if  you want to reprogram it's key map.

since you're going back to school im betting money is also a issue i'd go with the keywiz eco.

[Dizzle]

It also might be worth checking out Ultimarc's minipac.  Fully programmable and you can get it with a wiring harness -- you can literally have everything wired in a matter of minutes without working about soldering, crimping, etc.

[endrien]

I think I'll order the keywiz eco.

[endrien]

How exactly do I connect Keywiz eco to a pc?

[CheffoJeffo]

If you order an IPac, it will be there in days.

The Keywiz connects to the PS/2 keyboard connector.

[endrien]

But how? It only has a ps2 in?

[CheffoJeffo]

With a cable ... that isn't an IN -- it is an OUT.

[endrien]

I've never seen a double sided ps2 cable....

[Beretta]

they exist, have'nt you ever seen a KVM switch box?

it's actually a nice feature of the keywiz because if you get a bad cable you dont have to desolder it to change it you can just unplug it..

regardless of how it connects it comes WITH the cable so just plug one end into the keywiz and the other into the computer and baddaboom it's connected.

solder your wires to the keywiz the other end either solder or add female quick disconnect terminals, plug up your controls and you're ready to rumble.

EDIT: helpful tip do not try to solder to the keywiz while it's plugged in.

[DaOld Man]

If you arent very keen on soldering, order the eco that has the IDE cable header.
Then you just take an old hard drive cable, cut one end off, the other end plugs into your eco.
The end you cut off is 40 wires that will wire to your buttons and joysticks.
Someone drew up the wiring drawing for this on here.
If you need it, I will see if I can find it.
I too have hacked a keyboard, and trust us, go with the encoder, your life will be better.

[endrien]

I'm fine with soldering. How do I wire the common ground on a gamepad?(Using an old gamepad as a temp controller)

[Beretta]

need to find it on the pad, each one is different, and not all use a common ground for every thing..

game pads are all hacked in a similar fasion but they are not all the same so a little bit of work on your part is needed.. a multimeter is very useful for this.. you should also study the circuits and follow them..

if the pad uses a common ground you'll usually beable to spot it pretty quickly because it will be connecting most if not all buttons together on 1 circuit.. it's usually the outside circuit on the board and much wider/larger then others.

you can post pictures for help but you gotta use your noodle (brain) a bit to figure one out unless it's a common pad people have hacked here already.

[endrien]

There appears to be a common ground of sorts, though it won't work past the fuses. The controller works if I use its ground but I'd rather not have to use a separate ground for every button. Could I jump the fuses?(Would like to know for sure before I do anything that could ruin the pad.

[Beretta]

hmm not what im use to seeing.

do you have any more pix? preferably one of the entire board including shoulder buttons circuts facing up?

there is a lot of glare from teh flash on the right hand side.

if i had to guess i'd say that this is ground but that does'nt mean it's common to all buttons.. it's hard to follow the circuits from that picture, you should check with a multi meter.

[endrien]

My camera doesn't like upclose pics, thats the best I could get.

[syph007]

for what its worth i'd just get a keywiz as well.

http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/

im in canada and got a small item from them in less than a week, it was faster than I had expected.