Bummer..."esc" on accident

[NY_in_TX]

Man,  My buddy and I we're playing some DoDonPachi to the FULLEST extent of the jam, when something really tragic happened.

I died...
He died....
I reached for 2 player start..
He reached for 1 player start..
and hit them at the exact same time!!

1player start + 2 player start = "esc" on the IPAC

end of game.

Doh!!  Man we looked at each other like we couldn't believe what we had done.  I tried to think of some work around, but I guess we just need to be more careful.

How have you guys handled this?  Other than not be dumb like me  

ny

[Hoagie_one]

that is pretty funny

[AlanS17]

I would consider using an extra button (like maybe 7 or as your new "esc" button and removing the shift functionality of the 1p start button. The software is on the ultimarc website. (I'm assuming you're using an ipac/jpac.) This is what I plan on doing.

That's happenned to me before in Sunset Riders at the end of the game... It blows...

[SirPoonga]

How have you guys handled this?  Other than not be dumb like me  

Reprogram the ipac.

[Tiger-Heli]

How have you guys handled this?  Other than not be dumb like me  

Reprogram the ipac.

Actually, I think Sir Poonga had a better solution in another thread using a dedicated Pause button on one of the I-PAC spare inputs and using Pause and P1B1 (?) as a shifted Esc key.

[SirPoonga]

How have you guys handled this?  Other than not be dumb like me  

Reprogram the ipac.

Actually, I think Sir Poonga had a better solution in another thread using a dedicated Pause button on one of the I-PAC spare inputs and using Pause and P1B1 (?) as a shifted Esc key.

I have that AND a dedicated esc button.  It's the two functions friends need to use the most so making them dedicated just makes life easier.  That third button in the middle of my shelf is going to be gone.  It was an idea that just wasn't worthwhile.

[Apollo]

My shift key is going to be a totally seperate key. It is positioned by the coin mechanism so is not on the control panel at all. It is impossible to hit unless you want to.

[AlanS17]

Here's another option...

Have a shift key but don't even offer a button for it. Have multiple wires running into any button that would be shifted. One for the shift button and one for the shifted button.

In theory that should double the number of unique buttons on your control panel without the need for a shift button in sight (or even out of sight).

I wouldn't use any of the shifted buttons in actual game play  (like p3 or p4) but it would provide room for more administration buttons than you could ever use.

[CCM]

I have both pause and escape as dedicated buttons.  Works well for me.  You just need to program the Ipac appropriately.

[NY_in_TX]

Reprogram the ipac.

I really like not having that many buttons on my CP.  I guess I could wire up another button and make it a dedicated "esc".   I really like my setup now and this was just freak incident.  

I notice sometimes that when I hit esc it pulls up a small window with "continue" or "exit".  That would be really nice to have for all games to prevent this type of thing.  Is that an AdvancedMenu thing?  Anyone know how to set that up for all games?

It wouldn't have been so tragic if we weren't just about to beat one of the last bosses.

ny

[SirPoonga]

Reprogram the ipac.

I really like not having that many buttons on my CP.  I guess I could wire up another button and make it a dedicated "esc".   I really like my setup now and this was just freak incident.  

Still, reprogram the ipac.  Unless you don't reprogram the ipac player 1 start is still the shift and player 2 shift is still esc when shifted.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I don't see how programming the ipac will cause you to change your setup.


And yeah, that's an advancedmame thing.

[_Iz-]

My kids were having a problem with the p1 + p2 = esc issue. I reprogrammed coin 1 to be esc. No way they hit start 1 + coin 1 at the same time.

Of course this is only viable if you have dedicated coin buttons.

[NY_in_TX]

Still, reprogram the ipac.  Unless you don't reprogram the ipac player 1 start is still the shift and player 2 shift is still esc when shifted.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I don't see how programming the ipac will cause you to change your setup.


And yeah, that's an advancedmame thing.

Cool, I see your point now.  I guess I was just thinking that ANY button I reassign would have the same problem.  

the main reason I was trying not to switch was I finally got my wife trained on all the shifted codes.  I need some bezel art cliff notes. She used to call me all the time "I can't start P Bobble!  HELP!!"

ny

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, I am going to color cordinate my buttons.  Player 1 buttons will have red in them, player two will have blue.

Player 1 bottom buttons will be:
red center/yellow holder    - mouse button 1
red center/yellow holder    - mouse button 2
red center/white holder     - Enter

for start buttons I want to get my hands ont he white stick figure buttons, but the holder will be the color of the player.
Quit and pause will probably just stay black though it would be nice to figure out a way to make them different somehow.

[grafixmonkey]

You can use a TTL chip to prevent two buttons from being pressed simultaneously.  Anybody want the diagram?  or are logic chips too much for arcade boxes?

[Unkis17]

You can also use Mame32 Plus (it has a GUI or Command Line).  This Distro will ask you to hit enter after you hit ESC to leave the game to make sure you really want to leave.  Pretty much prevents situations like this.

[Tiger-Heli]

You can use a TTL chip to prevent two buttons from being pressed simultaneously.  Anybody want the diagram?  or are logic chips too much for arcade boxes?

That's not the point though, if you can't press two buttons simultaneously, you can never use the Shift capability to exit the game.

[grafixmonkey]

oh yeah that's desired functionality isn't it?  

not having hooked my IPAC up yet, I forgot there isn't a separate "shift" input.

I think I'll map ESC to something obscure like "player 4 button 9-3/4" and get rid of the shifted ESC function.