The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: Lamaman1971 on September 07, 2017, 12:11:51 pm
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Hi Folks, Ive a large control panel and am using the mame keyboard layout at the moment -which is not ideal since the use of shift, control, alt and so on is a pain in the behind. Do anyone else on here have a control panel key layout which works for 4 players? My setup is as follows :
Player 1
Coin, Start
6 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right
Player 2
Coin, Start
6 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right
Player 3
Coin, Start
4 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right
Player 4
Coin, Start
4 Buttons
Up, Down, Left, Right
Plus a spare button which Ive mapped to Escape.
45 unique keyboard codes required.
26 letters of the alphabet
4 cursor keys
10 numeric keys
What else?
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I don't understand why the use of those keys is a pain in the behind, especially if your using mame. Use name default keys. Make life easy.
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Well, for a multi player cabinet there are lots of scenario's where Player One mashing away on either the Control, Shift or Alt keys while another player hits other keys (like Player 2 Enter for example) will cause problems.
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The five default MAME "modifier" keys are:
- P1B1
- P1B2
- P1B4
- P3B1
- P3B2
In addition to those five keys, there's an overlap in the I-Pac4 defaults for P2B5-P2B8 and P3 Joystick. (both use I, K, J, and L)
Scott
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So Xarcade USB is out as it appears you cannot hit all six buttons at one time (I could never imagine or duplicate it). So, that just leaves us 2 (or 4??) KADEs or Keywiz encoders for your project. Do you really need that many player buttons?
You could get a minipac but I would want something of excellent quality and reliability in such an important product as an encoder, thus my recommendations above. The KADE is a clear winner here if you can resource four.
Let us know how you get on. :applaud:
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Several clarifications:
1. I wouldn't recommend the oiginal KADE miniArcade due to the difficulty/expense finding Minimus AVRs, but you'd only need 2 AVRs to handle the 45 inputs OP mentioned (40 regular inputs and 5 shifted inputs) or 3 AVRs if you wanted to avoid the slightly-more-complcated wiring and/or diodes for shfted inupts. (assuming dedicated admin buttons instead of a separate shift button)
2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.
3. KeyWiz has 40 inputs and has to load custom keymaps during boot-up -- a great product, but probably not the best fit for OP's setup.
4. I'm shocked, shocked that you forgot to mention the easiest and most popular high-quality option for a setup like this -- an I-Pac4. ::)
Scott
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Several clarifications:
1. I wouldn't recommend the oiginal KADE miniArcade due to the difficulty/expense finding Minimus AVRs, but you'd only need 2 AVRs to handle the 45 inputs OP mentioned (40 regular inputs and 5 shifted inputs) or 3 AVRs if you wanted to avoid the slightly-more-complcated wiring and/or diodes for shfted inupts. (assuming dedicated admin buttons instead of a separate shift button)
2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.
3. KeyWiz has 40 inputs and has to load custom keymaps during boot-up -- a great product, but probably not the best fit for OP's setup.
4. I'm shocked, shocked that you forgot to mention the easiest and most popular high-quality option for a setup like this -- an I-Pac4. ::)
Scott
1. Like I said, if you could resource them.
2. Really? I didn't know that. Thanks.
3. Yeah, well the OP is button crazy.
4. Haha. Now I know who has been deleting my posts.
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Don't forget the Howler....
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170908/624e0bf8bde38f471b11747976b7f930.gif)
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2. You'd need 2 KADE miniArcade 2.0's for OP's setup, no shifted inputs.
2. Really? I didn't know that. Thanks.
Related info:
How many input ports are available?
Mapper has 47 available Button Mapping IDs. (0-46)
The Button Mapping ID "Input As" indicates which of the 24 Normal input ports or 23 Shifted input ports (Shift + B7 is reserved for Shift Lock) will trigger the related output.
Don't forget the Howler....
:duckhunt
Scott
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I don't understand why the use of those keys is a pain in the behind, especially if your using mame. Use name default keys. Make life easy.
Because people playing together simultaneously on a 4-player panel (using the MAME default keys) causes problems. For example, Player 1 may press button 2 (ALT) as Player 3 presses button 3 (Enter) which will cause the screen in MAME to become windowed instantly. Try playing NBA Jam to see what I mean (holding button down for turbo while another player presses another key). Highly annoying.
Read more about it here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77803.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77803.0)
To answer the OP's question:
You can also map buttons on an iPac to: [ ] \ / , . ' ; These all seem to work well, even for most console emulators as well which do not like the shift or alt buttons.
Hope this helps!
DeL
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Get an IPac4 from Andy over at ultimarc. Works great!
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Get an IPac4 from Andy over at ultimarc. Works great!
Another solution if pre-made wiring harnesses are preferred would be 2 X Mini-PAC, each assigned with unique keycodes.
Or one I-PAC Ultimate I/O would handle it, along with 96 LED channels.