World of Warcraft dedicated cab (be gentle)

[TheChairmanH2K]

ok guys and girls, ive finally mustered the courage to post my World of Warcraft dedicated cab build thread.  i know its not an arcade game and many on here probably dont play it but i really enjoy it.  it makes me think of what the 1st edition D&D pen & paper would be like in video game format.  i think it really lends itself to using a control panel as you can have a greaaaat many hotkeys in game and can also use shift, ctrl, alt as a SHIFT function key for even more inputs, as well as keybinding macros. 

the most common method of movement is a mouse as it allows for faster character turning and strafing.  the arrow keys can also be used (i do.)  since you need a mouse even if not using it for movement my cp will have both an 8 way joystick and a 2 1/4" trackball(<--just purchased from Ninten-doh ) so i can have the best of both worlds.  im not a great player so i dont have macros and such so my cp will have approximately 50 buttons on it.  i have an Ipac4 on the way from Ultimarc and i bought a Minipac, also from Ninten-doh.  which brings me to a question- can i use both the Ipac4 & Minipac for buttons at the same time?  with the Ipac i can have pretty much all of the buttons i need but i know the Minipac supports button use.  if there is some sort of ghosting issue or a Ipac software limitation on the amount of interfaces used at once for buttons that would be good to know.  im a total noob in regards to wiring, pcbs etc associated with normal cabs so any help or suggestions are greatly and humbly accepted.  on to the good stuff 

the cabinet dimensions are rought 24" deep, 76" tall(on casters), 32" wide with a 33" cp.  there will be a 27" HP lcd monitor in it with vga, dvi and hdmi inputs.  i dont have a computer for it yet since i want as powerful of one as i can afford and i just spent a buttload of money at Ultimarc, GGG, and on the b/s/t forum among other non arcade things the past 2 weeks   thankfully i was able to get all of my wood(plywood - 1/2" & 3/4", 2x4s) and alot of my fasteners from work    i did have to buy a 1 1/8" hole saw for buttons though. 

i plan on having lit marquee, sideart and cp art done once the cabs ready.  i already know how i want that to look so im ahead of the game there 

more to follow.....

[EvilNuff]

I'm not following what your goal is here but if I understand correctly you want to basically use arcade controls in a cab to play wow, no mame just wow?  As a former wow player I have some feedback for this...don't.   You want a mouse to move...keyboard turn gets groups killed and a trackball simply won't be sufficient you need a mouse.  The best way, imo, to configure wow is get a keypad controller like the g13 and use that with one hand and the mouse with the other. 

Are you planning on standing to play or sitting on a stool?  You might consider the height for whatever chair/stool if sitting.

I'll be very interested in your art/designs when you get those rolling.

[LeedsFan]

WoW sucks.... FFXI all the way!!!   

Hahah..... but seriously I kinda have to agree with EvilNuff above. I can't see a cabinet environmet working for this type of game. Unless we misunderstand what you are attempting of course.

I played FFXI and used a Logitech G11 keybaord and also a G13 keypad for the macros, which is basically the same sort of thing in WoW. In fact for WoW there is a mouse that has the same sort of hotkey macro buttons built into the sides which would be awesome. Can't remember what it was called though. A standard cabinet setup with joysticks and buttons isn't gonna work well I'm afraid. An analog stick or trackball to replace the mouse with plenty of programmed buttons to act like a G13 keypad could work yeah. It would just be a bigger version of your desktop setup.

[TheChairmanH2K]

i dont know if you guys are misreading what i wrote or what the deal is.  as i said im not a great player, i dont do the high end raids, i dont do pvp.  i play the game the way i choose to which means i dont use a mouse, mostly because im on a laptop at the moment.  also, and not to be snarky, but have you personally tried this?  no?  ok then.  im not saying this will suddenly take over pro WoW players keyboard & mouse and i dont much care.  also as for buttons, there wont be much of a difference between using a keyboard and having much larger arcade buttons to push. to me it will be easier.  ive got big hands and i always end up hitting extra keys or the wrong one so having a nice big button face to press while being space apart enough that i cant hit 2 at once will be much much better for me. 

[Erik]

I'm almost sure I saw pictures of a WoW dedicated control panel somewhere.  I don't remember the details tho, just that it had a ton of buttons. 

[EvilNuff]

Woah calm down, I just gave you my 2c that you were likely headed down a path to disappointment.  To be honest yes I actually did try wow with my trackball when I got it...I plugged that sucker in and tried e-v-e-r-y thing!   Nobody said anything about quality of player or pro my friend. 

[Donkbaca]

I think a joystick will work for movement, a shitload of buttons will work for your hot keys, but I think you need a mouse....

[Benevolance]

He's got a trackball and that works decently well in place of a mouse. I've played Age of Conquerors on my cabinet, using the trackball (and a keyboard for the hotkeys) and I've also played Sins of a Solar Empire on my cabinet and that worked flawlessly with just the trackball.

I'm not a WoW player, so I don't know what buttons/groupings you use for the game. But I could see some advantage in having a CP set up dedicated to a specific game, in that you could group hotkeys by function. I think the most difficult part of this project is going to be laying out the buttons. Since you don't need to worry about mame functionality, you could abandon the standard 6 button layout beside the joystick. But as to figuring out what groupings of buttons are best...well, I can't really offer any advice on that front.

[Mikezilla]

As a current WoW player, doing end game content, is there any reason to actually make a cab dedicated to it, considering its meant to be played on a computer? Hell, I would just make some sort of little shell thing to put over the monitor, or make something to hold the keyboard in, and adorn it with WoW stuff. That just seems like an expensive way to play WoW, not to mention uncomfortable. Then again, I dont like sitting at cabinets, I prefer to stand.

On a side note, what kind of character do you play, horde, alliance? Dont take this the wrong way, but what makes it so fun if youre not in it for end game content? Seems like it would be hard to get a group of people to quest and stuff in youre in the newbie zones all the time.

[Donkbaca]

Yeah, that is kind of what I am getting at. You can work with a joystick to move, a bunch of hotkeys grouped by function.  But get a mouse and a sweet mousepad.  Something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Laser-Gaming-Mouse-RZ01-00280100-R3/dp/B002MPPRPO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303930399&sr=8-1

or this:
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Mamba-Wireless-Gaming-Laser/dp/B001WAKR3W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1303930437&sr=8-3


and this:
http://www.amazon.com/SteelSeries-Warcraft-Cataclysm-Gaming-Pad-Deathwing/dp/B004EX44ZQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1303930472&sr=8-4

just route out the area for the pad so it would be flush with the CP.  That would be f-ing awesome.

[Mikezilla]

Dude that cataclysm keyboard looks freaking awesome. I might even endure the laughter of my GF and get one.

[EvilNuff]

I like that idea Donkbaca...flush mount a cata mouse pad...very nice.  Oh the steelseries mouse pads are pretty nice fyi, i have the lich king one.

[JustMichael]

A trackball should work (I play using a Logitech Trackman+). As for buttons, the only thing that has enough in a small area is a keyboard.