best way to get emulators to match iPac key codes ?

[mike boss]

I'm very much a novice at this and this will be my first time trying something of this nature.
I'm working on a project cabinet using MaLa as the font end, it has a 2 player, 6 button per side layout. The controls are all wired via an iPac.

The PC itself will feature a wide assortment of emulators, from NES, SNES, N64, and some newer machines like Dreamcast, PS1, and even Gamecube.

It never crossed my mind that I would need to make sure all machines worked the same way via joystick.

I'm not sure what I should do to make sure all things work the same ?? I'd like the most simple of solution. I know some emulators allow me to modify the settings from within where as I understand some dont ?

Any help would be great

[Howard_Casto]

Ok first off... you just made an arcade cabinet to play console games.  Console games are meant to be played sitting down, with a gamepad in hand.  Most of these games actually play much worse with arcade controls.  N64 and beyond are pretty much unplayable because most of the games use an analog joystick and arcade sticks are of course digital. 

I'll pretend that this isn't an issue for a moment (it really is) and answer your question.  It's common sense really.... the emulators that let you modify control mappings are the ones you use and the ones that won't let you are the ones you don't use.    If there's one you really want to use with unmappable controls you have three options:

1.  Reflash the ipac with a different layout each time you run that emulator, and then back again once you are done.  There are utilites out there to help you with this.  It is a pain in the butt though and ipacs have a limited number of writes.  Mind you it's in the high thousands, but it is still something to be aware of.

2.  Use a scripting program like auto-hot-key to remap the buttons.  This is complex and ahk has limitations so it won't always work.

3.  Aquire the source code to emulator in question and modify it accordingly.  Obviously programming knowledge is required here. 



So if you are going to build an arcade cab/stick, use arcade emulators and use emulators with remappable keys. 

[mike boss]

The arcade cabinet will be running MAME and that is the main reason for the build.
But like others have done in the past I thought it would be a good idea to add console emulation.
NES, SNES, SEGA, Turbo GRAX, etc will all be included.

I would like to leave the iPac as is, IE - the standard MAME configuration.
Then get everything to work with keycodes that match that of MAME.
I know for example Street Fighter IV Arcade will allow me to change the controls in the game itself.

As I said I'm new to this and don't have all the answers. Do I'm thinking analog sticks are far better than a 8 way joystick ?

Again I'd like to find the most simple way of making changes to the programs. Reprogram is beyond me.

Perhaps I can post a list of emulators that I have/plan on using and perhaps can get some help on the specific emulator ?

[Howard_Casto]

Everybody thinks it's a good idea to add console emulation at first... and then realize that the games are more fun to play with a gamepad.  There are exceptions of course... the dreamcast had a lot of arcade ports that aren't completely emulated, ect.... But just in general.

For a game that uses analog sticks they are just required... you can't really play them with digital sticks.  There isn't an arcade equivelent of an analog stick unfortunately and even if there was, your digital stick games would play awful on it.  It's sort of a "right tool for the job" deal. 

Yeah you are going to have to do this on a case by case basis, but remapping controls is pretty straight forward if the emulator/game supports it, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

[tony.silveira]

Everybody thinks it's a good idea to add console emulation at first... and then realize that the games are more fun to play with a gamepad.  There are exceptions of course... the dreamcast had a lot of arcade ports that aren't completely emulated, ect.... But just in general.

For a game that uses analog sticks they are just required... you can't really play them with digital sticks.  There isn't an arcade equivelent of an analog stick unfortunately and even if there was, your digital stick games would play awful on it.  It's sort of a "right tool for the job" deal. 

Yeah you are going to have to do this on a case by case basis, but remapping controls is pretty straight forward if the emulator/game supports it, so you shouldn't have any trouble.

I've never understood the thought of arcade cab and no console games.  my machine gets more use playing console games than arcade games.  then again, i do have the display mirrored to my home theatre and play sitting on the couch with a 360 pad (or with orginal controllers and my bliss box) more often than standing up.  But to each their own.  I like my console games, even adding 12 key keypad to my machine.

[mike boss]

I think Howard_Casto makes some excellent points, and could very well be %100 bang on.
I think part of my desire stems from sheer "wow factor" and then its available space.
I think it would be kinda neat to play Bonks Adventure on my cabinet, or even some Metroid perhaps ?
None the less I'll go over my emulators list shortly and see if anyone can help me.

Thanks all

[tony.silveira]

I think Howard_Casto makes some excellent points, and could very well be %100 bang on.
I think part of my desire stems from sheer "wow factor" and then its available space.
I think it would be kinda neat to play Bonks Adventure on my cabinet, or even some Metroid perhaps ?
None the less I'll go over my emulators list shortly and see if anyone can help me.

Thanks all

mike, back to your original thought.  i run countless emu's on my mahine and have simply set up each to use the controls that i set up for mame.  most of teh emu's i run work just fine with a few exceptions (some have a different exit key for instance but there are work arounds).  if you want, please PM me.  i'll send you a list of all teh consoles and emu's i use.  if you have any questions, more than willing to help

[mike boss]

Thanks tony.silveira,

I appreciate that.
As I said I want this last machine my original Mario Bros Conversion (Nintendo) to be my best.
Aim Trak guns, console emulation, MAME.
I realize limitations of certain programs, etc.
But I'll go with what works best, so I thank you in advance for the help.
As is I have a few emulators set up in MaLa, including Street Fighter IV Arcade.
With MaLa I've been able to make all emulators close via the ESC key, which is great because this key is also coded with the iPac.

Now it's getting certain tweaks done, like off memory my Tubro GRAFX emulator is showing a "60" in the top left corner, and a visual equalizer in the bottom right.

Anyway, I won't ramble, I'll PM you.

Thank you

[headkaze]

There isn't an arcade equivelent of an analog stick unfortunately

What about the Ultimarc UltraStik 360's? They have analog support and can also be switched to 4-way or 8-way.

[Howard_Casto]

Well it's an analog joystick, not a thumbstick.  At least for me, a joystick just isn't going to work for console games. 

I'm a huge fan of Andy's stuff, but this one has always confused the heck out of me.  I guess it's intentionally designed for people that want to shoe-horn console games on a cabinet, because the throw is too short for flight-stick games and too long for thumbstick games.

[mike boss]

I'm going to try my luck at installing the emulators and trying games.
If something doesn't work/respond as it  should, so be it.

I'm trying to formulate a list of emulators that I want to use.
At this point I'm not sure which ones are best, or if I should use an alternative.
I'm confident in MaLa I can make each emulator EXIT via ESCAPE.
Just hoping that I can configure the buttons and make everything fullscreen.

Dolphin      GameCube
MAME      Arcade
NullDC      Dreamcast
Fusion      Assorted Sega
Project 64   Nintendo 64
ePSXe      Playstation (open to suggestions)
Magic Engine   Tubro Grafx 16
FCEUX       Nintendo
ZNES      Super Nintendo
Sega Model 2   Sega Model 2   

[Howard_Casto]

You'll probably run into issues with model 2 emu in terms of exiting, but the rest are run of the mill and you shouldn't have issue.

[mike boss]

Great, thank you.
I'll need to look a lil harder and complete a full list.
I'll take it one at a time and configure each before moving onto the next.
I'm sure with the help of BYOAC I can get it working to suit my needs.

Thanks all

[mike boss]

I gotta get to this still ! Damm weekends are too too busy ! lol

[mike boss]

@ tony.silveira

thanks again for the docs.
Can I email you if have any questions ?

[tony.silveira]

@ tony.silveira

thanks again for the docs.
Can I email you if have any questions ?

of course!

[unkpinball]

Tony, I've just finished my arcade cabinet and would love that list also! (no email icon shows for you  )

[MaxVolume]

No one mentions MESS in all this?  Seems the easiest solution in terms of multiple consoles with the same basic control set, but I guess it's true that MESS isn't always the best emulator for certain consoles.

I'm also in the "no console games on an arcade cabinet" camp, although it's possible I could make exceptions when it comes to console ports of arcade titles.  After all, Nintendo and SEGA really blurred the lines with a couple of their arcade systems, not to mention SNK.  The point still stands though that most console games would not play nearly as well without a gamepad.  One of my favorite console games is Donkey Kong Country, and even though the SNES gamepads were digital, the play mechanics just demand that kind of controller.  It would be VERY awkward to play on an arcade machine.  That's less true of older consoles that had joysticks and buttons, and many of us remember playing ATARI 2600 games on large display setups that were a lot like arcade cabinets.  Still, that wasn't terribly comfortable, which is why I started a PROTOVISION console project a few years ago.  Much easier to adapt (most) arcade games to gamepads than it is to play console games with arcade controls.

[mike boss]

I guess for me I think of the home systems as an extension of the arcades, even vice versa.
Newer systems  I can agree and see that gameplay might not work well on an arcade cabinet.
I don't really have my arcade cabinet to re-live these games. But older titles, from NES, SEGA, and even TURBO GRAFX I can't help but feel these games would play well on an arcade cabinet.
Games like Bad Dudes & Narc for example were my favorites as a kid, and I enjoyed both (Narc a lil less) on my NES. So with that logic perhaps playing a game like 8 Eyes (NES) on my arcade cabinet could be quite fun ? Again, perhaps I'm wrong, but for the time it takes to set it all up I think it's worth trying. Perhaps when you get in SNES or N64 the games will not shine as much, but agian perhaps some titles will be done justice ? Again I say I'd like to try.

I'm still in the process of setting up this PC, that is quite a job onto itself. I'm sure I'll be back posting for help. I know in the past when I tried I had issues with emulators not launing fullscreen, etc.

Thanks in advance all

[unkpinball]

Here's an excellent link for 'best emulator' chat:

http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/167219-a-whats-a-good-emu-for-xxxx-thread/

[MaxVolume]

I see where you're coming from, Mike... it's mostly personal preference.  My view of the whole MAME thing in general is that compromise is key, given that you're trying to play such a wide variety of games that originally had their own custom hardware with a single set of controls.  I've been especially aware of that with FLYNN'S because of it being a mini and not having room for a full complement of controls.  I almost prefer it that way though, because looking back at my original idea for a MAME cab (an Asteroids with regular and "TRON" joysticks, a spinner, trackball and even a steering wheel, with two 13" monitors, one vertical and one horizontal) I don't think it would have been all that fun to play.  Personal preference notwithstanding, I don't think anybody's goal is to make something LESS fun than the original cabinets.

Another thing about playing console games on a cabinet though is that I find it kind of takes me out of the "arcade experience".  I'm sure most people don't mind, but I rarely ever had the opportunity to play arcade games growing up, and was only allowed into an actual arcade (as opposed to a grocery store, hardware store, laundromat, etc. that happened to have a game or two) about two or three times before I was 16 years old.  For that reason I guess, the "arcade experience" is important to me.  I sort of proved that to myself recently when I was in an arcade and they had a 9-in-1 machine.  Most of the games were Williams/Midway hits, but it also had Super Mario Bros., so that's what I played.  Had I chosen Defender, etc. it might not have felt this way, but something seemed off when I was playing SMB.  The machine was working fine, it just seemed strange using an arcade stick and large buttons to play that game.

Still, since FLYNN'S has a horizontal monitor and plenty of hard drive space, it's definitely very tempting to throw in some console games, and at this point I certainly can't say for sure that I won't do that.  I might even take the extra step and try to get PC games like COMBAT and Dig Dug Deeper working on it, but those are probably best saved for PROTOVISION.  I might find it very awkward playing console games just like I did with the 9-in-1, but I could always try them out and drop them later if necessary.  There will be two "modes" anyway, Portal Mode (3D) and Kiosk Mode (2D), so it could definitely be something I could limit to one mode or the other and not make it a major feature of the cabinet.

Sorry, just kind of thinking out loud there, but it does kind of relate to the current discussion. 

[Howard_Casto]

Games like Bad Dudes & Narc for example were my favorites as a kid, and I enjoyed both (Narc a lil less) on my NES. So with that logic perhaps playing a game like 8 Eyes (NES) on my arcade cabinet could be quite fun ?

Just to reply to your example, both Bad Dudes and Narc have arcade versions.  The NES versions are inferior down-ports.  So why play the NES versions?  8 eyes seems like it would be terribly akward to play on an arcade joystick to me, what with it's precise jumping and all.  Arcade joysticks, particularly the "old school" ones aren't exactly known for their precision.

On top of that 8-eyes is a very long game.  Load up your favorite nes game and stand two feet from your tv and play it standing up for hours at a time.  Your eyes will be mush and your feet jello.  That is a rough simulation of what it's like to play most console games on an aracde cabinet.  Remember... your average quarter on an arcade game lasts about 5 minutes and even with the advent of emulators, most arcade games aren't longer than an hour or two from start to finish.  You'll also notice that during the NES era, nintendo only released games in arcade form when they were very simple to play and fairly short in length.  There is a reason for that.

I'm not trying to beat a dead horse or anything, I'm just following your train of thought to it's logical conclusion.

MaxVolume:

SMB was originally released in the arcades..... the NES version is a perfect arcade port, aside from some level changes to make it easier.  The reason it felt akward was because you weren't playing it on a nintendo 8-way joystick.  They had very short shafts and throws so they worked well with smb and other games traditionally geared towards consoles.  They are terrible for anything else though. 

[MaxVolume]

SMB was originally released in the arcades..... the NES version is a perfect arcade port, aside from some level changes to make it easier.  The reason it felt akward was because you weren't playing it on a nintendo 8-way joystick.  They had very short shafts and throws so they worked well with smb and other games traditionally geared towards consoles.  They are terrible for anything else though. 

Um, no... it wasn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.#Alternate_versions

"...an arcade version released soon AFTER the original NES release..." (emphasis mine) -- there were a LOT of NES titles released to arcades in the PlayChoice-10 and Vs. systems, as I alluded to in my original post.  Perhaps you're thinking of the original Mario Bros., which WAS originally an arcade game.

Anyway, it also felt awkward simply because I was used to playing it with a gamepad, but the point still stands that the game was originally designed for a gamepad, not arcade controls, no matter what the shaft/throw specs were.  It also wasn't meant to be a blanket statement to the effect of "SMB sucks in the arcade so therefore all console games do", just relating a particular instance where I experienced the difference first-hand.

[Howard_Casto]

SMB was originally released in the arcades..... the NES version is a perfect arcade port, aside from some level changes to make it easier.  The reason it felt akward was because you weren't playing it on a nintendo 8-way joystick.  They had very short shafts and throws so they worked well with smb and other games traditionally geared towards consoles.  They are terrible for anything else though. 

Um, no... it wasn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.#Alternate_versions

Wikipedia is wrong in this instance.... they were released around the same time.  To this day nobody is sure of when SMB was officially released in the US. 

To quote wikipedia in regards to smb:

"As with many older arcade games, it is unclear exactly when this game was released; while the arcade boards themselves are stamped "1985",[32] the Killer List of Video Games, the title screen, and the MAME game listing list the game as having been released in 1986."

I know from personal experience....  used to play the vs port at our local dairy queen before the NES had it's full NA release.  When I got a nes later that year my parents tried to get me SMB, but it was a month or so before the game became available.  Unfortunately I have no proof other than my own word.

Regardless, vs SMB was always a arcade game and it was always intended to be released in the arcades.... it was in production roughly in the same time period as the NES SMB.  Most of your first-generation NES titles were actually.  Nintendo had a strong arcade presense back then and many of the eariler titles started out as arcade games... even a few that never got an arcade release due to the fact that the NES rapidly became so popular.

And the proper joystick makes a world of difference so it does matter.  Nintendo arcade games can only be played on nintendo sticks... early midway games only play well with midway sticks... fighters need fighter sticks... brawlers need ball tops ect...  It's to solidify the point actually..... if the game was meant for a gamepad, you really need a gamepad. 

[tony.silveira]

It's to solidify the point actually..... if the game was meant for a gamepad, you really need a gamepad.

i do disagree, play the game with whatever control feels good to you.  i think back to every console i have ever owned (and that goes back to the beginning) and for just about each of them, i had a first party joystick that i regularly used more than a game pad.  especially the NES advantage, damn that was a good joystick!

[mike boss]

I think the beauty of all this (and I respect all opinions) is that I have the emulators & roms as is.
So why not put them on ? If it doesn't feel right, or feels off, then that's it.

[MaxVolume]

SMB was originally released in the arcades..... the NES version is a perfect arcade port, aside from some level changes to make it easier.  The reason it felt akward was because you weren't playing it on a nintendo 8-way joystick.  They had very short shafts and throws so they worked well with smb and other games traditionally geared towards consoles.  They are terrible for anything else though. 

Um, no... it wasn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Bros.#Alternate_versions

Wikipedia is wrong in this instance.... they were released around the same time.  To this day nobody is sure of when SMB was officially released in the US. 

To quote wikipedia in regards to smb:

"As with many older arcade games, it is unclear exactly when this game was released; while the arcade boards themselves are stamped "1985",[32] the Killer List of Video Games, the title screen, and the MAME game listing list the game as having been released in 1986."

I know from personal experience....  used to play the vs port at our local dairy queen before the NES had it's full NA release.  When I got a nes later that year my parents tried to get me SMB, but it was a month or so before the game became available.  Unfortunately I have no proof other than my own word.

Regardless, vs SMB was always a arcade game and it was always intended to be released in the arcades.... it was in production roughly in the same time period as the NES SMB.  Most of your first-generation NES titles were actually.  Nintendo had a strong arcade presense back then and many of the eariler titles started out as arcade games... even a few that never got an arcade release due to the fact that the NES rapidly became so popular.

And the proper joystick makes a world of difference so it does matter.  Nintendo arcade games can only be played on nintendo sticks... early midway games only play well with midway sticks... fighters need fighter sticks... brawlers need ball tops ect...  It's to solidify the point actually..... if the game was meant for a gamepad, you really need a gamepad.

You're full of it, Howard.  Nintendo Vs. cabinets simply had versions of the NES games, sometimes modified, sometimes identical.  To say that Super Mario Bros. was in any way an "arcade game" is patently absurd.  You seem to doubt everything on Wikipedia, but I'll go ahead and point this out:

"...ports of home video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, thus they could be sold cheaply to arcades in the late 1980s."

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Vs.)

There was this thing called the Famicom which pre-dated the American NES.  The simple fact of the matter is that Vs. and PlayChoice-10 cabinets were simply additional revenue sources for home games Nintendo had already developed for the Famicom.

This is quite frustrating because we're actually arguing the same point... games designed for a gamepad really need a gamepad, since there is a unique control scheme and "twitch" response that doesn't feel right on an arcade machine.  Still, if you really must have a particular type of joystick to play any game in a given genre (fighters, "brawlers", etc.) then you're probably not very good at video games.  I'd hate to see the control panel on your MAME cabinet... must be HUGE.   

[MaxVolume]

Howard... just did some "research" (not on Wikipedia) and noticed you were 5 years old in 1985.  I was 14... case closed.  Who's the "Idiot Police" now? 

[MaxVolume]

You also allowed Wikipedia to disprove your point yet again.  The reason the arcade boards were "stamped 1985" is because Super Mario Bros. is COPYRIGHT 1985, but it would appear that the revised Vs. version would have been released in 1986.  I'm at work right now so I can't access KLOV and other related resources, but that's pretty standard for arcade games that have been revised... in case you didn't already know.

[MaxVolume]

Howard's doing his bored and argumentative thing lately. 

  ... oh, you mean  ?

I particularly like how he claimed the changes made the game easier when Wikipedia states that the arcade version is actually more difficult, since it includes some of the "lost levels" from the Japanese sequel.  Come to think of it, seems odd that levels from the second game in the series would be in an "arcade game" that supposedly preceded the home version, so there's another hole blown in the kindergartener's theory.

I should have realized someone was just baiting me, because it's a ridiculous argument to anyone who's been there to see the progression from NES to Vs. and PlayChoice-10 machines.  Made tons of sense when I realized he would've had to stand on a milk crate to even see the screen or operate the controls when "dedicated arcade-only Vs. Super Mario Bros." was supposedly released. 

I think I'll give up now. 

[mike boss]

I'll be sure to post my findings when all is said and done.
Even if the games don't play well (so be it), I still like the idea of everything housed on one nice machine.
I think the WOW FACTOR itself is cool !

[MaxVolume]

Okay... full disclosure?  Gotta rat on myself here.

Last night I was working on getting my games categorized for FLYNN'S, and I was working on the Billiards-Casino-Puzzle-Trivia-Multigame category.  There are a couple games in MAME that are just called "Multi Game" which are apparently just compilations of Famicom/NES titles, and I gotta say I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I loaded them up. 

I suppose a corollary to the theory of "console games kill the arcade experience" is that bringing up a bunch of console games that don't seem to belong might actually reinforce the idea that you're playing on an arcade machine.  I have recurring dreams/nightmares where I'm in a theater and I've somehow found a way to "jack in" and I'm playing something from a VCR or handheld video device that's being shown on the screen.  I think it's a manifestation of some kind of social anxiety, I don't know.  I also remember being a bit frightened of arcade machines that weren't working properly (scrambled graphics, loud sustained tone, etc.) but also curious as to whether you could plug in any kind of video source to play on the monitor.

I have to say that even though I stand by what I've said about how difficult they'll be to play, last night's experience might just make me give console games a shot.  I can definitely see myself having a blast playing Yars' Revenge, but I think the key is to limit console stuff so that it still seems out of place.  I'd actually love to include the PlayChoice games, but without a second screen (and no, I don't plan to add one) I don't think it would work very well.  Maybe just the Vs. titles and other systems like MegaPlay, etc.

Well, that's my confession for the day... my soul feels cleansed! 

[mike boss]

Working on my Bad Dudes conversion and a Final Fight project have taken over a bulk of my free time. I haven't got back to the PC and attempted to wrap up the set up.
However I'd like to get to it this weekend.

I understand what people are saying, and playing a game for 2 hours standing @ an arcade cabinet might not be an ideal situation. For myself who plays very little (yet loves the hobby), I can't say I'd hate pulling up a stool and playing.

Either way, the only way I'll know is to try. I've got my ROM sets, my artwork (snaps, etc), the emulators and most important a restored Mario Bros cabinet to house it all in.

The only issue (as mentioned prior) is making sure that all emulators are set to the MAME standard (or Ipac standard, whatever you wanna call it). I know for example that Street Fighter IV Arcade allows me to change the controls from the menu itself. But I know that the PS1 emulator reqires joy2key or something ?

Either way, I look forward to giving this a shot. Thanks again to tony.silveira who sent me a cool doc for reference, I'd like to use the same elulators he did.

@ tony.silveira, he has also said he would help me out with any questions so I thank him again.

I'll post my results as I go, again I hope to get back to this over the weekend. My basement line up consists of 4 Nintendo cabinets, DK (60 in 1) , DK JR (Vert Mame) , Popeye (2 player Jamma w/ VS style layout) , Mario Bros (Horz Mame)........... 3 of these done, just gotta wrap up the Mario.

[mike boss]

I've made the return to this project and what I hope is the final push to get this PC completed.
I've got most of my emulators installed and just about set up in MaLa.
I decided I would make a list to help guide myself along.
I would record things like : does the emulator launch, is it full screen, does it quit on escape, etc.

So far this is what I've got done :

Emulator    Launch        Game Load    Close on Escape        Full Screen    Keys Mapped

Nintendo      Yes              Yes                 Yes                           Yes                 No

SNES         Yes               Yes                 Yes                           Yes                Yes

N64             Yes              Yes                 Yes                           Yes                 No

TurboG16      Yes               Yes                Yes                           Yes                Yes

Sega MS        Yes               Yes               Yes                          Yes                Yes



***** I was unable to locate where I could make the changes to map the Nintendo and Nintendo 64 emulators. I want to make sure they use the same key codes as MAME. I'm using Project 64 and FCEUltra. If anyone can help me and let me know how to set these up or where to look that would be great.

[mike boss]

I'm still working on this project which has been a TON of work.
So many issues in getting the PC to work as I'd like.

I am unable to get Dreamcast CDI files to launch in Mala, be it via NullDC or Demul.

My SNES emulator closes via the hotkey option in Mala (zsnes), however locks up the system by (for some reason) remaining running. You are unable to launch another game. What a pain in the --I'm attempting to get by the auto-censor and should be beaten after I re-read the rules-- !

I still need to find the time to change the NES + N64 keycodes.

This project will be good, but what a pain. So much work !

[kenno]

Hello,

This reply may be a bit late but I'm currently building a similar project at the moment and have come across / overcome most issues now.
Project 64 version 1.6 won't allow you to remap keys. version 1.7 does!

I Use VirtuaNES for NES games as that allows you to remap.

Fusion does not allow you to remap keys but I've overcome this by making my save / load states of other emulators to match the defaults of Fusion.
This just leaves the screenshot as a different key.
With the following autohotkey script that is resolved:

#IfWinActive, ahk_class KegaClass ; FUSION
F11:: Send {SHIFTdown}{F12}{SHIFTup} ; screenshot

I'm using ePSXe for Playstation at the moment but was looking for another emulator as I come across this thread as you cannot remap keys with it.
Autohotkey doesn't seem to like the following much as you have to hold the key for ~ 1 second for it to work... And mapping it like Fusion just doesn't work at all.

#IfWinActive, ahk_class EPSX
$F8::
SendInput {F1 down}
Sleep 1
SendInput {F1 up}


$F5::
SendInput {F3 down}
Sleep 1
SendInput {F3 up}


$F11::
SendInput {F8 down}
Sleep 1
SendInput {F8 up}



MAME I'm having issues with quick save / loading. It asks for a slot for the save state so two keys are requesired to press.
Autohotkey not working with that at the moment.

I agree with the "WOW factor" of having console games on an arcade but also agree that a lot of them can be harder to play.
That's why I'm going to have four USB ports on the front of my cabinet to connect game controllers to.
The game controllers can be set up in Xpadder to emulate keyboards so the controllers can be easily (well hopefully I haven't done it yet...) be used as an alternate

[mike boss]

@ kenno

I ended up tossing the PC into my Mario cabinet, some videos can be seen here :
http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeboss416

This project was sooooo much work ! I simply got tired !
In my frustration I forgot to revist my work log, so I don't even recall if I configured N64.
Regardless thanks for the tip regarding version 1.7, I'll make sure to check that tonight (and upgrade if needed).

I took the advise of a friend and like yourself I decided I would use some joysticks with my set up. A friend of mine suggested that when the console joysticks became a lil more complex (Dreamcast, N64,GameCube) and had both analog and digital it would be a good idea to use the USB versions.

I haven't picked up all the required parts, but I will. I know some great USB versions of the joysticks do exist. Honestly one of the things I found rather hard with this entire project was just how I should translate the joystick to my control panel. For example in MAME I like the good ol Street Fighter II set up 1-2-3 over 4-5-6, low, med, hi over low, med, hi .
What I did was look up old manuals for games and see how they laid out. So for example NES was B A - so B was button 1, A was button 2. I then did the same for SNES, Turbo GRFX, etc.
When it came to N64 I was stumpped on the best way to configure it. Thats probably why I don't beleive I've done so yet. In the end as I noted above I will use USB controllers for some systems.

Sorry for the ramble !

[mike boss]

I just Project 64 1.7, do I simply put the exe file in the existing folder (essentially removing the other) ?
If so I'll get to this this week.

Thanks