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First arcade control panel
Terr1:
Hello fellow arcade builders..
A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Virtual Pinball and MAME arcades.
I decided to start building a MAME cabinet (2 player up right). I have ZERO experience in this, and started reading up on different projects.
I want to start building a prototype wood control panel, to get a little experience doing this first, all the computer and software stuff I know how to do.
I wanted to run my buy list past this forum before I ordered, to make sure I didnt buy wrong parts. I decided to buy from Ultramarc (UK), a little more expensive maybe but they got what I want :)
Buy List:
1x Daisy-Chain harness
20x Goldleaf pushbuttons (6 per player? and some more to control different things like power and what not).
1x 1 Player button
1x 2 Player button
1x I-PAC 2 USB
2x Joystick mounting kits (for the final panal, to avoid top screws).
2x UltraStick 360 with USB - Oval type
- 2x Extra Ball top (Round)
- 2x Long handle Shaft for ball style
- 2x Long handle shaft for oval style
- 2x Ultrastick 360 hard springs
- 2x Ultrastick button / encoder harness
- 2x Ultrastick Front-Mounted Restrictor Kit (4way / 8 way?)
- 1x Wiring Kit
Do these parts fit okay? The Ultrastick 360 with all optional kits are expensive, but since I dont know what type I want, I figured I might as well buy ball + oval style.
Or do you recommend something different? I want good quality items.
Nephasth:
If you're getting 2 U360s, you don't really need an I-PAC2. Each U360 can handle 8 button inputs.
Terr1:
Yeah I thought so.
Each Ultrastick can manage 8 buttons. 6 Player buttons, 1 Start Player button and 1 extra?
I dont need more buttons or? Exit, Credits and stuff like that? (I have no idea thats why I ordered the IPAC 2, to be sure).
I was thinking of buying I-PAC 2, if it turned out I wanted more buttons, ie. later coin door or something similar. But if its a waste of money I might as well skip it..
Is the U360 overkill or?
PL1:
Welcome aboard, Terr1.
One of the interesting ways to stir up heated comments and retorts around here is to ask "Which joystick is best?" or "How many admin buttons should I have?"
The short answer to both depends on what YOU like and what YOU want.
If you ask what kind of motor vehicle is best, a farmer will swear by his pickup truck, the soccer mom will say SUV, and the businessman will claim a 4-door sedan. Each of them is right for what they need to do.
On joysticks, the question is what games do you want to play? Classics like DK and Pac-Man that need a 4-way stick, fighters that need quick twitch response, etc.
On admin buttons, some people prefer shifted functions with directions on the monitor bezel, some prefer dedicated buttons. Here are the ones I use for my portable/modular build. You probably won't want or need the mouse buttons and curious kids can make the menu (tab) button on your final panel a real pain, but it can come in very handy on a test panel.
Also consider that you probably won't find everything you want from just one company unless you make some big compromises. Most people end up buying from at least two vendors to get what they want. Ultimarc, Groovy Game Gear, and Paradise Arcade Shop are the most commonly used vendors, but I've made purchases from more than 7 sources for just one particular build.
If you like the U360s and also want a less expensive keyboard-type encoder for pinball/admin functions, you should look at Degenatron's AVR encoder. (Resource page here.)
One of the things that makes it a good fit for your project is the pinball mode designed to work with Visual Pinball(VP) and Future Pinball. (FP) This can save quite a bit of trouble with reconfiguring emulators and adding joy2key or xpadder software. (They take joystick button presses and map them to keyboard-type keypresses.)
Here are some starting placement suggestions for flipper buttons.
If you run short on inputs for launcher and flippers, let me know. There are several ways to work around it like combining upper flippers and Magnasaves (4 inputs) into 2 buttons.
From what I hear, those Goldleaf buttons will work well for flippers. Just ordered some from Divemaster for an upcoming pin controller build.
Scott
shponglefan:
PL1 is right; ask different people, get different answers. Building a prototype controller is definitely the way to go. Chances are your first design isn't going to be 100% ideal, so you can then learn from that.
FWIW, what I found worked for me is the following:
7 action buttons per player in the Neo-Geo/Capcom hybrid layout. Technically it's 6 buttons with a duplicate button wired up (you can see many examples on the forum).
1 coin and 1 start button per player as well.
For admin buttons, I used pause, enter, esc and tab. I found I liked having admin buttons readily accessible. Only thing is to make sure the Esc button isn't in a place that will be hit accidently.
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