Just installed I-Pac and mame's gone all funky

[mamefreak2]

I just installed the I-Pac and configed my control panel (or so I thought) then I ran Mame32 version 84 (which is running on my other system without issue) to test it. I had the following issues:

1. No sound for any games
2. The screen is off center now (I also tried downloading 3darcade fe and am having similar probs from the screen standpoint)
3. I have to re-program the controls every time I play

Anybody have any idea what I've done wrong? I thought I had configed the I-Pac (it said it had programmed when I set it up.

It's tough being a newbie... lol. I almost feel like I need a tech support number. But then again, what would be the fun in that right?

[cdbrown]

The IPAC is programmed with mame default configurations when the jumper is set to MAME.  If you set the jumper to ALT, then run winipac you can configure each button to what you want it to be.  You then shouldn't have to re-map the games.  As for the no sound or wrong position of the screen, the IPAC is just a keyboard encoder and I can't see how it can have any effect on sound or image.  Something else is wrong with that.

[mamefreak2]

Can you tell me what a jumper is? And how I can set it to ALT?

I also re-installed Mame32 and still haven't had any luck with the sound or the screen (the games still shift to the left when the game starts).

I figure I'll try to get Mame32 up and running (because I'm familiar with it) and once I get through that, I'll try some new front ends.

Any help would be appreciated as my wife is anxiously waiting for me to get all of this crap out of our computer room ... hehe

[mamefreak2]

Update:

The video and sound performance are unrelated to the control panel. I hooked up my primary computer to it and it worked fine from a graphix and sound perspective.

However, I still have the same issue with the control panel not being mapped the way I had set it.

[cdbrown]

Take a look at this picture
http://home.iprimus.com.au/craigrb/images/ipac56.JPG
in the middle of the board between the two chips there is a group of jumper pins.  Which are 2 columns of 4 pins.  You should also be able to see 2 small red things - these are jumpers.  They fit over the pins to jump a connection.   In this pic the jumper on the left is set to MAME and the jumper on the right is set to PS2.  If I were to move the jumpers down and put them on the bottom 2 pins on each column it would be set to ALT (left side) and USB (right side).  Yours may be different though.

[mamefreak2]

Thx CD,

Unfortunately, I have the I-Pac for 2 players and don't have any red buttons such as yours. Any other suggestions?

[cdbrown]

Can you test this
Open up the WinIPAC config program
      You have said that you previously programmed your ipac when you set it up so do the mappings displayed correspond to what you programmed them to be - you may have to go into options and load a saved config.  If it doesn't - remap the controls the way you want them and update your ipac.
Then open up notepad
Test that each direction on the joystick and each button corresponds to what the config program displays.

If it outputs what the winipac prog is displaying then it is programmed correctly.
Now if you have changed these mappings from the mame default you also need to change the settings within mame (well outside of mame).  

For 084 you need to set up ctrlr file - (I think this is what might be missing).  Take a look at the default.ini file in the hotrodse folder for an example.  Basically set up a new folder in ctrlr.  Copy across the std.ini file (located in ctrlr folder) into the new folder and rename it to default.ini.  Go into this ini file and change the mappings where appropriate.

Run mame32 and go into options, and somewhere in there you should be able to choose controller type (drop down menu).  Select the right one (the name of the new folder).  Run a game and check the mappings.

Cheers
-cdbrown

[SirPoonga]

Did you get the IPAC VE?

What steps did you take to setup the controls?  How did you set them up?

[arcaic]

If you have a recent IPAC2 and its not the VE model...

Do all buttons stop working or is it any shifted functions you have programmed.

My IPAC I got a few weeks ago had a bug in the firmware that meant the shift key 'moved around' each time you powered it. It was fine after you programmed it and while the power was on but as soon as it was powered off the key assigned for shift changed!

Andy sent me a new chip and its fine now.

If you can reproduce the problem above then contact Ultimarc and I'm sure he will send you a new chip.

Cheers

Andy

[mamefreak2]

Thanks for the help guys. I e-mailed Andy over at Ultimarc and we figured out the problem.

I have one of the new I-Pac's and when I was mapping the controls, I was actually pressing the buttons on the control panel itself to identify which buttons were wired to each slot. Andy pointed out that it has to be done with the keyboard and you can't touch the control panel at all during the programming process. Thanks for all of your help.

[cdbrown]

Well my train of thought on that was way off.  Glad to see you got it figured out.