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Need All BYOAC'rs Help...

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Xiaou2:
 Hello All   :)

   Im  starting to close in on a final design for my project... however,  I
need some help collecting special control information in order to consolidate and design a set of panels that will control most all games without many issues.   

  Also, I would like this to be used as a way to create a very detailed
controller museam.   Basically, able to look up a games exact controller, see pics from many angles, and even a parts diagram.  If possible in the future, exact measurements of parts may also be added.    This way, in the future, someone might be able to replicate a controller that may otherwise be lost forever. 

  I do know that there is a project that documents controls already... but its aim is a bit different... and, its not as visual or exacting as I would like.  IE:   Theres a list of 8way games... but dosnt seperate 8way Leaf from 8way micros.   Theres also much missing information and problems where a game  should be listed under multiple catagories.  And again, no pictures that are easy to see what the they are talking about.     

  I was going to attempt this myself... but soon realized it would  take like a year to do alone.  Im guessing that we could pull it off in a few months or less.
 

  What I would  like to do... is to have  each person say... take a letter,  like "b"  and start to go thru those games and see what controls the game used - and then, find a good clear snapshot of the controls.  And, if possible, find the manual and get a clear picture of each controller diagram for the unusual controllers.   

  If anyone has a special controller and can take internal shots, that would be great as well.  IE: Ive been dying to see the sitdown race drivin shifters internals - as its the best shifter Ive ever used.   I have a friend that has the game, so I should be able to grab these shortly and add them to the project.   These would help greatly, as I will try to duplicate the thing.. and even enhance its functionality in a later project.

  If we can get a large number of volenteers, then we can greatly reduce the number of games that need info on per person, and the time needed to complete this great project.

   Obvioulsy, theres many games that used simple controls and will not need much work.   So most will be easy to do.   Others will take much more time to dig up pics and documents on the net and elsewhere.

  I think I will be making a set of many yahoo groups that people can easily get into and upload/download files.  This will keep bandwidth
low, and allow for much easier access from everyone to be able to help.  I believe each group can hold like 20megs worth of files.

 Once completed, Ill put everything together and have it uploaded to people who can afford the bandwidth drain  :)    Obviously, anyone helping on the project will have the full doc before its available elsewhere.

 Currently, this is just a request for recruits.   Nothing has officially been set up yet.

 Please pop your  Email address to:   xiaou2@yahoo.com 

 if you are down with helping out.   And maybe a little post here
to let others know that you sent a mail, so will see how many
are jumping onboard, and get motivated to help as well.

  Thanks!
    ;D



 

Witchboard:
What about conversions?  Those pretty much use whatever the operator had on hand.  I was researching my Moon Cresta bootleg.  It has a two way joy and a button.  I found the Moon Cresta manual, and it actually didn't use a joystick at all, but two buttons for left and right.  Dedicated cabinets probably wouldn't be a problem, but conversions may become confusing and frankly, irritating.  :)

Xiaou2:

 Heya Witchboard : )

    You kinda answered your own question : )   

  Basically, you would have to check with the manual where available.   Any info and pics not verified with a manual would have a 'not verified'   tag on them.    Later, they could be updated with new information if they were incorrect.

  But I do agree, Bootlegs and conversions will be a bit tricky.   

  Thanks for the feedback so soon.   Every bit helps.   Im off to work now, so Ill be back late into the night to check up on things.



Flinkly:
i think it's a good idea that would group information from many sources and bring it together for people to investigate.  as for which controls, i think that dedicated controls should be used, and not conversions, so go to the manual if all else fails.  second, i'd be worried about the bandwidth and the place that this would be stored.  i'd wait till someone could offer this a permanent home, so that it isn't gathered and lost, or unable to be used.  third, would we cover games available to mame or all games?  i think we should focus on mame since this is what most people use and would be easier than all games.  fourth, i think a definite set of parameters should be set, like how a picture of a control panel should be constructed, and what the kind of file should be, aka jpeg file of control panel taken directly above the panel.

i do like this idea, as it will allow noobs to gain knowledge easily and will also help those exact arcade experience people.  lastly, i think within this project should be incorporated a controls section so that someone could find what the actual panel used, and then if it is still not clear to them what the wico 8-way leaf was, they could continue to another page and look at the single joystick and read a discription of the workings.

overall, i think this would be a great learning place for people in general, and would incorporate information that the mame and collectors community could all use.  great idea, i'd love to help.

oh, and i'd change your address so that people couldn't steal it and send you crap.  just but <nospam> in the center of it so that they can't pick it up straight off the page.

krick:
I think this idea just screams out for a database driven website like KLOV.com or MAWS.org

A project of this sort would require a human working as a "gate keeper" to make the updates because allowing "anyone and their brother" to edit the information is just asking for vandalism.

Is is possible that Saint could set something up or at least make a subdomain and some space available so that some enterprising webheads could work their magic?

The BYOAC arcade control library...  http://library.arcadecontrols.com  or something like that.

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