Main > Main Forum
What interface board(s) do I need?
Farmboy90:
Hey guys,
I am excited to start my project - it'll be my first. This site has been GREAT and has me amped to build my own system.
Here is what I am thinking in terms of stuff on the control panel. What I am unsure of is what boards to buy to make it all work nicely.
- 2 8-way sticks.
- 7 buttons for each of the 8 way sticks
- 1 trackball
- 1 spinner
- Player 1 and 2 buttons
- 1 button for adding credits
- 1 button for escaping back to the menu
- 1 pause button
- 1 flight stick - the one with the two buttons on it
- 2 buttons to be used by the trackball and spinner
- 1 4 way stick that will reuse some existing buttons
- Oh and I will add a coin door, but I figure that connection will be tied to the Add Credit button I listed above.
Will that setup provide me with enough to cover most games? How about Paperboy? I heard the trackball works well enough for that...
Is the 28 input IPAC enough?
I will also need an Optipac for the spinner. The trackball will have its own separate usb connection right?
Is IPAC even the way to go? I know there are other boards out there.
Are the Perfect 360 joysticks the best?
Wonder what price PonyBoy can give me for all this. :)
BTW, the layout will be similar to this panel:
http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap3/cpbuilding.html
Sorry for so many questions all rolled into one.
Thanks guys!
mahuti:
Welcome to the board. Just FYI, most of these questions have been covered by the various FAQs and links posted above, and most have been covered many times (even in recent threads). Anyway, that being said;
Depends on your exact configuration, but at a minimum,
you will need 27 inputs. so a 28 input ipac will be fine. The optipac will allow you to have 2 (or is it 4... whatever) additional buttons (mouse buttons) and you can control several spinners / trackballs. You COULD buy a usb trackball, but you might as well just buy a standard trackball and run it through the optipac. With the 28 button ipac, you will need to reuse some inputs (ie. on the 4 way stick)
As far as other encoders... it's all about taste. Ipac and the GroovyGameGear encoders are very popular, and the differences are only minor (IMHO)
Joysticks = best? Also a matter of opinion discussed ad nauseum. Do a search, it will come up about 8000 times :P
And as far as "most" games... also up to debate. Depends on how specific you like your controls. I would say "enough" games.
My current configuration uses several swappable panels, 1 includes a trackball, spinner, 4 buttons, and a 49 way stick with the GPWIZ and a rotary hack (druin's board) If I were to do that panel again, I would use an optical rotary hack, rather than the switch rotary. This setup costs a lot more to get started with (due to the 49way gear, and such) but it's super, super nice to start a game and not worry about the "type" of game... the 49 way switches automatically. But again. It's all a matter of taste.
ahofle:
--- Quote from: Farmboy90 on November 16, 2005, 05:52:46 pm ---Will that setup provide me with enough to cover most games? How about Paperboy? I heard the trackball works well enough for that...
--- End quote ---
I'll just throw in 2 cents on this... I don't think the trackball works well at all with paperboy. I just used a cheap analog PC joystick for that game (and a few others like roadrunner and food fight). You can also just use an analog USB gamepad for those games. Or ideally, you could make your flight stick a 49 way and that would solve everything. :)
Farmboy90:
What is the difference between a 49 stick and a flight stick? Is it just the buttons on the flight stick?
In other words, if I change the flight stick out for a 49 joystick, will I still be able to play "flying" games where I would have used the flight stick?
Also, if I do that, then do I need another optipac? I think the 49 sticks are optical.
markrvp:
49-way joysticks require their own encoder (GGG GP-Wiz 49) and are different from analog sticks. They are not interchangeable with analog sticks.
What spinner are you planning on using?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version