emulating esc key on a joystick. - HELP

[michelevit]

i have a mame cab that i built which i thought was completely done, except....

i recently updated my mame32fx and dumped more marquees and cab pics into it
and now the hidden joystick key which emulates a ESC command doesnt wotk.

My cab has three admin buttons hidden underneath the control panel. These are
little micro switches which are mapped to pause, credit and ESC.

The mame is configed to recognize these buttons except for the ESC key which I guess is
not mappable with MAME.

So i was using autohotkey to remap that joystick key to emulate ESC which gets me
out of the game without reaching for my wireless keyboard.

now that i updated to the latest version of mame32fx, the esc key is not emulated properly with AUTOHOTKEY.
It works in the windows environment, but it doesn't work in mame.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. It really bothers me that this used to work, and now
that I upgraded my Mame, its broken.

I know the button itself works,
the autohot key script is the same
and ESC is emulated everytime, except for in MAME when I need it.
I also installed JOY2KEY and it also doesnt work.

Thanks again for the great forum and I look forward to finding the answer.

[gonzo90017]

Those programs don't work anymore. You have to use a mame version older than 118. It's also discussed here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=71931.0

[michelevit]

any suggestions?
everything is buttoned up and I'd love to exit the mame game
with the hidden joystick button.

I have a bunch of usb keyboards salvaged so I can probally do a keyboard hack.

software would be easier.

[gonzo90017]

You don't have to use the newest version of mame. I'm using Mame 37 
Just use 117.

[u_rebelscum]

software would be easier.

You're only using mame, right?

Stop using the joy2key software, and map joyXbuttonY (whatever the button really is) to mame's "UI Cancel" input.  (Start game, tab or whatever you have mapped to mame's "Config Menu", input general, User Interface, UI Cancel, enter, that button you want.)

[michelevit]

that WORKED!
thanks a million. I didn't think that command was remappable.
thanks again and thanks for this great forum. now i can escape
a game without using my keyboard.

[Dariusz]

Question:

Once the mame ui input has been configured using the joystick on a game, does it apply to all games, or do you have to configure the joystick for induvidualy for all games?

Also does the mame ui input allow for hot keys (ie. when two bottons are pressesd at the same time, the esc command is applied?).

Thanks

Draiusz

[gonzo90017]

Question:

Once the mame ui input has been configured using the joystick on a game, does it apply to all games

Yes. If you configured it through "Input (general)".

Also does the mame ui input allow for hot keys (ie. when two bottons are pressesd at the same time, the esc command is applied?).

Yes.

[u_rebelscum]

Also does the mame ui input allow for hot keys (ie. when two bottons are pressesd at the same time, the esc command is applied?).

Yes.

To expand on this:

To map hot keys, do it like normal but press the keys you want mapped at the same time (within + or - about half a sec).

To map "this" OR "that", do it like normal but only press "this", wait until the mame UI shows the new map (about a second), press enter then press "that".

Mame can have as many as 16 keys, buttons, and ORs mapped at once.  IOW, a 16 key hot key, an 8 key hot key + OR + a 7 key hot key, etc.