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Having to build CP with 3rows of 2buttons not 2rows of 3: config advice please!

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shmokes:
I agree with Mega.  That is a horrible layout.  If you can't fit six buttons, do without fighting games, just as you will do without light gun games if you don't have a light gun.  If you simply must have fighting games, make a bigger control panel . . . or . . . post some pics of your control panel or at least post the dimensions so you can get help from the people who are offering to help you.

I think you'll be happier with your project if you simply make some sacrifices and come to terms with them.  When I first started planning mine I was going to do a 4-player Ultimate Arcade cab with everything under the sun on the control panel.  Luckily I spent A LOT of time reading visiting the forums before I actually began ordering parts and building.  After a while, as I saw more and more projects, I found that the ones I most admired were not the jack-of-all-trades monsters, but the cabs with a more thoughtful design that maybe couldn't do everything, but everything they could do, they did well.  And they weren't awkward or ugly or ridiculous.

IMO, rotating the fighter buttons into columns instead of rows is a very inelegant solution.   Frankly, I suspect that it's possible to squeeze the traditional layout onto the control panel and still have it usable enough, as I've seen 2-player fighting setups on some pretty narrow panels.  But if it's not possible, just come to terms with it and go with a 4-button layout.  Leave it for a second fighting-cab project.  Or build multiple, modular control panels (or rotating control panels!).  Or build a wider control panel.

It just seems like an unnecessary compromise that you won't ultimately be very happy with.  Anybody even considering this solution must really love fighters, and anybody who really loves fighters can't possibly be happy with that control setup.  And any other fighter fans who come over to your house will have a big "WTF" over their heads when they see and try to play on your panel.

Ginsu Victim:
It's not a layout I'd ever use myself. I just pointed out that Turnarcades uses it.

Hey Craig, I assume you'll be around soon enough. What's the response of your customers to your layout? You wouldn't do it if they all hated it, so what's the vibe?

Diewrecked:
Hi guys

Many thanks for your responses. Seems the consensus is that I should lower the number of buttons. Incidentally I'm adding two spinners too (GGG TT2's so they're button size). Total frankenpanel I know (especially when you consider that one of them will have no top on it and will have a 7" steering wheel which will sit over the top of the trackball for when I want to play Pole Position!) but that's cool with me.

At this stage I've just got the holes from the original CP from when I bought the cab. I'll post some pics up on Thursday evening (UK time). I've got the trackball hard on the right hand joystick so it's just left of dead centre. The pics will show (a) the holes as they are with no kit and (b) the underside so you can see the footprints of the joystick and trackball.

I've not drilled the 82mm hole yet. Basically there's a guy I've been chatting to who did *exactly* what I'm doing - MAMEing an Electrocoin Goliath mk 3 cab, although with far less controls - who's original CP was in a much, much worse state than mine but who filled the holes with car body filler, sanded it and put an aluminium overlay over it then sprayed it with Hammerite. You can see the before and after pics below (lifted from his site http://www.insertcoin.org.uk/-  thanks Mike). Depending on what you guys think I may just take this approach and start over, with the trackball dead centre and move the left joystick out a couple of inches from the centre to make way for two rows of three plus (headless for the wheel) spinner.

Also these photos will give you an idea of dimensions whilst I'm waiting for a chance to take some of my own. The dims are 600mmx200mm; the left and right joysticks are 100mm and 210mm from their respective sides.

I opened a separate thread about building the CP a little while ago, although that was more about the spinner positions rather than buttons (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81999). The spinners are now going on the top (the other, "main" spinner will be to the right of the right joystick).

I'll repost once I've got more detail. Many many thanks for all your help so far you guys.

BTW Ginsuvictim - sorry fella I had no idea you could get trackball Track and Field's - I've never seen one. How do they work?

Jon

javeryh:
lokesen built a really nice 2P 6-button CP in what looks like a similar space.  http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/index.htm

He doesn't have a trackball though.  At some point you are just going to have to sacrifice something - save it for the second cabinet!

Turnarcades:
The layout will always have it's critics, and I agree it's unconventional for most. However as I pointed out before, many arcades in the UK never came in their original cabinets and we had to make do with whatever we were given as a control panel. This means many UK players are unfussy about non-original layouts and have learned to play on anything but originals. It's also the reason we don't do the 7-button thing for Neo-Geo Games; When I was younger I only ever saw 1 original Neo-Geo machine and the first time I played SF2 it was on a 3-button Jamma conversion so many UK gamers made do until we got home versions. Plus, playing Street Fighter with shoulder buttons on the SNES was unusual but we all got used to that didn't we?

We do the 3x2 layout only on the Bar-Top as it saves space. This layout enables a narrower machine to be built, which again is more important for our size-conscious customers and better in British homes. It seems unusual to a lot of people but most of our builds were born from customer feedback and the Bar-Top is a popular seller as many people told us they like the compromise of space while retaining full functionality. Some people still want the 2x3 layout and a wider panel but that's why we are custom builders; you gotta offer some set designs but it's rare we build them as we know people have very specific ideas of what they want.

I'd say to Diewrecked, don't sell yourself short on buttons when there is a solution that is still uniform and that you would get used to very quickly. You can do it like we do, with start buttons on the sides or front of the CP, and with this layout:

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 :cheers:

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