Starting up - What do I need?

[tazboy]

I've looked around here about what I need to buy to make a simple 1-person joystick, 6-button layout.

The only things I've figured out:

-- I can buy a good joystick that has a USB connection - U360. Does the USB connection make it better/easier to setup?

-- Pushbuttons - I guess Leaf switches are the best/most quiet. But I believe I can buy Microswitches for now and upgrade the bottoms of those to leaf switches later. Correct?

-- I need an I-PAC board or something to hook up the buttons and joystick up to. Not sure which one is needed. I would like to upgrade later to a 2-person layout with 8 buttons per joystick, along with a trackball, a couple admin buttons, 4 player buttons and a coin button.

-- Not sure what else I need. I'm pretty tired of trying to search around to find this. Been doing it awhile. I've seen lots of pictures but that doesn't get the job done - Parts list. It doesn't tell me everything I need.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the help and guidance.

[headkaze]

- U360's are great joysticks. USB doesn't make it any easier but because it's analog it needs USB.

- I don't think you can switch (pardon the pun) from microswitches to leaf because the way they connect to the button is different AFAIK

- U360's support 8 buttons per joystick, so you don't need an IPAC if you only need that many.

[tazboy]

So since I want all those player buttons and the coin button I would need an IPAC board, right?

Here's a site that talks about changing from a microswitch to a leaf switch. From August 2006 so I'm not sure the relevance now.

http://www.retroblast.com/Hardware/Review-...Pushbuttons.php

Is that all I really need? Does the software needed to run all this come with the U360 joystick or do I need something else?

Thanks.

[Tempest]

So since I want all those player buttons and the coin button I would need an IPAC board, right?

Here's a site that talks about changing from a microswitch to a leaf switch. From August 2006 so I'm not sure the relevance now.

http://www.retroblast.com/Hardware/Review-...Pushbuttons.php

Is that all I really need? Does the software needed to run all this come with the U360 joystick or do I need something else?

Thanks.

Ultimarc just came out with new firmware that allows the U360 to have "shifted" buttons. So you would have 8 regular, and at least 7 "shifted" buttons, assuming that you would have to use one button for the shift" function. I Don't have mine hooked up in that way, so I'm not sure how it works. If I remember correctly, Andy sends a CD allong with the joystick, but unless he has brand new ones with the updated software, you will want to update your firmware and driver to the latest version downloaded from the Ultimarc website.

Those Leaf switches look cool....let us know how they work out.

[tazboy]

So where are some basic places I can go to get the most popular joysticks and pushbuttons? Just want to look around at some favorite places. Thanks.

[headkaze]

http://www.ultimarc.com/

http://groovygamegear.com/

[tazboy]

I'm looking at getting the Happ buttons from tornadoterrys.

The only thing I'm having issues with is the joystick. I was leaning towards the U360 stick. Seems that there are a decent amount of issues associated with it by looking at other posts. Just seems like too much of a hassle for a $60+ joystick.

Any ideas on this joystick or other quality joysticks out there?

Thanks.

[bkenobi]

A lot of people just go with one of the HAPPS sticks and live with it. If you want a more analog solution, you could go with a 49 way stick, but you will want to get a 49 way encoder to go with it (GP-Wiz49 for example). That can also get pretty spendy, but they are supposed to be VERY nice! The biggest thing with those is that each stick needs it's own GP-Wiz49, so you would be looking at ~$80/stick last I looked. I think there's some buttons on those encoders, so you wouldn't need a 3rd one.

On the other hand, there aren't that many games that require special controls, so one option you could go with if you wanted the 49-way for P1 is to use a standard 8-way for P2. But, you would still need a second encoder.

[Brian Hoffman]

Id buy a 6 dollar USB gamepad. Break it open. Buy a Happ joystick 10 dollars and some buttons and cherrry microswitches. 10 dollars.

Then solder the leads to the gamepad.. voila

Cheap and effective

[tazboy]

Id buy a 6 dollar USB gamepad. Break it open. Buy a Happ joystick 10 dollars and some buttons and cherrry microswitches. 10 dollars.

Then solder the leads to the gamepad.. voila

Cheap and effective

Seems like an easy thing to pull off. Did you try this solution? Do you still use that joystick if you did? This would eliminate the need for an IPAC, correct? Of course, I would need to make sure the joystick had 6 or more buttons. I would still need an IPAC though to be able to have buttons like 'add coin', 'player one', etc... Or since I'm soldering, I could just use my old keyboard and solder those buttons onto that.

Let me know what you think?

Thanks.

[bkenobi]

Brian's solution is well documented around the web. If you are interested, try BYOAC forums. If you don't want to kill a perfectly good joystick, you could alternately buy one of the ECO solutions from GroovyGameGear.com. Check out the KeyWiz Eco and the GP-Wiz Eco. Both come in at ~$20 and are very elegant and come with all of the same functional features of the bigger brother KeyWiz MAX and GP-Wiz 32. The only thing you lose is the screw down terminals (you get solder pads instead). I'm sure there is something comperable at Ultimarc too, I just went with GGG instead...

Oh, and if you go with the GP-Wiz, you get 32 buttons (plus 1 joystick) rather than the 6-10 from a standard PC joystick...

[Brian Hoffman]

Seems like an easy thing to pull off. Did you try this solution? Do you still use that joystick if you did? This would eliminate the need for an IPAC, correct? Of course, I would need to make sure the joystick had 6 or more buttons. I would still need an IPAC though to be able to have buttons like 'add coin', 'player one', etc... Or since I'm soldering, I could just use my old keyboard and solder those buttons onto that.

Let me know what you think?

Thanks.

Yes and it works great. Tho the pic isnt mine.

Later I opted to get an IPAC as I got more and more into it.

Besides.. Most game pads have a select and start button...

So right there you can use select for coin and start for p1 start

Good to go.

Actually my time line was.

Hacked keyboard

Hacked joy pad.

Xarcade

IPAC

[hellothere]

Seems like an easy thing to pull off. Did you try this solution? Do you still use that joystick if you did? This would eliminate the need for an IPAC, correct? Of course, I would need to make sure the joystick had 6 or more buttons. I would still need an IPAC though to be able to have buttons like 'add coin', 'player one', etc... Or since I'm soldering, I could just use my old keyboard and solder those buttons onto that.

Let me know what you think?

Thanks.

Taz,

It matter on a few things. It matters what setup you are happy with. Personally I went with 2 Ultimarc 360's after debating about what joystick to go with. The reason i went that way is that the joystick will automatically configure from an 8 way to a 45 way just by selecting the game...Street Fighter vs a 4 way like Pacman

I went with Happ buttons with horizontal microswitches...find a guy who sells both product so you can save on shipping.

The ultimarc 360 also has a extra harness that you can plug 8 buttons into so THEN you don't need the Ipac. I got the harness and it works excellent

Let me know further...

[bkenobi]

Looking at the U360, I would definitely pick that over the HAPPS 49-way + GP-Wiz49. They both have essentially the same features, but it looks like the U360 is cheaper and also has a built in "mouse mode" that I don't think the GGG product does. If I were building today, I would very seriously look at spending the money on at least one of these. Two might be unnecessary since there aren't that many 2 player games that require odd inputs. So, I would probably go with 1 U360, 1 HAPPS 8 way, a GP-Wiz or IPAC, and as many buttons as you want in your interface. That's probably ~$100 USD shipped.

[tazboy]

Two might be unnecessary since there aren't that many 2 player games that require odd inputs. So, I would probably go with 1 U360, 1 HAPPS 8 way, a GP-Wiz or IPAC, and as many buttons as you want in your interface. That's probably ~$100 USD shipped.

That makes some sense. Not sure if it would be annoying having 2 different joysticks though. Though I do think the idea of using an IPAC for one controller is a pretty good idea because I'm going to need to buy one anyways for the 4 player buttons and other admin buttons.

If you want a more analog solution, you could go with a 49 way stick, but you will want to get a 49 way encoder to go with it (GP-Wiz49 for example).

I thought the U360 came with software so that you wouldn't need an encoder, correct?

Thanks for the great input so far everyone. It's much appreciated. I've been debating what I should get and I want to buy some stuff today but I'm just not comfortable with any one thing at the moment. But your information has helped.

[bkenobi]

I did more research after that post (your second quote) and found that the U360 and GP-Wiz 49 are essentially the same setup. Like I said in my last post, the value choice of the two is the U360, but really either will work great. I've heard some great reviews for the GGG board and HAPPS stick. On the other hand, everyone here raves over the U360. My guess would be you would be more than happy with either purchase.

As far as using different sticks for P1 and P2, as long as the sticks physically look the same (or similar) externally, I don't think it would be a problem. There are a lot of posts on that subject at BYOAC, so you might try reading some of the threads over there. I've asked a few questions and have generally gotten great responses. In fact, when asking about the GGG products, I was answered by RandyT directly more than once!