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Step 3Control interfacing : Keyboard Hack
Now let's go over the controls: the pushbuttons and the sticks.
MAME use different keyboard key codes to control the game: for example you get Fire1 by pressing the Ctrl key. So basically what I did is substitute some keys of the keyboard with original arcade pushbuttons. This method is called Keyboard Hack.
You need, on top the sticks and pushbuttons, a standard PC keyboard (PS2 connector) that you take apart to take is circuit board (called encoder). A keyboard encoder is made of different electric contacts separated in 2 groups (let's call them X and Y) and by randomly connecting contacts from the group X and the group Y using all the possible combination, you get the desired key code.
The key codes used by MAME are (by default, see attached screen-shot):
Player 1
For example, on my encoder - each encoder is different - if I connect the contact 4 of the group X and the contact 11 of the group Y, I get the key code R (the key R in MAME stands for player 2 up).
Once you studiously wrote down in a table all the necessary combination in order to generate each key codes used by MAME (see attached image with a table for my example) , you can solder small wires on each contacts X and Y of the encoders to each microswitch contact from the pushbuttons and joysticks.
I would say this step is time consuming and can only be successfully achieved with careful planning.
However, the Keyboard Hack method I just described is obsolete (but is the most fun!). There are now on the market commercial programmable keyboard encoders, (such as the Ultimarc I-PAC) which allow to simply connect without any soldering iron all the pushbuttons and joysticks to the PS2 connector of the motherboard.
MAME use different keyboard key codes to control the game: for example you get Fire1 by pressing the Ctrl key. So basically what I did is substitute some keys of the keyboard with original arcade pushbuttons. This method is called Keyboard Hack.
You need, on top the sticks and pushbuttons, a standard PC keyboard (PS2 connector) that you take apart to take is circuit board (called encoder). A keyboard encoder is made of different electric contacts separated in 2 groups (let's call them X and Y) and by randomly connecting contacts from the group X and the group Y using all the possible combination, you get the desired key code.
The key codes used by MAME are (by default, see attached screen-shot):
Player 1
- Up: Arrow Up
- Down: Arrow Down
- Left: Arrow Left
- Right: Arrow Right
- Fire 1: Left Ctrl
- Fire 2: Left Alt
- Fire 3: Space
- Fire 4: Left Shift
- Fire 5: Z
- Fire 6: X
- Up: R
- Down: F
- Left: D
- Right: G
- Fire 1: A
- Fire 2: S
- Fire 3: Q
- Fire 4: W
- Fire 5: n/a
- Fire 6: n/a
- Start 1: 1
- Start 2: 2
- Coin 1: 5
- Coin 2: 6
For example, on my encoder - each encoder is different - if I connect the contact 4 of the group X and the contact 11 of the group Y, I get the key code R (the key R in MAME stands for player 2 up).
Once you studiously wrote down in a table all the necessary combination in order to generate each key codes used by MAME (see attached image with a table for my example) , you can solder small wires on each contacts X and Y of the encoders to each microswitch contact from the pushbuttons and joysticks.
I would say this step is time consuming and can only be successfully achieved with careful planning.
However, the Keyboard Hack method I just described is obsolete (but is the most fun!). There are now on the market commercial programmable keyboard encoders, (such as the Ultimarc I-PAC) which allow to simply connect without any soldering iron all the pushbuttons and joysticks to the PS2 connector of the motherboard.
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