iCade button customisation.

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Squid123, Sep 12, 2011.

  1. sailboy72

    sailboy72 New Member

    Jan 23, 2012
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    iCade MOD

    How did you wire up the new buttons? Do they just duplicate the function of four of the existing buttons or are there open connections left on the wireless interface?
     
  2. MJFox

    MJFox Well-Known Member

    Aug 18, 2009
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    Vienna, Austria
    I wired the four new buttons to four of the existing ones

    greetings

    MJFox
     
  3. ravensong

    ravensong Member

    Jan 23, 2012
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    Parts upgrade

    Parts finally arrived yesterday. Finished the mods today, and whoa, what a difference. Locked the stick to fourway and all my favorites feel just like a real arcade machine.

    Wanted to share a few things with anyone that hasn't done this yet.

    Bought the sanwa stick with the plate, as i couldn't find the one without it. When I went to mount it on the control plate, one of the screws would not catch. After looking closer at it I saw that the tin hex screw receptor was not seated as far as it would go. Took the joystick apart, and pushed the little hex nut as far as it would go with a drill bit and re-assembled stick. Screws now fit perfectly.

    Bought the 20 gram buttons and found 2 of them to not respond to heavy pressure. Not sure what would cause this, but after a short break in time, they seem to be fine now.

    These 20gram sanwa buttons also use a smaller, thinner connector than the old switches. A bit of a gentle squeezing with a pair of pliers before sliding the old connectors onto the new switches closed the connection enough to give them a firm grip.

    Scratched my head a few times trying to figure out why there were 5 extra screws when i was done. Finally realized that I used the 4 new screws that came with the new stick, and had missed a single screw in the deep inset of the unit.

    Overall, I am super impressed with the difference between the standard parts and the replacements. Anyone considering this mod should not think twice about it.

    I'm definitly going to build a dual stick cabinet for Robotron and possibly a third cab with a spinner setup for some serious Tempest action.

    Today will be spent trying to convert roms to work with imame.
     
  4. zutton

    zutton New Member

    Feb 27, 2012
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  5. valendast

    valendast New Member

    Mar 4, 2012
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    New here. Hi :)

    First things first, you have my admiration for this guide. As like as you, I'm not into wiring&co. at all, so thanks for guiding me in my future iCade mod. I'm thrilled! And urged by need, as I really want to play with less clicking everywhere... :)

    I was thinking to use the same parts as you did, though I have a couple of queries, if you don't mind.

    1 - Buttons noise: I mostly play at night, when the rest of the family is usually asleep. Don't want to wake babies up by playing GnG, for sure!
    The iCade ones are a pain in the... ears. To which extent are your new buttons less noisy? I assume they are still clicking, yes?

    2 - Stick noise: basically, same questions as the buttons' one. How's the noise of your new stick?

    3 - I see you new white stick still has a square hole in the base, whereas I'd like an octagonal one. Is this easily replaceable?

    4 - Last one. I live in IT and do not have easy access to these peculiar parts. I see you're from DE. Where did you buy all this stuff? (shipping times are definitely crucial when the monkey rages on your back :D)

    Thanks in advance and coin on! :D
     
  6. MarkHerm

    MarkHerm Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    Germany
    Hi valendast!
    Thanks for your comment. I can only recommend to take the plunge and do it. It's a huge improvement over the stock parts and is a lot of fun to do.
    As to your questions:
    1. The sanwa buttons are way less noisy. I had the same problem as you: I barely could play while others were sleeping because of the click noise of the stock buttons. The problem is completely solved with the new buttons.
    2. Same with the stick. Not only is it more quite, it is way more precise to control.
    3. I ordered a octogonal restrictor gate as well. The replacement is extremely easy and only a matter of 30 seconds or so.
    4. I ordered everything at arcadeshop.de which I can only recommend. There is a English version of the shop available so I expect that you order there as well if you don't find a shop locally.

    Have fun,
    Cheers
     
  7. valendast

    valendast New Member

    Mar 4, 2012
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    That's great to hear. And thanks for the shop name, I'll definitely go for it.
    I'll post some pics when I'm done pimping my icade!

    Ciao!
     
  8. kaymm2

    kaymm2 New Member

    Mar 13, 2012
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  9. valendast

    valendast New Member

    Mar 4, 2012
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    And... done ;)

    [​IMG]

    Thanks u all for the precious tips.
     
  10. MarkHerm

    MarkHerm Well-Known Member

    Jun 4, 2009
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    Germany
    looks great! :D
     
  11. DazHulme

    DazHulme New Member

    Oct 14, 2012
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    Hey guys. Just finished modding my icade! (Wife bought the bits for my Crimbo present so it's going away now it's tested ) :0\ anyway I put in 8 Sanwa 30mm OBSF's & a Sanwa JLF and its sooo much better than the standard setup. Just to let you know I put a second spring in to stiffen things up and instead of the black insulation tape ultimate mod I used a thin pen top. I put a tiny shampher on the actuator , put the pen top in boiling water to soften the plastic then pushed over the actuator, then trimmed with a Stanley blade to the same length as the actuator. End results are great. Less travel on the stick. Mame plays fab. Lets see if I can get my lad buy me a true 8 way gate for Xmas too!
     
  12. Mr.Tantrum

    Mr.Tantrum Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    Q-Bert on iCade (before & after mod)

    Okay, I just got my iCade today and having all kinds of fun. However, one of my favorite games, Q-bert, is virtually unplayable due to the joystick orientation. I've searched the web but can't seem to find anthing to fix my issue. I've tried MAME mapping the joystick for the game which works great with the virtual joystick on the iPad, but has little to no effect on the iCade joystick.

    I just want to get a sense of what others experience with Q-bert before and after mod. Is it possible to map the 8-way on the iCade so that only the corners work? Does the Sanwa JS do any better at this than the default? Any other ideas? I've tried my darndest to play with the normal up/down/left/right, but it just doesn't work for me.
     
  13. parranoya

    parranoya Well-Known Member

    Nov 16, 2008
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    The thing I get paid for
    CANADIA
    Just play it with the icade sideways. This gives the joystick the correct orientation no?
     
  14. Mr.Tantrum

    Mr.Tantrum Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    Yeah, it's fun looking at the screen at a 45 degree angle except now everything on the right side looks much larger than everything on the left since the iCade is so much closer to my face on that side. I've tried closing my right eye, but that does not seem to negate the effect.

    Thanks for your technical expertise on this one :) Does anyone else have an alternate solution?
     
  15. Mr.Tantrum

    Mr.Tantrum Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    #115 Mr.Tantrum, Nov 14, 2012
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2012
    Finally Figured Out Q-Bert Joystick

    Okay, after hours of Googling, I was finally able to figure out how to customize the JS for Q-Bert using mame4ios and iCade. While most of you probably already know this, as a newbie I struggled so I will outline my solution:

    1) launch mama4ios and attach iCade to bluetooth
    2) launch Q-Bert (or other 45 degree joystick game)
    3) click "Option" on iPad (top right), select "Options" and set Control Layout to "iCade" under Input section then click "ok" button at top right to return to game
    4) press coin and start buttons at the same time (two left-most buttons on iCade - red ones pre-mod)
    5) sroll down to "Input (this game)" with joystick and press select button (top right on iCade)
    6) Now, set P1 Up, Down, Left, and Right settings by doing the following
    - scroll to desired setting with joystick
    - press select button on iCade (top right) and you will see a left and right arrow on the screen for the option
    - move the joystick to the appropriate corner and hold for a second or two to set the option (note that after the option sets, if you are still holding the joystick then the scroll will go a little crazy - no damage done, just scroll back to where you want to be)
    - now you will see the new control setting displayed according to how you set it
    7) Set each of the P1 controls as follows:
    - P1 UP: Joy 1 D-Pad Up Joy 1 D-Pad Right (move js to top right)
    - P1 Down: Joy 1 D-Pad Down Joy 1 D-Pad Left (move js to bottom left)
    - P1 Left: Joy 1 D-Pad Up Joy 1 D-Pad Left (move js to top left)
    - P1 Right: Joy 1 D-Pad Down Joy 1 D-Pad Right (move js to bottom right)
    * note that in each of these there is no "or" between the two movements meaning that both are required at the same time (e.g. a corner movement). If you see an "or" between the two then you will need to re-program and do a better job of holding the joystick in the proper position until it is set.
    8) After setting all 4 P1 movements, scroll to "Return to Prior Menu" and hit select button on iCade (top right)
    9) Sroll to "Return to Game" and hit select button on iCade again
    10) Now, you can finally control Q-Bert the way he was meant to be controlled - with corner joystick movements

    Before doing this, I just could not get my brain to work right. Q-Bert was one of my favorite games in the 80's and I've spent countless hours on it. After all kinds of frustration and finllay setting the controls as outlined above, I now am enjoying the game again!

    Now, if I can only figure out how to retain high scores in mame4ios . . . any help with that from someone?
     
  16. Mr.Tantrum

    Mr.Tantrum Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    #116 Mr.Tantrum, Nov 24, 2012
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2013
    Finished My Upgrade

    Just got my new controls in last night and upgraded the iCabinet. Everything went well, and it plays much more comfortably now. I went with Sanwa multi-colored buttons to match the cabinet, the Sanwa joystick with neutral gray ball, and the Sanwa 8-way gate. I used a Dremel tool for enlarging the holes which made fairly quick work of it. Also, I soldered all the internal wires and it was a breeze (actually got everything right on the first try with the joystick rotation). Anyway, take a look at the pics and let me know what you think.

    iCade_Cabinet.png

    iCade_Controls.png
     
  17. Tonyt76

    Tonyt76 New Member

    Jan 6, 2013
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    Where can you buy these IL buttons?
     
  18. Marcuni

    Marcuni New Member

    Feb 2, 2013
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    Joystick question...

    What is the best practical joystick solution to go back and forth between 8-4 way that would work with icade I don't mind if I have to leave the bottom of the case open....
     
  19. Mr.Tantrum

    Mr.Tantrum Member

    Nov 14, 2012
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    I think you are asking too much to swap between the two. Have you played with the Sanwa 8-way gate? Personally, I like it better for even 4-way play.
     
  20. Marcuni

    Marcuni New Member

    Feb 2, 2013
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    I built a control panel with ultimarc 8-4 way joystick, the pulling the stick up and twisting method. It works great and now it would be hard to have to compromise. I was wondering if anybody here has tried using this joystick or any other product with similar methods.
     

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