iCade Jr. issues

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by Frankie_Says_Relax, Dec 7, 2012.

  1. Frankie_Says_Relax

    Frankie_Says_Relax New Member

    Dec 7, 2012
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    Office Admin
    Fort Lee, NJ
    Hey all,

    Hope that this is in the right forum, if it isn't a mod is welcome to move it.

    Signed up because there simply doesn't seem to be any level of comprehensive information out there at the present time on control issues with the iCade Jr.

    I just got mine in the mail yesterday from Think Geek and I've got to say that in comparison to the "iCade Sr.", I'm pretty disappointed in the functionality of the little guy, at least where iMAME/MAME4ALL is concerned.

    I have iMAME (the version that was available via the actual app store briefly last year) running on a non-jailbroken iPad 2 and a non-jailbroken iPhone 4.

    Where that version of mame does not have any issues with the original iCade on either the phone or the iPad, it seems that the four face buttons on the iCade Jr do not work when pressed simultaneously with a direction on the joystick. (It varies per game, some games you can press LEFT and a button simultaneously, others up/down, etc., but in no cases does it work universally or how you'd want it to.)

    So, any game where you are required to run and jump/shoot, the iCade Jr. is woefully incompatible.

    It appears in the button-assignment options in iMAME that MOST of the face buttons on the control panel of the iCade Jr read out as 4 or more buttons being pressed simultaneously, but even in the case of the 1 or 2 buttons that read as regular number buttons (1,5 etc.) the problem still persists.

    I've paired the Jr. to both the iPhone and the iPad and the problem persists on both, so it's not a matter of the iPad being able to handle more simultaneous keyboard inputs.

    Is this related to the version of iMAME that I'm running? Does anybody know if this has been resolved on newer versions of iMAME on jailbroken devices?

    Has anybody experienced this with an iCade Jr? Does anybody here have any insight to the differences in the functionality of the iCade Jr. and the iCade Sr. that could be causing the Jr. to do this and the Sr. to work practically perfectly in all games?

    I really like the Jr., but like most, we invested in iCade stuff for MAME.

    I'm relatively savvy with non-jailbreak stuff in iOS, so feel free to share instructions on updating files in the app itself if that's possible. I can side-load via iFunBox.

    If I HAVE to Jailbreak to get it to work on the phone I'll hang on to my iPhone 4 when I upgrade and jailbreak it then.

    Thanks in advance for any help!!! Hopefully this thread can be the start of a knowledge base on this issue for the Jr., because I can promise you there's nothing else out there that I was able to find!
     
  2. Frankie_Says_Relax

    Frankie_Says_Relax New Member

    Dec 7, 2012
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    Office Admin
    Fort Lee, NJ
    So, just an update.

    After a week or so of poking around and continued testing I find that contrary to my initial assessment, the only buttons on the front "control panel" of the iCade Jr. that WILL allow for simultaneous button presses along with joystick directions are the two buttons to the far right (the top right and bottom right).

    Those buttons read/register/display as multiple joystick presses in the in-MAME button assignment options.

    The buttons that show up as number keys (1,5, etc.) can not be utilized simultaneously with joystick directions.

    I SWORE I had tested those in all of my attempted configurations.

    I still find it disappointing that the two left buttons on the front of the device can't be used for any game where you need to move and press a button at the same time, but I'm okay with having TWO working buttons. (most classic games don't use more than that).

    In my travels/discussions researching this I hear that this issue is also present with the iCade Mobile joypad but NOT the 8-Bitty.

    So, for those looking to buy an iCade Jr. to use with MAME, temper your expectations & know that it's basically a 2-button device on the front control panel.
     
  3. JBGamer

    JBGamer New Member

    Jan 16, 2013
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    HI ... having same problem ... very frustrating!

    Were you able to at least re-map the 2 upper right buttons on the iCade Jr. ???

    It is SO hard to play games using the buttons on the back of the cabinet for jump / fire actions!

    Thanks!
     
  4. psj3809

    psj3809 Moderator

    Jan 13, 2011
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    England
    Sorry to hear your troubles. But i must admit i'm kinda glad you told me as theres no way i'm getting an icade Jnr now

    The 8 bitty is great BUT the iCade has 8 buttons to use, the 8-bitty has 4 red buttons so some of the mapping is quite off. Eg on Mos Speedrun you have to use the right shoulder button to jump.

    MAME is great on the 8-bitty but a fair few games you have to use the shoulder button due to mapping.

    Shame theres not a rule for devs to say 'use the 4th column of white buttons on the icade for jump/fire'. Problem is some devs use the first column (red ones), others use the black buttons, others the white.

    So then on other devices like the 8 bitty the mapping is off
     
  5. Frankie_Says_Relax

    Frankie_Says_Relax New Member

    Dec 7, 2012
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    Office Admin
    Fort Lee, NJ
    Yes, like I said in my update below my post, the iCade Jr. allows for functional iMAME mapping on the two right buttons on the front panel.

    I don't bother mapping anything to the back buttons.

    You can map things like coin and start to the front left buttons, they just won't work for anything that needs to simultaneously be pressed while you're moving with the joystick.
     
  6. vcoleiro1

    vcoleiro1 Member

    Nov 20, 2011
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    Australia
    #6 vcoleiro1, Jan 17, 2013
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2013
    I can confirm the issue Frankie_says_relax mentions. In imame4all the front left and bottom buttons are mapped by default to coin and start. If you try to use them for firing etc by remapping , they don't work properly when you use the joystick. You also press these 2 buttons together to enter the imame4all key mapping menu.

    The front right and top buttons can be remapped with no issue when using the joystick.

    I also managed to remap one of the buttons to exit the game and return to the imame4all menu.

    To me it didn't matter as I ripped the iCade Jr apart and made myself a mini arcade using the iCade Jr's board and a Coleco mini Pacman arcade. I just moved the new back buttons to the front CP.
     
  7. JBGamer

    JBGamer New Member

    Jan 16, 2013
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    More help ...

    Thx for the feedback ... sorry but I am still unable to map the upper right two buttons on the iCade Jr.! Can you please explain how to get the upper right buttons to work for basic shoot / jump functionality???

    I am able to access the Input (general) and (this game) screen but unable to remap???

    Thanks in advance for your help!!!
     
  8. vcoleiro1

    vcoleiro1 Member

    Nov 20, 2011
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    Australia
    ^ When your in the remap menu , go down to the button you want to remap, then press the back left bottom button , then the button you want to map to
     

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