To map a new key to a button, just select that button, press ENTER, and then hit the button on your controller. Hit TAB to bring up the menu and select Inputs. Mapping inputs using a controller is just like using a keyboard. Some free, lightweight joystick testers are out there for download depending on your OS.ģ. Before trying to map your input buttons in MAME make sure your pad/stick is being recognized properly by your computer. I am not one of these so maybe I'm just not good enough to know the difference.Ģ. Some die-hards think that there's too much lag between a USB gamepad/stick and your PC. Not directly, but I can tell you what I know:ġ. It all depends on what you need and what you are willing to pay for.Ĭheck out this link for more information on that.Ĭan anyone point me to a good tutorial for getting that set up?
Some have software that enables key configuration and saves settings. Many of these are MAME friendly and some even have the default MAME key inputs (5 for coin, 1 for start, etc) as their defaults, which makes setup easy and recovery a snap should it lose power and reset. That will do the same thing, but you won't have any soldering to do like a keyboard hack. Your other option is to use a factory made keyboard encoder, which is much better if you can afford to drop $40 bucks or so, depending on the brand and features. That can be tricky, because you can hit a pair that causes havoc if not careful (power lead maybe?). Then, you have to trial and error touching the wire leads to map the pairs to find the combination for the keys you want to use. I have not tried to drill my own holes into the PCB, but I would not recommend that.
It is hit or miss on finding the right keyboard though, because I cracked open a dozen or so keyboards just to find that 1 PCB. The fit was tight enough that it works great without having to use any solder.
I finally found a keyboard that had a PCB with wire holes in the board at the contacts, so I was able to force a copper telephone wire (solid kind, not braided) into the holes with a bit of sanding and pinching with needle nose pliers. Just google keyboard hacks and you will find a lot of info, but unless you are skilled at soldering, then this may not be your best option. This allows for use of many retro game controllers, original arcade controllers, and custom configurations for laying out control panels identical to the arcade machines you will be training for. That way, you can simulate the key presses with any microswitch. I have not had any luck getting a USB gamepad or joystick to play nice with MAME.