CPS1 CPS2 & CPS3 multi Kick harness condenser.

[Big_P Big_p]

Just checking if this interests anyone else as it may make a slight difference how I design it.

I have my cps1 and 2 multi in the same cab and decided to build a kick harness condenser. While I was at it I decided to add p3 and p4 controls out(in) via 2 db15 ports so you can play final fight and d&d with 3 players in a 2 player cab.

I have just realised that some (not all) neo geo controllers need 5v at the pin while others don't. This necessitates a slight redesign. At this point I thought I would ask of this interests anyone else because if it does I may go to through hole diodes over smd so it can be built easily.

Currently it takes 3 kick harnesses from different boards in(out) and accepts input from either the cabs CP, or DB15 controllers plugged into the on board ports. It also has volume control, a dip switch bank for turning off p1 and p2 b4,5 & 6 as their inputs can cause havoc to p3. If any interested party thinks the addition of some other feature is essential let me know this also.

Interested to see if this is useful to anyone else apart from myself.

 

[XtraSmiley]

Interesting and interested! How is volume control managed on the different PCB types?

I think, if it's not getting too crazy, digital button remapping is needed, so then you can play other 4 player games, such as Konami ones, where some of the games do/do not have a start button, or remapping so players can choose different characters, such as TMNT.

With digital button remapping, might as well toss in turbo fire...

Great project. Don't let feature creep get too crazy, but if you're going all in, might as well...

 

[tika]

This is great - I'm keen for a couple of these! Would it be a stretch and ask if the MK style kick harness could be added (or via a HAT/convertor to the CPS style kick harness)?

 

[Big_P Big_p]

Interesting and interested! How is volume control managed on the different PCB types?

I think, if it's not getting too crazy, digital button remapping is needed, so then you can play other 4 player games, such as Konami ones, where some of the games do/do not have a start button, or remapping so players can choose different characters, such as TMNT.

With digital button remapping, might as well toss in turbo fire...

Great project. Don't let feature creep get too crazy, but if you're going all in, might as well...

Volume I am not handling different board types just bringing the buttons from the cps2 kick harness to the pcb and including some small buttons.

Remapping is interesting and I considered it. However it's almost a separate board because if you included it at this point you could only remap the kick harness. I sort of see a button remapping autofire board as the next step along and I think the more modular you keep things the more broad utility they can have. The code is all almost complete in @Arthrimus db15 converters it would only need a minor tweek and a few Atmega's.

It will currently accept any kick harness. It's just they may need to be wired with a molex/nh connector.

So I believe that what these replies are telling me is that there are more situations where kick harness condensing and 3 and 4 player out is desirable but this only has utility outside of cps setups if there is an easy way to remap the buttons aswell. I'll look into this a little but I still really think button remapping/autofire is a different module.

 

[XtraSmiley]

Makes sense. It always comes down to more features, more costs in the end.

RBG from the forums here makes a product called the RECO that already does a lot of the remapping stuff. Can you make your harness just work with it and let it do all the heavy lifting on the digital side, while you do all the hardware wiring?

https://rgbslab.com/pages/reco-introduction

 

[hatmoose]

Reco looks super awesome - loving the OLED interface, truly the way of the future.

It looks like a 2 player solution, the Atmel 32,8 that powers it has a fixed number of i/o lines, and the kick header out has six pins.

This is absolutely perfect for P1/P2 extra kicks (which needs 6 lines)

To make it work 3/4 player remapping we're going to need a lot more i/o lines (maybe adding a second 32,8 and a minimum of 16 pins on the kick header out.

 

[Big_P Big_p]

To make it work 3/4 player remapping we're going to need a lot more i/o lines (maybe adding a second 32,8 and a minimum of 16 pins on the kick header out.

That is sort of the issue, and when you get to p3, p4 you need to start thinking about directions too as they can be on different pins on different setups. So like @hatmoose said it would be 16 lines in and 16 lines out to remap 4 players fully I think. 6 buttons each for p1 and p2 and the potential for 4 directions and 3 buttons for p3 and p4.

 

[XtraSmiley]

Hey guys, I never said it would be easy, I just jumped in this thread and started making demand!!!!

Whatever you end up doing, I'll follow along. I'm sure it will be awesome and you don't have to make and all in one thing the first time out. Do whatever feels right and lets see the final product, you can always refine and improve down the road!

 

[opt2not]

I’d be interested in a “simple” condenser that just supports 2 players. Would be great to put all 3 Capcom multi’s in one cab with a switcher.

 

[hatmoose]

I'd been thinking about this a lot for another project. The Atmega 328PB has a total of 23 IO lines. basing my thinking off Arthrimus awesome work which is open source here because its beautiful written and beautifully commented.
https://github.com/Arthrimus/Saturn_Controller_Demux

For all 4 players with up to 4 buttons per player (D&D) we would need
P1 = 8 or 10
P2 = 8 or 10
P3 = 8 (maximum)
P4 = 8 (maximum)
Coin = 1
Start = 4
Total = 37 or 41 potential inputs which is going to mean 41 potential outputs.
So 82 I/o

82 is a lot of I/o, I think the most you can get from the ATmega family is in the 1284 which has 30 I/o pins
So then I looked at port expander solutions like the PCF8591 which is awesome for lots of analogue ports, but this use case is mainly digital
https://www.electronicsforu.com/ele...a328-analogue-i-o-port-expander-using-i2c-bus
Also shift registers, but laggy
And as far as I got was here
https://forum.arduino.cc/t/how-to-add-more-digital-pins-to-arduino-uno-solved/169356/23
Port expander such as MCP23S17
And that's as far as I got...

 

[Big_P Big_p]

There are a few there I had not thought of yet. After my last post I realised the start buttons would add to it. Can we not forget the directions on p1 and p2 as I doubt these would ever need to be remapped (unless there is a specific need I have missed).

This is however why I consider it two separate projects. 1 is a condenser that gives you the ability to play cps p3 & p4 games via db15 and 1is a giant button remapping/autofire board.

 

[hatmoose]

Great point - I actually had not thought about that at all, and this has helped me greatly with my other project too - thank you!
(my other project being a DB15-DB15 remapper which is much easier now that you have joined those dots for me...)

Of course P1 UDLR and P2 UDLR never need to be remapped. And P4 UDLR also doesn't need to be remapped.
That reduces the I/o count by 12 + 12 = 24

P1, P2, P3, P4 start never need to be remapped so that's another 4+4 = 8

P3 UD also never need to be remapped so that's another 2 + 2 = 4

P3 L co-exists with P1HK and P3 R co-exists with P1MK

P1, P2, P4 coin dont need to be remapped
P3 Coin is the only coin clash (with P2HK), so we could improve the functionality and give each player an individual coin control without changing the count.

So that reduces 82 I/o down to 46 for CPS2/CPS3 - now just got to add CPS1

Oh, also, had forgotten about these guys who have 86 I/o which would be more than enough for the Giant remapping/autofire project
https://www.digikey.co.nz/en/products/detail/microchip-technology/ATMEGA1280-16AU/1245825

 

[XtraSmiley]

Just to be clear, player 1-4 start DOES need remapping because many games use it weird. Primal Rage being just one example, it uses start as an attack button.

 

[chacal231077]

Makes sense. It always comes down to more features, more costs in the end.

RBG from the forums here makes a product called the RECO that already does a lot of the remapping stuff. Can you make your harness just work with it and let it do all the heavy lifting on the digital side, while you do all the hardware wiring?

https://rgbslab.com/pages/reco-introduction

Hi!

The same for the JVS format connected to I/O Board, will it exist ?

 

[Big_P Big_p]

This is one I keep coming back to. Currently it condenses CPS1,2 and 3 kick harnesses and allows you to plug in a controller to play 3 and 4 player games. The power is only for some Neo-Geo controllers that need 5v. I thought about using the 12v on the CPS2 kick and a basic buck converter to get this but for now it takes in a 2pin xh connector with GND on pin 1 and 5v on pin 2. I was also playing around with the idea of condensing/muxing the CPS 1 and 2 multi selector but couldn't find a nice solution for switching between the multis. The second reason this has not happened yet is that routing traces was a pain and with the multiplexers on the board for switching the selector, it was turning to spaghetti. The trace routing is currently far from optimal but it appears to work. Ill keep playing around with this because I want it in my cab and when I am happy I will make a few up and release the gerbers.