Control Panel Image Project to use existing plugin to display on 2nd/3rd monitor

[AJR214]

A little intro and setup as to what I'm doing and why... and if it's something the community is interested in I'd like to share it as well. Hopefully I'm not recreating the wheel here. I know there are generic control panel images out there that look like an X-Arcade Tank Stick in generic green or black, with buttons, controls, etc. I presume there is a way to do an "automatic" control panel layout using an xml file and graphics to pick from. I know there is an Arcade.xml file in launchbox or that I found somewhere that sets up controls, button labels, etc that fills in the generic control panel. I'm not quite sure how it works and/or how to make it show up in LB/BB to look at. I've been told Pause themes or pressing a letter on a keyboard brings up the control panel, but have yet to find it... so moving on. There is also a nice transparent MAME control panel collection by @Antny in the downloads section. I prefer to see the original control panel, it's layout with controls and buttons, and the artwork. It reminds me of how it was played in the arcade, and I try to mimic the setup on my controller. I have the AtGames Legends Pro Gamer which I have modified with an Ultrastik 360FS analog triggerstick (removing the right side ball joystick), replaced a button with a GRS spinner, added a 4/8-Way TOS switcher, and just plug in as USB to a PC (not using the control puck). I looked at many control panels and my layout will match closely with most games out there. I have a Star Wars Trilogy Deluxe sit-down cabinet with a 46" LCD screen where the 50" rear projection TV used to be. I want the SWT marquee to stay, so I don't have a marquee monitor on this cab. However, I bought an 8" screen from Amazon (goes on sale for $50-$60 now and then) to mount in a spot on the original control panel that supports 800x480 IPS resolution. Where it's going, I couldn't go any bigger but have tested the images and they look good. I did this because I found some third-party plugins like LaunchBox Controls by @gbiscoo and DisplayOnMonitorX by @JoeViking245 that allow putting basically any image on another screen. So I'm playing around with both to see which works for me.

 

My original quest was to combine both my "generic" layout image I created with the angled transparent control panels (giving a top and front view of the original cp) from Antny in Photoshop making layers on my layout for controls, buttons, and text visible, shaded, or not there like so:

 

About 1/4 of the way through and having to scour the internet for cp images Antny doesn't have yet, I found real nice overlays to put in a top-down perspective rather than angled. I started putting buttons and controls on the cpo's to match the original cp's. While I don't always get the front view of the graphic, I get the top down view which matches the view of my cp layout like this:

 

So, I continued to use the CPO's and create top-down views where I could (some CPO's aren't available) for currently 337 games including 139 Neo-Geo using @Mr. RetroLust Dual Layout Marquees and a nice shot of an MVS control panel like this:

 

I've had to do cleanup on some CPO's as well as get creative in Photoshop. There are a handful of grainy images I've had to make from photos of a removed cp and not a screenshot or vector cpo image. I recreated some easy ones like Kick (or Kickman as some called it) because there was no CPO to be found and any cp image was poor quality or had major wear (e.g. arrows on every Kick cp photo I found were worn bad or not even there from years of use):

 

And now with Glenn's Retro Show Super Stick coming out (still in preorder), I'm adding rotary games. The GRS Rotary Stick will replace the other ball top joystick since it can do 4/8-way games as well. Here's Ikari Warriors:

 

I've spent about 4 months on this project to make my game room experience better when playing games. All images are in 1600x960 which is double the size of the monitor I'm using. I wanted to go bigger in case I ended up with a larger monitor later, or if I shared these with the community. I have the PSD layer files so adjustments can be made, along with saving each final file as a .PNG currently using the MAME ROM naming. As I said there is no automation in any of this. I am also just working on the games for my cab that I will have on it. That said, I am looking for some CPO's I couldn't find at all and no good cp pictures to start with either. Here is a list and if anyone can help it would be wonderful to add them:

Caliber.50

Downtown (Data East/Romstar)

Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters

Halley's Comet - I found a remake from the sideart, but it's a circle, not a pyramid

P.O.W.

T.N.K. III (TANK)

I'm sure there are a few others, especially from the new rotary stick lineup (3 of the above I know I can't find). I have made some good cpo's for Guerrilla War, Heavy Barrel, Ikari Warriors, IW2: Victory Road, Time Soldiers, Wild Western, and Xybots.

 

If there is an interest, I will upload what I have so far. As seen, my cp is custom, but in general it will work for what most people are probably looking for. The joysticks may not be the same, but most people have the same 6 or 8 button layouts and you'll have to improvise for your joysticks.

 

[Antny]

Neat concept.  I will be releasing more CP images real soon.  Actually, I will probably delete the current packs and release new ones.  I spent a lot of time perspective correcting all of them so I will eventually replace all the images.  I also have them in higher resolution.  Some of them really large.  If you want them, let me know.  If you know of any place to get images to add to the packs i did, let me know.

[jcstahl1]

I'm definitely interested in this project even though I can't provide much help for artwork.  I've been thinking about adding another screen for just this purpose and using the ThirdScreen plug-in.

[oilumiun12]

This is a great project, I'm really looking forward to having more CP images so I can understand it more deeply 

 Fnaf

 

Edited January 17 by oilumiun12

[damageinc86]

What an amazing idea!  I've always wondered how the heck I'm going to remember which one of the buttons do what (when I finally do make an actual cab).  Something like this would be phenomenal.  I wonder if you could do some creative woodworking to a recroommasters cab and mount a small monitor under the main monitor, right above the control panel.  That's where I'd want them to show up.  So you just have to look slightly up from your own control panel and see the comparison.

[jedijeff]

I have been searching for an archive of control panels for a while now and finally came across your thread today. Great job so far. I have been looking for flat top down views of the original arcade control panels for a while with very little success. There are just too many garbage results when searching for anything any more. I would be very grateful if you could share what you have so far.