# Building a MAME Arcade Console



## wbassett

I am starting a new project... Building a full size standup arcade system!

First the question is probably Why? Sure there are game consoles all over the place, this was more of a nostalgia reason. I grew up with Defender, Asteroids and all those cheesy but classic games.

I have been working on my HT setup and am very happy with my screen and that setup, so I started looking for some other things like a popcorn machine, and I stumbled on this...







The price was unbelievable at $399, which was the first telltale sign. The reviews I read were less than stellar. 

People were talking about add on game packs, which lead to a search and before I knew it I found MAME- Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator. 

I downloaded MAME and in a couple of minutes I had an actual arcade game running on my 3GHz PC and running in all of it's original 6800 CPU glory! Everything was there, the sound, graphics... you even had to 'add' quarters to be able to play. So I know first hand this isn't as hard as it may seem. It may not be cheap and the games are probably too cheesy for anyone that didn't grow up playing them and wants to remember some of those teenage memories... but it can be done!

I dug out my old tank of a joystick, a Wingman Extreme, cleaned it off and within a few more minutes had every button programed through MAME. Next was to look up kits or plans to build your own arcade cabinet... and there are plenty of them out there!

I came across this site and knew I wanted my own system!







It didn't take long to determine the Wingman joystick wasn't going to cut it for a true arcade system look and feel. I found these controllers:

x-arcade was the first one I found. The Tankstick looks interesting and comes with 18 games on CD. At $199 it is more than a regular old joystick, but it was much cheaper than buying an old standup arcade game that only has one game, or the much better (than the Midway Classic console Walmart and Target is selling) Arcade Legends, but that is also $2800 and I know this can be done for half that price or even better than that.







Also there is the HotRod arcade console  for $99, but no trackball...

Last (for now) is the SlikStick. This one is much more expensive than the other two, but also is more like a real arcade setup.

SlikStick CO2 controller- $599








SlikStick Quad Unit at a whopping $699


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## wbassett

*The Game Engine*

First thing to say is I haven't even started building this yet. So far I have only spent a week looking things up and testing MAME out.

If you want a more true to life arcade and not just a fancy game console, MAME is the way to go. It emulates all the classic arcade consoles and there are free ROMs and you can buy ROM packs too. The PC specs are not that demanding either, so it would be easy and inexpensive to do on an old PC sitting around the house. I plan on going a little beefier though. That will allow me to play other games than just arcade games. 

Plus using a PC allows games like one of my wife's favorite's Timon and Pumba's Jungle Pinball!

Supposedly with a modded XBox you can also run MAME and arcade ROMs. 

A couple of things to note from my findings so far... the x-arcade will work with any PC, MAC, or game console including PS, PS2, XBox, Game Cube and the Sega DreamCast. It looks like the adapter for each of these consoles connects to the x-arcade controller via a serial cable, so it would be possible to use a serial selector box to switch between different consoles. More on that though with the individual controllers.


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## wbassett

*x-arcade*

x-arcade has several controllers ranging from a single player console to the two player TankStick. 

Here is the Solo Stick, it is $99 and doesn't come with any game CDs.









Next is the Dual Player for $125









... and then the TankStick for $199







The track ball in the TankStick is perfect for games like Major Havok, Marble Madness, and any arcade game that used a trackball. The downside is the trackball only works with a PC and not a game console. So if someone is interested in doing a project like this too but only wants to use a PlayStation, XBox, Game Cube, Dream Cast or a combination of just those dedicated consoles and not a PC, you can save $75 by going with the Dual Player over the TankStick.

Each of the above controllers comes with one free adapter, only the TankStick comes with the 18 arcade games on a CD. The titles that come with the TankStick are--
12 Atari® Classics for PC Use:

Asteroids®
Asteroids™ Deluxe
Battlezone®
Centipede®
Crystal Castles™
Gravitar™
Millipede™
Missile Command®
Pong™
Super Breakout®
Tempest®
and Warlords®

6 Full Version Midway Titles:

Gauntlet®
Defender®
Smash TV®
Robotron®
Rampage®
and Joust®

I am not affiliated with x-arcade or pushing their product, I am just listing pricing and what's included. I will include as much information for the other controllers as I have too.


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## wbassett

*HotRod*

The HotRod controller essentually looks like the x-arcade Dual Player and is $99 vice $125, so if a trackball isn't a desired requirement here is another $25 you can knock off the price. 

Here is an excerpt from their website
_"The HotRod Joystick is a PC based model on the original arcade control panel designed for home use. It plugs right into the back of your PC, through the PS/2 keyboard port in between the keyboard and the PC. The HotRod Joystick is a low-level bios input device, and it simulates a keyboard to your computer. It is designed to replicate that classic arcade feel using Retrogaming emulation programs such as M.A.M.E., Retrocade, and commercial release titles such as Microsoft's Return of the Arcade, and Atari Classic Arcade hits.

HotRod simulates that real classic arcade experience, by using real commercial grade arcade components, that are actually an overkill for the home market. However, it produces a nice effect for that avid classic gamer who demands that authentic play.

It is a very unique joystick, unlike any regular joystick you will find on the market. It is capable of playing 1 to 2 player games side by side with your friends, or complex arcade games that require dual joystick usage such as Robotron, BattleZone, or even CrazyClimber. That old analog PC joystick could never do this!

Thanks to some very good programmers, several PC based programs called emulators let you play actual arcade machine ROMS (Read Only Memory chips) on your PC at home. These emulator programs are completely free and can all be found from a variety of sources on the Internet. M.A.M.E. (Multi Arcade Machine Emulator), is by far the biggest emulator project with many programmers writing drivers for well over 4000 supported games to date. The original video game hardware cabinets to these games, may be long gone after near 20 years now, but the spirit of these great classic arcade games live on through emulation. Emulator programs such as M.A.M.E. have allowed us to relive our fondest memories of good times at the local video arcade pumping thousands of quarters into our favorite video game.

Thanks to your feedback, suggestions and support, we have succeeded in producing a world class PC hardware product that has that true arcade feel built into it. We have come up with what we believe is the absolute best joystick control panel at the best possible value and we are proud to put our name on it!"_

All in all this is a nice looking unit for the price. I'm not so sure I like the purple and the big HotRod logo, but it's not that bad.

Also, I would be willing to play with this system and modify/customize the look with contact paper or someother way of changing the look. I don't think I would be too keen on messing with a $200 item though incase I screw it up somehow.


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## wbassett

*SlikStick*

This really does look 'Slick' and they picked the right name.

It has the look of a real arcade system and can go all the way up to a four person layout.








At $699 though it is around seven times the price of the HotRod controller.

SlikStick offers custom configurations as well, but I am sure the cost quickly goes up with custom layouts.

This unit is made for use with a PC running an emulator like MAME and they do have an XBox controller, but that is all right now. I do not know (yet) if the trackball or spinner will work with a game console though.

Speaking of spinner, this is the only premade console I have seen that includes a spinner. I really don't know how many arcade games used a spinner, but there were a few so this may be a much desired option for some people.


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## wbassett

*Controller Thoughts and Opinions*

So far I plan on using a PC running MAME and maybe a PS2 or XBox.

Here are some of the pros and cons for the different controllers as I see them.

x-arcade has decent prices and goes from a single player up to a two person setup and has a trackball. They have the most adapters available and have gotten rave reviews. It is a little more expensive than the HotRod, but with the TankStick it includes a boat load of games that should get anyone more than started. Not many cons to list. 

HotRod has only one setup that I can see, a dual player layout. Price is fantastic and doesn't cost much more than some of the fancy force feedback joysticks I have seen. The only con I can see is it just has the one layout and possibly the color.

SlikStick. Right off the bat the price is daunting. It's not because it is using better components or anything like that, both the x-arcade and HotRod use actual arcade joysticks and push buttons. It is probably because they are more true to an actual arcade look and from what I infer from their web site, it sounds like they hand make each unit.

If someone has the skills (meaning knows how to solder and work with premade circut boards) you can also make your own controller for more than half the price of the SlikStick Quad, but probably not much less than the TankStick. I priced a trackball at $89 so that is almost half the price right there. I'm sure they can be gotten cheaper than what I saw, but probably not in the $20 range... at least not for an actual arcade trackball. Genuine arcade joysticks and push buttons are pretty inexpensive though. A joystick will cost around $12, and buttons are less than $2 each. Joysticks can go all the way up to $100 though for a trigger stick. A spinner is around $30.

eBay has a lot of arcade parts. I saw several Star Wars flight yokes for around $30, and I am sure a trigger joystick can also be found cheaper than the $100 mark. 

My 'dream' system would be the 1uparcade setup, but I know I can't build that and the person that made it doesn't give out plans and doesn't sell a setup like that.


As much as I love that layout, I will probably end up going with a modular design where I can swap out the main controller and pop in a custom one for certain games.

I am sure there are other companies making controllers and places to buy parts cheaper. When I run across more sites and information I will post that here as well.


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## wbassett

*Building a MAME Arcade Console- Initial Planning*

I did some more web searching last night.

Where this is going to be challanging is for multiple game setups. It will be impossible to duplicate a control console for every game I plan on having in the 'arcade', so there does have to be some sort of universal setup that both looks good (by that I mean looks like an arcade console and not a NASA panel with an overwhelming amount of sticks, buttons, and spinners) and is functional. 

There are no 'winners' in any of the controller's I previously listed. They all are really top quality units. I started looking at whether a premade unit like the HotRod or x-arcade would be better than trying to build one myself. My conclusion may be interesting 

SlikStick has the most actual arcade style control options, but is also the most expensive. x-arcade has a BYO- Build Your Own (interesting variant on the DIY accronym). It looks to be so easy a kid could do it. I started building a parts list-- This is just for the controllers, the cabinet and entire list will be coming!

Controller Board and USB Cable- $70
Joystick/Button package (2 sticks and 20 buttons)- $30
Trackball X2 (2 for Marble Madness)- $59.95 ea $120 total
Spinner- Still need to locate one and the price

Additional items

Steering Wheel
Flight Stick
Star Wars Flight Yoke (found several on eBay for $30)
Light Guns

I really don't think construction is going to take all that long. The hardest part and what is going to take the longest is designing the control panel. I really like the rotating unit shown earlier, but I know I can't design that on my own and the guy that made it won't give out or even sell the plans... bummer on that. 

So that leaves either one huge cluttered console, or a modular system where the different panels can be swapped out. I figure the nice thing about a full size cabinet is the other control panels can be stored inside (maybe- depends on how much room is left).

What I found from the initial parts list is that it just may be cheaper to go ahead and buy the TankStick. It already has the controller board, the PS2/USB cable, one trackball, two joysticks and twenty buttons... plus is comes with 18 arcade games. The parts alone come to $160, I figure the games are worth $30 

Right now, my guess is I will need(want) an additional $200 plus in other controllers- second trackball, spinner, flight yokes, Steering Wheels... 

So the bulk of the cost is going to be the controller. The hardware for the game engine is a no frills PC. The games themself are tiny in size, usually less than a MB in size. Some of the newer arcade games are a whopping 10-20 MB max. CPU that these games ran on was typically a Motorola 6800 CPU running at a blazing 4Mhz. I plan on using a computer that is 2Ghz or less and loading up on the ram and hard drive specs. 

The monitor- Believe it or not, a computer monitor has too high of a resolution and from what other's have found they can make the images too blocky and 'jaggie'. There are actual arcade monitors available, but a regular TV works just as good. I plan on a 24" or 25" TV for the console screen. I may be getting a 27" Apex for nothing, so that could be a candidate.

Sound- It's basic beeps and blips for most games. Some have better sound, but nothing that would require a $200 sound card. Initially I will use the speakers in the TV, but down the road I will probably add built in speakers. I am sure there will be much more information coming on the final construction steps!

The Cabinet- MDF is inexpensive and I figure 4-5 sheets. The really nice units aren't painted MDF, some people have used laminate sheets on the outside of the cabinets. I happen to know a lot about laminates and where to get 4x8 sheets at good prices so I'm set there!  Fit and trim for the monitor bezel, controller, and things like a marque and Coin Slot door are some things I still have to check into, but I found most of them on eBay very inexpensive.


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## wbassett

I am not even sure if anyone else is interested in this. If not, I'll just blog it here and I am sure at some point someone else may be interested and find this useful. If it is totally off topic for the site and forum let me know and I'll remove it.

I figure part of the movie experience is the popcorn and atmosphere, and arcades add to the lobby atmosphere, at least to me!


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## Sonnie

I game to follow it... :bigsmile:

All those buttons make it appear that some of those games will be a little more of a challenge than the regular console games.


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## wbassett

Sonnie said:


> I game to follow it... :bigsmile:
> 
> All those buttons make it appear that some of those games will be a little more of a challenge than the regular console games.


Yeah that is why I am opting to build my own controller layout. It still won't be exactly like a single dedicated arcade machine, but that's a compromise I guess. The other options are 1 have a ton of arcade games like that spoiled brat in the TV show Silver Spoon had (which would be cool, but I don't have that kind of space), or two have dedicated control panels that you would swap out for each game. Doable, but sounds like a royal pain. 

I'm still playing with this and believe it or not it is a lot of fun and is bringing back tons of memories! I mean if it wasn't for the nostalgia and a coolness rating of 15 on a scale of 1-10 I'd just play games on an Xbox or PS2. Actually, this setup will still allow me to do that!

I have my projector and screen all done, and tonight I am shopping for a 1080p HDTV to replace my 36" Toshiba. After that I want a pool table for the front living room, the arcade system and a popcorn machine and I'm set! Party at my place lol


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## wbassett

This is getting easier and may be a faster project than I thought!

I called SlikStik and x-arcade today. Both are excellent sounding companies. As far as building your own layout, the edge goes to x-arcade right now. Their interface board is extremely versatile. No soldering is required whatsoever. 

They only have a two player console setup, but they said the controller board can be setup for four players- it would reduce the number of buttons though that are seen on the dual player model seen in previous posts, but that doesn't sound like an issue. Most arcade games didn't have that many buttons, just a joystick and a button or two. If you wanted to though, you could use two controller boards for a four player setup with each player having eight buttons. 

SlikStik can build you anything though and at very reasonable prices (well compared to buying a room full of dedicated arcade machines). Their prefab cabinet is also pretty nice. You can buy just the cabinet, or the cabinet and a controller for a lot less than x-arcade's cabinet setup. The main difference are the x-arcade comes with the two player controller (no trackball  ) *and* a 27 " Wells Gardner Industrial-Grade Monitor. You still need to supply your game system or PC.

SlikStik's arcade cabinet is around $1200 for just the cabinet and no controller, or $1600 and that includes a controller like the CO2, but no monitor and you still have to supply the PC or game system. One neat feature is the coin door is fully functional, meaning if you drop a quarter in, it registers on the screen! 

Both companies recommend an actual arcade monitor for the 'ultimate' experience, but I have read a lot of sites where people built their own systems and they said a TV works just as good. (One person had a Wells Gardner monitor and when it died they put in a 27" TV and said it looked just as good)

Now, a grand is a lot for a cabinet. The fit and finish though are professional grade. I did find this puppy though...






It's from Arcade-In-A-Box and is $459 plus $125 shipping. 

If a person is really good with wood working and making things, they can probably build it for at least half that price or maybe even less. I'll call them for some details, but it sounds like their cabinet is nice, but not as professional as SlikStik's. SS has cam locking connectors just like any furniture you buy and put together. It sounds like the Arcade-In-A-Box is just screws. That's fine, but if you ever want to move it or take it apart and move it I am not so sure how well it would go back together. Maybe one move, but repeatedly moving and flexing MDF and screws or removing them and tightening them tends to bore out the holes and then everything gets sloppy and wobbly.

I also found out by talking to both companies that items such as a light gun, Steering wheel, flight stick, are all analog devices and as such they wouldn't go through any of these console boards. They would connect directly to the computer's USB ports. That opens up a lot of ways for interesting add ons!


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## wbassett

[img]http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l190/wbassett/Arcade/ua2_main3.jpg[/img]
It's been a year... how time flies when it's a really bad year! Seriously, 2007 wasn't a fun year in many ways, but nobody wants to hear a sob story, so it's time to resurrect this thread.

I was seriously going to be building an HTPC as an HTS project, total soup to nuts with photo's and full documentation. Thing is it's been done a couple times already and done nicely too. Secondly, I was looking at my setup and I didn't have anything to gain by building one- but I would be out around a grand. I have a bluray player and an HD DVD player, both which play regular DVDs, and the PS3 also plays movies and TV shows archived to a hard drive. My cable box is a HD DVR... so like I said, there really wasn't much to be gained. I may do one later on this year with tritonman, he expressed an interest in that project.

Now a full blown arcade console... doesn't every home theater need one?  I mean every theater I've been too has a couple of games and an arcade along with a popcorn machine can be the perfect finishing touch to the atmosphere.

My son is up on vacation and he's very excited about this project too. I have the Ultimate Arcade II kit shown above and in the previous post on the way to my house right now.

I'll be doing a full writeup on the project here, but it really isn't as daunting as you may think. The cabinet is around $500, but is built like any Sauder furniture and should be a breeze. I already see a few things that will be changed... like locking wheels, and putting hinges on the lower cabinet panel for easy access and storage.

The beauty of a MAME arcade console is it doesn't take a lot of CPU horsepower. In fact, a lot of people probably have an old computer sitting around that they don't know what to do with, or... have one of those old PIIs or PIII that they can't give away. Well MAME doesn't take hardly any CPU power and very little ram to run. I'm using an old AMD Thunderbird 1.2GHz with 256MB of ram and a whopping 40GB HD. You can even use Windows 98 for a MAME server, but it's nice to have USB ports to add controllers on. I know 98SE will support USB, but I already have XP installed and the PC doesn't have a floppy drive.

Monitors- I'm going to use a 21" Dell Trinitron CRT computer monitor for now. I toyed with the idea of going LCD, but then you need a special light gun and rig to work with LCD monitors, and besides some people are giving away CRT monitors nowadays. Some people have used TVs and SVid input, but the resolution of text isn't the greatest. Eventually I'll put a Wells-Gardner 27" VGA monitor in the console, but the 21" will work just fine for now.

Controllers... This is where the major expense can come into play. I also noticed a few of the companies are no longer around. That pretty much made my decision for me. Last year I was going to go with a custom controller from SlikStik for around $600, but they are no longer around. I'm starting out with an X-Arcade Tankstick as the base and then going to modify and customize things... taking it to a two player console for most games, and some will be able to go to four players. 

As I do the project I'll probably add a few whistles and bells. So far, the total cost is the Arcade in a Box Ultimate Arcade console which came to $530 including shipping. The custom controller will probably run another $300 and that's pretty much it. I already have around 80 arcade games, not ports to PC, but honest legit original arcade games running through the MAME ROM emulator (which works perfect) and then the Tankstick comes with an additional 18 games. So that will be over 100 arcade games when it's done, and it also will play computer games too! I dug out an old PC classic, Rise of the Triad and have that installed, and am looking for my old Dark Forces and X-Wing discs. For the wife, I'll load up some of the arcade games she liked when she was growing up as well as Timon and Pumba's Jungle Arcade (although, maybe I shouldn't.... way back when in the days we only had one PC I installed it and then had to fight her for computer time!)

My son is up for two weeks, and I hope to have the Ultimate Arcade II delivered by Friday. We'll have it up and running by the time he leaves, but it will need some final fit and finish I'm sure.

We also have to get the new projector installed as well as he's going to help me make a new screen too.


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## wbassett

The Ultimate Arcade showed up Friday but with a problem... it ships with five boxes and I only got four. It definitely is not the company's fault because the invoice has five boxes listed, but Fed Ex doesn't have a full tracking number for the last box, and of course it's the box with all the hardware!

A quick call to Mameroom and they said if it doesn't show up Monday to call and they will send another hardware kit out.

The X-Arcade Tankstick and DIY controller kit should also be here Monday as well.

I also ordered a Saitek X-36 USB joystick / throttle combo for flight sim games. 

The Tankstick will get me up and running but ultimately will be replaced with a custom control panel that is modular. That way I can swap out the panels or change them around to any arcade configuration I want. I found a very nice tutorial on building a setup like that and it's hot swap-able and the whole arcade console can be reconfigured in around a minute. I'll get into that more when I start that part of the build.

The Ultimate Arcade kit... It is a very nice kit but I already see some areas that have to be changed.

First, there are no doors on this unit. There is an opening in the front for a coin door, but it is only the big enough to put a coin door in. Since a Mame console is based around a PC, there really needs to be access to the PC to turn it on and off when not in use. Even if a person was to go with a Jamma board they still would need access to install everything as well as if the unit ever needed servicing. So doors are a must and I'll have to incorporate them in the front and back of the unit.

I also decided to wire outlets inside the console and only have one power outlet feeding the entire rack. If I had the hardware kit I can see this going together in about an hour or so, but the modifications are sure to add a few hours of extra time to the console build alone. Based on that I give it a 8.5 out of 10 rating. 


[img]http://ace.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pACE-992559reg.jpg[/img]
One last note for now is this isn't light weight! The finished console without any electronics, monitor, control panel, weighs 180lbs. Some people have made the mistake of building this in one room or the basement and then realized they couldn't move it! 
I highly recommend not only building the console within close proximity to where it will be placed as well and giving it some wheels. By the time everything is added, this puppy will weigh in at around at least 250lbs and is over 6' tall. It is a full size arcade machine so anyone interested in something like this, keep that in mind. (The TankStick alone weighs 20lbs, and crt monitors definitely aren't light weight, that's a good 40lbs at least right there between the two...)

I went with these because they are low profile and definitely can handle the weight. The regular roller casters usually support around 50-60lbs and would raise the cabinet at least 2"

I'll get into the complete build and details for each stage of the project.

The key though is to plan, plan, and re-plan. Also set aside around $100 at least for miscellaneous parts to really dress things up.


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## wbassett

*Building the Cabinet*

My son and I just finished up the bottom half of the console. Pictures coming soon...

The instructions are very straight forward and the fit and finish is superb. The only complaint I really have is the T molding isn't uncluded, which I thought it was with the full kit. It's only $10 extra, but seeing this cost $450 before shipping, that seems like a part of the kit that is very missing and without the T molding trim the cabinet looks bad. 

Granted they give you the option of several colors to spiff up your console, but like I said this just seems like something that should be included with the base price. I'll be heading to the local home repair center later today. I don't feel like waiting a couple of days for it to ship, but I am still happy with the kit.

My wife seriously questioned whether it was worth the money, and to be honest, if someone knows wood working they could build this for a fraction of the cost. I however do not have all the tools I would need and engineering from scratch always adds a boat load of time to any project. 

This is solid and well engineered and only takes a couple of hours to put together. Some hinged doors and casters would really have made this a grand slam instead of just a home run.


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## mechman

I'd love to build one of these! Whenever you get a chance get some measurements!

mech


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## wbassett

mechman said:


> I'd love to build one of these! Whenever you get a chance get some measurements!
> 
> mech


Arcade II Cabinet Dimensions: 
75.4375 x 28 .25 x 41.5-inches (H x W x D)

Monitor Area Dimensions: 
24.1875 x 27 x 22.5-inches (H x W x D)

So it is pretty big, but so are actual arcade consoles.

You can make smaller versions, and even a table top version if space is an issue.


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## wbassett

*Snags and Snafus...*

I'm still a bit miffed over the T molding. Turns out Home Depot doesn't carry it, so I'll be checking Lowes. If they don't have it then I have to order it and wait.

The TankStick from X-Arcade was delivered... just not to ME! They not only delivered it to the wrong address and street name and person, they delivered it to the wrong town! This wasn't XGaming's fault, DHL are the ones that screwed up. Still it's disappointing having to wait even longer to get it. 

Chances are the unit XGaming sent is long gone by now. DHL said they are going to head out tomorrow to recover the package, but I can see some kid spying a big ole box saying XGaming on it and when they see the TankStick (which will plug into any PC).... yepperdoodle I can see that $250 long gone. XGaming said they would send another package, but like I said I really don't like the idea of waiting. My son may not even get to see this finished and he's helped me put it all together.


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## wbassett

As soon as I can I'll be updating the previous posts with pictures... everyone loves to see pictures!

The console is finished. Right now we're wiring it up.

This is were I can be a bit **** with things. I wire wrap and staple everything down.

We also made some modifications that are pretty simple but I think cool.

First I bought a combo outlet, one that has a switch and a power outlet. I did a bit of a trick though. Instead of having a power cord permanantly handing out of the back of the Arcade console, I made an extension cord that has two male ends on each side. One end plugs into the wall outlet, the other plugs into the Arcade outlet. The Arcade is wired so when I flip the switch on the back of the unit, everything powers up.

Inside instead of wiring up an outlet box I opted for a surge protector strip that has an equipment damage warranty with it. I wired that to the power switch and then everything inside the console plugs into that.

For the Marquee area I installed a 22" flourenscent light, and the bottom panel of the Marquee has speaker 'grills' already cut out. I bought two cheapo Durabrand 4" car speakers and installed them and ran them to some 50W sound system I had laying around the house.

So the unit will have a 50W sound system that ran me $15! We did a speaker test last night and not only was it loud- loud enough that it brought the wife downstairs to ask what we were doing... based on her tone, more like 'What are you thinking??!' I just grunted at her like Tim Allen does and she went away.

Today my son and I reformatted the Thunderbird PC (another item I had laying around, so the PC for this project was also no cost). All that's left is to finish the fit and trim on the wiring, get some T molding, finish the monitor bezel... then it's time to kick some arcade butt on my son!

The games I personally am looking forward to are Defender and Major Havoc! (I used to be the Defender champion of the small town I grew up in )


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## wbassett

Well a call to DHL and they say the driver is just now heading out to find the package. I really expect it to be long gone by now, but hopefully there are still some honest people left that won't see this as a late Christmas gift!

I'm not worried about being out any money because DHL will end up eating this since they admitted they delivered it to the wrong address, but I don't like the idea of having to wait. My son is heading back to PA in a few days and this project is one he was very excited about doing with me when he came up.

I am going to strongly recommend that XGaming find another shipping company though, this is starting to get a bit unreasonable.

Other than waiting for the parts to show up, start to finish the project took us a little over two evenings to finish, and that is with me having a bum knee right now too. I'd say someone could assemble the arcade cabinet in an afternoon. The extra whistles and bells, probably the next day, and then they would be putting the hardware components in and be playing games by the end of the second day, third day tops.

Total time start to finish, so far this has been a week and a half for me- like I said most of that time has been spent waiting for missing packages to show up.


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## scott

Very interesting. If your having trouble finding the t-molding, you might try a woodworking source like Rockler(I think that's how it's spelled)or Leigh valley. I order alot of supplies from both places. I Just found this thread and will take time to read through later. Am I reading that you would like to build the console with a rotating joy-stick area? If so maybe post some pics and dimensions and a brief description, and maybe myself or some others can blend brains and come up with something. I'm always up for a challenge. Keep up the good work, and research! thanks. Scott


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## wbassett

Thanks for the sources ratchet... I was hoping to find it locally but oddly none of the building supply stores carry it. I'll just get it from MameRoom, it's only $10 and comes in the exact amount I need for the MAME console. Plus I can get other colors than just black or white.

I have the console together and am doing the game configurations now... it would probably go quicker if my wife wasn't playing Pacman on it all the time!

I did introduce my son to Defender and he's totally hooked now on what he used to think were cheap and cheesy arcade games and graphics. Probably because the only time he ever tried playing any of these games was on a PC using a keyboard, or through a game console like XBox or the Play Station. Once you throw on an actual arcade joystick and real arcade buttons, it no longer feels like a cheesy computer game and is the real McCoy!


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## scott

If I built one it would definitely HAVE to have centipede and galaga or galaxia! I'm very interested in looking into this now(thanks alot, I needed another Hobby to get the wife up tight).


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## wbassett

scott said:


> If I built one it would definitely HAVE to have centipede and galaga or galaxia! I'm very interested in looking into this now(thanks alot, I needed another Hobby to get the wife up tight).


Centipede works great with the trackball on the TankStick! So does Marble Madness and Major Havoc.


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## scott

hey!!..........I just remembered. I have an HP "tower" laying around. Could that be used to get things going? It works very well, running XP, I believe. I got it for free, it just doesn't have a monitor, keyboard,etc.


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## wbassett

scott said:


> hey!!..........I just remembered. I have an HP "tower" laying around. Could that be used to get things going? It works very well, running XP, I believe. I got it for free, it just doesn't have a monitor, keyboard,etc.


Considering MAME's overhead is so small it could run on just about any computer you may have laying around.

Here are the recommended minimums:

450 MHz processor minimum which will run your older games.
Good video card (32 MB memory minimum)I
If you use a TV, your video card needs TV out. If you go this route SVideo would be the only option I'd consider.
128 meg ram (256 if you use XP)
TV, arcade monitor, or PC monitor
Sound card – plus speaker output system
CD or DVD player – some arcade games can only be loaded if you have a dvd player, not many though (Laser disc games like Dragons Lair, etc…)
40 GB hard drive minimum
Copy of windows XP – most stable

Note: If you opt for using a TV, you have the added benefit of being able to use the built in speakers. The major con is text doesn't look the best on a TV.


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## scott

Thanks Bill. BTW.....have you checked out T-moldings.com?
that's t-molding.com


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## wbassett

Actually I went back to Mameroom for the T molding. Surprisingly they are actually cheaper than any place else I found. I picked up two colors, blue and black so I can change the look if I like one better than the other.


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## scott

Hey bill. I was wondering, the pac-man arcade game, If I remember correctly, has a monitor tall and narrow. What would one do to mimic that screen? And if I'm not mistaken, almost all of the classics had screens like that. I'm currently looking into prices for individual buttons and joysticks, from what I have seen it seems pretty straight forward. And the cabs are really simple to build.

So, what I have so far.......a CPU and MDF is in the shop. I'm guessing I can build the cab. in a couple of evenings. But I need to get a few things before I can figure dimensions.

All I need is programming, an interface card to work with the controls I choose, a monitor and MAME ROMs? I'm sure there is more I am missing.

Oh......Am I reading things right when they say you can have 2500-3000 games on a MAME?!!

And are people really buying these things for their homes? I think I could turn several of these out a week.


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## scott

I also have an idea on the rotating control panel. But I need to figure out how to incorporate stops in it so it can't be spun to many times the same direction and twist the cables/wiring off.


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## wbassett

scott said:


> Hey bill. I was wondering, the pac-man arcade game, If I remember correctly, has a monitor tall and narrow. What would one do to mimic that screen? And if I'm not mistaken, almost all of the classics had screens like that. I'm currently looking into prices for individual buttons and joysticks, from what I have seen it seems pretty straight forward. And the cabs are really simple to build.
> 
> So, what I have so far.......a CPU and MDF is in the shop. I'm guessing I can build the cab. in a couple of evenings. But I need to get a few things before I can figure dimensions.
> 
> All I need is programming, an interface card to work with the controls I choose, a monitor and MAME ROMs? I'm sure there is more I am missing.
> 
> Oh......Am I reading things right when they say you can have 2500-3000 games on a MAME?!!
> 
> And are people really buying these things for their homes? I think I could turn several of these out a week.


MAME automactically adjusts the resolution, so when you play a game it looks just like the original arcade game.

I'm still putting the finishing touches on my console and then I'll start the photo journal and my step by step turtorial, and I have a ton of good links I'll organize. Here are a few to get you started though...

http://archive.gamespy.com/hardware/may03/arcade/
http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/
http://www.arcadeparadise.org/arcade/ap/planning.html










If you're handy with wood working you can make your own console, but I don't have the tools and knew I would mess something up. That's why I went with Mameroom's UlimateArcade II kit.

This really is a fun project.


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## wbassett

I know I've been away for a long time... I was down for well over a month with a blown knee and can just now walk up and down stairs like a normal person.

Enough crying though right? 

First let me start by saying three things I always wanted are:

A pool table
An arcade machine (or several)
A projector system for a Home Theater

I have the Home Theater setup- a 106" diagonal screen with the Panasonic ax200u projector, and I am working on my arcade. (Every 'Theater needs at least one arcade machine right?  ) and when I finish that I'll be getting a pool table... so life is grand!

For my first arcade cab I went with the Ultimate Arcade II. As much as many will cringe, I went with their kit. I assessed my wood working skills and tools and knew I would make some major mistakes, and for my first cab I really am more concerned with actual game setup and functionality right now. Eventually I will build my own.

I have to upload my pictures, which I will do this weekend. Here are my comments on their kit.

I did a search and read through several pages on the Ultimate Arcade II but mainly saw people building from the plans and not many on the pre-made kit.

The kit is expensive compared to buying the plans, but everything is pre-cut and all the parts are there (with the expection of T-molding, more on that later though).

My son was up on vacation for two weeks and he was very interested in doing this project with me. In that respect, the UAII kit is a breeze. Assembly is straight forward and very easy. We did it in two evenings, but if you start Saturday morning, you'll be finished by suppertime with no problem at all.

Fit and finish is good, all panels go together easily and overall it is sturdy, but not 'rock solid'. That is probably the biggest thing to consider. Since it will primarily be my wife and I that use it, we won't be shaking it to death, but if you are an aggressive player, or if you know a bunch of kids will be using it, I would add extra supports.

The problem is it uses LPL press board. I have lots of MDF laying around that I have used for other projects and this definitely isn't MDF from what I see on the edges. That doesn't mean this is bad, but there are some potential problems that I'll mention.

The biggest problem I see and already mentioned is it needs some extra bracing and support. EVERYTHING is secured together with Sauder style fasteners. That's a lot of weight depending on just a few cam fasteners. The bottom isn't a problem unless you want to mount wheels, and if you ever want to move this after it's finished and has a 27" monitor, cp, speakers, PC and full electronics you'll wish you put wheels on!

Here's where one of the biggest structural problems comes into play. The entire cab is supported by the lower assembly side panels. The bottom panel is actually slightly recessed and isn't flush with the side panels. This is actually nice if you want to put low profile appliance casters on the cab like I did. You won't even see the wheels! The problem is that now *all* the weight is supported by eight cams and eight cam pins. It is easy enough to add a bracing frame inside to prevent the cam pins from ripping out of the press board under the stress and weight. The other way they could have constructed this was to have the bottom panel go the entire width of the cabinet and then the sides would sit on the bottom and you could attach wheels to it without any worries.

The monitor shelf area could use a little extra bracing in my opinion too, but it's not as much of a problem as the bottom panel and adding wheels.

Now for the back. I personally think this is a cool looking cab for something so easy to make, but for all the fit and finish the rest of the UAII has, the back is lacking a professional look. I will concede that there are some tough angles that they had to contend with, but the back panels have gaps that are clearly visible and then when you throw in that the edges of the press board show in these areas... it looks pretty bad. I saw one person comment that the back panels connect from the inside, and for all but the main back panel that's true. They really aren't hard to get to and screw in though. I would have liked to have had a door on the back rather than a panel I have to screw and unscrew anytime I want access. It's not only just the added PITA aspect, but over time I can see the pressboard rounding out in the screw areas and then the screws will be loose or not hold at all.

The Keyboard drawer is simplistic and functional, but if you plan on doing any lengthy configurations that require the keyboard, it can be awkward to use for lengthy periods. My knee was blown out at the time and I had to sit in a chair and accessing the keyboard was absolutely miserable. This is where a hinged front on the drawer would have really been nice. All in all though, it's only a minor issue since we won't be using a keyboard all that often.

T-Molding:
I am not knocking Mameroom at all. Overall I am very happy with the UAII kit, but it isn't perfect. (Is anything?) It could however be improved... but one thing that was lacking for a kit that costs $500 is T-molding! At a minimum they should have supplied at least the standard black and then sold the other colors as an option (although I see no reason why a person couldn't specify a different color if they wanted it). Their pricing on T-molding is extremely reasonable and competitive. In fact it was the least expensive of anyplace I checked. They have all the basic colors, but if you want something fancy you'll have to look elsewhere.

All the T-Molding slots were clean and centered perfectly. There was only on spot that had some minor debris that I had to use a screw driver to remove. It took me all of twenty minutes (probably less actually) to put the T-Molding on, and this was after the cabinet was fully assembled.

The reason why I put it on after assembly... For whatever reason, I assumed black T-molding was included and it was not. Since this was a father/son project and we had limited time to do this, we went ahead and put the cabinet together and I ordered the T-molding. It wasn't the worse shipping I ever dealt with, but it wasn't the fastest either. I ordered early in the week hoping to get it by the weekend, but even though the order was processed, it wasn't shipped for a couple of days, which threw the delivery off until the following week.

Other than that, this is a very nice cabinet that is super easy to construct and reasonably solid. Anyone with basic tools can assemble this with ease. From start to game play... two evenings! Now I already had my MAME PC setup, and to ensure we would be able to play before my son had to go home to PA, I also ordered a TankStick. Once the cabinet was together, we just put everything inside and fired it up!

As I said, I will be adding pictures this weekend. I still have to do the extra frame bracing that I mentioned but it's up and my wife and I play it all the time while I am designing the final CP and I add the artwork.

Oh, one last thing to mention, Marquee retainers and plexi...

Save yourself some money on the retainers. I used some clear plastic corner trim that was something like $2 at Home Depot. I sprayed it black and screwed it down and it works perfectly. As far as the marquee plexi, Mameroom charges $10 for it pre-cut to the right size. If you're worried about cutting plexi without cracking it, the $10 isn't bad. Otherwise I just used some thin plexi I had and cut it myself.


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## wbassett

I thought my son took more pictures during the build, but guess not. These should be enough though and then I'll take some of the 'semi-finished' cab. The bezel, monitor, marquee artwork, and cp are all temp just so we could get it up and running while he was here on vacation...

There is no reason to show a step by step of the build, it really is that straight forward and easy.

Here is the lower section on its side with the bottom panel installed. I don't know if you can make it out in the picture, but the bottom panel isn't flush with the bottom of the sides. 

Also shown are the appliance casters I used. No fear of these not being able to support the weight- they are designed to put under refrigerators/freezers so you can move them around more easily. No MAME or arcade cabinet that I know of would exceed the weight capacity of these. I like them because of their strength and they are very low profile.









Here are the casters mounted on the bottom panel.​







Lower Cab finished with casters installed and standing up. It rolls around easily but you can't see the wheels and they only add less than a 1/4" to the height.







Next is the speaker panel and speakers. I didn't go nuts with audio because it's just an arcade and not a THX sound system or anything like that. Surprisingly though the car speakers sound *much* better than either my son or I thought they would. They are just some cheapo 4" Durabrands I bought at Walmart and are hooked into a 30W powered subwoofer I had laying around for a 2.1 system. (Except for the UAII and TankStick, and speakers, everything else were things I literally had laying around not being used)






One thing to note about the UAII speaker panel- They cut out curved slots and although it somewhat looks like a 'grill' there is a lot of wood still there. Still, in the end it sounds much better than I expected. Second note, the 'grill area' isn't black on the inside where they made the cuts. You'll definitely want to paint them black or they will look terrible.

Here's an inside shot from the back of the cabinet of the speaker panel and light installed. For the light I had a 20" fluorescent light that I also had laying around brand new and never used. They are pretty cheap though at Walmart. I think new it costs $10 or less. Just use the included paper template for the mounts, screw them in then snap the light in place.







Here is the wiring run for the marquee lighting and speakers. Yes, I know... power and speaker wires in the same run... I would never do this for a home theater install, but I wasn't as concerned about fidelity here. If I ran into a 60hz buzz in the speakers I would have moved them to the other side of the cab.







Last picture for now. I decided I did not want a permanent power cord coming out of the back of my console. What I did was I got a switch/outlet combo. I wired it so that the switch turns on and off the power from the outlet. I made a power cable with two male ends, one for the wall outlet and the other plugs into the switched outlet. On the inside (and I'll take more pictures of that) I used a good surge suppressor warrantied up to $10,000 of equipment protection. I cut the plug off and wired that to my 'on/off switch'. Now I just flip the switch and the cab has power.







I haven't decided whether I want to make a relay to also turn the PC on, or just relocate the PC power button to some inconspicuous location on the console.

Other than the wheels and power switch addition, the rest is all stock kit. I will be adding some braces on the bottom to support the weight better though.

I'll get the pictures of the top and bottom together as well as with the T-Molding in place. This isn't anything super fancy or anything like that, just showing the build of an Ultimate Arcade II is all. 

Ease factor- :5stars:
Quality- :4.5stars:
Value- :3stars:, unless you have absolutely no wood working skills or want a super quick cab, then it's :4stars:. (If T-Molding and Shipping were included in the price I'd give it :4.5stars:, but it is a bit expensive, shipping was $80, but it is heavy and came in four boxes... but still, a little salty for some I am sure at $530


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## wbassett

*MAME PC*

If you don't have a PC laying around for MAME... here's a killer deal for a great MAME PC that should also handle some beefy PC games...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2984475&CatId=2643


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## wbassett

I have to get my latest pictures up for the semi completed (still working on a modular control panel) but fully functional arcade cabinet.

I am working on light guns now. I came up with something that I think is very unique to the MAME world and I plan on starting a business selling them. As an HTS exclusive though when I work out the bugs I'll show in detail here how to make a light gun that works with a PC and much better than the LCD Topgun which is really one of the few alternatives.


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## mechman

Here's some plans for building a MAME cabinet for the DIY cabinet folks:

http://mame.velociworks.com/

I've really got to build one of these! I probably would right now if the good deal on the PS3 60gb wouldn't have fallen in my lap last week!


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## wbassett

mech the beauty of an arcade you build is you can do whatever you want with it.

The XGaming TankStick I got has joysticks, buttons and a trackball that are just like on the arcade machines you have to pump quarters in... and it does hook up to the PS3.

I can see how some games may not be suited for arcade style joysticks though, but seeing that the PS3 controller is Bluetooth, you can just grab the controller for those games. 

Some people have pretty elaborate arcade cabinets (they call them cabs) that have a PC running MAME as well as dedicated console systems connected it it as well.


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## avaserfi

Bill, you mentioned you were thinking about assembling your own joystick are you still planning on doing that or just going to stick with the X-Gaming offering? 

I am contemplating starting small and building a USB compatible joystick (no ps/2 ports on my laptops...) and eventually (long term) getting a cab built, if I can get my approval of course . If I go this route I would probably want to get a gun as well, sadly, I have read very many mixed reviews on the only gun that currently supports MAME and works with non-CRT technology. This project would be primarily for old school console gaming (n64 and earlier) as well as MAME, of course.


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## wbassett

avaserfi said:


> Bill, you mentioned you were thinking about assembling your own joystick are you still planning on doing that or just going to stick with the X-Gaming offering?
> 
> I am contemplating starting small and building a USB compatible joystick (no ps/2 ports on my laptops...) and eventually (long term) getting a cab built, if I can get my approval of course . If I go this route I would probably want to get a gun as well, sadly, I have read very many mixed reviews on the only gun that currently supports MAME and works with non-CRT technology. This project would be primarily for old school console gaming (n64 and earlier) as well as MAME, of course.


There certainly isn't anything wrong with using the Xgaming TankStick. The one thing some people may not like is that they will spend hours building and setting up a custom arcade cabinet with artwork and custom software front ends (to hide Windows and make it look more like a dedicated machine) and then have a control panel, as good as it is, looks totally prefab.

To me that's not a major issue. The reason I plan on building a new control panel is because I want a swappable modular setup where you don't have a bazillion buttons to cover everything but control panels that are laid out exactly like the original arcade game. They can be hot swapped too and changed in a matter of minutes.

I don't plan on going crazy and trying to make a panel/panels for every game that ever existed, just the main games my wife and I like, a couple of panels that can be rearranged, and then a main panel like the TankStick for everything else. Driving games are one of the biggest problems as far as a 'Super Panel'. The steering mechanisms take up way too much room and they really do need either a dedicated cabinet or some way to quickly go from a joystick based game to a steering game!

Lightguns- What is an arcade without shooting games! There are a few shooters that I love, like Area51, Time Crisis, Police Trainer, and Silent Scope (although Silent Scope really isn't feasible to 'build' because of it's unique setup). This is the main thing I want to tackle. I have an EMS LCD TopGun which is touted as the best gun around and that it works with the Xbox, PS2, PS3, PC games, MAME Arcade Games, as well as with CRT TVs, LCD, Plasma, DLP, and even front projection systems. Sounds awesome right? Problem is it doesn't work. It also doesn't work with the Xbox 360, and when they say it works with the PS3, that's only a half truth- It works with the PS3 if you are playing a PS2 lightgun game, it will not work with Time Crisis 4 for the PS3.

Some people love them and have no problem with the gun, but if you go to the company's website and check out their forum, they have eight pages of nothing but people reporting problems with the guns, including broken guns being shipped (which is what I think I have).

The main problem with it is that it's not a finished product if you ask my opinion. The company drivers don't work and the documentation isn't the best either. The company directs you to a private home grown driver for the gun! They actually list it on their site and mention it in their documents to use a driver that a forum member elsewhere had to make to get it to work! I wish I had found out all this before spending $66 on this gun. And that's not really the end of things. In order for this gun to work you have to attach two LED strips on either side of your monitor and then you have a gob of wires dangling down on the front of your nice and cool looking Arcade cabinet! So something else needs to be found that works and works well.

I'm actually looking at building a cordless arcade gun based on some very cool electric Airsoft guns that are very inexpensive.


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## wbassett

avaserfi said:


> I am contemplating starting small and building a USB compatible joystick (no ps/2 ports on my laptops...) and eventually (long term) getting a cab built, if I can get my approval of course . If I go this route I would probably want to get a gun as well, sadly, I have read very many mixed reviews on the only gun that currently supports MAME and works with non-CRT technology. This project would be primarily for old school console gaming (n64 and earlier) as well as MAME, of course.


Here is a super easy solution that sounds like it just might be what you are looking for...

http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html

Just about every Mame control panel uses some sort of interface board that basically acts as a keyboard and each button is like pressing a key. The boards aren't hard to use but can be intimidating to some. With the stick in the link I posted, it is a USB device, just plug it in and go! What is even better about it is that you can hook up eight actual arcade push buttons directly to the joystick and each button is mappable and programmable. Two sticks and you have up to 16 buttons (8 for each player) and you don't have to worry about ipaqs or keyboard hacks or anything else like that.

Also when it comes to flight games and driving games, having an actual arcade controller definitely is cool, but interfacing them with a PC can sometimes be a nightmare. The easy way (I have always said I am all about KISS right? _Keep It Simple Silly_) is to try to have as many things USB as possible. So that means you can use a Saitek flight stick and thruster as well as a PC steering wheel!

Some games were meant to be played with a spinner... a small disc button that freely spins 360 degrees. These aren't cheap and also can require some complex interfacing... so take a look at this guy-
http://www.ezarcadesolutions.com/

$33 and it is also USB. I have one of these and it works but isn't the biggest baddest spinner out there... but if you only occasionally play spinner style games it is more than adequate. You can even order a steering wheel for it for the driving games that use 360 degree wheels such as Pole Position.

A trackball is nice to have too. I like Marble Madness, Major Havoc, and of course we can't forget Missile Command! You can find USB trackballs if you look around, or XGaming's trackball is also USB if you want to get one from them. 

In the end I can say that a MAME Arcade cabinet it is very easy to get up and running with literally hundreds of the classic '80's arcade games. If you want to have a wider range of games such as driving games, flying games, shooter... it is definitely doable, but takes more work and tweaking. In the end though it's worth it when you have a single Arcade machine that can play thousands of games out there, including Nintendo, NES, Atari and so on. It's one fun piece of gear that's for sure!


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## wbassett

Oh... Thanks to the LCD TopGun my cab is semi-sorta down right now. I had a minor crash due to uninstalling drivers, reinstalling drivers, trying this, trying that... The system boots but I lost all my button mappings so I have to go back and reprogram them all and I am up over 2000 games now. Needless to say that's going to take some time and I'm not too happy about it right now.


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## avaserfi

wbassett said:


> There certainly isn't anything wrong with using the Xgaming TankStick. The one thing some people may not like is that they will spend hours building and setting up a custom arcade cabinet with artwork and custom software front ends (to hide Windows and make it look more like a dedicated machine) and then have a control panel, as good as it is, looks totally prefab.
> 
> To me that's not a major issue. The reason I plan on building a new control panel is because I want a swappable modular setup where you don't have a bazillion buttons to cover everything but control panels that are laid out exactly like the original arcade game. They can be hot swapped too and changed in a matter of minutes.


I actually like the Tankstick too, but actually want a spinner as well. It seems prebuilt arcade sticks with spinners are fairly expensive so I figured I would build. I also planned on making the unit modular simply because it would allow for maximum comfort during the most games.



wbassett said:


> I don't plan on going crazy and trying to make a panel/panels for every game that ever existed, just the main games my wife and I like, a couple of panels that can be rearranged, and then a main panel like the TankStick for everything else. Driving games are one of the biggest problems as far as a 'Super Panel'. The steering mechanisms take up way too much room and they really do need either a dedicated cabinet or some way to quickly go from a joystick based game to a steering game!


Agreed, I don't really have much interest in copying the originals, but rather just making the button layout what is most comfortable for myself. 



wbassett said:


> Lightguns- What is an arcade without shooting games! There are a few shooters that I love, like Area51, Time Crisis, Police Trainer, and Silent Scope (although Silent Scope really is unfeasible to 'build' because of it's unique setup). This is the main thing I want to tackle. I have an EMS LCD TopGun which is touted as the best gun around and that it works with the Xbox, PS2, PS3, PC games, MAME Arcade Games, as well as with CRT TVs, LCD, Plasma, DLP, and even front projection systems. Sounds awesome right? Problem is it doesn't work. It also doesn't work with the Xbox 360, and when they say it works with the PS3, that's only a half truth- It works with the PS3 if you are playing a PS2 lightgun game, it will not work with Time Crisis 4 for the PS3.
> 
> Some people love them and have no problem with the gun, but if you go to the company's website and check out their forum, they have eight pages of nothing but people reporting problems with the guns, including broken guns being shipped (which is what I think I have).
> 
> The main problem with it is that it's not a finished product if you ask my opinion. The company drivers don't work and the documentation isn't the best either. The company directs you to a private home grown driver for the gun! They actually list it on their site and mention it in their documents to use a driver that a forum member elsewhere had to make to get it to work! I wish I had found out all this before spending $66 on this gun. And that's not really the end of things. In order for this gun to work you have to attach two LED strips on either side of your monitor and then you have a gob of wires dangling down on the front of your nice and cool looking Arcade cabinet! So something else needs to be found that works and works well.


If I do this I will need a gun :R. I was originally planning on getting the LCD Topgun but you certainly have me rethinking this...



wbassett said:


> I'm actually looking at building a cordless arcade gun based on some very cool electric Airsoft guns that are very inexpensive.


This sounds really cool. I would be very interested in this project, especially if you document it well as I would love to follow in your footsteps with this one. I don't have the know how to make one from scratch, but I certainly can copy you :yes:.



wbassett said:


> Here is a super easy solution that sounds like it just might be what you are looking for...
> 
> http://www.ultimarc.com/ultrastik_info.html


I was actually looking at some of Ultimarc products - the I-Pac line was of the most interest as it seems that unit would allow for maximum control all within one box. The unit does seem slightly intimidating, but from what I can tell it is straight forward.



wbassett said:


> Just about every Mame control panel uses some sort of interface board that basically acts as a keyboard and each button is like pressing a key. The boards aren't hard to use but can be intimidating to some. With the stick in the link I posted, it is a USB device, just plug it in and go! What is even better about it is that you can hook up eight actual arcade push buttons directly to the joystick and each button is mappable and programmable. Two sticks and you have up to 16 buttons (8 for each player) and you don't have to worry about ipaqs or keyboard hacks or anything else like that.


That is far more simple than I was thinking, but the I-Pac interface just seems far more useful and cooler - I am a tweaker after all :nerd:. I think, in the end I would be able to get far more functionality out of such a unit, but am slightly hesitant since this will be a first time project for me.



wbassett said:


> Also when it comes to flight games and driving games, having an actual arcade controller definitely is cool, but interfacing them with a PC can sometimes be a nightmare. The easy way (I have always said I am all about KISS right? _Keep It Simple Silly_) is to try to have as many things USB as possible. So that means you can use a Saitek flight stick and thruster as well as a PC steering wheel!
> 
> Some games were meant to be played with a spinner... a small disc button that freely spins 360 degrees. These aren't cheap and also can require some complex interfacing... so take a look at this guy-
> http://www.ezarcadesolutions.com/
> 
> $33 and it is also USB. I have one of these and it works but isn't the biggest baddest spinner out there... but if you only occasionally play spinner style games it is more than adequate. You can even order a steering wheel for it for the driving games that use 360 degree wheels such as Pole Position.


I was definitely planning on a spinner and really like the idea of having a modular unit that can also be used as a steering wheel. With something like that I might actually not really want a modular set up, I could just allow for a external hookup for any peripheral I decide I want.



wbassett said:


> A trackball is nice to have too. I like Marble Madness, Major Havoc, and of course we can't forget Missile Command! You can find USB trackballs if you look around, or XGaming's trackball is also USB if you want to get one from them.


Don't forget centipede! I love that game. I didn't realize that I could just get everything in a separate configuration and plug them all in various USB ports. Is there any advantage as compared to a unit such as the I-Pac where every peripheral is connected to one source then run to a single USB?



wbassett said:


> In the end I can say that a MAME Arcade cabinet it is very easy to get up and running with literally hundreds of the classic '80's arcade games. If you want to have a wider range of games such as driving games, flying games, shooter... it is definitely doable, but takes more work and tweaking. In the end though it's worth it when you have a single Arcade machine that can play thousands of games out there, including Nintendo, NES, Atari and so on. It's one fun piece of gear that's for sure!


I have wanted one for a while this thread just got me thinking about it. I just need to convince the girl that we have the room :hissyfit:.



wbassett said:


> Oh... Thanks to the LCD TopGun my cab is semi-sorta down right now. I had a minor crash due to uninstalling drivers, reinstalling drivers, trying this, trying that... The system boots but I lost all my button mappings so I have to go back and reprogram them all and I am up over 2000 games now. Needless to say that's going to take some time and I'm not too happy about it right now.


Now I really don't want one, but you do have me interested in your possible Airsoft solution.


----------



## wbassett

As far as the LCD TopGun goes, if you buy one I'd buy it directly from them rather than a third party company or off eBay. That way if you are one of the seemingly numerous people that have faulty units or major setup issues you can deal directly with EMS for a replacement. 

There are very few products and companies I give bad ratings and I always try to look for some positive, but this one really does have some issues.

TankStick and spinner... I haven't done it, but I believe there is room inside the TankStick cabinet to mount the spinner I showed you. The TankStick is a solid peice of gear and controller that plays well and is flexible enough for all the games we've played so far.

Ipaqs... Xgaming also sells a build it yourself kit that has all the wiring and no soldering is needed. I bought one when I got my TankStick and it looks like it is very easy to use. The ipaqs though have more flexibility and you can even get specialty boards for rotary joysticks as well as opitical devices. Like I said, getting your cab up and running is easy, but some of the more complex controllers are, well more complex to install.

Yes Centipede! I forgot about that one! Plays perfect and just like the arcade version we all remember!

I took some more pics of my 'semi completed' cabinet and will have them up soon. I say 'semi' because I plan on making a modular control panel and I know that is going to take me a long time.

As far as having the space... you can build a bar top version or a cocktail table version which could easily replace a coffee table... hint hint


----------



## avaserfi

I think I am going to steer clear of the LCD TopGun for now, unless I become desperate for a gun. It sounds like your possible Airsoft solution might be a better one...I wish I knew how to code better, it would be nice if the Time Crisis 4 controler had some PC drivers.

I will have to do some more research before I decide how crazy I want to go with this whole joystick thing. It sounds like I can take the easy way out or go full custom and cause myself some pain, but get exactly what I want...Decisions decisions. Knowing me, I will go full custom. I have the woodworking ability and tools so what should I be afraid of besides my own stupidity! lol

The girl would probably rather a big box in the corner than a coffee table like that. I am pretty sure she will let it happen she is actually very flexible with my insanity .


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## wbassett

Here are some shots of the completed cabinet up an running with the TankStick.

This is just a semi-temporary control panel because I am planning on building a custom modular panel. For now it works great and lets us play games while I work on the main control panels.


















Here is a shot of the keyboard drawer.









And one of the TankStick. Since I knew this was going to be a temp setup, I made a shelf out of MDF and painted it black and put satin poly on it. It looks a lot better than the raw rough looking MDF and actually this is rather nice because it also allows us to have a spot to put soda's on!









Here is a shot of the Marquee. It looks better than in the picture. This isn't anything fancy or thought out, I just wanted some artwork up while I decide on the final look. This is a Marvel super hero poster that I just trimmed and put behind some pexi.









A shot of the Defender game screen.









This is from across the room by the bay windows looking back towards the cab.









Here are a couple looking from the hallway door into the room with everything on! Chronical's of Riddick is on the projector, Assassin's Creed is on the SXRD from the PS3, and then the Arcade in the corner! First is all lights on, which include three 60W bulbs off to the left of the screen and a 60W lamp in the adjacent corner of the room. The next shot is with lights out.

















Another gatuitous shot with just the three 60W bulbs on...









This should give anyone interested the amount of light we're talking about and it's location to the screen.









And then some of the other 'toys' I have to rig up to the arcade for the modular panel.

















This one is kinda interesting... It's not a real coin door but a printed sticker! It looks real until you get up close to it and is a nice, yet easy finishing touch. I plan on getting a real coin door though but for a different reason- I plan on converting the coin slot push buttons into on/off switches for the computer and sound system. That a bit overkill though and I wanted to show how good this printed decal looks.


----------



## wbassett

I'm definitely not done but it's up and fully functional with any joystick, button, or trackball game! Soon I'll add more features but the beauty is you can add on as you want.

I also picked up these...







Right now, total cost as I am sure some are wondering... 

$540 for the Ultimate Arcade cabinet (very easy and nice). If your good at wood working and have the tools already then you can build your own cabinet for a fraction of that price.
$250 for the TankStick and a separate ipaq style controller board with wiring, for when I start building the custom controls.
$20 for the plexi bezel and marquee plexi.
$14 for the car speakers I used.
For a total of $824. Round up for some screws and other miscellaneous items, $840.

Like I said, some people may be able to trim an extra couple hundred off the price by making your own cabinet, and maybe another $50 for the control panel. The rest are all spare parts and an old computer just laying around collecting dust.

This will jump in price though because I plan on replacing the 21" Trinitron PC monitor with a 27" monitor. That will raise the price by another $500. If you don't plan on playing any computer games, you can get away with a 27" TV which will lower the price as well as open up a ton of options for light guns!

May seem like a lot of money, but this is one cool addition to our multi-purpose 'theater'. In a year or two I plan on building an addition to the house for a dedicated Home Theater and I plan on having a 'lobby' area and I will probably have a couple of arcade systems in that area.

My son and I did most of the work as a father/son project when he was up on vacation and that was a lot of fun to do with him. He invited a couple of friends over and they were flipping out!  And that was before the T-molding and some of the temporary details were done.

All in all I am very pleased with this project. I was debating on whether to do this or build an HTPC and I really couldn't justify the HTPC. It wouldn't really add anything to my setup and room... I already have an HD DVR, Bluray and HD DVD players, as well as around a TB of hard drives connected to my PS3 for DVD archive playback. I'm glad I decided on the Arcade project and hope it sparked some interest in others out there.

I'll put together a complete parts list and then get into MAME setup, where to get the roms, and other emulators too. Besides the actual arcade games, I have over 4000 console games too that I will be setting up to run on this one cabinet.

My grandson (who is my buddy!) has been playing MAME games upstairs when he comes to visit and he thinks it's the coolest thing in the world, and that was just on the PC. He said it was just like being at Chucky Cheese... well I have a huge surprise for him the next time he comes to visit!

Oh... if you wanted to, you can even hook up a real coin door and set these up to take quarters or tokens too!

:5stars::5stars: For the fun and coolness factor
:5stars: For ease of construction, especially if you go with a cabinet kit.
:4stars: For price. Depending on your point of view it could have more stars since the pre-made Arcade consoles sold at Sears, Sams Club and other places run over $3K. For some though this is a bit extravagant and not worth the money to them, so it depends on your mindest.


----------



## avaserfi

Thats one nice looking cabinet. You really have me wanting to build one. If I do I will probably design it from scratch taking lead from some already completed builds.

A few days ago I contacted Act-Labs to see if they had an LCD compatible gun in the works. They got back to me this morning saying check back in June to see if they have had success. From what I have read their current light guns are great, hopefully these are too, depending on your Airsoft success.


----------



## wbassett

You have the tools and skills so you can make a killer cab that's custom too. This cab is a kit and yeah it looks clean and nice, but nothing spectacular with it. It will take up to a 27" monitor or TV, but I really think it needs some additional bracing for that.

Act-Labs caught my eye too and they definitely work with MAME and with two guns! A two gun setup for a CRT monitor will run $180 plus shipping, so $200 or more. Still, that's not bad for something that is guaranteed to work. 

I may hold off to see what they are doing with an LCD gun. That opens up a lot of options like going with an LCD HDTV instead of a bulky CRT monitor. It will also greatly reduce the weight as well as open up slimmer designs for the cabinets themselves. Although I wouldn't go too slim because part of all of this is having the look and feel of a real arcade machine. The weight though is a positive factor.

Also, everything is going to flat screens and a 27" Wells Gardner VGA arcade monitor runs around $450 (plus shipping) right now. In the future when CRTs are pretty much completely obsolete, I can see the cost doubling because it's a specialty item and eventually even going away altogether. At that time I'd be forced to do an upgrade anyway, so I am very interested in what Act-Labs has on their plate right now. I suspect it's going to be similar to the Wii mote technology since that seems to be more stable than the camera based guns.


----------



## wbassett

Here is a link to one of the biggest and best Arcade builders sites.
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

There are tons of examples as well as tutorials.


----------



## avaserfi

wbassett said:


> Here is a link to one of the biggest and best Arcade builders sites.
> http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm
> 
> There are tons of examples as well as tutorials.


Hah! I beat you there (at least posting it). My account got approved this morning and I am posting on the forum as user z38gm asking questions about controls etc...

So far it seems like a great resource for anyone who is interested in building/assembling a cabinet. The FAQs are useful, but seem outdated check out their wiki as well.


----------



## wbassett

Actually during my little mental 'sabbatical' that's where I've been hanging out. 

I'm pretty easy to find on forums... I always use the same screen name.


----------



## cynical2

Wow...Bill, when you said you were working on an arcade I had no idea it was this elaborate. Awesome!

When are you having a party?


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## wbassett

Anytime! The weather is getting nice so it is time for a cookout and house party!

Now all I need is that pool table!


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## wbassett

*Lightguns- Rifles*

A bit of an update-
Shooting games and light guns. Right now there are really only two companies that are the only viable options to getting a light gun- ActLabs and EMS. Both have their pros and cons.

The other way some people have gone is to use a PS2 GunCon2 lightgun, but you have to have a TV because they have to tie into the video signal or the guns won't work... again some pros and cons. The GunCon2's work great, but using a TV with a PC isn't the greatest. For MAME a TV looks fine, and is actually pretty close to the old EGA/CGA resolutions, but if you plan on playing any newer games or any PC games, it's not going to look that good.

So lightguns are a bit of an ongoing issue. Right now the EMS LCD TopGun just got new beta drivers that are being said to work well and definitely better than the old drivers (which didn't work for most people at all). There is a current PC Mame Wii mote Driver project going on to develop a driver for the Wii mote. If that works (which it should) it opens up a ton of possibilities, some of which I'll show below.

Time to generate some excitement! (Warning, a ton of images)

EMS has new drivers that from what I hear seem to work very well. I am not making light of that at all, that is very good news. The Wii technology is also very interesting. It opens up a lot of potenial as well as 'cuts the cord' and will let us go wireless.

Most will opt for something like this... simple and easy yet not too bad looking.









Where the Wii really excites me is the potential to customize. As I mentioned in an earlier post, and others have also mentioned... airsoft guns! For those that may think I'm nuts or it's too hard or impractical-

This is the first one I ever saw someone do. Yes that is the Robocop gun, but it is actually based on a real gun, the automatic M93R. The biggest problem with this gun is although it looks cool, in reality it is way too front heavy. After five minutes of game play your hand would get tired pretty quick. (Robocop was a machine and just a movie  Movies tend to make lots of impractical things look really really cool!)
http://kotaku.com/gaming/wii/a-bangin-homemade-wiigun-233839.php

Next up is an excellent build and design. The only problem is the size. The AK47 is a large rifle and these airsoft guns are 1:1 scale. This is a very clean conversion, but again unless you are Arnold, Sly, or Jesse, this won't be fun to use for hours at a time that's for sure... but man would it be a cool novelty!
http://imakeprojects.com/Projects/wii-ak47/

This one is most excellent, but in a couple of ways a bit overkill. First he used a very expensive airsoft gun for this conversion. I skimmed through his blog and if I recall he did say he had problems with it as an airsoft gun, so using something this expensive would make sense if it was broken and no longer worked for it's primary use. Second I feel some things could have been done a bit easier, but overall this is excellent.
http://forum.bongofish.co.uk/index.php?PHPSESSID=65e864cb2465aa1cec2a8afa4ec99bc2&topic=1208.msg6715

Now keep in mind these are Wii guns for the Wii. If the PC Mame Wii mote project works (which it will) then it opens the door to a ton of options.

Rifles by far will be the easiest because of the room they have inside.
These are all of my guns waiting for electronics to be fitted inside.










Here is one I have that really has potential-

This a closeup of the LAM unit. The Wii mote electronics would fit nicely in here.









Here are some other M4A1 varients that also would make good Lightgun candidates. The last one is an actual version of the M16, the Patriot. What is nice about these over the AK47 is they are a bit smaller in size and the collapable stock really trims them down. Plus if you want, just pull the stock out for a full size shooter.


Here is one that is not only a unique gun, but also has tons of potential because of the enormous amount of room inside. This is the P90 (Stargate machinegun)









I also have a G3A3, but like the AK, this is huge (it is actually bigger than an AK47), so it's not something I would want to use for a lightgun. To give some size perspective, that's the Topgun shown to give an idea how big this thing really is.









I also have a Navy Seal MP5 coming, and this is an all around sweet gun. I held one at a local store and have also held the real thing before. This is one cool gun, but I don't have it yet.

Some of the very interesting potential and designs I have been working is to replace the Wii mote AA batteries with the USB rechargeable battery pack. This will easily fit in the magazine of an M16, and with some work should be able to be fitted in an MP5 mag. A 9V plug can be used like the guy in the link above used, but I like the idea of positive and negative metal contacts. Slide the mag in, contact is made, and you have power to the Wii! You could recharge the batteries by plugging in the USB cable, or just eject the mag, grab a clip that is already charged up, and slide it in and you have a fresh set of batteries all ready to go!


----------



## wbassett

*Lightguns- The Pistols*

Okay that's some rifles, here are the pistols.


Some of these would be very cool, but unfortunately they don't all have enough room inside to house the electronics.

Here are the larger handguns... the Magnums. All these as well as the up coming pictures are all 1:1 scale.
Bottom is the Desert Eagle .44 Magnum, which is a *huge* gun. Middle of course needs absolutely no introduction... Dirty Harry's famous Smith and Wesson .44 Magum revolver. Top is the .44 Automag from Sudden Impact. As cool as the middle one is, there is no way I can see this one being converted to a Lightgun.








and a shot with the Topgun for size perspective.


Here are some other very cool contenders, but these are getting to be a bit small inside, although probably can be modified to work. On the left is the famous James Bond Walther P99. One has a rail system and extended mag, and the tiny gun is a Walther P22 (way too small for what we need). The picture to the right... yep, Lara Croft's Tomb Raider guns. These are actually my wife's from her Lara Croft costume she wore for Halloween one year so I'd have to buy some more if I want to mod this model gun.


One thing to note: All the guns I have shown are very inexpensive... the most expensive one was no more than $30!

Some other interesting options... Say you want a shotgun... no problem, pick the style you want!









Seriously, once the bugs are worked out, the options are limited only by your imagination!

Airsoft isn't the only way to go either, but I am very intrigged with the electronics in them. Most of the electric guns will do semi or full auto, and the pistons and air chambers provide a built in recoil. The Desert Eagle kicks so hard it actually moves your hand. Of course nothing like the real gun, but compared to the Topgun's recoil it hits ten times as hard.

Okay, airsoft is cool, but don't forget about... ready? Nerf! Yes Nerf guns! Granted these won't look like real combat guns but there are some very very cool Nerf guns out there and once dressed up with some paint, nobody would even guess it's a Nerf gun! I think these actually have a Halo look to them-










Then there are water guns! Here is one my son and I made into a quazi sorta Star Wars Storm Trooper looking gun (kinda).


Last up is a very unique gun, and rare too, so as much as I would love to convert these I probably won't. This is a type of airsoft gun, but the modular style and design is actually the exact same as a 1970's console light gun!
This is a secret agent 'kit' I made for my son. Don't worry, he's 20 now and I made this for him when he was 16 or 17, so he wasn't a tot or anything like that.


Here is the above gun in various stages of its modular design. You can probably see why I like this one so much and there is enough room inside to the electronics too!




So yes I am very excited! Either way- if the EMS drivers end up working best, or if the Wii mote Mame project works, I will be retro fitting some of these as lightguns. Right now though I like the wireless capability and the Wii mote lends itself a little easier to being modded. Plus I can get them much cheaper in price.

I know there were a lot of images, but we really are on the cusp of some very cool options. The sky and your imagination is the limit!


----------



## wbassett

I spoke to Les at Happ.

I called in reference to R0R3 USB Optical Light Gun Interface Board (http://www.r0r3.com/productsusbopticalgun.htm). I tried getting ahold of Jack J. McCauley at ROR3 about a half dozen times (not a good sign right there) and he is never at his number and I haven't received a call back from him.

I figured okay, since they list Happ and Happ guns specifically and have them listed as their 'customers', I figured I'd call Happ and see what they had to say about the ULGI. I got ahold of Les at Happ very easily and quickly. 

In a nutshell... Les said yes he has heard of ROR3 and the ULGI but they haven't received any for testing.

Les was fantastic to talk to and did tell me that they are supposed to be getting an interface from a different company to check out that will allow their arcade guns to be connected directly to a PC. He sent me some information and it looks pretty good from the overview pdf.

We talked about the current state of guns for MAME and really the biggest problem is we are such a small community that third party companies don't see any money making a PC lightgun just for us MAME users. I can confirm this sentiment because yesterday I was on the phone with Namco and they flat out were not interested and even said their company does not take product suggestions from outside the company. I tried explaining I wasn't making a suggestion, rather asking if they had any plans on making a PC compatable light gun and he pretty much said he couldn't discuss anything about whether the company was working on any projects. In other words, no.

Les and I also talked about some of the issues with the few actual PC lightguns, mainly driver issues, accuracy problems, and durability (some guns just need to be dropped once and that's it, game over). He agreed that there is a pretty big difference between consumer version guns as compared to commercial arcade guns and reliability and durability is a big factor and one reason why there is such a price difference. 

Basically, with a Happ gun you'll probably have it for life. (I said that, not Les) Sure they could break, anything can, but at a public arcade they also get ten fold the use and abuse any of us could possibly give them.

All in all, this is very good news. The interface will accept multiple guns too (natch... we are after all talking about the real deal here and most real arcade shooters have two guns) as well as

*Multiple Video Support*
The design supports input from both standard PC VGA connectors and arcade
low/med resolution molex connectors.
The design supports all arcade video resolutions:
•Low Res 320x200 15.75KHz
•Med Res 512x384 24.5 KHz
•Std Res 640x480 31 KHz
•SVGA 800x600 35.1 KHz
•XGA 1024x768 37.5 KHz

*Built in Audio Amplifier*
The design has a 2 channel stereo amplifier built in.
•Mini Stereo Input Cable (PC Compatible)
•Molex 0.100” Speaker Out Connector
•Integrated heat sink, no fan required
•35W Stereo Amplifier
•Proven circuit design used in over 50,000 units in the coin-op market

*Gun Support*
The design supports existing off the shelf light guns.
•Molex 8 pin 0.100” Connectors
•Works with Happ & Betson / Imperial Guns &
Rifles
•No Modifications to guns or board required

*Input Support*
The design supports 24 digital inputs.
•3x Molex 10 pin 0.100” Connectors
•All inputs debounced
•Allows board to be used as only I/O adapter,
connecting coin inputs, start buttons, etc

*Output Support*
The design supports 8 outputs.
•2x Molex 6 pin 0.100” Connectors
•Supports 5v and 12v outputs
•Works with industry standard coin counters
•*Supports guns with built in force feedback solenoids*

*System Interface*
The design uses USB 2.0 HID.
•*Standard USB Connector*
•Interfaces to system as HID Standard 2 axis,
joysticks
•*No Drivers Required*
•*Works with Linux, Windows and other OS*

*Power Support*
The design uses standard power inputs.
•Logic powered by USB
•PC HDD style input for 12v & 5v power (used for
outputs and audio amplifier
•2 pin Molex 0.156” 24v connector for force feedback power

*Firmware Upgradeability*
The design uses Cypress PSoC field upgradeable processor.
•Firmware updatable via 5 pin Molex 0.100” input connector










This looks like very good news!

Now keep in mind this isn't something Happ made, it's a different company that is working with Happ.

Those of us into arcades and MAME are all are excited and enthusiastic about our hobby, but sometimes we forget how small we really are as a community. The fact that a company is stepping up to work with Happ to try and deliver a product we can use with a PC and Happ's guns, and it's pretty much plug and play... well this is actually incredible news if you ask me.

Some may say the price is too much, but these really are the Ferarris and Holy Grail of light guns that everyone wants. Only draw back... sorry LCD cab owners, this is CRT only. 

Les did say that it should work with a PC monitor, and I see in the product information it will indeed support up to 1024x768 37.5 KHz.

No price yet, this is basically hot off the presses and I'd really like to thank Les for being so helpful and informative. 

Area51 or Time Crisis anyone and with the real arcade guns? :clap:


----------



## wbassett

It's been awhile, so I thought I'd throw a quick update.

I just snagged this!









It was a whopping $26 plus shipping for the complete control panel!

The more I dig through my rom list the more games I uncover that I completely forgot about. Some games I remember dumping countless quarters in. Others were extremely fun but mainly a game I played until my main game came available. This is one of them. 

Spy Hunter is loads of fun but I wasted valuable quarters on it that I would rather use on my mainstay game... Defender! Now that I don't have to worry about dropping quarters, and I scored a real arcade control panel, I am looking forward to getting this baby up and running!

Some of the other dedicated panels I'm looking for are a Battlezone control panel, a Tron panel, and I am currently building a Star Wars flight yoke.

So even though I may not have posted lately, I've been pretty busy.


----------



## Guest

WOW! You have really put a lot of work into your MAME cab. I have been planning to build one for the past year and will get started on the build in the next couple months. I already have around 2k games and have been playing them on my home pc. I just purchased a refurbed 2 gig dell for $50 that I will use to run the cab.

A couple questions for you. 
Would you choose a different cabinet style if you were to do it over again? I originally picked the same one as you but I have seen a couple others that have peeked my interest recently.

I plan on building my own control panel. What special controls would you suggest adding? I'll definitly add track ball for golden tee but I'm confused on my light gun choices and any other analog devices that I may need. What would you suggest?

I'm also toying with the idea of building 2 cabinets. A stand up for regular games and a Spy Hunter sit down for driving/flying games. Do you think this would be a good idea? Have you run into any problems with the driving games on the stand up? I would think it could be difficult to incorperate a stick shift on the stand up cabinet.

Thanks.


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## wbassett

natlight said:


> WOW! You have really put a lot of work into your MAME cab. I have been planning to build one for the past year and will get started on the build in the next couple months. I already have around 2k games and have been playing them on my home pc. I just purchased a refurbed 2 gig dell for $50 that I will use to run the cab.
> 
> Actually I really don't have that much work in it at all. The last picture of the Spy Hunter cab is just a picture of the actual arcade cab. I just got the control panel. It hasn't arrived yet, but when it does I'll take a picture of the actual panel and replace the stock photo above.
> 
> 
> A couple questions for you.
> Would you choose a different cabinet style if you were to do it over again? I originally picked the same one as you but I have seen a couple others that have peeked my interest recently.
> 
> Honestly, after thinking about it, I probably would get the same kit again. It is expensive compared to getting a gutted arcade cabinet, but I like the design and looks and it is super easy to assemble.
> 
> When I get this one completely done I am thinking about making a sit down driving/flight cab and between the two I think just about all bases will be covered. For the sitdown cab, I'll probably build that out of a gutted M.A.C.H. 1 cab that I found locally for $150, but it needs a lot of work.
> 
> I plan on building my own control panel. What special controls would you suggest adding? I'll definitly add track ball for golden tee but I'm confused on my light gun choices and any other analog devices that I may need. What would you suggest?
> 
> I am building a modular control panel so I can swap out controls for specific games... like Spy Hunter for one!
> 
> I've seen many people build their cab and then spend the next year on the control panel. That seems like a waste to me. A perfectly good cab just sitting there unable to be used. That's why I got a TankStick. This way I can play now while I build my cp.
> 
> Most people seem to go with a single panel designed to be able to play everything. This is my opinion, but most look too 'busy', and some refer to them as 'Frankenpanels'.
> 
> The TankStick is cool, but very much like the all in one universal panel. The joysticks are fine, but they are 8-way sticks, which are horrible for games that use a 4-way stick, like Pac-man and games like that. So definitely get yourself a 4-way stick as well as a good 8-way.
> 
> I definitely recommend a trackball, and I have a spinner that I need to mount yet.
> 
> I'm also toying with the idea of building 2 cabinets. A stand up for regular games and a Spy Hunter sit down for driving/flying games. Do you think this would be a good idea? Have you run into any problems with the driving games on the stand up? I would think it could be difficult to incorperate a stick shift on the stand up cabinet.
> 
> Thanks.


If you have the room for two cabs, I say go for it! A sit down driver is always the best experience and most fun if you ask me.

Light guns... this is probably the weakest link when it comes to controls. Right now there are the ActLabs guns, and the EMS TopGun. Both have pros and cons. I have one of the original Topguns and the Topgun is okay but there are a lot of things I don't like about it.

Happcontrols is going to be selling an interface that will allow us to connect actual arcade guns to a PC via USB.

They are also testing an even newer interface that uses sonic sensors instead of IR tech (the TopGun) or scanline tech (ActLabs). This one is very interesting and will work with any type of display, not just CRT. I'll know more about it in a couple weeks probably.


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## Guest

Thanks for all the info and please keep us updated on any info you get on the sonic sensors.


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## wbassett

*Blog Time*

For the past eight to ten months I have been totally swamped with work. Needless to say I haven't done much with the arcade but I have been able to do research and read the dominate acade forums.

My conclusions... Well let's say there are a bunch of elitists out there just like on any forum.

Does anyone actually remember in detail their favorite arcade game when they were younger? What do you remember exactly? Was it the profile of your favorite arcade game? Did you notice the scan lines on those awful low res CGA monitors? Did anyone ever notice that lag bolts actually showed on the top of the console? How about this? We remember certain games because they were fun to play an that's it. We didn't care if the machine was falling apart as long as it worked.

Where I am going with this is the home arcade is much like a home theater... its a nostalgia thing and something a person does because they want one. Often though what we remember and what we build are totally different things. The arcade machines I see people build look nothing like what we used to play. Some do go to the effort of doing a total restoration on classic machines, but many build monstrosities that look nothing like the original. Yet they argue that a person *must* use an authentic arcade monitor, while they have a control panel the size of the landing deck on te USS Enterprise... no arcade looked like that!

I am using a 22" Trinitron PC monitor in my arcade and you know what? It looks great. Fact is most games had 19" monitors. I also see people slam using LCD monitors, and only because they like a PC monitor don't have the scan lines that a CGA or EGA monitor had. They say that programmers actually used that when they programmed the games. No.. that was just the resolution they had available.

Look at modern arcade games and PC games. They are all higher resolution, and why? Because the technology is there for it. I actually like the cleaner crisper look of a better monitor. But... for those that really feel they must have an authlentic arcade monitor just for the scan lines... well guess what? You can make MAME add scan lines if that's your cup of tea.

I'm also a model builder. Well I used to be. I loved doing kit bashing to make a model 'look' like what I remember and thought it should look. Thing is, if you actually watch a show on FX for Star Trek or Star Wars, those models didn't have anywhere near the detail that we remember. Yeah sure now with CGI they have lots of detail, but back in the day when they actually used models, many would be surprised to know most were built from paper and cardboard and had pretty much slopped on paint... in other words people strive to build a model like the 'real' prop and end up creating something nothing like the original. The same goes with a home arcade.

So where my thoughts are now is don't worry about getting something 'exactly' right, in fact if you do you just might be disappointed. 

Building an arcade is about fun and nostalgia. If you want to use an LCD monitor, then go for it! Just keep in mind you won't be able to use certain things like a conventional light gun for shooter games. As long as you keep in mind you may have to use some different tech, but if it provides the same 'feel'... who cares?

I mentioned guns... what about driving games? Do you really need an authentic arcade steering wheel to get the same feel? Absolutely not. In fact it is probably ten fold more difficult to to hook up an arcade monitor than a PC monitor or LCD monitor.

Also people add LEDs and other fancy/'cool' things, but to be honest, they look cool at first but after awhile they can become an annoyance. 

I am a firm believer in KISS... a term I learned in the military and that is 'Keep It Simple Stupid'. Building an arcade is actually extemely easy, but it can become an obsession very quickly. 

I suggest to go with the basics for your first machine and then after playing it for awhile decide if you want an aircraft landing strip size console or if you can get by with a bit less... or perhaps even a swapable system. 

I will have some more detailed tutorials coming soon and try to cut through some of the insane and sometimes fanatic ideas about what an arcade is. Shh... don't tell anyone this secret... but it's what ever you want it to be and what makes you happy and is fun to play! You can go basic, total authentic retro, or ultral high tech... it's all good!


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## Guest

Amen to that! I've been on some of those forums and got bashed when asking about using LCD TV's or monitors. I am planning on a MAME cabinet that will also run an xbox. I want HD for the xbox and would never dream of dropping 3-400 on old arcade monitor when I can get an LCD one for the same price and make it multipurpose.


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## wbassett

natlight thanks for the comment. I know I was a bit harsh but really no more than some that insist only this, or only that should be used. They have every right to their opinion, and my opinion is this is a really cool project that sometimes is turned into a chore by some, but others make it a labor of love. Like I said, it's all good and if anyone builds an arcade cab and has fun with it, that's great and what the goal really is all about!


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## Guest

Great job on your arcade box! Who cares what others say you "have to" do or not? Really, I've never put together anything as cool as yours, that's for sure. You're right though: much of it is nostalgia. I was never a big gamer, but loved my Atari (pre-2600)! Pitfall, Pac & Mrs Pac, QBert, Galaga, Donkey Kong, etc. etc. etc. Big thumbs up from me!


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## Guest

I'm building a Mame arcade cabinet and I have a few questions about the controls. I like the X-arcade build your own assembly. (It comes with 20 buttons, two joysticks and a keyboard to usb converter) I'm on a budget and want something that will last (they have a lifetime guarantee). I'd also prefer to drill my own holes, but still make wiring easy. The big question I have is this: What's the maximum number of player buttons I need? X-arcade uses a 3-3-2 button configuration for each player and then P1, P2, and two pinball placed controls. I want to use Mame32 and a front end. I'd also like to use any spare buttons for quick keys: pause, select, esc, player 2 coin insert, etc. What's the best configuration to be compatible with most games but still have quick key options? I'm willing to use combos for esc, and use a player one control button for enter. Also, do I need a player 2 coin insert? Some games seem to require it but can I bypass that. I'm new to this and quite dumb, so any help would be great.


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## wbassett

The best site to research arcade games is KLOV. It shows a picture of the original cab, and also lists how many players and buttons per player.

The XArcade definitely has more than enough buttons, and often you'll find it has too many buttons. That's not really a bad thing since most all-in-one control panels, even the ones people make themselves have more buttons than what most games use.

The maximum number of buttons also depends on what games you play. For instance I am building a table top arcade for my grandson for Christmas and I'll probably only have a joystick and three player buttons because he doesn't play anything that requires more than two, three at the most. 

Six buttons and a joystick are more common for fighting games, and some games have seven buttons. I suppose there are a few games that have eight buttons, but none that I know of or have ever played.

You'll also need a dedicated Player1 and Player2 start button,and a coin drop button. The XArcade has these as well as pinball buttons on the side of the control panel. Each and every button can be reassigned through MAME too so you can set a cp up anyway you want and just map the buttons.

The XArcade is well built. You may see some people slam it on other sites but honestly the joystick was tested by RetroBlast and they could not tell the difference in play between it and a Happ Competition stick. Interestingly enough I've seen some people slam the XArcade Dual Stick and TankStick and tell people the first thing they need to do is rip out the XArcade sticks and replace them with something like... tada... a Happ Competition stick! To me it says that person has never really used an XArcade nor have they read any real comparison reviews. They are just repeating something they heard. I'll be honest and say there is a bit of a sloppy feel to the sticks but not as bad as some make it sound, and you'll quickly get used to them.

Price- The XArcade products are extremely well built, but they are a bit dicy price wise. The TankStick is around $200 and you could build it for a little over half that price, maybe a bit more than half. That includes a trackball, which is what really shoots the price up.

For a two player control panel you should be able to build one for way under $100. You can get an encoder for $30-40 that will support two sticks and at least four buttons for each player. When you pick an encoder they will list how many inputs you can have, 28 is a common number. Keep in mind that an arcade joystick isn't analog and works on micro or leaf switches so in MAME a joy stick maps to keyboard keys. That means for two eight-way joysticks you will need eight inputs on the encoder. That will leave you with 20 for your player buttons, start buttons, coin drops and whatever other buttons you may decide on.

Buttons are insanely inexpensive, most places carry them for around $1.50 a button, $2 tops. A stick like the Happ comp stick is also very inexpensive and I often see them on eBay selling 2 sticks for $15. So two sticks, say six buttons each player, start and coin drops... plus an encoder would run you around $70-100. The rest is how much the wood costs, and MDF is very inexpensive.

Here is a really good tip/trick if you want to build your on control panel. Don't go straight to drilling holes in your MDF, not right away at least. Get yourself some foam project board, or even a plain cardboard box will do. Lay your controls out on the cardboard and cut your holes, mount everything and wire it all up. See how it feels and how easy it is to work each button. You may have the coolest looking cp design that you did on your computer, but when you actually see and feel the layout it could be horrible. This way you can move things around and get the best positioning.

As far as a player two coin drop button, no you only need one. If the original arcade game required a second coin drop, you can just remap the player two coin drop to the player1 button and then select one or two player start with the start buttons. Or you can remap the player two coin button to anything you want!

Some people have several grand in their arcades and they aren't even super fancy with leds or other cool gizmos like that. I look at those setups and wonder why it cost them so much. 

Mine cost a bit more because I went with a premade cabinet. Check Craig's List and look for old arcade cabinets. You can usually pick up a gutted cabinet for $50 and often people are throwing them away! That is by far the cheapest way to go. 

I also wouldn't worry about a big expensive arcade monitor, not right away at least. Get yourself a nice 20"-21" CRT computer monitor and see how you like it. You may be surpised how well you like it, and keep in mind most of the older classic games were on 19" or less monitors. Now days a big computer CRT monitor like that is also dirt cheap... and again sometimes even free! I just bought a 20" CRT Trinitron monitor that looks and plays like brand new for $10.

I think where a lot of people make their biggest mistake is they want something that will play everything! So they design big complex panels only to find out they really only play a few dozen games max and all of their favorite games don't need all those buttons. Still it is nice to have extra buttons just in case. 

Look on eBay for XArcade dual sticks too. I've seen them sell for as little as $50, typical price is around $75. That is cheaper than you could build your own, and you can also reuse the encoder board to build your own custom cp later on if you want!

I really like the XArcade products. They aren't perfect, but nothing ever is. They are well built, have a lifetime warranty and you literally are up and running and playing classic arcade games the day it arrives! Plus if you need a step stool to reach a top cupboard... you can stand on these puppies and not worry for a second it will break!


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## Guest

WBassett,
Thanks so much for the quick and detailed reply. I have most items already and I take your point that cheap stuff is everywhere. It's for my nephews and the oldest is 9. I still want them to play all the games they desire and still meet a budget. I have a 17-inch flat screen monitor (the cab is going to be smaller so kids can play it), Pentium III, 512K ram, speakers and lots of free building materials. I'm pretty well sold on the X-arcade, but I want to make my own controller with their parts. (They sell the stuff for the 2 player joystick separately for $90, which is great. Includes the board, wires and clips, 20 buttons and usb cable.) I'm probably going to go with the Neo Geo setup of 3-3-1 button config after reading up on it some more. I'll use the other two buttons for pause and maybe select. I heard X-arcade lets you use combos (example: player 2 start + player 2 coin insert = escape and player 1 start + player 1 coin insert = tab. If I wanted another function, say "soft reset" could I do a detailed mapping such as holding more than two buttons down? That's unlikely but it'd be good to know if I could. I'm so new at this, so thanks again for all your help. You've got me much closer to gaming. I'm going with X-arcade because my nephews are nutballs, and if anyone needs a lifetime warrantee, they do!


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## wbassett

I'm with ya! 

When I bought my TankStick I ordered an encoder as well. Just like some people don't like the XArcade complete panels, they hate the encoders even more. Same thing in my opinion, most have never used one of their encoders let alone a full prebuilt panel.

I've heard people say the XArcade encoder has ghosting issues, but honestly I've never experienced that. One big difference is their encoder comes *with* a cable harness! Absolutely no soldering is required. The downside, and yeah everything has some sort of downside, is that the wires are a bit short for larger size panels, but it doesn't sound like you'll have a problem with that. I also like the keywiz encoder too, so I'm not trying to sound like a total XArcade fanboy, but XArcade makes good products. Probably the best thing about them (especially the full control panels) is you are up and running immediately and don't end up losing interest in the project.

The XArcade button/stick package isn't a bad price, but again check eBay. There are some people on there that regularly sell a two player package for as low as $20. What I like about these alternate buttons is they aren't all black. That way you can have a red button for a fire button, a green button for run, jump, or kick, things like that. Either way though you'll be happy.

The PC you have is perfect, but don't expect it to play everything. It will probably play 90% of the 6,000 arcade games though, and that's a lot! Some driving games require more CPU power than what you have, and believe it or not even Donkey Kong may have some sound issues depending on what version of MAME you're running. With some versions the sound was fine, but other games didn't work right. They fixed the other games, but now the sound for some games requires a bit more beef.

Don't worry about getting an expensive graphics card unless you plan on playing actual higher res PC games too. MAME runs on CPU and uses very little video ram and cycles. RAM for the PC though is always good to have. You can also get away with a smaller hard drive. I have a 60GB in my cab right now but am swapping PC (got a 3.33GHz machine free!) and putting in a 250GB hard drive. If you use flyer art, Cabinet pictures, control panel pictures, backgrounds... you'll start filling up a smaller drive fast.

Yes the encoder let's you do alternate keys but to be honest I haven't played around with those functions.

All in all it sounds like you're well on your way to a great cab and your nephews will love it! The Neo geo layout is always a good choice too. 

I've been doing a lot of research on light guns, but nothing really worth posting about right now. 

Now the only problem you have is once you build this for your nephews you'll be wanting to build one for yourself! I just got done playing Defender on mine :bigsmile:

I started this thread because *every* Home theater needs an arcade! And if you don't have a Home Theater... who cares, arcades may be basic and not have the graphics of an XBox 360 or PS3, but man are they fun on a level that a PS3 or XBox just can't match! Plus, as you'll hopefully find out, a person really can build an arcade cheaper than buying a console system!


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## wbassett

Oh.... What version of MAME are you using?

I recommend MAME32. It is by far the easiest to setup and use and has a quazi sort of graphical interface. You can still use front ends like Maximus and other but for setting up and configuring MAME it is by far the easiest to use.

Like everything else in this hobby, some people will tell you that command line MAME is the best, others will swear by MAME32. I say use what is easiest for you... they all emulate the same. 

Last thing... take lots of pictures and let us see how your project turns out! This is an extremely fun project and one you'll be hooked on that's for sure.


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## wbassett

lol ... yet another 'Oh'...

IF you are interested in a track ball, check out the XArcade track ball complete panel. It's on sale for half price right now at $49.95 and RetroBlast did a review on it as well and said it performs just like Happ's track ball! Plus it's USB so it's plug and play.








It has six buttons. Here's what I would do... call them. I bet you that their complete trackball panel also has the encoder! Like I said the trackball itself is USB but the buttons still need an encoder. Tell them what you want to do. Yes you won't get a life time waranty on the complete cp, but they may still honor it on the parts. It doesn't hurt to ask and you may be able to get a track ball and encoder for around the same price. Where you may run into a problem is they probably don't have the complete wiring harness included because they don't need all of the wires and connectors, but I'm sure they'll sell you a full harness kit.

Just something to think about is all. I'm actually going to be buying a couple of the trackball cps just to have the parts!


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## Guest

No kidding on wanting to build one for me now. I've got kid number 2 on the way, so I'll plan that one in a few months. I'm trying to keep the costs down (I'm poor) but I thought of seeing if I could get the trak ball setup the same way. If the pieces are around $30, I'll probably do it. My father in law (nephew's father) loves Golden Tee. I was also thinking a steering wheel/pedals would be more practical, cause kids love racing games. Any suggestions for them? I guess I'd need another board and such. 
I'm going Mame32. Been playing on PC for awhile (test runs, haha) and like it. Any suggestion for front end and Windows operating system to use with my computer? It's not very fast, as you can see. I want the arcade to start up with Windows out of view as much as possible. Maybe go to black screen and load front end on startup. Again. I'm really asking a lot of questions. You've been so kind to help me.


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## wbassett

dkubarek said:


> I was also thinking a steering wheel/pedals would be more practical, cause kids love racing games. Any suggestions for them? I guess I'd need another board and such.


Not really, a standard PC steering wheel will work with MAME and most driving games. Some like Pole Postition are basicallya heavy duty 360 degree spinner with a steering wheel attached.

I'll look up a link later for a basic $30 spinner that's USB too. They even sell a steering wheel attachment!

MAME is easy and inexpensive for basic games, it's when you start adding driving games and shooter games and other specialty games is when the price starts shooting up.

Still a PC steering wheel can be had for around $30 and trying to get an actual arcade steering wheel to work could cost you a couple hundred... and the thing is... they both play and feel the same!


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## Guest

So, I paid $10 for a 17-inch Samsung flat screen (not flat panel) monitor with a large back to it. Then I got a 17-inch Sony LCD flat panel for free. It's actually almost an inch smaller in width than the Sanyo, but is very much lighter and thus easier to work with. I'm trying to make a smaller cabinet. One that a 10-year-old could play standing up and an adult could play sitting down. So, size is important. What should I go with? Both are good monitors and I'm most concerned with picture quality while gaming. Light guns are an option at a later time, and the kids like fighting games. Thanks for the help.


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## Guest

Also, the LCD monitor has a 20ms response time. I hear that's too slow. Is it?


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## wbassett

Sorry for the late response...

20ms is pretty slow and I really haven't seen any LCD monitors in a long time with response times that slow. However, for the classic arcade games I would think it should be just fine since those games don't really have a lot of super fast movement anyway.

A cabaret cabinet is smaller and many people like them. Sounds like this is perfect for what you want to do. Also I'd probably go with the LCD monitor even though some of the 'purists' would tar and feather me for saying that! I understand the purists and wanting an exact replica or restore of a classic arcade. Let's face it though, most mame cabinets, as cool looking as they are look nothing like an original arcade cab. Sure they 'look' like an arcade machine because they have the basic shape, they have buttons and joysticks... but they really don't look exactly like the original. Same as an all in one control panel... I've seen 'purists' that were perfectly fine with a cp the size of an aircraft carrier, but then snoot their noses at anything other than an authentic arcade monitor.

Plain and simple... if the developers had higher resolution monitors, then they would have coded better graphics. It wasn't like some say that they intentionally coded with scan lines and lower res in mind. 

One other benefit besides the weight is it also gives you more room in the cab! Now you can fit the LCD monitor AND PC in the area that normally would be taken up by the huge guts of a CRT monitor. Then you can use the bottom of the cab for storage for things like extra controllers for game console emulators and things like that. Throw in that CRT technology is going to go away and be replaced by LCD no matter what anyone tries to say! 

So here is my advice... use what you can to keep the price down yet remain fully functional, but most important- Build it however makes *you* happy! As long as it has the basic shape of an arcade cabinet and has joysticks and buttons, anyone that comes over is going to geek out and love it. I seriously doubt anyone would pick it apart and say 'Dude... it's cool, but never use an LCD!' I think they are going to be saying 'So how do you fire this puppy up!' 

Quick analogy of being a perfectionist vs what people really think- I collect swords and make my own armor too. I love Halloween because that's the one time of the year I can put everything on without anyone batting an eye . One year I went as Gladiator from the movie, complete with an exact replica helmet from the movie. I spent two months making the chest plate armor to look like the movie... in the end it was the helmet that was the key. A friend of mine said "Ya know... you could have come to the party wearing nothing but the helmet and everyone would have known exactly who you were supposed to be!"

So the moral is, as long as it has a certain recognizable 'look' to it and you're happy with it... that's all that really matters in my opinion. Sure some may criticize, but you'll get that with anything in life.:bigsmile:


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