Arcade Game Project

[timmie23]

Just thought I'd share with everyone here.

I just ordered an arcade cabinet, with control panel, with HID so that you can use the controls with your PC setup, and having it delivered from JHB to Potchefstroom.

2 Joysticks, 6 buttons for each player, 2 player start buttons.

R2100

They say it will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.
I'll upload some photos and give some feedback then.
All in all, awesome price for me, as I would've had to pay someone to make a cabinet from scratch, and then ordered all the controls from abroad.

[StoneCold]

Can no one provide me feedback on my question which I asked on the previous page ?

[phaktza]

Just thought I'd share with everyone here.

I just ordered an arcade cabinet, with control panel, with HID so that you can use the controls with your PC setup, and having it delivered from JHB to Potchefstroom.

2 Joysticks, 6 buttons for each player, 2 player start buttons.

R2100

They say it will be delivered tomorrow afternoon.
I'll upload some photos and give some feedback then.
All in all, awesome price for me, as I would've had to pay someone to make a cabinet from scratch, and then ordered all the controls from abroad.

From where? Not that I have space at present *goes to beg gf for a man cave*

[timmie23]

From where? Not that I have space at present *goes to beg gf for a man cave*

http://www.eurasianamusements.co.za/home.html

They really impressed me with their pricing and going the extra mile.
Apparently the arcade cabinets usually use a 20"Screen. As I'm most likely just going to use a 17" CRT, they said they will cut it for me, and then when they deliver it, they will show me how to go about installing the screen.

You don't often get service like that.

Can't wait to get it tomorrow. Will definitely post photos.

[timmie23]

Can no one provide me feedback on my question which I asked on the previous page ?

Phone the people in the site I linked above. They build their own control panels, so I'm pretty sure they can do it for you.

[Madman88]

That looks awesome. And that price is awesome.

Please post pics when you get it

[timmie23]

I'll be posting a video most likely as well.
Want to show people how awesome HyperSpin Front End is.

Just got my gold account there and 1 year subscription to EmuMovies.
HyperSpin is actually what made me decide that now's the time to get a cabinet at long long last.
Been putting it off for too long.

Luckily the "Minister of Finances" gave her approval as well ;-)

[Keeper]

wow thanks for that bit of info timmie23!
I've seen that site before but never knew it was that cheap!

Do you think they will customize the control panel if requested?
I think a fighter style six button layout will work better, and I need an extra "Shift button" to exit mame & hyperspin, etc..

PS - watch this guys HS setup:

[timmie23]

Do you think they will customize the control panel if requested?
I think a fighter style six button layout will work better, and I need an extra "Shift button" to exit mame & hyperspin, etc..

The guy mentioned something about the buttons not being clip on buttons, and if they are moved to a different layout, they will fall out constantly.
So I'm going to order buttons from http://www.ultimarc.com/ and then just redo the layout myself.
I also want the six button Mortal Kombat style layout.
He did mention that with the HID he uses for PC connection, you don't need a shift button. Pressing Up on the joystick and Player 1 Start will for instance then do a Player 1 Insert Coin.
I'm going to hide exit and pause buttons on the side of the cabinet. Don't want to many buttons on the control panel.
But give them a call and speak to them. He knows what he's talking about, even mentioned HyperSpin.

[timmie23]

Got the cabinet. Made from real solid wood, which is really good.
They also cut the screen thing so that I can fit a 17" in there.

Only thing I'm probably going to do is to redo the control panel. I'll order other buttons that take up less space at the back of the panel, and do the standard 3 and 3 button layout, and move the start buttons to the middle with coin buttons.

But over all, solid build quality. Couldn't be happier.

[phaktza]

Got the cabinet. Made from real solid wood, which is really good.
They also cut the screen thing so that I can fit a 17" in there.

Only thing I'm probably going to do is to redo the control panel. I'll order other buttons that take up less space at the back of the panel, and do the standard 3 and 3 button layout, and move the start buttons to the middle with coin buttons.

But over all, solid build quality. Couldn't be happier.

Nice!

[Madman88]

That control panel looks pretty weird, but the rest of the cabinet looks awesome.

[gregmcc]

Looks very nice!

[timmie23]

That control panel looks pretty weird, but the rest of the cabinet looks awesome.

I agree, I asked them to do the layout as it should be. He said the buttons they use, take up too much space at the back, as you can see from the last photo. Going to order some buttons from Ultimarc.com and then redo it.

But for now, the R450 for the panel was worth it. When I have funds again to invest into this, I'll pimp it out with much better parts.

At this stage, still trying to throw a PC together.

[timmie23]

Finally managed to find a cheap 2nd hand PC. Ended up getting one from my previous employer for R200 :-)
P4 3.2GHz HT with 1GB RAM and 80GB HDD. Not bad for R200. Just popped in a 1TB and also the Geforce 7900 that I had lying around and another 2GB RAM.

Battled my ass off to get MAME to work at first. Turns out it is a bug in the later bunch of drivers from nVidia. So had to resort to a driver from about 2 years ago. Seeing as it is just going to be emulating old arcade games, I'm sure it'll do fine with those drivers.
Also had a bit of an issue with HyperSpin. The way the joystick and buttons are setup, is kinda like a keyboard hack, but not using a keyboard, using this little chip I got with the cabinet.

P1 Up is Q, and HyperLaunch uses Q + S as a quit. Couldn't figure out how to change it, but finally just resorted to not running the emulators via hyperlaunch. Working well now.

P2 joystick needs some tuning. If you push up, it goes up and right and if you push left, it goes left and down. Like as if the contact points are touching for some reason.

Other than that, just waiting for a friend to come help cut the hole for the screen, as it is a bit too small.
Then I'll be sorted :-)

Who knew you could have your own arcade at home with thousands of games, for under R3500.
Yes, you can emulate it on your PC and use your keyboard, but it just isn't the same.