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Arcade Game Project
- Thread starter RVZ
- Start date
Other than for nostalgia, you guys shouldn't really go for the types of Arcade Cabs they have locally. Try one based on the Vewlix or Astrocity layout (you can find PDF files on how to create a generic Vewlix cab). And think of investing in some highquality arcade joysticks and buttons made by Sanwa and Seimitsu. Alternatively, buy two MadCatz, Qanba, EightArc or HORI sticks and build them into the cab.
http://customvewlix.blogspot.com/
http://customvewlix.blogspot.com/
If you consider the fact that it only cost me R1100 for the cabinet, brand new, then I can't see how it will be worth while to build it myself. Especially considering I am not handy with wood work, etc. and have none of the tools.
I just purchased the control panel for R450 as a start, a little bit later on, I'm going to have someone build me a larger control panel, which I will then get some high quality analog sticks from ultimarc.
Guess if you have the tools and time, and patience, then build it, but someone like myself who is running two companies just doesn't have the free time. Already battling to find time just to play on the thing
I just purchased the control panel for R450 as a start, a little bit later on, I'm going to have someone build me a larger control panel, which I will then get some high quality analog sticks from ultimarc.
Guess if you have the tools and time, and patience, then build it, but someone like myself who is running two companies just doesn't have the free time. Already battling to find time just to play on the thing
You could always give the plans to people who do know how to build these things
It all depends on your budget, and what you expect to get from it. After playing on Japanese sticks and buttons I can't stand on playing local setups. So the buttons, sticks and alone will set me back about R2k. Then I'll want a lagless LCD, which adds another R3k to the price, and if I want to play shmups it might need a custom pivot that I can use to rotate the screen. So basically once I get more space, I'm gonna have to drop about R10k on the cab I want.
EDIT: Oh, and for those who want to use their cabs to play MAME games etc, IMO it's silly to try to source the entire ROM/CHD set. Just get the ones that are actually playable on your setup. There's no point in having 100s of unplayable Mahjonng games, or dozens of clones or games that simply just do not work or run well. Most people on here will probably just stick to a pool of 50 or less games anyway. I used to have script that would build a playable set of ROMS given a master set but I lost it :\
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PilgrimToHyperion
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Meh...
For some of us *winks at Keeper*, getting as many games as possible is an addiction!
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Meh...
For some of us *winks at Keeper*, getting as many games as possible is an addiction!
I have the complete mame, snes, nes, n64, megadrive collection. Nice to have at your disposal but you will never play all the games.
Someone send me a dreamcast collection
D4N
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Nice cabinets you guys have here. I wish I could build by own, but unfortunately my woodworking skills are Malema-tier
D4N
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It's a PITA to check (ClrMamePro and datasets of each MAME release). How big is your rom directory and do you have any CHDs?
PilgrimToHyperion
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A guy at work has an arcade cabinet and he had some extra stuff laying around for the last 2 years or so from when he wanted to build a new controller. He was really nice and gave it all to me mahala as he's not getting around to it! Yay for me!!
Here's what he gave me:
2 joysticks (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/happjoycompred.htm)
about 16 buttons + micro switches (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/sspb2.htm)
a trackball (huge bonus!) (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/xarcade3inchtrackball.htm)
a minipac with the wiring harness (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/minipackit.htm)
coin door (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/blackcoindoor.htm)
coin mech (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/comparablecoinmech.htm)
And then some bits and pieces
I dug out my old P4 from the garage, installed XP, installed HS, got a few emulators working. Burning to test it with the Minipac, but it'll have to wait a bit. Hopefully the coming weekend I'll go see a local arcade guy about a cabinet (the same as Timmie23). I intend to build my old 21" CRT into it (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=789). It's a really high-end(and flippen heavy) monitor, but I think it'll do. I'll also have to build my own control panel as the standard one with the cabinet isn't suitable.
I was looking around for extra micro switches during the week and the cheapest I could get them was R55! Very expensive. Found this today - http://www.macspares.co.za/laundry/microswitch-3-tag-norm-open-norm-closed#.UEOuNJapwaA . Much better! Also this - http://shop.rabtron.co.za/catalog/micro-switches-c-44_322.html, 6th from the bottom looks like the right thing. Even cheaper! Timmie23, think these will fit the buttons you have?
The idea now is to get everything set up first and test drive all the components. If all is well, I'll start working on the aesthetics of the cabinet.
Man, so excited!! Will post some pics when I start with everything!
Here's what he gave me:
2 joysticks (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/happjoycompred.htm)
about 16 buttons + micro switches (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/sspb2.htm)
a trackball (huge bonus!) (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/xarcade3inchtrackball.htm)
a minipac with the wiring harness (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/minipackit.htm)
coin door (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/blackcoindoor.htm)
coin mech (http://www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk/products/comparablecoinmech.htm)
And then some bits and pieces
I dug out my old P4 from the garage, installed XP, installed HS, got a few emulators working. Burning to test it with the Minipac, but it'll have to wait a bit. Hopefully the coming weekend I'll go see a local arcade guy about a cabinet (the same as Timmie23). I intend to build my old 21" CRT into it (http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=789). It's a really high-end(and flippen heavy) monitor, but I think it'll do. I'll also have to build my own control panel as the standard one with the cabinet isn't suitable.
I was looking around for extra micro switches during the week and the cheapest I could get them was R55! Very expensive. Found this today - http://www.macspares.co.za/laundry/microswitch-3-tag-norm-open-norm-closed#.UEOuNJapwaA . Much better! Also this - http://shop.rabtron.co.za/catalog/micro-switches-c-44_322.html, 6th from the bottom looks like the right thing. Even cheaper! Timmie23, think these will fit the buttons you have?
The idea now is to get everything set up first and test drive all the components. If all is well, I'll start working on the aesthetics of the cabinet.
Man, so excited!! Will post some pics when I start with everything!
PilgrimToHyperion
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Wow, can't believe 2 months has passed since starting with this project. Most of this time was spent waiting for the cabinet and playing around with different frontends.
Anyhoo, some pics to show the progress made with the cabinet in the last 2 days or so. Pics are crap quality, sorry.
Here the original cabinet as I received it. Looks nice in black, but the sides are covered in some sort of vinyl that scratches easily. Ripped it off today. I asked them not to cut the hole for the monitor but they did anyway, making it way too big. Will fix it later. Note the control panel part, way too narrow to fit joystick and a trackball in there.
Crappy vinyl stuff.
Ripping TV apart to put into the cabinet. Very dangerous (I found out afterwards). Could NOT get the TV to work in XP unless I selected VGA mode. Unfortunately this doesn't load the driver so bleh! Tried 3 different apps to create custom refresh rates (50Hertz), but alas, did not get it to work. Ripped it out again.
more to follow below
Anyhoo, some pics to show the progress made with the cabinet in the last 2 days or so. Pics are crap quality, sorry.
Here the original cabinet as I received it. Looks nice in black, but the sides are covered in some sort of vinyl that scratches easily. Ripped it off today. I asked them not to cut the hole for the monitor but they did anyway, making it way too big. Will fix it later. Note the control panel part, way too narrow to fit joystick and a trackball in there.
Crappy vinyl stuff.
Ripping TV apart to put into the cabinet. Very dangerous (I found out afterwards). Could NOT get the TV to work in XP unless I selected VGA mode. Unfortunately this doesn't load the driver so bleh! Tried 3 different apps to create custom refresh rates (50Hertz), but alas, did not get it to work. Ripped it out again.
more to follow below
PilgrimToHyperion
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We used pieces of wood to attach the TV to the bezel. Work well.
TV Mounted
From the back of the cabinet
more to follow:
TV Mounted
From the back of the cabinet
more to follow:
PilgrimToHyperion
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TV powered on
TV ripped out, 21" CRT installed
CRT from the front. Slighly smaller, but much easier to use from Windows. I'll add scanlines via software for authenticity's sake.
TV ripped out, 21" CRT installed
CRT from the front. Slighly smaller, but much easier to use from Windows. I'll add scanlines via software for authenticity's sake.
PilgrimToHyperion
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Coin door installed. Will wire it up once I start on the J-pac.
Old controller I received from someone at work. Will be burned after I rip out the buttons! New design coming up!
That's it for now. I'll post more pics when we work on it again this weekend. Hopefully we can get the control panel box built, mount it, install the speakers and redo the bezel and start working on the marquee!
This is fun!!
Old controller I received from someone at work. Will be burned after I rip out the buttons!
New design coming up!That's it for now. I'll post more pics when we work on it again this weekend. Hopefully we can get the control panel box built, mount it, install the speakers and redo the bezel and start working on the marquee!
This is fun!!
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PilgrimToHyperion
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Update time!
Messy wiring done. The minipac is an awesome little controller. Struggled with it for ages because I didn't ground it correctly!
I didn't have a mounting plate for the trackball, so we built one using some stuff that was in the garage, worked really well!
Trackball mounted!
There's quite a bit left to do. Tried to get some perspex etc. today. Unfortunately the saw was broken at the place I went to. I need 3 pieces, 2 for the marquee and 1 for the screen. And maybe another for the control panel, but I'll get to that later.
I still need to paint the controller. Thought of printing some design for it, but going to just paint for now.
Speakers still need to be mounted as well as the light for the marquee. I'm quite pleased with the progress we've made in the little time we've spent on this. The main problem now is that whenever we're supposed to work on it, we end up drinking beer and playing MK nonstop!
The control panel looks a little bit weird with the layout up we used for the sticks and the buttons, but it's very comfy for both players. Still need to change those buttons though, I used the buttons I got for free and I just don't like the colours.
Working on it tomorrow night, so I'll try to post some more pics soon.
Messy wiring done. The minipac is an awesome little controller. Struggled with it for ages because I didn't ground it correctly!
I didn't have a mounting plate for the trackball, so we built one using some stuff that was in the garage, worked really well!
Trackball mounted!
There's quite a bit left to do. Tried to get some perspex etc. today. Unfortunately the saw was broken at the place I went to. I need 3 pieces, 2 for the marquee and 1 for the screen. And maybe another for the control panel, but I'll get to that later.
I still need to paint the controller. Thought of printing some design for it, but going to just paint for now.
Speakers still need to be mounted as well as the light for the marquee. I'm quite pleased with the progress we've made in the little time we've spent on this. The main problem now is that whenever we're supposed to work on it, we end up drinking beer and playing MK nonstop!
The control panel looks a little bit weird with the layout up we used for the sticks and the buttons, but it's very comfy for both players. Still need to change those buttons though, I used the buttons I got for free and I just don't like the colours.
Working on it tomorrow night, so I'll try to post some more pics soon.