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o1s1n

Thats very expensive for a neo geo MVS 1 slot. You can get them for under 100 euro!

Im biased towards real hardware and collect MVS carts so would say go with that. You can get a pirate MVS cart with loads of games on it to start you off.

Dunno what he means about them failing... Even the original battery stll works in mine. Many good years in them left.

If you want to go the emu route then aim for a hyperspin setup.

KeRbDoG

MVS cost - I've just bought a replacement one for work for 50euro shipped. The old one died but it happens I would still go the MVS route rather than a *elf
No matter how much they attempt to improve the *elf carts, they are still just emulation and not even good emulation at that.

OR just jump in and build a PC to run Hyperspin+MAME. Results will be much better than a slow/bad emulation *elf cart.

Andrew76

MVS 1 slot and a few carts (or the 161-in-1 style cart) is a great setup imo. Lots of great Neo Geo games and the 1 slot should be plug and play on a Jamma cab. MVS carts are also pretty cheap so not too expensive to get a nice little collection (just be on the look out for boots).

@kerbdog

Yeah Im not convinced by the elf carts,
I think I'll go for a mvs and pick up a multi cart to get started.
Thanks for the advice lads

And @kerbdog where'd you buy the 1 slot?
Thanks

TechnoFreek

A guy on j+ sells the 161 in 1 neo carts. Offers a discount to members there. One of the cheaper options around iirc.

safetyboy

If you are getting a JVS with namco to Jamma converter the 161 doesnt work right, most games do, but most of the metal slugs don't (which I bought it for) also coin mech doesn't work with the Namco to Jamma.

also this is a bargain for what it does so easily.

http://jvspac.kirurg.org/

Thanks for the heads up,

KeRbDoG

urbanledge wrote: »

And @kerbdog where'd you buy the 1 slot?
Thanks

A guy on ArcadeOtaku.com

TechnoFreek

There's a guy on J+ selling a one slot and 6 carts for 110 sterling.

TechnoFreek

TechnoFreek wrote: »

There's a guy on J+ selling a one slot and 6 carts for 110 sterling.

I seen that, my super sound cousin is giving me a loan of a one slot and several carts to get me going.not sure what carts tho.
Thanks Eamo!

Steve X2

I see there is a new(ish) version of instant sheller out (few months old but the updates are usually a year or two apart so worth mentioning).
http://www.gameex.com/Community/InstantShellerandshellingguide.aspx

It hides a bit more of Windows 7 than the older version, which might be of interest to anyone running running Hyperspin or another front end that they want to auto load on boot. It's not perfect as you still see a little "Welcome to Windows 7" message on the very bottom of the screen for about half a second just before Hyperspin loads.
Still, it does the job without having to go into .dll files and edit images and image placeholders etc.

I'm building a new Hyperspin PC which is how I came across the new version.

Steve X2

I kind of want another Egret 3 now in tate mode rather than an Egret 2.
I know the E2 is nice but I just prefer the look of the E3 and in tate mode it looks very nice indeed.

o1s1n

They are indeed lovely machines (I especially love that big Raiden IV poster!)

I think it's a commonly held opinion though that the build quality of the Egret II is better than that of the Egret 3. I think it may have a better monitor or something.

Worth looking into anyway. How about an Atomiswave SD to mix it up? Practically the same cab, just with different colouring.

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

They are indeed lovely machines (I especially love that big Raiden IV poster!)

I think it's a commonly held opinion though that the build quality of the Egret II is better than that of the Egret 3. I think it may have a better monitor or something.

Worth looking into anyway. How about an Atomiswave SD to mix it up? Practically the same cab, just with different colouring.

Yeah the build quality might be better, I'm not sure.
Monitor isn't better anyway for me as i like an nice tri-sync rather that the dual that the E2 has.
I got a new monitor for my E3 ages ago and the quality is really nice in 15 and 31khz (don't really care 25khz). If I got an E2 I'd upgrade the screen anyway.

o1s1n

Ah yeah, I forgot about your monitor woes when you got that. That was pretty awful!

Replacement monitor was decent in the end yeah?

Did you ever get rid of that other one? (I think I remember you saying you had folks coming to visit and had to get it out of the spare room fast!)

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

Ah yeah, I forgot about your monitor woes when you got that. That was pretty awful!

Replacement monitor was decent in the end yeah?

Did you ever get rid of that other one? (I think I remember you saying you had folks coming to visit and had to get it out of the spare room fast!)

Yeah, the replacement was nice, but i upgraded to a nicer one again since (and a new chassis as well).
The spare one went to one of the regulars here.

Steve SI

Steve SI wrote: »

I see there is a new(ish) version of instant sheller out....It hides a bit more of Windows 7 than the older version....It's not perfect as you still see a little "Welcome to Windows 7" message on the very bottom of the screen for about half a second just before Hyperspin loads...

I read somewhere that you can install a PCIe graphics card in your system without a monitor connected to it, as well as your standard card with your monitor on it, and windows will try to use the PCIe card first for a few seconds before it switches to the active card instead. Your screen only kicks in after your bios and the initial part of the boot up process has passed.

That was in relation to windows XP, so not sure if it would work on w7 or not, but thought it might be worth mentioning, depending on how much of your OS you're seeing. I was considering doing it on my XP Cab as the bios screen (with a big HP logo) is the only part of the boot i haven't been able to hide.

Steve X2

Deleted User wrote: »

I read somewhere that you can install a PCIe graphics card in your system without a monitor connected to it, as well as your standard card with your monitor on it, and windows will try to use the PCIe card first for a few seconds before it switches to the active card instead. Your screen only kicks in after your bios and the initial part of the boot up process has passed.

That was in relation to windows XP, so not sure if it would work on w7 or not, but thought it might be worth mentioning, depending on how much of your OS you're seeing. I was considering doing it on my XP Cab as the bios screen (with a big HP logo) is the only part of the boot i haven't been able to hide.

I've an ASUS motherboard in my current hyperspin pc and I just created a pure black picture as the boot image that sits in front of the bios. So you see nothing until windows login and then just the tiny "welcome to windows 7" thing that I'll get rid of at some stage(edit a dll file is all you have to do).

The Last Bandit

Here's a couple of hardware options I've been poking around at for this.

If you want to simply blackout the screen until the frontend is loaded then a simple timer and 74125 as used in the diy scanline generator with ground the RGB signals until the timer expires (the scanline generator grounds them every second H-Sync producing the illusion of a scanline)

For something more interesting, I was thinking of using an AVR microcontroller to generate those garbled 8 bit colour screens and or fake diagnostic screens that you see on arcade boards for a set time until the frontend is running. Lot more work involved in this but there are a couple of decent libraries available for the AVR so should be doable are fairly cheap to build.

Andrew76

I'd definitely chose an E2 over an E3 or AWSD as a second cab - purely because of the rotate mech, I also prefer the 15KHz picture so losing tri-sync wouldn't bother me too much.

Not being smart or anything but with the E3 and AWSD cabs you have to flick a switch under the cab before the monitor will power on - so why not just power on the pc and wait 10/15 seconds before flicking on the cab switch? That's what I was doing as I couldn't be arsed trying to wipe every trace of Windows, sure up pops your front end - it's clearly running off a PC anyway. :pac:
Other cabs might be different of course.

o1s1n

Maybe he's one of those chance takers who leaves the switch on and powers on the cab by plugging it in :eek:

Steve X2

o1s1n wrote: »

Maybe he's one of those chance takers who leaves the switch on and powers on the cab by plugging it in :eek:

The Last Bandit

Not sure if watching this wiggle around the screen is much better that a BIOS screen really.. Might spruce it up a bit now the basics are working..

Steve X2

Here's a quick vid of the new HyperSpin PC I'm building at the moment (far from done on the hardware or software side of things).

This is using a Dell system as the base with a few upgrades. The problem with this one is that it's not like my current setup that has the ASUS motherboard that allows you to change the boot picture so you can hide the whole bios screen. This has the new instant shell program installed and you can see it hides most but not all of Windows 7.

When it gets to the Zinc section you can also see a bug thats in the latest HyperSpin. If you have Intel integrated HD 4000 graphics there are problems loading the mp4 video previews.
This can be fixed by using a different graphics card or moving back to the flash previews as the issue is firmly with the Intel GPU. Not ideal so hopefully they fix the Hyperspin .exe for the next release.

Basic specs: Windows 7 64bit, i7-3770K proc(running @4Ghz), 16GB DDR3 ram, Intel HD4000 GPU(new card on the way to replace this).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H8ogzcIoA8

The Last Bandit

Steve SI wrote: »

Basic specs: Windows 7 64bit, i7-3770K proc(running @4Ghz), 16GB DDR3 ram, Intel HD4000 GPU(new card on the way to replace this).

That's a lot of PC for Mame Not seen the manufacturer based themes/skin before, your own work ?

Steve X2

The Last Bandit wrote: »

That's a lot of PC for Mame Not seen the manufacturer based themes/skin before, your own work ?

It's a hefty proc for MAME alright but I also have some more demanding emulators on that as well (Dreamcast, 3DO, Naomi, PS1, PS2 etc) and it really helps with the Hyperspin interface.
Plus, you do actually notice the proc pushing more frames on some of the more demanding MAME games.
The themes are some custom ones that I got and a few I've modified with better artwork/animations, so not really my own work.

Andrew76

o1s1n wrote: »

Maybe he's one of those chance takers who leaves the switch on and powers on the cab by plugging it in :eek:

Lol fair play to anyone doing that. I'll play it safe thanks very much.

The Last Bandit wrote: »

Not sure if watching this wiggle around the screen is much better that a BIOS screen really.. Might spruce it up a bit now the basics are working..

I guess that picture is kind of retro.

The Last Bandit

Andrew76 wrote: »

I guess that picture is kind of retro.

Its a first attempt at getting the graphics demo library working on the chip, plan is for something like the Bombjack boot screens or a RAM/ROM counter for instance.

TechnoFreek

Exiting Hyperspin & Mame.
What buttons combos on your cab control panel are peeps using to exit the aforementioned programs.

Looking for ideas. Thanks

(can you hold player one and two buttons for 5 seconds to exit like the mvs 161 in 1?)

That's what I use anyway.running maximus arcade