Some Mame and Hyperspin n00bish queries

TechnoFreek

Hi guys,
 
As some of you are probably aware from my other posts I intend to get a Candy Cab and get MAME hooked up.
 
While I waiting to get a few coppers together for the cab, I want to start getting other bits and pieces together, namely MAME, Hypersin and a PC.
I have some queries about these so if anyone can enlighten and give me their tuppence worth that would be great. I know there is lots here but even if you can just answer ceratin parts, I'll compile it all myself.
 
MAME:
I have an old romset, version 125 I think it is. Is it worth my while going about updating the roms and CHDs to the latest 145 and running mame 145?
I read somewhere that from MAME v145 on, the format of CHDs has been changed. Is this correct and how will this affect my existing romset?
It is several years since I last tinkered with Mame on my PC. Back then there were a good few games not running - the likes of Tekken for example. Has this been resolved?
Are newer games like Street Fighter 4 possible?
 
PC
In terms of putting a PC together. What sort of specs should I aiming for. I presume the usual faster processor, more ram, bigger harddrive, getter gfx card holds true but what is and acceptable but cheap(ish) level of specs.
E.g.
would a p4 with 2gb ram suffice to run games released up to the year 2000
an i5 with 6gb ram and high end gfx would run everything (assuming support in MAME)
 
Hyperspin
I have downloaded Hypersin and am testing it on my main PC (prior to getting a dedicated one). It seems to be up and running with some MAME roms so it seems ok to that end. I've also donated to the forum so I can dl all themes and artwork etc.
 
I found a guide on there that shows how to make hyperspin boot automatically on powering on the pc. Can the reverse be done for exiting Hyperspin/ PC shutdown? I can't seem to find anything on that.
 
MAME/Hyperspin
Assuming I have a 6 button control panel, does the button layout need to be mapped for each individual game? How is that done - through MAME?
Does that mean although I would have the PC hidden in the cab, I would still need a keyboard and mouse to make adjustments like this everything I load a game for the first time.
(May not be an issue for games that only use one or two buttons but I am thinking of fighters where button layout is more important)
 
Thanks again.

The Last Bandit

Mame:
Not sure, I running 144 I think and have pretty much all the stuff I want on it so not bothering to upgrade ever..

PC:
People tend to over spec PC's from what I've seen particularly when HyperSpin is used. Saying that a P4 is pretty old now and might struggle a bit. I'm using an i3 mini-itx in my latest and runs everything I've thrown at it.

HyperSpin:
You can call an application when exiting HyperSpin, you could for instance just create and call a batch file to shutdown the OS using the "shutdown" command. I would not recommend this though, I call explorer on mine so if I ever have to tinker with the box I have easy access to a working windows desktop and use the a push button to start/stop the box.

MAME:
You can define custom inputs for each game by starting them up and working thru the MAME menus or editing the settings file for each game ahead of time. Its a bit tedious alright, remember have to change a load of them before mostly driving games to map the throttle/brakes and gear changes.

Optimus Prime

The Last Bandit wrote: »

HyperSpin:
You can call an application when exiting HyperSpin, you could for instance just create and call a batch file to shutdown the OS using the "shutdown" command. I would not recommend this though, I call explorer on mine so if I ever have to tinker with the box I have easy access to a working windows desktop and use the a push button to start/stop the box.

Theres an option in Hyperspin settings to shut down the pc on exit from hyperspin, i have it set in mine, if i need to do anything on the pc i just close hyperspin with task manager.

TechnoFreek

Thanks lads, some good stuff there to start me off

Bandit, did you buy your mini itx or build it yourself?

Keithgeo, how do you exit hyperspin without using a keyboard I.e. joystick and buttons only

Andrew76

As keithgeo says there's an option in HS to shutdown the OS on exit, works fine. Regarding Mame, you can go into the general settings and set the mappings for all games there.

You can assign buttons to trigger the HS Exit event.

Optimus Prime

On my cab I have holdplayer1 plus hit button set to esc i think, i think thats you i did it, so if i hold player1 and press button 1 it goes backwards and then asks if you want to exit hyperspin. another button is set to enter so i just hit that.

Steve X2

MAME:
I use 145 on my rig but also have 143 there if I ever want to switch back(takes 20 seconds to switch).

PC:
As powerful as you can get it but remember MAME doesn't really utilise the graphics card so its all down to the CPU. If you run other emulators for consoles etc the graphics card will be used on them usually. You'll want at least a dual core cpu or if you can get an i3 or better(but 3ghz dual core will be fine for MAME).
MY Hyperspin pc is fairly high spec but I'm just a freak about these things so I wouldn't recommend going to the same expense as I did.

.

TechnoFreek

Thanks guys. Some great advice there. Exactly what I was looking for.

Steve si, when you say you have mame 143 and 145 do you mean both the application and romsets or do you just have the one romset and two versions of the application?

Also, can anyone clarify the supposed issue with chd format in 145?

Thanks again guys!

Steve X2

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Thanks guys. Some great advice there. Exactly what I was looking for.

Steve si, when you say you have mame 143 and 145 do you mean both the application and romsets or do you just have the one romset and two versions of the application?

Also, can anyone clarify the supposed issue with chd format in 145?

Thanks again guys!

I have both the full romset, chd's and nonag MAME emulator for both 143 and 145. A quick change in hyperhq and I can switch if I ever come across any problems or compatibility issues in 145(I haven't yet).

As for the CHD files changing format. I'm not really sure as the format seems the same but the process for reading them might have changed a bit. I always download a fresh MAME romset and all CHD files for each full revision of the emulator(142, 143, 144, 145 but not 143u1/u2/u3 etc).
Fast broadband and extreme fussiness has made me that way

.

TechnoFreek

I'd love to be able to download the full set as I'm fussy too but a 2mb eircom line puts a stop to all of that!

Steve X2

TechnoFreek wrote: »

I'd love to be able to download the full set as I'm fussy too but a 2mb eircom line puts a stop to all of that!

Get a 100Mb broadband line and your problems are solved

A 2Mb line is still ok to do it if you don't mind waiting buts its probably your monthly download limit that will cause issues with Eircom.

.

aN.Droid

TechnoFreek wrote: »

I'd love to be able to download the full set as I'm fussy too but a 2mb eircom line puts a stop to all of that!

I downloaded my first mame set on eircom 2 mb all those years ago

Downloading from a well know mame torrent site (google it, 4th link when I search for mame torrent site) I got full speed back then and everytime I have gone back to them (over 300gb uploaded) the speed is pretty much constantly high and I am on 100mb UPC now.

TechnoFreek

I'm down in the sticks lads. Eircom 2mb is my only option. It is unlimited download thought.

Trust me I've investigated all options or lack there of.

aN.Droid

TechnoFreek wrote: »

I'm down in the sticks lads. Eircom 2mb is my only option. It is unlimited download thought.

Trust me I've investigated all options or lack there of.

Well if its unlimited download it! It will take some time but so what :P google what I said to look for and its the fourth link for a handy site. if you cant find it PM me and I will help.

I would post it here but its against the charter.

KeRbDoG

TechnoFreek wrote: »

I'd love to be able to download the full set as I'm fussy too but a 2mb eircom line puts a stop to all of that!

You could get someone to burn you a set. I'm sure someone here on Boards might do it for you either, prob not burn but a 'send me a HDD and I will sort you out'

TechnoFreek

Thanks kerbdog. I had considered those options alright.

I'm in no hurry to get the romset as it will be a few months before I get cash together for the cab anyway.

I presume if a new mame update comes out I can download the update pack and merge with existing full set using clrmame?

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

As for the CHD files changing format. I'm not really sure as the format seems the same but the process for reading them might have changed a bit

There has been a change in the format, & either a redownload or a conversion with CHDMAN is the way to get them working again.

Unfortunately as part of the process the SHA1s for CHDs with older style metadata did change, although this only really affects MAME because all the CHDs supported in MESS were created with newer CHDMAN versions which already had the newer style metadata. This is something of an inconvenience and means ~200 SHA1s will need updating in MAME, forcing people to use V5 if they want to avoid SHA1 error reports. This is a shame because ideally I wanted the changes to be entirely optional so that people could simply stick with V4 if it suited them better but Aaron clearly had different ideas and wanted to ditch the legacy metadata.

http://mamedev.emulab.it/haze/

TechnoFreek

Thanks guys. Might wait for version 146 to land so and just get a fresh set altogether

hey, just saw this thread now, sorry for the late post.

As has been posted, you can config all your buttons in one go in mame, or set specific ones per game. Just hit tab then "input this game" or "input all games" while a rom is running.

With regard to setting buttons, it's good to sit down and figure out what different system emulators you need and which of the available ones will allow you to remap all their buttons and GUI inputs. You don't want conflicts in your setup. You want your encoder to have a dedicated set of key mappings that don't change, and all of your emulators to be able to be configured to use those keys for all the important functions, so it's important to use emulators that are fairly customizable.

All the officially supported hyperspin emulators are the ones to go for for that reason, but read up on zsnes (different versions have different levels of options) and nestopia (some funny gui options that need tweaking to hide menu bars, cursors, etc) if you plan to use nintendo roms.

If you're just using Mame though, it's totally your preference, but a lot of people have said mame reached a sweet spot and then started getting worse with every update, breaking more stuff than it fixed. I think i'm using 1.41 and it's great, but i know i have an incomplete set, as i've stripped out a lot of the crap ones, bootlegs, mahjongs, adult ones (kids in the house, etc). I'm sure someone on the board would be able to "help" you with your rom problems, but let's say no more on this for fear of breaching charter rules.

Whereabouts in the country are you located?

With regard to booting up and powering down, get this bit right, it makes a huge difference to your finished cab, but needs a bit of planning. If you use windows XP as your OS and have SP3 you can use instantsheller.exe to easily boot into hyperspin. Quicksheller works too, but instantsheller is way more reliable and easier to use in my experience, and has a better GUI and options, and a more reliable undo feature. It works on vista as well i think, but trust me, you DON'T want vista anywhere near your cab.

to hide your windows environment you'll need:
Stardocs bootskin.exe (if you want a custom bootskin with an animated/moving progress bar)
Instantsheller.exe (to change the shell application, change cursor schemes, change sounds, wallpaper, etc.

Both are available on the hyperspin forumns resources area or on emumovies.com (i think).

To disable password on boot you need to go to start>run and type "control userpasswords2" exactly as it is here (without quotes) to get the windows user accounts password utility. Take a look at the options there and knock off your password.

Also, when you boot into hyperspin as your shell, your startup folder won't work in windows (i found that out the hard way)so you'll need to use the "startup program" feature of hyperspin for anything that you need to run in the background in addition to the frontend. It's somewhere in the general settings in Hyper HQ. I have a small freeware app called "volumetray.exe" in there, that lets me assign hotkeys to various volume control functions. I've then mapped these to some of the shifted keys on my interface board so i can control the volume level or mute sounds from the control panel. I've heard that hyperspin V2.0 may get a volume control, but i couldn't be bothered waiting for it to come out and don't like untested X.0 version releases anyway, so i used a workaround.

Set your options in hyper HQ to shut down windows on exiting hyperspin. If you need to config the PC or make any changes after you've shelled, you can just use ctrl+alt+delete to call up task manager, run new task, and start explorer.exe to get the windows environment back. It's also a good option to map that key combination to a shifted button on your panel if your encoder supports it.

One last tip, there's an option in windows that show you the location of the cursor when you press ctrl. You can switch it on in the mouse and pointer options in control panel, and it's handy to see where the cursor is if you've turned it into a dot (one of the options in instantsheller.exe) for doing any extended admin work. Be aware though, that mame's default key scheme uses ctrl also, so you'll probably want to either change that, or switch off the "show mouse" option when you're done messing around with the PC (you don't want your cursor flashing away in mid-game)

How is the project coming along? Am looking forward to seeing pics.

TechnoFreek

Hey lads, thanks for all advice and encouragement so far. Progress is very slow but as mentioned before, I have a newborn in the house. Still, most things are underway to some degree.

MAME PC
Need to get a dedicated pc for MAME. My mate has some pc parts lying about so I plan to take these off his hands. Processor is dual core or quad core 64 bit Intel based. Knowing my mate, I'd be confident that any parts he has are high spec, relative for their time. My plan is to run Windows 7 64 bit on this. I realize that a core i5 or i7 would be the best thing but these parts should cost me nothing and suffice for the moment.

MAME/Hyperspin
As I don't have a dedicated machine yet I have installed Hyperspin and MAME on my only pc as a test. I have the full rom set and CHDs for MAME 125 so that's what I have going at the moment. I also donated to Hyperspin to get themes etc. Will sign up to Emumovies next month and get all that.

Currently acquiring MAME 145 roms too but wont bother with CHDs. When MAME 146 comes out and the CHD format situation has settled I'll update to that.

Have Hyperspin and MAME more or less working to my satisfaction. Just a case of transferring to dedicated pc and sorting startup and shutdown events.

I have a couple of queries to get Hyperspin configured exactly to my liking but I'll split them into a separate post to get things clean.

Cabinet:
Was in discussions with Jeff in Digital Systems Designs and have talked through some options with him. Basically I have agreed in principle to buy an Atomiswave HD from him. Its the flat screen that has really attracted me to this particular model.

Only con as such with this machine is that it is one player only. This does mean that it will be cheaper but Jeff fabricates 2 player panels so he can have one made to my specification at a later date. He defo allows for layouts and artwork but not sure if I can select joystick and button manufacturers??

Jeff can also configure the internals of the cab with his equivalent of a jpac etc so basically all I would need to do is hook up my MAME machine and then later remove the 1p panel and replace and wire with 2p panel.

Think that's all the main pieces covered. As you can see progress is slow but at the same time most elements are underway. No pics to share yet but I will absolutely do so when appropriate.

All feedback welcome

Andrew76

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Cabinet:
Was in discussions with Jeff in Digital Systems Designs and have talked through some options with him. Basically I have agreed in principle to buy an Atomiswave HD from him. Its the flat screen that has really attracted me to this particular model.

Only con as such with this machine is that it is one player only. This does mean that it will be cheaper but Jeff fabricates 2 player panels so he can have one made to my specification at a later date. He defo allows for layouts and artwork but not sure if I can select joystick and button manufacturers??

Did he say what stick and buttons it ships with? I wouldn't be too worried about this for the minute, if you do get the cab then see if you like the feel of the stick and buttons that it comes with and if not then get a different set. They're pretty cheap to buy online and very easy to install. There are a couple of us on here with the exact same cab as that pretty much so can help out with any wiring questions if need be.

ondafly

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Cabinet:
Was in discussions with Jeff in Digital Systems Designs ....

not to be a killjoy or anything - but when did you last hear from Jeff ? I've been chasing him via email for the last few weeks to buy a cabinet from him, and basically he stopped replying to me

TechnoFreek

Andrew, I didn't ask what buttons the cab ships with, I presume they're just the originals unless they need replacing.

Ondafly, I was speaking with Jeff about 2 weeks ago. Let me know how you get on with him. I might have to rethink my strategy if he doesn't work out for you. Other members on here seem to have had only positive experiences with him so hopefully this is just a blip in your case.

TechnoFreek

TechnoFreek wrote: »

...My plan is to run Windows 7 64 bit on this...

All feedback welcome

Just some food for thought, rather than a recommendation. I know windows XP much better than I know windows 7, and from building a few cabs, and particularly my last one, which was hyperspin based, I would stick with XP pro 64 bit for a mame build, unless you have good reason not to. A lot of the key software you'll be using to set Hyperspin in particular up is built for xp, and also it's a very tweakable system, not very heavy on resources, and it's tried and tested by the community in terms of running it in a cab.

Not saying that windows 7 won't be fantastic for you, it may be, but there's probably a lot more help and expertise out there for you on an XP config, and that might make a big difference to your overall experience.

Optimus Prime

I have win7 64bit running on mine, with hyperspin as the front end and to be honest you wouldnt even know windows was on it. Ive even removed the boot logo for win7, it loads up hyperspin on auto login every mouse cursor etc is hidden and when you exit hyperspin it shutsdown the pc. unless you looked inside and seen the pc you wouldnt think it was one.

Now, it took me a while to get like that, there are a lot of things in win7 that need tweaking. eg the circle animation on the cursor when windows is logging in and out, the images for that are hidden in a .dll file you need to open and delete them from. a few bits and pieces like that, so you would need to read up alright and know what you are at.

I cant remember the reason why i didnt go with xp to be honest, i had it installed at one stage but decided to go with win7 for some reason. mackdaddi is right though id say there is a lot more support for xp alright.

Myrddin

Xp is essential if you wanna use Soft15Khz. And then, you'll want a decent amount of ram so XP 64 will be needed to see anything over 3GB.

If you use Win7, you'll have to use an ArcadeVGA or use an LCD monitor. Win 7 is also resource hungry, much more so than XP.

TechnoFreek

Thanks guys, to be honest I hadnt given much thought to either xp or windows 7. I just thought windows 7 was the ideal option given that it is the latest version and isnt a pile of sh1te like vista! Although I do appreciate that win 7 is more hungry than xp. I'll be sticking in 4gb ram minimum regardless of the os I choose.

EnterNow - will I need to run Soft15Khz if the Atomiswave has a trisync monitor? Or is that the very reason I need that software?

Myrddin

TechnoFreek wrote: »

EnterNow - will I need to run Soft15Khz if the Atomiswave has a trisync monitor? Or is that the very reason I need that software?

Andrew or Steve can answer this better. I know the tri-sync will accept a 31Khz signal, I'm just not sure how 15Khz games will look on it. Is it a case that the monitor auto switches to the games resolution? I honestly don't know on that one dude

Steve X2

EnterNow wrote: »

Andrew or Steve can answer this better. I know the tri-sync will accept a 31Khz signal, I'm just not sure how 15Khz games will look on it. Is it a case that the monitor auto switches to the games resolution? I honestly don't know on that one dude

Yeah, auto switching monitor in my cab(same in Andrews I think). You can enable the low resolution option in Windows 7 and it will run fine at 31Khz without Soft15Khz installed(I ran my cab like that for a while).
But if you do get the ArcadeVGA card(windows xp or 7, 32 or 64bit) or another that supports Soft15Khz(in windows xp, not 7) then you can tell MAME to switch to the proper resolution when a game is loaded up and get the proper arcade experience.


Edit:
You can also just run in 640x480 in Windows XP and it will work fine on a trisync. It's only Windows 7 that you need to enable the "low resolution mode" as it doesn't let you run in 640x480 normally. You don't need to download anything to do it as its just an option in the OS.
.

Myrddin

Steve SI wrote: »

Edit:
You can also just run in 640x480 in Windows XP and it will work fine on a trisync.

So where does the 15Khz signal come from in that case, if Mame is set to switch to auto-resolution

Steve X2

EnterNow wrote: »

So where does the 15Khz signal come from in that case, if Mame is set to switch to auto-resolution

Sorry, I wasn't very clear on that.

If you want to enable the resolution changing option in MAME(disabled by default) you will need Soft15Khz or an ArcadeVGA card. If you just run it in 640x480 on win 7 or xp then it will just load every game at that resolution and change the aspect ratio of the game to match the original, but not the resolution.
It can still look very good on an arcade monitor like this but if you want the perfect match to the original game then you do need Soft15Khz or an ArcadeVGA.

.

Andrew76

EnterNow wrote: »

So where does the 15Khz signal come from in that case, if Mame is set to switch to auto-resolution

The games with a resolution below 640 x 480. 640 x 480 auto-switches to 31kHz or hi res on my monitor.

I use the Win 7 + ArcadeVga + JPAC combo myself but have Windows set to a mad low resolution, can't remember it exactly what but something like 320 x 240 - basically something the monitor sees as 15kHz, so Hyperspin runs in low res too (obviously some of the HS text isn't as crisp as at the higher res but I don't care about that). I don't like auto-switching too often, so since almost all of the games I play natively run at 15kHz I wanted HS set the same. Otherwise if HS was 31kHz it would be auto-switching every time I entered and exited a game.

Something like that anyway.

Steve X2

Andrew76 wrote: »

The games with a resolution below 640 x 480. 640 x 480 auto-switches to 31kHz or hi res on my monitor.

I use the Win 7 + ArcadeVga + JPAC combo myself but have Windows set to a mad low resolution, can't remember it exactly what but something like 320 x 240 - basically something the monitor sees as 15kHz, so Hyperspin runs in low res too (obviously some of the HS text isn't as crisp as at the higher res but I don't care about that). I don't like auto-switching too often, so since almost all of the games I play natively run at 15kHz I wanted HS set the same. Otherwise if HS was 31kHz it would be auto-switching every time I entered and exited a game.

Something like that anyway.

I have the opposite problem. I really don't like how hyperspin looks in 320x240 so a lot of the time I do the unimaginable and run the OS/Hyperspin in 640x480 but leave it at that a lot of the time and run the games in the same res to save me changing the hori/vert size when it changes to 15khz

/secret shame revealed

.

Andrew76

Haha no shame in that, your cab so do as you please in fairness. I just have a thing in my head that too much switching (if I was to leave HS in hi res yet the games I play in low) might damage the monitor. They're too expensive and too much hassle to easily replace.

Yeah some of the game text that appears in HS under the vid preview isn't clear as crystal but I know what the game is so not pushed if I have to squint to see what year it was released etc. Ironic when you think that it's running on a 29 incher. :rolleyes: It's not often I have to go back into Windows to change a setting but I can live with the tiny resolution when I do. It was a bit awkward during the initial setup phase since my LCD didn't like it much, bit of messing about back then but it's a distant memory now. As EnterNow has said before, when you get everything set the way you want - try not to go near it!

Optimus Prime

Andrew76 wrote: »

As EnterNow has said before, when you get everything set the way you want - try not to go near it!

This is the most important thing to keep in mind as far as im concerned. twice i had to rebuild my pc from messing around with it and things went arseways.

I dont think the windows 7 resource hog issue is a big problem as long as you have a decent pc with just win7 and hyperspin on it, as long as your not running antivirus or other stuff that works in the background it should be grand. having said that running 64bit with 8gigs of ram and good processer helps too!

Mame will run on near anything but hyperspin is a killer if you have all the artwork and videos etc setup.

Myrddin

Andrew76 wrote: »

As EnterNow has said before, when you get everything set the way you want - try not to go near it!

I havn't changed a single setting on mine since the day I finished it. I've forgotten most of how I got it all working now & don't wanna risk having to get involved in a big technical mess of resolutions & ini files

Andrew76

Aye, it's very easy to forgot how stuff works when you're not working on it everyday.

EnterNow

EnterNow wrote: »

I havn't changed a single setting on mine since the day I finished it. I've forgotten most of how I got it all working now & don't wanna risk having to get involved in a big technical mess of resolutions & ini files

I wrote myself a very detailed user manual for my most recent cab as I was working on it, including all the little config hacks, tweaks & mods I made to everything as I went along for that exact reason. Knowledge I don't use regularly has a habit of falling out of my brain, and I knew that I wouldn't have a clue what was going on inside it in five years when something needed to be messed with.

I would definitely concur with everybody who's posted about leaving things alone once you have them working the way you like though. There's nothing worse than a five minute minor tweak turning into an unexpected weekend repair job. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

TechnoFreek

Hey guys,

Just want to give a quick update and ask a few more questions!

So far I've been concentrating on MAME and Hyperspin. I have that all up and running on my main pc. Happy enough with how its working at the moment but no doubt when I transfer it onto a dedicated pc and into a cab I will encounter other things to be tweaked but I can deal with that when it happens.

I am going to get a second dedicated pc to run MAME. DABS have PC bases without an OS for 400 odd. core i3 with 6 or 8gb of ram.

Of course the elephant in the room is the actual cab. I have in theory agreed to go with jeff over in the UK but judging by other members on the forum, Jeff seems to have gone underground. Still not too concerned yet as Steve-Si might be orgainising some cabs either so hopefully something will work out for me.

In the meantime I want to try pick up a few bits of hardware that may be needed (so as to be have all money coming out of the one pay check!)

So on to my questions:

JPAC - is it the best device to connect JAMMA harness to a MAME PC or are there alternatives worth considering? Where would you recommend to buy? I will be going with a six button panel and I've seen videos showing how to wire the three extra buttons to the JPAC so all that seems ok to me.

If I do go with JPAC I believe there are issues with getting sound to work through the JPAC. I'd liek to be able to use the cab speakers and in stereo. Are there any guides out there on how to do that?

ArcadeVGA or GFX Card and software like 15khz? My plan is probably to have a cab with a trisync pure flat monitor. If i understand correctly the ArcadeeVGA will do all the signal switching for me so i won't have to worry about any of that? Advice here would be great.

Is a step down transformer required for the cab?

Any other items of hardware I need to consider?

Steve X2

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Hey guys,

Just want to give a quick update and ask a few more questions!

So far I've been concentrating on MAME and Hyperspin. I have that all up and running on my main pc. Happy enough with how its working at the moment but no doubt when I transfer it onto a dedicated pc and into a cab I will encounter other things to be tweaked but I can deal with that when it happens.

I am going to get a second dedicated pc to run MAME. DABS have PC bases without an OS for 400 odd. core i3 with 6 or 8gb of ram.

Of course the elephant in the room is the actual cab. I have in theory agreed to go with jeff over in the UK but judging by other members on the forum, Jeff seems to have gone underground. Still not too concerned yet as Steve-Si might be orgainising some cabs either so hopefully something will work out for me.

In the meantime I want to try pick up a few bits of hardware that may be needed (so as to be have all money coming out of the one pay check!)

So on to my questions:

JPAC - is it the best device to connect JAMMA harness to a MAME PC or are there alternatives worth considering? Where would you recommend to buy? I will be going with a six button panel and I've seen videos showing how to wire the three extra buttons to the JPAC so all that seems ok to me.

If I do go with JPAC I believe there are issues with getting sound to work through the JPAC. I'd liek to be able to use the cab speakers and in stereo. Are there any guides out there on how to do that?

ArcadeVGA or GFX Card and software like 15khz? My plan is probably to have a cab with a trisync pure flat monitor. If i understand correctly the ArcadeeVGA will do all the signal switching for me so i won't have to worry about any of that? Advice here would be great.

Is a step down transformer required for the cab?

Any other items of hardware I need to consider?

I went with Jpac and ArcadeVGA card for my rig. I do have a second set of speakers and sub-woofer installed in my cab for the hyperspin/Xbox 360/Dreamcast etc. So real arcade pcbs use the arcade speakers and emulation and other systems use the second set of speakers(all controlled via a switch and volume/mute controls inside the control panel).

I have a seconds new ArcadeVGA card if you want to trade for it(it's on adverts at the moment).

.

TechnoFreek

Thanks Steve for the offer but I probably don't have anything worth trading at the moment!
* tries to picture attic in parents house *

How did you hook up your mame pc sound to the arcade speakers?

Steve X2

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Thanks Steve for the offer but I probably don't have anything worth trading at the moment!
* tries to picture attic in parents house *

How did you hook up your mame pc sound to the arcade speakers?

My PC sound goes to the second set of speakers (2.1 pc speaker setup).
I did have the sound going to the arcade speakers at one stage but changed to the 2.1 system as the sound was way better with the woofer.

.

TechnoFreek

Thanks Steve. So in the case where you used the arcade speakers was it just a case of connecting the line out on the pc to the speaker terminals on the jpac? I presume that RCA cable would need to be tinkered with first

Myrddin

I also use a JPAC, with a 2.1 speaker setup. The woofer inside the cab = awesomesauce

touchwood

Hey guys, was searching around the net for some clues on building an arcade cabinet, my 14 yr old son came up with the idea as a project for school. We will both get great pleasure out of it too as I love all the retro games.
I said I'd look into it to help him out. I'm completely clueless about the whole thing, am I out of my depth or will I be able to get it done by reading about it on sites like boards etc?
Building the cab itself won't be a problem once I get some plans and sourcing the pc and monitor etc are ok, but I was under the impression that all I needed to do was load up the roms and an emulator and that was it, obviously not, reading through here.
I fear I've gotten in over my head.
How easy is it to hook up the joystick, buttons to the keyboard? Etc??
Any and all advice welcome.
Touchwood!

Optimus Prime

Hey there, its pretty easy to hook up the buttons, you just need to buy whats called an iPac . this thing connects to your pc via usb ports and all the buttons wire up straight into it. ive done it myself and its really easy to do.

There are a few build threads on here worth checking out, here is my own one, i think i actually posted plans in it too.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70165619

It took me a year to build mine, but i was only doing bits every now and again. I really enjoyed doing it and its well worth it in the end.

touchwood

touchwood wrote: »

Hey guys, was searching around the net for some clues on building an arcade cabinet, my 14 yr old son came up with the idea as a project for school........am I out of my depth or will I be able to get it done by reading about it on sites like boards etc?

You'll get it done with advice off of a few good places on the net. It's not difficult, just time consuming, and it can be pricey depending on the setup you want.

There are a few key parts to building one. The cab itself can be made from scratch (time consuming but rewarding), a renovation/restoration of an actual cab, or made from a commercially available flatpack kit (good if you're short of time or don't like woodworking, but can be pricey to buy). Links below.

The control panel, basically your joystick, buttons, etc, and the panel they are mounted into. Needs to be made to spec with hole saws and carefully planned and measured, (unless you're buying a flatpack kit). Be careful to plan for a sufficient number of buttons & sticks to play all the games you and your son love and to give yourself flexibility, but not so many buttons and controls that you mess up the look of it.

The interface. As posted, this is a circuit board that takes the button presses and joystick movements on your control panel and translates them into ordinary keyboard presses that windows uses to control your games. You wire up your buttons to it (it's easy, no soldering needed) and it connects to your PC via USB. One setup of your buttons and you're away, no need to touch it again. Again, as posted, look at the ultimarc stuff for this. Ipac, Minipac, Jpac, etc. They are all rock solid boards, and miles ahead of anything else on offer in the market. Ultimarc's products are almost the de-facto choice if you're building a cab, the vast majority of home built cabs use their stuff.

The PC. Usually a low end PC will do, depending on the software you need (see below) but some software like certain front-ends etc need a beefier machine or graphics card. Planing what you need and getting the right spec is important here. Very often the games, especially any of the classic arcade or console games up to year 2000 or so will run on low-end P4 XP or even win98 machines with 1-2gb of ram, but when you want to play newer console games, or get into front-ends with fancy graphical effects, you'll need a machine with more clout. You can go with a CRT or TFT screen or you can get an arcade monitor for an authentic look and feel, but these are more expensive, need more custom components, and need more work and upkeep. If you're new to all this, a half decent TFT or TV is a good bet, and if you pick your software well you can get away with a cheap second hand machine and monitor off adverts.ie or somewhere like that for €100-150.

The software. You need emulators and roms. Emulators like mame, zsnes, gens, nesticle, project64 etc will run roms from specific systems. These are basically dumps of the info on the original game boards or cartridges. It's against boards.ie (and most other websites) rules to discuss where to get these, as there are legal and copyright issues involved, but suffice to say uTorrent is your friend. If you don't know what that means, google it.

Be aware that from a legal standpoint, private, non-commercial users downloading roms for games they don't own is untested and as far as i know still completely unchallenged by any copyright holders, but it is still technically illegal. Think of it along the same lines as the whole "taping songs off the radio" scandal of the 80's, if you're old enough to remember that . You may not get into a lot of hot water for it, but you should know where you stand before you begin, especially as you mentioned your cab is going to be a school project for your son. It may or may not be something you want to show off for his final year evaluation or whatever, based on the legal technicalities involved, so maybe talk to his teacher before you put a lot of money into it, just to cover yourselves.

Also on software, there are a number of other key bits that will save you a lot of hassle and get a better finished product out of if you know about them in advance, so here goes:

A frontend. This is a piece of software that's designed to run multiple different emulators all as part of one central interface, and launch and exit them and their games seamlessly. There are lots of them around, the majority of them are free, but they all require different amounts of work and system resources to get them working properly.
Hyperspin is my favourite, and certainly the most beautiful, but it needs a decent enough PC and is a LOT of work to set up, especially if you're new to this. GameEx, Mala, or Maximus arcade are other good options, GameEx gets good reviews, and is supposed to be easy to set up, Maximus arcade likewise, but it's not free, it costs $20-30 i think to download it.

A sheller. This is a bit of software that hides the windows operating system in your machine, and makes it boot straight into your frontend or favourite emulator on startup instead. it's essential for giving your machine the finished "feel of an arcade cabinet" and not a computer. Read up on them, there are a few available, but instantsheller.exe is probably the best. It's easy to use, is completely reversible at a click of a button, and works great, but it needs windowsXP service pack 3 or higher, don't use service pack 2 or 1 or it won't work, and for the love of god don't use Windows Vista....not just for arcade games, for anything....ever.

There's loads more to know, this is just the basics, but check out the links below as a good place to start, as well as the websites for all the software i mentioned. Many of them have useful forums on them. Just introduce yourself as a newbie to the cab building scene, and you'll be surprised how helpful people will be. We've all been there.

Gremlin solutions: A UK based supplier of everything you need to build a cab, from flatpack cab kits to interfaces, panels, buttons, and all the other bits and bobs. Very helpful and friendly, and trustworthy to deal with. A good place to get your hardware for your build without having to pay import duty from outside the EU.

BYOAC: The original cab building resource site. It's years old now (and looks it) but it was the first site dedicated to cab building, and has an enormous amount of info and pics on everything to do with the topic, including newbie guides and pics of a lot of projects to take inspiration and ideas from.

MAME: The program that started it all. Multiple arcade machine emulator. This program made the arcade game cabinet home build scene a reality. Lots of good info and downloads.

Hope this helps to get you started. Incidentally, here's a thread with some pics of my most recent cab build. It's a space-friendly bartop cab. It took about 3 months on and off to get it fully finished, but i could have done it faster if i had had a straight run at it. Life just kept getting in the way...lol.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=77505386&postcount=1

Good luck!

touchwood

Thanks guys, looking forward to getting started, I'll be building the cab from scratch as i know what I'm doing from that end at least. I was planning on getting the pc and monitor from adverts etc alright. Great idea. Glad the wiring of the buttons is straight forward. Thanks for the advice, keep it coming and I'll keep asking. I'll post pics as I'm going along with it. Cheers folks.

touchwood

touchwood wrote: »

Thanks guys, looking forward to getting started...... I'll post pics as I'm going along with it.

Start a build thread dedicated to your project and post back here with a link to it. As a lurker it's nice to watch these things take shape over a few months, and it's also a great way for you to ask specific questions or look for advice as things come up.

aN.Droid

touchwood wrote: »

Hey guys, was searching around the net for some clues on building an arcade cabinet, my 14 yr old son came up with the idea as a project for school. We will both get great pleasure out of it too as I love all the retro games.
I said I'd look into it to help him out. I'm completely clueless about the whole thing, am I out of my depth or will I be able to get it done by reading about it on sites like boards etc?
Building the cab itself won't be a problem once I get some plans and sourcing the pc and monitor etc are ok, but I was under the impression that all I needed to do was load up the roms and an emulator and that was it, obviously not, reading through here.
I fear I've gotten in over my head.
How easy is it to hook up the joystick, buttons to the keyboard? Etc??
Any and all advice welcome.
Touchwood!

Hey there!

You can find plans for a pretty decent cabinet Here

it will also list what materials and tools you will most likely need.

As for the Control Panel it's not as easy as plug and play unless you go for the pre made solutions such as x-arcade.

BYOAC and it's forums have a plethora of information available you can find the website here

As for the software you should use hyperspin, it's not very user friendly to set up but it is by far the best looking front end out there.

You can find all the roms here

The emulator you will be using is mame. You can Google how to use that, it's fairly easy and once setup properly hyperspin takes care of the rest anyway.

If you want any more information make sure to ask. I am sure I missed out on loads but am about the hit the hay so not in my full mind right now

//edit So tired infact I didn't see the helpful replies here with all my information and more

CathalDublin

Some nice plans here
Especially the bartop
http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/