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Neo-Geo MVS to Xbox cab project
XYXZYZ:
Personally I'd recommend against this. First of all I had a six button/25" monitor cabinet with an Xbox. With an Xbox, you're stuck at MAMEoX 0.84, support for which is pretty much dead. The graphics are stretched and crappy looking, it doesn't run many of the high-end games that 0.84 emulates, (Xbox = 733 MHz processor/64 MB RAM) the old ROMs are hard to find, XMUGEN never works... the Xbox was just too limited. The only advantage it had was the ability to play DoA, Soul Calibur II and stuff like that, which I never played very often. Got a decent PC with an ArcadeVGA card (graphics look awesome) and never looked back. Mine was also a pain in the ass to connect, but I assume you're going to use all the available adapters from Ultimcarc. (Xbox video and controller cables + JPAC.)
I do have an MVS 2-25 with a PC in it (just for Neo Geo emulation, so the cabinet remains untouched) and I had to modify the JPAC but it wasn't too hard. I can give you more details as you need them. For the control panel I'm pretty sure it's a proprietary shape so you may have to just drill new button holes into it. And the MVS cabs are actually a little short- for me it's more comfortable sitting down as the control panel is a tad too low standing up.
Oh, and if you do wreck a Neo Geo cabinet for MAME you can expect to get some flames if you want to show it off on the interwebs; you are defiling the sacred cow to some people. (you definitely don't want to show this at neo-geo.com) You'd probably be better off with a generic Dynamo cab if that's important to you. Say, is this cabinet a dedicated MVS-1-25? There are a lot of MVS 1 slot machines that are just kits slapped onto conversion cabs. In which case you won't have any problem with the sacred cow thing.
satoshi_matrix:
Thanks for the responses and advice guys! Here I'll address what's been said so far.
xmod: Because I don't yet understand anything about Jamma kick harnesses and the like, both player 1 and 2 panels will be padhacked Xbox controllers. I've done this kind of thing before and I've modified stock console arcade sticks with sanwa parts. I know my way around a soldering iron. I guess I wasn't clear on what I intend to with the control panel. Indeed, I plan on creating a 10 button setup for each player (A B X Y White Black L R Start Back). You mentioned L3 and R3, as in the click of the two thumb sticks. I didn't know that was possible to padhack into a push button! If at all possible, can you please post info and a photo of where to solder to?
solidteezme: I don't intend to discard the MVS hardware at all, I just want to remove it. Maybe I will buy Neo-Geo games someday, but even MVS carts cost an arm and a leg and I can't justify having an arcade in my home that only plays a few titles I'll never really play. I'm much more of a Capcom fighting guy than I am a KOF fan. I'm using a modified Xbox because I already have one and it has many awesome fighting games as well as emulators. Eventually I will probably upgrade to a dedicated PC for MAME, but for now I want to put in an Xbox.
HarumaN: Does it make sense to remove the monitor for transportation? I've heard it's very bad to leave TVs on their sides and I just really want to ensure I don't damage it during shipping. Any other advice would be useful. Should I cushion it with a large blanket or something?
TEKNYNE: I've already taken a look through that site, but I still need to know if I can simply use an Xbox to Jamma connector for audio and RGB. I have a friend who thinks it should work. I'm hoping I can find the answer from someone who knows Jamma and knows the MVS well enough to tell me for sure either way. If not, I'll have to replace the monitor with I suppose a 25" TV and use component cables instead. I don't have such a TV, so that cost would be a huge blow.
XYXZYZ: Thanks for the advice. I'd love to hear more about the Xbox cabinet you had. I realize going with an Xbox means outdated tech, but I've been using a new Mame emulator called CoinOps Reignite v3 and it seems to play everything I throw it at with the exception of Marvel Vs Capcom 1 and 2. I suppose for that I would need to do the 128MB RAM upgrade. All references to doing this on forums I find are years old and links to sellers of the necessary RAM chips only yield 404's. I do however have an Xbox for parts. Do you know if it is possible to simply remove both 32MB RAM chips from that Xbox and solder them in the two expansion RAM spaces on the other Motherboard? I think it should work in theory at least.
Like you said, the advantage of going with an Xbox means playing Dead or Alive 2 Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 2 and indeed, Soul Calibur 2. Unlike your experience, these are fighting games that me and my friends still play often with console arcade sticks. One of my friends suggested that "wouldn't it be awesome if there was an Xbox arcade?" That's basically what prompted me to start this project.
Why go with an MVS? I absolutely love the way it looks. The bright red and white style would make it pop out in any room it's in. I'm not exactly sure what model of MVS this is, but I do know that it's only a single slot unit without the memory card or headphone jacks found in later models. It probably is a 1-25.
Things I'd still like to know
Is overheating an issue I'll need to be overly concerned about if I put the cabinet in an non air conditioned room?
In case I need to do touch up painting, what is the best kind of paint to use on arcade machines?
MVS specifics:
Does it have its own plugs in the back for servicing? [for a light, soldering iron etc]
How do you open it?
Is the control panel property shaped? could I not replace it with a rectangular piece of wood/metal?
Thanks for all the help everyone.
HaRuMaN:
--- Quote from: satoshi_matrix on April 27, 2010, 02:52:03 am ---HarumaN: Does it make sense to remove the monitor for transportation? I've heard it's very bad to leave TVs on their sides and I just really want to ensure I don't damage it during shipping. Any other advice would be useful. Should I cushion it with a large blanket or something?
--- End quote ---
Nope, leave the monitor in there. You're more likely to damage it by trying to take it out anyway. And yes, put a large blanket underneath the cabinet.
Malenko:
MVS carts (arcade)are not expensive, the AES (home) ones are.
You are limiting yourself quite a bit with an XBOX but it is a VERY cost effective computer.
"10 buttons is ideal" until you realize you have 20 buttons on your panel. might be a tight fit on a 25" wide control panel.
To open the control panel on a standard MVS cab you reach up through the coin door and unlatch the 2 latches. Theres a buncha pix of my 2 and 4 slots in my sig.
XYXZYZ:
Here's the Xbox machine I had. I still have the cabinet, just with a PC now. I never had any overheating issues. The Xbox case was removed for no particular reason.
Here's the padhacking birds nest I had. Later on I did the smart thing and built a proper Xbox > JAMMA converter by soldering all the stuff to a JAMMA fingerboard and stuffing it all in a box. You'll certainly want to do it this way if you plan on using the original Neo Geo hardware again. Note the subwoofer hanging under the control panel... by the way, the Ultimarc stuff will do video without problem, but you may need to build an amplifier for sound; the Xbox can't drive those speakers by itself. I gutted some PC speakers and connected the amplifier to the cabinet speakers originally, but for my Xbox > JAMMA converter I just made my own.
Here is the back of my MVS, with PC stuff secured to a board.
This is all you get with an MVS *-25, a small panel at the bottom for working with the power electronics. There is a very small removable panel at the top that lets you look at the monitor, but you can't do anything to it. The only way to service the monitor is to remove the glass on the front of the cabinet and remove the monitor completely. Also, note that the large power supply at the bottom is not connected to anything, the cabinet was actually using the smaller switching supply you see on the left, with mains passing through the old supply. (ignore the PC power supply)
To open a Neo Geo you have to open the coin door, stick your arm up the right and left sides of the top of the control panel and unhook two latches. The panel will then swing down like a door, and you can access the board, change games, fiddle with the monitor's remote board, etc. Here's mine with a modified JPAC connecting a PC-
Note the latches at the top.
And here's some control panel images from Payment_Due's Neo Geo restoration thread.
As you can see, you can't just use a piece of rectangular metal or wood. You may be able to get another MVS panel and modify it if you want to keep the original around.
That's all I can think of for now...