Cocktail Screen Rotation Questions (newbie build)

[websherpa]

I've looked, but can't find a definitive answer....

I am helping a friend build a 2 player cocktail cabinet. The player controls are mounted on opposite horizontal sides of the cabinet (Sega cocktail salvage), no plans for any additional player controls.

I am likely going to pursue Hyperspin as the Front End (already use it in my Future Pinball/ Visual Pinball cabinets) - so my answer may lie there too but some hints would help point me in the right direction.

1) Which is a better way to mount a 4:3 19" LCD panel, so that it faces the players horizontally (Player 1 bottom of panel, Player 2 top of panel) or vertically (Player 1 left side, Player 2 right side of panel) to enjoy the greatest number of 1 and 2 player games (around Pac Man era mostly, but some more modern games too if possible) in a cocktail situation.

2) What I am trying to learn too is how can you set up MAME or the FE universally so that on 2 player games, where players alternate turns, how do you get it so that the screen image rotates 180 degress to face the Player 2 on the other side of the cabinet.  Surely a game like Pac Man can be set up so that it alternates with each player's turn.... I just haven't figured out how to do it yet (admittedly I am playing around only with MAME32UI so far and haven't installed HyperSpin).  (I would use the split screen option for 2 player simultaneous play games since the control panels are opposite each other).

Thank you for your help guys!  

[Trap]

You need to change the dip switch settings in mame for games like pacman.  Mame menu > dip switches > cabinet change from upright to cocktail.

[websherpa]

You need to change the dip switch settings in mame for games like pacman.  Mame menu > dip switches > cabinet change from upright to cocktail.

Hmmm... I tried this using MAME32UI, and the test game WAS Pacman too, but there was no change, the game stayed in the same orientation (at that time native horizontal).  I wonder what I was doing wrong, or whether I had a different ROM than I should have been using?  I am trying to determine first what controls the screen rotation (from player to player in cocktail mode), is it the DIP settings (presumably a function of the ROM??), a MAME32UI (or MAME32) setting, or a FE (Hyperspin) setting that does it, and/or which does it best.

Thank you!

[Trap]

Setting the dip switch to cocktail will make it so that the screen automatically flips when its player 2's turn.  If you're just wanting to rotate the screen, you can go to Mame menu > Video options > rotate.  If games didnt have a cocktail version there's no automatic screen flipping available as far as i know.  Most video card drivers also support screen rotation and can be mapped to hot keys. 

[websherpa]

Setting the dip switch to cocktail will make it so that the screen automatically flips when its player 2's turn.  If you're just wanting to rotate the screen, you can go to Mame menu > Video options > rotate.  If games didnt have a cocktail version there's no automatic screen flipping available as far as i know.  Most video card drivers also support screen rotation and can be mapped to hot keys. 

Excellent answer, thank you.

It's the flipping we are looking for; the initial monitor orientation rotation I understand how to set.  It's odd that in the test game (Midway Pacman I believe but I will double check) there WAS a DIP switch setting for "cocktail" but it appeared to have no effect (which is what confused me).  Would it matter that the starting orientation was horizontal instead of vertical like with the original cocktail monitor, do you know?

It's good to know too that I can assign a hot key to trigger the hardware screen "flip", excellent option. 

Does anyone know if Hyperspin (the proposed Front End) handles any of this screen flipping in a cocktail too?

[BobA]

Just tried it in mameui and it worked fine.   There are video options but they are not needed for cocktail to work.   Just changed the dip switch from upright to cocktail and it worked fine.    The screen flipped for player 2 and the controls changed so i could not use the player 1 controls.   Make sure you have a nvram directory so that mame can save the dip settings.   Also make sure you hit 2 player to start the game.  Check your dip switch settings to make sure they are being maintained.

[Sjaak]

1) Which is a better way to mount a 4:3 19" LCD panel, so that it faces the players horizontally (Player 1 bottom of panel, Player 2 top of panel) or vertically (Player 1 left side, Player 2 right side of panel) to enjoy the greatest number of 1 and 2 player games (around Pac Man era mostly, but some more modern games too if possible) in a cocktail situation.

I've used a lcd panel in a cocktail cabinet, but I wouldn't recommend mounting it horizontally, because the vertical viewing angle of most screens is pretty small.

[websherpa]

I've used a lcd panel in a cocktail cabinet, but I wouldn't recommend mounting it horizontally, because the vertical viewing angle of most screens is pretty small.

This relates to another of my questions on the forum (looking for alternative monitors in the >$100 range used/bulk), but there are better monitors which have ultrawide viewing angles (178/178) that are viewable at an angle form all sides (I am using one from Dell, a 1907FPVt) so Horizontal or Vertical doesn't matter.  In the 4:3 and 5:4 aspect ratios these are usually business or POS (point of sale) monitors.  However, for 80% of the cheaper TN based LCDs that you are likely to encounter at a Big Box electronics store, you are entirely right.