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Author Topic: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet  (Read 38688 times)

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mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Any help/tips/advice ?
« Reply #40 on: February 28, 2011, 04:41:04 pm »


Very nice Artwork Mike
[/quote]

Thanks ! I'm happy with how its coming together.
I think all in all this could be a really sweet project.
I've tracked down one GunCon 2 locally and the seller is willing to ship.
I'm trying to see if any members of my local coin-op group would be willing to pick it up for me.
(I'll toss em a few bucks) ......if not shipping it is!
I've located a second one, but the seller is yet to respond.

In the past I've ordered parts from China, the sellers have the RF Top Gun for $66 USD.
I'm wondering is that the way to go ? I still have to do my homework on it, I know very little (nothing in fact) about it. I need the gun to have the D-Pad as it does in the GunCon 2.

That's about it for now, fingers crossed it all works out.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Any help/tips/advice ?
« Reply #41 on: February 28, 2011, 09:27:00 pm »
So as I explore the world wide web I'm left a lil confused.
Act Labs - seem like a decent product, but costly.
Aim Trak - decent price @ $44 for the innards (per gun) , but I need a shell to house them.
That shell is hard to find !
Top Gun - So I found the wireless RF Top Gun for $32-39 each. From HKEMS they can ship via standard Hong Kong post for $38. So I'm looking about $118 US.

If I go with the Aim Trak when all is said and done dollar wise it should come in around the same about. But require that I do the work myself. I'm reading lots of mixed stuff about the Top Guns. I read one post where the user got them working with the Troubleshooter patch made for Act Lab products.

Anyone have a Top Gun, thoughts, tips ?

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Gun Help....please !
« Reply #42 on: March 01, 2011, 05:24:24 pm »
Ok so as I read and read and read............did I mention read ?
Anyway, looking around I know now what is available.

The Act Lab guns which would run me $200/250 shipped. Seem to work with a ton of things. But the price is a real turn off!

The Aim Trak guns : price for the innards is good. Even if I tack on $20 for customs and duty I'm good with the price. Getting these bank on me finding my own shell, that to date has not been easy. I'm thinking with all things added up these would be close to $150/200 for the pair. They require work as I would need to assemble them. I'm not the most handy of person and I have 0 solder skills........so these are..........um............on the fence!

Now the RF Top Gun - Price is good, $40 each and  about $35 to ship. So about $118 shipped for a pair via regular Hong Kong post. They also said they declare a low value for customs, which should help me to avoid duty. I also think the wireless would be a plus when selling. But I read mixed reviews. I even read a post where a guy used the "TROUBLESHOOTER" patch developed for the Act Lab guns.

I have a few concerns with these guns. Many people say the configuration is hard when referring to mounting the sensors. That might take time, but I dont see that being an issue. My concern is they use a USB receiver like a wireless internet connection. With the PC getting housed in a cabinet would that be an issue ? Secondly I plan on mounting the monitor in the bottom of the cabinet as it was from the factory, also using the existing mirror that was in the cabinet. So when you are shooting the gun you are shooting at a reflection of the image. The mirror obviously is right in front of  you as a monitor would be. So in this scenario the monitor and sensors would be in the bottom of the cabinet.

Has anyone used these guns ? Happy, dont like em ? Love em ? Anything you guys could tell me would be awesome !

Donkbaca

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Gun Help....please !
« Reply #43 on: March 01, 2011, 05:52:31 pm »
Don't get the top guns.  You need to mount these sensors to the outside of the cab, they are big and bulky and ugly.  Plus you have to stand far back for the top guns to work so that the gun can see these sensors.

Act labs will work great, but only for a CRT.

Aimtraks will work with anything.

With the aimtraks, you can use just about any old light gun for the shells.  Didn't I post you a link and a tutorial that I followed for my guns?  My guns were the first time I soldered anything.  Its not that scary.  Some people even use nerf guns for their shells.

You can always get the aimtrak shells for 44 bucks a piece.  they are snap together, no solder necessary guns. You can get them here
http://www.ultimarc.com/JShopServer/section.php?xSec=7&xPage=1


mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Gun Help....please !
« Reply #44 on: March 01, 2011, 07:10:08 pm »
The Aim Trak innards + shell make for an expensive item.
I did indeed read the tutorial, but then came across all the mixed info on Top Gun's.
So it looks like I'm leaning back towards the Aim Trak then.

I have located one shell, but the other shell..........no luck!

Donkbaca

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Gun Help....please !
« Reply #45 on: March 01, 2011, 07:26:18 pm »
just do a search on ebay for guncon or light gun

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Gun Help....please !
« Reply #46 on: March 01, 2011, 08:15:03 pm »
Found a seller, just sent an offer.
He is local, fingers crossed

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #47 on: March 02, 2011, 04:32:19 pm »
So today I managed to pick up a pair of GunCon 2 in good condition.
Got them for $40 with the Y-splitter and 3 games.
I don't need the extra stuff, but it was still sweet.
Tonight I'll order the stuff from Andy, %100 going Aim Trak.




mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #48 on: March 02, 2011, 04:35:50 pm »
Working on the layout for MaLa.
Had a hard time finding art work or getting ideas to be honest.
Found this art from "House of the Dead Overkill."
Really liked the Sin City look of it, and the chick is hot.
Lets be honest, dudes............we like guns, we like chicks, chicks with guns (you pick what kind!) are hot !
So now that I've settled on it I started to make some variants.

Here are a few, any thoughts are welcome.






mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #49 on: March 02, 2011, 06:37:17 pm »


I like the one with the leg and boob over the window.
This is font I like, something dirty and grungy.
Thoughts ?

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #50 on: March 03, 2011, 04:58:57 pm »
Opinion question :

Picked up a pair of GunCon2 this week.
Ordered my Aim Traks today.

Going with a multi emulator set up and MaLa as the fontend.

Thinking to wire the trigger (B1),bottom of the handle (B2), and the D-pad so the cabinet user can navigate MaLa.
Am I forgetting something ?

Donkbaca

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #51 on: March 03, 2011, 05:17:40 pm »
can you navigate mala solely with a mouse?  IF that is the case you don't need to solder p the dpad

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #52 on: March 03, 2011, 06:13:38 pm »
I just checked using my mouse, and granted I might not have it set up. But I could not use the wheel to navigate. The right mouse button triggered the settings.

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #53 on: March 04, 2011, 06:48:11 pm »
Not much to report in the way of this project as of now.
Aim Trak's on order and should ship next week.
My buddy is on board to help me wire them up!
Decided on my wiring set up, I'll do the trigger, button two at the bottom of the gun, D-pad, and add a credit button to the gun. I think that will be cool. I wont need to muck around inside the cabinet, and I wont need to add an extra button.

Basically you fire up the cabinet which would load right into MaLa. Use the gun to navigate the menu and select your  title, select your title by hitting P1 start on the cabinet (which you would do in the arcade anyway) but apply credits via the gun.

I hope to get the PC no later than next weekend. I think the PC will take me  the longest when it comes to things on this project.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #54 on: March 04, 2011, 11:56:42 pm »
House Of The Dead, Virtua Cop 1 & 2 are the only 3 light gun games for Sega M2 Emulator correct ?

BadMouth

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #55 on: March 05, 2011, 09:57:11 am »
House Of The Dead, Virtua Cop 1 & 2 are the only 3 light gun games for Sega M2 Emulator correct ?

Well, since you went with the aim-traks, you can play the positional gun games also  :applaud:
Gunblade NY, Behind Enemy Lines & Rail Chase.

There was some weird thing with the last build where you had to use a dat file from an earlier build to get the first two working.
Not sure if it was fixed with the latest update, but give it a try.  I can post my dat file if needed.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet. Help me pick a layout!
« Reply #56 on: March 05, 2011, 10:42:35 am »
House Of The Dead, Virtua Cop 1 & 2 are the only 3 light gun games for Sega M2 Emulator correct ?

Well, since you went with the aim-traks, you can play the positional gun games also  :applaud:
Gunblade NY, Behind Enemy Lines & Rail Chase.

There was some weird thing with the last build where you had to use a dat file from an earlier build to get the first two working.
Not sure if it was fixed with the latest update, but give it a try.  I can post my dat file if needed.

Cool! I got all of them except Rail Chase. I was unable to find that.
I was also able to get Resident Evil Survivor PAL , but its MDF format.
I guess for the PS1 emulator I need an ISO ? Any ideas how to convert this ?

I opened the MDF in IMGBURN and made it into an ISO. Was simple as heck...so I don't know if I did it correct.
When it was done I had an ISO the same exact size as the MDF and an MDS file...............
« Last Edit: March 05, 2011, 11:38:24 am by mike boss »

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #57 on: March 05, 2011, 05:17:58 pm »
Wanted to see how the GunCon2's would look with the cabinet.
They have a good size to them, very over sized in my opinion which worked out perfect with a cabinet like this.
I was concerned they would get dwarfed, but they didn't they look good.
I also picked up the original wiring for the original guns. That's a big plus, one less thing I will need to do & get.






mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #58 on: March 06, 2011, 01:04:23 pm »
Perhaps someone can help me,
I'm looking online to see what gun games require CHD's.
From what I gather its only the Area 51 series and Carnevil ?
Am I missing anything ?

I found a complete M2 emulator that I'm going to get.

Big Buck Hunter, any emulators for that ?
HOTD squeals, anything for them to be played on ?

Donkbaca

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #59 on: March 07, 2011, 12:52:24 am »
If you do a search for lightguns in MAWS, it will tell you which ones need chez. Or you could just try the game in MAME Nd it will give you a file not found error.

I know i played some sort of hunting game on mame, don't remember which one.

The only HOTD game I have palying is the m2 one...

BadMouth

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #60 on: March 07, 2011, 09:40:04 am »
CHD's off the top of my head:  Maximum Force (or get the area 51/maximum force duo one), Crypt Killer

Others in the HOD series:  HOTD 2 on Demul, but I don't think the P4 will cut it (see the link in my post earlier in this thread)
                                    STAY AWAY FROM THE REPACKAGED XPLOSIV PC VERSIONS!!!  You can't turn off the crosshairs and
                                    they have a weird launch menu put there by XPLOSIV.  It just doesn't work well with MALA.
                                    I'm not sure about the Sold Out Software versions.

Postional gun games:  There is a list of all the positional gun games in MAME attached to my first reply in this thread:
                               http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=109833.0
                               Most of them suck, but if you want absolutely everything.....

EDIT: the list is missing Revolution X, not sure how that happened, but it's a worthwhile game.
« Last Edit: March 07, 2011, 09:48:48 am by BadMouth »

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #61 on: March 07, 2011, 05:23:42 pm »
Thanks again all for the input and help.
The wealth of information on the web is just .............. AWE inspiring.
I end up reading so much that I sorta syke myself out.
I love sites like this cause people have such a wealth of information and have often done the exact same thing I'm looking to do. With respects to this cabinet I at first simply decided on the project cause I had the shell.
I was never much of a gun game person. But I thought it would be cool, but perhaps lacking. That's why I wanted to go with the multiple emulators. As I tell people about the project and read stuff I'm getting sooooooo into it.
I'm honestly bummed that the cabinet cant fit inside my house.

With that said I want this cabinet to be awesome. A fun time for anyone who plays. I want it to function well, look good, sound good, etc. I want it to provide the best experience it can. So if that means a few more hours, or a few more dollars so be it.

As of right now the plan is to go ahead with MAME and install a complete ROM set. I'll use ROMlister to make an edited list of gun games. I'll do full ROM sets for any of the small consoles, the NES, SNES, SEGA, etc. When I get upto PS1 and Dreamcast I'll only do light gun games. I've started  to compile these based on the master list I found on Wikipedia.

Thanks to all you guys I know that M2 is AWESOME! I had no idea about M2 prior. I'll probably toss that on complete also as the one I found is the size of a CD. That sound correct ?

Anything I'm missing that you guys can suggest ? Emulator, a PC game that was a hit ? Anything ?

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #62 on: March 07, 2011, 05:26:33 pm »
Thanks for posting that link to the positional gun games list.
Most of the games on it are listed in the Ultimarc Aim Trak manual.
When I go over my ROM selections I'm making sure I have everything on Andy's list as well as the Wikipedia list.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #63 on: March 09, 2011, 07:08:57 pm »
Aim Trak's came in today ! yay !
Gotta say DHL brokerage was reasonable, $11.
Sent a message off to a buddy, he is going to help me wire them up.
Plan is clean up the GunCon's with some Nuvos this week.
Pick up the PC Saturday, I ordered three 28mm Sanwa buttons in yellow.
Going to add them to the front as admin buttons.
Might do one as credit, or do what someone said and glue a switch to the coindoor so the reject button hits it.
SWEET IDEA !

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #64 on: March 13, 2011, 10:28:34 pm »
Was able to make some progress on the PC side of the cabinet this weekend.
I got MAME & MaLa installed and working. I created a custom desktop for the PC that ties in with the existing MaLa layout.
Using the same artwork I created my custom "Now Loading" screen. Really happy with the artwork I've done so far.
I made a few adjustments also as I had messed up and created a vertical window for the snap, I corrected this and made it horizontal.
I'll post all the artwork and layout should anyone want it.

I used Uncle T's awesome MaLa guide to install everything.
I made some amendments, only using emulators that had light gun games.
I also added a Play Station & Sega Saturn emulator.

Took me a lil while to get some of the required files, like DLL files and what not.
But now everything is installed and ready for tweaking. Other than finding some games that I
have not yet obtained I think I've got pretty much every base covered.

I'm hoping this week I can get the rest of my snap files, ROMs, and CHD files moved.
From that point I'll revert back to Uncle T's guide to ensure the emulators work via command line.
If all goes well I should be able to easily add them to MaLa.

Seeing as I used all the same emulators Uncle T did I'm hoping I have no problems.
I'm thinking (as they are not on the guide) that I might have some issue with the Saturn & PS1.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #65 on: March 13, 2011, 11:26:24 pm »
Artwork :

Shoot-em-up Multicade is the desktop image I'm using
Now loading is the custom load screen in MaLa
Two options of the main layout in MaLa, I'm going with the image that features the "use up/down to select game" and "press p1 to start" above the games list.
The other image has it above the snaps, but I don't think it makes sense.

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #66 on: March 15, 2011, 09:19:07 pm »
Do I leave the M2 ROMs zipped ?
Does anyone know what I would do with Dreamcast ROM files ?
I have a few games, do I unzip these games leaving the contents in my ROMs folder ?
Or do I unzip each game into its individual folder stored in my ROM folder.
Might be a lame question ,but I'm sort of confused by this.
Same question goes for my PS1 ROM files.

Thanks all

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #67 on: March 16, 2011, 12:19:50 am »
Leave everything zipped, and the m2 roms should be the sane as the mame roms

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #68 on: March 16, 2011, 09:56:45 pm »
Thanks for the info.
I think in the XBOX some of the emulation works different.
I think I recall extracting ISO's for certain emulators.
So I thank you for clearing this up.

And just so I have this clear (forgive me I'm dense)
M2 ROM remain zip
Dreamcast + PS1 ROMs also remain zipped.

I take it the emulator has the ability to work through the zip and see the correct file ?

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #69 on: March 17, 2011, 10:42:01 am »
yup, just like Mame does.

and again, you don't need M2 roms, they use the same roms as Mame

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #70 on: March 21, 2011, 02:41:27 pm »
Hey Im thinking about picking up a VC2 cabinet too and doing this conversion. How big is the thing? Im worried I wont be able to get it in my home.  :banghead:

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #71 on: March 24, 2011, 08:07:56 pm »
This will not fit through my door, hence the reason it is living outside.
It's the reason I will be selling it!
I didnt get a chance to measure for you, but I will this weekend.

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #72 on: March 25, 2011, 01:13:49 am »
The guy I was gonna get it from said it was about 34 inches wide!!!! Wow. No way to get it in my house. Thanks for the response. I'm looking into a dynamo cab now.

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #73 on: March 26, 2011, 09:00:49 am »
Thought I would give a quick update on where I'm at with the project.

Cost to date :

Cabinet - FREE
GunCon2 x 2 - $40
Aim Trak - $97
Brokerage - $12
Computer - $70
-----------------------
TOTAL : $218

My buddy has given me some extra RAM free which is awesome.
I've got just about every ROM + Snap moved onto the PC.
The emulators are all installed, and I've followed to the letter Uncle T's awesome install guide.
All my artwork is done, from Desktop image, to MaLa menu, to custom load screen............DONE!
I don't think I'm going to make console specific artwork. I'm happy with the look.
I plan on getting the PC work done this weekend as well as some touch up painting.
A friend of mine is going to help me wire the guns in the coming weeks.
I'm really happy with where I'm at cost wise, and leaning towards keeping this project..............so
I might POP for a 24" LCD monitor.

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #74 on: March 26, 2011, 06:24:19 pm »
Setting up this PC is a TON of work!
I've been at it for three hours or so today and I'm not done.
All the emulators are in and MaLa easily calls them.
However they do require some tweaking, not all will exit the emulator upon exiting the game.
That is something I need them all to do for MaLa.
None of the M2 ROM files I tested worked, so I'll need to look into that.
And I'm having trouble with PlayStation (EPSXE) and Dreamcast (Chankast).
It's something to do with the file type I think. When I'm on the PC too long my brain stops working.
That's the point I'm at right now. I gotta go at it again with a fresh head.

Also turns out I'll need to create a MaLa tree, that's something I've never done. I'm hoping it ins't too too hard.
I plan on using the same layout for everything. As is I have to use my mouse  to right click and select emulator.
Not to mention the SNAP files are only showing up for MAME.

I still think this is going to be a cool cabinet. If all goes well I'll have the PC done this week (if not Sunday).

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #75 on: March 26, 2011, 07:41:19 pm »
Playing around with MaLa I know now that I will need to do a MaLa tree menu system.
I had wanted to use the one standard menu for each console.
Perhaps I can do something in the menu, but for right now it appears I have to right click the screen to select another emulator.
This obviously isn't ideal for the set up I'm  going for.
I was hoping hitting left/right would let me scroll different lists and consoles.
Anyway I read the WIKI a few times and it isn't sinking in today............I need a PC break.
However anticipating the changes I would have to do I created the following files.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #76 on: March 26, 2011, 07:50:13 pm »
Forgot to add the PS1 menu. Pretty straight forward, same layout, same design, just added the console logos for a little bit of interest.

BadMouth

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #77 on: March 28, 2011, 10:47:04 am »
Playing around with MaLa I know now that I will need to do a MaLa tree menu system.
I had wanted to use the one standard menu for each console.
Perhaps I can do something in the menu, but for right now it appears I have to right click the screen to select another emulator.
This obviously isn't ideal for the set up I'm  going for.
I was hoping hitting left/right would let me scroll different lists and consoles.

 ???  I've never messed around with the tree menu stuff, but with my setup,
it was just a matter of mapping buttons to Previous Emulator/Next Emulator.
Each emulator can either have it's own layout or they can all use the same one.

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #78 on: March 28, 2011, 04:30:43 pm »
Playing around with MaLa I know now that I will need to do a MaLa tree menu system.
I had wanted to use the one standard menu for each console.
Perhaps I can do something in the menu, but for right now it appears I have to right click the screen to select another emulator.
This obviously isn't ideal for the set up I'm  going for.
I was hoping hitting left/right would let me scroll different lists and consoles.

 ???  I've never messed around with the tree menu stuff, but with my setup,
it was just a matter of mapping buttons to Previous Emulator/Next Emulator.
Each emulator can either have it's own layout or they can all use the same one.

Ahhh............I like the sounds of that. I never thought of that.
As is I need to use a mouse click to switch emulators.
The emulators are all there, and the games lists show up.
However the snaps dont..........I'll need to fix that.
I did plan on adding three admin buttons to the font of the cabinet (as I did for my Donkey Kong Jr under the control panel).
ENTER - CREDIT - and ESCAPE. Perhaps I can make the ENTER button switch emulators.

MORE HOMEWORK !

mike boss

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Re: Making a MAME Dual Gun Cabinet
« Reply #79 on: March 28, 2011, 09:15:56 pm »
OK so I've made a little bit of progress.
Got each emulator working with the customized menu (Console logo on standard menu  template).
It looks pretty cool ! The snaps are not working for each of the consoles, but I think it is because some of the ROM sets that I obtained are US only ROM sets.
So the ROM names don't %100 match the snap name. Could that be what it is ?
I guess this based off the fact that my M2 emulator has a complete ROM set and the snaps work.

However I am still unable to figure out at this point how to get from console to console without a mouse click. This is something I MUST accomplish!
The plan is to have the complete ROM sets and as in MAME a custom list of all light gun games per console. So your complete NES ROM set is loaded onto PC and will read as one list, hitting left/right will pull up your favorites and Zapper games.

This PC is the most complex set up I have ever done. It's going to take tons of time to configure.
I have no idea how to escape a Nintendo ROM. Therefore in play you can not his ESCAPE to dump back out to MaLa. I gotta get this working.
The same thing goes for the Super Nintendo emulator, ESCAPE dumps you out to it's menu...not MaLa.
The other issue I'm having is M2. The gameslist works in MaLa as it should, but when I call a game none of the games work. Do I need to always mount a game ?