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Author Topic: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE CLASSICS slim w/rotation (Lots of photos!)  (Read 54663 times)

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DNA Dan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #80 on: May 27, 2011, 04:21:58 pm »
This is the exact controller I bought: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1372 Be sure the one you get uses SMCCMD and AHK.

You will need a USB A to mini-B cable to attach to the board. This is mentioned in the description halfway down the page.

I also picked up some crimp connectors for attaching to the pins on the board: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1900 they also come in 1X3. The pins are purchased separately as well. You don't have to use these, but it makes your build a higher quality, not to mention being able to remove the board easily if need be.

For the motor, the images in this link shows the exact setup I am using: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1107
The bracket, wheel and HUB are all sold separately. I didn't see the hub in your list, so if you buy this motor you'll need these: http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1083

Notice the hub and wheels do not come with screws. Just set screws to attach it to the motor. I had to pick these screws up at a hardware store locally.

TopJimmyCooks

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #81 on: May 27, 2011, 06:45:44 pm »
Thanks for the detailed info and thanks for pioneering a good system. 

alfonzotan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #82 on: May 27, 2011, 07:58:07 pm »
Among other things, this project is doing a really good job of making mine look incredibly pedestrian and ordinary...  :P

Somewhat more seriously, Dan, how much internal clearance does that setup require?  I'm not going to start making mods tomorrow or anything, but I'm definitely interested in duping your rotation setup one of these years... the cab I've got under construction (same monitor as yours) has about 24.5" internal width.

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #83 on: May 27, 2011, 08:52:22 pm »
I ordered the motor with the encoder, we'll see if there is anything interesting to play with there.  And, you shamed me into getting the 1/10" female pins - I was going to solder to the bent up pins like a knucklehead.  Damn your do it right the first time attitude!

Prepare to provide tech support.

DNA Dan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #84 on: May 27, 2011, 09:13:17 pm »
Prepare to provide tech support.

Great.. I'll provide what I can. It's good to know I'm not the only one on this course :cheers:

Alfonzotan, no worries man. It has it's share of blemishes and mistakes. You just have to crop those out of the photo!

In terms of internal clearance for the rotation, the HP LP2065 has a maximum diagonal width of ~22". That would be the least the internal width could be. Again this is a 20" 4:3 monitor, so you could go smaller. In terms of depth, the motor wheel is only like 4 or 5" in diameter, so any way you can see to get the rotation in there, that's about as "slim" as you could go. Some things to consider are the monitor thickness, the bezel, and the viewing angle. I chose to not recess the monitor on the rotation disk so that I could remove it easier. This choice however added thickness. I also chose to angle the monitor more than usual for these types of cabs. This too added some thickness. So I think the best strategy is to try and do a mock up as much as possible of the rotation design you have in mind and how "thin" you could make it.

The extra few inches on my cab width are because I want to fully conceal the cab interior *while* the monitor is rotating. Look on the first page of the thread (POST #11) and you'll see a rotation diagram showing this "added" space to conceal the interior of the cab when the monitor is in transition. I am going to make a circular bezel, with the monitor rectangle cut out of the center. This will be glued to the monitor face, then the face will rest directly against the glass. (That's the plan anyway!)
« Last Edit: May 27, 2011, 09:16:06 pm by DNA Dan »

DNA Dan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #85 on: June 04, 2011, 01:21:42 am »
Made some good progress last weekend but I am lagging on the photos. Had to work out some kinks on my new desktop and migrate a bunch of files. Here's a short recap:

1) Painted glass outer bezel - Used frog tape for the edges, shot with rustoleum flat black then overlaid some satin lacquer. I noticed the paint still wanted to tear on the shower door wheels, so I ran a piece of electrical tape down the inside edge to protect the paint.

2) Continued on control panel....
    A) Mounted joysticks recessed from the top
    B) Recessed trackball
    C) Cutout CP overlay
    D) Installed buttons
    E) Started wiring up the positive side but ran out of connectors.

3) Finished the lower bezel trim
4) T-Slotted the whole cab
5) Continued banging out the software details. This is just endless!

That's it for now - keeping the artwork hidden until I finish it out with t-molding. Nothing spectacular or original I must say. Next update from this weekend should be quick with some big advances.

TopJimmyCooks

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #86 on: June 08, 2011, 11:48:15 am »
I'm coming along after you.  I got my pololu stuff auto rotating under Mala with DaOldMan's assist.  It's not too late for you to cross over to the Mala darkside, at least until HS 2.0 comes out in 2013 . . .. .  >:D

The Plain Old is looking fine and is inspiring me.  My wife/kids are going to the inlaws here in a week or two, for a week, and the mdf dust is going to fly. 

keeping the artwork hidden until I finish it out with t-molding.

Any clues on the top secret artwork?  I noticed you took the time to paint the top of the CP black.  . . .  . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . .... what's the real marquee name of the thing - decided yet?

alfonzotan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #87 on: June 08, 2011, 12:17:12 pm »
This is just endless!


Yep... definitely know how THAT feels...

TopJimmyCooks

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #88 on: June 08, 2011, 01:09:50 pm »
I ordered the motor with the encoder, we'll see if there is anything interesting to play with there. 


To wrap the encoder issue up, I can get voltage pulses off the quadrature encoder but don't have any way to use them.  I would have to upgrade to the next level up of Pololu motor controller (Jrok?) to have the capability to receive the feedback input.  I'm not sure the drivetrain (gearmotor to relatively large wheel, then a friction drive on a huge wheel on a fairly sloppy bearing) would have enough precision to use the feedback for location/limit purposes. I suspect it would be easy to have it get off over time unless the starts and brakes were super soft, and that's no fun. We'll have to leave that to the stepper motor guys. 

However, the limit switch thing works very well and I'm totally happy.  Having the analog input and usb input on the same controller board is dynamite and makes it very easy.  I haven't experimented with speeds much yet, but I have no problem getting my mock up to stop tight to the switches and the gearing holds it solidly. 

ChadTower

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #89 on: June 13, 2011, 02:29:33 pm »

Nice job!  Looking forward to seeing the finished product.  Love the simplicity of the rotating LCD.

DNA Dan

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Arcade Classics!
« Reply #90 on: June 19, 2011, 09:48:31 pm »
Been busy battling the finishing touches. I found out I have two major problems to deal with. 1) I decided to route the DVI and power cords like Jimmy through the center of the disk. This makes the most sense, as I played with front mounting the wires they just kept binding in the physical limit mech I have. Took the mech all apart then realized that the DVI connector would not fit through the 4" lazy susan bearing I chose to use. DOH!~! So now I have to move up to the next largest size that can fit the wires through them, then re-drill all the mounting holes for the disk and mounts. What a pain.. 2) After all my sexy painting work, I found that the bezel as I painted it is not thick enough. I can just see the corners of the inner mask. I had to scrape the paint off with a blade and still need to re-paint it. Apparently everything isn't as square as it should be. So lessons learned. . . . .

1) If you want to route the wires for the monitor through the bearing, make sure the wires fit and do this as part of the rotation mech design.
2) Install glass and tape on the face where you need to paint. Then take it off, flip it over and paint your lines. 

In terms of progress...
1) Installed T-molding
2) Mounted CP hinge and chain
3) Mounted CP to cab
4) Installed admin panel
5) Installed admin buttons
6) Completed marquee

Overall I am about 85% there. Still need to finish internal wiring to the PC, then deal with this rotation mech issue and the bezel.

I know the artwork is about as un-original as one can get, these graphics have been slathered on many cabs. However I just love the simplicity of the design. It feels like an arcade cab and isn't OVERLY glam. Feels like a happy medium and best yet, the wife likes it!

TopJimmyCooks

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #91 on: June 19, 2011, 10:01:40 pm »
Good stuff m'man.

blue coin return buttons = tasty.
Plastic laminate work looks good and is going to pay off in the long run with durability. 
Art is tried and true, people here have seen it but it's quality and any civilians will be blown right the smurf away. 
painted interior of cab and cp = craftsmanship.





DNA Dan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #92 on: June 23, 2011, 11:10:58 pm »
FINALLY!!!

After all the guests of summer and a much needed summer vacation it's arcade heaven for me guys! The final details I needed to push the project to completion were:

1) Bezel- This was a major PITA. Basically it was a matte board cut into a circle with the monitor cut out 1/4" smaller. I then did the same thing with black foam board but made it the same size as the monitor bezel. I glued the two pieces so there was a 1/4" lip that sat on the monitor. This was later hot glued to the whole monitor so its floating with the monitor. I added an Aimtrak which further complicated the install.
2) Rotation hinge - I had to completely rework this with a larger diameter hinge, (see previous post)
3) Software - This is a constant work in progress. You veterans know how this goes.

The final setup:
Hyperspin FE with all the best emulated systems

ALL ULTIMARC CONTROLS - Andy's stuff is simply the best. I am using U360's, Minipac, U-Trak, Spintrak, Gold leaf buttons (which I have grown to absolutely LOVE.) and Ultralux illuminated with a custom insert.

Pololu SMC motor and simple controller. Here is the code I wrote to manually assign the rotation to a shifted button.

#n::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed 1500, ,{enter}
return
 
#m::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed -1500, ,{enter}
return

This runs the command hidden with just a DOS CMD window flash. I had a hard time getting this to execute while I was in game. I could not get the code right to bring MAME back into focus on top. So I just decided to keep it as a manual button press until Hyperspin 2.0 comes out. I just didn't want to make a lookup list and all that jazz.
Here's some final shots. I am very please with how it turned out. I will post a video next of the rotation.
« Last Edit: August 01, 2011, 11:33:26 pm by DNA Dan »

DNA Dan

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Re: Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #93 on: August 01, 2011, 11:28:04 pm »
Here's a video showing the rotation based on button presses. The camera had a hard time focusing on the color of the screen. The HP2065 is a very nice monitor for these projects.

TopJimmyCooks

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Excellent work.  :cheers: I was surprised to see you rotating clockwise.  I ended up doing everything counterclockwise to get the better viewing angle for player 1.  Your monitor has a better bottom viewing angle by far than my old viewsonic.   

HS is quite cool.  You would think that even though all their layouts are horizontal they might come up with a patch or something to rotate on game start and rotate back to horizontal on game exit for mame.  Especially considering how commercial their operation is.  Hopefully Dazz and crew are already on that. I think it would go a long way even though the vertical layout thing is a huge shift from how they are set up.  Maybe they could still run the horizontal layouts in a reduced area of the screen when the aspect is vertical.  If they address this I might have to upgrade the PC and bask in the bling!

Is it bogging down a little bit in the last quarter of the rotation to vertical? 
How much clearance do you have between the face of the matte board and the back of the glass?

Inspirational stuff.  Switchcade is in paint right now, interior done and starting on the stripes now.  It's going slowly.  Hard to get motivated when the garage stays 85 degrees plus.  I need to order bezel glass. 


DNA Dan

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Supposedly Hyperspin 2.0 is going to have the monitor rotation feature on game launch added to it. This is what I am hoping at least.

I never noticed the bog down, but I think you're right. The cables might be binding as they twist. I'll have to investigate this some more. The face of the screen was right up on the glass, so I actually had to de-case the monitor to gain an  extra 1/2". By the time you add the bezel matte in there it's probably around 3/8" from the glass.

I don't know if 1/4" glass would be my first choice next time. It's very heavy in the size I got. Also it seems to have a lot of glare if there are any lights around. No problems with the aimtrak. I guess most arcades were kept dark and dingy to improve the playing experience. 

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Nice work!  :applaud:  This looks great!

Complete mini arcade cabinet plans available.

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Very nice man!  :notworthy:

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How's it going out there?  having fun with the plain old Arcade?  I ended up following your lead (yet again) on the screen door spring hinge.  After final assembly with the spring mounted flat, I was back to getting some slippage between the wheels.   I preloaded the spring by putting an extra block in, so that the two leaves of the hinge are perpendicular to start with.  Rock solid now.  Of course, the monitor wheel is no longer touching the two little support wheels, but they'll still be there if the spring ever calms down.   :cheers:

DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #99 on: September 01, 2011, 01:19:19 pm »
Been busy with some family matters so haven't had much time to dive into my binding issue. I did notice that the drag seems to come from the twisting of the cables. They are in there loose, so I don't know why they get like that mid stream in the rotation. I tried glueing some sanpaper to the back of the disk to give the wheel some more traction, but it still wants to slip occaisionally. I also upgraded the wheel to the largest size Pololu had thinking it would gain more surface area on the disk. This didn't help much either. I am starting to think the screen door hinge just isn't enough tension on the wheel. Did you add an extra wind on the spring? I am thinking a door hinge with the ability to set the tension might be a better choice for this, this way you can adjust it when it gets loose. Over time I assume that's bound to happen. Something like this: http://www.hingeoutlet.com/spring_hinges_residential.htm

Or even a gate hinge with a beefier spring.

I suppose another approach would be to "backload" the cables a half rotation so they only twist 45 degrees in each direction. At any rate, after a few rotations my traction on that tire just isn't as "tight" as it was originally.
« Last Edit: September 01, 2011, 01:33:14 pm by DNA Dan »

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #100 on: September 01, 2011, 02:17:15 pm »
Just had a eureka moment:  To answer your question, I feel like starting with the screen door hinge preloaded by having it "open" to 90 degrees has eliminated contact between the wheels (traction), as a problem for me.  I am using the 90mm (black) pololu wheel/tire and 120 grit sandpaper on the monitor disk.  it actually spins out at one end because I didn't run the sandpaper completely to the end of travel, so the wheel slips on the painted mdf of the monitor disk for a second until it grabs enough to get to the sandpaper.  fixable. I feel my cables now have zero impact on rotation and I haven't been paying attention to where they are, or if they are positioned at 45 degrees like I was before.  

here's the A-Ha thing:  as it stands my wheel and spring are pushing the monitor disk away from the monitor support at the bottom.  the bearing works best if it's two plates are co-planar.  right now, I am probably binding at the top of the bearing (motor/spring on the bottom) and am just overcoming that drag with torque.  

There is any easy solution to this, but an extra castor wheel on the monitor side of the monitor disk, opposite the motor, so the main spring has something to push against without getting the bearing out of alignment.  it would take any alignment stress off the bearing.  I'm going to give it a try tonight.  fortunately, I ended up making the monitor disk big enough that I can clear the corner of the monitor.   I bet this is a possibility for you, esp. since you used a smaller bearing.  Once you have good traction the cables are no longer an issue.

I have used those spring hinges before on doors and they are plenty strong for this application. I agree that you will be able to get more oomph from them than the screen door hinge if spring pressure turns out to be the issue.  Hope all is well with your family.  

Edit:  I looked at this last night but the castor i had on hand was too big to fit. will pick up another one.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2011, 09:03:55 am by TopJimmyCooks »

pinballwizard79

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #101 on: September 02, 2011, 03:27:20 am »
Good work dude, very good work  :cheers:
"George Bush doesn't care about arcade people"

My FrankenPanel: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110312.0

My Game Room: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=81323.0

DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #102 on: September 03, 2011, 10:52:54 pm »
Thanks for the nice feedback guys.

I hear what you're saying about the hinge working best when the plates are co-planar. I tried my best to get the height just right on the support casters, but I think I have about a 1/8" deflection. I would have liked to mount the motor on the top, but the slim cab depth doesn't really allow for that. I had another thought last night.. What about mounting the motor closer to the center of the disk? I like how you carved out the support frame and it seems very feasible to just have the tire run on a smaller track closer to the center of the disk. You'd have to decrease the motor speed to maintain the same rate of rotation, but that motor can certainly handle it.

Lots of options,  but I have to pull the whole thing to get at it. Sort of regret not putting a "back door" on the cabinet at this point. DOH!

DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #103 on: September 16, 2011, 12:09:10 pm »
Finally got the time to re-work the rotation setup on my monitor. I did exactly as you stated Jimmy. I added a piece of birch wood perpendicular to the back of the moving motor piece. I used angle brackets to hold it in place, (I didn't think glue would suffice over time.) The hinge is now preloaded 90 degrees and that sucker is rock solid. Rotation is much smoother now. My only fear is that tire getting beat to hell over time from so much pressure. It seems like a decent quality tire, but even when the arcade is off, there's pressure being put on it. Anyways, thanks for the tip and noobs beware, you need a fair amount of pressure on that tire to rotate your setup if you aren't using a single axle for rotation.

Overall I am very happy with this setup. It's about a $100 rotation solution, but you have to have some skills in mechanics to line everything up just right.

DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #104 on: November 23, 2011, 11:23:17 pm »
I have been working more on the software side of the rotation with the AHK commands that this motor uses. For those of you who are interested, I was able to integrate the rotation commands directly into Hyperlaunch for use in Hyperspin. You can rotate within game or within hyperspin with a simple hotkey without MAME quiting. I just use the MAME menu to permanently keep vertical games rotated CCW90 degrees. When I load a game that is sideways, I just hit the hotkey (shifted button on my Ipac.) This seems the best I can do without using a batch file or lookup list for vertical games. (A bit beyond my skills at the moment.) Still hoping HS2.0 is going to have a better solution that I can integrate so it happens automajically.

Forgive my rookie code, I am not a coder but it works for me! This replaces the entire MAME section in your Hyperlaunch file. The n:: and m:: are the hotkeys that you can change to whatever you like. Also note the speed. This may be too fast or slow for your setup.


;*************************************MAME**************************************

else if (systemName = "MAME" && executable = "mame.exe")
{
    hideDesktop()
    Runwait, %executable% %romName%, %EmuPath%, Hide UseErrorLevel

Keywait, D
n::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed 1500, ,{enter},hide
Winhide, Hyperspin
WinActivate, MAME,
return

Keywait, D
m::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed -1500, ,{enter},hide
Winhide, Hyperspin
WinActivate, MAME,
return

    Process, waitClose, %executable%
    exitapp
}




RetroBorg

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #105 on: November 25, 2011, 07:11:09 am »
I have been working more on the software side of the rotation with the AHK commands that this motor uses. For those of you who are interested, I was able to integrate the rotation commands directly into Hyperlaunch for use in Hyperspin. You can rotate within game or within hyperspin with a simple hotkey without MAME quiting. I just use the MAME menu to permanently keep vertical games rotated CCW90 degrees. When I load a game that is sideways, I just hit the hotkey (shifted button on my Ipac.) This seems the best I can do without using a batch file or lookup list for vertical games. (A bit beyond my skills at the moment.) Still hoping HS2.0 is going to have a better solution that I can integrate so it happens automajically.

Forgive my rookie code, I am not a coder but it works for me! This replaces the entire MAME section in your Hyperlaunch file. The n:: and m:: are the hotkeys that you can change to whatever you like. Also note the speed. This may be too fast or slow for your setup.


;*************************************MAME**************************************

else if (systemName = "MAME" && executable = "mame.exe")
{
    hideDesktop()
    Runwait, %executable% %romName%, %EmuPath%, Hide UseErrorLevel

Keywait, D
n::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed 1500, ,{enter},hide
Winhide, Hyperspin
WinActivate, MAME,
return

Keywait, D
m::
RunWait, %COMSPEC% /c smccmd --resume --speed -1500, ,{enter},hide
Winhide, Hyperspin
WinActivate, MAME,
return

    Process, waitClose, %executable%
    exitapp
}





Chillinwater over on the HyperSpin forum was kind enough to write an AHK script for automatically switching my Ultimarc Magstiks from 4-way to 8-way etc automatically using a servo.

I would think the same script could be changed quite easily for your horizontal / vertical monitor rotation.

You would need to have a list of all the vertical games and then just swap anything that related to 4-way in his script to vertical and anything relating to 8-way to horizontal.

Here is a link to my thread on HyperSpin: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11271&highlight=4way

DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #106 on: November 25, 2011, 11:50:22 am »
Awesome! Thanks for the link. This should be doable. I just need to make a list of all vertical games in romlister then change the hotkey command lines in the code chillinwater wrote to enter the hotkeys through a hidden command prompt like I am currently doing. Unfortunately I only have the simple motor controller and it only supports smccmd, not umccmd. You need to have the Maestro controller for the umccmd functionality. I think this is the missing piece of software I have been hoping for!

Not entirely there though. I need to make the vertical games all have a CCW90 rotation in MAME. Is there an easy way to do this? If I understand the method correctly, the list is simply sending commands to the motor, not actually changing the screen orientation.
« Last Edit: November 25, 2011, 12:01:50 pm by DNA Dan »

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #107 on: November 25, 2011, 05:59:41 pm »
If I understand the method correctly, the list is simply sending commands to the motor, not actually changing the screen orientation.

Yeah, just commands for the motor.

You then should be launching MAME with the following command -autorol

These options are designed for use with pivoting screens that only pivot in a single direction. If your screen only pivots clockwise,
use -autorol to ensure that the game will fill the screen either horizontally or vertically in one of the directions you can handle.
If your screen only pivots counter-clockwise, use -autoror.




DNA Dan

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #108 on: November 26, 2011, 01:20:07 am »
Thanks again Retroborg, I tried converting the code but encountered a lot of weirdness. I could not get the reset portion of the code to work for me. It seems like I don't really need that, since every time I will be exiting a game, I will want to be in the horizontal position for Hyperspin. So really the reset is just activation of the "Horizontal" code.

The best I could do is rotation to vertical, with no horizontal on exit for vertical games. Then no vertical, stay in horizontal for horizontal games. It's about 80% there and I have spent hours today  trying everything in the code. I wish I knew AHK better  :badmood:

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #109 on: November 26, 2011, 10:59:42 am »
I feel your pain with AHK.  I messed with it for a while but was only able to get 80% of what I wanted, unless it was a really simple script.  Are you cross posting some of this on the HS forum to see if anyone there has covered the same ground?  it seems like telling it to always rotate in the to horizontal direction on game exit should be able to be scripted but I know how frustrating it can be. 

Could always switch to mala temporarily until HS 2.0 arrives  ;)
Everything works full auto except for occasionally Mala has the wrong orientation on game exit (1 out of 50 game exits or so)  and I have the pause key mapped to change mala orientation so its easy to fix. 

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #110 on: November 26, 2011, 01:00:00 pm »
Hey Guys, if you need some ahk help, give me as many details as you can and I'll see what I can do. I work with it a lot at home and at work, so I've become fairly proficient with it.

And then you can help me when I build my rotating monitor! ;D I'm way better at the software side of things than I am at working with this kind of stuff. Hoping to start on it soon. I've had the parts for awhile, I just never seem to find the time.

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #111 on: November 27, 2011, 12:04:38 am »
WHOOHOO! Totally figured it out. The link to the HS forum by Retroborg has a few downloads on it provided by chillinwater. There is a "test" zip which shows rotation screens and checks that it's writing the .ini file without actually having to have your setup rotate while you test it. I spent about a day reworking his "final" code and condensed it quite a bit. I completely removed the "reset" portion of the code since I always want the monitor to return to horizontal for my HS frontend. So during Mame exit, it just sends "reset" for the Romname and it invokes the Horizontalrotation. (Basically it's a romname not in the string.) All I have left to do is take my "verticalRom" list and convert it to a single line with commas like this "005,1942,1942" etc. Do you know how to do that nitz? I used ROMLister to generate the list, but I cannot export a single line with all the ROMS in the list. Is this possible with ROMLister?

I will post all the code in my next post.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2011, 02:23:30 am by DNA Dan »

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #112 on: November 27, 2011, 12:49:40 am »
I want to thank RetroBorg for leading me in the right direction. All the credit for this code goes to Chillinwater at the HS forums. This is primarily HIS code, I just modified it to suit my needs. I am completely impressed with his troubleshooting abilities and how he "set-up" the development of this code. The source can be found here: http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11271&highlight=4way. The MAME module for Hyperspin is the work of BadBoyBill at the same forums. This is his work, just modified for the rotation files.

The files you need are all attached, but they need to be modified for your setup. I am detailing the process here so you can understand what changes need to be made to what files. I hope this doesn't violate some forum rules. I am just showing the contents of each file.

First thing you need to do is update to Hyperlaunch to v2.0. This can be found at the HS forums. Next, you need to use the modified MAME module below. This adds Runwait....Rotation.exe line in the beginning and two more lines of code at the end initiating a "reset" in %Rompath%.This is the "MAME" file attached. This file goes in the \modules\mame directory in your HS setup.
Code: [Select]

;----------------------------------------------------------------------------
; MAME
; MAME .140
; by BBB
; 1.0
;
; Info:
; Since MAME needs to save hi scores and data on exit, then we can\'t force
; MAME closed with a hotkey. So make sure you have your own exit key setup
; in MAME first.  We will leave the CloseProcess section below blank, but
; it is still required.
;
;----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Runwait, %emupath%\Rotation.exe "%romName%" (THIS LINE HAS BEEN ADDED)

Runwait, %executable% %romName%, %emuPath%, Hide UseErrorLevel

if(ErrorLevel != 0){
  if (ErrorLevel = 1){
    Error = Failed Validity
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 2){
    Error = Missing Files
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 3){
    Error = Fatal Error
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 4){
    Error = Device Error
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 5){
    Error = Game Does Not Exist
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 6){
    Error = Invalid Config
  }else if(ErrorLevel = 7 || ErrorLevel = 8 || ErrorLevel = 9){
    Error = Identification Error
  }else{
    Error = Mame Error
  }
  MsgBox Mame Error - %Error%
}

process, waitclose, %executable% (THIS LINE HAS BEEN ADDED)

Runwait, %emupath%\Rotation.exe "reset" (THIS LINE HAS BEEN ADDED)

ExitApp

;Required
CloseProcess:
   ;Doesnt have to do anything but make sure to have the line before and after this line.
return



Next you need to add two files to you MAME root folder. The first one is a list of vertical games which I haven't completed yet. The other is the Rotation.ahk which contains the code to send commands to SMCCMD depending upon the list.

Open the Rotation text file and you'll see it's incomplete. Any game you want on a vertical rotation needs to go in the line "Set2_vertical=" single line followed by a comma. If someone knows how to do this easily, please let me know. I don't want to type that all out! This file goes in your MAME root folder.

Code: [Select]
[Controls]
PrevState=horizontal
Set2_vertical=005,progolf,1941j,1941,1942,1942b (etc. Add all vertical ROM games here followed by a comma.)


Finally you need to add the Rotation.ahk to your MAME root folder. This one needs some editing. The line that reads "iniwrite, vertical, C:\arcade\mame\Rotation.ini, controls, PrevState" - you need to change the directory to your setup. This needs to point to Rotation.ini. Same thing for the line that reads "iniwrite, horizontal, C:\arcade\mame\Rotation.ini, controls, PrevState " If you read the code, you'll notice I am using --speed 1000. You might want to start this off slower to make sure it works on your setup before rotating at this speed. Once you are done editing, you need to compile this to an .exe in the same location.

Code: [Select]
;[Rotation.exe]

;

;

#SingleInstance force


romName = %1%

param := "%romName%"

;reads verticalRoms controlled roms list

IniRead, verticalRoms, %A_ScriptDir%\Rotation.ini, controls, Set2_vertical

;reads state of vertical, horizontal rotation (user added line in "controls.ini")

iniread, state, %a_scriptdir%\Rotation.ini, Controls, PrevState

ifnotinstring, verticalRoms, %romname%, gosub, horizontalrotation



verticalrotation:

if ( State = "vertical")

{

exitapp

}

else if ( State = "horizontal")

{

Run, %COMSPEC% /c "smccmd --resume --speed 1000", ,{enter},hide

iniwrite, vertical, C:\arcade\mame\Rotation.ini, controls, PrevState

exitapp

}



horizontalrotation:

if ( State = "horizontal" )

{

exitapp

}

else if ( State = "vertical")

{

Run, %COMSPEC% /c "smccmd --resume --speed -1000", ,{enter},hide

iniwrite, horizontal, C:\arcade\mame\Rotation.ini, controls, PrevState

exitapp

}





That's all it takes! If you did everything correctly and I explained it well enough, hopefully you'll be able to go into hyperlaunch and run say 1942 with a rotation vertical, then back to horizontal on exit. Then if you enter in something like Robotron, you should not get any rotation. The code is basically writing to "prevstate" in the Rotation.ini file. You can CNTRL+ALT+DEL any instance of Mame to see that it's writing "horizontal" or "vertical" at that location.

All you have to do now is the arduous task of setting up each game in MAME with a CW90 or CCW90 rotation. I have a list from ROMLister with all the vertical games, I just need to get them into a single string. Then I figure as I play games, when the monitor turns (because the game was found in the list), I will go into MAME settings and change the orientation. Once this is done, it will always be in the orientation, so over time this won't be an issue anymore. (Anyone have a better way of doing this?)

Enjoy!
« Last Edit: December 03, 2011, 08:34:35 pm by DNA Dan »

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #113 on: November 27, 2011, 01:07:47 am »
All I have left to do is take my "verticalRom" list and convert it to a single line with commas like this "005,1942,1942" etc. Do you know how to do that nitz?

Yep!

Open your list of vertical games you made with RomLister. Add a line right at the bottom that just says "x" WITHOUT the quotes. We're just going to use this to tell the script when to stop.

Now put this into an autohotkey script in the same directory as your list of vertical games. Just be sure to change games.txt to whatever your list is named.

Quote
var = 1

Loop
{
FileReadLine, line, games.txt, var

If (line = "x")
{
break
}

If (var = 1)
{
FileAppend, %line%, VertSingleLine.txt
}

If (var > 1)
{
FileAppend, `,%line%, VertSingleLine.txt
}

var++
}

msgbox Done!

Run that script and it'll create a file named VertSingleLine.txt in the same directory that has what you want. Just copy and paste that to your rotation text file.

 :cheers:

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #114 on: November 27, 2011, 02:26:52 am »
Nitz you're a genius! Thanks! Previous posts updated. I also updated the attached file to include all vertical games based on the latest controls.dat file and MAME version 0.141

The only disconnect now is manually setting the orientation of MAME games. This should subside over time. I guess this is where MaLa or HS2.0 would come in with a setting to automatically do that for games listed with a vertical tag.

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #115 on: November 27, 2011, 01:25:25 pm »
Nitz you're a genius! Thanks!

No prob!

Cool project by the way, a slimmer cab with a rotating monitor is kinda what I'm going for in my (neverending) project.

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #116 on: November 27, 2011, 04:28:21 pm »
Damn I'm on a roll! Figured out that usage of -autorol in my mame.ini file automatically gives all vertical games a CCW90 degree orientation. This makes the whole package complete using Hyperspin with Mame. The steps are:

1) Create the hardware - monitor setup using pololu motor
2) Use Maestro or Simple motor controller
3) Download the files I posted - install them as posted
4) Change your MAME.ini setting to -autorol = 1 OR -autoror = 1 depending upon which way you rotate.

I also just remembered that depending upon how you rotate for vertical or depending upon how you mounted the motor, you might need to switch the --speed -1000 and --speed 1000. I think this flip can be done in software using the simple motor controller command GUI. Simple, effective $100 setup for rotating LCD.

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #117 on: November 27, 2011, 05:01:05 pm »
Awesome! And thanks for sharing with those of us who have yet to take the rotation plunge! :cheers:

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #118 on: November 27, 2011, 06:34:59 pm »
Fantastic, glad it all works for you automatically.  :applaud:

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Re: **COMPLETED***Just plain old ARCADE - Slim, LCD, w/rotation (Lots of photos!)
« Reply #119 on: November 27, 2011, 08:36:14 pm »
I demand that video be posted immediately if not sooner!    :cheers: