My completely homemade arcade machine

[arximidis]

Hello!
This is my first post to the forum and I wanted to share with you, my homemade game machine

The reason I say completely homemade is because I didn't use a commercial game controller, unlike most people do. I even created my own frontEnd.
However, I did use an old TV set and a computer (modified to cover my needs).

A few months ago I started building a Game machine. I had one original cabinet in mind, which I liked when I was young. However, I couldn't find any plans over the internet. They only thing I did found, was some pictures. So, I created my own plans, based on those pictures. The result was a machine very close to the original one (In fact I did some changes on purpose).

Next thing was to create the game controller. This is a circuit controlling the whole machine. It's booting the computer, powering up the TV and the speakers by turning an ignition key.

It is also responsible for controlling the coin acceptor and of course... the buttons
I could use one of commercial controllers (like i-pac), but I wanted to go one step further and simultaneously keep the price low (it cost me all most nothing).
One of the capabilities is changing the keyboard layout on the fly, which is impossible to do with current controllers)
I can have differnet layouts for each game. (Some games allow only specific keyboard layouts)
The only thing you have to do, is write ini files with the button associations for each game, and they will be automatically loaded when you start the game.
The side effect was that I couldn't use any of the existing FrontEnds, because they are not supporting my controller (To be more exact the can work with my controller, but they can't send commands. This means that you can have only one keyboard combination, which is fine if your are not intersted for something more complicated. You can set your games having the same keyboard layout, if it is possible).
There are others things it can do too (like simulation tilt for pinball games. Instead of pressing a button, you shake the whole machine!)


My cabinet is almost ready (I have the paint job). I don't have a video showing the cabinet as it is right now, but I have some older videos



This is a test video for the FrontEnd (and the hardware)



This is a video showing my game controller




This is a test for the basic circuit of the game controller


A simple test for the coin acceptor




I have already started creating an article about how to build your own, but is not completed yet
Here is the link:
Game Machine

And in this link you can find the FrontEnd
GameFrontEnd
Even if you don't have the game controller, you can test the frontEnd and report bugs or your suggestions


Thank you


PS. Excuse me for my bad English

[StriderDSO]

Seems cool.. how much time did you put into everything? I'll be interested in reading your detailed plans & project steps when you finish the article on your site.

[arximidis]

Seems cool.. how much time did you put into everything? I'll be interested in reading your detailed plans & project steps when you finish the article on your site.

Hello, StriderDSO
Thank you for your nice words

Well, It took me a lot of time (about 2.5 months) mostly becasuse I didn't had any plans. In fact I had already built it, but I didn't liked the result (the dimentions were totally wrong). So I created new palns and rebuilt the whole thing
Now, if you have the plans for everything, it should not take a long time to build, but that depends on how much of your free time you will devote to it.

The cabinet has some details and at first it looked easier to built (but ok it's not so difficult, especially if you now how to work with wood)

[arximidis]

My next goal is creating a gun controller, in order to play games like VirtuaCup
So, you will be able to aim and shoot, just like when you use the mouse

I have already wrote the software and the only think I need to do is buy a toy gun and modify it
Inside the cabinet there will be a hacked webcam to see in infrared. See this link: WebCam to IR
The gun will have infrared LEDs and a LASER for aiming. Infrared will be also used for the wireless comunication between the cabinet and the gun

In this video I am testing the software with a normal camera. It is just following a white spot (insted of moving the light I am moving the camera, which is the same thing for the code)



P.S. It's very possible to make changes, as this project is not completed yet. That depends on what will work better

[abispac]

Im always interested in how peaople makes their own control interface instead of buying  some premade ones.How did you cameout with this one? and how much does it coast to make?

[arximidis]

Im always interested in how peaople makes their own control interface instead of buying  some premade ones.How did you cameout with this one? and how much does it coast to make?

Hello abispac
Well, I didn't want to buy a premade controller for three main reasons. Firstly, to save money... Secondly, the premade didn't actually do what I wanted to do... and thirdly just for fun (fun of creation).

You gave me the opportunity to say few words about the controller

The basic idea is quite simple. The game controller is based on a small and chip microcontroller. This is responible of handling the buttons, the coin acceptor and the start up procedure.
It scans the buttons (5x5 array -> total 25 buttons. The microcontroller is small and I didn't have any other I/O ports left. By repalcing the microcontroller with another one, you will be able to controll more buttons. For me 25 buttons are more than enough) and communicates with the computer.

When a button is pressed the microcontroller notifies the computer which button was that. The Keyboard Mapper (this is another propgram that runs on the background) interpretes this event with a keyboard stroke. The actual keyboard key code will be send, depends on the association you made in the ini file of the selected game.
For example lets assume in the ini file you wrote something like this: Button1=LEFT
This means that when you press button 1 the Keyboard mapper will send the LEFT arrow code etc
When you release a button the keyboard mapper send the release code.


In few words the Keyboard Mapper acts like a virtual keyboard
The communication between keyboard Mapper and the game controler is via serial or USB port (for usb you need a usb to serial converter. Any converter will do)

The only thing you must take care is if your computer is able to boot without a real keyboard present. If not (and if there is no setting in BIOS) then you can easilly bypass problem by using a dummy one (You can also unscrew the keyboard and connect only the actual controller into PS/2 port to save space. In a keyboard the pcb of the controler is very small. Most space is taken by the keys)



PS. I have released the beta 3 of GameFrontEnd. In this version I fixed some bugs and added same cool stuff (e.g. DirectX window draw -> this is usefull especially if you are using a TV set for display)

[mathew_123456]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you could remap keyboard encoders on the fly, and most Front Ends will handle this? But, on the other hand, I can understand the satisfaction in building components/ software yourself..

[arximidis]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you could remap keyboard encoders on the fly, and most Front Ends will handle this? But, on the other hand, I can understand the satisfaction in building components/ software yourself..

Hello, mathew_123456
To tell you the truth, I don't now exactly what most Fornt Ends can do.  I didn't searched in detail. (In fact it was difficult to set them up. Only the comercial ones are very good and easy to setup, but they are expensive)


Suppose the following senario. I have installed two different games (not just emulated games. They could be windows games, like pro evolution soccer, or something else).
Both games are not letting you change the keyboard layout. The fire botton (the red one in my panel) is Left Control for the first game and Left shift for the second.
In the ForntEnd the fire button (again the red one) is the button with which you start the games from the menu. This is enter


I load the first game. Until now red is enter. When the game loads, automatically the red button must change to Left control. When I close the game, automatically the same red button, must be enter again (Because I am in the FrontEnd now). I select the second game. Same procedure. The red button must change to Left shift, and back to enter when I close the game.
And all this,  just with one button...
Perhaps, you can do that with other frontends (I really don't now), but with my game controller is very easy to do... at least for me

There are also some other things you can do, but still uncompleted (that is why I haven't mentioned them)


PS. My English are very... very bad

[arximidis]

There are a lot of electronic pinball games (simulators).
In a real (mechanical) pinball, you could shake the machine to move the ball, just a little bit. All electronic pinball games, are simulating this event with a keyboard stroke (tilt)
What I am going to do, is simulating this tilt by actually shaking the whole machine, just like you would normally do with a real pinball

[arximidis]

And another thing (this is almost completed)

Can I handle the mouse using only the joystick, with the forntends you know? (I am actually asking because I don't know)
And I mean, with the joystic, NOT with a trackball or a touchpad (saving a lot of money, especially because trackballs are not so cheap. Except if you can hack a mouse)

[newmanfamilyvlogs]

Several of the commercial keyboard encoders out there will allow you to dynamically remap the encoder, and some of the analog joysticks (such as the U360) will let you remap the direction matrix as well. Several of the front-ends (such as the free Hyperspin and the free Mala) will run the re-map the encoder and the joystick specific to each game when you launch it.

For the Ultimarc line of encoders/joysticks, the utilities for remapping are available here:
 http://www.ultimarc.com/download.html

For moving the mouse with just a joystick there are programs such as Joy2Mouse:
http://atzitznet.dyndns.org/Joy2Mouse3/help.html

If paired with an analog joystick like the U360, you would be able to move the mouse at different speeds using that software as well.

Most front-ends (again such as Hyperspin or Mala) are designed to work with a joystick + buttons by themselves, but they can also be configured to use a mouse if you wanted to.


A few of the "visual pinball" builds on this forum have incorporated "tilt-bob" mechanisms to handle the detection of tilting the machine. Some have used single key-press encoding by using mercury switches, others have had a more robust input by using the actual tilt-bob mechanism from a pinball machine. Another commercial options is the uHid G:
http://www.u-hid.com/home/uhidg.php

This is a 3-Axis accelerometer which will send keypresses for movement in XYZ. Thus a single board and USB cable would encode all nudge movement.

Good luck on your self-built encoder. Perhaps some of these other products will give you ideas.

[mgb]

I like the cabinet design. very nice. I'd love to see some more pics

[arximidis]

Thanks for your reply cotmm68030, your info and your links. I am always interested in new ideas

First, I want to set things clear... I am not saying that you (or anybody else) implying this... so please don't misunderstand me!

Never said that I am building something revolutionary and that no one has thought before. After all I have found a lot of implementations over the internet. Building arcade machines is not so difficult (especially if you can handle wood).
I am selling nothing... The controller I am building is there, in order to build it by your own (if you like it). The firmware will be open source...
The frontend is totally free. No registration needed, no nothing! (Maybe in the future I will open the code too)

And of course, it's about one more and different implementation, among all other

My goal from the start was, Can I make a game machine with the minimal cost (That means buying no extra hardware or software).

Several of the commercial keyboard encoders out there will allow you to dynamically remap the encoder, and some of the analog joysticks (such as the U360) will let you remap the direction matrix as well. Several of the front-ends (such as the free Hyperspin and the free Mala) will run the re-map the encoder and the joystick specific to each game when you launch it.

For the Ultimarc line of encoders/joysticks, the utilities for remapping are available here:
 http://www.ultimarc.com/download.html

For moving the mouse with just a joystick there are programs such as Joy2Mouse:
http://atzitznet.dyndns.org/Joy2Mouse3/help.html

If paired with an analog joystick like the U360, you would be able to move the mouse at different speeds using that software as well.

Most front-ends (again such as Hyperspin or Mala) are designed to work with a joystick + buttons by themselves, but they can also be configured to use a mouse if you wanted to.

......

To tell you the truth, first I tested Mala. I didn't like it 
Then I tryed Hyperspin. Before even try it, I read that is not so easy to set up... and indeed it is complecated.
But the thing that really bothers me with hyperspin, is that they force you to register in order to download. Generally I dislike such a policy. Is your software free or not?
Some of you will say: So big deal... But for me, it is!

The commercial frontEnds are very very nice and impressive. Maximus arcade looks good, but I liked GameEX a lot
Unfortunatelly, You must buy them and my intial intention was to cut the budget out and not increase it

Thanks for the joy2mouse link, cotmm68030. I really didn't know about it.
However correct me if I am wrong.
This software uses a real joystick, to control the mouse or the keyboard.
Well, I don't have a real joystick. I have a button based arcade HAPP joystick, which is connected as a keyboard. So, I want to control the mouse with the keyboard (e.g. with the arrow keys). This is what my software does.
Also I can control the mouse with a web camera (for the homemade gun, I was talking about). And all, in one software!

.....
A few of the "visual pinball" builds on this forum have incorporated "tilt-bob" mechanisms to handle the detection of tilting the machine. Some have used single key-press encoding by using mercury switches, others have had a more robust input by using the actual tilt-bob mechanism from a pinball machine. Another commercial options is the uHid G:
http://www.u-hid.com/home/uhidg.php

This is a 3-Axis accelerometer which will send keypresses for movement in XYZ. Thus a single board and USB cable would encode all nudge movement.

Good luck on your self-built encoder. Perhaps some of these other products will give you ideas.

Even if I have an accelerometer I will not use it. I think it will be a waste (better use it in another project). I will stay with the mercury switches, as my initial thought was.

I like the cabinet design. very nice. I'd love to see some more pics

Thank you mgb!!!
And I did see your cab and it looks fantastic. It's enormous but very good

The design is based on a Greek original cabinet, but unfortunatelly I couldn't find any plans for it. So I created my own based on some pictures. There are not exactly the same, but pretty close!
I do have a lot of pictures from the begining of creation. I have upload them here and there. I will upload some pictures here too...

Here are some pictures of the original cabinet, I am talking about (I spent a lot of hours on a such machine, when I was young )

[codefenix]

But the thing that really bothers me with hyperspin, is that they force you to register in order to download. Generally I dislike such a policy. Is your software free or not?

Agreed.  Nice cabinet, by the way!

[Justin Z]

And another thing (this is almost completed)

Can I handle the mouse using only the joystick, with the forntends you know? (I am actually asking because I don't know)
And I mean, with the joystic, NOT with a trackball or a touchpad (saving a lot of money, especially because trackballs are not so cheap. Except if you can hack a mouse)

Joy2Mouse is good, but I prefer Phatsoft Joymouse--it is small and completely invisible upon startup.  You can also set a button to enable/disable the mouse:

http://download.cnet.com/Phatsoft-JoyMouse/3000-2072_4-10065027.html

[bkenobi]

While I completely understand your position on FE software, I would like to point out that you can use GameEx for FREE without ever paying a dime.  There is a nag screen that pops up for ~5 seconds when you turn the machine on and some of the advanced features are not available in the free version (basically the ones that the author had to pay others to implement).  However, the free version is still very usable.

If you are happy with writing your own FE, more power to you...that's awesome!  I don't have the background or time to invest to build my own that suits my needs as I see them.

[arximidis]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

You are "forcing" me to write more details...  but that is good!

OK, this is not a project, I started in previous week. Actually, I started about 3 months ago!!! (or even more. I can't remember)

At first, I was using premade software. I didn't even think of creating my own controller and software.
I did a little search and I ended up using GameEX. It was fantastic.
For controller, I was thinking to hack a usb keyboard (I even found some videos on youtube). I never thought of buying a controller like i-pac. It was expensive and I had already some usb keyboards lying around.
I was setting up gameEx and I made one change at a time (after all, I was just learning it). With each change, I had to wait the nag screen to disappear. If you complete the settings, its not a big deal... but that was exactly the time I started thinking... do I really want this nag screen to appear?
I started looking for alternatives (freeware). I didn't like MaLa, so I found out about Hyperspin. The first problem was the registration... That was annoying... but I did register just to try it out (Ok, I will be "bombarded" with spam again, I thought)
The second problem I encountered was the complexity... GameEX was pretty straightforward (at least for me)

This was the time I thought of creating my own frontEnd. After all, what is a frontend? A program that executes other programs, like the explorer (ok, it's not just like that. It has graphics and a lot more, but I was thinking to use pictures and videos instead of graphics). With that thought, I started writting it.
While I was writting it, I encounter other problems. I didn't want to use the machine just for MAME. I had a powerfull (for free) machine and it would be a waste.
Moreover, if I used a hacked USB keyboard, how on earth I would be able to remap the keys with my software
I had two options. Go back and throw away all my work (frontend was almost completed... at least at the point I wanted), or move forward.
I select the second option and came out with my own controller (which totally cost me... nothing)

And now, here I am...

PS. I have some screws and the paint job, and the machine will be completed!
And then the hard part (cross fingers). The tests... 

PS2 @Justin Z I couldn't find the homepage of Joymouse. Is there any?

[bkenobi]

I was setting up gameEx and I made one change at a time (after all, I was just learning it). With each change, I had to wait the nag screen to disappear. If you complete the settings, its not a big deal... but that was exactly the time I started thinking... do I really want this nag screen to appear?

Yup, that's the main time that the nag screen is annoying and, unfortunately, the same time people typically evaluate the software.  As a result, it takes a long time to see if it's what you want and can be a turn-off (I speak from experience as I left that FE a few times initially for that very reason).

Either way, glad you got something that works for you!

[arximidis]

Yup, that's the main time that the nag screen is annoying and, unfortunately, the same time people typically evaluate the software.  As a result, it takes a long time to see if it's what you want and can be a turn-off (I speak from experience as I left that FE a few times initially for that very reason).

Either way, glad you got something that works for you!

If I hadn't written the code, I would probably use GameEX as FrontEnd

[arximidis]

I have upload a small turorial on how setting the FrontEnd to load MAME Roms
I also tested it with the latest version of MAME. It works!
Here is the link http://users.ntua.gr/dpiperid/MyWebPage/Catalog/games/FE_tutor/mamefrontendEN.htm

If you want to test it yourselves, download the latest beta version of GameFrontEnd.
Link: http://users.ntua.gr/dpiperid/MyWebPage/Catalog/games/ArcadeEN.htm

[arximidis]

I have "officially" started the filling and the paint job
I am finally one step before the end...

[dextercf]

nice one!

[arximidis]

nice one!

Thanks ! 

[arximidis]

Hello again

Today I started the paint job. I finished the first hand!

[Turnarcades]

OK, well done and all that stuff everyone else has said about having a go at doing things yourself you could easily have bought yourself. The cabinet's not a design I would have gone with but it seems you did your research for the most part and wanted a familiar design you remember. However there's one thing no-one else has mentioned here I really have to:

Why are the joysticks and buttons the wrong way round?

[EightBySix]

There is something I've been thinking about regarding low level approaches to encoders like this, (and the one I want to make) Why bother encoding a keyboard at all? Keyboards are interfaces with people, they seem like an unnecesary step if the system is to be locked away in a cab. why not compile a tweaked version of mame that communicates with the host pc via, say, the com port instead of the extra step to simulate key presses.

[arximidis]

Hello, Turnarcades
I think you already answered your question

.....wanted a familiar design you remember...

Now, if you are asking why the original cabinet has the joysticks and buttons with the "wrong" orientation, I really don't know. The only think I know, is that the cabin you see in the pictures, was originally made in my country. I remember a lot of machines like that. For example look at this cabinet


The point is that I am used to play games with the joystick at the right, even if I am right handed

There is something I've been thinking about regarding low level approaches to encoders like this, (and the one I want to make) Why bother encoding a keyboard at all? Keyboards are interfaces with people, they seem like an unnecesary step if the system is to be locked away in a cab. why not compile a tweaked version of mame that communicates with the host pc via, say, the com port instead of the extra step to simulate key presses.

That's a very good idea indeed. I could have studied the code of MAME an recompile it. However, I didn't do it because I wanted to run other emulators too (and not just MAME)

[lodoss118]

how is that gun sensor going, would be cool to see if this could be an alternative to the current solutions from aimtrak and ems?

[Turnarcades]

I do remember seeing backwards controls in foreign arcades on holiday back in the day, but it just seems so strange. That said, in the UK we saw many random button layouts in machines that had been badly converted JAMMA shells and got used to it (the vertical '3x2' 6 button layout on some of our smaller Bar-Tops reflect this kind of variation) but at least that's just a spacial thing. I always believed that arcade layouts, joypads and everything that evolved since the early days had the right hand doing the button job, as the majority (right-handers) will have a quicker response time for rapid fire with their right hand?

Well, to each their own. Good job still.

[arximidis]

how is that gun sensor going, would be cool to see if this could be an alternative to the current solutions from aimtrak and ems?

I have (almost) completed the code but I haven't tested yet. I need to buy a toy gun and... hack it. Until now, I am not quite sure what will work better... the laser or the infrared LED's. Probably I will test with the laser first, because if I hack the camera (to see in infrared) there is a slight chance to break the filter (like I did the last time). If you break this filter, then you can not turn the camera back to normal
I already have a hacked camera (infrared), but I am using it for my homemade security system. It requires a lot of effort to remove it, just to use it for testing purposes
For now I want to complete the wiring of the controls and test the software (FrontEnd and Keyboard mapper). When I finish the testing, I will complete the gun sensor
I have it to my schedule with high priority, because I love games like Virtua Cop and I have never played them with such a controller

I do remember seeing backwards controls in foreign arcades on holiday back in the day, but it just seems so strange. That said, in the UK we saw many random button layouts in machines that had been badly converted JAMMA shells and got used to it (the vertical '3x2' 6 button layout on some of our smaller Bar-Tops reflect this kind of variation) but at least that's just a spacial thing. I always believed that arcade layouts, joypads and everything that evolved since the early days had the right hand doing the button job, as the majority (right-handers) will have a quicker response time for rapid fire with their right hand?

Well, to each their own. Good job still.

I also remember that for some games I was crossing my hands, but I forgotten why... to get the joystick to my right, or left hand? I am not quite sure... (probably to my right)
A lot of years have past since I played with such a machine (in my country all the arcade game machines are forbbitten. I can tell you the reason if you interested).

Where did tekan world cup cabinet had the joystick? The horizontal one...

Edit: Although I can play with the joystic to my left hand, I have a difficulty moving the player correctly. For example in double dragon... I can kick fast with my right hand, but in most cases I kick the air, because I am "missing" the opponent

[Turnarcades]

I also remember that for some games I was crossing my hands, but I forgotten why... to get the joystick to my right, or left hand? I am not quite sure... (probably to my right)
A lot of years have past since I played with such a machine (in my country all the arcade game machines are forbbitten. I can tell you the reason if you interested).

Where did tekan world cup cabinet had the joystick? The horizontal one...

Edit: Although I can play with the joystic to my left hand, I have a difficulty moving the player correctly. For example in double dragon... I can kick fast with my right hand, but in most cases I kick the air, because I am "missing" the opponent

Interesting, why are arcade cabinets banned in Greece? I remember playing on a couple back in 1993 at least. Something to do with gambling laws or is it more political?

With regards to not adapting to movement with your left hand, the problem you'll likely have is that you'll not have developed the 'arcade grip' most of us developed from playing games that almost invariably scrolled from left to right; on the correct orientation (stick in left hand) you evelop a 2 or 3 finger grip on the top with your other fingers below curled underneath the top in front of it, giving plenty of leverage for right-moving motion, but a bit extra when moving left and up too. Playing with a joystick in your right hand feels more normal on flight stick games or games that only use the joystick (PacMan etc.) as well as computer joysticks with top-mount or trigger buttons (like those on old Commodores and Spectrums) but although it seems counter-intuitive at first, after you play most other games for a long time the 'correct' way round you'll see that the stick in left hand starts to make more sense. Shmups come to mind, as your let hand would get tired very quickly firing with fingers on your left hand.

[dextercf]

I do remember seeing backwards controls in foreign arcades on holiday back in the day, but it just seems so strange. That said, in the UK we saw many random button layouts in machines that had been badly converted JAMMA shells and got used to it (the vertical '3x2' 6 button layout on some of our smaller Bar-Tops reflect this kind of variation) but at least that's just a spacial thing. I always believed that arcade layouts, joypads and everything that evolved since the early days had the right hand doing the button job, as the majority (right-handers) will have a quicker response time for rapid fire with their right hand?

Well, to each their own. Good job still.

you also drive on the wrong side of the road, am i right?

[Turnarcades]

I do remember seeing backwards controls in foreign arcades on holiday back in the day, but it just seems so strange. That said, in the UK we saw many random button layouts in machines that had been badly converted JAMMA shells and got used to it (the vertical '3x2' 6 button layout on some of our smaller Bar-Tops reflect this kind of variation) but at least that's just a spacial thing. I always believed that arcade layouts, joypads and everything that evolved since the early days had the right hand doing the button job, as the majority (right-handers) will have a quicker response time for rapid fire with their right hand?

Well, to each their own. Good job still.

you also drive on the wrong side of the road, am i right?

No, the rest of Europe and yanks do lol. Actually thought about this one too recently; in theory our way is better, as the important job of steering is always done with the right hand (which most people are), so when you do occasionally take a hand off to change gear it's with your left hand, leaving your stronger right in control. America has a higher percentage of automatics so this probably don't matter much, as they all drive with their left hand hanging out the window anyway and don't need to change gear with their right (curse your good weather!) The most powerful road cars come from Japan too, and they also drive on the left side of the road. Lucky us when it comes to importing Skylines, Imprezas and Evos! Then of course we got the best car show in the world (Top Gear), and as we all know Clarkson's opinion is the only one that matters and he should be ruler of the entire world.

(P.S. I'm taking the piss of course! )

[dextercf]

Then of course we got the best car show in the world (Top Gear), and as we all know Clarkson's opinion is the only one that matters and he should be ruler of the entire world.

(P.S. I'm taking the piss of course! )

I'm Norwegian. So tell me something about rally, please!
I would love to discuss why you in fact are wrong and your still are driving on the wrong side of the road (yes, you are). But let's not kidnap this guys thread.

Back on topic; I don't think I have tried playing with a mirrored setup like this. My mind tells me it might be impossible, if not able to cross my hands like said earlier. Still, it's all down to what your used too I guess.

Cool cabinett btw, makes me wanna reconsider my designs for a upcomming build.

[arximidis]

Interesting, why are arcade cabinets banned in Greece? I remember playing on a couple back in 1993 at least. Something to do with gambling laws or is it more political? ....

Yes... The reason was because they had found ways (and some times very extreme ones) to convert the arcade machines to gambling machines. It was so well designed that it was almost impossible to discover. So the goverment (after the pressure of economically destroyed people and families) forbade all the machines...

...
Back on topic; I don't think I have tried playing with a mirrored setup like this. My mind tells me it might be impossible, if not able to cross my hands like said earlier. Still, it's all down to what your used too I guess.

Cool cabinett btw, makes me wanna reconsider my designs for a upcomming build.

If you are playing alone you can use the left joystick (as you look the machine) with the buttons at the right.
This can easilly be done with my frontend - controller, with no extra hardware and software needed.
(I will demonstrate it in a video, when I finish the wiring and the component placement


As for who is driving in the wrong way... My opinion is we both drive the right way, if the position of the steering wheel is correct. If it is at the right then you must drive like in UK. If it is at the left, then than the rest of the world
One day, I watched a documentary that was trying to explain, why in some countries the drive to the other side of the road. And it goes way back... to the time before cars were even invented!

P.S. Thanks for the nice words

[dextercf]

As for who is driving in the wrong way... My opinion is we both drive the right way, if the position of the steering wheel is correct. If it is at the right then you must drive like in UK. If it is at the left, then than the rest of the world
One day, I watched a documentary that was trying to explain, why in some countries the drive to the other side of the road. And it goes way back... to the time before cars were even invented!

They used to drive on the left side in Sweden, but they bumped their intelligence somewhere along the timeline and have converted.

Also, in Hong Kong they drive on the left side but rest of China is driving on the right side;

Kinda strange transfer between, huh?

Back onto topic;
Are there schematics for this cab? I'm pretty sure this one could go past my girlfriends censorship to be placed inside our house (not in the garage with all my other machines)..

[arximidis]

...
Back onto topic;
Are there schematics for this cab? I'm pretty sure this one could go past my girlfriends censorship to be placed inside our house (not in the garage with all my other machines)..

I will upload them when I finish it. As you can see I am missing the back door and the little door in front of the coin backet. Also I don't have the front glass

However, If you want, I can tell you some dimentions. As far as I can tell, it will be easy for you to build or even improve it


PS. LOL... fantastic bridge !!!

[arximidis]

Today I completed the most connections and I was ready for the first "test drive"
I was afraid that I will encounter problems with the television, because the pcb had fallen down and broke. I glue it back together and fixed the broken connections

However, everything worked great. The tv started simultaneously when the computer started... the computer booted and then... it hanged...
Problem with the hard drive. I replaced it with a smaller one and everything went OK.

Originally, I was able to boot from the hard drive. I even installed the system... All the tests you see in the videos above, are made with that hard drive. I don't know what happend and now is not working...
The thing is that I don't have another one to replace it... This is a step backwards...

[arximidis]

[arximidis]

First was the hard drive and now the tv set
I am very unlucky 

It was working fine until now