Back after 7 years.. What's new??

[GGKoul]

I've been away for a long while.. but I recently pulled my old mame cab that's been sitting in storage for about 5 years out and I'm looking to get back in to the hobby... so what have I missed?  I see ultimarc is still selling basically the same stuff from 7+ years ago.. but is there anything "new" that I have to get??  And is there a steering wheel IO board available?

I will spend the next couple of days trying to chat up.. but its nice to be back! 

-GG

[Felsir]

Hey, same here. I've been away for 7 years as well and now planning to get back to building a cab. In that timeframe Pixelhugger has finished his Mission Control cabinet 

The biggest "new" thing as far as I can tell is that it's seems easier to illuminate the controls. The FAQ entry still points to some experiments done by Knievel.
I'm still trying to collect informations to create an illuminated control panel.

 

[CheffoJeffo]

Wow -- look at the old timers!

Welcome back!

GGK -- SB has moved and, since you left, I don't think there have been many changes for encoding analog controls (except for possibly more hacks of console controls).

 

[BadMouth]

I've been away for a long while.. but I recently pulled my old mame cab that's been sitting in storage for about 5 years out and I'm looking to get back in to the hobby... so what have I missed?  I see ultimarc is still selling basically the same stuff from 7+ years ago.. but is there anything "new" that I have to get??  And is there a steering wheel IO board available?

I will spend the next couple of days trying to chat up.. but its nice to be back! 

-GG

Check out the U-HID from Ultimarc.  It can be set up to work with any type of input (analog, optical, digital).  Outputs can even be set up.

As far as steering wheel I/O Board, the U-HID or A-Pac works if you aren't worried about force feedback.
If you want force feedback with a Sega Model 1 or 2 wheel and are good with building your own pcbs, this is the way to go:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=fr&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.gamoover.net/tuto/l2m2-interfacer-un-ffb-et-volant-sega-model-12-avec-un-pc-ou-une-playstation-23

If you have a Happ FFB setup, the best route is to get the immersion USB pcb used in PC based Global VR arcade machines (NASCAR, Need For Speed).  They are fairly new machines, so it's not easy to find a used one and Global VR now requires a core charge for a new one.

Most people with Happ wheels have hacked  Logitech wheels and used a servo amplifier for the FFB, but there is an issue where centering feedback must be turned way down to keep the wheel from bouncing itself back and forth trying to center itself.  Probably only 30% are happy with the results.  I think the kinks can be worked out of this, but haven't had time to mess with it in a long time.

Aganyte also made a PCB design for the Happ setup, but I don't know of anyone who has tried it, so I don't know if it suffers from the same issue.
http://www.gamoover.net/Forums/index.php?topic=20417.0

So, in short, there is no plug and play solution.  The immersion pcb comes close, but it still requires you to figure out what pins do what and doesn't have the logitech software which allows you to tweak things on a per exe basis.  It also does not have centering feedback present for games that don't have ffb.

More info in the link in my sig.

[brad808]

Most people with Happ wheels have hacked  Logitech wheels and used a servo amplifier for the FFB, but there is an issue where centering feedback must be turned way down to keep the wheel from bouncing itself back and forth trying to center itself.  Probably only 30% are happy with the results.  I think the kinks can be worked out of this, but haven't had time to mess with it in a long time.

I'd put myself in the 30% of happy users, I've been using mine for over a year now I believe and it still works great. The ladies love a driving cabinet  . Turning the centering feedback way down makes it sound sort of weak but instead I would probably say the centering needs to be adjusted to the proper level (which just happens to be much lower then the default after the hack). It's still very strong, just not so strong that it bounced back and forth trying to correct itself. This also has to be done on two other stock logitech wheels I use so it might even be avoidable using a different brand wheel to hack the pcb .

If you decided to make a driving cabinet without force feedback I'd probably still recommend using something like a hacked logitech pcb because the software they let you use is incredibly useful for configuring controls is different emulators. This is unless you want a 360 degrees wheel of course. Definitely check out badmouth's driving thread though there is a ton of awesome information in it.

If you've been gone for a few years then maybe check out a new frontend such as hyperspin. It looks awesome and is very configurable but tends to be more resource heavy then older frontends so might not work unless you plan on upgrading the computer in your mame cab. It's at least worth checking out some videos on YouTube though to see what it's all about.

[Le Chuck]

Lot in the way of auto rotation has been done, both with monitors and with restrictor plates.

[GGKoul]

Thanks for the responses.. from what I gathered it looks like nothing new that has been released that I don't already have.  But its funny, I had my MAME cabinet and old AMD 1ghz machine that was used in storage.  My control panel was made from MDF it got a bit wet on the edge so it swelled up, so that needs to be fixed.  My cab as a little surface mold and my rusty AMD PC from 12 years ago fired up and booted to XP with MAME32 front end..   

But what type of PC specs are people using now to run most MAME, Model2 and some other new emulators?  Is it PC CPU based or graphics card based for running the new emulators?  And I see alot of people are putting in LED/LCD screens.  I still have a old tube tv in my unit.  Since I want to make a thinner MAME cabinet, what size LCD screen are people using?

And BadMouth, your Driving unit looks awesome!!  I will certainly be reaching out to you once I finish getting my MAME machine running agian and finish my Virtua Racing Twin. 

Thanks again!!
-GGK

[BadMouth]

But what type of PC specs are people using now to run most MAME, Model2 and some other new emulators?  Is it PC CPU based or graphics card based for running the new emulators?  And I see alot of people are putting in LED/LCD screens.  I still have a old tube tv in my unit.  Since I want to make a thinner MAME cabinet, what size LCD screen are people using?

You'll get different answers on pc specs depending on which games the person is into.
People who only care about the classics and have no interest in 3D games or other emulators will tell you to get a low spec computer and run an old version of MAME. 

My formula is whatever the fastest computer I can build for $250 is (not counting OS).  Last couple were 3.4Ghz Athlon X3's, but I'd probably go with a newer socket if building today.  They are fast enough to run older 3D games like Tekken 3/Tag (on MAME version .137 at least, I'm having some issues with v.146 on my new cab).  My driving cab will play California Speed at 100% & SF Rush is playable with occasional slowdowns, but Ridge Racer is nowhere near playable.  Having a 64bit OS and using the 64 bit version of MAME give a noticeable boost.

If you are willing to drop the money on something that will play Gauntlet Legends, Ridge Racer, etc, the Intel 2500k seemed to be the choice lately.  Keep in mind that you are spending a couple hundred extra to make only a few more games playable.  When my current build is complete, I plan to start collecting parts for a killer PC to play a few more games. 

There are some new things out there as far as emulators go, but they are nowhere near as user friendly as MAME:
(search youtube for them to get an idea of what games they play and how well they work)

Taito Type X/X2 - These were arcade games that originally ran on embedded windows xp using off the shelf hardware.
                            The security and controls have been hacked to make them playable on any windows PC.  Since they
                            are running on your PC and not emulated, the specs required aren't that high.  These games are very
                            recent releases, so they are considered a bit more taboo than the older stuff in MAME.
                            You probably won't find them for download without using a torrent.
                            There is a front-end called ArcadePCLoader for them, but they will work on their own.

Demul - http://demul.emulation64.com/downloads/Runs NAOMI & Atomiswave games. 
             The most recent version (.57) runs like crap without DirectX11 (which isn't available on XP). 
             You can still use v.56, it will just be missing a few games like Metal Slug 6.
             The 3.4Ghz processor I mentioned above is just barely enough to run some of the games, especially the shmups.
             None of the NAOMI 2 games work all that well yet.

Makaron - http://dknute.livejournal.com/34884.html T12/5 Runs NAOMI games. 
                Can be a bit hard to find and even harder to figure out if you weren't following the developer's blog. 
                It runs the shmups and a few fighters better than Demul on my computers, so I use it instead for those games.
                Originally it used different rom files(.dat) than Demul or MAME.  He was in the process of converting
                it to use MAME roms, but they have to be rolled back to whatever version of MAME was released
                at the time that version of Makaron was released.  My collection is a mixed up assortment, but they all work.

Supermodel - http://www.supermodel3.com/ Sega Model 3 emulator.  Plays Daytona USA, Scud Race, Star Wars Trilogy, etc.
                 awesome emulator & awesome documentation on the website.  Uses MAME roms. 
                 If you poke around, you can find a WIP SVN build with many improvements.
                 I think another official release isn't too many months off.

Dolphin - http://dolphin-emulator.com/  Gamecube & Wii emulator.  Seems solid. 
               I've messed around with it a bit, but never bothered adding it to my setup.

PCSX2 - http://pcsx2.net/ Playstation 2.  I've never messed around with it.  I've read that the 2D games play great & the 3D ones don't.

And BadMouth, your Driving unit looks awesome!!  I will certainly be reaching out to you once I finish getting my MAME machine running agian and finish my Virtua Racing Twin. 

Thanks.  I'm itching to work on it again, but should finish my current projects first.

[mcseforsale]

Hahaha.  Depends on what you need.  I have an old Celeron 2.6 1GB running in this:



And, an even older P4 3.0 2GB running in this:



I have everything I need on them, including Daphne on the P4, and Killer Instinct I and II, Metal Slug and several others on both of them.

But, some projects around here are downright works of art.  griffindodd's been showing us all up lately.

AJ

Thanks for the responses.. from what I gathered it looks like nothing new that has been released that I don't already have.  But its funny, I had my MAME cabinet and old AMD 1ghz machine that was used in storage.  My control panel was made from MDF it got a bit wet on the edge so it swelled up, so that needs to be fixed.  My cab as a little surface mold and my rusty AMD PC from 12 years ago fired up and booted to XP with MAME32 front end..   

But what type of PC specs are people using now to run most MAME, Model2 and some other new emulators?  Is it PC CPU based or graphics card based for running the new emulators?  And I see alot of people are putting in LED/LCD screens.  I still have a old tube tv in my unit.  Since I want to make a thinner MAME cabinet, what size LCD screen are people using?

And BadMouth, your Driving unit looks awesome!!  I will certainly be reaching out to you once I finish getting my MAME machine running agian and finish my Virtua Racing Twin. 

Thanks again!!
-GGK