| Main > Main Forum |
| Custom MAME build, help me out! :D |
| (1/9) > >> |
| swirlee:
Hey guys, I'm getting ready to embark on a pretty big project for my modding/custom build skill level. I've been wanting to build a custom MAME cabinet for years and I've finally committed to the project by buying an empty cab to put it in. In my head, I have a lot of ideas I want this project to have and I'd like to inlist you good people to help me decide on my best options and to help solve technical obstacles I'm sure to encounter. To start, here are a few picture of the cab: I restored a Neo Geo cab a few years back, it's what initially got me into this whole MAME mess. As you can see, it's a pretty nice cab to start with and the control panel gives me a lot of room. So here is what I want to accomplish: 1.) Keep the whole thing under $1,000. Ideally I'd like to spend no more than $600, but I think thats unlikely. 2.) I want to play the widest variety of games possible. Everything from classic arcade, console, light gun, bowling/golf and on up to modern 3D fighters like Street Fighter IV etc. 3.) I want to put in the biggest and most versatile monitor I can. I'd really like to buy an arcade CRT to get that nice arcade feel, but I don't know how these will look running slightly more modern games. Maybe still badass? Maybe LCD is the way to go? I don't know, help me decide. the screenshots have a tape measure for reference to what size monitor I might be able to fit. 4.) Obviously I need a decently powerful PC. I know it doesn't take much to run emulated MAME games, but being that I want to run some newer 3D games like SF IV and maybe the Deer Hunter style games, I'll need something a bit beefier. Can anybody recommend an off the shelf PC capable of running these games? Something around $400? I know building my own setup is an option, but I'm feeling a bit lazy in this regard. There are tons of $200-$300 PCs for sale these days, but I dont think these can run SF without a video card and usually these cheapos don't have PCI slots to upgrade. What do you guys recommend? 5.)Controls! Of course with this setup I need the best button/joystick/trackball arrangements. I want to have plenty of buttons, so I can play all these games. Also which style/brand do you recommend? Then there is all the other components I'll eventually need. Wiring, IPAC, speakers, etc... We'll get to that stuff when the time comes. So there you go, Help me bring this sucker to life. I plan on taking lots of WIP shots to document the build and if any of you are in the LA area, maybe you can help me out or come play once it's done! Thanks! |
| swirlee:
Really? Nobody? [BUMP!] |
| slappyhooper:
He there! Welcome to the forum!. I'm pretty much the resident expert here on all things Mame, although I'm far too modest to post my best work here like some of these fellas. I'll try to answer your questions as truthfully as I can, in the order they were posted. 5. Controls. If you want to play the broadest range of games, I'd recommend at least 10 buttons per player, plus start and coin up buttons. Now I've seen a lot of people doing silly things like arranging their paltry little six button configurations in neat little grids, but I say, that's not the way the mind works. You want to experiment. Drill a few holes in your Control Panel! You can always patch up the mistakes! The important thing is getting the buttons where they're comfortable for you. Personally, I'm partial to Putting eight buttons in a hexagram shape, and having the remaining buttons installed at toe level to use as the L/R buttons should the need arise. This doesn't work for everybody, but I'm pretty dexterious and wear sandals all year round. The bottom line is you have to do what's comfortable for you! Guns, I'll be honest with, I don't have much experience with. One of these other guys could probably answer your questions a little better regarding light guns. Trackballs are important. Notice I said TRACKBALLS. I've seen too many cabs on this forum with one little ball in the middle of the panel, which to me is an eyesore. Might as well call the machine the "Armstrong Arcade" and throw some Livestrong bracelets around your joysticks at that point. The thing to remember about trackballs is, more trackballs= better. Your eyeballs aren't located in the center of your head are they? Hell no! Best advice is to put the trackballs in the middle of your P1 and P2 hexigonal button layout. This completes the mystical circles, and that's when the Control panel magic really starts happening. 4. Computer power. There's two thought processess in this forum regarding computers. One side runs them on ridiculously underpowered PCs. Like a 386SX underclocked to 10 Mhz. Now, that might be ok for some of the classics, but I lean towards the higher end school of thought. For myself, I'd never put anything less than a Pentium 166 MX in my gaming rig. Now I know a lot of the people on this board are going to complain about computers like that being out of reach of most people, but I worked for 3 years cutting grass and shoveling snow to afford my rig, and I couldn't be happier. Check into the Packard Bell brand for the best off-the-shelf computers. They're not the prettiest, but they have nice innards. You shouldn't have any problem running 99.99 % of MAME games with this, and if you throw a 16 MB Voodoo 2 video card in the beast, you'll be able to handle games like SFIV with 4x AA and all the visuals maxed. 3. The monitor, to be honest with you comes down to what you prefer. If you want honest-to-God arcade realism, then CRT is the way to go. The downside is that it's hard to watch adult videos on a CRT if you install a video jukebox along with your front end. It really comes down to what you want to sacrifice-arcade realism, or your hi-def "collection". 2. It's pretty obvious you want to play the most amount of games. That's why if you install the twin Hexigon setups with the trackballs in the middle you're already almost there. I'm sure that somebody else can help you out with setting up the light guns. one thing to keep in mind when listening to some of these posers is that no matter what they tell you, you WON'T need a lightbar above your screen. That's just pure hokum to sell a worthless part. The dealers always try to upsell you on stuff like that. If you're perceptive, you'll avoid obvious rip-offs in your day to day life and only get the essentials. Like when I bought my car a few years back, I told the dealer I didn't need the airbag since I'm a very careful driver, but I needed the invisible rust inhibitor they spray on the underside of the cars to keep them from rusting. Best 920 dollars I ever spent. 1. Man. I don't know if you're going to be able to keep the entire thing in your budget and still get all the features you want. The problem with builds where you want it all is that you wind up getting nickle and dimed to death on the small things. You might be able to get by with with a little less if you're dead set on staying inside your budget. Matter of fact, I think I can hook it up. for 1000, I'll send you. 1. Packard Bell Pentium 133. (No MMX, sorry, but still plenty fast) I'll throw in the Voodoo 2 card for 200.00 extra. 2. (2) joysticks and eight buttons 3. 13" SVGA CRT monitor. (You'll be able to play all your favorites in their arcade glory on this bad boy) 4. (2) AT style keyboards for you to tear apart and hack into controllers 5. Some black construction paper to make a bezel out of. It's got some crayon drawings on the back, but no worries, you can hide that by flipping that to the other side! So what do you say? Do we have a deal? PM me and we'll work out the details. Oh, if anybody's interested, I have a slightly crash damaged Toyota Corolla with a flawless interior and no rust damage! Make an offer! |
| slappyhooper:
1. If you really want all the features you listed, you'll probably find yourself going over budget, and here's why. Joysticks/Trackball and buttons -160 ISH Decent MAME computer - 350 ISH Keyboard encoder - 30 ISH Monitor - 50 ISH Gas money -300 ISH (You'll need this for driving to and from your local hardware store for "One more thing" Misc small parts 150 ISH what else...... The problem, is that when you set out to build a machine that does it all, you wind up with a really elastic budget. No lie. 2. Bang for the buck for a computer which plays the most games the bestest, seems to be in the Intel I3-I5 @ or above 3.5 GHZ range depending on who you ask. If you're buying off-the-shelf computers, budget at least 300+ for decent one which should play most games pretty well. SFIV isn't the most demanding game out there, but I'd still recommend discrete graphics to play it. If you lower the resolution, and settings you can probably squeeze close to 60 FPS out on the integrated Intel 4000 graphics which comes with the newer processors, but I'd still spend a few extra bucks on a decent video card. Say like 50 bucks or so. 3. Monitors aren't my strong point. Arcade Monitors cost a lot of coin. but you can achieve pretty good results with some TVs using Svideo inputs. The advantage to that is that they're really cheap or free anywhere on Craigslist. Lastly, there's LCD. It's what I used, and I love it, since it's easy to get 19" LCD monitors in 4:3 format very cheaply. (like 20-25 bucks seems to be the price range these days) The downside is you won't get the same effect as you did with CRT monitors. When you can't see the scanlines, games look pretty pixely-they used to run at really low resolutions, so they're gonna look like that. You can do things like add scanlines in software and use AA to smooth out the games, but it's still not really, truly "authentic". Depends on what bothers you for this thing though. personally, the benefits of how small and light LCDs are is worth the tradeoff in image quality when playing the classics. 4. You hit the nail on the head with regards to your assessment of current PCs, although to be honest with you, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find any PCs out there in most big-box retailers (except for those all-in-one deals) that doesn't have a PCI-E slot onboard these days. Check them out. Go to your local Best buy and find a few el-cheapo computers and pop the covers off. If you do go off-the-shelf prebuilt computer for your mame box, make sure that the power supply is decent enough to handle a discrete video card if you buy it. If you want to play games like NFL Blitz then you'll need something around an I3 or I5 @3.5 GHZ. You can get by with a bit less for game like Tekken Tag and such, but not by much. If you're committing to purchasing a decent computer for the build, I'd just bite the bullet and build a computer with an I5 in it. You'll be happier in the long run, and you'll have the option of overclocking the processor to run more demanding games if that floats your boat. 5. Joysticks are gonna be entirely up to what you like. You can get "decent" enough 8 way joysticks for about 9-12 bucks, which most people would find adequite. I prefer JFS style sticks, and those tend to run you about 30 bucks each. Talk to some of the guys here, but honestly, this is one time when it just comes down to user preference. You will probably want to invest 20 bucks in a dedicated 4 way joystick. This will let you play the old classics with an authentic feel. Past that, go with what you want. lastly, seriously, does anybody want to buy a slightly used Pentium 133 with arcade controls and 13" monitor for 1000? This isn't going to last forever! PM ME! |
| CheffoJeffo:
:applaud: Best response I have seen in a while to "I want a machine that runs everything great, a display that looks good for everything, lots of buttons and I want it all for under $1000." To the OP: Seriously, make some priorities in what you want to play and go from there. The biggest issue with your budget is going to be what games you want to play. If you something that is going to push a ton of bits and pixels with more demanding games, then your computer specs and monitor requirements are pretty well set, aren't they ? |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Next page |