Disappointment with purchased machine... Need Help

[guitarman74]

Hey all, forum noob here... let me first say I am not a DIY'er as far as these arcades go, simply don't have the time with family and job right now... and I have great respect for you all who take such time and care to build your own machines.  I don't mind paying for a machine that WORKS and that can be supported properly. 

Let me also say this is not a post to defame the builder of my current machine, I just thought that this machine would have been more turnkey than it has been, as it cost over 3k.

So... About a year and half ago I purchased a machine.  The guys over there seemed nice and what sold me at the time was they had more than just the MAME stuff included (other consoles), and I had not seen anyone else doing that (at least that I could find).

Keep in mind I didn't have much knowledge about how the emulators worked or the frontend software, etc. at the time of purchase.

So I get the machine and it won't boot.  I open up the cab and see there is a flash drive stuck one of the usb ports... so it was trying to boot off of that.  Removed that and it boots up.  (Called them and they had said they must have forgotten to remove it before shipping, so I sent the flash drive back to them.) Then an add/remove hardware wizard shows up that I have to click off of to move forward.  I have not been able to remove that or figure out why it keeps wanting to add new hardware.

Next, the coin slots didn't work... opened that up and saw none of the wires were connected.  Once I figured out how to connect those, it was onto playing.

(BTW, this arcade came with no instructions on anything.  In fact the guys over there said they were working on a manual or something but I have yet to see that.)

Ok, so back to playing... most of the MAME stuff worked well, but many of the console games just didn't work control wise (one only shows the bottom half of the screen when trying to play games, and it stutters a lot)... I was instructed to go into the control menus of Maximus Arcade, but that looked like global settings only, and I did not want to wreck controls for other emulators. 

I did get one console to work well because I could pull up a menu in that emulator specifically, but then every few times I start a game it gives an error of loading a config file and I have to reconfigure the controls again.  That usually lasts a few games, then I have to do it again.

Next, one of the joysticks came loose... opened up the controller and one of the little clips that holds the joystick had popped off... replaced that and it has been ok since.

Now, just in the last few months the arcade monitor gets very dark and discolored in on the left side and a bit on the right side, but sporadically.   In addition, the PC sometimes doesn't boot right away and will cycle through several boots before XP loads.  Sometimes it takes more than 10 min, but I just shut it off and that point and try again.

Yet another issue is that is more bothersome than anything is that to access the PC inside the cab you have to go through the coin slot door... there is no larger latch on the cab, which makes it impossible to access the back of the pc unless you move the cab and unscrew a large piece off...or you have the arms of plasticman.

Now, I can live with the hard-to-access cabinet and the minor issues (the usb, the coin slot etc.), but playing this thing is a CHORE because of all the software and maybe? hardware problems.  Like I said, the MAME stuff works fine for the most part, it's the other stuff that has been trouble.

I have contacted the guys via email last week and haven't heard back yet.  I also called a couple times but was not able to reach them.

So that gets me to the real reason for this thread.  Rather than try and fix all of these issues, it appears these guys may not be the best option for someone who wants a turnkey arcade cabinet.  In other words, someone who doesn't want to mess with the software often, if at all.

I need help on suggestions for a new machine at this point... from who and why?  Yeah, it will hurt to drop another 2-3k after only a year and half, but I am prepared to do it if I can get a machine that just WORKS and is supported from a software standpoint.  Or maybe that's not realistic give the DIY nature of this hobby?

My key wants are:

1. Solid cab and hardware
2. working software/frontend/controls
3. mame stuff plus classic consoles
4. may want an LCD vs. CRT for future proofing reasons

So after researching I found Xarcade that looks like it's been around awhile, doesn't offer much customization but that is not a big issue for me.  The main issue there is it only has some MAME stuff, no console stuff. 

Then I found Dream Arcades, which looks again like it's been around and has been featured in a lot of media... looks like a friendly staff and they do offer great software/game support. On the other hand, again, just MAME stuff.

And recently saw Dream Home Arcades, which by far looks like the best custom work, but appears to be a 1 man shop and while he may support customers well, you're relying on 1 guy moving forward.   On the plus side, they offer a zillion games and I have heard nothing but good stuff about his support.

Are there any other solid options out there that you can share?  Any other suggestions?

I really appreciate you all taking the time to read this long-winded thread (my wife only makes it past the 2nd paragraph when I talk about these things to her ) and any advice you can give.

Cheers! 

[CoryBee]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

[chopperthedog]

Sounds like the support is just as shady as the illegal software they sold you. Learn what is on your drive now and do some google searches to overcome the issues you have on your own. MAME and setting things up is very well documented on the interwebs.


good day.

[CoryBee]

Learn what is on your drive now and do some google searches to overcome the issues you have on your own. MAME and setting things up is very well documented on the interwebs.

This ^^^^

[JDFan]

Where are you located ?  Best thing to do would be to try and find someone local that has the knowledge to set up the software side of things and\or explain how to get it working at your home. Figure it would probably cost much less to get someone local that is interested in the emulators to help out than it will be to purchase a new system that you still will not fully understand.

[guitarman74]

Where are you located ?  Best thing to do would be to try and find someone local that has the knowledge to set up the software side of things and\or explain how to get it working at your home. Figure it would probably cost much less to get someone local that is interested in the emulators to help out than it will be to purchase a new system that you still will not fully understand.

That makes sense... but no idea on how to find someone for this... I'm in the metro Detroit area.

[guitarman74]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

[BadMouth]

It is illegal for anyone to sell you something with games they haven't licensed.
(It's like selling you a jukebox with terrabytes of "free" songs that were downloaded off the internet)

You won't find recommendations here, except maybe to buy one with a more limited selection of licensed software.
http://www.globalvr.com/products_gac.html

The x-arcade comes with a stack of PC versions of classic games that you would have to install yourself.
It isn't wrapped up in a tidy front-end.

The best solution for you would be to learn enough to salvage your current cabinet or buddy up to someone local who knows enough to help you.

[CoryBee]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

I purely make them for local people sorry. If you were in California I might have been able to help. This forum and myself will definitely help you to get your cabinet working though.

[guitarman74]

It is illegal for anyone to sell you something with games they haven't licensed.
(It's like selling you a jukebox with terrabytes of "free" songs that were downloaded off the internet)

You won't find recommendations here, except maybe to buy one with a more limited selection of licensed software.
http://www.globalvr.com/products_gac.html

The x-arcade comes with a stack of PC versions of classic games that you would have to install yourself.
It isn't wrapped up in a tidy front-end.

The best solution for you would be to learn enough to salvage your current cabinet or buddy up to someone local who knows enough to help you.

I will take a look at that, thanks... Xarcade told me they use Maximus front-end... if it is illegal to do this, why are all of these guys advertising all of these games on their sites?  Is it simply because no one cares enough to do anything about old game licensing?

[jdbailey1206]

Wow that really sucks guitarman.  When I first started to get into the hobby I looked at them for a minute because my woodworking skills were not up to par.  I would personally send the unit back and tell them to refund your money.  If you are having this many problems I can't imagine they would do any better at fixing the problems.  For what you said you spent you could use your money for "other avenues."  But personally instead of fixing it or wasting your time doing so I would just send it back.  For a full refund.  Sometimes it's okay to be a dick.  If you have your heart set on keeping it send me a PM.  I live in the Detroit area too.  If I can swing it I can probably look at it.  I'm not promising anything but if they wont take it back that is at least another avenue you can take. 

[JDFan]

Wow that really sucks guitarman.  When I first started to get into the hobby I looked at them for a minute because my woodworking skills were not up to par.  I would personally send the unit back and tell them to refund your money.  If you are having this many problems I can't imagine they would do any better at fixing the problems.  For what you said you spent you could use your money for "other avenues."  But personally instead of fixing it or wasting your time doing so I would just send it back.  For a full refund.  Sometimes it's okay to be a dick.  If you have your heart set on keeping it send me a PM.  I live in the Detroit area too.  If I can swing it I can probably look at it.  I'm not promising anything but if they wont take it back that is at least another avenue you can take.

Thing is it has now been 1 1\2 years since he bought it so doubtful they'll let it be returned -- at this point the best option is probably to get someone local to attempt to help him get it going properly ( I'd agree that the original best fix would have been to send it back for a refund but after 18 months it is a bit late to try that.)

[guitarman74]

Wow that really sucks guitarman.  When I first started to get into the hobby I looked at them for a minute because my woodworking skills were not up to par.  I would personally send the unit back and tell them to refund your money.  If you are having this many problems I can't imagine they would do any better at fixing the problems.  For what you said you spent you could use your money for "other avenues."  But personally instead of fixing it or wasting your time doing so I would just send it back.  For a full refund.  Sometimes it's okay to be a dick.  If you have your heart set on keeping it send me a PM.  I live in the Detroit area too.  If I can swing it I can probably look at it.  I'm not promising anything but if they wont take it back that is at least another avenue you can take.

Yes as JDFan said, it's over their warranty period I think now, maybe that's why they are not responding.  If I try to fix it, I would rather just start with a new pc altogether because this thing was a refurb to begin with (it has a community college sticker on it!)

[jdbailey1206]

.....(it has a community college sticker on it!)

Really?   

[guitarman74]

.....(it has a community college sticker on it!)

Really?   

I ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- you not... when I first saw that I was like "WTF?"  3 grand and you get a community college computer?

[BadMouth]

I will take a look at that, thanks... Xarcade told me they use Maximus front-end... if it is illegal to do this, why are all of these guys advertising all of these games on their sites?  Is it simply because no one cares enough to do anything about old game licensing?

They're always careful with the wording.  It's  "capable of playing thousands of games" or " allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games "
By the same token, my CD player is capable of playing millions of songs.  Big deal.

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

You probably won't get any roms out of xgaming. 
With the other guy's it's probably a wink, wink, nod nod, I've preinstalled roms on there as a personal favor and they have nothing to do with the purchase price. 

I haven't heard of anyone getting busted.
My personal opinion is that the copyright owners wouldn't recover enough to justify the legal expense, so they don't bother.

I'm not trying to be self righteous, just telling you like it is in case you didn't know.

[JDFan]

I will take a look at that, thanks... Xarcade told me they use Maximus front-end... if it is illegal to do this, why are all of these guys advertising all of these games on their sites?  Is it simply because no one cares enough to do anything about old game licensing?

They're always careful with the wording.  It's  "capable of playing thousands of games" or " allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games "
By the same token, my CD player is capable of playing millions of songs.  Big deal.

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

You probably won't get any roms out of xgaming. 
With the other guy's it's probably a wink, wink, nod nod, I've preinstalled roms on there as a personal favor and they have nothing to do with the purchase price. 

I haven't heard of anyone getting busted.
My personal opinion is that the copyright owners wouldn't recover enough to justify the legal expense, so they don't bother.

I'm not trying to be self righteous, just telling you like it is in case you didn't know.

This is correct even NorthCoast Customs does the same if you read their advert it says :

Our gaming systems include over 120 licensed authentic classic arcade games and plays over 7,000 PC based and emulated games.

 AND :

Preconfigured for MAME, an emulator (computer program) designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. This allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games all from a standard PC...or in this case, your Ultimate Arcade II gaming system.

So they include several PC based compilations that have about 120 games and also mention that it can play the MAME games but do not include any of the roms for them only include it preconfigured to run them if you do add the ROMS.

[guitarman74]

I will take a look at that, thanks... Xarcade told me they use Maximus front-end... if it is illegal to do this, why are all of these guys advertising all of these games on their sites?  Is it simply because no one cares enough to do anything about old game licensing?

They're always careful with the wording.  It's  "capable of playing thousands of games" or " allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games "
By the same token, my CD player is capable of playing millions of songs.  Big deal.

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

You probably won't get any roms out of xgaming. 
With the other guy's it's probably a wink, wink, nod nod, I've preinstalled roms on there as a personal favor and they have nothing to do with the purchase price. 

I haven't heard of anyone getting busted.
My personal opinion is that the copyright owners wouldn't recover enough to justify the legal expense, so they don't bother.

I'm not trying to be self righteous, just telling you like it is in case you didn't know.

Ok thanks for that, yes that makes sense. 

[guitarman74]

I will take a look at that, thanks... Xarcade told me they use Maximus front-end... if it is illegal to do this, why are all of these guys advertising all of these games on their sites?  Is it simply because no one cares enough to do anything about old game licensing?

They're always careful with the wording.  It's  "capable of playing thousands of games" or " allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games "
By the same token, my CD player is capable of playing millions of songs.  Big deal.

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

You probably won't get any roms out of xgaming. 
With the other guy's it's probably a wink, wink, nod nod, I've preinstalled roms on there as a personal favor and they have nothing to do with the purchase price. 

I haven't heard of anyone getting busted.
My personal opinion is that the copyright owners wouldn't recover enough to justify the legal expense, so they don't bother.

I'm not trying to be self righteous, just telling you like it is in case you didn't know.

Our gaming systems include over 120 licensed authentic classic arcade games and plays over 7,000 PC based and emulated games.

 AND :

Preconfigured for MAME, an emulator (computer program) designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software, with the intent of preserving gaming history and preventing vintage games from being lost or forgotten. This allows you to run THOUSANDS of original arcade games all from a standard PC...or in this case, your Ultimate Arcade II gaming system.

So they include several PC based compilations that have about 120 games and also mention that it can play the MAME games but do not include any of the roms for them only include it preconfigured to run them if you do add the ROMS.

yeah I see that now... though the machine they sent me had 3000+ roms already in there...yet most of them don't work with the controller!

[Haze]

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

They're up to that trick again? Sounds just as shady as the guys the original poster bought from.  I'd avoid them too.

Here's a hint, any company selling stuff with the emulators / roms included is a scummy outfit and regardless of what they charge you're going to get something awful.

In this case they've overcharged you for an underspecced recycled computer and a bunch of software (including MAME and frontends) that have strict NO COMMERCIAL licenses and shouldn't be sold under any circumstance. (not to even start talking about all the ROMs)  I'd be surprised if the OS was even licensed (even if it has a license sticker from the original college PC those aren't transferable)

They don't care about quality, they don't care about doing things by the book, all they care about making a wad of cash off you and taking whatever shortcuts they can in order to do it.  The OP got scammed, many others get scammed.

I know it's a case of 'didn't know any better' but unfortunately this is exactly the type of person companies like the one mentioned prey on.

My advice, see if you can just sue them for misleading you into buying an illegal product.  If they were advertising it as if it was a completely above board quality solution where you could purchase thousands of arcade + console games legally then that's flat out false advertising.  Beyond that it doesn't even sound like it was fit for purpose when they sold it you.  These guys are basically committing daylight robbery, charging 3 grand for something worth maybe 5% of that at most (assuming the actual cabinet isn't a pile of recycled junk too)

[guitarman74]

X-arcade says "Pre-Configured Arcade Software (MAME Rom-Ready)" which means they've set things up so that all you have to do is drop the roms in the MAME folder.  You'll have to find the roms on the internet yourself.  It does include 200+ classic games, but they are PC versions and are probably in a separate PC game list.

They're up to that trick again? Sounds just as shady as the guys the original poster bought from.  I'd avoid them too.

Here's a hint, any company selling stuff with the emulators / roms included is a scummy outfit and regardless of what they charge you're going to get something awful.

In this case they've overcharged you for an underspecced recycled computer and a bunch of software (including MAME and frontends) that have strict NO COMMERCIAL licenses and shouldn't be sold under any circumstance. (not to even start talking about all the ROMs)  I'd be surprised if the OS was even licensed (even if it has a license sticker from the original college PC those aren't transferable)

They don't care about quality, they don't care about doing things by the book, all they care about making a wad of cash off you and taking whatever shortcuts they can in order to do it.  The OP got scammed, many others get scammed.

I know it's a case of 'didn't know any better' but unfortunately this is exactly the type of person companies like the one mentioned prey on.

My advice, see if you can just sue them for misleading you into buying an illegal product.  If they were advertising it as if it was a completely above board quality solution where you could purchase thousands of arcade + console games legally then that's flat out false advertising.  Beyond that it doesn't even sound like it was fit for purpose when they sold it you.

I agree, but having been down a legal entanglement on a home remodel project, I can tell you it ain't worth it for a few thousand bucks... the legal fees and stress and time etc.... it is mind boggling what you must go through to get something done in the legal system.

Also, just got off tech support with x-arcade... they said the listed 200+ games are included on a pc, and said it runs off MAME using Maximus... also includes a ps2 with the game discs of those same games, but you don't need to use them.  Maybe that is their way around including those games via MAME... they bought the ps2 versions and are selling those to you?  I guess you can also add actual consoles with adapter connectors they sell, but not sure why I would want to play a modern day console on a 30" CRT.  Anyway, they also said they offer support in adding stuff to mame... sounds like a solid company with real support in place, so it has me interested. 

They even said I couldn't go wrong with either their machine or one from dream arcades... mentioning a competitor, which was refreshing to hear.

I do appreciate the offer for help by jdbailey...

[Vigo]

Sorry to hear about your grief. You might be able to sell the cab minus the computer and at least reclaim some money back.

[yotsuya]

Good luck to you, man.

[404]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

I told him some time ago to get his own page together or at least a facebook page in order for people to at least check out some of his past work. But noooooooo he said  

[CoryBee]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

I told him some time ago to get his own page together or at least a facebook page in order for people to at least check out some of his past work. But noooooooo he said  

Haha, I just didn't want to deal with shipping anything.....Although I still should have a page dedicated to showcasing my builds.

Also, I don't like the prospect of having a facebook......gives me shivers......

[Vigo]

I would love to see a CoryBee showcase.   

[CoryBee]

I would love to see a CoryBee showcase.   

I suppose I should put a simple website together to showcase some of them....

[Maximus]

This sucks, I'm sorry you got hosed, especially for $3k, that's a lot of money to get reamed for.

As others have said here, take the time to sit down and patiently learn about the software in your system. It sounds like you have everything you need to have a perfectly good working, fun machine but it has been configured badly and needs some clean up.

As for turn-key legit machines that play 1000's of games, they just don't exist, but by now I guess you have already figured that out.

[404]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

I told him some time ago to get his own page together or at least a facebook page in order for people to at least check out some of his past work. But noooooooo he said  

Haha, I just didn't want to deal with shipping anything.....Although I still should have a page dedicated to showcasing my builds.

Also, I don't like the prospect of having a facebook......gives me shivers......

Hard to blame you. I don't use facebook either.

I think i mentioned this before. I developed a small site for a local tattoo guy a few months back. just had an index, a contact page and a gallery. I linked his gallery using instagram and their API. All he has to do now is upload his photos to instagram and his site gallery is automatically updated. Flickr also has a gallery api you can use. was pretty cool.

If you ever end up wanting a small site with a gallery, I'm pretty sure i still have that old code around here. i can send it to you.


guitarman74 : Sorry about your bad luck. As some others have stated here, that machine is more than salvageable. I'm no arcade expert by any stretch of the imagination but If i were you, i would first start with identifying your monitor, pc specs and the type of controller encoder on your machine. You may need them later on for future reference as you essentially already have a completed cabinet.

[CoryBee]

I would really appreciate it if you sent the code via PM. I do website design as well and could easily make something to house my projects.....but I wont turn down already finished works.

 

[DeLuSioNal29]

In this case they've overcharged you for an underspecced recycled computer and a bunch of software (including MAME and frontends) that have strict NO COMMERCIAL licenses and shouldn't be sold under any circumstance.

Not entirely true.  The guys at X-Arcade made a deal with Maximus Arcade to legally include it.  http://www.maximus-arcade.com/pages/free-maximus-arcade-license-with-x-arcade-joystick

That said, however, I agree with you about the MAME software.

DeLuSioNaL29

[guitarman74]

In this case they've overcharged you for an underspecced recycled computer and a bunch of software (including MAME and frontends) that have strict NO COMMERCIAL licenses and shouldn't be sold under any circumstance.

Not entirely true.  The guys at X-Arcade made a deal with Maximus Arcade to legally include it.  http://www.maximus-arcade.com/pages/free-maximus-arcade-license-with-x-arcade-joystick

That said, however, I agree with you about the MAME software.

DeLuSioNaL29

I think he was referring to the guys I bought the machine from... not X-Arcade...

[guitarman74]

Dream Arcades is my local competitor. I think I have been taking a lot of their customers lately......

do you have a website I can take a look at what you offer?

I told him some time ago to get his own page together or at least a facebook page in order for people to at least check out some of his past work. But noooooooo he said  

Haha, I just didn't want to deal with shipping anything.....Although I still should have a page dedicated to showcasing my builds.

Also, I don't like the prospect of having a facebook......gives me shivers......

Hard to blame you. I don't use facebook either.

I think i mentioned this before. I developed a small site for a local tattoo guy a few months back. just had an index, a contact page and a gallery. I linked his gallery using instagram and their API. All he has to do now is upload his photos to instagram and his site gallery is automatically updated. Flickr also has a gallery api you can use. was pretty cool.

If you ever end up wanting a small site with a gallery, I'm pretty sure i still have that old code around here. i can send it to you.


guitarman74 : Sorry about your bad luck. As some others have stated here, that machine is more than salvageable. I'm no arcade expert by any stretch of the imagination but If i were you, i would first start with identifying your monitor, pc specs and the type of controller encoder on your machine. You may need them later on for future reference as you essentially already have a completed cabinet.

OK, I will investigate and post specs back here

[Haze]

In this case they've overcharged you for an underspecced recycled computer and a bunch of software (including MAME and frontends) that have strict NO COMMERCIAL licenses and shouldn't be sold under any circumstance.

Not entirely true.  The guys at X-Arcade made a deal with Maximus Arcade to legally include it.  http://www.maximus-arcade.com/pages/free-maximus-arcade-license-with-x-arcade-joystick

That said, however, I agree with you about the MAME software.

DeLuSioNaL29

I think he was referring to the guys I bought the machine from, Northcoast Customs... not X-Arcade...

Yeah, the quoted text was about Northcoast, although I do find the X-arcade business rather shady, I believe there might have been a deal with x-arcade at one point for use of MAME*, but that would have been strictly limited in scope, for licensed ROMs only, not we'll throw in a bunch of PS2 discs then you can pretend you have the rights to the arcade roms too which it sounds like they are doing these days from your phone conversation.

I have raised questions over some of their advertising techniques in the past but that was over at MW, where they're one of the main sponsors, and unsurprisingly all such questions got deleted.  I suspect me asking was one of the contributing reasons towards me being banned there.

*before my time, will need to check, might have only been Hanaho / Hotrod due to their work with Capcom.  Back then Mamedev required exceptional levels of proof that you were only going to use it with licensed material before granting a special license, these days we simply don't allow any commercial use because it's not worth the hassle, too many people claiming to have licensed the impossible or trying to do exactly what X-arcade are doing here (including classic compilations then making people think they have permission to run the equivalent MAME roms)

[BobA]

Sorry to hear of your problems but you can get it all working if you setup each console emulator alone by starting it without the front end (Maximus Arcade) and setting the keys for each emulator separately.  You cannot configure everything properly with just changing things in MA.   If you do not know how to do this then someone local to you who has setup console emulators on a MAME cab could probably do it quite easily.

[guitarman74]

Hey guys, some good news... turns out the guys I was talking to are no longer there and was finally able to reach who I believe is the new owner... he is going to send out a new drive with their latest setup, so maybe that will solve the software problems.

Thanks again for your help

[DeLuSioNal29]

Another alternative is to have someone here tap into the arcade machine remotely (assuming it's connected to the internet).  There's a great free program called at www.Teamviewer.com that will get this done.  It's really easy to use and works great.

DeLuSioNaL29

[GIZMOGAMES]

great news on the drive situation but to me it sounds like one of those shady deals ya get off ebay buy my 2 tb drive now deals but hey if it works kudos to you
i just cant get over the 3k pricetag and the college computer ticker gazoinks :S
Good luck on the solution m8 and if anything else feel free to ask anything these forums are wonderful in information lots of class builders and technicians here at least you had the know how TO post now hopefully a solution is closer than u think oh and my 2 cents x-arcade hmmm not the best  cookie in the barrel m8 im still sittin here with a 2p controller with every console adapter available for them all and have never found a good enough reason to actually use it :S go figure

[BadMouth]

Hey guys, some good news... turns out the guys I was talking to are no longer there and was finally able to reach who I believe is the new owner...

We've seen that trick before. 

[monkeychunkuk]

Wow sounds like you got a bad experience dud you mention what you paid?