Finally pulled the trigger on a mame cabinet

[realmswalker]

Hello everyone,

I have been playing mame games for a long time, ever since i found a mame emulator i have been in love with the fact that I can play all my arcade favs without trekking to an arcade and then not even seeing my old favs like Strider, Double Dragon II etc.  So I finally pulled the trigger on a cabinet.  I truggled between a two player and four player but opted with a four player as there are many four player games I love such as the D&D, simpsons, tmnt, crime fighters, and a few others.  I also opted for two lightguns to come with the cab as i absolutely love shooters like terminator 2, dragon gun, etc.  I decided to go with the Arcades R Fun as they had a few more options available that I liked, and a bigger screen than their competitors.  So the end result is a 42" 4 player cab with light guns, spinner and trackball, a 4 way joy, and dual joys on player one and two for games like smash tv and the like, led buttons, and some custom artwork. It wasn't cheap, but I wanted a cab that could do it all. don't care about driving games all that much so I opted to not have a steering wheel.

Dealing with Jack has been a pleasure, he has answered all my questions and been communicative whenever i wanted to discuss something.  Here is a link to an example of what I am getting.  It should get to me on the 9th or 10th and I cant wait.  Here is an example of what it will look like with different artwork. Can't wait to get it and get it going.

[chopperthedog]

Your use of a credit card is truly amazing, can't wait to learn your techniques from the build thread.


good day.

[ChanceKJ]

Your use of a credit card is truly amazing, can't wait to learn your techniques from the build thread.


good day.

This comment made my week. 


Looks cool, glad your getting what you think will make you happy. Enjoy. 

[BadMouth]

You might want to wait until you actually get it before singing its praises.
At least the P3 &  4 joysticks are oriented correctly, which is better than most "commercial" builders.

Personally, I can't play so close to a screen that big, but to each their own.

[Kier]

Damn, that thing is huge. I actually like the side art and colors though. But worry about the screen being too big too close.

[keilmillerjr]

Love the artwork. First thing I would do is slim down that control panel. It looks like a pachinko playing field.

[SpatzST]

dont listen to the haters, i love it

[yotsuya]

You might want to wait until you actually get it before singing its praises.
At least the P3 &  4 joysticks are oriented correctly, which is better than most "commercial" builders.

Personally, I can't play so close to a screen that big, but to each their own.

Actually, if you look at the directional arrows, they're not. 

[BadMouth]

You might want to wait until you actually get it before singing its praises.
At least the P3 &  4 joysticks are oriented correctly, which is better than most "commercial" builders.

Personally, I can't play so close to a screen that big, but to each their own.

Actually, if you look at the directional arrows, they're not. 

oh.  I thought those were bolt heads, but I guess I don't see any bolt heads on the other joysticks. 

[Malenko]

I gotta ask.... how many thousands did it cost?

Also, you might wanna request that none of the joysticks are angled.

[SlammedNiss]

Your use of a credit card is truly amazing, can't wait to learn your techniques from the build thread.


good day.

I about peed my pants!

[eds1275]

You guys are ruthless.

[lordnacho]

What frontend?   


....Oh

[thatpurplestuff]

You guys are ruthless.

Yeah, I'm torn on this one... a bit ruthless but at the same time the site is called Build Your Own Arcade Controls so I can see how some feathers could get ruffled with a post like this.  It's sorta like going to a forum that's dedicated to working on cars and showing people what your mechanic did.

That being said as long as he is happy with the end result, more power to him!

[realmswalker]

I see what youre saying about the controls being a problem with the way they are oriented, and how player 3 and 4 how it might be weird with the movement for those players. 

I was thinking a workaround of that would be to set the controls in mame itself so that right/down is actually forward and so forth. would that be something thats feasible?

[yotsuya]

I'd email them to see if they've built the CP, and if they haven't, I'd make the request.

You could probably do that in MAME, but then the artwork wouldn't match up. That could be fixed with a sticker, though. I'd try and see if you can get it rectified before they ship. Good luck!

[yotsuya]

You guys are ruthless.

Yeah, I'm torn on this one... a bit ruthless but at the same time the site is called Build Your Own Arcade Controls so I can see how some feathers could get ruffled with a post like this.  It's sorta like going to a forum that's dedicated to working on cars and showing people what your mechanic did.

That being said as long as he is happy with the end result, more power to him!

I've always likened it to going to a woodworking hobbyist site and showing off photos of what you bought at Ikea. Yeah, your Gnörf is a bookshelf, but it's not like the bookshelves the guys there are going to be discussing/impressed by.

But I will agree with the sentiment in the final sentence. The whole Kaneda Affair kinda brought that to home. If it's what you want and you have fun with it, have at it. I will give the OP props for not flying off the handle with the comments, and I commend him for seeing the potential issue with P3 + P4. Let us know if you're happy with it when it shows up! 

[pbj]

Meh, haters gonna hate.  There's room under the umbrella for this.

Yeah, I'm torn on this one... a bit ruthless but at the same time the site is called Build Your Own Arcade Controls so I can see how some feathers could get ruffled with a post like this.  It's sorta like going to a forum that's dedicated to working on cars and showing people what your mechanic did.

In case you hadn't noticed, our number one thread in the Buy/Sell/Trade section is hustling a bunch of ready to assemble kits less complicated than a Duplo set.

[realmswalker]

I will contact them to see if it can be changed, if not the artwork wont bother me, and a sticker can fix that at a later date. 

As to the screen being to large, my thoughts were that if it's too big the aspect ratio might be able to fix any size issue being too close, and when it comes to playing a shooting game, the aspect can be changed back where you're far enough back that eye relief wont be too much of an issue.

Thank you yotsuya, i have pretty thick skin, and as this cabinet will be for me and friends and family, the ultimate end will be my happiness and the ability to fix any issues pointed out by you guys.

And I wanted to apologize if starting this thread about getting a cabinet ruffled any feathers, this wasnt about hey look what I can buy because i can and you guys build stuff.

I realize this site is about building cabinets and i see the point about going on a build forum showing what I put personal zero effort into.  I have nothing but respect for you guys and what you build, your technical expertise and skills, and i've seen some amazing work on here.  I wish I had the patience,time and resources to build my own, but being a single father working a full time job makes doing that a little hard at this point in my life,and a purchase was a better choice for me.

[chopperthedog]

In case you hadn't noticed, our number one thread in the Buy/Sell/Trade section is hustling a bunch of ready to assemble kits less complicated than a Duplo set.

Point being?
I read the thread carefully and didn't see them coming with a computer or monitor complete with *wink wink* hyperspin, mame, every rom and emulator known to man.


good day.

[yotsuya]

I will contact them to see if it can be changed, if not the artwork wont bother me, and a sticker can fix that at a later date. 

As to the screen being to large, my thoughts were that if it's too big the aspect ratio might be able to fix any size issue being too close, and when it comes to playing a shooting game, the aspect can be changed back where you're far enough back that eye relief wont be too much of an issue.

Thank you yotsuya, i have pretty thick skin, and as this cabinet will be for me and friends and family, the ultimate end will be my happiness and the ability to fix any issues pointed out by you guys.

And I wanted to apologize if starting this thread about getting a cabinet ruffled any feathers, this wasnt about hey look what I can buy because i can and you guys build stuff.

I realize this site is about building cabinets and i see the point about going on a build forum showing what I put personal zero effort into.  I have nothing but respect for you guys and what you build, your technical expertise and skills, and i've seen some amazing work on here.  I wish I had the patience,time and resources to build my own, but being a single father working a full time job makes doing that a little hard at this point in my life,and a purchase was a better choice for me.

No worries! Again, let us know your opinion of it. If anything, it's interesting to see what's out there for sale and available. And when you ARE ready to take the plunge and roll your own, you'll know what you like and what you could do different. We'll be here to help! 

In the end, as long as you can play Galaga on it, that's all anyone is ever going to care about.

[thatpurplestuff]

I will contact them to see if it can be changed, if not the artwork wont bother me, and a sticker can fix that at a later date. 

As to the screen being to large, my thoughts were that if it's too big the aspect ratio might be able to fix any size issue being too close, and when it comes to playing a shooting game, the aspect can be changed back where you're far enough back that eye relief wont be too much of an issue.

Thank you yotsuya, i have pretty thick skin, and as this cabinet will be for me and friends and family, the ultimate end will be my happiness and the ability to fix any issues pointed out by you guys.

And I wanted to apologize if starting this thread about getting a cabinet ruffled any feathers, this wasnt about hey look what I can buy because i can and you guys build stuff.

I realize this site is about building cabinets and i see the point about going on a build forum showing what I put personal zero effort into.  I have nothing but respect for you guys and what you build, your technical expertise and skills, and i've seen some amazing work on here.  I wish I had the patience,time and resources to build my own, but being a single father working a full time job makes doing that a little hard at this point in my life,and a purchase was a better choice for me.

Hope you have a blast with the cab, man!  Like others have said, if you can have the p3 and p4 sticks face the same way as p1 and p2 it will make your life easier... I had rotated sticks on my first cab and I am definitely changing it with my next build.  Your cab will still be playable regardless, but having them face the same way as p1 and p2 is just more intuitive (also makes games that require two sticks per player like Smash TV / Total Carnage MUCH easier to play).

[realmswalker]

Here is a pic of the exact layout that I will be getting, I am going to ask that the players 3 and four be rotated so that they line up with players one and two and are all facing the same way.


Do you guys see any other issues I should be looking at?

And I had stick put on either side of player one and two buttons so that I could play smash tv and total carnage and have a linear layout with the controls, no need to use joystick 3 and 4.

[BadMouth]

I see no other issues with that CP.

[DaveMMR]

The thing about this made-to-order, pre-loaded cabs is that I always think the money would be better spent on a working generic cab that can be modified easily. Your everyday Neo-Geo looks better in a room than the disco-party going on with that cab any day... IMO.

But if you like it and it's to your spec, enjoy! 
(Just make sure the seller orients those sticks properly as others have suggested.) 

[Louis Tully]

.

[Dawgz Rule]

Enjoy. 

[pbj]

I'd drop the extra sticks on Players 1 and 2.  I thought the idea was crazy, but you can actually play Smash TV decently using players 3 and 4 joysticks in tandem with 1 and 2.  Takes 5 seconds to remap MAME properly to do it.

[DaveMMR]

I'd drop the extra sticks on Players 1 and 2.  I thought the idea was crazy, but you can actually play Smash TV decently using players 3 and 4 joysticks in tandem with 1 and 2.  Takes 5 seconds to remap MAME properly to do it.

Also the three "mouse" buttons. They'll never be usable for anything game-related.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Jack is a great guy.  I had my CP CNCd by him years ago.  I was the first to use his double-joystick layout for Smash-TV type games.  I'm glad that he is still using it for customers!  It works great!

I also own a Total Carnage/SmashTV arcade machine that was a converted Gauntlet cabinet.  The joysticks were similar to what PBJ was saying to do, with the 3 & 4 players used as the extra joysticks.  Although it's OK for some folks, I prefer to have both joysticks next to each other in a straight line.  I plan to rebuild that control panel in the future to make them line up.


That said, I prefer playing the layout for my player 1 and 2 dual joysticks on my MAME panel.  My player 3 & 4 joysticks are currently angled but I'm planning to turn them to be parellel to the monitor.  Should be easy as there is enough clearance.  So if Jack can't do it, it's a simple fix that you can do yourself at home, since it's the same layout (or at least similar).  I'm using competition joysticks.
Here's my MAME panel (I built the innards from scratch - Jack only CNC'd the panel for me with the Plexi)


Congrats again on your new machine!

DeLuSioNaL29

[pbj]

Jack is a great guy.  I had my CP CNCd by him years ago.

Your use of a credit card is truly amazing

[ark_ader]

Looks like a really nice cab.  Nice find

[realmswalker]

So I just got off the phone with Jack, and he said no problem, joys 3 and 4 are going to be oriented the exact same as 1 and 2, so no angled joys for me.  Thank you to everyone who steered me in the right direction about this before I went with something that wouldn't be comfortable and wouldn't work. He's going to send me a CAD drawing of the layout so we are perfectly on he same page.

Also here is a picture of the artwork I went with, 'im not going with the art pictured in the cab above.

[EMDB]

So I just got off the phone with Jack, and he said no problem, joys 3 and 4 are going to be oriented the exact same as 1 and 2, so no angled joys for me.  Thank you to everyone who steered me in the right direction about this before I went with something that wouldn't be comfortable and wouldn't work. He's going to send me a CAD drawing of the layout so we are perfectly on he same page.

Also here is a picture of the artwork I went with, 'im not going with the art pictured in the cab above.

I like the first artwork way better than this too common lightning Mame. You should only come up with a better title for the HyperSpin marquee.

[jimmer]

+1 for the Streetfighter version. Black lightning is horrible.

[Dungeonsdeep]

Your use of a credit card is truly amazing, can't wait to learn your techniques from the build thread.


good day.

Ooooh, harsh. 

[Malenko]

Hate to dog pile but that lightning has been done to death, it's the new marble contact paper

[leapinlew]

Black lightning is fine. I know it's a common theme here, but odds are whoever sees it will have never seen one before.

It's like a red sports car. Lots of the sports cars are red, and that's because it looks good. Black and blue cabs is a classic look that looks great. Sure if you hangout on this site, it gets tiring to see the 100th black and blue cab of the year, but it's a good look. Not every cab, especially one being bought, can be breaking new ground.

[Benzinbruder]

Here is a pic of the exact layout that I will be getting, I am going to ask that the players 3 and four be rotated so that they line up with players one and two and are all facing the same way.

Is it just me or could the dedicated 4-way be kind of hard to use because the second P1 stick (the right one) is in the way?
The layout is different on the second CP layout (the lightning one), but I suppose you went with the first CP layout you showed?

[DeLuSioNal29]

I admit, I have a lightning theme on my first arcade (I did it over 7 years ago) but I did it in a way where I tied all the artwork together without have the lightning "overwhelm" the project.  I feel it was the right balance, but the one above is a bit "too much" in my opinion.  Below are pics of my concept CP art, marquee and wallpaper.  I also created a custom intro video for it here.

As for the joystick placement, I have no problem using the 4-way joystick.  My hand fits right in between the two 8-way sticks and is comfortable.  So is using the Asteroids layout on the top row (doubling as admin buttons).

That said, I did scale down my controls in future builds with my vertical arcade machines.   

DeLuSioNaL29