New to the MAME Game

[bizzy]

Hi all,
New to the mame game and this forum, it appears this site will become a staple of my internet browsing.

 Am building a cab, I'm planning to use the following plans. http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/stepprojectmame.htm - Although I have made some design changes - I've made it taller overall about 1842mm deeper about 580mm and wider about 680mm. What do people who have previously built cabs think of the sizing for a 2 player cabinet?

I'm looking at using a 21-24" LCD. I know not traditional but will work for me. Anyone have any recommendations as to what they have used/size that was best?

I'm looking at buying the I-PAC Ultimate I/O Interface with full wiring harness as my encoder and am hoping some people can provide some advice on whether this is a good encoder to use? I've read reviews and it seems to be pretty positive.

I'm also looking for advice (I have read steer clear of X-Arcade) on buttons and joysticks. I plan to play varying games from Pac-Man, Donkey Kong through to Street Fighter and any new stuff I might get my hands on. I'm thinking 6 buttons per player - Is this going to be enough?

And last question. What do people recommend for front end software (I'm looking at Maximus currently). I want to be able to play mame but also other system emulators. From what I understand Maximus will generate a list and then loads the relevant emulators?

Finally and I'm not sure if this is against the rules - where do people recommend getting ROM's from? And what are the best emulators for each system?

Hopefully I haven't looked completely silly with what I have asked and I'm hoping this great community can provide me with some guidance as I embark on my MAME journey. I'm really pumped about starting.

Cheers,

Bizzy
Hope to hear some feedback.
Thanks.

[Slippyblade]

Anything from Ultimarc is good stuff.  The owner, Andy, is a regular on these forums.  Also look at Groovy Game Gear, the owner, Randy, is also a forum regular.

Sources or links to roms is against forum rules, sorry.  Just Google it up.  Almost any front end will do what you are asking, my personal favorite is Mala.  Emulation Station is pretty simple as well especially if you are running a Raspberry-Pi.

As far as the Ultimarc Ultimate IO, do you plan on doing LED's?  If not, just go with the simpler iPac-2 or iPac-4 depending on how big your panel will be.

X-Arcade gets a bad rep around here, but it's not bad stuff.  There is definitely better though for not much more money.  I'm a big fan of Groovy Game Gears ClassX or Electric Ice buttons.  The switch holder being removable is very nice.  If you are sticking to arcade stuff, 6 buttons for P1 and P2 is as much as any game used.  The only reason you'd need more is you get into some of the later gen consoles.

[johnrt]

Your cab will be huge! My first cab was also a project MAME cab, but I reduced the width of the cab by 6cm compared to the original plan. And it's wide enough! Trust me!

I would think twice regarding the widescreen monitor. I used a 21.3" 4:3 monitor (Samsung Syncmaster 213T). That particular monitor can be hard to find. The Dell FP2007 (20") is easier to get.

Build you own Control Panel, it's not that hard.

Anyway: Pictures of my Project MAME build is to be found here:
http://www.379009.net/mame-arcade/pics/

[bizzy]

Thanks for the feedback - Johnrt - so your cab width is somewhere around the 450mm size?

[mgb]

it would probably be less work to build your own panel then it would be to try and graft in the x arcade to have it look good.

keep in mind with your proposed layout vs games you wanna play.
pacman and donkey kong are vertical games while Street Fighter is a horizontal game.
It's not an impossible obstacle but you may need to make some plans for maybe a rotatable monitor or a bigger monitor for play across orientations.

Also remember that pacman and donkey kong play naturally with 4-way joysticks while streetfighter uses an 8-way. again not impossible but you will need to plan accordingly with switchable sticks or a dedicated 4-way stick in the middle somehow.

Maximus is a very nice frontend and its easy to set up. you should however not use esc for closing games as it may give issues.

it is against the forum rules to post about where to get roms 

[mgb]

Oh and welcome to the forums

[dashingw]

Well Bizzy, I can tell you I am using a normal sized arcade cabinet (Atari) with a 24" Asus 16:9 LCD monitor and there is still about an 1-1/2 left on each side of the monitor and about 6 or 7" above as well as below for artwork.

More than enough room for a 2 player control panel with two joysticks per person and 6 buttons each plus 2 buttons on each side above and a trackball with a spinner or two.

The 24" LCD 16:9 monitor is perfect for the vertical pacman/digdug games still giving it a nice size while vertically you can use the whole screen for Bubbles, Crystal Castles, jungle king, fighting games etc...

As for a frontend I have tried Hyperspin, Maximus, Gamex, but found mGalaxy not only the easiest to set up but also the best running wise and it wont cost you a cent unless you like one of their additional themes which I actually did and that was $8 for two of them. I highly suggest giving it a shot before you spend money and lots of time on the others. I only wish I had hit it on the first choice !! lol!!

Below is a link to the mGalaxy download site as well as one for the forum

http://www.mgalaxy.com/

http://www.mgalaxy.com/forum/index.php

Good Luck !!!   

Dash

[johnrt]

Thanks for the feedback - Johnrt - so your cab width is somewhere around the 450mm size?

Well, no it's actually 56 cm wide, so reduced by 4 cm compared to the original plans. But I don't think you should make it wider than 60 cm.

[bizzy]

Well Bizzy, I can tell you I am using a normal sized arcade cabinet (Atari) with a 24" Asus 16:9 LCD monitor and there is still about an 1-1/2 left on each side of the monitor and about 6 or 7" above as well as below for artwork.

More than enough room for a 2 player control panel with two joysticks per person and 6 buttons each plus 2 buttons on each side above and a trackball with a spinner or two.

The 24" LCD 16:9 monitor is perfect for the vertical pacman/digdug games still giving it a nice size while vertically you can use the whole screen for Bubbles, Crystal Castles, jungle king, fighting games etc...

As for a frontend I have tried Hyperspin, Maximus, Gamex, but found mGalaxy not only the easiest to set up but also the best running wise and it wont cost you a cent unless you like one of their additional themes which I actually did and that was $8 for two of them. I highly suggest giving it a shot before you spend money and lots of time on the others. I only wish I had hit it on the first choice !! lol!!

Below is a link to the mGalaxy download site as well as one for the forum

http://www.mgalaxy.com/

http://www.mgalaxy.com/forum/index.php

Good Luck !!!   

Dash

Thanks Dash. What sort of monitor is it?

I'll check out mgalaxy. I'm assuming it has no problems running other emulators?

[dashingw]

Well Bizzy, I can tell you I am using a normal sized arcade cabinet (Atari) with a 24" Asus 16:9 LCD monitor and there is still about an 1-1/2 left on each side of the monitor and about 6 or 7" above as well as below for artwork.

More than enough room for a 2 player control panel with two joysticks per person and 6 buttons each plus 2 buttons on each side above and a trackball with a spinner or two.

The 24" LCD 16:9 monitor is perfect for the vertical pacman/digdug games still giving it a nice size while vertically you can use the whole screen for Bubbles, Crystal Castles, jungle king, fighting games etc...

As for a frontend I have tried Hyperspin, Maximus, Gamex, but found mGalaxy not only the easiest to set up but also the best running wise and it wont cost you a cent unless you like one of their additional themes which I actually did and that was $8 for two of them. I highly suggest giving it a shot before you spend money and lots of time on the others. I only wish I had hit it on the first choice !! lol!!

Below is a link to the mGalaxy download site as well as one for the forum

http://www.mgalaxy.com/

http://www.mgalaxy.com/forum/index.php

Good Luck !!!   

Dash

Thanks Dash. What sort of monitor is it?

I'll check out mgalaxy. I'm assuming it has no problems running other emulators?

My monitior is a 24" LCD 16:9 Asus computer monitor with HDMI but I just have it hooked up to the DVI port model #VE247

I have gotten all the emulators I wanted to get on it in there, there's a whole list of computers/consoles (about 50) and if it wasn't listed like the Apple IIe then I was able to go in to the system.XML and add it myself so I could at least use the frontend to select and open the emulator. Wasn't hard at all and I'm no genius when it comes to doing something like that !!

Anyways its pretty straight forward and questions are usually answered quickly, feel free to message me if you do decide to use it and get hung up on something

[dashingw]

Hers some pics with a widescreen monitor, as I said the artwork is not professional I just did what I could until I have the time and mostly the money !! lol

[bizzy]

Thanks for the replies.

Can anyone tell me if a ATI Radeon 5450 1gb graphics card will be suitable in my cabinet PC? Or should I use the on-board with my ASUS P8Z68-M PRO?

Also am going to be using an LG Flatron IPS236V-PN monitor and just put a frame to surround it. Will this be suitable?

[matsadona]

I'm just gonna second what other have said:

* Get a joystick that can switch from 8-way to 4-way (else either variant of games will be unplayable)
* Build your own control panel (adding a desktop box to a cabinet will never be successful)
* Maximus is a good frontend
* Chose a 4:3 monitor, and change the cabinet dimensions according to the size of monitor you have
* Andy at Ultimarc has both great products and service. But that goes for Groovy Game Gear as well
* Decide if vertical or horizontal games are your favourite - and have your monitor oriented according to that (since there will be a compromise when playing games of the other variant)

[EMDB]

My build is based on Project MAME too. So it's 60cm wide which is wide enough for an occasional 2-player game. If you plan to often play with 2 players I would widen it a few centimeters. I use a Samsung Syncmaster 213T too. It's the bigest 4:3 LCD you can get and has great viewing angles. I use a mini-SLG scanline generator to get the authentic looks. I use HyperSpin as frontEnd.

[dashingw]

Maximus I found glitchy and its also $25 plus add ons. Was a waste of money imo. Especially since I found mGalaxy

If you have your PC ready to go I would hook it up to your monitor, put mame on it as well as a frontend and give it a go to see how it all looks. then you can decide on the cabinet and control panel. Your Ati Radeon would be more than appropriate.

If you dont like one frontend then try another.... 

[ChanceKJ]

My build is based on Project MAME too....

  I thought i recognized those side panels!

[lamprey]

I'm just gonna second what other have said:

* Get a joystick that can switch from 8-way to 4-way (else either variant of games will be unplayable)

I get people exaggerate a bit, but people really need to stop using absolute terms like "unplayable" when talking about playing a 4-way game with an 8-way joystick. Perfect? Probably not. Unplayable, certainly not.

[dashingw]

I'm just gonna second what other have said:

* Get a joystick that can switch from 8-way to 4-way (else either variant of games will be unplayable)

I get people exaggerate a bit, but people really need to stop using absolute terms like "unplayable" when talking about playing a 4-way game with an 8-way joystick. Perfect? Probably not. Unplayable, certainly not.

Try Dig Dug and tell me that !! LOL  Playing that with an 8ways gives the little dude a mind of his own. I didnt know what the hell was going on until somebody told me to turn the restrictor plate under the control panel. Once I did that everything went well. Thats one game I wouldnt play if I only had an 8way )

[mgb]

I'm just gonna second what other have said:

* Get a joystick that can switch from 8-way to 4-way (else either variant of games will be unplayable)

I get people exaggerate a bit, but people really need to stop using absolute terms like "unplayable" when talking about playing a 4-way game with an 8-way joystick. Perfect? Probably not. Unplayable, certainly not.

maybe not unplayable
 lets rephrase, shall we
they're mot unplayable, just unenjoyable

[matsadona]

OK, I'll rephrase it. Pick the alternative of your choice :

Unplayable = frustrating, awkward, inopportune, inconvenient, difficult, annoying, troublesome, bothersome, disadvantageous, detrimental, disadvantageous, unpropitious, negative, inimical, bad, hopeless, unfavorable

 

[stavros693000]

Hi all,
New to the mame game and this forum, it appears this site will become a staple of my internet browsing.

 Am building a cab, I'm planning to use the following plans. http://www.koenigs.dk/mame/eng/stepprojectmame.htm - Although I have made some design changes - I've made it taller overall about 1842mm deeper about 580mm and wider about 680mm. What do people who have previously built cabs think of the sizing for a 2 player cabinet?

I'm looking at using a 21-24" LCD. I know not traditional but will work for me. Anyone have any recommendations as to what they have used/size that was best?

I'm looking at buying the I-PAC Ultimate I/O Interface with full wiring harness as my encoder and am hoping some people can provide some advice on whether this is a good encoder to use? I've read reviews and it seems to be pretty positive.

I'm also looking for advice (I have read steer clear of X-Arcade) on buttons and joysticks. I plan to play varying games from Pac-Man, Donkey Kong through to Street Fighter and any new stuff I might get my hands on. I'm thinking 6 buttons per player - Is this going to be enough?

And last question. What do people recommend for front end software (I'm looking at Maximus currently). I want to be able to play mame but also other system emulators. From what I understand Maximus will generate a list and then loads the relevant emulators?

Finally and I'm not sure if this is against the rules - where do people recommend getting ROM's from? And what are the best emulators for each system?

Hopefully I haven't looked completely silly with what I have asked and I'm hoping this great community can provide me with some guidance as I embark on my MAME journey. I'm really pumped about starting.

Cheers,

Bizzy
Hope to hear some feedback.
Thanks.

welcome to the forums and happy building.

x-arcade tankstick is a good solid product and a great way to go for beginners. It will get you up a running playing games and you can always build your own CP down the line when you done a bit more research and feel up to the task.
but its not to hard to build your own CP but x-arcade is excellent beginner product.

a lot of peeps here have had X-arcades.....but most wont admit it(this site is called Build your own arcade controls.com after all)lol
I had one a long time ago, Still got the parts(I gutted it) and I stand by their product

[stavros693000]

Thanks for the replies.

Can anyone tell me if a ATI Radeon 5450 1gb graphics card will be suitable in my cabinet PC? Or should I use the on-board with my ASUS P8Z68-M PRO?

Also am going to be using an LG Flatron IPS236V-PN monitor and just put a frame to surround it. Will this be suitable?

should be I have the same graphics card with a dual core e6000 series 1.86ghz and 2gb ram......it runs hyperspin smoothly and all the emulators with the exception of Playstation 2 and wii their running very choppy

[bizzy]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

So I'm going to order some Ultimarc stuff and build my own CP.

In the meantime I'm going to setup the system to get it all working before I put it in the cab.

I've decided I think to run Mala as the front end, obviously MAME as the main emulator but am wanting an emulator for NES, SNES, Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive at this stage. Is MESS a good option? Or should I be looking at alternatives to run with MALA? I have managed to get some roms for each of those systems.

Thanks,