MVS to MAME (the path of the BYOAC sinner)

[liquidblueflames]

I have lurked here for the past few months and recently made an account. I have always wanted a mame cabinet and now I finally had the guts to just do it.

I started with an xarcade tankstick. It has worked well for me but I definitely know I will sell it once I make his cab. Anyways, the cab is a 4 slot MvS cab in pretty good condition. I got it for free on Craigslist. It was broken already and I figured why not?

Now time for the questions:
What exactly will I need to mame this? I have a pc tower, a monitor (will go lcd), and that is all. I know I need buttons, joysticks, and an ipac. I just am not sure about brands, quality, things like that.

Any tips will be greatly appreciated. I know I am new here but hope to be a part of this community. Reading through other peoples threads and projects makes me want to participate in some way.

[mgb]

Hello and welcome,
  Like you've already been doing, looking through other peoples projects and threads is a great way to learn what's out there.

A basic Mame setup would consist of a pc, monitor and controls as well as an encoder to interface the controls to the pc.  Basic arcade controls are in their most basic form, just normally open switches that close when pressed and that's why an encoder is needed for your pc to recognize button presses, etc.

As far as what brands to use, that's a little subjective.
There are two loosely set camps for preferred controls:

American controls: Happ, Wico and IL
   - if you're in the US and grew up with the golden age classics, you most likely played on Wico sticks at some point. Robotron is one of the best examples of these.
These classics also typically had leaf switches were didn't make any engaging noises as pressed.
If you played fighters in the 90s (in the US) you probably played on happ/IL style sticks. They typically have bat shaped handles as opposed to the ball top you'd find on something like a pacman. They'd also have micro switches which would have a small but still present click when engaged.

Then there's the Japanese controls that have gotten very popular in more recent years.
These include Sanwa and Seimitsu as the most popular and then there are others that are "in the style of" (I would say knock offs but many of them are pretty good so I don't want to imply that they're cheap copies or ripoffs) and these include Zippyys (Seimitsu style) as well as sticks from both Ultimarc and Groovy Game Gear that are Sanwa Style.

One thing to realize with most Japanese style sticks is that the typical stock micro switches have a distinct click to them when engaged. So it's best to order them with upgraded switches (usually called a soft switch, or similar term depending on the seller)


When choosing controls, there's a couple of things to think about.
 The number one question to ask yourself is what do you really hope to play on this machine.
A lot of guys come on the forum and see that there is the capiblity to play over 5 thousand games and they just wanna be able to play them all and they want to amaze their friends with any game they can think of.
So they set out to build a control panel that covers any control for any game that was made. Of course they end up with a poorly planned monstrosity of a panel that not comfortable for anything.
 My cabs control panel is not overly crowded and I've got a good 500 games that I can play comfortably.

So the vendors that you will find most guys around here to trust are:
Ultimarc (located in the uk)
Groovey Game Gear (located in upper state NY)
Paradise Arcade (located in Hawaii)

The above listed vendors are like the big three around here and all three of them carry a wide assortment of parts.
I like ultimarc for their Ipac encoder but have never used their joysticks or buttons
Groovey Game Gear is great for an assortment of parts. He's got a lot of different joysticks including many with leaf switches.
I have used all three of those vendors without issue.

Other vendors include Focus Attack (In PA, USA) they sell more modern jap style controls like Sanwa and Semitsu. I've purchased from them a couple of times and the service is great.

If you plan to buy any Happ equipment and you choose to buy directly from Suzo-Happ, go get your head examined and instead buy it from arcadeemulator.net. He carries most Happ stuff for cheaper shipping (he's located somewhere Midwest US)

There are others but those are the big ones for controls.
Beware of ebay for controls. In recent years I've seen a lot more no name garbage come up there and you really don't wanna cheap out when it comes to controls.

One final comment on controls, the sticks that you're familiar with from your tank stick are knockoffs of the Happ/Il style so if you like those, you may wanna try that route.

So think about the main games you wanna play and how you'd like to layout your xp.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[liquidblueflames]

I went with some HAPP controls on eBay. I purchased them before your response and was relieved I purchased Happ competition sticks and happ buttons. I ended up getting 16 buttons, 2 joysticks, and a Xin Mo joystick encoder. I was unaware of this being a joystick encoder (expected keyboard) but more on that later.

I received the controls in the mail Saturday and hooked it all up. I was extremely surprised at how simple it is to do the wiring! It made me realize how stupid I was to purchase a tankstick in the first place.

All of the wires worked and I was able to put my PC into the system. I am a bit bummed because I cannot play games like street fighter, marble madness, and golden tee. I have decided NOT to modify the control panel to include a trackball because that would look ridiculous. I am still considering adding two buttons on each players side for a 6 button setup to allow street fighter.

I know, I know. Don't want to modify the MVS too much. I just figure it was completely broken and I am wanting to just keep the iconic look while having something I love.

I also figured out a way to get the marquee lit. The lights that were behind the 4 mini marquees were dead and I could NOT figure out how to replace them (chemical lights or something?) I went ahead and cut the bottom half of the wooden insert out, taped the mvs mini marquee slot to the front window, and bought a $9 light at Meijer. This light gave a soft shine to the marquee which was EXACTLY what I was hoping for :-)

My next plans : Figure out how to mount my LCD monitor within the cabinet, set computer to auto boot on power surge on, sift through ALL the games to remove broken ones and ones that won't work with my setup.


Picture time!

Some coins I found while cleaning dust out of cabinet.










Below is pics after I started taking off the control panel and preparing to gut the machine for mame.



NEW BUTTONS!

[bulbousbeard]

If you go LCD and don't go G-Sync, you're doing it wrong. A 1ms G-Sync monitor is the only scenario in which I can see an LCD being tolerable for that kind of a setup.

Normal LCDs simply aren't good enough for old arcade games. There are too many problems with them.

[liquidblueflames]

  I always read people saying that on here but I haven't noticed any issues running on lcd or led tvs. I guess I am just not pro enough :-/

[Malenko]

I always read people saying that on here but I haven't noticed any issues running on lcd or led tvs. I guess I am just not pro enough :-/

Some people are just more anal than others.  Ive had no issues with LCDs myself. I can see where a Gsync would be better but it comes down to cost vs worth; and for the me the cost of a gsync isnt worth it.  How big of LCD do you plan to put in there?

Going to run NeoGeo exclusively, or you going to put all the 2 player JAMMA games you can think of on there as well?

[jdbailey1206]

Courtyards of Mackinaw huh?  That cabinet wouldn't be from Michigan would it?

[southpaw13]

That big cabinet needs to stay with the original monitor.  Look into purchasing a video converter if the monitor still works.

[Malenko]

That big cabinet needs to stay with the original monitor.  Look into purchasing a video converter if the monitor still works.

Free on CL usually means dead monitor.

[mgb]

What size lcd are you planning on using.
My personal opinion is that aarge cabinet looks odd with an lcd that's too small.
Have you thought about repairing the existing monitor or haveing it repaired

[harveybirdman]

Count me in the fix the CRT camp....


What's wrong with it, other than you don't have a way to hook it up to your PC yet?

Does it come on? Neck glow?

[dmckean]

And if you do go with an LCD, I hope it's a LOT bigger than the one you have sitting in there now.

[Locke141]

You can find cheep'ish 20+ inch LCD's if your patient one ebay, amazon, or arrow direct.

I'm with the fix the CRT crowd. If I was you I would try to restore that cab to a working MVS. There carts are not mostly affordable and you could always get a multi carts for it. You could still put a Jama switcher in it and still play MANE off a PC. If you do go with MAME I would definitely leave that control panel alone.

[liquidblueflames]

TO be honest I have no idea if the original monitor works. He told me it was broken when I picked it up. The monitor has no wires at all (all of them were cut).

In case you guys can't tell, I don't know anything about monitors. I went LCD for simplicity.

It's a 22 inch monitor and it feels right when I have it sitting close to the glass. The problem is I need to figure out how to mount it near the glass. My issue is that I want the monitor to turn on when power is supplied to the cabinet. Is it possible to have a 32 inch lcd tv power on automatically without a remote?

I will not be restoring this to anything but a mame cabinet. I am going to keep the 4 button control scheme though. I figure down the line I will get a cabinet that is completely destroyed to make into a MAME cabinet with a custom control panel to allow for trackball and 6 button setup.

This cabinet had no boards, power supply, or anything inside of it besides a monitor with cut up wires and nothing attached to the back (I see some metal spikes sticking out the back with nothing attached to the connectors).

P.S. I live in Michigan so I was happy to see the Mackinaw tokens.

[harveybirdman]

Sounds like somebody scavenged it pretty good.  You could look for a chassis to see if you could fire up the tube but it's totally acceptable to go LCD, especially if this is your first rodeo.  It might look a little odd, but it will work.   It sounds like you are going to orient the monitor horizontally yes?

[liquidblueflames]

I will mount it horizontally. I got a tilt mount on Amazon for the monitor today  for $10. Hoping it'll work well for my needs.

Honestly, after wiring this control panel a feel much more calm about this kind of thing to the point of making my own control panel for my next mame cabinet.

[Locke141]

Sounds like a plan. You can find a Samsung 213t/214t, Dell 2001/2007. You could also put an old CRT in there.
Glad your going to keep it 4 buttons. That MVS looks good.

[matsadona]

I'm in the CRT fan club as well, but I do realize that it can be favorable with an LCD with these circumstances.
You could try to find one of those fresnel lenses that will magnify the picture and also make it a little CRT’ish 