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Author Topic: PinKadia: MAME, Pinball, and PC games in a combined Pinball and Arcade cabinet!  (Read 97896 times)

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thagerty

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Back in November / December of 2015, it took me about 2 months to build a combination of a Pinball and Arcade cabinet which I call PinKadia. I have a post of the details of the build process in the Pinball section:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=149687.msg1570978#msg1570978

It also occurred to me that not everyone is into Pinball, and that section isn't really for project builds. Since I just finished getting MAME up and running with alot of the media I needed for Pinball X (which I use for a Front-end), I figured I should post my build here for the Video Game Arcade crowd.

I present... PinKadia!




Here is the first video tour after I finished most of it right before Christmas.




Here are video demonstrations of the different systems I have running on it via Pinball X:

MAME: Horizontal and Vertical games on the playfied screen with marquees on the backglass screen):






PC Games (only horizontal games on the backglass screen for now, vertical games on the playfield screen soon to come):






Future Pinball (my favorite pinball simulator, best sound and graphics, and its free! I customized most tables to make use of my unique extended backglass on the 3rd screen):






BAM - 3D head tracking for Future Pinball demonstration (really cool):




Pinball FX2 (with animated backglass and marquee / logo):






The Pinball Arcade (with animated backglass, and running a mod for use in a cabinet):






Visual Pinball (makes use of the two different sized DMD areas on the third screen):





« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 06:55:18 pm by thagerty »

thagerty

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The back story:

I'm a 42 year old guy who grew up in arcades in the 80's and 90's. I love arcade games and pinball, and video games in general. I've also been an electronics technician for 20 years. (15 as a civvie, 5 in the military)

This WAS my mancave a while ago. It housed my custom simpit that I made for racing and flight sim games. It had three 42 inch TVs for surround view, as well as 12 transducers combined with SimVibe software to give vibrational feeback from telemetry data from the racing games I played. The console on the right rotates around to switch between a shifter and flightstick. The dash has two tablets that act as tachometer / speedometer, and a button box / control panel. I love it!





That being said, I always thought the 3 screens (that spanned almost 10 feet!) were a bit much. So when I got myself a 55 inch UHD 4K curved TV, for my normal PC gaming, I found I loved playing my racing games on it much better. I would get 2/3 of the same visible screen field of view that I had with 3 screens using a custom 21:9 resolution of 3840x1640, with much nicer colour and resolution. Also, with VR headsets coming out, I wouldn't be using those screens as much when I (someday) get one.

So I decided to ditch the 3 screens setup and use them to make a combination Pinball and Arcade cabinet that would also play PC games! (I can move the simpit in front of my UHD TV's new location easily when I want to use it).

Commence the start of the creation of PinKadia!

After reading ALOT of posts of other projects, here is where my priorities were, and what I wanted:

-I wanted something that would play Future Pinball, Pinball FX2, The Pinball Arcade, Visual Pinball, MAME Arcade games, and PC games (ie fighting and action games)
-I wanted two player controls with actual (PC / Xbox 360 / One) hardware for maximum compatibility and ease for all games
-it had to be made using many of the components I already had (I already had most of the electronics needed)
-it had to be made as cheaply as possible to keep me from becoming single (my wife is not a big gamer)

Things that will come later on down the line and were not a priority:

-DOF, LED controlled lighting, feedback, etc
-printed artwork
- or otherwords... anything really costly that I didn't already have.

So I came up with this mock-up to tide me over and help me figure exactly what I wanted.




What a beauty.... boy my wife just "LOVED" seeing this in my mancave for weeks on end.... but it really helped me tinker with different ideas instead of rushing into things. What I found was that I wanted to have a 3 screen setup, and I wanted to make use of the ENTIRE 3rd screen. Not just for the DMD like everyone else, but also to extend the backglass (only possible with Future Pinball) to make use of the excellent movie clips / colour DMDs / gadgets and other things you could see in Future Pinball. I HATE trying to "squish" a square backglass into a wide rectangular screen. This would allow me to make use of that space in a good way!

Both Pinball FX2 and The Pinball Arcade can now support DMD / displays on the third screen (TPA uses a mod, PBFX2 has native support now). So with the extra space left over on the 3rd screen, I can put nice animated logos or whatever I want there using Pinball X as a frontend, as well as having animated videos for the backglass.

By having arcade controls on the cabinet this would also allow me to play MAME vertical games on the playfield, and MAME horizontal games on the backglass or playfield. I could also play almost any PC action game on the backglass as well (since they are 16x9 games).

I also wanted to make use of my 5.1 speakers in the cabinet.


So on with the build... I began with de-bezeling one of my 42 inch TVs, only to find that the main support for the framing of the TV came for the plastic housing itself. (This is because this TV is not an edge-lit LED TV, its a back-lit LED TV) So I had to keep the TV housing fastened together.



I cut off the plastic for the IR / Power LED, and control PCB. I just taped the PCB on the bottom of the TV where it won't be seen.



For the size of the cabinet itself, I used the standard Williams Widebody plans that you can find all over the Internet. I then adjusted to sizes to work with my 3 screens. 42 inch TV for playfield, 27 inch monitor for backglass, 19 inch 4:3 monitor for DMD / extended backglass. I had found a place here in Canada that had Pinball legs and bolts for a decent price. The Canadian dollar is horrible right now, so getting anything from the States can be expensive.

I was able to get the following built in a day.



This was a mock up for the arcade controls...I tried a couple of different layouts to see how I would like it.



Three buttons on the side. Main flipper, 2nd flipper / special, and nudge.  I personally can do without a "real" nudge control for now. A plunger was also not a priority either. That may come later. So I just have a normal button for now until i get a big dome type Launch button. The coin door is not for functionality, but just for looks and simple access. Maybe i'll get it working later on.






Now comes the sucky part.... taking it apart for mudding. All open cut parts of the MDF were sealed with dry wall compound. Other areas were covered with wood filler.



Then all the sanding which made a lovely dusty mess in the mancave.



Finally, i got to put on the oil-based (no-scent) primer to help seal the MDF for painting. Then I painted the inside and back of the cabinet black. the outside was painted with "amazing" red.




Now I could put everything back together.  I installed chrome T-molding for the backglass. Then I installed the "front" speakers, backlgass 27 inch monitor, and 19 inch DMD / extension monitor. The 19 inch monitor sits only a little bit inside the lower cabinet.





The back of the cabinet has two small fans and a door for the backglass screens, and two large fans and a door for the lower cabinet. I also made some extra vent / access holes for cabling that may be needed in the future. the fans draw air out of the cabinet.






The back door allows access to the PC and cabling. The PC is mounted on a shelf on rails, so it can just slide out of the back for access if needed.




For the PC I used some mounting hardware from an old server case. I originally had on old i5 dual core CPU and server motherboard, but that got replaced with an i5 2500K later on. Dual core cpu worked fine for mostly everything, except when it came to playing 3 videos at once through Pinball X. Quad core cpu was needed for that. PC specs are:

i5 2500K quad core cpu
8 gigs ddr3 1600 ram
nvidia gtx 960 video card (all 3 screens connected to this one video card, via HDMI, DVI, display port)
750 watt power supply
250 gig ssd
500 gig hard drive
sound blaster audigy 2 sound card for 5.1 sound (that was removed when the motherboard was changed).
logitech 5.1 speaker system (older set i've had for years)





Here's the subwoofer and air-intake fan that brings fresh cool air into the cabinet.




This is where the rear speakers are mounted. I actually swapped the front and rear speakers so I could reach under the cabinet and adjust the volume if need be. (I had to swap the audio cables on the sound card for this to work) The center speaker will go in the middle hole.



Now for the controls! I decided to use two Logitech F310 gamepads for two players and for pinball controls:

-they are really cheap
-they provide both direct-input and x-input compatibility
-they are completely xbox 360 compatible (which works with ALL games / emulators). No need for xpadder-like software.
-they have a button that allows the functions of the d-pad and left analogue stick to swap. VERY important as some games won't allow some functions to work with the d-pad. The d-pad is what I will be using for the arcade stick. This allows me to have d-pad and "left analogue stick" functionality at anytime on the arcade joystick at the push of a button. you can't get this with a normal xbox 360 gamepad.

Now the un-fun part. I had to do some reverse engineering to find out how this sucker is wired. I wanted to have all the normal buttons and the "triggers" for buttons as well. You need to replace to potentiometers for the triggers with correct resistor values and hope it works. Unfortunately, getting the triggers to work this way would also mess up the resistance for the analogue sticks. So I eventually had to give up the trigger buttons and use the left and right stick buttons. As a result, I had to make my two center buttons (red/green) the "home" button (for player one and two) which would just open STEAM Big Picture Mode, which I wasn't going to use.

Normally, you only need one common ground when wiring buttons to most gamepads... not this one! It had FIVE different grounds, working with diodes in a matrix encoder. A pain to figure out, but I got 'er done! So I mounted the gamepad to a board and had all the wires I soldered to it goto terminal strips. Then I can have the cabinet's arcade buttons AND the pinball button wires use the same controls off of the player one gamepad.





Unfortunately, I was unable to get the old-school parallel / printer cables (DB-25) I needed to allow the control panel to just "plug-in" to the gamepad board. I was building this part during Christmas holidays, and the very few shops we have around here didn't have any. So I just mounted it anyway with the shorter wires (which I got from a couple of JAMMA harnesses) connected directly. As a result, the player one gamepad and pinball controls all look like this mess. Keep in mind.... most pinball cabinets only have around 10 buttons / controls to wire up.... I have OVER 40, with multiple separate grounds, and LEDS on each button (except the flipper buttons).  When I get the cables I need and I'm ambitious this will be mostly gone and all tidied up....either way I won't see it!



As you can see.... the player two gamepad is much tidier.




For the control panel, the insides of the playfield walls, backglass walls, and DMD bezel, I decided to use carbon fibre vinyl wrap. I had some left over from the simpit, and liked to way it looked with chrome trim. I'm a sucker for chrome and shiny car stuff. (I used to have a 1971 Chevelle with a custom 415 horsepower engine, but that was another life!) This is one of the few things I could buy around here. (at Walmart or Canadian Tire)





This is how my Layout looks for my screens for Future Pinball. This is required in order to use my extended backglass. Screen 1 is the playfield, screen 2 is the backgass, and screen 3 is the DMD / extended backglass.



Setup Future Pinball the way you normally would for your playfield and backglass. Exit Future Pinball. Then you then MUST configure Future Pinball's backglass resolution MANUALLY through the windows registry... NOT through Future Pinball itself. I have my backglass set to 1920x1600. What this does is, it "extends" the backglass from the 2nd screen down onto the 3rd screen. It can be larger than this, but anything past the bottom of the "translite" in Future Pinball is useless. I also use Future DMD on the bottom of the 3rd screen anyway, because you can't adjust the physical size of the DMD in Future Pinball itself (Future DMD can be ANY size). Overlays (which are used for movie clips, custom colour DMDs, gadgets,etc) can be made to ANY size!


This picture below shows my Future Pinball displays across the 3 screens. The black areas are the unused parts of the windows "desktop". The blue background on screen 3 is the desktop background. (I normally have it black but changed it to blue just for illustration purposes)  This is the pinball table with no modification or custom overlays.




This picture shows a custom overlay I made with a simple castle wall picture with extra stats for the game showing (which were normally shown in desktop mode on this particular version of the table).  This area can be used for anything you want in Future Pinball!




Here you can see it displayed on my 3rd screen.




For my DMD / Extended backglass bezel, I just made it from thin backboard used for book shelves. I then covered it with carbon fibre vinyl, and covered the edges with automotive chrome trim. I covered the speaker holes with speaker cloth from Fabricland.






Now you can see how the bezel makes it look like I have a 4th screen that is separate from the backglass and dmd.




Now I just had to fasten the aluminum trim and throw the playfield TV in...




....and it's ALIVE!   PinKadia lives!!!!










This is my BAM IR Led tracking hat. I made this for Freetrak / Track IR on my simpit with a ps3 eye camera, and they both work great with BAM Freetrack tracking through FaceTrackNoIR. It looks totally cool!




I replaced my fans because they were used in a server, and were very loud! These new fans are cheap, quiet, and have red leds in them.




Finally I added cheap LED colour-changing lighting that plugs into a molex connector from my cpu power supply. (The sub woofer on the floor is from my home theatre, not the pincab)






Things to do still:

-add glass to the playfield
-controlled lighting, DOF, feedback,etc..
-big Launch button
-"maybe" a plunger and tilt
- possibly a spinner
- 4 way gated joystick in the top center
- bat tops for the joysticks
« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 06:37:25 pm by thagerty »

yotsuya

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Don't you already have a thread for this?

Edit: went back and read the first part of your post.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2016, 08:41:45 pm by yotsuya »
***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

thagerty

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I didn't realize that the original post wasn't in a projects forum, but it was in an area more meant for actual real pinball cabinets and restoration.

This area is meant more for custom builds and is more Arcade oriented than it is Pinball. Since my cabinet is more recently setup for MAME and Arcade games, I thought it would good to have it posted here where the Arcade crowd would actually see it.

(I noted this in the first post above)

If this is an issue, please let me know.

Edit: Just saw your edited response...lol... thanks.

Typefighter01

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Lot of work here...impressive.

Good work on your posts also, well documented.

wp34

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Nice build.  Using that chrome auto trim is a great idea.   :cheers:

sealcouch

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This thing is bananas.

thagerty

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Nice build.  Using that chrome auto trim is a great idea.   :cheers:

It's amazing what a little chrome will do....  and some vinyl wrap.

A little inspiration from that special aisle at Canadian Tire.

Scotty_C

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I like it!!  :cheers:

efp9teen78

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I like this a lot interested to see how you manage to put the glass over the play field monitor

thagerty

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I like this a lot interested to see how you manage to put the glass over the play field monitor

That will be the very LAST thing I do. I just will take off one side of the aluminum rail and channel, place the glass, and fasten them back in. Not the easiest way, but this custom setup leaves me no choice but to do it that way.

menace

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Very Impressive!  I keep meaning to finish my vpin cabinet but it became playable and we all know what happens then...  I'm inspired by your level of effort on this!

I had to get the glass very early on since the cat would use the machine as a springboard to get on top of the other pinball machines--nice big sheet of tempered stopped the random pawprints on the lcd...
its better to not post and be thought a fool, then to whip out your keyboard and remove all doubt...

Cobolisdead

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That is amazing!  :cheers:

I so want to build a Virtual Pinball machine.

leapinlew

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The quality of work is stunning. It's like someone went into the future and ordered a cabinet with every possible option.

I can guarantee you that if that cabinet was at my house, no one would play it because the controls look way too complicated. Like, they wouldn't know what joysticks/buttons to use.

thagerty

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The quality of work is stunning. It's like someone went into the future and ordered a cabinet with every possible option.

I can guarantee you that if that cabinet was at my house, no one would play it because the controls look way too complicated. Like, they wouldn't know what joysticks/buttons to use.

Well, I'm kind of taking care of that right now.... for MAME so far at least. I'm messing around with CP Wizard to make Control Panel pics for each game that will display in the middle screen while browsing and playing. This will show what buttons / controls are actually used for the game and what they do.  I may even try doing something like this for other systems somehow.

I may one day get some sort of LED-Wiz setup to turn on / off the buttons for each game..... but I want whichever LED control system would work best for both MAME LED buttons, AND Virtual Pinball LED Lighting strips which I will add around the playfield one day! But I may also add DOF / feedback as well and I want a system that will cover ALL of that and be compatible with Pinball X...

...any suggestions?


Very Impressive!  I keep meaning to finish my vpin cabinet but it became playable and we all know what happens then...  I'm inspired by your level of effort on this!

I had to get the glass very early on since the cat would use the machine as a springboard to get on top of the other pinball machines--nice big sheet of tempered stopped the random pawprints on the lcd...

Luckily my cat doesn't go into my mancave very often...  but I will someday get the glass put on... someday.

I also know what you mean about getting distracted once the damn cabinet gets functional.  It took me forever just to get away from my original mock-up!
« Last Edit: April 15, 2016, 01:43:25 pm by thagerty »

thagerty

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Well, now it is time for more upgrades.... as a result this is what happens in the middle of a project upgrade... total mess everywhere which makes my wife sooooo happy!






I always wanted to add in a plunger and a big LAUNCH button.  Can't easily find either in Canada, and buying from the US is costly with our crappy CDN dollar and costly shipping.

So, I found a place in Ottawa that does repairs and sells parts called Pinball Medics.   

https://pinballmedics.ca/

Since I was taking my daughter to Ottawa Comi-Con, I was able to stop by his place and buy what I needed from him. He had everything except for the mounting plate for the plunger, which I didn't need anyway.  He's a great guy and had a fantastic Pinball collection which I sadly didn't have time to check out....  :(

Here's a video demonstration of my plunger setup:






Hopefully I can maybe make a couple of custom tilt-bobs to work as a digital nudge type of setup. Then, I'm off to update the control panel with a different button layout, a third 4-way joystick, and all three joysticks will have BAT tops instead of BALL tops.

After all this is done, its just a waiting game for all my parts to arrive from China, so I can install feedback via 10 solenoids. I'll also be installing led strip lighting to act as 5 rgb flashers, addressable led strip lighting / matrix for animation, white strobes, and red / blue beacons (LED strobe versions).  Lots of work to do!
« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:04:38 pm by thagerty »

thagerty

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While waiting for my parts to arrive from China for feedback (solenoids, lighting, etc), I figured I would get some other upgrades done to the cabinet, now that the plunger is working.

After using the cabinet for a while, I really wanted to have a dedicated 4-way joystick for alot of the classic arcade games that really do need it. (Pac-man, Q-bert, Dig-Dug, and many more).  I also wasn't really happy with the "ergonomic" button layout. Yah, it was nicer for fighting games, but not for anything else for me personally. Also, in order for me to fit a third joystick on the control panel I would have to rearrange the buttons in order to have enough space. I also didn't like the ball tops, and the LED joysticks don't allow for easily changing the tops without reaching inside the cabinet.

Another thing I wanted was to eventually put in a spinner, but I needed to have a hole pre-drilled for it. So I have two extra buttons above the right joystick that can be swapped out with a spinner later on. I also put in a central "FIRE" button for those pinball games that use it (Star Trek, AC/DC, Alien Legacy, etc).  I also labelled every button with transparent labels from a cheap label maker. It worked surprisingly well, and you can't see the label unless you look real close at the buttons.




I decided to use a spare XBOX 360 gamepad (instead of the Logitech gamepad) for player one and the pinball controls. The main reason was that I wanted to have force-feedback outputs from the gamepad to use to create possible feedback options (solenoids, lighting) for Pinball FX2 and The Pinball Arcade in the future.  I also setup this controller so that the x / y potentiometer was completely accessible for the plunger in the cabinet. This gamepad was MUCH easier to wire up as it had only one common ground for all buttons, and the pads were larger and easier to work with.



Here you can see that I now have the entire control panel connected to two old school parallel db-25 cables for player one and player two, with a molex connector for the LED lighting. MUCH nicer than having all wires directly goto the gamepads. Yes, this involved soldering over 125 wires.... but now if I ever need to get access to the control panel or change / replace anything, I just unplug three easy to access cables.  Yes, its alot of work, and I could have used some other solutions instead of gamepads, but that would not have given absolute complete compatibility with ALL PC Games and emulators / pinball games without some hassles. I will NEVER have any problems with any game running properly on this cabinet using this.




Here you can see the extra trim I put around the side and front buttons. I found that the LED lighting was too bright at 12V for the LED buttons on the arcade panel, so I used 5V instead. Combined with the non-lit BAT tops, I found this to be much nicer on the eyes while playing. My white LEDS for the bottom white buttons have died out, and I didn't have any spares. So I put in similar colour LEDS as the A B X Y buttons to match for now. They look almost the same in person and much nicer as opposed to the picture.




With the undercab and speaker lighting, it makes for quite the colorful display at night time.... can't wait for my addressable led strips!



« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:35:27 pm by thagerty »

harveybirdman

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Needs more buttons...

thagerty

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Name is still terrible, not sure why you insist typing "mancave" way so much. Still a solid build though  :cheers:

Thanks.

"ManCave" is a term that every married guy with kids will understand and relate to. Its the one area of the house that my wife has no say as to what's in it, or how it looks, and the kids know they are not allowed in there if Dad's not around.

Maybe the name will change if I ever think of something cooler and I get side art to go with that name...

thagerty

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Needs more buttons...

LOL...no doubt!

In order to be able to play games like Mortal Kombat X with 2 players, you need all those buttons...

rablack97

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I think its the fact you keep referencing where the build is, once is enough unless you have 5 different mancaves  :)

I do love this build, my only poke at you is doing too much on one build.

Its like adding pinball to a standup arcade, it just doesn't go together.  The pinball part looks awesome, the added jsticks and the carnival lighting along with it, not so much.  The spacing to 2 plyr play looks really tight as well.

If anything, a swappable blank panel would of been cool as that lit control setup would get annoying in a good game of pinball.

Whenever i take the plunge i'll be using this thread as a guide though, very impressive.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2016, 02:42:01 pm by rablack97 »

harveybirdman

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Exactly

You seem to have plenty of jack and a room dedicated to entertainment of this variety... I would have built a Virtual Pin and a separate Vs Cabinet.

but you know.... don't let us Spock your Kirk....

rablack97

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"ManCave" is a term that every married guy with kids will understand and relate to. Its the one area of the house that my wife has no say as to what's in it, or how it looks, and the kids know they are not allowed in there if Dad's not around.

Maybe the name will change if I ever think of something cooler and I get side art to go with that name...

Im familiar with the term, its just lamer than Pinkadia.

 :laugh2:  I do get the sweet and sour texture of PINK when i read the name, needs more of a manly crunch, the reds, with streamline precision construction.  Call it Man-UP.  Mancave universal pinball :dunno

thagerty

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I thinks its the fact you keep referencing where the build is, once is enough unless you have 5 different mancaves  :)

I do love this build, my only poke at you is doing too much on one build.

Its like adding pinball to a standup arcade, it just doesn't go together.  The pinball part looks awesome, the added jsticks and the carnival lighting along with it, not so much.  The spacing to 2 plyr play looks really tight as well.

If anything, a swappable blank panel would of been cool as that lit control setup and would get annoying in a good game of pinball.

Whenever i take the plunge i'll be using this thread as a guide though, very impressive.


Exactly

You seem to have plenty of jack and a room dedicated to entertainment of this variety... I would have built a Virtual Pin and a separate Vs Cabinet.

but you know.... don't let us Spock your Kirk....


I was considering doing a separate arcade cabinet, but space will one day be a possible issue.

Keep in mind that I'm in the military, and I won't always have this much room for this kind of stuff. I could be posted to a place where housing is VERY costly and I can't have a room this big for myself. So I decided if I had to have one or the other, it was going to be a virtual pinball cabinet.

It wasn't until after I started playing with a mock setup that I realized that I could do both in one cabinet with a control panel that could be easily removed if I one day want to keep this as only a pinball cabinet.... hence why I made the control panel easily unpluggable. I also find I LOVE being able to jump back and forth between arcade and pinball on the same cabinet instantly. Vertical games look awesome on this! Keep in mind, I originally was only going to have one player on this since I'm the only one using this 90% of the time, but I wanted two sticks for dual stick games. So I decided to just add the extra buttons for possible occasional two  player gaming.

As for the "carnival" lighting, half of those buttons are coloured specifically to match those of an XBOX 360 gamepad which is what most PC Games use, which is why the buttons are labelled as such. The other half.... I agree, I like the original white colour better. My plan was to "eventually" get a PACLED 64 to turn on/off each buttons as needed. for now I have that entire arcade panel lighting on a switch under the cabinet that allows for me to turn off those lights if I want.

As for doing too much and the lights being distracting during pinball.... holy god, you haven't seen addressable LED strip lighting on a pin cabinet have you? Its AWESOME, and is the next thing I'm installing, along with other pinball lighting (strobes, beacons, flashers) as well as solenoids, and a blower-fan.


I never ever build my stuff to be like the "norm". I always like to try something different, and as a result get to do things that no other cabinet has done (that I have seen at least).

My middle "two screens" are not "normal" for a virtual pin cabinet, and I have found new features for them that no one else have thought of before. Some of them I see others wanting to use in their virtual pins as well as their arcade cabinets.    My simpit is another example....its not just for racing, but also for flight simulators. Way back when I made it, no one had ever tried that idea before, and now I see lots of others using it in their setups.

I struggled with wondering weather I would like the "look" of the combined cabinet... and other than having too many colours on the arcade panel... I love it! ...and that boys and girls is what should matter after all. I LOVE seeing unique cabinets!
« Last Edit: June 03, 2016, 04:47:29 pm by thagerty »

thagerty

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"ManCave" is a term that every married guy with kids will understand and relate to. Its the one area of the house that my wife has no say as to what's in it, or how it looks, and the kids know they are not allowed in there if Dad's not around.

Maybe the name will change if I ever think of something cooler and I get side art to go with that name...

Im familiar with the term, its just lamer than Pinkadia.

 :laugh2:  I do get the sweet and sour texture of PINK when i read the name, needs more of a manly crunch, the reds, with streamline precision construction.  Call it Man-UP.  Mancave universal pinball :dunno

Haha...nice...

thagerty

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I always try to find new ways to make use of the "4th display" area on my middle screen.

For MAME, I knew there were some cool programs out there that would let you see your control panel layout and other info for each game, either by pausing, etc..

I just wanted a way to show what the controls were for each game in MAME since there are so many different layouts. When someone else is using the cabinet, it would be nice not having to explain to them the controls for each game....but when I found CP-Wizard, I found exactly what I had wanted.

I am basically trying to setup as standard control panel layout for each control type for each game in CP-Wizard. I just made a background pic the size of my middle screen with the MAME logo at the bottom. Then I made the layouts I wanted and saved them as separate layouts.  Then I had CP-Wizard configured to use whatever layout for each control scheme as required.

I didn't need to have CP Wizard running in the background. I just had CP-Wizard do an Export-batch, creating control panel images for each game automatically with the correct naming of the files. These pics work with Pinball X as my DMD screen images for MAME. They display while browsing through each game and stay displayed while playing. Simple and easy to see to see while playing at any time.  I may just use this for PC Games and other emulators too.

Here's some pics of my current layout. Its simple, and probably not final, but works quite well.











« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:43:57 pm by thagerty »

rablack97

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I thinks its the fact you keep referencing where the build is, once is enough unless you have 5 different mancaves  :)

I do love this build, my only poke at you is doing too much on one build.

Its like adding pinball to a standup arcade, it just doesn't go together.  The pinball part looks awesome, the added jsticks and the carnival lighting along with it, not so much.  The spacing to 2 plyr play looks really tight as well.

If anything, a swappable blank panel would of been cool as that lit control setup and would get annoying in a good game of pinball.

Whenever i take the plunge i'll be using this thread as a guide though, very impressive.


Exactly

You seem to have plenty of jack and a room dedicated to entertainment of this variety... I would have built a Virtual Pin and a separate Vs Cabinet.

but you know.... don't let us Spock your Kirk....


As for doing too much and the lights being distracting during pinball.... holy god, you haven't seen addressable LED strip lighting on a pin cabinet have you? Its AWESOME, and is the next thing I'm installing, along with other pinball lighting (strobes, beacons, flashers) as well as solenoids, and a blower-fan.

My middle "two screens" are not "normal" for a virtual pin cabinet, and I have found new features for them that no one else have thought of before. Some of them I see others wanting to use in their virtual pins as well as their arcade cabinets.   

 I LOVE seeing unique cabinets!

Yes but no pinball has 3sticks and 14 button where the lockdown bar shoud be, that's the distracting part.

So your saying your the first person to do a dynamic marquee / controls / dmd display.....I don't know about that one sir.  I would say your setup is very nice, but i think its been done before 2015.

So do I, and I love what you've done here, regardless of what i have to say it's something you should be proud of overall.

And now that you've explained the AIO reasoning of relocating on a whim, it makes more sense.


thagerty

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My simpit is another example....its not just for racing, but also for flight simulators. Way back when I made it, no one had ever tried that idea before, and now I see lots of others using it in their setups.

I like the controls and think its a neat idea. 2 players is a bit much , but you should make it hot swappable. The default being a faux lockdown bar there but when you wanna MAME it the controls slide into place. Personally, I think I'd play it more as a pin than a MAME so I wouldnt want the controls there all the time, YMMV.

As for the flight sim/racing sim hybrids, Ive seen those for as long as I can remember, so unless you build your simpit 18 or so years ago, I think its not very accurate to say "no one had ever tried that idea before" but I do give you credit for actually building something, unlike a Xertain Xomebody else who tries to take credit for everything without building anything.

And I dont mean to come off as an ---uvula--- or overtly negative. I honestly do like your build I just think youre doing it a disserve with the name.  Man-up is hilarious and is a brazzilion times better.  :cheers:

A friend of mine had a MAME cabinet with swappable panels many years ago, and I liked the idea. Its still a possibility.... I literally don't even notice the arcade controls when playing pinball.

As for the simpit combo... I should have been more specific.... I meant the combination rotating console for the flight stick and 6 speed shifter was the first of its kind I have ever seen in the sim racing and flight-sim community.

Here's a video of what I mean:




I don't think you're being a *beep* at all. I also forget that my own humor doesn't always translate well to others in a forum.... and changing to the military life in my late 30's- to early 40's has given me a broad spectrum of different kinds of humor!

I hope to get a better name...I know it's not very imaginative....and yes, I thought Man-UP was awesome!

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Exactly

You seem to have plenty of jack and a room dedicated to entertainment of this variety... I would have built a Virtual Pin and a separate Vs Cabinet.

but you know.... don't let us Spock your Kirk....
I wanna kiss your mouf.

Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

***Build what you dig, bro. Build what you dig.***

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So your saying your the first person to do a dynamic marquee / controls / dmd display.....I don't know about that one sir.  I would say your setup is very nice, but i think its been done before 2015.



I'm not referring to the "dynamic marquee / controls / dmd display" themselves specifically.... I was referring to using the middle third monitor as two displays (for ANY purpose, specifically on a virtual pinball cabinet) instead of just using half of it for only a DMD, which is how I've seen it used on all other cabinets. At least, this is what I have seen in the virtual pinball cabinet community.... maybe I missed some others... If you have seen something similar, please let me know... I honestly would love to see it, as I have had others asking me all the time, how I was able to get this kind of setup working.

I know in the arcade cabinet community, this stuff has been used in many different ways.
« Last Edit: June 03, 2016, 04:28:04 pm by thagerty »

rablack97

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thagerty

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I just re-read my post.... I was being truly sincere, and realize that could have been taken the wrong way. I was trying to be humble....honestly I was.  :)

rablack97

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ok you have my interest sir, I rigged together a setup similar to yours and started out with future pinball.

I was able to get 4 screen setup going, but cant get the stupid DMD to change colors based on the game, i read the thread quickly, and will need to retest.

However, the resizing and moving the layers is a PITA to make it look right.  How many tables did you end up doing?  And what tips and tricks can offer to make that process go faster in your experience?


thagerty

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ok you have my interest sir, I rigged together a setup similar to yours and started out with future pinball.

I was able to get 4 screen setup going, but cant get the stupid DMD to change colors based on the game, i read the thread quickly, and will need to retest.

However, the resizing and moving the layers is a PITA to make it look right.  How many tables did you end up doing?  And what tips and tricks can offer to make that process go faster in your experience?


I assume you are using FutureDMD to display your Future Pinball DMDs on your third monitor? In order to get FutureDMD to change your DMD to a different colour per game, you need to add the setting for that game in the FutureDMD.ini file.  (The FutureDMD guide shows you how to do this).  You also MUST have FutureDMD and Future Pinball tables launched from a front-end like Pinball X in order for the colour changes to take affect.

I assume you are using BAM (Better Arcade Mode) ? This is a MUST if you are using a cabinet. It will allows for all of your tables and backglass to be sized and positioned to one setup, or you can change your layout per game.... I HAD to use this as each table is different and their backglasses were sized differently depending on what would fit the screen best.

Getting the translite Overlays (movie clips, colour display menus, etc) to position and size to my bezel, is a bit of pain...especially since each table is different. Once I had a standard size for an Overlay to fit my bezel, it made it easier, though every table was a little different.

Note: the "HuD Overlay" and "Hud DMD" are intended to be displayed on your main screen for desktop use, and aren't meant for a cabinet display screen. (They are a different colour and show up on the translite in the editor) Unlock these and drag them off screen. Then unlock any Overlays (not HUD, these display on the translite). Use the numbered layers to find each item you want to display on your 3rd/4th display. The resize them best you can. Remember how they were layered overtop of one another! It's not easy at first, but once you understand how it works, its not too bad.

I also created some of my own Overlays or scores, etc to fit in that 4th display area. I had to do the layering / resizing of Overlays for over 150 Future Pinball tables....so what you see in my video of Future Pinball tables took me quite a while to do!

Helpful links:

Future Pinball Tables are here:

http://www.pinsimdb.org/

The best Future Pinball tables (created or modded from SLAMT1LT) are here:

http://speak1970.wix.com/slamspinballemporium

Follow his instructions for setting up BAM (he doesn't use a cabinet though) and read everything on his help page:

http://speak1970.wix.com/slamspinballemporium#!help/c21nl


Good luck!

« Last Edit: June 09, 2016, 04:12:20 pm by thagerty »

Generic Eric

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I'd like a machine like this.  I would change the arcade CP though.  I think its Gyruss that has the recessed control panel under the monitor area.  I think a taller playfield cabinet would be in order to maintain space between the control panel and coin door. 

Thanks for sharing.

thagerty

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Here's a video showing the new control panel, as well as an update to what parts I have so far for controlled LED lighting and feedback.






« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:45:49 pm by thagerty »

thagerty

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PC Vertical / Portrait Games


There are some PC games out there that actually do support a vertical / portrait layout.

Some are basically arcade ports and some are original. they are either Steam games or normal PC Games such as:

-Crimson Clover
-Ikaruga
-Mushihimesama
-Raiden III
-Raiden IV Overkill
-Ice Cold Beer
-Zeke's Peak

Ice Cold Beer / Zeke's Peak required me using Pinnacle Game Profiler for my P1 joystick and XPadder for my P2 Joystick... but it works perfect together. the others just worked normally and gave you rotate options for your screen.



Then there are the Windows 10 Store Games. These are originally tablet / phone type games that work with keyboard / mouse or gamepad controls. I basically had my P2 joystick and buttons act like a mouse for these games in case it was needed.

Since these don't have a normal .EXE file to reference, in order to get these to run with Pinnacle Game Profiler for mapped controls....  I had to run this command:

%windir%\explorer.exe shell:::{4234d49b-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}

Then create a shorcut for the games from the window that opens.
Create a .BAT file that "Starts" the Pinnacle Game Profile (persistent) manually for your game via command line... then it opens the *.lnk shorcut you created for your game.
Use this .BAT file with Rocketlauncher via Pinball X  (I open all my PC games with Pinball X using RocketLauncher)
Have your "Launch After" run another .BAT file that "Stops" your Pinnacle Game Profiler manually.

These games look and play great when setup correctly. Games such as:

Crossy Road
Despicable Me
Sonic Dash


Like MAME, I added control panel pics in the middle screen where possible.


Here's a video showing some of these games in action in Pinball X.







Since I have arcade sticks and many buttons, its not a problem for me to get alot of these games to run. I know I can also run Android games through Blue Stacks and other programs (I have done so on my normal PC), but that may come at a later time.


« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:50:19 pm by thagerty »

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Whoa! That's a lot of buttons! ;D Love the idea and execution! Very well done! :cheers:
Doing arcades, the cheap@ss way!
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thagerty

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So I've been making great progress so far.... got all my parts except for beacons. One of my solenoids is broken, so it's 9 only for now. (I don't know when a shaker or gear motor will happen.)

Even got it all working in the cab with a mock-up via DOF which is working great. Most of the wiring is good to go. I even setup a kill switch for the 12v going to the sainsmart relay board and anything mechanical for a "night mode", while still allowing for 12v for anything else light related.

Here's the board before it's put into the cabinet. It may not be the prettiest, but it allows me access to everything while having all outputs of the led-wiz fused, and having the led / strobe output closer to where they will be to accommodate the limited rgb wiring I have. The Teensy for addressable leds will be on my PC board. I'll still have plenty of room for future stuff, even if I need to stack boards.



Here's my mockup with everything except for solenoids connected (no beacons, and a small test fan in the pic)....but I can still see the relays working to confirm they will work. I have the left and outer-left flashers in my left speaker hole, and the right flashers in the right speaker hole, and the center on the led strip for now.

I also have my FIRE button working on the arcade control panel, and I have it combined with the launch button in DOF, since you need to use the launch button to "FIRE" in VP anyways.




DOF is pretty damn impressive! Some amazing work done by swisslizard and arngrim!

Since I don't have 10 solenoids, I can just combine the rear center and the middle center for now. It also frees up an LED-Wiz port.

I also have an atwood 3000 blower fan. Man it works great, but sure is loud! Very cool the way different tables make use of it. The noise is going to be better when used with a hose....  which gets me wondering on where to mount it!

I'm definitely considering mounting it inside (like randr did), as it fits perfectly in that spot before my coin door. (I removed my coin door mech as I don't use it and I have only one coin slot)  I was going to have it blow out through the coin eject hole with some kind of upward scoop).     Or maybe I might still mount it on top of the cabinet....or behind the cabinet blowing up through a hose / vent at the top of the cabinet with a finished topper... 

I also would like a simple way to adjust the voltage going to the fan...12V is pretty loud...5V is too slow...so maybe just a simple way to get in between with some kind of pot / switch. I don't have an H-bridge or anything else that would allow me to use PWM right now....maybe if I get a shaker down the line.

Any suggestions would be great..



Also....we just found out that we have bed bugs in the house.....AAAAAAAH! We think my son brought them back from his grade 8 school graduation trip! So now my progress is slowed down considerably, cause we have to purge the house and live in hell for a month or so (and its going to cost alot)

 ....and it was going so well too!


« Last Edit: July 08, 2017, 07:58:44 pm by thagerty »

SNAAKE

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how many tables are out there for pinmame?

can you link me to proper site lol..not asking for roms but guessing there are sites dedicated to pinball mame cabinets?