Main Restorations Software Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Everything Else Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements Monitor/Video GroovyMAME Merit/JVL Touchscreen Meet Up Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing Woodworking Software Support Forums Consoles Project Arcade Reviews
Automated Projects Artwork Frontend Support Forums Pinball Forum Discussion Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board controls.dat Linux Miscellaneous Arcade Wiki Discussion Old Archives
Lightguns Arcade1Up Try the site in https mode Site News

Unread posts | New Replies | Recent posts | Rules | Chatroom | Wiki | File Repository | RSS | Submit news

  

Author Topic: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project  (Read 3952 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« on: November 26, 2017, 08:51:10 pm »
Mortal Kombat Mame Project!

When I first purchased this cab, I thought I would fully restore it and just keep MK1 in it. I had planned on acquiring another 3-4 cabs and having the whole MK collection. But situations arose and I had to move into a smaller apartment. Namely getting laid off and scrambling to find something to keep the lights on.

So I've had to adjust my goals for now.

The Goal: I want to play as many games as possible on this cab without destroying the overall aesthetic of the cab, and to make it easy to convert back to jamma when the day comes.

So far:
I've stripped the t-molding off, stripped the artwork off of the sides, front and top of the control panel because they were ripped, they had been drawn on and had some crusty gum spots on it. Though I've cut a separate top board that I'm gonna use for Mame only, so I can just swap panels back to the original when I convert it back to jamma.

I had to strip all of the wiring out because it was a rats nest of crimps, splices and spiders that looked it could have caught fire at any time. It was at one time converted to a Street Fighter 2 I think. Thankfully they left the artwork for the most part. I've gotta fix the wiring coming from the monitor because it was yanked while I was de-tangling and cutting out the rats nest of wires. Pics will be below.

What's Needed:
I'm not 100% sure if I want to reprint the side art. I kind of like the worn look, but would also like to see it look brand-spanking new. I'm gonna have to think about that. One side is faded a good bit, but the other side doesn't look bad at all. So...I don't know.

Need to replace the coin door lights. Which I think these are hopefully the right ones. The original ones have "C 555" marked on them.: BULBS!

I may need to find a replacement control board for the monitor as well. The guy I bought it off of said some of the pots had been snapped or broken.

I've got a windows pc with a ArcadeVGA card in it that I'd like to use. I've already got it setup with MaLa and a custom skin I put together. Gonna run the controls and coin mechs through an i-pac. The coin door lights and marquee light I'm gonna run to the PC's power supply. The cabs speaker(s) are going to be run to a amp so I've got volume control independent from the computer.

How I'm hoping it'll power up, I'm gonna extend the power button of the PC up either next to the original switch, or close to the coin door on the inside of the cab. Use that button to power the PC & lights, and then the original switch to turn the monitor on and off. I'm just not sure how to wire all of that. I'm confident enough to wire everything up but the monitor. So any suggestions or help with that would be great and definitely appreciated.

Now onto the photos:
The serial label in the cab-


Right side of the cab (faded)


Left side


Back of the monitor


Monitor cable I need to fix


The transformer? Yeah. This thing kinda scares me.


The monitor control board


The power supply


New control panel artwork


Monitor board


Speaker amp


Clean board for mame control panel


Clean mame control panel with artwork on it


Coin door light bulbs



I think that's about it.


Mike A

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5884
  • Last login:Today at 01:33:13 pm
  • This plan is foolproof
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #1 on: November 27, 2017, 06:48:31 am »
Thank you for keeping the CRT. That is a good starting point. When you replace the wiring, you should wire it for JAMMA. You could run the PC through a Jpac to the cabinet. You would also be free to throw original arcade PCBs in there as well.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2017, 08:24:19 am »
I was thinking about using that J-pac. So really then all I'd need to do is re-wire the cab according to the user manual, then just plug the harness into the J-pac and the J-pac into the PC essentially...correct?

The monitor works. So no reason to get rid of it. Even if it wasn't working I'd try what I could to get it working. CRT's are getting harder and harder to find. And it's not too terribly hard to repair some of the minor problems. Cap kits...etc. As easy as it would be to just slap a LCD in it...I just couldn't do it to this cab, or any real original cab. If I were building from scratch and doing a "catch all" cab project then I'd go with a LCD. But otherwise, CRT all the way.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2017, 08:27:51 am by BigHootchieMK »

Mike A

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5884
  • Last login:Today at 01:33:13 pm
  • This plan is foolproof
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2017, 10:40:27 am »
yup. Your control panel artwork shows 6 action buttons. That is not JAMMA standard, but the Jpac has terminals for extra buttons on it. Ultimarc's website does a good job explaining what you need to do. The installation instructions are posted on the website.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #4 on: November 27, 2017, 10:47:32 am »
Yep. I watched a couple of J-Pac videos on youtube and all of them mentioned needing to run the extra buttons to the terminal on the J-pac. But I'll make sure to check out the ultimarc website as well. It's something I can fiddle with and learn without doing too much damage. I've never wired up my own Jamma harness. I've mostly dealt with emulation stuff or USB encoders that fit in fight sticks for console use. So it'll be a good learning experience.

Question. Since I'll be switching to using a J-Pac, I can discard the i-pac and the audio amp correct? And will I need to do anything different with the arcade VGA card? Or do I even need that anymore?

I've still gotta print out the manual for MK so I can keep it in the cab when I get everything finished.

I'm hoping to have it running before Christmas. But I'm not gonna rush and mess something up.

Mike A

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5884
  • Last login:Today at 01:33:13 pm
  • This plan is foolproof
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #5 on: November 27, 2017, 10:56:21 am »
You won't need the ipac. I think you will still need the audio amp. You still need the ArcadeVGA card.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #6 on: November 27, 2017, 11:29:34 am »
Oh yeah. The audio will need to run out from the audio plug on the PC to the Amp instead of to the J-pac. Otherwise no sound and no volume control.

Question. In its original setup, would the audio run through the jamma harness and be controlled via the main board/sound board (in the case of MK)? Or would that be a separate line coming from the board itself directly to the speakers?
« Last Edit: November 27, 2017, 11:32:19 am by BigHootchieMK »

Mike A

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5884
  • Last login:Today at 01:33:13 pm
  • This plan is foolproof
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2017, 01:35:54 pm »
Check out the Mortal Kombat service manual 3-3. It is a cabinet wiring diagram. That should be really helpful.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2017, 01:41:51 pm »
Thanky. I've got one downloaded. Just haven't had a chance to crack it open yet.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #9 on: November 30, 2017, 08:39:08 pm »
Where's the best place to get a Jamma harness from? Aside from wiring it myself, which I'd like to avoid.

I'd like to stay away from the cheapo chinese ones that are polluting ebay right now for all those Pandora's Box kits. I haven't heard many good things about them.

These are the three I'm looking at:

Twisted Quarter
http://www.twistedquarter.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=177_178&products_id=5

Mikes Arcade:
https://www.mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=JAMMAHARNESS

FocusAttack:
https://www.focusattack.com/suzo-happ-super-jamma-compatible-wiring-harness/

I noticed Focus Attack carries a lot of Ultimarcs stuff which is cool. That's probably where I'll order the J-Pac from as well as a couple happ comp sticks.

Mike A

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5884
  • Last login:Today at 01:33:13 pm
  • This plan is foolproof
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #10 on: December 01, 2017, 01:23:59 am »
I have had good service from all of those vendors. The Chinese harnesses are wired slightly differently. Avoid those.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2017, 12:41:01 pm »
A few small updates.

Working on wiping down and vacuuming the inside of the cab today. Can't do any drilling or cutting on the control panel because of the weather. Maybe next weekend. May start trying to strip the side art off of the faded side and off of the black panels along the front. Still debating. My job has a large format printer we use for car wraps, banners and signs and I have a full set of artwork ready to go. Only going to cost me materials to get it printed. The guy that runs the sign department offered to help me re-wrap the cab for free if I let him come over and play on the cab. I said hell yes! So hopefully will get all that done during the week I'm off for X-mas/New Years.

I noticed the control panel board I cut needs about an 1/8" knocked off to make the artwork flush. Miscalculation on my part....didn't measure twice.

Found a couple of D-Sub connectors I had stashed away in a project box. So that'll take care of the control panel quick disconnects. Found some 2 pin, 6 pin and 12 pin molex connectors on Parts-Express I'm gonna order later today. So that will handle the rest of the cab for quick disconnects.

Ordered my T-Molding, Jamma Harness, 9-pin video cable, coin door light bulbs and some security screws for the control panel off of TwistedQuarter. So looking forward to getting those and being able to get started running wires.

I may fiddle with my MaLa layout and rom sets just to make sure I've got what I want on there. Refine the game list and whatnot. If anyones interested in seeing that stuff let me know and I'll post some photos.

BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #12 on: December 11, 2017, 08:45:23 pm »
The cab is stripped! Well the sides anyway. I'm in the process of stripping the front area around the coin door. It's a pain in the buttocks. The old vinyl is pulling up splintery chunks of the wood. I guess because they didn't put a clearcoat on that board before they applied the vinyl like they did for the sides.

Received my j-pac, jamma harness and all my wiring stuff. So now just gotta finish up stripping and sanding down the front. Applying a coat of clear coat.

I have a wiring question though. After reading the FAQ on the ultimarc site for the J-Pac, how do I need to wire up the speakers in the cab? They won't go through the J-pac since it's just mono. Do I run the cab speakers to the audio amp I have, then run that directly to the PC?

Starting stripping the cab




The sides are clean!




See the splintering?



BigHootchieMK

  • Trade Count: (0)
  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 21
  • Last login:June 05, 2022, 12:15:52 am
  • I want to restore and build arcade stuff!
Re: Mortal Kombat 1 Mame Conversion Project
« Reply #13 on: December 11, 2017, 09:33:51 pm »
Finished stripping the front of the cab. Used a heat gun and a sharp mini scraper. Seemed to do the trick.

Safety Tip: Heat gun + Carpet = melted stinky fire hazard