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Author Topic: No budget full size cab  (Read 5447 times)

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scheerce

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No budget full size cab
« on: January 02, 2018, 08:56:48 pm »
I am looking to build my first cabinet.  Budget is not an issue.  Excluding the wood, LCD, artwork, which I guess leaves buttons, PC, controllers, etc, what would a high end electronics setup look like? 

For a PC I was looking at a home built Intel 7700k I7, 16GB ram, 1TB SSD, 5TB HDD, somewhere around a 1060 geoforce card.  Not high high end, but pretty decent i think.  Use the spinner HDD for dumping crap, then the SSD for Windows (though i would prefer Redhat/Centos), emulators, games.  I am also thinking of integrating an top end Oculus into the system (just an idea right now). 

I will be using this for MAME.  I will probably start with the stripped down list in the sticky.  It looks nicely done.  However, I would like to throw in spinner games, trackball games, and I am really wanting to put a flight stick on the CP, so some flight games.

I am a 22 year IT System Engineer and Systems Architect, so I like to tinker around with things.  Not afraid of any of the work.  I hope to make this build a hobby for a couple months.

acvieluf

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2018, 10:21:22 pm »

This post smells funny.  You like fishtanks, too?   :lol



Let's just say you are for real.
I will be using this for MAME.  I will probably start with the stripped down list in the sticky.  It looks nicely done.  However, I would like to throw in spinner games, trackball games, and I am really wanting to put a flight stick on the CP, so some flight games.
Please for the love of everything good and holy, do not do this. 

Vigo

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #2 on: January 03, 2018, 03:57:04 am »
Welcome!

With all sincerity, if you have no real constraints, which I am not doubting for a second, why try to boil the ocean with a single cabinet? There are too many dudes I know with their flashy first cabinet that tried to be everything, until they found out they much prefer having a few cabinets in a row to satisfy the different play styles.

A 2 player cabinet with a trackball may seem vanilla, but it will allow you to focus on what is important about the project, which is art and design. What you are creating is a setting, a location, a mood for games to be played, and creating a setup designed to work excellent with the type of games you are most likely to be playing, not just playable for everything under the sun. At least that is how I look at it.

If you are sincerely going all out on a cabinet, consider getting a real arcade monitor. Tons of fun tinkering and learning as well, as I am sure you already get the PC side of things. The monitor will do a lot more for the authentic experience than the flight stick, spinner, oculous rift combo. At least that is my 2 cents.    ;)

UEDan

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #3 on: January 03, 2018, 01:33:20 pm »
Being in systems that long, I believe you should be aware of the KISS principle?

The panel can get real messy with a bunch of controls.
Lets start with the games you actually want to play and will continue to play after the novelty of owning a cabinet has passed.

Personally, unless you do end up combining an oculous. The PC is overkill.

scheerce

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #4 on: January 03, 2018, 03:14:32 pm »
Nothing fishy here.  Just have a good budget to build an arcade, about 4k if needed.  Unfortunately I am stuck with one cab because it will go into a room that already has a bar, keg cooler, wine fridge, etc.  Think a 4 square 2 story home and I am using the living room in the front of the house. We don't have basements here.  I know the PC is overkill but the oculus is really looking fun.  Keg cooler + oculus, what could go wrong.  I plan on playing arcade games, maybe saying MAME was the wrong thing, but I am new. I guess I am looking for high quality buttons, high quality joy sticks, high quality controller like the iPac ultimate IO, etc.  I really like the thrustmaster warthog for a flight stuck embedded in the CP.

Titchgamer

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #5 on: January 03, 2018, 03:29:57 pm »
Do you want a Arcade machine or a entertainment centre?

That is the Q you need to ask and the decision you need to make.

The arcade machine will require a fraction of your 4k budget as it wont have a Oculus attached and wont need a gaming rig of that standard to run it!

If on the other hand you want a full entertainment centre thats a different kettle of fish, can easily cost you 4k and will not work built into a cabinet.
In that scenario you would be better with a large flat screen mounted on the wall (or a projector) and build a pedestal for the arcade game controls you can move out of the way when you are playing VR etc.

Have a think what you want to do and the practicality of it then get back to us ;)

loupg

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #6 on: January 03, 2018, 03:32:31 pm »
My original plan, years ago, was to do something similar with every control under the sun shoved into a single cabinet, I've since decided to pull WAY back, and am doing essentially a defender-style setup with an extra joystick (search for multi williams and you'll see a number of examples,) so my current advice would be to make a cabinet that is good at a few dozen of games than medeocre at thousands of games.

That being said, to more directly answer your question, take a look at some of the modular control panels people have put together.  This was the first I found: http://beersmith.com/mame/panels.htm
but there are a number of others out there as well.  I think I saw someone else had made something like 4-6 different full control panels and built his cabinet so he could easily swap the whole control panel depending on the game he wanted to play, but I'm not finding a link right now.

I would avoid trying to make a single control panel that can do everything, it just won't do it well, and will look like an arcade parts supplier threw up on your machine.

acvieluf

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #7 on: January 03, 2018, 03:37:05 pm »


Nothing fishy here.  Just have a good budget to build an arcade, about 4k if needed. 

Well my apologies then.

Sent from my car phone


jennifer

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #8 on: January 03, 2018, 03:50:07 pm »
   As I can appreciate your aspirations and desire... While 4k can/will build a quite nice machine, its far from a "no budget build",  Out there in the real world you could spend that on just the quality tooling needed  , However then you could make 100 of them just as easily as one. I personally got around 10k into a couple of my funner projects, and that's not even counting the massive pile of workbench equipment acquired over the years #2, A two month "binge build seems a bit shortsighted as far as first time quality goes. Time is not a factor as this is a lifestyle for most on these pages.... If we were to ask Jennifer ( ::)) she would most likely say search this forum very carefully, and find what you want before you jump in with both feet....BTW, welcome new friend.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2018, 03:51:57 pm by jennifer »

paigeoliver

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #9 on: January 03, 2018, 05:57:53 pm »
There aren't actually a lot of flight stick games in Mame worth playing. Better off leaving the flight controls on your desk and playing the much higher quality PC ones.

The computer in my Mame cabinet is from 2001, still chugging along, still playing everything worth playing full speed. My gaming computer is on my desk where it belongs.

If you actually want to spend some money where it counts then buy one of these. The display is the most important choice you can make when building a mame cabinet. The computer barely matters, it will eventually be replaced anyway.

https://na.suzohapp.com/products/monitors/49-2715-00

Not the best ever made, but it is all you can still get.

I have a similar monitor in mine (D9200, same basic specs but traditional curved tube).
Acceptance of Zen philosophy is marred slightly by the nagging thought that if all things are interconnected, then all things must be in some way involved with Pauly Shore.

smass

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2018, 06:14:39 pm »
As others have pointed out - the key thing to consider is what type of games you want to play - and then what type of setup is best for those games.  A stand-up arcade cabinet is best for ARCADE type games.  PC games and simulators, as well as console games, are not usually games you will be comfortable playing standing up at an upright cabinet.  Its not that you can't play those types of games on a stand up cabinet - but most likely you won't want to.  Building one stand up arcade cabinet to play every type of game is a path many have gone down, and few have been happy with in the end.

We are not trying to rain on your parade - just trying to pass on some wisdom from folks who have been there, and done that. 

wp34

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #11 on: January 03, 2018, 06:31:33 pm »
I'll be the contrarian here and say go for it.  I started buying/restoring dedicated cabinets for the exact reasons Vigo outlined.  Having said that my MAME cabinet with trackball, spinner and trigger/flight stick is my favorite and would be the last cabinet to leave should I be forced to liquidate.   Having all those extra controls has allowed me to try out at home just about any game I run into in the wild.

The journey of building is half the fun. 

Dawgz Rule

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #12 on: January 03, 2018, 06:55:19 pm »
Thrustmaster Warthog  = Flight sims.   Would not recommend on an arcade cabinet.   

smass

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #13 on: January 03, 2018, 09:40:17 pm »
Here you go baby - add a spinner and a flight stick and you are in there....  ;D

https://westernmass.craigslist.org/vgm/d/gaming-cabinettitles/6438143825.html


JK - build what you want, I would suggest checking out the finished project threads to see if something inspires you.
« Last Edit: January 03, 2018, 09:42:51 pm by smass »

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2018, 12:29:40 am »
You might want to use the "What type of build meets my needs?" design process described here in the FAQ.

Step 2 is your friend.


Scott

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #15 on: January 04, 2018, 04:52:45 am »
My last cabinet was a no-budget build. It's kind of fun to look at aesthetics enhancements, but at the end of the day I kept my controls to 2 street fighter layouts and a trackball. Total build cost wasn't too bad - I want to guess around 1.5k. Since it's dedicated to mame, there wasn't much reason to dump a ton of cash into the PC. I bought one of the i5's that was being sold a while back in B/S/T.

I could've thrown 3-4k at it, but there just wasn't any reason.

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #16 on: January 04, 2018, 09:29:34 am »
I can imagine someone wanting to play new games on an arcade build. So that doesn't necessarily mean old screens and old (slow) PC's. But if you only want to play (older) arcade games, go for the real deal with CRT (if you have the room) and a less fancy PC. But if you want to play some new (steam) games go for a nice widescreen LCD (not too close to your face if you go big) and a beast of a PC.

I do agree with the other guys and gals: don't make a "frankenpanel". It's ugly (my opinion) and won't probably fit nicely on a control panel (stuff will get in the way of others). But I can imagine 2P joysticks/buttons, spinner and trackball. For other games use bluetooth controllers or a modular control panel. And if you really want the flight stick, I would lose the trackball, as both are quite prominent and take some space.

scheerce

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #17 on: January 04, 2018, 11:51:54 am »
Absolutely excellent comments and I will take all to heart.  I do agree th journey is the fun part so I greatly appreciate all the tips that I can go research.  Looks like I need to do some thinking about what I actually want to do.  Right now just the thought of it is so exciting that I haven’t really thought about the reality of things. 

Vigo

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #18 on: January 04, 2018, 01:10:45 pm »
Absolutely excellent comments and I will take all to heart.  I do agree th journey is the fun part so I greatly appreciate all the tips that I can go research.  Looks like I need to do some thinking about what I actually want to do.  Right now just the thought of it is so exciting that I haven’t really thought about the reality of things.

 :cheers: It's always a pleasure to have people around here with your point of view. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Titchgamer

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #19 on: January 04, 2018, 03:35:12 pm »
Absolutely excellent comments and I will take all to heart.  I do agree th journey is the fun part so I greatly appreciate all the tips that I can go research.  Looks like I need to do some thinking about what I actually want to do.  Right now just the thought of it is so exciting that I haven’t really thought about the reality of things.

There in lies the mistake nearly everyone makes with a first build!

You get so excited with the idea you loose all common sense lol

The most important thing is to have fun.
The 2nd most important is to try and keep a clear mind :p

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #20 on: January 04, 2018, 04:37:45 pm »
I`ve allready built a No budget Tabletop came to about £2000, if i had the room for a full size i`d build a Pincab that was both a pinball and a top spec arcade cab.  You can go completely OTT with the electronics in a pincab, but im guessing your set on an arcade cab..

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #21 on: January 05, 2018, 03:39:39 am »
I like frankepanels when they're well-designed.

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #22 on: January 05, 2018, 06:40:44 am »
I agree with the others. If money is no concern, absolutely go with a genuine arcade CRT. LCD is absolutely awful for old arcade games. You might as well just play them on your TV in your living room at that point.


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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #23 on: January 05, 2018, 08:02:58 pm »
LCD is absolutely awful for old arcade games.

I'm the father of two daughters and I can sense overly dramatic statements a mile away. It's my super power.  :P

If you need the space, I find the compromise to a LCD to be acceptable. Clearly some people disagree. I currently have 4 arcade games and 2 are LCD, 1 is computer CRT and 1 is Arcade CRT. Sure, the LCD isn't as authentic, but I find very little is lost. I don't even use filters, but the filter effects look to help in making the experience more authentic if that's your thing.

 

wp34

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #24 on: January 05, 2018, 10:15:44 pm »
LCD is absolutely awful for old arcade games.

I'm the father of two daughters and I can sense overly dramatic statements a mile away. It's my super power.  :P

Your spidey sense must tingle a lot around here.   :cheers:

jennifer

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #25 on: January 05, 2018, 10:38:20 pm »
LCD is absolutely awful for old arcade games.

I'm the father of two daughters and I can sense overly dramatic statements a mile away. It's my super power.  :P

If you need the space, I find the compromise to a LCD to be acceptable. Clearly some people disagree. I currently have 4 arcade games and 2 are LCD, 1 is computer CRT and 1 is Arcade CRT. Sure, the LCD isn't as authentic, but I find very little is lost. I don't even use filters, but the filter effects look to help in making the experience more authentic if that's your thing.
OMG, Jennifer does like her drama.... ::)

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #26 on: January 06, 2018, 02:56:43 am »
With that budget I'd still dump the idea of having flight SIM controls unless you plan on doing a sit down cab aka a driving cabinet.

What you have sounds good but I'd add a few things. Personally I'd use a CRT instead of LCD (for my own cab I use a 27" 4:3 hd tv). It offers a larger play area than an LCD that needs to fit in the same space.

I'd use a bar LCD or a cut lcd for the marque so that when you play different games their marque shows up as well.

If you want a lot of controls for the various types of games, I would still only use two joysticks and a track ball. I believe the ultimarc 360's have an add on feature that turns it into a spinner type controller as well but I don't know what kind of feedback they have gotten.

If you are really into tempest then maybe a dedicated spinner may be the way to go but the more controls you add the worse the cab will look.
If you must have every controller under the sun then I'd build something with a removable control panel and build multiple dedicated control panels that you can swap out (it doesn't need to be complicated either).

I'd use lighter buttons and have them setup to change colors to match the original games button colors. You can do this with electric ice buttons from groovygamegear or go with clear buttons (for my cab I went with electric ice because I liked the white look when no lights were being used).

Have your top covered in plexi and everything flush or bottom mounted for a stealth look.

Add a functioning coin door that accepts coins and functions as buttons.

Add USB ports (nutrik ports look nice) but make them hidden (like underneath the cp) to allow for attachments like guns (ultimarc has a pretty nice gun setup with a recoil option).

Use smoked glass.

Use laminate and the appropriately sized t-molding (they have lighted t-molding but I don't think it's ready for prime time). You may be able to use quality ply wood that's thinner that 3/4" but equals 3/4" when the laminate is used.

Use some good quality speakers with a sub inside the cabinet.

Have everything powered by a smart power switch so it turns off with one button.

Find a shape of a game that you like or grew up playing as a kid and use that as the basis for your cab.

Have someone here create your artwork (pick a theme and go with it, don't try and do a massive collage).


All that should put you pretty close to the 4k mark. Have fun and be sure to post up your progress and for the love of god host your pictures HERE, do not use a hosting service and do not use your own website!

smass

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #27 on: January 06, 2018, 09:35:02 am »
Good stuff from ivwshane.  He has some great suggestions which got me thinking.  I think a two player CP, with a 6 button street fighter setup for each player, two 4/8 way switchable joysticks, a 3" trackball, and a spinner would be my ideal control panel setup.  I have been thinking a bit about what I would build with a big budget (notice my signature - I am frugal by nature so this is a fun exercise) and what I have come up is mostly Laythe's cabinet "Mimic" with a few tweaks.  Here is his thread, a great read even if you don't go this direction:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149109.msg1555074.html#msg1555074

Here is a video of Mimic in action if you just want to see the payoff: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53km5j7cvh241d3/mimic.mp4?dl=0

The key elements to this build are a large LCD TV oriented vertically with a software restricted play area with custom bezels for each game and a dynamic LCD marquee that changes with games.  He used ultimarc servostik joysticks that are motorized and change from 4 way to 8 way based on games selected.  To me Mimic is the ultimate mame machine, but with a large budget I would change a few things:

- I would use street fighter 6 button layout for each player. 
- I would integrate a spinner
- Laythe used a 29" 21:9 LCD for his dynamic marquee to save some funds.  With a large budget I would spring for a spanpixel LCD like used in another legendary cabinet by markc74 called "Blip".  The spanpixel is not as tall and closer in aspect ratio to an original arcade marquee.  You see Blip here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137295.0.html

Laythe coded his own custom front end for his machine.  Thats a bit beyond my programming skills, but with a big enough budget maybe I would hire him :)

As I said in my second post, I think it would be great to review some of the top builds posted on this forum and see what you like and don't like.  One thing I will say is that taking your time in the planning stages to make sure your build concept is well thought out will pay off in the end. :)
« Last Edit: January 06, 2018, 09:48:25 am by smass »

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #28 on: January 06, 2018, 11:09:01 am »
Good stuff from ivwshane.  He has some great suggestions which got me thinking.  I think a two player CP, with a 6 button street fighter setup for each player, two 4/8 way switchable joysticks, a 3" trackball, and a spinner would be my ideal control panel setup.  I have been thinking a bit about what I would build with a big budget (notice my signature - I am frugal by nature so this is a fun exercise) and what I have come up is mostly Laythe's cabinet "Mimic" with a few tweaks.  Here is his thread, a great read even if you don't go this direction:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,149109.msg1555074.html#msg1555074

Here is a video of Mimic in action if you just want to see the payoff: https://www.dropbox.com/s/53km5j7cvh241d3/mimic.mp4?dl=0

The key elements to this build are a large LCD TV oriented vertically with a software restricted play area with custom bezels for each game and a dynamic LCD marquee that changes with games.  He used ultimarc servostik joysticks that are motorized and change from 4 way to 8 way based on games selected.  To me Mimic is the ultimate mame machine, but with a large budget I would change a few things:

- I would use street fighter 6 button layout for each player. 
- I would integrate a spinner
- Laythe used a 29" 21:9 LCD for his dynamic marquee to save some funds.  With a large budget I would spring for a spanpixel LCD like used in another legendary cabinet by markc74 called "Blip".  The spanpixel is not as tall and closer in aspect ratio to an original arcade marquee.  You see Blip here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137295.0.html

Laythe coded his own custom front end for his machine.  Thats a bit beyond my programming skills, but with a big enough budget maybe I would hire him :)

As I said in my second post, I think it would be great to review some of the top builds posted on this forum and see what you like and don't like.  One thing I will say is that taking your time in the planning stages to make sure your build concept is well thought out will pay off in the end. :)
Thanks for pointing out those great builds!!  :applaud:

yamatetsu

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #29 on: January 06, 2018, 11:46:54 am »
Thanks for pointing out those great builds!!  :applaud:

You can find a lot of great builds in the I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread sticky in the project announcements section.
                  

barrymossel

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #30 on: January 07, 2018, 04:10:28 am »
Thanks for pointing out those great builds!!  :applaud:

You can find a lot of great builds in the I completed my project! I posted a pic and a link to my project thread sticky in the project announcements section.
Thanks, you jut lost me a couple of hours of my life... ;)

yamatetsu

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #31 on: January 07, 2018, 05:07:52 am »
That's time well spent.  :cheers:
                  

keilmillerjr

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Re: No budget full size cab
« Reply #32 on: January 09, 2018, 12:47:20 pm »
No budget? Buy a NOS arcade crt.