Drop-in solution for horizontal multigame?

[RayB]

Hello folks. Is this forum still alive?

I’m down to ONE cabinet now, my formerly-MAME, (PC died), and I’m looking for what the simplest drop-in solution these days is. A lot has changed. PiCades, Blue Elf, Pandora boxes, who knows what else. And I have no spare time for tinkering much. I’d rather avoid the hassle of configuring a PC with MAME, so what are my options these days? My cab has a horizontally mounted 15hz CRT, is wired for JAMMA, and has an old JPAC (though bypassing that is fine).

Otherwise hello to you old coots I see still lurk here! (Wave)

[bobbyb13]

Sounds like a Raspberry Pi if you don't want a lot of messing around with a PC but still want something reasonably legit.

[Zebidee]

Who you calling old??

You covered the main non-PC options already (except for FPGA like Mister or Bitkit).

With a PC these days it is much easier, and CRT_emudriver and Groovymame is the way to go. Needs compatible Radeon/AMD/ATI card. There is much less fraggling around with game settings, as Groovymame mostly just gets it right. Remember all those [romname].ini files for each game? In most cases, in the bin.

There is also GroovyArcade, which is bootable from USB. Bit like AdvanceMAME was, but modernised.

Old. Pfaw! 

[Gilrock]

Sell the CRT and trash the cab since it sounds like you aren't willing to put any effort into this....lol

[pbj]

Is this forum still alive?

Not really.

 

[RayB]

Sell the CRT and trash the cab since it sounds like you aren't willing to put any effort into this....lol

HURRR HuRRRR!
Thank you for your constructive input.

[Mike A]

The easiest and lowest maintenance solution is the 60 in 1 or one of the other multi game CHAMMA PCBs.

[Malenko]

a pandora and CHAMMA  (not JAMMA) wiring is the easiest high multi game count solution.

[RayB]

With a PC these days it is much easier, and CRT_emudriver and Groovymame is the way to go. Needs compatible Radeon/AMD/ATI card. There is much less fraggling around with game settings, as Groovymame mostly just gets it right. Remember all those [romname].ini files for each game? In most cases, in the bin.

I see Ultimarc discontinued the ArcadeVGA card. Are you saying it's easy now to use any ATI Radeon card and somehow have it output an arcade CRT signal?

[bobbyb13]

With a PC these days it is much easier, and CRT_emudriver and Groovymame is the way to go. Needs compatible Radeon/AMD/ATI card. There is much less fraggling around with game settings, as Groovymame mostly just gets it right. Remember all those [romname].ini files for each game? In most cases, in the bin.

I see Ultimarc discontinued the ArcadeVGA card. Are you saying it's easy now to use any ATI Radeon card and somehow have it output an arcade CRT signal?

It's not exactly easy (but manageable if you follow Calamity's very good instructions!) but well worth the effort.
You actually can have games play in a manner seemingly undistinguishable from original hardware for the most part.

[Zebidee]

I think CRT_emudriver may have been the last nail for ArcadeVGA. With CRTEMU you get essentially the same functionality as an AVGA but better, because you also get all the frame matching /mode switching magic of Groovymame. It is also much easier to tweak CRTEMU settings and video modes to get the best out of your CRT's capabilities.

Installation is mostly self-explanatory, follow the guides carefully.

There is a list of known compatible cards on the guide/download site.

If you have any questions, ask on the Groovymame forum branch.

https://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?id=295

[meyer980]

As someone who has set up multiple CRTEmudriver setups - I'd say it's NOT for someone who is trying to go an easy route. Once it's all set up, it works well and gives amazing results. But that setup is still fairly technical focused (installing special drivers, creating resolution lists, making sure switchres is working, etc).

If you don't mind limited games, a 60in1 is way easier.

I personally think CRTEmudriver IS worth the effort!