You Never Forget Your First...

[Rodimus80]

I recently purchased NFL Blitz 2000 GOLD in a repurposed WAR GODS cabinet.  I believe the monitor is a WG 25K7197.  I intend to rip out the NFL Blitz 2000 GOLD PCB and sell it.  Also ripping out the 48-way joysticks and selling those as well.  I intend to throw in a PC with a working Groovymame build already.  I'm stuck now in figuring out how to connect the PC to the WG 25K7197.  I purchased a VGA Breakout cable but that won't be here for weeks.  I have boxes full of never-before-used VGA cables that I've amassed over 25 years of PC Repair.  I was hoping I could take one of those cables, strip it, then use it and maybe be playing some Mortal Kombat II on a actual arcade monitor for the first time since the 90s.  Where I'm stuck is how do I connect the stripped cables from the VGA to the Video input of the monitor? 

Here are some pics.  I'm having trouble on figuring out how to make them appear here:

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[Zebidee]

Consider the potential restoration of that War Gods cab back to original, as that is a popular game with conservation value. Many will cry otherwise.

A better cab for MAME-ing would be a two-player standup "streetfighter" style cab. You can buy second-hand or build new according to preference and budget. There is plenty of inspiration on this site.

VGA breakout cables are on-the-verge of being a scam. Make your own "bespoke" by cutting some of those standard VGA cables you mentioned, and using some crimps or whatever is needed for your application.

When you have many pics to add, better to post pics to this thread, then copy/paste links back to your project thread. Highlight the link and click the binoculars (toolbar, left side) to wrap the link in {img}{/img} tags. Obviously I had to use curly brackets there, instead of square, because otherwise the forum's parser would think I was actually posting an image in between the tags.

Don't post too many pics at time, a "few" per post is plenty. The forum has certain limits regarding size, number, file type too.

Have a look at how others have done it on other threads. Click on "insert quote" to see their message code for pics (no need to actually reply). You'll see that you can set size, height, width etc. too.

[Rodimus80]

Thanks for the reply.  I'll give serious thought to possibly restoring the cabinet to War Gods.  Right now, I got a VGA cable stripped down.  Is there anything I could possibly cannibilize to get some ends to be able to plug this VGA cable to the Arcade monitor?  I have lots of pc parts from years of never throwing anything out.

[Zebidee]

To get video from PC to arcade monitor you will want a video amplifier to pump up the RGB voltage levels - otherwise the picture will be quite dark.

Ultimarc sell video amplifiers at reasonable prices, and I believe they include a VGA cable too.

A quick search on "arcade monitor video cable" reveals a few hits. It depends on exactly what you want. For a few dollars you can get one of these standard connectors, but it depends on exactly what you need.

However, the easiest solution would probably be to use a JPAC, also from Ultimarc - a JPAC plugs into a standard JAMMA wiring harness instead of the arcade game PCB. JPAC has a video amplifier built in, and is specifically purpose built to connect a computer to an arcade cabinet. The JPAC also conveniently includes a quality keyboard encoder, you'll be able to use the arcade controls directly too.

Using a JPAC is a minimally-instrusive way of MAME-ing the cab. You just unplug the game PCB and plug in the computer. Also a good idea to disconnect the cab's DC power supply as it feeds into the JAMMA harness, but you don't need it.

The only requirement is, your cab needs to be wired to JAMMA standard. According to KLOV, War Gods uses a JAMMA+ pinout, so you seem to be in luck.

[Rodimus80]

Would I be able to swap out this WG K7500 for my WG 7000?  Do both monitors require a ISO Transformer?

EDIT:  Nevermind.  I see that the K7500 does not require a ISO and the 7000 does.  And the K7500 won't be able to display Mortal Kombat, correct?

[Zebidee]

Would I be able to swap out this WG K7500 for my WG 7000?  Do both monitors require a ISO Transformer?

EDIT:  Nevermind.  I see that the K7500 does not require a ISO and the 7000 does.  And the K7500 won't be able to display Mortal Kombat, correct?

MK is standard res (15khz) 400x254p. K7500 is medium res. You may need to swap the tubes as well.

K7000 is a very common model chassis. If it has problems/if necessary, you could disconnect it from the tube and mail it to an experienced repairer.

If you use groovymame, and set it up with the default "monitor presets", it should look at least reasonably good on med res monitor. Though I've never done it before myself.

You may as well use the cab's ISO if it is installed already. It won't hurt, and gives you an extra level of protection. Whatever works best.

[buttersoft]

Isn't MK a problem to get working with GM - as in, it has like a 57Hz refresh rate that makes a 254p mode squashed or something. There's a few threads on the GM forum about that specific game...

[Rodimus80]

I have Mortal Kombat II playing perfectly on my D-Series JVC via Groovymame right now. 

[buttersoft]

Ahhh, but is it running accurately... TBh I have no idea

I can tell you that a few years back ppl were posting up all the time about MK not running right. This thread covers the topic - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,157893

No idea about MK2 tho. The MK issue might have been fixed now anyway. I can't even remember what it was, just something to do with video modes.