horizontal or vertical ?

[ericball]

For my cab I'm debating on which way to mount the monitor - horizontal or vertical.  I plan on playing both horizontal and vertical games on it though (and probably setting up some to play rotated).  Now, other than game specific preferences, can anyone give some logic or reasons which one I should do?

Horizontal will make it easier for the times when I need to drop back to the OS.  The cab is vertical, so I probably won't have to do as much work to mount the monitor that way.

Oh, the current plan is to use a 21" PC monitor, if that makes a difference.

[Oddfeld]

Dropping back to the OS shouldn't be an issue since you can just have your OS rotated if you're using a vertical monitor. NVidia's and ATI's current drivers both have options to rotate everything, and there is a util you can get to achieve the same thing if you're using some bizarre old video card.

You might consider a rotating monitor, so you can have the best of both worlds and set it up appropriately for whatever game you're gonna play.

[maraxle]

For my cab I'm debating on which way to mount the monitor - horizontal or vertical.  I plan on playing both horizontal and vertical games on it though (and probably setting up some to play rotated).  Now, other than game specific preferences, can anyone give some logic or reasons which one I should do?

Horizontal will make it easier for the times when I need to drop back to the OS.  The cab is vertical, so I probably won't have to do as much work to mount the monitor that way.

Oh, the current plan is to use a 21" PC monitor, if that makes a difference.

I would pick out my top 25 games (or top 10 or whatever), and whichever orientation the majority of them are, I'd go with that.

[quarterback]

For my cab I'm debating on which way to mount the monitor - horizontal or vertical.

[elvis]

Are you making a standing or cocktail cab?  Cocktail cabs are easy, because you build controls for both orientations.

Otherwise, as mentioned list your top 25 favourite games, and go with the majority.

I build a standing cab last summer, and I'm going to build a vertical cocktail cab this summer.  That way I don't have to choose.

[teef two]

If it's possible to enlarge the size of your monitor to at least 25 inches then the problem mostly goes away. You'd mount this horizontally and your vertical games would not look so tiny.

If getting a larger PC monitor is too expensive then maybe consider a TV or dedicated arcade monitor.

[Lilwolf]

Consider rotating monitor... Look at the examples and drool... But realize that its NOT easy... I hear that rotating monitor usually takes more time then the rest of the cabinet..

I would say horizontal.  Why?

When horizontal games became the norm, 25" monitors where common.  When most vertical games where the norm, 19" monitors where.  Only exception that I can think of is vertical flyers that really can use the extra space...

Of course... I play vertical flyers more then most others... Mainly because 194x games are always showing when I turn the cab on

But I vote for rotating monitor

[ericball]

This is for my Tempest cab which will only play those games which can be played using the original controls (LH spinner + 2 RH buttons).  I want to go with a PC monitor so I can get 1600x1200 for the vector games. 

I am also building a 3 sided modular panel cocktail cab around an old TV for everything else.

Rotating monitor is out because it has to be usable by my 4 year old son.  Plus that will increase the cost, a negative on the WAF.

I will be going through the game list though, just wanted to check if anyone had any logic or reasons to go the other way.

[DYNAGOD]

i love my vertical shooters, but i also really enjoy horizontal fighters..


As an owner of a rotating monitor cab let me offer you another perspective.

first , your going to need two frontends..
one for vertical and one for horizontal..for verticals your going to need a fronted like vertimame so that you can even load a game without breaking your neck.. configuring and running two frontends is a real pain...
also,each time you rotate your monitor ,your going to need to rotate a bezel with it,which for my cab at least is a pain in the rear. in addition you will  need to readjust your monitors settings to accomodate the different aspect ratio, and depending on how accesible your monitor controls are, can pose a problem (if they are in the rear, you will need two people to adjust the monitor, one in the rear to tweak and one to watch in up front)

if i were to do it all lover again. i would likely have bought a dedicated horizontal and a dedicate vertical cab..
this way theres no need to fidjet with this and that and jump back and forth between frontends. just move two steps to the left and play cab 2

[yourfatmama]

Which also gives you a good reason to build TWO cabs!

*Two Mames are better than one
*Distract your buddy with the vert when you want to play the horiz or vice versa.
*Two Mames are better than one. (oh, i said that already)
*any impact on CP choices (and how it impacts having multiple/swappable CP's)

[DYNAGOD]

most verticals are two or three button.
fewer use 4, in fact i cant even think of one..
horizontal games typically require 6 to 7 buttons per player.

[DYNAGOD]

most verticals are two or three button.
fewer use 4, in fact i cant even think of one..
horizontal games typically require 6 to 7 buttons per player, with a minimum of 4 for neo geo.

[elvis]

most verticals are two or three button.
fewer use 4, in fact i cant even think of one..
horizontal games typically require 6 to 7 buttons per player.

Using SortInfo I found that there was only one vertical game that used more than 3 buttons.  (Be careful, some games report needing "4" or "6" buttons, but really refer to 2x2 or 2x3, which is kinda silly).

The only vertical game that is the exception is Toobin' which needs 5 buttons. 

[gique]

one for vertical and one for horizontal..for verticals your going to need a fronted like vertimame

vertimame? i just did a search for this and found nothing.. any linkage?

[Thenasty]

have you seen ArcadeMania ?

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,26696.0.html

maybe you get some ideas from it.

[captainpotato]

first , your going to need two frontends..
one for vertical and one for horizontal..for verticals your going to need a fronted like vertimame so that you can even load a game without breaking your neck.. configuring and running two frontends is a real pain...

I disagree - I use ArcadeOS, and to rotate the menu I just hit a button (rotating the monitor is more difficult, but that's another matter...)

also,each time you rotate your monitor ,your going to need to rotate a bezel with it,which for my cab at least is a pain in the rear. in addition you will  need to readjust your monitors settings to accomodate the different aspect ratio, and depending on how accesible your monitor controls are, can pose a problem (if they are in the rear, you will need two people to adjust the monitor, one in the rear to tweak and one to watch in up front)

Not if the bezel is attached to the monitor mounting disk (for want of a better name...) and the perspex over it is tinted.

if i were to do it all lover again. i would likely have bought a dedicated horizontal and a dedicate vertical cab..
this way theres no need to fidjet with this and that and jump back and forth between frontends. just move two steps to the left and play cab 2

I would have loved to have done this, but space was an issue (still is...)

My biggest issue is having to turn the monitor off before rotating and then letting it sit. This is the biggest hassle, IMO.

[quarterback]

first , your going to need two frontends..
one for vertical and one for horizontal..for verticals your going to need a fronted like vertimame so that you can even load a game without breaking your neck.. configuring and running two frontends is a real pain...

I disagree - I use ArcadeOS, and to rotate the menu I just hit a button (rotating the monitor is more difficult, but that's another matter...)

I've been playing with MameWah and it seems pretty simple to set up both a horizontal and a vertical frontend that can be switched pretty easily.  Plus I've got Pivot Pro which lets me rotate my whole windows environment with a keystroke via hotkeys

also,each time you rotate your monitor ,your going to need to rotate a bezel with it,which for my cab at least is a pain in the rear. in addition you will

[captainpotato]

My biggest issue is having to turn the monitor off before rotating and then letting it sit. This is the biggest hassle, IMO.

No manual degaussing?

Not with the size of the magnet that I have (8mm) - it's fine for smaller sections, but I'd go mad with the whole screen to do...

You have any links/pics/info regarding how you set up your rotating monitor?
Thanks

Yes, but the site's not ready, and neither's the cabinet (it is playable, but as is so common, the project has stalled at this point...)

[DYNAGOD]

so mamewah can be configured to run both vertical and horizontal?

[quarterback]

so mamewah can be configured to run both vertical and horizontal?

Well, kinda.  I use PivotPro to rotate my entire windows environment and I use a vertical layout/skin for MameWah's interface, meaning that it's 480X640 instead of 640X480 (or whatever)

I don't think that MameWah can rotate itself by itself and that you'd need to use something like Pivot or a vid card that can rotate your screen, but I could be wrong.

[DYNAGOD]

yea, so a person with a rotating monitor does inded need two frontends..


vertiwah

http://vertiwah.jbeffects.com/

[spystyle]

I've read a from a few different sites about the rotating monitor, I would like to attemp this in the future.

What is the best site with the rotating monitor tutorial?

Thanks,
Craig

[KrawDaddy]

Here you go...

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,21952.0.html

Ive can give you my ideas for slimming this cab down.