Early planning help for a newbie

[cdbrown]

Hi all,

I've been reading through BYOAC and some of the examples or MAME cabs and I must say well done to everyone.  I have only recently discovered that people are building their own cabs for MAME (hadn't thought about it before) and ever since I did I want to build my own.

I have recently started to jot some down ideas for my cab -
would like it to have the same shape as NBA Jam
will be 4-player with 8 buttons
using a 61 - 68 cm TV (24 - 27")
i-pac4 encoder

I'll probably just win98se for the operating system and MAME32.  
Do I need to use AT power supply so that when I turn the power on the cab the pc will start?

The TV's I've looked at don't stay on s-video when turned off or unplugged - will I need to keep the remote control out so I change it whenever I turn it on?

I noticed a lot of people take the tv out of the case.  Do I need to do this - is it something to do with heat or size?

How heavy are the cabs? - I was thinking about using 3/4" MDF but someone said that would be quite heavy.

I will be using Happs super joysticks as many people have said that they are good and have little problems.  Are they easy to mount in the cp and what's the maximum thickness the cp can be?  Also using Happs pushbuttons with horizontal microswitch.

I'm only at the beginning of planning so any info on the above or direction to take would be much appreciated.  Anyone from Australia that has built a cab - could you let me know where you got the parts from (if I can save time and money by buying local that would help).

Cheers
Craig

[jelloslug]

I'll probably just win98se for the operating system and MAME32.  
Do I need to use AT power supply so that when I turn the power on the cab the pc will start?

The easiest thing to do would be mounting a button remotly to powerup the PC (and stick with and ATX power supply)  I mounted mine inside the coin door.

The TV's I've looked at don't stay on s-video when turned off or unplugged - will I need to keep the remote control out so I change it whenever I turn it on?

You can eather find one that does stay on s-video, leave the remote out or remotly mount a button from the TV that would let you put the TV in s-video mode.

I noticed a lot of people take the tv out of the case.  Do I need to do this - is it something to do with heat or size?

Sometimes its size problems but mostly its heat.  I personally would not remove it from the case because you would have to make a chassie for it to sit in,  TV's are not like arcade monitors that have a metal frame to support the tube and hold the board.  If you are worred about heat, just mount a cooling fan near the TV.

How heavy are the cabs? - I was thinking about using 3/4" MDF but someone said that would be quite heavy.

They are VERY heavy, and need to be that way (mine, with all the stuff in it is probably weighs about 135kg).  If you try to make it too light it will be very top-heavy and want to tip over (rember that TV is sitting 1.5 m off the floor), not to mention that you will probally end up pushing it around while playing it if its too light.  Heavy is your friend.

I will be using Happs super joysticks as many people have said that they are good and have little problems.  Are they easy to mount in the cp and what's the maximum thickness the cp can be?  Also using Happs pushbuttons with horizontal microswitch.

The general feelings of the board seem to lean to the Supers.  The Supers can be mounted in 1/2" to 3/4" thick wood or thin metal.  There are different spacers provided when you buy them for mounting in metal or wood.

[cdbrown]

Hey Jelloslug thanxs for the reply.  I like the glowing lights in your control panel - looks very cool.  

What sort of encoder do you use?  I was leaning towards the i-pac4 but I noticed that they have a shift key.  So when pressing Start 1 and Start 2 it acts as escape.  Which means that if by chance P1 and P2 press together it resets back to the frontend.  Can the shift functions be changed?

Again - thanks for the help.
Craig

[u_rebelscum]

What sort of encoder do you use?  I was leaning towards the i-pac4 but I noticed that they have a shift key.  So when pressing Start 1 and Start 2 it acts as escape.  Which means that if by chance P1 and P2 press together it resets back to the frontend.  Can the shift functions be changed?

Again - thanks for the help.
Craig

Yes, you can re-program or turn it off.  Should be easier to reprogram with win98 you're going to use (instead of XP).  The shift-key was my biggest complaint with my ipac, so I removed the "shift key" feature and left everything else the same.  

I don't have the new ipac2 of ipac4, though.  Are they harder to reprogram than my older ipac?  I couldn'd find the reprogram utility on the web pages I quickly skimmed last night, and the new XP reprogram why looks harder than what I had to do.

[cdbrown]

Yes, you can re-program or turn it off.

[jelloslug]

I used (made) a ButtonBox2 for my encoder.  It works like the Ipac but you make it yourself.  http://surf.to/buttonbox

[u_rebelscum]

Cheers u-rebelscum.  What do you use as the escape key?  I guess you aren't using all the available inputs for joystick and player buttons so you have a few left over for system keys.

I do have left over inputs, but... I don't have a cab either.  So for me, my keyboard is nearby.
However, I did map three buttons to mame's "UI Cancel", which is usually the [esc] key.  Instead of using ipac's hardware shift key to get an [esc] key, I have mame looking for a C-1-5 (P1_B7 & P1_coin & P1_start) key combination.  This is a hard combo to hit accidently, and I can quickly change it by editing the new -ctrlr .ini file, or set while playing mame.

Is there any point to me having 8 buttons for each of the four players - should I cut down the number of buttons on players 3 and 4 to allow for theses system keys?  I noticed on mame.dk that there are games with 4-player 8 buttons.

Which games?  I thought four player games only had a max of four buttons per player.  Often people have control panel like yours with players 1 & 2 having 6-8 buttons, but players 3 & 4 (on the sides) only having 4 buttons.

If I were to go for the Hagstrom KE72 (more expensive) I can get more inputs.  It's just that it's nearly double to price.  Is there anyway to use the ipac4 and the ipac2 (probably costs more than the ke72)?

Thanks again.
Craig

You can connect two ipac4s, two ipac2s, and a ipac4 and ipac2 in serial, if you want.  

But if I were you I'd:
1.  Get one ipac4
2.  Set three or four button combos I know I can't press by accident for "UI Cancel" (usually [esc]) and "Config Menu" (usually [tab]) and others that are needed.
3.  Print out these button presses so I don't forget.
4.  Then I'd reprogram the shift key off, so that, even though [esc] doesn't leave mame anymore (because of step 2) pressing player1 start and player2 start at the same time should start both players.  With the shift key on as default, neither player will start, and both players would need to press start again (and not at the same time).

JM2C

[cdbrown]

Thank you very much jelloslug and u_rebelscum.  Your replies to my questions were very helpful.  I think I will stick with my original plan of 4-player with 8 buttons using ipac4.  I won't use the shift function and just map multiple keys to act as "system" keys.  Just have to make sure I layout the buttons so I can press them all myself.

Thanks again guys.
-cdbrown