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[Sinistar*]

I am new and think I might have posted my earlier message in the wrong place.   Surprise-I want to build my own Sinistar game; I think it's an all-time great and I am not going to buy one on ebay that might not work or be messed up and cost hundreds to ship anyway.   How do I go about it?   Really, I am starting out with little knowledge but lots of desire.

[DrewKaree]

Alright, I haven't read your post at all, I'm just doing what your thread title asks.

Firstly, don't take this as I'm angry or anything, I'm really trying to point you to how to get help or to attract people best suited to answer your question.

Second, title your threads in a more descriptive fashion in order to do just that.  For example, if your question is about what joysticks would work better for your fighter control panel you're building, a good title thread would be "Looking for joystick recommendations for fighter control panel".  The people who are intimately familiar with these types of games will come out of the woodwork to offer you their opinion, and some may even be able to offer further review/information as to why they'd recommend one type over the other when the controls are of the same type.

Third, by titling your thread so ambiguously, you may get jokesters offering you help for how to plumb a bathroom in a basement environment, or people offering you help on how to better phrase your thread titl....wait a minute.....   You may still get those guys, but at least the jokes will be specific and you might even enjoy the humor.

[DrewKaree]

I am new and think I might have posted my earlier message in the wrong place. 

Seems just fine where it's at.  A mod might move it if it isn't but I doubt it.

Surprise-I want to build my own Sinistar game; I think it's an all-time great and I am not going to buy one on ebay that might not work or be messed up and cost hundreds to ship anyway.

Welcome to the first of many cabs you'll want to build   Good idea, although you may be able to pick one up at an auction pretty cheap, too.

How do I go about it?   Really, I am starting out with little knowledge but lots of desire.

Pick up Project Arcade by John St Clair.  It will cover the complete buildup of a cabinet, and this forum will offer enough info after reading that for you to do so fairly easily, although you'll probably be afraid of messing something up.  You've got a few joysticks to use, IIRC paige said you can play it with an 8 way, but I could be off my rocker on that recollection.

Good luck, and welcome.

[Sinistar*]

I'm really sorry I messed up the subject line and appreciate your advice.   I wondered why it took so long for anyone to notice my request.

As for the 2d response, thank you so much.   I really need advice.   I am determined but a novice (though I am a good woodworker so I am not worried about a cabinet).

[DrewKaree]

No problem at all.

If there's a Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore near you (or amazon.com if there's not) you can order saint's book.  You'll find the CD in there has TONS of information, and the chapters will almost walk you through the project you wish to complete. 

To change your thread title, just click "modify" on your first post, and you'll be able to change the thread title, instead of feeling like you have to start a new one. 

I think if all you want to build is a DEDICATED Sinistar, this project is a piece of cake! 

It's the "OMG lookit what I kin do!" factor after you start looking deeper into doing this that'll add the difficulty, but nothing really is too hard to complete.  If you're confident in your woodworking skills, you'll do fine.  In fact, that's what some people consider the hardest part

[DrewKaree]

Oh, and one more thing - you're on a message forum with people from Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Canada, USA, etc....you actually won't be able to count on an "instantaneous" response, and considering according to the time stamps, your post has been "alive" only about an hour, that COULD be considered "instantaneous"

Don't be sorry for the title, it's just a common mistake, and if you're just starting, there's almost no way you COULD have known.  Just watch it, or we'll call the 

[Sinistar*]

Thanks Drew Karee!   I appreciate your help.   From looking around, is the guy who wrote that book part of this board too!   That's UNBELIEVABLE.  I have come to the right place!

What other advice to you have about the board?   Are there particular areas I should use?   Anywhere to go for R&R when you burn out about gaming discussion?

[mahuti]

These graphics might help.

http://localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=444

http://localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=228

[Sinistar*]

These graphics might help.

http://localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=444

http://localarcade.com/arcade_art/details.php?image_id=228

Thanks!!!

[DrewKaree]

Thanks Drew Karee!   I appreciate your help.   From looking around, is the guy who wrote that book part of this board too!   That's UNBELIEVABLE.  I have come to the right place!

LOL I'm betting not only are quite a few folks getting a chuckle on that question, but saint in particular!  He's the administrator and awesome leader who not only is part of this board, but he's responsible for this board being in existence!  I guess when you get into your future obsession, you can blame him for it

What other advice to you have about the board?

• Don't take yourself, or heated discussions you see/participate in here too seriously.  You'll get frustrated, because there are a TON of jokesters on here, and in general, any heated debate isn't worth holding a grudge against someone who might be the biggest help you ever find on the internet!
• Take pictures.  Lots of them.  We will expect to see your progress, and sometimes, a picture is the best way to describe a particular problem you are having.  Words might not get you a solution, but pictures might...and mebbe even a better solution!
• There is NO "RIGHT" way to do something, although there are some ways to do things here that can get you hurt (mebbe killed! )  If death is not involved, experiment with several solutions offered, if possible.  You'll like one better than the rest, and you may even be able to refine the solution.

Are there particular areas I should use?

There isn't a part of the board that I haven't been to, but you'll probably find yourself dealing a lot in these:

• Main
• Everything Else
• Project Announcements
• Monitor/Video
• Software
• Artwork

For some deals, you'll wanna check out the Buy/Sell/Trade once in a while (if not daily)

Anywhere to go for R&R when you burn out about gaming discussion?

There's our political forum, Everything Else ;D....The Everything Else forum is more than likely the place you'll go for blatant humor.

Which brings me to the thing you need to remember most about this board:

DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING WHILE READING POSTS ON THIS FORUM!

Shooting your drink through your nose from inadvertant laughter not only may screw up your keyboard, it's not a good feeling, and you'll be mad at yourself for not being able to control yourself ;) ;D

[Flinkly]

dangit.....now there's beer all over my keyboard.  and boy did it hurt comin outa my nose.  i blame you for this, drew.

[DrewKaree]

dangit.....now there's beer all over my keyboard.  and boy did it hurt comin outa my nose.  i blame you for this, drew.

You've got more problems than that, brother.  You just fessed up to misuse of alcohol, and alcohol abuse (the beer, not you abusing alcohol).  Now you've got a bunch of beer lovers angry that you would mistreat that wonderful liquid in such a fashion.  Get ready for the beating of your life!  Wet noodles hurt, but I don't think anyone will cry for you, Argentina!

[tommy]

Ive never seen one person explain how the board works with such care and devotion, good job drew, btw this is not the everything else section who let you out into the general population.

[paigeoliver]

Also, you should probably join the rec.games.video.arcade.collecting newsgroup, and post a wanted to buy post for a Sinistar cabinet. You might be able to get the empty cabinet close to your location.

[DrewKaree]

Ive never seen one person explain how the board works with such care and devotion, good job drew

You're not gonna cry or start telling me about Oprah now, are you?

btw this is not the everything else section who let you out into the general population. 

Cripes, you should check out my posts!  I've got TONS of stuff outside the Everything Else section!  At least a good dozen scattered around here and there

[Tiger-Heli]

Surprise-I want to build my own Sinistar game; I think it's an all-time great and I am not going to buy one on ebay that might not work or be messed up and cost hundreds to ship anyway.   How do I go about it?

Okay -

First, a point of news - Sinistar used a very unique Williams 49-way joystick.  This is not the same as the 49-way joystick that Happs sells, so you will probably need to pick one up from E-bay or the BYOAC buy/sell/trade, or RGVAC, etc.  See here halfway down the page for an exploded view of the joystick and  here for a replacement centering spider.  Also, ignore the stuff about regular 8-ways if you remember the original game, it totally destroys the feel.  Also see this thread (plan a couple of hours to read through it (10 pages)) for a new way to interface the Sinistar sticks to the PC and for a good discussion of the gameplay.

First question is do you want a MAME cabinet that will work for many arcade games, a cabinet running MAME but dedicated to Sinistar, or a genuine Sinistar machine.

If you want option 1 then you probably will want the Sinistar controller on a dedicated removable panel, and you will probably want the GPWiz49 to interface it , but you can use a standard PC and any type of monitor.

If you want option 2, you don't need swappable control panels, so you could probably hook the 49-way joystick directly to the encoder, but you will want to use MAME Analog Plus to control it.  Also see this page for a comprehensive discussion of 49-way joysticks and how they are used in MAME.

If you want option 3, you will need the correct monitor, boardset, power supply, joystick, bezel, sideart, marquee, etc., so while you could buy all this separately and put it into a scratch-built cabinet, it's probably cheaper/easier to buy a dedicated machine.  I would either look on RGVAC or look for a local arcade auction rather than E-bay though, as you should then be able to try the machine out and verify it works before buying.

[paigeoliver]

I bid on a Sinistar a few auctions back, it was REALLY NICE. I dropped out at $375, it went for $500.

[Tiger-Heli]

Note to admins - I replied in this thread before I saw the "I want to build a Sinistar" thread below.  Is there any way to combine these now?