Adding a Dreamcast to my MAME cab

[jaydog]

I just had a crazy idea and was wondering what my fellow cab builders would feel about it.  I think I might throw my SegaDreamcast into my cab, that way (granted not arcade perfect) I can play all my faves that haven't been emulated by MAME yet (IE Street Fighter III, soul calibur, Blitz, MVC 2, etc...)  put this plan does pose a few problems...
1.  I am useing the Hagstrom KE72 for MAME, can I simply split the wire and solder the wire to a Hacked DC controller, in other words, will wiring one button to two different things fry my setup?

2.  I can use a RCA switchbox to swich video from my MAME PC to the DreamCast, but how am I going to switch the audio if I am going to use PC speakers. (OR is there any other alternative sound setup I can use)

3.  Hacking the 4 face buttons on the DC controller should be easy enough, but how can I hack the two analog shoulder buttons? (granted I have never opened mine up to see how they work exactly, but it has to be different from the regular face buttons)

anyway, just thought I would share this Idea with you guys to see what you think.  Feedback is alwaise welcome (especially from those of you who tried this before, I know you're out there !!

[bowmand1]

It's not that crazy of an idea...

[bowmand1]

 I just had a brain fart...  you could prob'ly do the same thing I said for switching audio, using the 25-pin switchbox, while still using the RCA box for video to a TV...  just wire the red and white + and - DC RCA connections into 4 pins on the 25-pin A-B box...  just like you would if you were hacking the stereo output from the VGA box and soundcard.  

I don't know WHAT I was thinking...  sorry bout that.  Peace. --dave

[Garvv]

Nice info bowmand1, I'm building a bartop mame cab powered by a dreamcast right now.  Just got the 10" svga monitor in the mail the yesterday.

Unfortunately though mamed locks up after a short period of displaying the initial "pack selection" section (you know the one with the spinning vortex behnd it).  I've burned several different versions, and tried several different monitors, but every time the DC ceases to accept input after a few seconds.  If I quickly bypass this screen, I can play the games in an individual pack just fine.  No other games do anything like this.  Any ideas as to getting around this?

About the original post, there is a lot of great info about hacking a DC to a jamma cabinet at:

http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/arc_dc4.html

In addition to video, this includes some great information on how to hack the analog controls, including the actual analog stick.  If you want to be really slick, you can hook the thumb pad and analog stick controls up to your joystick via a 4pdt on-on toggle, and then switch your arcade joystick between thumb pad and emulated analog stick control.

Also the Butler 2001 arcade cab (on the examples page) has DC controls hacked to it.  You should try asking the owner about his setup, I've emailed him before and he's responded.

[jaydog]

It's not that crazy of an idea...

[delta88]

from what i've heard the Dreamcast has about a 200mhz processor speed, a ps2 has 350 mhz , and an x-box has like a 700 sometin' or other....so the dc will most likely run all of the classics...and maybe some newerstuff like battleshark...streetfighter....


i have been workin on gettin some mamed discs goin' but havenot really tried so...ill report back when I acutally get around to it....


d88

[hyiu]

can you guys tell me details on how to run Mame on Dreamcast ??.... I really would like to know.... also.. the CD that holds Mame and the roms.... do they need to be in any special format ??... unzipped ??... etc.  Thanks,

[Dave_K.]

You can download mamed here:
http://digita.mame.net/download.htm

Read the FAQ first.

Garvv, I had problems with mamed locking up after the boot screen.

[bowmand1]

another brain fart...  and this one would prob'ly work better...  I wasn't thinking straight when I said you could run the audio through the 25-pin switchbox...  there's not enough pins!  Assuming you used a MadCatz Dreampad, which only has one ground (unlike a lot of DC controllers, which have 2 or 3) you'd need 12-pins per controller (4 d-pad directions, 6 buttons, 1 start, and ground) and the #1 pin on an A-B switchbox is common to all ports, so you don't use it...

so my better idea is this...  buy a headphone 1/8 plug to 2-RCA plug cable to connect your soundcard to the RCA switchbox, and connect the Dreamcast normally...  then, pick up a 2-RCA plug to headphone 1/8 JACK to plug into the audio output on the other side of the RCA switchbox, and plug your PC speaker set into THAT!

    This way, you don't really have to alter any cables, and you can make full use of that RCA switchbox...  What do ya think?  Peace.  --Dave

P.S.- I can whip you up a wiring diagram of this real quick, if ya need it.

[jaydog]

bowmand1 you have been a great help, your suggestion on sound management makes perfect sence.  but is it possible if you can elaborate on how to wire the DC pad and my KE72 to an AB switchbox.  I looked at the butler DC/MAME cab in the examples page and really liked the switch box used in that cab (I like how you can swich using keystrokes) but i am still uncertain on how exacly the wireing is done.  anyone with some more specific details (diagrams welcome )can greatly help me out!

[jaydog]

oh, one other thing, I have absolut ely no soldering skills whatsoever, I saw one great soldering tutorial website about 4 months ago but I cant find it anywhere.  If any of you guys know of any detailed, yet simple to understand, websites on soldering please post them, thanx

[mw]

Here's a nice little .PDF soldering guide(266K)http://www.coopertools.com/literature/weller/55578.pdf

[jeff dunn]

I tried doing this, but for some reason, when you share the same joystick b/t a dreamcast and a sidewinder (or whatever you're using), it suddenly doesn't pick up inputs from my sidewinder anymore.

i'm thinking of wiring up a bunch of switches b/t the two. i'm sure there's an easier way though.

btw, neither one of them have ever been powered at the same time.

[Garvv]

Shared grounds can sometimes cause problems, you could try installing a switch which toggles between grounds for the two controllers.  You can test if this would work by just disconnecting the ground on the sidewinder, then using the controls with the DC controller, and vice versa.