Dont Laugh. Sit down arcade machine conversion.

[arcadepcnut]

Hello all. This is my first post here. Im not sure if I will be flamed for asking such detailed questions or using the incorrect terminology. I apologize in advance.

Background:
I am going to an arcade auction in a couple weeks with it in mind to pick up a sit down racing cabinet that is not working and possibly does not have an arcade monitor in it. I am after the basic controls such as the steering wheel and pedals and the cabinet itself. does anyone know what a cabinet like this is going to cost me? I'd like to know how much cash to have to count on spending. Im not really looking for a crusin' usa cab or anything that new....but more like a sit down outrun cab or something like that.

After I get the cab I was wondering if it was possible and also the best way to go about doing the following.

First off I want to run mame in the cabinet.
I am going to buy a radeon ATI card with TV out and a 27" TV with svideo in. The computer is a celeron 1.4 and has 512 meg of memory.

Second I want to run in the cab....pc racing games such as the need for speed series and carmageddon etc.
The problem I can forsee is that these pc games have no way to remap keys in the game. So if I hardwire controls I am out of luck on the pc games aspect but still fine on the mame side.

I have done two arcadepc projects already but they are both neogeo arcade standup machines. I took an old 1980s keyboard that had a metal circuit board in it for both of these and soldered all the controls to the dinosaur keyboard. No ghosting since I solder to the top and bottom solder pad on each key. I was thinging of doing this for the racing cabinet but each key is then hardcoded. I have heard of the ipac. This was not an option when I built my first two cabs.

Second. Is it even possible to interface the arcade original steering wheel and pedals into the computer to be used for games.
This is the sole reason for going this route is to get the robust arcade controls and not the plastic pc counterparts. If it is not possible you guys just saved me a ton of money!!

Last. Is it worth going this route trying to pick up a sit down at an auction and converting or should I build my own sitdown cabinet and buy the arcade steering wheel and pedals or use PC counterparts?!

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences and helping me with answers.

ArcadePCNut

[atog]

Arcade auctions are interesting things, you will see prices vary wildly from auction to auction and from beginning to end at the same auction.  That being said, if the cabinet is something old like outrun, and has no guts or monitor but is in nice shape, expect to pay anywhere up to $200.  Now for me personally, $200 would be too much for it, I would only buy it if I could get it for $150 or less.  It's all going to depend on how nice it looks and what is included though.


For the original controls, you should check with Andy at opti-pac and see if his interface will work.  I am 99% it will work fine though, and it's easy as heck to use.

And finally, if you can buy what you need at the auction, it is almost sure to be cheaper than making it yourself and buying parts from a vendor.

[Mike]

If your going to US Amusements auction. I haven't ever seen any sit down gutted driving games. I also haven't seen a sit down driving game sell for less than $500. Lastly, I doubt you'll find a sitdown outrun for cheap because many would consider that one of the classic driving games. Also it would be a really shame to buy an outrun that would fit the larger monitor that you want and turn it into a mame machine. The 25" monitor version of outrun has the moving seat in it. The versions without the moving seat only came with 20in monitors. (As you can tell I'm for not destoying classic cabinets if there is no need for it) That being said, you could probably interface the steering wheel to an optipac as long as it works on an x-y axis prinicple. Second I don't think it will have the feel of most of the driving games since you won't have any force feedback in the steering wheel. I think you'd be better off either getting a working driving game and keeping it as that or get a fully gutted sitdown and putting in PC steering wheel and use it to just play pc racing games. Also another thing to note is that the older the driving cabinet you go with the smaller the monitor you can fit in it.

[AGarv]

With regards to your encoder dilemna, look into buying and hacking a Saitek GM2; not only does it have approximately 16 shiftable keyboard inputs and optics for a mouse hack, but it can be set up to load a different configuration for specific games that are launched.  Thus button1 can be the letter "z" in MAME, but "Space" in NFS3, all handled automitically.

[arcadepcnut]

Wow. Three replies already. Thats cool.

Mike. This auction is in the US. I dont feel bad at all making use of a cabinet that is not working and turning it into a mame machine. I may not find an outrun but was merely refering to an example of what I hope to find.
You really view outrun as a classic to not be destroyed? I have a warped sense of classics. I mean it was fun to play in the arcade but after a few times through the game on a couple of dollars I can not see anyone buying this one game to occupy a 3foot by 6 foot area in there homes. But Im probably wrong. I wouldnt buy a working outrun and then gut it.
$500 is a bit steep. If they want that much I'll pass.

Atog:
If I can find one for $150 then I'll pick it up. Thats about the price range I was hoping for.

Agarv:
I'm looking up info on that steering wheel you mentioned. Force feedback would be nice but most if not all the games I will be playing on this machine dont support force feedback and pc steering wheels are build so cheaply.

[Minwah]

Remember to consider also if you want to play 270degree wheel games or 360degree wheel (spinner style) driving games.  Most PC games will use a 270degree PC style wheel, but some (about half) MAME driving games use the spinner style...

Look at the 'Driving Games' and 'Steering Wheel' threads on page 1-3 for some more info...

Good luck!  

[eightbit]

Do a swappable steering wheel, so you could do PC and arcade. There are some decent pc wheels. Then you could also swap in a mech warrior panel which would be super sweet or even a regular joystick panel for sit down pac-man.

[Analog-X]

hey arcadepcnut I dare you to follow the link at the top of this forum page to RGVAC and post there saying "who would be stupid enough to put a sit down driving game in their house".
 
I have come to respect the people at the RGVAC Forums, they are Arcade Game collectors, you gotta see some of the screen shots these guys post of what they have at home.  Most Fill up their basements with arcade cabinets looking like the arcades when I was a teenager.
 
After reading their posts and concerns to what is happening I can sympathize with these guys who collect arcade cabinets.
 
What you may think as not being a classic could be someon elses treasure.
 
I've seen photos of someone taking a Gauntlet Cabinet and painting it over with white and sticking a TV inside and the end result didnt even look like a decent cab.
 
They dont make these games/cabs anymore, turning them into Mame by Painting them over and ripping/drilling into them is a tragedy.
 
I bought myself a Street Fighter Alpha 2 cab to convert into mame, but  I have decided to first Restore it to its fully Glory which was a X-Men Children of the atom cab.
 
Than will turn it into a MAME Cab but done in such a way that can be 100% reversable.
 
Just my Opinion, you have your own and do whatever you'd like to do.

 

[johnpurs]

Wow. Three replies already. Thats cool.

Mike. This auction is in the US.

Is it the Pennsauken Auction? I have been to most of them over the last three years. I've never seen a gutted sit down there. THe clostest I remeber was a dead PPosition sitdown.

Good luck finding one there.