Author Topic: Mars Invasion - Upright following Saints Book (Read 61538 times)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #40 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:50:43 pm »

Luckily, I didn't have to take any more wood out than I did. I guess I should have planned the layout a little better, and considered the larger mounting plate, and the fact that when the top is angled down toward the front, it causes the spinner wheel to push farther back. The good thing is it it all went together after routing the base of the control panel, and the spinner actually turns freely now. Whew! A narrow escape

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #41 on:** August 13, 2005, 12:52:12 pm »

OK, here are two shots with it all together again. Now for some wiring...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #42 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:05:25 pm »

OK so now I see why everyone says not to make it playable until you are done. I have been "testing" all the games to make sure they are running OK. Once I powered it on after wiring the control panel, it was all over. I'll have to get back to working on it this weekend. I did make a Mamewah Skin to match the CP graphic. I also purchased my smartstrip, some 25 and 15 Din type connectors for CP removal, and the fluorescent light fixture for the marquee. I am going to try to use the plastic corner protectors as a retainer for the marquee. I am not sure how it will turn out, but that's the plan for now.

Knievel · « **Reply #43 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:18:20 pm »

Looking good. Those plastic corner protectors work great for marquees.
I would suggest spraying them flat-black first and then go over that with a clear-coat. Gloss or satin depending on if you want them shiny or not.

BTW You're not alone on that spinner issue. I had to notch the CP box on my Neon machine. The smaller V2 has solved the problem on all my cabs since.

Now pull that iPac and bury it in the yard!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #44 on:** August 17, 2005, 11:33:10 pm »

Yeah, the first time I put the control panel top down on the box, it actually bent about 3 of the teeth on the spinner. So much that it would not spin, as the teeth would hit the pickups. I was stressing a little, because that spinner is such a good quality device, an there I was bending it before it was even used. I straightened it back out and it seems to be OK. Also, I noticed if I spin it really fast, the software can't keep up (or the pickups on the spinner, I don't know which). It sure makes playing Tempest just like the old days. Arkanoid works well with the Vortex also. I didn't really need to buy the Ipac 4 since I only have a two player panel. I had this misconception that more is better, but now I have all those waisted terminals for player 3 and 4. Maybe I'll build a 4 player some day. Saint's design has a reset, pause, escape, and two flipper buttons, and I haven't figured out which terminal to wire those to. It seems I will have to reprogram the Ipac also, to add these auxiliary buttons. Any ideas on which terminal to put these buttons?

Knievel · « **Reply #45 on:** August 18, 2005, 12:00:54 am »

If you hit TAB during a game you can go into the service menu and adjust the Spinner settings. Look for Analog Controls, then Dial Sensitivity and fiddle around with that number. For instance the default setting for Arkanoid is way too slow, I think 150 is good.
I've never owned an Ipac but it looks like you can go without the admin. buttons if you want to. Otherwise I think you'll have to re-map some of your unused inputs.
From the Ultimarc site:

SHIFT MODE

Pressing and holding 1player start enables shift mode with access to the following keys (when "MAME" setting is used):

2 player start=Esc

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #46 on:** August 18, 2005, 08:16:05 am »

Thanks! You have been a big help Knievel, and I really appreciate it. I did not realize the Ipac was already setup to do those functions without the extra buttons. Also, I had read about the Tab key to bring up key assignments, but I though this was only for Mame32. I run the Windows command line mame, but I will give the tab key a try tonight. Also, thanks for the tip on painting the corner protectors. I just looked at your Neon Mame control panel page and I noticed you have some buttons (blue, white, and black) mounted on your lower monitor bezel. What are those for?

Knievel · « **Reply #47 on:** August 18, 2005, 09:29:52 am »

No problem. The TAB key works with the commandline version as well.

Those are my 3 Mamewah admin buttons. Pause/Exit(esc)/Change Emulator, they are just repeated on the other side. The P2 Start button actually functions as the Change Emulator button when you're in Mamewah. I just found it's less confusing for people if it's up there with the other admin buttons.

Buddabing · « **Reply #48 on:** August 19, 2005, 12:53:04 pm »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 07, 2005, 08:54:45 am

I live on the northwest side (249 Louetta area).

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #49 on:** August 20, 2005, 12:17:35 am »

Howdy Neighbor

I drive through you area everyday to work. Well, today I wired up the coin door mechs and the coin door lights. I used a 15 pin Dsub type connector inside the control panel box, so I can disconnect it with one hand. I also used a molex connector where the front bottom door joins the cabinet, in case I want to take the door off (who knows why?) I am not sure this is the best way to run the wires from the CP and the back of the computer, but that is what I did. I am sure there are some better ideas out there as far as wire routing and bundling. I just used stick on tie wrap holders. It's ok, but I would prefer some type of enclosed conduit type stuff, so you wouldn't see the individual wires. Any ideas? I left the Happ C161 lights in the coin door rejects. I don't know if any of the LEDs actually look better, but I will experiment in the future. Tomorrow is the marquee light and retainer.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #50 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:19:35 pm »

Last night I got all my cutting and painting done on all the marquee parts. Then I had to take the speakers out so I could get a drill in there and try to drill pilot holes in the top to mount the light. This is one time when a small drill comes in handy, my old Craftsmen drill barely fit through the speaker hole so that I could drill straight up into the top. OK light was mounted without too much trouble.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #51 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:27:06 pm »

I'll explain the wooden strips in the last post. When I built my cabinet, I didn't extend the speaker panel out quite far enough. I noticed that when I was done with the cabinet, but at the time, the problems it would cause seemed so far away. Well now I get to deal with it.

Basically I had to cut some strips to extend the speaker panel out a little. I cut two of them each a different length so I could choose which one I preferred. The first picture here, shows how it looked while I was just holding it up with my hand. I wanted to have the marquee be as close to true vertical as I could, and if I didn't extend out this bottom speaker panel, my marquee would be leaning forward. The second photo shows how it looks after countersinking three screws into the strip and speaker panel. I didn't tighten this much because I knew that MDF would split easy, especially this thin. All seemed well.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #52 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:36:35 pm »

I took the strip back off and painted it the same color as the corner guards (gloss black). Once I mounted the strip back on, I just drilled holes into the corner guard through the strip. I was able to find some black drywall screws that worked in wood (BTW, it was hard to find any black screws at the hardware store). I could have bought silver ones and painted them, but as soon as I put a screwdriver to them, the paint would come off. So, with the bottom retainer in place, I tried to think of a good way to mount the top retainer in a way, that I could take it off easy if I needed. Velcro to the rescue. I cut a Velcro strip (see photo) and put one under the retainer, and the other one on the front edge of the cabinet above where the marquee goes. It works pretty well, the only thing I don't like is due to the thickness of the Velcro, it raises the retainer a little than if I had screwed it in. I wonder if they make larger corner guards (like 1 1/2 " wide strips instead of 3/4 ")

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #53 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:41:26 pm »

OK, I have a small problem that is bugging me. Even thought I measured the Lexan accurately, there is still a little gap at the end where light can be seen (see photo). Maybe, I could just put some weatherstriping behind it and seal up the light, but I thought someone here may have a few ideas.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #54 on:** August 21, 2005, 04:46:38 pm »

OK, now for the graphic. I still had a printout of my control panel that I made on HP glossy photo paper. I trimmed it up and put it between the two pieces of Lexan. The photo doesn't show it well, but it looks kinda washed out. The blacks are not really black. I remember in the book, Saint talks about printing out a second copy with just the dark areas, and the rest white. I think I will try that next. Oh, and I guess I need to sit down long enough to actually create a nice looking design for the marquee

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #55 on:** August 23, 2005, 08:10:46 am »

I finally figured out how to do banner printing on my HP Photosmart printer. I wanted to try this printer first before sending out a graphic to be printed. The photos we print on this thing look awesome, so I was hoping for the same or similar quality on my marquee. To get this printer to print a banner, I had to not only tell the printer to do banner printing (in the printer settings) but also, I had to use CorelPhotoPaint 12. Corel has an option to tile the prints when they come out if they are larger than the sheet of paper. If you don't do both things (tell the software and the printer it's going to be large) then it won't work. At least with my setup. The printout looked almost as good as a photo, just the fact that I printed it on standard type paper lowered the output quality a little. Next, I'll see how it looks for real with a light behind it.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #56 on:** August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am »

Well, all I have to say is just because it looks good on paper, doesn't mean it will look good on the marquee. It doesn't show much in the photos but you can see the grain of the paper with the light shining through it. It gives it a ugly coarse look. The colors are not washed out which I like, just an ugly textured look and it could be brighter. Can you make it brighter without looking washed out? I guess I will try a few different types of paper or even transparency to see if I can get what I want. I know I could send it out to mame marquees, and I may end up doing that, but I like to be in control of the situation as much as possible. So, when I exhaust all possibilities of what I can do at home, I'll send the marquee and probably the CP graphic to mame marques. Besides I have plenty of time, with making high scores on Arkanoid and Tempest lately, I have some more serious game playing to do. Also, have to prepare to purchase an arcade monitor sometime between now and Christmas. I hope to get my smart strip tomorrow. It must be coming by pony express because I ordered it a week ago now, and I noticed it just now got to Dallas

Level42 · « **Reply #57 on:** August 24, 2005, 04:39:37 am »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am

Also, have to prepare to purchase an arcade monitor sometime between now and Christmas.

Phfewww, I almost thought you were actualy going to use that LCD screen after so much great work....which would have completely ruined your great cab IMHO.

Also, are you planing on side art ? The paint is a bit too shiny for my taste, but that could also be the flash of the camera...otherwise, I am very impressed, doubt I could do this... I went the "easy" way and bought an old (1991) Jamma cab...still plenty of work on that too....thanks for sharing and lots of pics, there's always something I learn by reading other stories. I was thinking of printing a marquee myself as well...I am on a shoe-string budget for my cab...

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #58 on:** August 24, 2005, 08:26:25 am »

Every since I have had that Dell monitor there, my desktop computer has been turned off. I started playing games and haven't taken it back downstairs and hooked it back up to the original computer. Having to pay $450 for a monitor is going to hurt a little. It will be the biggest single purchase since I started building the thing. So far it has been like $70 here or $40 there. I used gloss black mainly so you could see a reflection when some object is next to it. It is shiny but normally you don't see the shine reflect back like you do with a flash. If I had my way I would have made it smoother, with auto paint or something but I have a new baby that will hitting the "terrible twos" soon and I thought about all the scratches it will be getting. I would like have a finish on it like the black acrylic aquariums you see in some stores. Yes, I plan to do some sideart and change the T-molding to match whatever color I go with. I want to keep the Mars theme but I am not to excited about my graphics. That's one area I lack in, is the "other side of the brain" stuff. The good thing is the graphics are all replaceable, control panel will be a pain with all the controls wired up. That will all come later on. As for the marquee, I think I am going to try vellum paper and see how that looks.

Knievel · « **Reply #59 on:** August 24, 2005, 10:00:29 am »

Looking good. I'm not sure about the shipping costs but this place gets rave reviews and their marquees are only $14.95 right now...http://www.emdkay.net/

Treat your cabs to one today!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #60 on:** August 24, 2005, 11:46:03 am »

Thanks, Knievel. I have lot of little loose ends to get done on it. Last night I got my smartstrip installed. One thing strange about it, is that when the computer is turned on, the marquee light and sound system turn on just fine. When I turn off the computer, it takes somewhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute for the marquee and sound system to turn off. I can only assume the power supply of the computer still consumes some power even after the computer is turned off, so the smartstrip doesn't shutdown other stuff immediately. Anyone seen this problem? Also last night I wired up all the admin buttons (yellow ones) on my CP Mainly, I wanted to play pinball, but while I was wiring up the flippers I went ahead and did them all. I used a 25 pin dsub connector for controls in the base of the control panel. This way the items that need to go down to the bottom of the cabinet use a different dsub (15 pin). I could just imagine plugging the wrong one in. I had to reprogram the Ipac to these buttons, and I couldn't use the WinIpac software, it wouldn't send the new key assignments, so I used the interact one which is simple but it works. I was able to play Microsoft Pinball after reassigning the flippers to where I wired them. I have seen people mention Virtual Pinball here, is it better than Microsoft Pinball. MS's is pretty cool. Tonight I hope I can find time to wire up a pushbutton to power the whole computer and extras. I am wrestling with where to put such a button. I don't want to put it where it's easy to push (kid magnet during important game play). I also don't want it to be visible. I may put it on the back of the cabinet, but if I ever have multiple cabinets (which I have read will happen) next to this one, it would be hard to get to. Any ideas?

Pik4chu · « **Reply #61 on:** August 24, 2005, 12:32:47 pm »

Quote from: RaggedEdge on August 23, 2005, 08:20:35 am

Well, all I have to say is just because it looks good on paper, doesn't mean it will look good on the marquee.

Knievel · « **Reply #62 on:** August 24, 2005, 01:56:10 pm »

I find the top of the cabinet, above the marquee area, is the best spot. Kid-proof and you won't bump it accidentally. You can just wire a regular arcade button to your cpu power switch.

Visual Pinball rocks, I spend more time on it than mame these days. A little tricky to setup but it's well worth it. The tables are actual recreations of all the classic pinball machines, with all the bells and whistles.

Here's the site where you can grab everything..
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/tables.php
Check out the table screenshots here..
http://www.vpforums.com/vptables/info/

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #63 on:** August 24, 2005, 11:36:43 pm »

Today I went to Kinkos and talked them out of a piece of backlit paper (about 36" x 36") I had to pay $7.50 for the whole piece. Normally it is $7.50 per sq. ft. But they were nice. BTW it's $15.00 to have them print it on the backlit paper. This backlit paper has a glossy side and a flat side. The guy told me to print my image mirrored on the flat side, because the glossy side would be facing out and the image would be on the insdie of the marquee (that's why it was suppose to be mirrored). I came home and printed one that way, and it did look good when the light was on in the marquee, but if I turned the light off, the marquee turned almost all white, since the image was printed on the other side. Not quite what I was looking for. I noticed the image was really clear on the back side and looked just like my photo paper prints from the HP Photosmart. I was curious to see what the marque would look like with the printed side on the outside of the marquee so I just flipped the Lexan around. Wow was I surprised, it looked great with the light on or off. So I printed another one with the image NOT mirrored and put the printed part on the outside (glossy side on the inside of the marquee). That's what I was looking for! It looked great. I don't know if it will show in the photos but they are below. One is a closeup so you can see how crisp the image is. I like it. That was it for today, I will connect up the power on button tomorrow.

drunkatuw · « **Reply #64 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:41:50 pm »

Regarding the smart strip not turning everything off right away. I had this problem when I upgraded to a new computer in my mame cabinet. To fix the problem, I just messed around with the sensitivity on the smart strip.

There is a small plastic white screw on the side of the smart strip. What I did was turn on the computer (everything turned on), then I shut down the computer and once it was off (and the marquee and monitor were still on), I adjusted the screw until the marquee turned off. Then I turned the screw a little bit more just to be safe. And since then, everything turns off as it should...couldn't be happier.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #65 on:** August 26, 2005, 08:56:13 am »

drunkatuw, That worked pretty good about the smart strip. I tried just what you said and now it takes about 3 or 4 seconds for the other stuff to turn off. I imagine I could fine tune it some more and get everything to turn off immediately, so the next time I am inside the cab, I will tune it some more. Thanks.

Last night, all I did was wire up a power (start/stop) button to power up the whole cabinet. I am still undecided where to put it, probably on the top of the cabinet, but for now it is just laying in the monitor cavity. I might also put it in the center at the bottom of the monitor bezel for the shorter people in the family....not mentioning any names...

Something else I need to do before kicking back and planing for the monitor, is mount the control panel box to the cabinet with those latching clamps that are mentioned in the book from Happs. I guess I could run to my Home Depot and see if they have something similar before ordering from Happs.

Skadar · « **Reply #66 on:** August 26, 2005, 04:10:50 pm »

RaggedEdge, thank you thank you thank you for posting so meticulously. I am about to embark on almost the exact same journey and your experiences have already shaped my planning. You have even inspired me in the realm of theming as well. I love the Mars Invasion theme and it has really given me some good ideas.

I'll soon be building a nearly identical cabinet (well I suppose all Lusid cabinets are nearly identical) with some slight differences...

1) I really want to use a SlikStik Classic as my control panel. As I understand it, building a clone will only save about $50-$70 and I'm certainly willing to pay that amount to have professionals do all the work.

2) I will probably be using a 27" television instead of a true arcade monitor (too expensive for me) or a 21" PC monitor (too small IMHO).

Except for the SlikStik, I am trying to minimize costs along the way. For instance, I have already picked up the following components:

1) Creative Inspire T3000 2.1 speakers $32 - as opposed to the Klipsch.

2) New HAPP over/under dual slot coin door $82 on eBay.

I'm watching your project come together with great interest. Thanks again!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #67 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:32:33 pm »

Skadar, Thanks. That has been the main reason I posted everything, because I knew it could help someone building nearly the same cabinet as mine. Yeah, the Klipsch speakers were about $149 when I bought mine, but they do sound good. You got a good price on the over/under coin door too.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #68 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:36:59 pm »

On the way home from work last night I stopped by home depot to see what alternative I could come up with for latching my control panel down to the main cabinet. I thought about just ordering the ones in the book from Happ, but I have a problem with their shipping pricing. So I bought two different types of latches thinking I could use part of each one with each other. Here is what I bought and how I plan to use them.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #69 on:** August 27, 2005, 06:47:51 pm »

The latch setup I created seems to work well. The only problem I had was that if I pulled up on the control panel enough, the latch would "un-latch". I realized it was because the upper hook was holding the latch from going fully closed. So, what I did was put some nuts under the top two screw holes on the lower piece, and this cause the latch to fully close and prevented any pulling force from popping it open. I also tried leaning down on the front of the control panel and it held. So, all in all, this method seems to work, but it probably is not as good as the Happ latches. I'll stay with it for now and see how it goes. The next item that I tend to will probably be a bit of a surprise for everyone. I haven't seen anyone do this to their arcade yet. It is something that i have done to many things around the house and this arcade is just begging for it as well. I'll keep everyone in suspense until the "part" that I ordered comes in. It's not that big of a deal but it's got a little bit of the "geek factor" to it. Oh, and yes, I know I do need to do some wire management inside the cab

later...

TheBrokentoken · « **Reply #70 on:** August 29, 2005, 11:23:48 am »

RaggedEdge - please check your e-mail. Thanks!!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #71 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:20:04 pm »

Well, the "part" arrived and you can see it in the photo. It is an X-10 Universal module. If you are not familiar with X-10 Powerline technology, it is a way to automate your house using the existing power wiring as a way to send the commands from a computer or switchbox to a device. The X-10 Universal module acts like a pushbutton that can be control with an X-10 signal.

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #72 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:25:32 pm »

So, now you've probably figured out what I am using it for on the Arcade. No, it is not used as a control on the CP (but it could). I am using to turn on the arcade the same as the pushbutton on the front of the computer. The only difference is that I can do it from anywhere in the house or from the internet (really important I know

) I use software called Misterhouse that runs on Linux and it controls most of the lights, garage, and digital picture frames in the house. Now it turns on and off the arcade. OK, I am done geeking out now. This could be a good way to have things locked out at certain times of the day on the CP, like the coin up buttons.

Skadar · « **Reply #73 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:36:38 pm »

Yep, that was pretty geeky.

If it were me, my geekiness would manifest itself through unnecessary cabinet lighting.... which I may actually move forward with. I've been thinking about some kind of fiber-optic lighting to create pinpoint stars on the cabinet... or more probably cold cathode or LED colored lighting behind the speaker grills, etc.

Cheers!

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #74 on:** August 30, 2005, 09:57:47 pm »

Yeah, the lighting would actually be really nice. I would like to have a glow coming out from under the lip of the CP. There are so many case mod lighting gizmo's now that if I could just have a strike of creativity I would probably try to do some myself.

Elfman · « **Reply #75 on:** August 31, 2005, 12:25:26 pm »

If you got the IR command module, you could control it with you master remote. I may have to do this on my own cab and my Pronto remote. Thanks for the tip!

Speaking if geeky, I just noticed that you have a long since defunct 3COM Audrey on your kitchen counter. I know there is quite a little hack community for these things. But I never actually knew anyone who owned one. You still running original 3COM code on it or are you running some wierd Linux code and using it as a web server or something :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #76 on:** August 31, 2005, 12:50:54 pm »

I can't believe someone here knew what it was from just the bottom half. Yes, that is my Audrey, and it still runs QNX operating system, but It has been flashed with the Mr. Audrey image. The Mr. Audrey Image works with the Misterhouse automation system. It allows another way for someone to access the home automation system with a touchscreen. The graphics quality is not that great, but I only paid like $100 for it with wireless Enet added. When Misterhouse talks, it sends out the wav file over the home network and the Audrey also speaks. It has been overclocked (Geode CPU) from 300 to 333 mhz. I'll take a better photo tonight to show you what it looks like with the Misterhouse screen on it. Currently I am having trouble with the round knob on the bottom. Apparently 3Com did a poor job of soldering the connections, I just haven't had time to go in and fix it. It is actually on the bar counter right across from where the arcade is in our gameroom. The wife didn't like it in the kitchen, so it has been moved to several places in the house to try to appease her :-)

RaggedEdge · « **Reply #77 on:** August 31, 2005, 10:10:44 pm »

OK, so here is Audrey in all her glory. The wife thinks she is ugly and bulky. OK, I know this is starting to get off topic, so I have to at least mention that I used Audrey to start the Arcade tonight. I gotta play some Shuuz you know :-)

So I am kinda at a standstill on the arcade. The next step is to buy a monitor, and I will either buy the Vision Pro 27" from the book, or the WG D9200. I already have the arcadeVGA card. I assume from what I have read that the D9200 is a better monitor, but why? I guess I could design some sideart too couldn't I?

SNAAKE · « **Reply #78 on:** September 01, 2005, 04:14:02 am »

Very nicely done,congrats !
Where did you get those speaker grills ??

drunkatuw · « **Reply #79 on:** September 01, 2005, 05:18:53 pm »

That's pretty cool that you use Misterhouse. I've never heard of anybody using it before...except the guy that started it. I work with him and he gave us a tour of his house, it was pretty cool...he definitely must have a very understanding wife!


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