Author Topic: Unreal Entertainment (my first cab) 90% complete and finally playable (Read 11250 times)

digitalpackrat · « **on:** August 25, 2005, 01:08:38 am »

I've been working on this cab for nearly a year now. ( didn't have any time to devote to it really between work and school, but I just finished school at the end of july so work has really picked up since I started this last summer.

I am going with the name Unreal Entertainment. Besides being an arcade cabinet it will also be used as an home entertainment cabinet housing my sony reciever and 400 disc DVD player as well as being a jukebox and karaoke machine. As for being an arcade cab, i'm using a pair of 2 player x-arcade controlers that i took apart and built into a 4 player controler and will be running mame, emulating all consoles from the n64 and back and will also have all the new consoles incl the dreamcast, ps1, ps2, xbox and gamecube in.

Hence the name.

Since I knew when i started the cab that I would be moving soon (I'm moving to florida, where my wife currently works, from michigan in a few weeks right after my graduation party woo hoo) I decided to do everything in my power to make it easily movable. So I am making it in 3 section. Bottom section for computer, consoles, reciever, DVD player, keyboard and mouse next section is the controler and the third section will be the top section for the marquee and TV.

It is based on the UAII cab but modified to be an entertainment center as well. Basic look is what I went with, didn't buy the design. Here are some of the early pics I took so far

This is an early drawing that I have since modified but can't post it until later in the week when I can retrieve it from up north where I have the space and tools to work on it.

I have since decided to modify it so as to bring the TV to the start of the control panel and lean it back on a 10 degree angle. In this original design i was going to use the 6 inches between the end of the control panel and the start of the TV to be an extra shelf for a VCR or Tivo and a power switch control unit but having it sit an extra 6 inches above the control panel made it look too akward IMO so i nixed it.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #1 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:09:36 am »

Here are more pics

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #2 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:12:49 am »

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #3 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:18:19 am »

Here is the base completed with the wheels attached and the side panel for the base with the frame support attached and nearly ready to attach to the side of the base floor.

More pictures to come later

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2005, 09:38:37 am »

Here is the bottom half nearly completed. I've put primer on it but havn't decided what color to paint it. The pieces not primed are the start of the top half for the TV

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #5 on:** August 25, 2005, 09:45:28 am »

Side View of bottom half.

javeryh · « **Reply #6 on:** August 25, 2005, 10:20:15 am »

Wow - looks great so far! Once you get that thing up and running you will be able to throw some pretty fun parties with that thing in the room... Do you have a color scheme picked out or artwork in mind?

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #7 on:** August 25, 2005, 10:31:16 am »

Thanks for the complement. I have not yet decided what I was going to paint it yet. But I've had time to slowly work on the artwork more than the cabinent over the last year. Here is my first attempt at the marquee, also posted in the artwork thread here
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=41428.0

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #8 on:** August 25, 2005, 01:45:41 pm »

I am now currently building the top half and am having a hard time making up my mind on what type of material to put in front of my TV (currently a 27" flat tube but eventually it will be a HDTV), be it glass, plexi or leaving it open. I was considering gray lite temered glass (a 1/4" sheet 20" x 32" would cost me btwn $50-60 depending if i went with lite or 14 the darker grey). But now i'm considering going with clear tempered glass or possibly plexi but i'm afraid of it scratching. Its hard to find fighting game arcade cabinets anymore to do a comparision to. Since I havn't made up my mind i'm leaving a 1/4" slotted frame for whatever I choose to place in front of the monitor but any suggestions would be appreciated for the advantages and disadvantages of glass vs plexi and clear vs tinted

Pik4chu · « **Reply #9 on:** August 25, 2005, 07:15:44 pm »

really cool layout with the compartments and the drawers, however are you sure those tiny little wheels can hold what you are putting in there? No idea what the cab will weigh but they seem a little flimsy to me.

Also, got a link to this 400disc DVD player? Would be a cool thing to have given my ever growing collection

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #10 on:** August 25, 2005, 07:36:29 pm »

I know I already have to replace one of the wheels because it broke so atm so its not looking good. but it was sorta my fault moving it wrong that it broke I may end up putting somthing stronger down there after I finish the top portion.

The DVD player I have is the sony DVP-CX985V
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000DIK0U/104-7895726-1691904?v=glance

here are a few pics of it

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #11 on:** August 26, 2005, 11:32:19 am »

Control Panel. Growing up I loved playing TMNT and the x-men game 4 player so I had to build a control panel to be able to play those games as well as more recent bar games like golden tee. I need to do some touchup work on the paint. someone was walking by it when it wasn't secured to anything and knocked it down and chiped the paint and its got some sawdust on it but it will be cleaned up in due time

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #12 on:** August 26, 2005, 11:37:10 am »

More control panel pics. The top of the control panel will be attached by a hinge. I just got my 3 wing slot cutter in for the T-molding yesterday, probably going to install the t-molding this weekend. I didn't have a router so I attempted to glue the molding with the strongest glue i could find at home depot it held for a few days but then moving it around the molding came off. So I asked some family members til I found one that had a router I could borrow and am now going to install it correctly

Pik4chu · « **Reply #13 on:** August 26, 2005, 01:09:34 pm »

I loved TMNT myself, proly my most favorite 'fighting' game there was.

Neat marble look on the CP btw.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #14 on:** August 27, 2005, 10:01:00 am »

Here is the side art I will be using for one side. One thing I didn't think about when creating this though was I made it square and it won't fit as much of the side as I'd like so now I'm going to have to modify it to fit more of the side. I was thinking of adding console name brands around the top and bottom as a boarder then add the name of the cab above that to fill in more of the side but here it is so far

tivogre · « **Reply #15 on:** August 27, 2005, 01:17:01 pm »

For the guys in the sky, you should get rid of the "hard" edges... especially the straight ones.

Use photoshop (or whatever) to pull the clouds forward to cover some of the edges in a random fashion.

They'll look like they are "emerging" from the clouds... not stuck on to the clouds.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #16 on:** August 27, 2005, 08:28:57 pm »

Thats a really good idea about blending the sky and getting rid of the hard lines, I didn't even notice them. I like that. I'll have to play with my photo programs and see what I can do to it. I have both paint shop pro 9 and photoshop 7. Any suggestions on how to go about bringing the cloulds through the characters? I'm a novice when it comes to photo editing. Slowly getting the hang of layers but blending is somthing I've not really dealt with.

I'm up north this weekend working on the cabinet so I only have access to the free gimp photo editing program over the weekend

Grasshopper · « **Reply #17 on:** August 27, 2005, 08:34:34 pm »

Is that the cat from Alice? Really cool game BTW.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #18 on:** August 27, 2005, 08:37:30 pm »

Worked on the frame for the top half today. Made the frame where the glass will be placed into. I will be putting my bezel on the outside of the glass in order to sandwich the glass between 2 pieces of wood to make sure it is well secured and protected The TV will sit right up against the glass once its in place. The object atm is to make the frame as strong as possible because it will be moved in pieces but open enough for the TV to have easy access into the cab.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #19 on:** August 27, 2005, 08:40:30 pm »

here is a close up of the frame we cut out to support the glass and still have room to attach the bezel to cover the TV so only the screen is visible

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #20 on:** August 27, 2005, 08:50:34 pm »

Quote from: Grasshopper on August 27, 2005, 08:34:34 pm

Is that the cat from Alice? Really cool game BTW.

Yea My wife loves that game so I ended up putting both alice and the chesire cat from american mcgee's alice in there. Did you hear they are going to make a movie based on the game and sarah michelle gellar (buffy) is supposed to play alice. Not too sure how well she can play alice, she doesn't really look like her but then again she can be creepy like in cruel intentions

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #21 on:** August 28, 2005, 02:21:14 am »

Quote from: Pik4chu on August 26, 2005, 01:09:34 pm

I loved TMNT myself, proly my most favorite 'fighting' game there was.

Neat marble look on the CP btw. Is that just contact paper or is it thicker vinyl?

And wow that DVD player is intimidating lol.

That is actually the same material used for counter I bought from home depot. I didn't want to worry about the control panel getting all scratched up plus I think it looks sharp. A piece 4' by 4' was only like $20 or less, I forgot I bought it awhile ago

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #22 on:** August 30, 2005, 12:44:55 am »

Not too much to report today that require pictures. Reinforced the frame for the top half, added another board to the frame in the back just above where the TV will be. Ordered the glass it'll be here by friday, getting a 1/4" thick 24"x33" piece of clear tempered glass for $40, non tempered would have been only $25 but I want this glass to be extra strong and if the unfortunate does happen and it does break it will be far less likely to hurt someone. Decided to go clear instead of grey or grey lite because I want to make sure I won't have any problems with light guns

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #23 on:** September 01, 2005, 11:36:59 am »

Picked up some more supplies and got a little more done on the cabinet yesterday. we lined up the side panels and glued them into place and used screws to hold it together while the glue dries but i'm probably just leave the screws in there for added support since I'm covering the side panel with black material similar to my CP cover that I picked up cheap (a 4' x 8' piece for $28 because it had a small piece of the corner missing.) The black vinyl will be used for my bezel and at least the sides of the top half though i would like to do it to the whole thing. plus it'll make it a better surface to stick my side art to.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #24 on:** September 01, 2005, 11:42:30 am »

vinyl and glue

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #25 on:** September 05, 2005, 01:19:08 pm »

worked on it a bit more over the weekend. added more support for the top half and added a shelf above the TV that can be accessed from a door in the back in the angled section which will hold all my accessories such as controlers extra memory cards remotes that sorta thing that i don't use all the time for the various console systems

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #26 on:** September 05, 2005, 01:39:14 pm »

also got the marquee holder in place. I think it turned out pretty good. found out though that the light i bought will probably not be bright enough. gonna head back to homedepot today to attempt to take it back and exchange it but the plastic box it came in is lost but i do still have the cardboard backing with the barcode though. the marquee slides in from the top and then another cover holds it in place. the slots were cut with a table saw and the marquee will eventually be sandwiched between 2 sheets of 1/8" plexi. That is just a temp marquee from my first revision of the marquee i see i have to put the bottom letters higher cause they get cut off. but its better finding out now than after I get the final ordered from a professional print shop.

walls83 · « **Reply #27 on:** September 05, 2005, 03:18:16 pm »

are you going to clean up sub zeros hands? do some blending or something for them.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #28 on:** September 06, 2005, 12:53:25 am »

yea I still have a bit of touch up work I plan to do to the marquee before I print it. That marquee in the cab was only my very first draft that I printed out a few weeks ago but have been spending more time working on my cab and getting ready to move to florida on the 12 of this month. I doubt I'll get the cab completed by then but hopefully the big stuff is out of the way and only minor stuff like painting and artwork is left before the move.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #29 on:** September 06, 2005, 12:57:02 am »

got a chance to work on it some more today. Went to home depot and exchanged my light for 2 smaller lights that when combined fit perfectly from one side of the marquee to the other. It looks alot better and brighter with the new lights. Also I picked up some wood molding to fill in the gap between the TV and the marquee. Its just pushed in there in this pic but even though its not glued in it fits quite nicely. It'll fill in that hole very well

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #30 on:** September 06, 2005, 01:07:01 am »

also worked on reinforcing the top half frame and the top half back paneling. In order to access the shelf I added above the TV I had to add a hinge that allows me to lift the back paneling up at the back slope so I can get at my misc. console controlers and accessories that I don't/won't use all the time like the DC fishing rod and N64 controlers.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #31 on:** September 08, 2005, 01:49:18 pm »

I'm moving on Monday across the country and won't have internet for awhile. I need to download as much software as I can for my roms now as I can. What frontend would you recommend? I need somthing that looks good and can support multiple consoles. The list so far that will me emulated are:
atari 2600
atari 5200
atari 7800
atari jaguar
daphne
NES
SNES
N64
MAME
sega genesis
sega CD
sega 32x
commedore 64
turbo graphics 16
neo geo
and would even like to list PC games

Since the collection is going to be pretty massive I would like somthing that supports an initial list of systems then a way to sort or filter the game list such as by genre (ie racing fighting) or favorites

ras2a · « **Reply #32 on:** September 08, 2005, 02:53:49 pm »

Big really is beautiful - That's a behemoth...and I'm lovin it!

Excellent

Timoe · « **Reply #33 on:** September 08, 2005, 11:11:58 pm »

mamewah is your front end,

be sure and check out the website for a user named jcrouse

look up his profile and visit his website for mamewah info and files

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #34 on:** September 09, 2005, 01:52:57 pm »

Quote from: ras2a on September 08, 2005, 02:53:49 pm

Big really is beautiful - That's a behemoth...and I'm lovin it!

Excellent

Thanx Its been fun building it. Now I got like 3 more days to try and finish it up before I drag it across country and start looking for a job so I gotta get as much done before I go cause most of the big power tools used to make the cab belong to family members and they are staying here and free time will drop low again. I made it a bit larger than normal cabs for 2 reasons: first i'm a little taller than average at 6' not much but a bit and its taylored to me lol. and 2nd cause of the amount of stuff going into the cab it needed to be larger.

Quote

mamewah is your front end,

I've been searching around these forums, zophar and checking online trying to find as many frontends as possible that might fit my needs. so far from what I've seen mamewah, GameEX, and maximus arcade seem to (from what I've read) fit my needs to best. Too bad there isn't a review somewhere about the different features and difficulty of setting each of them up. Guess once i get my cab setup i'll try each of them out. maybe i'll post somthing about my experiences with each of them

Timoe · « **Reply #35 on:** September 09, 2005, 07:39:37 pm »

Mamewah can be a pain for many folks. I know that I struggled for like 2 whole nights and couldn't launch a single game. I put it away and started fresh a week later and everything clicked. Now I've got all my emulators running great on there, Mame, NES, SNES, N64, 2600, colecovision, Atari Lynx, PC Games, Daphne, Genesis, Playstation, etc.

And I've got great layout for each system, custom music playing in the background that I can control from the front end and sound effects for when I start an emulator or move the cursor or whatever.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #36 on:** September 10, 2005, 11:48:47 am »

Quote from: timoe on September 09, 2005, 07:39:37 pm

Mamewah can be a pain for many folks. I know that I struggled for like 2 whole nights and couldn't launch a single game. I put it away and started fresh a week later and everything clicked. Now I've got all my emulators running great on there, Mame, NES, SNES, N64, 2600, colecovision, Atari Lynx, PC Games, Daphne, Genesis, Playstation, etc.

And I've got great layout for each system, custom music playing in the background that I can control from the front end and sound effects for when I start an emulator or move the cursor or whatever.

did you set it up from the mamewah interface itself or did you use the configurator program found here? http://www.bluecamel.org/2005/02/26/mamewah-config-161/

could you show me a few screen shots of your setup?

what emulators are you using? I havn't gotten around to playing with the emulators in awhile but I had trouble with the N64 emulator a few months ago. I think i was using project 64 but not sure if i was using 1.5 or 1.6. I have a ati 9600 pro and an ati AIW 9700 pro what video are you using on ur cab?

Timoe · « **Reply #37 on:** September 10, 2005, 06:39:04 pm »

In my frustration, I did actually try Screamings Mamewah set up program but I couldn't even get that to work.

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #38 on:** September 11, 2005, 11:24:34 pm »

Quote

In my frustration, I did actually try Screamings Mamewah set up program but I couldn't even get that to work. Setting up each emulator in Mamewah really isn't that hard. Setting up each emulator to work on its own can be a pain already. But if you've got Mame working then you'll be fine. Be sure and visit this site for mamewah files

That looks really good... thx for the tips I think that will be my first choice then for setting up as a front end. I found that website and grabbed all the files for the frontend for all the emulators I'll be using and the layout pics. I'll be playing with that later in the week.

Well we got alot done this weekend and my project would not be any where near complete or look even half this good if it wasn't for all the help I got from my cousin Carr and my Dad who I would like to graciously thank for all the help YOU GUYS ROCK.

we got alot done over the weekend and the cab is now loaded up in the moving truck ready to make the 1400 mile trek tomorrow night. It was like we planned the cab specifically for this move because it exactly fits as one complete piece in the moving truck. there is literally no extra room at the ceiling.

A bunch of detail stuff was completed such as:

t-molding around control panel cut "finally" with a router (will go into that story later suffice to say make the cut before you put the controller together)

controller is now on a hinge for easy access to the wires and permenently attached to the cab

glass is installed and bezel is cut out though I still need to paint the screws and peel the plastic protective coating off the vinyl so the pics won't look as good as it will once i'm done with it.

peg board is installed on the back to protect the equipment from the back but still allow ventilation

Things still left to do:

Put doors on the front

cut plastic out for marquee (we rushed and didn't measure properly and cut it about 6" too short so I need to get more plastic)

put vinyl on the top half sides and possibly on the bottom half sides

sand and paint the rest of the cab inside and out that doens't get the vinyl

Pics of my Crew:

my Dad

my Cousin Carr

digitalpackrat · « **Reply #39 on:** September 11, 2005, 11:36:46 pm »

control panel having t-molding and hinging with next to no gap when closed


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