My first Mame, and post! *updated* TV now found

[Fysh]

Hello all,

I've been lurking for quite some time and I thought I would announce my build and introduce myself.  My name is Jon and I live in Canada.  Recently my wife and I had our 6th wedding anniversary and she gave me the funds, $1500, to build my own arcade machine.  I was a big player of games when I was a kid.  The corner store by my house always had games for kids to play ranging from Street Fighter to Bubble Bobble to Shinobi.  A local bar had a copy of Heavy Barrel that I remember going to and sitting for hours playing with friends.  And eventually I remember choosing to walk home instead of taking the bus from High School so I had money to play Street Fighter 2 at a store on the way home.  So I thought this was a pretty cool gift, and the thought of the build to me seems to be just as much fun as playing with it afterward.  First I went out and read, as much as I could find.  There is a great deal of knowledge here, but boy is spread out.  Finding specifics can sometimes be tough.  

So here's what I'm thinking for the build, I'll try and list specifics when I can, and I'll highlight questions that I might have as I go through.  

Item 1 - The Cab
I had planned to use the UA2 cab from mameroom.com.  I love the look of it and it seems to be big enough for all my purposes.  Originally the plan was to just buy the cab and cp outright and have them shipped.  I was shocked to find that once I got to the check out the shipping for the cab was 350 bucks!  So I've had to alter my plan to stay within my budget.  I got the plans for the cab instead and I'm just going to build it myself.  I'm not the handiest guy on the planet, but I can normally hold my own.  Plus I've got the help of my Dad who has access to a highschool wood shop and all the tools I will possibly need.  So the next item is to figure out what to build it out of.  I've read the debates of MDF vs. MDO vs. Plywood and I think I'm going to go with MDO if I can find it.  I've also seen some pictures of cabs laminated rather then painted and I like how it turns out.  So that might be an option as well.  Recently I saw a beautiful Street Fighter cab that a poster has up, sorry I can't remember his name.  he laminated his black before putting the side art on an it looked great.  So in the end I'll probably go with plywood and then laminate it.  This brings me to my first question.  Where can I get decent side art that will fit the UA2 cab?  I've seen a few sites for marquees and stuff, but a lot of the art seems to go up the whole side, and with the split in the middle I don't think any of these are really going to work for me.  I would also rather avoid and of the large MAME type stickers that some people use, as they just don't appeal to me personally.

Item 2 - The Control Panel
I've been looking and one of the requirements my wife had was that she wants to be able to play golden tee, so a trackball is a must.  I've decided to just use the two player classic panel from mameroom.com.  I like the layout and it's fairly inexpensive.  I've also purchased the blue lightning overlay and the clear acrylic sheet that goes with it.  Shipping for these items with some blue t-strip was 50 bucks, so much more reasonable.  I'm sure there are cheaper overlays that I could have gotten, but I liked this one and it's premade to fit that specific panel.  For the buttons and stuff themselves, I'm going to get most of the stuff from Ultramarc.com.  I've decided on 2 of the Ultrastik 360's, a mag stick plus, a spin track rotary control, tons of classic push buttons, and a U trak.  I guess from what I can see the 360's, spin track and U-track are all USB, and for the buttons and the mag stick I'll get an i-pac value to wire them all up.  Hopefully, and please comment if I'm wrong, this should allow all the inputs I need and be a fairly decent controls set up.  

Item 3 - The PC
I've gotten fairly lucky with the PC.  I've got some friends that have helped out with some components that they had spare.  So I got a donated: Case, 160 gig HD, 430 watt power supply, and a geforce 8600 GTS.  I've got 2 gigs of spare 800 mhz ram.  And I got a deal on a 2.5ghz dual core AMD processor/mobo combo off tigerdirect.com for 80 bucks.  That should give me a fairly decent PC.  I've got mame32 running on my PC upstairs and it's close to this, currently the only thing I can't get to run is MK4.  I'm sure there will be others, but it should be fine for my needs.  I want to be able to run Street Fighter 4 off the PC as well, and this should be above the recommended requirements.

Item 4 - Monitor
Here's where I get undecided.  I'm going to use a TV rather then an arcade monitor, but it has to be a CRT, I don't want to use a LCD monitor or something.  According to the plans for the UA2 I can use a 27" arcade monitor or a 25' tv.  I figure that if I decase the TV, I'll have to find directions on how to discharge it first so I don't kill myself, I should be able to fit a 27" tv in the case.  I'm currently looking to use a 27" Sony Wega or something similar that will have HD inputs.  This will allow for a sharper picture and SF4 should look decent.   I can get a used one around here for about 75 bucks.  So it's not too expensive, but I don't know if it'll work that well.  Has anyone else tried this type of TV?  How does it look?

So other then some art, a marquee, and a coin door I should be good to go.  Please let me know if I'm on the right track.  Also I plan on running a front end loader, I've read a few posts on some, but recommendations would be welcome.  

Thanks      

[ragnar]

"currently the only thing I can get to run is MK4"

Did you mean "currently the only thing I can not get to run is MK4"?  If so, either can I on a P4 2.6GHz.  MK4 is the first one that went 3D so it's not surprising.

[Fysh]

Ya doh, boo bad proof reading.

There are a couple of others, Virtua Fighter 3 for example that just won't load.  not sure if it a rom error or the computer just doesn't have the juice to do it.  I figure if I really want those games I can use a DC emulator or something for them.   

[leapinlew]

Ya doh, boo bad proof reading.

There are a couple of others, Virtua Fighter 3 for example that just won't load.  not sure if it a rom error or the computer just doesn't have the juice to do it.  I figure if I really want those games I can use a DC emulator or something for them.   

Settle into the idea that not everything is going to run right away. One other thing to start thinking about is how you plan on handling the controls. Many of us wanted an "ultimate gaming machine" and ended up with a frankenpanel. With that kind of money, you could build 2 cabs.

Before 100% committing to building a cab from scratch I would look around to see if anyone has a cab you can convert. By finding an old cab and refurbing it, you save yourself lots of time and money.

As a suggestion, how about use a couple hundred dollars and build a classics cab with a vertical monitor. Using cheap/free parts you can get a feel for the process. All of us have "things we would do different". As a bonus, once it's done you'll have a cabinet that faithfully plays Donkey Kong, Ms. Pacman, etc.

[Fysh]

I've looked around briefly for a cab and didn't really see anything that I liked.  I don't see the build of the cab being hard, more just time consuming.  But the project itself is part of the fun, so I don't mind building the cab from scratch. 

I figure that I'll probably end up using Hyperspin or one of the other front end loaders to keep the amount of roms and such in check, but I'm curious to see what others have used.  The current plan is to get the CPU up and running and then get it matched with the monitor and control panel.  Once that is working to how I want it I'll start on the cab. 

I know that it won't run everything, and I can't see why you would want to.  odds are there will be about 50 games that get played a lot and a bunch of others that just get booted up a few times. 

I don't see me building more then one of these, at least not anytime soon, so I want to take my time and make sure everything is as good as I can get it first try.  I may go back and update some stuff once done, but I pretty much have only one shot at this and want to make it a good one. 

[leapinlew]

Whats the magstick plus for?

[Fysh]

The classic controller board has holes for 2 x 8 way sticks and a single 4 way stick, as well as a trackball and spinner.  So I would figure that I need it as well.  To be fair I haven't ordered any of the sticks or buttons yet as I'm waiting for the panel to arrive first to make sure I get the right quantity of everything.

http://mameroom.com/Products_Classic_Kit.asp

[leapinlew]

The classic controller board has holes for 2 x 8 way sticks and a single 4 way stick, as well as a trackball and spinner.  So I would figure that I need it as well.  To be fair I haven't ordered any of the sticks or buttons yet as I'm waiting for the panel to arrive first to make sure I get the right quantity of everything.

http://mameroom.com/Products_Classic_Kit.asp

You do know the ultrastik 360 is programmable right? Not only that, but the magstik is a really different feeling joystick. A real short throw. I returned both of mine. The idea was good, but it just didn't work.

Any reason why you didn't want to build a panel too?

[Fysh]

In the end I'll need three sticks to fill the CP up, but I guess that 3rd position is up for grabs.  I honestly doubt it will ever get used, or rarely at least, same with the spinner.  I'll have to look at other sticks and see.  I guess those 360 sticks also allow for up to 8 buttons to interface with them, so odds are I could only have a few going to the I-pac.  Don't know which set up would be better though.  I might try it out when I get to to see what I like better. 

Which 4 way sticks did you end up using Leapinlew?  or can you tell me the how the 8 way/4 way switchable ones work?

Also I was wondering if someone could tell me what the difference between the Happ trackballs and the Ultramarc ones are other then 70-80 bucks?

I decided to just use the CP from the store more based on lack of knowledge more then anything.  I liked the layout and I didn't want to worry about screwing up the button geometry and getting them too close together or something.  I've seen some nice layouts since then, but that one had everything I wanted at a price I was happy with, so I just ran with it.

[leapinlew]

I decided to just use the CP from the store more based on lack of knowledge more then anything.  I liked the layout and I didn't want to worry about screwing up the button geometry and getting them too close together or something.  I've seen some nice layouts since then, but that one had everything I wanted at a price I was happy with, so I just ran with it.

Cool. There is nothing wrong with that CP, but it may or may not be to your taste once it's all said and done.

Many of us logged on to arcadecontrols.com the first time with the intent of building 1 game. I was one of them. Check out my signature to see where I'm at now. Once you start learning about controls, you start to become much more picky on the proper controls for each game. You realize you do have a preference regarding how clicky switches are and if you like a physical 4 way restrictor or not. Which is why I suggested you build an inexpensive cab to get some of these questions out of the way.

Spend as much time as you can reading project announcements. They are fun and informative. If possible, go to an arcade and feel the differences between joysticks. Good luck - I'll be watching this build.

[mgb]

I personally thimk that the Sanwa JLWs are the best, most real arcade feeling sticks.
They have a restrictor that can be rotated for true 4-way action. The u360 can be programmed for 4-way but that still won't give the real 4-way feel.
I went the 3 joystick route and now I'm going simple with 2 JLWs (one set for 4-way most of the time)

[DirtyDachshunds]

I'm building a cab similar to yours.  I bought the constructions plans from mameroom (as I am no woodworker and didn't want to pay for theirs).  I am in the process of building the UA2 currently.

As for the side art.  Game on graphics has some art specifically for mameroom.

http://www.gameongrafix.com/categories/mameroom

[Fysh]

That's fantastic!  Thanks for the link DirtyDachshunds!

[Fysh]

So I've made some headway.  I've got all the components for the PC together.  I hope to have it assembled soon with all the software up and running. 

I also got the CP from mameroom.com yesterday.  I was impressed it shipped on Friday and I had it on Monday.  The quality seems decent and I like that not all of the buttons and holes are pre-cut out on the decal on the top.  Sure it cost me more then the one from gameongrafix.com, but at least I like it. 

Also ordered all the controls and buttons today from Andy at Ultimarc.  So we'll see how long they take to travel over.  once I get them then I can start assembly full on.  Details of what I've ordered are as follows:

2 x Classic Pushbuttons.
Color: Green
                       
9 x Classic Pushbuttons.
Color: Blue
                       
8 x Classic Pushbuttons.
Color: White
                       
7 x Classic Pushbuttons.
Color: Black
                       
7 x Classic Pushbuttons.
Color: Red
                       
1 x I-PAC ² Interface.
Cable Type: USB Cable
                       
1 x J-Stik Oval-Top
Color: Black
                       
3 x Joystick Mounting Kits
Type: 5mm for all other joysticks
                       
1 x Optional Trim Bezel for U-Trak
1 x PacDrive USB driver board. With USB Cable
Type: ID#1
                       
1 x U-TRAK FlushMount Arcade Trackball.
Color: Blue Translucent with USB2 +cable
                       
1 x U-Trak RGB LED Illumination Kit
1 x Ultralux Logo Inserts
Logo: Pack of Start1,2,Coin ($)
                       
2 x UltraStik 360 Optional Hard Spring
1 x UltraStik 360 Oval Top with USB cable
Color: Red
                       
1 x UltraStik 360 Oval Top with USB cable
Color: Black
                       
2 x UltraStik Button / Encoder Harness
1 x Wiring Kit

I've decided to forgo the spinner for now as I don't feel I really need it. 

I also think I'll use Hyperspin as my FE, I like the look of it.  I'll update with some pics once I start getting the CP together. 

[Fysh]

So the controls are on they're way, Andy got them out quick and I think they're in Heathrow waiting for a plane currently. 

I've also managed to track down the TV that I wanted, hopefully it'll work out okay.  I got a Sony Wega model number KV-27FS120, I guess its a few years old but in decent shape.  Got it for 80 bucks, not bad for a decent 27" flatscreen tube I suppose.  I've found cheaper ones, but they're not a decent make and I'm worried about longevity.  Both of my other tv's are sony's and they've been great, so hopefully this one will as well. 

PC and CP build will be done this weekend.

One quick quesiton I have and hopefully someone out there might be able to answer.  I'm looking at the mameroom panel and wondering what I'll need to do with the trackball to mount it.  I would assume there is a mounting kit, it looks like there are some from Happ that seem to be similar.  I think the panel is meant for a Happ trackball, as the cutout looks to be the same size.  I'm positive the Ultimarc one will work, it'll just take some work.  If someone out there has had to do this before it would be nice to have an example to draw on.

[EvilNuff]

You shouldn't need a mounting kit for a u track.  See the installation page at ultimarc.

[severdhed]

So the controls are on they're way, Andy got them out quick and I think they're in Heathrow waiting for a plane currently. 

I've also managed to track down the TV that I wanted, hopefully it'll work out okay.  I got a Sony Wega model number KV-27FS120, I guess its a few years old but in decent shape.  Got it for 80 bucks, not bad for a decent 27" flatscreen tube I suppose.  I've found cheaper ones, but they're not a decent make and I'm worried about longevity.  Both of my other tv's are sony's and they've been great, so hopefully this one will as well. 

PC and CP build will be done this weekend.

One quick quesiton I have and hopefully someone out there might be able to answer.  I'm looking at the mameroom panel and wondering what I'll need to do with the trackball to mount it.  I would assume there is a mounting kit, it looks like there are some from Happ that seem to be similar.  I think the panel is meant for a Happ trackball, as the cutout looks to be the same size.  I'm positive the Ultimarc one will work, it'll just take some work.  If someone out there has had to do this before it would be nice to have an example to draw on.

the Utrak is really easy to mount, you don't need a mounting plate (plus the hole size isn't quite the same).  the instructions on their page are pretty easy to follow.  i installed mine without the trim bezel, because it looks better that way...this is right from their site:

Mounting without trim bezel:
Using a hole saw or fly-cutter, drill a hole 3 1/4 inch diameter (82mm).
Note the vertical part of the housing is slightly conical to enable it to be molded in one piece, so to enable a perfect fit you will need to enlarge the hole from the underside of the panel slightly, using a file.
Fit the trackball with the arrow on the top of the housing pointing to the rear of the panel.
Drill 4 "blind" pilot holes through the mounting holes. Then remove trackball and enlarge holes to 1/4 in (6mm). TIP: To drill blind holes use tape wrapped around drill as a depth guide.
Tap the expanding inserts into place. Install trackball and screw into place.


the part about using a file to enlarge the hole didn't seem to apply to me, apparently do to some slight wobble in my hole saw, i drilled the hole and it fit up in perfectly.  just mark the location of the bolt holes through the trackball unit, then remove it and drill out the bolt holes, insert their mounting hardware and install it. 

i had a little issue because apparently i moved the unit slightly while i was marking the bolt holes, so 2 of them didn't line up, i ended up just drilliing new ones the whole way through the panel and using some longer carriage bolts to mount it (countersunk the heads on top) then covered the panel with plexi..it worked out great

[Fysh]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I can see that the mounting of the U-Trak would be simple in most cases.  As I had mentioned before I think my issue is the way mameroom.com prepares their panels.  As you can see from this picture

http://mameroom.com/Products_Classic_Kit.asp

The hole for the track ball is about the same size as the unit itself.  So I'm thinking of basically filling that hole in with a piece of wood that is the same size, attaching it to the bottom of the board, and then drilling the 3-1/4" hole for mounting as severhed had mentioned.  Overall I don't think it'll be too hard, just not something I expected. 

I've got all my parts and stuff now, apart from a small error of getting a j-stik with no microswitches in it, everything looks great.  Andy was very responsive and got a replacement stik out to me, hopefully with microswitches.   I've been delayed by other things, but PC build is going to take place tomorrow and I'll work to get some photos up soon.