I have a new cabinet and I have some questions about jamma

[leapinlew]

Hi. Thanks for reading. I have a xenophobe thats been converted to combatribes. I was never a fan of either game, and I want to mame it. The game currently works and there is only a small amount of burn in.

My questions are mainly related to Jamma. I don't even know what to search to determine whats the best way to use everything. I've seen people talking about using Jamma on mame machines. I'm not asking anyone to hold my hand here, but I'd like to know some search terms to put in google or some ideas I can be reading on to determine the best method to make this work. I'll probably model my design after Lowerhells mame cabinet.

So to summarize:

How do I hook up a jamme machine to a computer?
How do I make the monitor work with a computer?

My previous cabinet was a total mame conversion. This cabinet is an awesome design - is Xenophobe such a great game that I should consider restoring this?

[leapinlew]

Ok, I been doing some reading...

Initial impression is that a J-pac would be a fine solution. That sound right?

I'm thinking 2 joysticks and 6 buttons each, player 1 start, player 2 start, quarter buttons for each and a quit button.

Still reading!

[battletoads]

Hey, first thing I can tell you is you should go buy the book "Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine".  It's a fairly easy to read book on how to convert jamma cabinets to Mame cabinets, and it explains pretty much everything else on modifying arcade games.   It was written by a guy on this forum, and it's like twenty bucks on Amazon.com.  I wanted to build a new control panel for my arcade game, having no experience whatsoever cuttin wires, wood, or anything electrical.  I bought the Project Arcade book and it showed me eberything I need to know.

Generally, the people on this message board will help you if you give really specific questions.  Some of the people here arent quick to help out the new guy.   So go buy the book, it should explain basically everything you need to know. 

In response to exactly what you would need to convert your cabinet, you should go take a look at the ArcadeVGA video card as well  as the Ipac board on http://www.ultimarc.com. 

The ArcadeVGA replaces your Mame PC's video card.  It outputs at resolutions that are safe for arcade monitors.  The Ipac lets you wire your arcade pushbuttons to your PC through your Keyboard jack, so for example when you press the "Fire" button on your arcade control panel, Mame on your computer will interpret it. 

The Jpac combines an Ipac + video, but from what I understand the ArcadeVGA is safer for some reason.  Im not sure if the Jpac can output resolutions that can damge your monitor, or what.  You should read the descriptions of both, and ask some of the pros here before you go spending money. 

Anyways, take a look at that stuff and good luck.

[CheffoJeffo]

The Jpac combines an Ipac + video

The JPac is NOT an IPac+video ... you still need a video card. The JPac simply provides a convenient VGA connection, video amplifier and frequency blocking.

Some of the people here arent quick to help out the new guy

Except when someone makes a mistake, that is, then we come out of the woodwork. 

What about video?

The J-PAC routes VGA video from the PC VGA card to the JAMMA connector and therefore to the monitor. But of course it's not that simple! There are configuration issues when using arcade monitors on a PC with a normal VGA card (as opposed to our ArcadeVGA card). The VGA card must be told to output a horizontal sync frequency which is much lower than the VGA standard. The J-PAC amplifies the VGA 1 volt signal level to approx 5 volts peak-peak which is the arcade monitor spec.

What does the J-PAC video circuitry do?

Besides amplifying the video level, the on-board video circuitry also synthesises composite sync from separate H-V sync from the VGA card. The J-PAC has a jumper which is set to the frequency that the monitor is designed for (most commonly 15Khz). The J-PAC will not pass the sync signal through unless it detects the signal is at the correct frequency for the monitor. Some older types of 15Khz monitor could be damaged if fed with a high sync rate. The J-PAC prevents this happening. If the sync rate is not in range, the monitor is still powered up and still has video passed to it but no damage can occur as the horizontal frequency cannot be driven too fast without any sync present. IMPORTANT: It is not a scan converter so you will have to configure the VGA card to send the correct sync rate for the monitor OR you can use our ArcadeVGA card which will drive a 15Khz monitor with no special configuration.

How does the J-PAC work with the ArcadeVGA card?

The J-PAC and the ArcadeVGA card (see details under ArcadeVGA heading) make perfect partners and give the easiest possible solution for driving a JAMMA cabinet with a 15Khz monitor. The ArcadeVGA card plugs into the PC and simply plugs into the J-PAC via the VGA cable. Then plug into the cabinet harness and you should get a perfect picture right from boot-up with no worries about configuring the VGA card to send 15Khz.

http://www.ultimarc.com/jpac1.html

JPac and ArcadeVGA is the easiest option and is what I would use. There are other video options available, but they require more work.

As for JAMMA ... it is (in this context) a wiring standard where everything (controls, video, PCB power, but NOT monitor or marquee power) is connected through a single 56-pin edge connector. You can swap JAMMA game boards in a JAMMA-wired cabinet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAMMA

Using the JPac means you don't need to hack up the existing JAMMA harness, so don't have to hack a VGA cable and can change the cabinet back (or to something else) in the future. It is your least invasive solution.

Cheers.

NOTE: If you want to go to more than 2 players, you'll need another encoder (and I would add an additional "2-player"keyboard encoder rather than ripping it all out and going with an IPac4 or GP-Wiz) beyond a JPac.

[battletoads]

Lol see I told you theyd be able to explain it better.  And also you should check out the websites of other people who have made their own Mame cabinets.  Thousands of individuals have converted old cabinets or even built ones from scratch, and have created websites chronicling their work, including pictures, explanations, and lists of tools, etc. 

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm  <-- this is a page on THIS website that has thousands of such links. 

I looked up your cabinet on http://www.klov.com and saw that Combatribes is 3 player, 2 buttons per player.  Now Im not sure exactly what type of games youre going to play in the future with Mame and how many buttons/joysticks you want, but you might want to build a new Control Panel.

My cabinet had a really crappy converted C.P. when I bought it, with 3 joysticks, 2 buttons per player.  I replaced it with 4 players, two of them having six buttons (SF2 layout), and 2 having 3 buttons.  Now I can player NBA Jam 4 player, SF2, whatever.  I attached two pics to show what im talking about.  Im no carpenter or artist, but its simple and it works for pretty much any game I'd like to play.

[RayB]

I'd also add a PAUSE button.

[leapinlew]

Ahh, thanks for all the good info. Specifically about the clear up regarding j-pac and it not being a combined video. good to know.

The combatribes control panel is a 3 player 2 button per player game. I'm wanting to go 2 player 6 button each. In reading about Jamma it sounds like there is an extended version of jamma to support the street fighter layout. I'm still doing research, but it's starting to sound like I'll be able to use a j-pac and arcade vga card. I intend on using an arcade monitor.

I'd also love to do a 4 player CP, but I don't this CP has the room for it. It's actually a Xenophobe cabinet, so the cabinet is in the style of Xenophobe. It's a smaller CP but fits perfects in the game - I'd hate to make it look like a hack job by hanging off a larger CP. I'm waiting on a bigger cabinet to play 4 player games.

Thanks for all the good info - I'll let this thread die while I continue to do research. I'm going to build a dandy of a cabinet this time around. I built my first one fast and didn't put all the detail into it that I'm wanting to do this time around. Part of the reason for sloppy work is wanting to get to the end and play some games!