Prepare to Qualify - Driving Cabinet - Complete!

[leapinlew]

I've been working on this project for about a week. I won the cabinet in an ebay auction. It's a 1976 Atari Lemans thats solid, but needed to be reworked. I skipped side art for this and did some stripes on the side. Where I'm at now:

Create a marquee - Done! (Kinkos Backlit Vinyl)
Installing a mouse hack on the steering wheel - Done!
Mount all the controls - Done!
Setup computer - Done!
Test controls - Mixed results. Using a x-arcade solo PCB.
Play!

I'll post shots when she's done. The cabinets name is Prepare To Qualify.

Shot of the side: the red on the side looks brighter, but it's all the same color. Combination bad camera/lighting (mostly bad camera)


This is a shot of the side and front. It is on a furniture dolly -




And here is a shot of the uncomplete fron - I never noticed how uneven the coin door is from the pedals!



 

[JonnyBoy]

Looks cool, I like the matte finish on the paint. Be sure to keep the pics coming.

[deadkenndys1105]

I love the stripes.  This is going to be a nice looking cabinet.

[leapinlew]

What's anyone think about this for the marquee? The only difference between this one and another one I made is I put a couple checkered flags above the word "To"

I realize it's a bit plain, but it's in keeping with the minimalist cabinet theme... Thoughts?

[theCoder]

Nice work on the marquee.  The text looks a little too small primarily in the width.  Depending on the tool you're using you can increase the spacing between characters (I forget what it is called).  I like the checker pattern.  Look'n good.

[deadkenndys1105]

Great marquee but the text need to be sized up a bit.

[leapinlew]

Bigger text eh?

How do these look?





What about the font?

[Crafty]

Bigger sized font looks better..

Have you tried other fonts though.

Not sure if there is a better font out there for this Marquee..

Capital Letters Might Help

[theCoder]

Much better.  I prefer the first one.

[gamecreature]

I would suggest a different font as well - something with bolder letters and sharp corners. This is just an example (I used Franklin Gothic Heavy, but you get the idea):

[captainpotato]

Change the font. Please. That font is simply wrong, IMO. Also, I'd suggest dropping the edging on it and the fading out background.

I'd suggest caps only as well.

I've just had a quick play with your image. You'd want to improve the font (especially on the change I made to the IMS logo), but it's an idea. I had to change the name because I wasn't happy with how to word 'to' fitted (or didn't).

[rockworm]

leapinlew:
I like the second one better were the text covers the whole length of the marquee. If you want to keep the font, I would make it slightly bolder and increase the intercharacter spacing. Otherwise I like the red-black theme, details with white and chrome will fit in excellent.

[leapinlew]

Here is another marquee design - this time using the larger font and blockier font suggestion from Gamecreature:



Are the checkered flags good or bad?

[leapinlew]

Also, does anyone notice the text is off center? It seemed more important to make the "To" to appear in the center of the black V than to center the whole thing left and right....

[bleemus]

I think it means more to get the whole thing centered rather than worrying about the "To" being in the middle of the V pattern.

You might also think about using a fixed width font if you want the first and last words to be the same width to be able to have the "To" in the middle.  Most of those don't look that great though.

[leapinlew]

Here is one with the text centered -

[leapinlew]

Change the font. Please. That font is simply wrong, IMO. Also, I'd suggest dropping the edging on it and the fading out background.

I'd suggest caps only as well.

I've just had a quick play with your image. You'd want to improve the font (especially on the change I made to the IMS logo), but it's an idea. I had to change the name because I wasn't happy with how to word 'to' fitted (or didn't).

I understood most of that... I love the name, even though it's giving me fits right now.

As for the checkerboard fade... I like it. I tried it without the fade and to me it looked flat. I appreciate the suggestion!

[gamecreature]

You could make the "to" smaller to give more emphasis to the other words. Regarding the flags, the only thing that bothers me about them is the way they are separate from everything else - it really adds to their foreigness. Try to find a way to integrate them into the rest of the design.

[Ninten-doh]

I like the checkerboard fade, and I really like Gamecreature's outlined white lettering.  IMHO, the name gets lost with the red lettering, so how about this combo...

BTW, I like the bigger checkerboard you have on the later versions.  I meant to do my mockup on that version, but I f**ked up.

[Ninten-doh]

Cabinet mocked with red lettered marquee and white lettered marquee.  Toned down the red brightness on the marquees to match the cab.

Can you tell I'm avoiding doing work on this lazy Friday afternoon and I'm wishing I was making a cool driving cab like this?   

[leapinlew]

Man!

Your right! But, I already sent it off to be printed. Hopefully it turns out ok. Working on the marquee from 12" away on a large screen monitor gives a skewed perception on it's actual turn out. I hope I don't have to spend another $30 to get another marquee!

Thanks for the mockup though - that was cool.

[gamecreature]

Ninten-doh, that's an excellent illustration of an important design rule - make sure it's legible from a reasonable distance. Always a good practice to take a few steps back and see what it looks like. If you can't make it out, time to make some changes.

[Ninten-doh]

Did you send it to mamemarquees or some local print place?  You could always call them and tell them you'll be resending if you feel strongly enough about the alternate version.  Worth a shot.   

[MYX]

Check out acidfonts.com and go font shopping. Link
Becareful of using a bevel. If you are trying to get it to stand off of the background, then try a white glow. If you are using the outline on the font then a white glow will not interfere with the design and it will make your text seem sharper.

[leapinlew]

Here is a picture of the mouse hack for the steering wheel. You can follow my trials and tribulations here:

300 teeth, printed the encoder wheel:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=54685.0




Not bad! I'm happy with it.

[gamecreature]

You should be. You'll be racing in no time.

[Ninten-doh]

Very cool leapinlew.  Keep the project updates coming!

Did you get the marquee from the printer yet?

[leapinlew]

No... not yet. I'm going to get it today and mount it tonight - I'll send some pictures tomorrow.

I am going to use a pcb out of an x-arcade solo. It's giving me some problems though. Actually, it's being a little ---smurfette---. If it doesn't straighten up soon - I'm giving it the boot. It could be the switches for the pedals and shifter giving it a hard time, or it could be the x-arcade wants the ground on a specific post. I'm not sure. I'm hoping to have it playable in a few days.

[leapinlew]

Marquee looks good. $16 at Kinkos for a 24 x 7.5.

[Buddabing]

Nice job so far, I like the stripes!

Are you planning on adding a light gun for Night Stocker and other driving/gun games?

[leapinlew]

Nice job so far, I like the stripes!

Are you planning on adding a light gun for Night Stocker and other driving/gun games?

Good question. Like, so good I never thought about it.

The monitor sort of lays in the cabinet, I don't think I can put a gun in at this point. But now I'm curious - how many other driving/gun games are their? I have about 20 games that will play on it well, so any other games I can play would be a bonus.

[Havok]

Haha - I like the Slikstik dig.

Also - looks awesome so far...

[DigDreams]

If you ever wan to update your marquee, may I throw my suggestion in to the hat...



Just a thought...  The skew gives it more of a racing feel.

- DigDreams

[Buddabing]

I don't know how many other games combine driving and shooting a gun. Lucky & Wild is the only one I can think of. Yoke games such as Stun Runner and Roadblasters would be playable with just a wheel and a gun, but I don't know if MAME supports that control arrangement.

I guess the main benefit you'd get from adding a light gun would be the 80+ games you could play on it without the wheel, such as Area 51, etc.

[leapinlew]

I don't know how many other games combine driving and shooting a gun. Lucky & Wild is the only one I can think of. Yoke games such as Stun Runner and Roadblasters would be playable with just a wheel and a gun, but I don't know if MAME supports that control arrangement.

I guess the main benefit you'd get from adding a light gun would be the 80+ games you could play on it without the wheel, such as Area 51, etc.

well damn....

I haven't really kept up with light guns... do they work well? If yes, could you point me in a direction as to what kind of gun? Do they work behind smoked plexi? Do they require a special version of mame? Is a 21" monitor big enough?

[leapinlew]

If you ever wan to update your marquee, may I throw my suggestion in to the hat...



Just a thought...  The skew gives it more of a racing feel.

- DigDreams

Good call Dig. The marquee is cheap enough that I just might. Thanks for the suggestion

[Buddabing]

Light Guns Wiki Link

[DigDreams]

Good call Dig. The marquee is cheap enough that I just might. Thanks for the suggestion

Those fonts are Speedway and Serpentine-Bold-Bold.  If you want a high-res image I'll be glad to send you a PSD at whatever size/dpi/style you want.

- DigDreams

[leapinlew]

Made some progress - had some setbacks working on the cab this evening.

First the progress:

  Moved the cabinet from the garage to the game room.
  Greased and polished the steering wheel
  Installed the monitor (what a job, had to recruit my girlfriend)
  Mounted the control panel

Now for the bad news:

  The x-arcade pcb I was going to use is definetly no good
  I need to realign the encoder wheel after removing the steering wheel
  Broke the plexiglass trying to cut it for the marquee

So... I can't mount the marquee or get the controls wired up. But! I have a plan for tomorrow...

1. Get more plexiglass and this time cut it with the router
2. Hack a keyboard.

Hack a keyboard?! I have an old compaq keyboard that looks like this:


I can cross 2 points on the back behind each letter to get that letter. I want to just solder on about 20 wires to give me 10 connections. What do you think?

Anyhow, here are some pics of the cab with the monitor and cp in place. I'll be taking the cp off so I can fix the encoder wheel. The monitor is held in with a brace and it's bolted directly to the shelf it's on - it's not moving anywhere.

[theCoder]

I've got a gutted Taiko driving cab in my garage, awaiting my attention (one project at a time).  It does not have a steering wheel.  Did your unit include a wheel?  Any recommendations on buying/building one?

[leapinlew]

I've got a gutted Taiko driving cab in my garage, awaiting my attention (one project at a time).  It does not have a steering wheel.  Did your unit include a wheel?  Any recommendations on buying/building one?

mine came with the atari wheel... Are you wanting to do mame or x-box/ps2 games with it? I'd say the only concern would be how you plan on hooking it up to your computer. The mouse hack I did works, but I wonder if there is another way. If your wanting to go x-box, you'll have some easy choices for steering wheels and arguable much better and more games to play.

What games are you wanting to play? This guy will play about 20 racing games from the arcade and a couple other games (puzz loop, cameltry, etc.). My monitor is setup horizontal as most racing games are horizontal.

Overall, I like the atari steering wheel. It's what I am used to seeing in the arcades.

[theCoder]

I'd love to use an x-box, but I don't think my son would part with the box.  It's mod'ed and loaded up.  I love the driving games you can play on an x-box.  Perhaps I could track another one down for cheap?

I was originally thinking of going with a high(er) end PC running windows driving games, such as the "Need for Speed" series.  The mame driving games just don't cut it for me.  I do however like the idea though of being able to play other mame games on it (with a joystick on the left and a series of buttons on the right.  My daughter loves Step Mania, and whatever cab it is on, it will be going non-stop during any of her parties.

I'm intrigued about going with an X-Box though.   I think I'll look into it some more.

The cab I've got has one pedal mounted at the base.  It appears to just have a switch, no pot and also no break pedal.  What kind of setup do you have for pedals?

[leapinlew]

I have 2 pedals - both switches. I've confirmed they work in mame for the games I want. Not as great as pots for some games, but they'll do. If you go the xbox route - you'll get a 270 degree steering wheel, some pedals and a shifter for the xbox. Check out Markvp's work on his sit down xbox game. It's awesome.

[leapinlew]

Alright! Got tired quick tonight so I'm calling it a night - here is what I've done:

reinstalled the mouse hacked steering wheel. Now that it's installed and the paper isn't rubbing on the mouse pcb, I am never going to move it... ever (I hope).

Installed the marquee. This time around I used the router to cut the plexiglass. I tried to snap it using the razor blade technique and I got a little impatient and tried to snap it too early. It was pretty late and I didn't want to setup the router and everything... turns out I should've. It's amazing what the right tools will do. It took me 20 minutes to get a new bit in the router and like 30 seconds to trim up the plexi... or lexan or whatever.

Wired up the controls. Well, I ran all the grounds. Thats the biggest BS part of this anyhow.

I drilled the holes in the CP for the player 1, credit, and quit button (they go on the front of the CP). I used an electrical plate to cover the hole in the metal CP by the old shifter. I drilled a hole in the center of it for games that require both a turbo button and a fire button. I said games... but I can only think of 1. Special Crime Unit... or something like that.

thats about it! Here are some pics of the marquee and cp in it's final resting place.









About the marquee:
I printed it at Kinkos - 24 x 7.5 on backlit vinyl. Cost right over $16. It turned out pretty nice. Now, the artwork may be a bit on the generic side. I wanted to match the cabinet color wise and pull in a bit of a racing theme. Overall, I'm happy with it. It's not a work of art, but I can say I did it.

Whats left:
Install ipac
install t-mold
install back
install plexi
configure games

I'll be off to the races!

[Crafty]

Looking good..

You will be qualifying in no time...

[Ninten-doh]

Marquee came out great!   

I know it's the flash, but I kinda like that first pic with the yellow sunburst thing going on.   

[leapinlew]

Not much in the way of updates tonight...

I finish setting up the computer as far as configuring all the games to work with the steering wheel and adjusting the sensitivity. It seems fine. I'll know for sure once I get the ipac in and can use the pedals and shifter.

[leapinlew]

Got the last bits and peices wrapped up today. Lucked out and Mala released a new version which allows me to use my steering wheel to navigate games.

The T-molding came in today. You can't tell by looking at it, but this cab needs about 21 feet of T-molding. I cut a bit off in 1 location and it's hardly noticeable. Next time... I measure before I order the t-molding. I just thought 20 feet would be more than enough - it's not that tall of a cabinet.

It was a fun project and didn't take long. There aren't a ton of driving games I like, but I have plenty of friends, neices and nephews who would play this. I stuck some non-traditional games on there too - Cameltry, Kick, Tempest, Arkanoid, Paperboy...

The encoder wheel + mouse pcb combination works great. The only games it's not the best with are 270 degree steering wheel games like Outrun. But for games like championship sprint, and APB it's great. The microswitch pedals are a bit of a hassle in some games, but they do the job.

Alright, without further delay, here are the last of the pictures. My next project is a xenophobe cabinet thats been converted to Combatribes and is going to be turned into a showcase cabinet.

I'm really happy the stripes turned out like they did. It was worth the hassle.








Thats a fine ass on this 30 year old arcade!

[Cameronj]

Looks awesome!!!!!! I am impressed. This gives me some inspiration for a similar project in the future.

Enjoy!

[gamecreature]

Very sharp! I should have you finish the outside of my cab!

[leapinlew]

Very sharp! I should have you finish the outside of my cab!

And you could've done my artwork! Brilliant!!

heh. Thanks! Yours is looking great - keep up the good work.

[Crafty]

Well done

Look forward to your next project

[Havok]

F'ing beautiful!

I love the FE theme, it totally fits.

 

[leapinlew]

F'ing beautiful!

I love the FE theme, it totally fits.

 

Thanks Havok.

In case you didn't know, the FE is Mala and it's the greatest thing since Mamwah. The only issue I have with mala is that it's a tad slow scrolling up and down the list with the joystick. The steering wheel cruises through the list. Other than that, it's an awesome front end.

[gamecreature]

F'ing beautiful!

I love the FE theme, it totally fits.

 

Thanks Havok.

In case you didn't know, the FE is Mala and it's the greatest thing since Mamwah. The only issue I have with mala is that it's a tad slow scrolling up and down the list with the joystick. The steering wheel cruises through the list. Other than that, it's an awesome front end.

Did you know you could hold down the ctrl button (usually the Player 1 fire button) for a quick page-up/down through the Mala list? Goes a lot faster then.

[leapinlew]

No I didn't. Good tip! Thanks.

[miles2912]

That is awesome.  Nice work on a driving cab. 

D-

[Havok]

You realize this now forces me to start work on a driving cab. I've been toying around with the idea to build a modded Xbox, and put it in a cabinet. Now, I think I'll have to follow through. And it's all your fault!

My wife is going to be pissed at you...

 

[leapinlew]

You realize this now forces me to start work on a driving cab. I've been toying around with the idea to build a modded Xbox, and put it in a cabinet. Now, I think I'll have to follow through. And it's all your fault!

My wife is going to be pissed at you...

 

Xbox is a great idea. I debated on going x-box or arcade. Personally, I don't care for driving games that much either way. heh. Obviously X-box has the better/most games. I am using mine to play arcade games because it's an arcade cabinet and it just feels right. I could change it up to xbox easy enough, but for some reason if I play x-box driving games, I'd like to play them on a couch in front of a big tv.

Tell your wife to join the pissed wifes club. BYOPW. I already got my old lady mad, whats 1 more. (old lady is a term of endearmont in Illinois...  )

[clanggedin]

I have a Ridge Racer II upright cab that I sold the guts to a few months back just waiting to be worked on.  I am going to convert it to a dreamcast cab and run crazy taxi in it hopefully.

This thread has got the fires burning in me to work on that now.

[vrf]

Great work! Feels like you finished pretty quickly, too.

Now I'm inspired to build a driving cab. (A mini one.) I like the profile on your cab.

[Crafty]

You guys sure know how to make life difficult...

all these amazing cabinets being built...

How is a newb supposed to ever get started...

I want them all  Upright, Cocktail, Driving, Barcade oh the list goes on..

Where will I fit them???

[danny_galaga]

i like it! hard to see on my housemates crappy monitor but looks nice. the steering wheel is original, right? what about the gear shift thingo?

[theCoder]

How is a newb supposed to ever get started...

One cab at a time.  I'd recommend converting an existing cab.  You get a jump start on the construction.  Just do it!

Now I'm inspired to build a driving cab.

Sounds like we may see a flurry of driving cab projects coming up in this forum.  Yesterday I made up my mind.  I picked up a mod'd XBox from dweebs0r, I picked up a 27" TV at a garage sale ($10 - what a steal), and I've got a large profile dead cab in my garage (free from a nice retired gentleman).  See you at the finish line.

[leapinlew]

i like it! hard to see on my housemates crappy monitor but looks nice. the steering wheel is original, right? what about the gear shift thingo?

The gear shift is a happs return to center turbo button gear shift. I picked it up on ebay for $40. Although not authentic for every game, it provides an acceptable level of performance. I wasn't a big arcade racer - this was more for my neices and nephews than for me.

[leapinlew]

Sounds like we may see a flurry of driving cab projects coming up in this forum.  Yesterday I made up my mind.  I picked up a mod'd XBox from dweebs0r, I picked up a 27" TV at a garage sale ($10 - what a steal), and I've got a large profile dead cab in my garage (free from a nice retired gentleman).  See you at the finish line.

Awesome! I look forward to seeing your project!

[MameMaster!]

excellent job and great looking FE.

Enjoy your new toy! 

[BlinKY1337]

That Mala template works perfect with this great job

[leapinlew]

Thanks!

As for Mala - it's awesome so far. I have no complaints with it. I need to hide XP a little better, but other than that it's a great FE.

This cabinet was fun to make. I especially like the stripes. The stripes was a side effect of being cheap and not wanting to buy side art. They worked out well. I'm halfway through my showcase cabinet build and haven't had much time to play this, but I'm looking forward to gaming more after I get my last cabinet built. I did manage to play a few racing games last night and so far so good on the mouse hack.

[loadman]

I need to hide XP a little better,

What issues to you have?
Maybe we can point you in the right direction to find a solution

[leapinlew]

I need to hide XP a little better,

What issues to you have?
Maybe we can point you in the right direction to find a solution

I should specify. I need to actually do it - not that I don't know how to do it. Real good directions were in the Hiding XP Threadhttp://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53467.0

Thanks for the help though Loadman!