Using 2 Cabinets for 4 Player Games

[Tomodachi]

I just recently had this thought, but I don't know if it will work. I'm trying to avoid a 4 player frankenpanel. If I had 2 2-player cabinets, would it be possible to rig up everything so I could play a 4 player game using both cabinets? I don't know how practical this would be. I would obviously need some sort of VGA signal splitter so both cabinet A and cabinet B screens would display the game. Then I would have to make sure I had the controls from cabinet B also wired to the PC in cabinet A.

Sorry if this sounds confusing. Would this work? I want to still be able to use both cabinets individually, but have the option of using both to play a 4 player game.  Am I missing any possible problems?

[Zeppo]

Yeah, that should work.
Like you say, you just need to figure out the wiring.

Back when I used to work at Dynamo, I talked to some of the design engineers, and I wanted to suggest a cabinet I designed, but they told me it wasn't really marketable or feasible.
For some fighting games, I designed a two-player cabinet which was basically two single-player cabinets back to back so that the players stood on opposite sides of the cabinet and couldn't see what the other person was doing, and couldn't interfere.
This was back in '92 or '93 when Street Fighter was huge and we were rolling out about 300 of those a day.
During lunch or anytime we had a chance, we would have competitions, and some got really heated where we were pushing each other, or hitting the other guy's controls to make him mess up.
All in good fun, of course.

[Loki]

Aren't candy cabs used like that sometimes?

[Arcades R Fun]

An intersting idea.
How about make the smallest 4 player you can 40-44" and then make the widest cabinet possible 34"+ and then the panel will only overhang the sides  by about 3-5".
Then the panel will look like it belongs on the cab.

Of course the whole purpose of this is so you can fit a huge 32" LCD or 33" arcade monitor in the cabinet! 

[Tomodachi]

Ok, a question regarding splitting the VGA signal. I haven't looked into this yet, but is it simply getting a "splitter" like with coaxial or video? Or is there more to it, like needing to ...I don't know....amplify the signal/power because of it being sent to 2 monitors?

Hmm...I just did a search for VGA splitters, here is one of the sites: http://www.kvms.com/2-port-vga-splitter.asp
So I guess it isn't just a matter of a simple splitter?

[Loki]

With most new video cards you can connect 2 monitors and 1 TV... why not use that?
You don't need a splitter then.

[Tomodachi]

Well for the PC that will be sending the signal, I was planning to us an Ultimarc ArcadeVGA graphics card. I'm not up on my graphics cards. It looks like the Ultimarc ArcadeVGA card has a VGA out and a DVI out? What are some reasonably priced ones that have the 2 VGA outs?

[steveh]

most cards with dvi  will take a dvi to vga adapter

[Loki]

Yep.. with an adapter you should be able to connect 2 CRT monitors. Most cards have 1 included.
I guess you should be able to do the same with the ArcadeVGA.It also has a D-sub and DVI, but I never worked with one, but I think someone here would be able to answer that one.

[Matth9]

We use this card quite a bit where I work for dual monitor setups, works great.  Never tried it with games, but I would think it'd be good enough for MAME.  It can be run with the same output to both monitors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133007

It's available in PCI, AGP, and PCIe

[Spaz Monkey]

... or use this http://www.cyberguys.com/templates/searchdetail.asp?productID=3071, much cheaper!

The Metreon in SF has some SNK vs Capcom games in that 2 vs 2 format, but each player has his own cab.  Cyberball used to have 2v2 on two monitors too.

[SavannahLion]

Along with a USB extension for the controls from Cab B to Cab A, it looks like you're all set.

[Tomodachi]

Excellent..

[blueznl]

The USB extensions / switches may cause the biggest problem, they are known to be, well, somewhat flakey now and again...

VGA switch boxes get cheaper and cheaper these days and they should not pose a problem. Got a Kobashi 4 switch unit here that I paid e49 for, works perfect.