Building A Clean Emulation Cabinet Interface

[siddhartha]

BUILDING A CLEAN EMULATION CABINET INTERFACE

I am a purist. When I see keyboards, mice, and pullout trays built into a cabinet for either machine maintenance or interface operation, I am a bit unnerved. Power buttons are also disappointing, or worse, opening up the cabinet to start the computer. All of these are unnecessary. Using free utilities and minimal hardware purchases, you can have a seamless arcade interface – your friends will not even know there is a computer in there.

This article is divided into the following sections:

I – POWERING UP AND HARDWARE
II – WINDOWS XP SYSTEM CHANGES
III – REMOTE CONNECTIVITY
IV – THE EMULATOR
V – THE LOADER/FRONTEND

For each section, there is a list of mentioned hardware purchases and software downloads.

I – POWERING UP AND HARDWARE

Recommendations:

• Motherboard with power-on by keyboard feature [< $120]
• Smart Strip [$30]
• I-PAC or equivalent [$40]

When I was looking at cabinets for an emulator conversion, an arcade repair techie showed me a beast of a machine. He was quick to point out that the front kickboard swung out. “What would I need that for?” was my confused response. “Well,” he replied, “how else are you going to turn on the computer?” Coming from a techie, I expected a bit more. Even a button on the side of the cabinet would be better than diving into the guts each time you wanted to play Street Fighter. The solution: a good BIOS.

My motherboard is a modest ASUS A8V-MX. Although unassuming, its BIOS has a very useful function: Power-On by Password (actually inappropriately defined in the manual as Wake-Up Key). When the computer is powered off by software (S5), entry of a specified sequence of keystrokes will turn on the computer.

Note: Your power supply (and all modern ones do) needs to supply at least 1A on the +5VSB lead. You may also need to set a jumper on your motherboard (e.g. KBPWR for the A8V-MX). Check the motherboard manual before purchase for these considerations.

With an I-PAC or similar interface controller, your pushbutton presses are converted into keystrokes. If you set your BIOS power-on password to a combination of pushbutton strokes, you need only your control panel to power on the computer! My power-on sequence is as follows (Street Fighter button configuration): P2-Strong Kick, P2-Strong Punch, P1-Start.

A Smart Strip from BITS Ltd. combined with this is very cool. Not only will a pushbutton combination start your computer, if your computer is the ‘control’ device on the Smart Strip power bar, it will also power on your monitor, speakers, lights, etc.

Getting a motherboard with a simple power-on key/password and a $30 Smart Strip will save you from having to wire up a power button, and is also the cleanest possible way to startup your cabinet.

II – WINDOWS XP SYSTEM CHANGES

Recommendations:

• TweakUI [FREE]

There has been a lot of experimentation with MAMEd Windows loading screens. I find the transitional resolution switches annoying, as is the lack of anything above 16-bit colour. I would rather disable the loading screen altogether. This can be accomplished by going to Start > Run > msconfig.exe. Under the BOOT.INI tab, check the /NOGUIBOOT option. You will now have a black screen while Windows loads – much cleaner.

To increase performance, go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System. Under the Advanced tab, click Settings under Performance and then click Adjust for best performance. This will remove all the Windows theme stuff and free up some RAM.

Using TweakUI, I also hide all the icons on the desktop and set an Autologon for an account. You can also disable the Welcome screen under Start > Settings > Control Panel > User Accounts > Change the way users log on or off. I also auto-hide the taskbar. To do this, right-click the taskbar and go to Properties and click Auto-hide the taskbar.

Be sure to place a shortcut to your frontend/loader in Start > Programs > Startup.

You now have a startup procedure that goes from the BIOS screen, to a black screen, then directly to a completely clean Windows desktop with no icons, themes, or taskbar – wide open for any cool wallpaper of your choice to be displayed just before your frontend loads.

III – REMOTE CONNECTIVITY

Recommendations:

• (Wireless) network card [< $60]
• RealVNC [FREE]
• FileZilla [FREE]

This section should be front and center, but for flow, I have placed it here. Simply put, throw away that keyboard and say hello to RealVNC.

RealVNC is a cross-platform, free utility that allows you to control a remote computer. You can move the mouse cursor and type on the keyboard of your emulation cabinet over a network connection. You can even control your Windows XP environment from your Mac. All you need is a network card in your cabinet PC. Personally, I prefer wireless.

Install RealVNC Server on the cabinet PC and the RealVNC Client on any other computer you have in your house (you can actually use a web-based client as well, but I have had little experience with this). Call up the Client on your ‘desktop’ computer, type in the IP address of the cabinet PC, and you can control your cabinet as if you were right in front of it.

One thing that RealVNC cannot do is any sort of file transfer to and from computers. What I do is use FileZilla FTP. The server can be installed on the cabinet PC, but to save resources, I run only the client on the cabinet PC and FileZilla FTP Server runs on my desktop. Using RealVNC to connect to the cabinet, I call up the FileZilla Client, and connect to my desktop’s FileZilla FTP server. It is an extra step to go through RealVNC (instead of using the FileZilla client directly from the desktop), but it is one less service that needs to run on the cabinet. Besides, how often does one perform any maintenance on a cabinet?

IV – THE EMULATOR

Recommendations:

• MAME Plus! [FREE]

In keeping with saving all of your machine’s resources for the emulation itself, do not use any GUI frontends to emulators that have command line versions. For example, do not use MAME32 when better alternatives are out there. I prefer MAME Plus! as it has one key feature missing from MAME: confirmation upon exiting a game. If you have ever accidentally hit P1-Start and P2-Start at the same time in a game only to have it quit on you, you will be very impressed.

V – THE LOADER/FRONTEND

Recommendations:

• AdvanceMENU [FREE]

The loader is by far the most important piece of software on your rig next to the emulator itself. AdvanceMENU is my current favourite as it offers complete customization and leaves a very small footprint. Here are some screenshots of my configuration:

MAME games (MAME Plus!)


SNES games (zsnes)


Laserdisc games (Daphne)


Attached is my customization of advmenu.rc. Many additional emulators are setup here and I have changed the button configurations to match those of my control panel.

Code: [Select]

emulator "MAME" mame "c:\mame\mamep.exe"
emulator "zsnes" generic "-c:\zsnesw\zsnesw.exe" "-e -m roms\%f"
emulator_roms "zsnes" "c:\zsnesw\roms"
emulator_altss "zsnes" "c:\zsnesw\snapshots"
emulator_roms_filter "zsnes" "*.zip"
emulator "gens" generic "-c:\gens\gens.exe" "roms\%f"
emulator_roms "gens" "c:\gens\roms"
emulator_altss "gens" "c:\gens\snap"
emulator_roms_filter "gens" "*.zip;*.iso;*.bin"
emulator "daphne" generic "-c:\daphne\daphne.exe" "%s vldp -framefile %s.txt -fullscreen -x 640 -y 480 -noserversend"
emulator_roms "daphne" "c:\daphne\roms"
emulator_altss "daphne" "c:\daphne\snap"
emulator_roms_filter "daphne" "*.zip"
emulator "epsxe" generic "-c:\epsxe\epsxe.exe" "-nogui -loadiso roms\%f"
emulator_roms "epsxe" "c:\epsxe\roms"
emulator_altss "epsxe" "c:\epsxe\snap"
emulator_roms_filter "epsxe" "*.iso;*.bin;*.img"
emulator "stella" generic "-c:\stella\stella.exe" "roms\%f"
emulator_roms "stella" "c:\stella\roms"
emulator_altss "stella" "c:\stella\snap"
emulator_roms_filter "stella" "*.bin;*.a26"
config save_at_exit
device_color_bgr15 yes
device_color_bgr16 yes
device_color_bgr24 yes
device_color_bgr32 yes
device_color_bgr8 yes
device_color_palette8 yes
device_color_yuy2 yes
device_joystick auto
device_keyboard auto
device_lgrawinput_calibration auto
device_mouse none
device_sdl_samples 2048
device_sound auto
device_svgawin_divideclock no
device_svgawin_skipboard 0
device_svgawin_stub fullscreen
device_video auto
device_video_cursor off
device_video_doublescan yes
device_video_fastchange no
device_video_interlace yes
device_video_output fullscreen
device_video_overlaysize 1024
device_video_singlescan yes
device_video_clock 5-100 / 15.75 / 60 ; 5-100 / 25 / 60 ; 5-100 / 31.1 / 60
difficulty none
display_brightness 1
display_gamma 1
display_orientation
display_restoreatexit yes
display_restoreatgame yes
display_size 1024
event_alpha no
event_assign up up or 8_pad
event_assign down down or 2_pad
event_assign left left or 4_pad
event_assign right right or 6_pad
event_assign enter enter or enter_pad or a or 1
event_assign esc f12
event_assign space space
event_assign home home or o
event_assign end end or l
event_assign pgup pgup or t
event_assign pgdn pgdn or g
event_assign del del
event_assign ins insert
event_assign shutdown 5
event_assign help f1
event_assign group f2
event_assign type f3
event_assign exclude f4
event_assign sort f5
event_assign setgroup f9
event_assign settype f10
event_assign runclone s
event_assign command f8
event_assign menu backquote or backslash
event_assign emulator f6 or d
event_assign rotate 0_pad
event_assign lock scrlock
event_assign preview p
event_assign mute period_pad
event_mode fast
event_repeat 500 50
icon_space 43
idle_screensaver 0 0
idle_screensaver_preview snap
idle_start 0 0
include
input_hotkey no
lock no
menu_base 115
menu_rel 8
merge differential
misc_exit all
misc_quiet yes
mode list
mode_skip full full_mixed list list_mixed tile_small tile_big tile_enormous tile_giant tile_icon tile_marquee
mouse_delta 100
preview snap
preview_default none
preview_default_cabinet none
preview_default_flyer none
preview_default_icon none
preview_default_marquee none
preview_default_snap none
preview_default_title none
preview_expand 1.15
sort parent
sound_background_begin none
sound_background_end none
sound_background_loop "sonic-starlight-zone.mp3"
sound_background_loop_dir "mp3"
sound_background_start none
sound_background_stop none
sound_buffer 0.1
sound_foreground_begin none
sound_foreground_end none
sound_foreground_key "wav\Click16a.wav"
sound_foreground_start "wav\SFXCA.wav"
sound_foreground_stop none
sound_latency 0.1
sound_samplerate 44100
sound_volume -3
ui_background "background\wallpaper_invader1024x768.png"
ui_bottombar no
ui_clip single
ui_color help ffffff 000000
ui_color help_tag ffffff 000000
ui_color submenu_bar ffffff 000000
ui_color submenu_item ffffff 000000
ui_color submenu_item_select ffffff 247ef0
ui_color submenu_hidden ffffff 000000
ui_color submenu_hidden_select ffffff 000000
ui_color menu_item ffffff 000000
ui_color menu_hidden 808080 ffffff
ui_color menu_tag ffffff 000000
ui_color menu_item_select ffffff 247ef0
ui_color menu_hidden_select ffffff 247ef0
ui_color menu_tag_select ffffff 247ef0
ui_color bar fff300 000000
ui_color bar_tag fff300 000000
ui_color bar_hidden fff300 000000
ui_color grid 000000 000000
ui_color backdrop 000000 000000
ui_color icon ffffff ffffff
ui_color cursor fff300 ffffff
ui_command_error Error running the command
ui_command_menu Command...
ui_console no
ui_exit none
ui_font "contrib\ttffonts\vrinda.ttf"
ui_fontsize auto
ui_game snap
ui_gamemsg "Loading..."
ui_help none
ui_menukey no
ui_skipbottom 0
ui_skipleft 0
ui_skipright 0
ui_skiptop 0
ui_startup none
ui_topbar no
ui_translucency 0.6
mame/mode tile_normal
mame/preview snap
zsnes/mode tile_normal
zsnes/preview snap
daphne/mode tile_normal
gens/mode tile_normal
epsxe/mode tile_normal
stella/mode tile_normal
mame/sort parent
group_include "<undefined>"
type_include "<undefined>"
mame/group_include "Good"
mame/type_include "<undefined>"
emulator_include "MAME"
group "<undefined>"
group "Good"
type "<undefined>"

Note that ‘5’ is set to shutdown the computer. It is always fun to watch my friends’ faces when I put in a quarter and the Mario ‘death’ music plays as the whole arcade machine powers off.

VI – CONCLUSION

I hope this article has been helpful. You can save yourself considerable headache in your design if you use remote connection software and have a software power-on procedure. Front ends are getting flashier by the release, but have something fast, customizable, and most important: clean.

Oh, and for those interested, you can see my project here.

UPDATE
I've posted a video on YouTube of the startup process for my cab using all of the suggestions listed here. You can view it at

[tetsu96]

Good article, and very user friendly (either that or I'm reading these boards too often).  I like your cabinet too - very classy and well done.  Hope your friend is doing better now.

The pushbutton sequence for automatically starting is an interesting take.  When you start playing the cab less, it's not such a big deal to open the coin door to turn on the PC and I have mine set up so that I power on the PC and plug a USB cable in to power the rest of the system up (heck, my monitors had power switches on the inside as well).  A little more hassle that way and maybe that's why I don't play on them every weekend, but I'm used to it.

As an alternative to the /noguiboot, look for the stardock utility that lets you change your bootup screen.  Why have a black screen when you can put a MAME (or your own) logo there instead?  If it matches your desktop paper, even better.

http://tvmame32.mameworld.net/mamecabs/DSCN0159.JPG

(btw - the PC in the picture feeds a monitor to the left of the cabs, these 2 are self contained).

I'd also dump the remote tools - not only are the awkward for some, they use memory and CPU.  If you're taking the time to remove themes and the like, then keeping these off should also be a no-brainer.  Keep the keyboard and mouse inside the cab unless you're updating roms or performing system maintenance.  They're there if you need them, but you shouldn't normally.

Just suggestions of course.  The perfect cab is one that you're perfectly happy with, and in that regard, there's lots of perfect cabs out there.

[siddhartha]

Hope your friend is doing better now.

Thanks for your comments Incidentally, he is.

[NoOne=NBA=]

I prefer a wireless keyboard/mouse combo to remote access.
You are going to need to use a keyboard and mouse to do it anyway, it may as well be on the computer you are trying to fix.

The only other suggestion I would make is to change your exit key combo from (P1-Start/P2Start) to P1Start and one of your P1 Action buttons.
It's pretty hard to hit P1-Start and P1-B3 accidentally.
You can still use MAME Plus! to get the confirmation screen, but not having the key combo hit in the first place is better.

[Joystick Jerk]

Do the various Power On By Keyboard functions work with the IPAC when connected via USB? I haven't built my CP yet, so I cant test it, but I have a USB keyboard that can't power on the computer. A keyboard hooked up via PS2 powers it on fine though. I'm wondering if it's USB that's the culprit, or perhaps just this specific USB keyboard I'm trying it with.

[siddhartha]

You should see if there is any jumper-specific settings in your motherboard manual. I have separate jumpers for powering on by USB keyboards.

[Zeppo]

I like the remote tools, and use Ultr@VNC myself.
To transfer files, I just share the C: drive and transfer the files with Windows Explorer.
Good article for beginner, though.
Thanks.

[saint]

Nice article! The one piece I found missing from my cabinet was a keyboard though. The reason is I put PC games on there. Many of them have high score entries that only work with a keyboard. Other than the high entry thing (that can't be skipped) they work perfectly with arcade controls. For this reason and this reason alone I'm going to add a wireless keyboard that I just leave in the game room.

[javeryh]

Great post!  I need to take some of this in as I will be configuring a computer for MAME very very soon and I want it to be as clean and hidden as possible.

[steveh]

I like the remote tools, and use Ultr@VNC myself.
To transfer files, I just share the C: drive and transfer the files with Windows Explorer.
Good article for beginner, though.
Thanks.

You beat me to it.  There is absolutely no need to use an ftp program to copy files to you computer.  not only is is cumbersome it wastes resources. 

right click on your c: drive and share it.

then all you have to do on another computer is go to run and type \\(computername)\(nameofshare)  ex: \\arcade\c

and you will have access to every thing that is on that computer. 

great guide tho.  i will be incorporating alot of that when i am at that point.

[javeryh]

I like the remote tools, and use Ultr@VNC myself.
To transfer files, I just share the C: drive and transfer the files with Windows Explorer.
Good article for beginner, though.
Thanks.

You beat me to it.  There is absolutely no need to use an ftp program to copy files to you computer.  not only is is cumbersome it wastes resources. 

right click on your c: drive and share it.

then all you have to do on another computer is go to run and type \\(computername)\(nameofshare)  ex: \\arcade\c

and you will have access to every thing that is on that computer. 

great guide tho.  i will be incorporating alot of that when i am at that point.

So what actually connects the computers?  A USB cable or something?  I've been trying to get files from my desktop to my laptop for ages but I can't figure it out...

[Kaytrim]

So what actually connects the computers?  A USB cable or something?  I've been trying to get files from my desktop to my laptop for ages but I can't figure it out...

Your network connections.

[shorthair]

Maybe copy this to a wiki entry?

[siddhartha]

Actually....

Using FTP uses less resources.

The reason is because I have disabled all Windows sharing (File and Printer sharing under the Network Connection's Properties). I run the FTP server on a different computer -- only the FTP client runs on the MAME machine, and only when I want to transfer files.

Also, for security, the Windows sharing is disabled on all computer in the network.

[XtraSmiley]

Thanks for this man, it is perfect for what I'm about to do.  My only question is, how do I know if a Mobo has the power down feature?  I'm getting ready to buy and I can't see it listed anywhere.  Does this one have it?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2456&ProductName=GA-965P-DS3

[siddhartha]

Thanks for this man, it is perfect for what I'm about to do.  My only question is, how do I know if a Mobo has the power down feature?  I'm getting ready to buy and I can't see it listed anywhere.  Does this one have it?

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2456&ProductName=GA-965P-DS3

You can download the manual from that site. On Page 42 it has the feature: Power On By Keyboard and 'Password' is one of the options. I would say YES, it certainly does

[jfunk]

Something else for mobos that's trivial, but helps eliminate that 'computer look' is if you can find one that allows a customized boot screen.  I threw the standard NeoGeo boot screen on mine and I don't have to see the generic mobo logo or the scrolling initialization, now 

[steveh]

Actually....

Using FTP uses less resources.

The reason is because I have disabled all Windows sharing (File and Printer sharing under the Network Connection's Properties). I run the FTP server on a different computer -- only the FTP client runs on the MAME machine, and only when I want to transfer files.

Also, for security, the Windows sharing is disabled on all computer in the network.

what kind of security issues are you having on your home network?
If setup properly you wont have to worry about any security issues. 

The ftp server idea does make sense tho.  but it seams like a difficult way to do it.

you could also go the other way on your network, and from the arcade machine browse to a shared folder on another computer and copy files that way.

[siddhartha]

With Windows I am always worried about security issues, especially since I am wireless. Believe it or not half the ISPs in my area actually make your street a LAN, pool your connections, and have a router at the end of the street to connect back to the base station. If your computer isn't password protected, it is trivial to connect to. I figure given all that, plus the fact that I only have two PCs in my house (one of which is for emulation), I can disable the File and Printer Sharing to save resources.

[PsychoAU]

If you have a router in your home, then it's firewall functions would not let anyone get in through File/Print Sharing.  As long as you didn't open the F/P Sharing port, then only the computers in your house would be able to access that function.  But if it makes you happy to go some long, round about way to do transfer some files, then go for it.  Do a little research on firewall security in home routers and you may just be able to learn something.

And the ISP putting everyone on a LAN isn't accurate.  Yes, they use routers to direct the traffic, but they are not the same as your home router.  The ISP's routers only direct TCP/IP traffic from your computer.  File and Print Sharing goes through an entirely different protocol. 

If you were familiar with basic networking, then you would see that you are being extremly paranoid without cause.

[siddhartha]

I have no idea why you are trying to be cheeky in your above post. I am completely familiar with the functions of a router and know that unless port forwarding is enabled, it is highly unlikely that someone is going to be able to connect. I am familiar with basic networking, thanks, I have been a network administrator for over seven years. If you were familiar with basic networking, you would know to have multiple lines of defense and that no single security solution (i.e. a router) is a panacea for computer security. This is why:

1) I have a router with a firewall
2) I have a software firewall
3) I have file/printer sharing disabled
4) I have strong passwords
5) I do not log in as an administrator to my own machine
6) I have renamed the administrator account
7) Each computer is in a different, randomly named, workgroup
I assign DHCP licenses to specified MAC addresses only
9) I use 128-bit encryption with secure passwords and a random network name for my wireless network

But barring all that, if I only transfer files to and from my emulation machine once every couple months, why would I not simply disable file/printer sharing (as this consumes resources) and enable FTP only when I need it. Not only is it faster than file/printer sharing, but it is a lot easier to enable, more secure, and cross-platform.

And the ISP putting everyone on your block on the same LAN is accurate. Anyone on Shaw knows that you only have to browse your 'Entire Network' and you can see all of your neighbour's machines. You also share bandwidth with them.

You might still think I am paranoid, but this was all incredibly simple to do. Granted that most security breaches are now from the use of trojans and user-based stupidity, which can effectively bypass most of what I have done, but for incoming attacks, why not put up an appropriate defense? It doesn't take that long and is just good computing practice.

If you would like more information:

• http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=windows+file+and+printer+sharing+security
• http://www.tweakhound.com/xp/security/page_1.htm
• http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/220

• http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/winxpsecuritychecklist.htm

[Kaytrim]

I too use both hardare and software firewalls.  However all my PCs are in the same workgroup the workgroup name is not the default.  I have enabled file and print shareing because there is one printer for the entire house.  Personally I think that you are taking security to an extreme but you do what you think is best for your own situation.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[siddhartha]

Personally I think that you are taking security to an extreme but you do what you think is best for your own situation.

Well stated. While I think that a lot of the things that I do will prevent the casual user from inadvertently destroying their system (e.g. administrator restrictions), they might not feel they need to be as paranoid if they are using their PC as a gaming rig and basic email.

For those of us who frequent VPN connections to work to perform administrative duties, do online banking, keep accounting records, etc., security should naturally be more of a priority.

Anyway, I don't want this thread to get hijacked too much and this has little to do with building a clean MAME interface. I was merely making suggestions and using FTP seems to be a perfectly good suggestion particularly if you are not working in a homogeneous Windows environment.

[siddhartha]

I've posted a video on YouTube of the startup process for my cab using all of the suggestions listed here. You can view it at

[Organic Jerk]

ALot of this info is on the wiki, especially section II, but a great and clear writeup nontheless, and that's a very cool note about the motherboard there...

I'm also interested in Mame Plus...  If I could find a 108 version to compile with hiscore I would definitely consider using it

[Organic Jerk]

I've posted a video on YouTube of the startup process for my cab using all of the suggestions listed here. You can view it at

I would say that using the registry editing from the wiki to replace the shell is cleaner than putting your shortcut in startup, as you would not even see the start bar appear..  I have MaLa set to open up explorer.exe on it's exit..

EDIT: sorry for double post..

[Zeppo]

Here's a thread I found last year when I first started building my cab.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=53467.0

[jasonbar]

Does anybody know how to keep XP from loading the "Language Toolbar" in the Taskbar?  I can't even figure out what the dang thing is for, & keep hiding it, but XP insists on having it come up everytime I reboot (on my MAME PC & on my personal laptop too...).

Thanks,
-Jason

[Gamester]

Just thought I'd add that if you are running XP Pro, you don't need the VNC software.  XP Pro has remote desktop functionality built in...

[patrickmaher]

@jasonbar
disable language bar

[jasonbar]

Thank you, Patrick!

[javeryh]

tag

[severdhed]

nice article, and nice cabinet.  I'd say the security measures are a bit overdone, but hey, to each his own...

You should check out the WIKI, the section on Hiding Windows.  if you load your frontend as shell instead of explorer, you never see the windows desktop at all, no start menu flashing, no icons...just the wallpaper.  it works great, and most front ends will allow you to launch explorer if they are exited.  or what I do is just exit MALA, then hit the buttons that are mapped to Ctrl, Shift, and Escape..that launches the task manager.  then hit the button mapped to ALT, and then hit the button mapped to enter.  this brings up the run box, simply type explorer.exe in there once and then hit the enter button.    it will remember that, so anytime in the future, it is easy to launch explorer..  hit player 1 buttons 1, 4, and ESC, then hit p1 button 2, then hit enter button twice.