Has anyone built a dedicated vertical PinMAME cabinet?

[spystyle]

Hello from Maine,

My brother is a PinJunky from the 80's

When I was a kid he used to bring me to the arcades and either rule at Defender or funnel quarters into pinball machines.

IIR he liked PinBot allot...

Now that 19" LCD monitors can be had for $160 (both standard and widescreen available) I was thinking of building him a "coffee table" vertical pinMAME cabinet.

The cabinet itself would be very easy to build, like a scaled down pinball machine with no legs or scoreboard. With a vertical 19" LCD and a few buttons on the sides.

1. Has anyone done this? Probably yes, but I couldn't find any when searching.

2. I don't really know anything about PinMAME having only studied MAME. Would the software support the above or is it only for horizontal monitors?

3. What is the recommended CPU for this type of project?

Thanks
Craig

[ark_ader]

I don't see the reason not to do this, as most of the modern manufacturers of graphic cards allow some sort of rotation.  I do not believe pinmame has this built in but I could be wrong as there is a new verion beta out.

I could really get "into" playing Funhouse vertically.  Maybe someone could write you a utility wrapper.

Let us know how you get on with your project.   

[RandyT]

There are a few things that should be considered.  You'll need a very fast LCD.  IIRC, even the commercial attempt at doing this type of thing suffers from some blur (I haven't seen one myself, just saw a statement by one of the individuals involved stating that a plasma would have been better.)

For the best quality on an LCD (or any fixed resolution display) you'll want to run it at its native resolution.  This means that you'll probably need a system / graphics card with some very good speed, or use a lower-res LCD panel.

And finally, each table will need to be tweaked for vertical output.  Some work ok, some not so well.  If he has a few favorites and doesn't wan't all of the tables to be play-ready out of the box, then it's worth taking the time to tweak them.  Otherwise, he could be disappointed at all the work required to play them.

RandyT

[crashwg]

I'd definitely go with a widescreen monitor for this as the aspect would be closer to a pin so they'd look more natural and/or the black bars on the sides of the pin could be smaller.

[spystyle]

OK I found it, the Aussie's do it!

http://tinyurl.com/393kfo

The first image attachment is just the "playfield", that's what I had in mind.

In  the second image the guy had a 13" horizontal monitor for the backglass and a 15" vertical monitor for the playfield, all in a cabinet. It's funny!

According to that thread the settings are:

Field of view = 10 (I use this for all tables)

Inclination = 18 (this varies from table to table) anything from 0 - 60.

"none" for the backdrop image in the editor (VP 6).

Cheers,
Craig

update:

Hey, the Italians have an even better one:

http://tinyurl.com/2y3nev

As seen in attachments 3 and 4

It uses "Future Pinball"

http://www.futurepinball.com/

[MPTech]

I've got visual Pinball & Future Pinball loaded on my MAME Cab, and to tell you the truth, I enjoy them more than the MAME games (sometimes).  I'm playing it on a 25" TV in my cab, but on my desktop, I have a 19" flat panel widescreen and it looks AWESOME!! rotating it would be even better!

I've considered the dedicated Pin Machine and agree that it could be very cool.  I like the dedicated Cab with the plunger, but I think I'd go with the second monitor too, for the back glass.

Good luck and post your progress!

btw, if this is the same SPYSTYLE that sold the cab plans on epay, THANK YOU!!! 
That's how I got started and my friend and I built 2 of them.  Couldn't be HAPPIER and friends and family members are impressed with the results.

[SavannahLion]

How exactly do they recreate the tables accurately? Do they scan/photograph the artwork and lay down the playfield rules on top of that or someone basically just creates the graphics from scratch while looking at a table?

I like pinballs, but a digital pinball of something mechanical seems a little hokey.

[Hawk Daddy]

Why not get like a 32" lcd tv, and use that, it would be closer to the main play field size anyway.

Hawk

[Donkey_Kong]

I like pinballs, but a digital pinball of something mechanical seems a little hokey.

Actually, it kicks but! You would be surprised how real it seems, and that is just playing on my desktop.


For awhile I was dead set on building a virtual pinball machine. Then I realized how much work, time & money to build a mame cab and I kinda lost interest in my grand virtual pinball dream. Now that my mame cab is near complete, it doesn't seem like a bad idea...I just need a lot of funds to do it how I want to...

Good luck to anyone that tackles this. I would like to see some customs start popping up.   

[spystyle]

...if this is the same SPYSTYLE that sold the cab plans on epay, THANK YOU!!! 
That's how I got started and my friend and I built 2 of them.  Couldn't be HAPPIER and friends and family members are impressed with the results.

It's true, I am the real SpyStyle

and I do sell my tutorial on ePay, sometimes I am flamed for it on this forum, we'll see if you may have opened a can of worms.

But with hundreds of hours into it, over 20 chapters, over 1000 pictures, and lifetime support, I think $9.50 doesn't make me a capitalist.

I'm glad you liked it I just updated it too.

As for the vertical digital pinball table, I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Craig

[MPTech]

Don't want to get you flamed!

It was the best $9.50 I ever spent!  I probably would not have built a MAME Cab, had it not been for your consise and well presented documents.

THANKS Again!   hey, maybe you can do a new version on building your own V Pinball Cab!!

post often!

[spystyle]

Hey, I just played "Bubble Bobble" themed table with my daughter, we both like it.

In Future Pinball:

http://www.futurepinball.com/download.html

and here's the Bubble Bobble table:

http://fprelease.free.fr/tables/94-bubble_bobble

While playing, press F3, the camera will chase the ball and it's "like a rollercoaster ride" according to my 8 year old daughter. It's dizzying fun.

Also, there are good classic tables to download here:
http://irpinball.ztnet.com/

Cheers,
Craig