EUREKA! It lives!!!

[pboreham]

Got a crappy old PC today to test my CP and EUREKA!!!! It works 

Had a (very slow) game of 1942 and wow - its been worth the hard work so far - what a magical moment when you use the cabinet for the first time.

(Another) BIG THANKS to all that have helped me so far - you are all legends! 

[Apollo]

Nice work, I remember that magical moment, it's a very cool thing. Well done.

[pboreham]

Cheers Apollo! Cant wait to finish it now and get a decent PC in there 

[xmenxmen]

Great work.  Always emotional the 1st time.

BTW, I highly recommend that you put some L brackets or something similar to support your trackball and not depend on the Lexan to support it.  Here's mine in the attach pic.

[pboreham]

Cheers XMEN - are the brackets screwed straight into the plastic?

I do bow down to peoples experience, but the trackball is in solid (prob thanks to the plastic faceplate?) - dont think its going anywhere, there is no lateral movement at all as the weight is spread over the lexan by the plastic plate.

I prob will put the L-Brackets in though for super-safety!

[xmenxmen]

Cheers XMEN - are the brackets screwed straight into the plastic?

I do bow down to peoples experience, but the trackball is in solid (prob thanks to the plastic faceplate?) - dont think its going anywhere, there is no lateral movement at all as the weight is spread over the lexan by the plastic plate.

I prob will put the L-Brackets in though for super-safety!

Try getting a few big boys playing a few games of world bowling and you will definitely thing twice about the extra support.  Remember, not everyone will be gentle and I have seen some that some a tendency of hitting down on the trackball when they attempt their roll.

Yes, they are screw directly into the trackball.  Just pre-drill a small hole and then screw it in.  Just make sure you check the area you are drill to make sure theres no wire in the way.

Here's one that someone even added brackets for even more support...

[pboreham]

Try running Vantage on your old PC.  There's no reason 1942 shouldn't run full speed, even on a peppy 386.

Sorry, what is 'Vantage'?

When I start MAME (.117), it takes ages to load and when I load up 1942, a message pops up saying "Unable to start DirectDraw 3D" or something.

Have all the drivers for the GFX card (Geforce2 MX400) - but not sure if that is slowing it down? Have got 384mb RAM - not sure of the processor though as it doesnt show up - if I remember, I'll look in the BIOS next time I boot it.

Cheers!

[torez]

DirectDraw is part of Microsoft's DirectX API.  DirectDraw API provides support for hardware accelerated 2-D graphics.  Simply, you don't have DirectX installed, resulting in this major slowdown.  When you install DirectX and reboot, open your emulator and go to "Default Game Options."  There you can check, if Direct3D is enabled and in Advanced options DirectDraw as well.

[pboreham]

Ah cool thanks!

Bit embarrassed by that to be honest  Used to being hand-held by XP and Vista, but to go back to Windows 2000 is a shocker!! 

Will get DirectX installed and see if its any better  - thanks again!

[Havok]

Or, just use an older version of Mame - the newer ones are no longer "old pc" friendly...

[pboreham]

I just installed DX8.1 and it still will not play Direct3D - in DXDiag, Direct3D is greyed out, so I assume the old Geforces didnt support it?

I have 1942 running a bit faster by going into MAME settings and changing video from DirectDraw to GUI - still too slow to be playable though.

Its not a major issue at all though as this is just a crappy testing PC that I have got to test things like the controls and LEDs - I'll be getting a new PC shortly.

Thanks for the advice anyway!

[Thenasty]

Cant wait to finish it now .......

Now that you're hooked,  You will never finish   

[pboreham]

Ah, didnt realise it was an emulator - 'Vantage' was a bit broad to Google!

[Jouster]

Depending on how crappy your pc is...I'd drop down a few MAME versions.  I tried running .117 on my crappy pc...and dropped to .95...then dropped to .77 (or whatever it is around there).  Now all my games run normally.

I also had problems with the DirectDraw/Direct3D thing...just disable the one that is giving you the problems.

Jouster

[pboreham]

Thanks Jouster and Jim - most helpful.

I will PM you Jim - can I use MaLa as the front end as I hate DosMame!! (use Mame32 normally).

[SirPeale]

Sorry, what is 'Vantage'?

It's "VAntAGE" the Vertical Antiquated Arcade Game Emulator.  Use a 486 for better speed.  386 will work with some games, but frankly I'd want at least a Pentium I.

[Banacek]

There's nothing better than the first time you fire up your cab and everything works. Enjoy it, because in a few minutes you'll find something to improve and the moment will be over