Newbie Ideas for a quad arcade cab.

[guytalbot]

Hi,

I have been thinking about building an arcade cab for years and recently moved into a much larger house with plenty of room for one.  I need to start laying my plans out and am looking for advice.

I would prefer a quad cab since I have a lot of people over all the time hanging out in my game room. Currently I have a few spare 27" TVs extra for the project and several computers laying around that can handle mame.  The main thing I am looking for is cabinet plans and a CP layout that would fit a 27" TV with a quad control panel, does anyone know where I can find one?  I was also curious if there were any similar plans in Saint's book that would help in this situation.

Me and my buddies have a lot of experience in restoring pinball machines and hoping some of this will help us out in the mame experience. Any further suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[meismr]

Howdy,
   I too want to build a 4 player cab.  I really like Unclet's design... so I would look at that one
Have fun,
Eric

[AtomSmasher]

The plans in Saints book should be fine, you would only need to modify the CP itself which wouldn't be too hard.  Also, on the CD that came with the book you'll find the plans for the Ultimate Arcade II which I believe starts out with a larger CP.  If your new to woodworking, I would recommend either one of those plans.  Other then that, just read as many of the project announcement threads as you can.

[NoOne=NBA=]

Since you say you have alot of people over all the time, do you have a list of 4-player games you would all play at the same time?

If not, you might consider building two 2-player cabs.
You say you have a a few TV's and a few computers, so building a few cabs would be the way I'd go.
You can have them with different CP's (one joysticks, the other trackball/spinner, etc...).
That will let more people play simultaneously.

The Ultimate Arcade II is pretty much the standard for this type of cab though.

[severdhed]

thats a pretty cool idea also.  two cabinets.  to top it off, with some creative wiring and button mapping, you could use that as two independent cabinets, or connect them so that players 1 and 2 are on one cabinet, and players 3 and 4 on the second one.  it wouldnt even be that difficult. the main cabinet would be set up like normal, it would just need dual monitor outputs and configured to show the same image on both monitors. (i believe most cards are capable of this, i know my radeon 9600xt is) and preferably a usb encoder.

the second cabinet you would reconfigure the encoder so that it uses the standard keymappings of players 3 and 4, then reconfigure mame to use those buttons for players 1 and 2. that way it would function as a normal cabinet.  assuming that your encoder uses a ps2 port, all you would need is a 2 port kvm switch.  you connect one set of cables to the PC inside the cabinet, and you run the other set to the other cabinet. 

both cabinets would function as normal 2 player cabinets, but all you would have to do is hit the KVM button on cabinet 2, and it would be displaying whatever is on cabinet 1, plus the control panel would now be connected to cabinet 1, and already configured as players 3 and 4.  so you have instant 4 player TMNT action, with no crowding or standing at stupid angles.    the only real down side is that the cabinets would have to be relativly close to each other, and you would have to use VGA compatible monitors (i havent seen any video cards that have dual outputs for a TV). 


sorry to go off on a tangent there, but it is a feasable option.   

anyway, good luck with whatever you try to build, and please post lots of pics of your progress.

[DaOld Man]

Couldnt you just use a splitter for the two TV's?

[Green Giant]

Couldnt you just use a splitter for the two TV's?

Too simple, where is the fun in that?

[Dire Radiant]

Well if youre going to do something THAT simple you might just as well sit at a desk and play MAME with the keyboard! Sheesh!

[severdhed]

i thought about the splitter, which would work.  however it has been my experience that they cause image problems like ghosting and flickering.