My first cabinet: gift for my brother - ALL DONE -- **FEATURED ON N.P.R.** :-)

[metahacker]

all games run in mostly 640x480 .. GameEx uses 800x600 .. and pinball uses 102x768 to keep the scoreboard to playfield visual real estate ratio in check.

u should have nice results with the 7600 and the samsung.  the only thing i didnt like about it was that switching resolutions caused the tv to blink and click as it resync'd... (not the tv's fault).. the 8600GTS seemed to keep the component output stage in the same res all the time and rescale the final framebuffer output to match it... hence no tv reset on ress change.  if you keep everything at 640x480 this wont really be an issue.

[Flake]

How did you connect your Nvidia video card to the TV using component video?  From what I am reading (and experiencing myself), Nvidia cards dont support DVI to component so how did you do it?

Thanks,

VERY nice cabinet BTW.  I am jealous.  Close to completing my own but it wont be as nice as yours me thinks.....

[metahacker]

How did you connect your Nvidia video card to the TV using component video?  From what I am reading (and experiencing myself), Nvidia cards dont support DVI to component so how did you do it?

Thanks,

VERY nice cabinet BTW.  I am jealous.  Close to completing my own but it wont be as nice as yours me thinks.....

there is a s-video style connector on a board with tv out support that allows for a break out box connection. 

it looks like svideo but it has extra pins available for additional output

this dongle is what i used (well, it went directly to 3 rca for component, a cable from another card than the 8600 ..  this seemed to give better signal than the 'box' it came with)

u should be able to use the dvi connector for hdmi but i dont think dvi->component will work.  i tried dsub->component and dvi->dsub->component neither were working for me, the way that you are trying.  using the 'stock' nvidia method works fine although sometimes the PC must be manually set back to 480i via VNC or another monitor when first changing drivers... as it will assume the component output means a HD ready display...which a CRT TV is not necessarily capable

if you dont have the svideo-like port you may have problems.

[cmoses]

Metahacker,

Can you tell me the name of the skin you used?  If you made it yourself would you consider sharing it?

If anyone else knows the name or where I can get it, I would apprecitate it.

[metahacker]

Metahacker,

Can you tell me the name of the skin you used?  If you made it yourself would you consider sharing it?

If anyone else knows the name or where I can get it, I would apprecitate it.

It is custom.  Here is a copy of the theme:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=24G18DUB

The main thing is just to set the snap as background.  The theme is really minimalist.

The font I am using is Segoe UI (copied from Vista).  And the front end is running at 800x600, but that isn't so important.

really its just a stripped down theme that is made to showcase the snaps as full screen backgrounds.     and i mixed/matched some of the system icons etc to my liking... as well as tweaking the regular gameexconfig settings.

The key thing is to donate to emumovies and download all their AVI snaps =)

Another thing that makes the front end fun is using Headkaze's LED/LCD plugin...it has support for text to speech announcement of menu options, game names, etc.

In case it helps any, I'm attaching my GAMEEX.INI

[metahacker]

also here is the latest very important update on the machine :-)



Ahh yes, the WONDERFUL Capcom Street Fighter 4 for PC.....  runs quite well, I must say.




And yes, XBOX LIVE support.... talk about EPIC INTERNET BATTLES.  People are into this game!  I haven't had so much fun in years....

in other news, i am starting to gather the pieces for building my second cabinet.

so far i have another identical midway cab (that i purchased when i built this one)... and recently i picked up a pair of mitsubishi megaview pro 29 video monitors (XC2930C).  i am hoping that it will make a very interesting choice for a display... as it seems to sync at anything from 15kHz CGA to crazy resolutions like 1900x1440.  reminds me a bit of my Electrohome Marquee 8000 CRT projectors in terms of its industrial spec CRT chassis goodness.

one of the main areas i'd like to focus on improving in this next build would be the display... i was very happy with the component-out driven Samsung flat 27" but i think a little OG retro 15kHz-ness is in order... I spent some time at this guy's arcade: Luna City Arcade .. and there's just something about having things displayed in their original 100% native mode that has me lusting over a slightly more 'authentic' display.  i'd also like to be able to do resolutions like 1152x864 with some nice clarity.... i'm also hoping to learn a bit more about the pinball emu stuff.  although i would prefer to build a dedicated pin cab some day as well. 

anyways, only time will tell.  right now the cab is just an empty storage container full of spare arcade parts.... covered in a thick layer of dust.  i JUST picked up the mitsu crt's about a week ago (my lower back is still recovering from that trip ) so there is some recent momentum at least.   

[ivwshane]

Very nice man! Your cab helped inspired my cabs design (especially with all the lights).

I've got SFIV on my cab as well and I love it!! I have yet to play anyone physically next to me but I have had quite a few internet battles and it's awesome!
How did you light your buttons for SFIV? I made mine all blue except the A button which is green and the B button which is red and I had my lower button (button 1 or 7 depending on how you have it programed) to be the focus attack button and I have it set to be black.

[PatrickLewis]

Great cabinet!

I have a mame that I built in a Twin Eagle cabinet, but I am using a 21-inch sony monitor in it now.  I was looking for either a larger CRT or a 4:3 LCD, but could not find any LCDs bigger than 19".  I was then thinking of your CRT usage and found some SONY KV series TVs.  These have component in which should work fine with a DVI to component adapter (around $30), but I was wondering if they would be good.

My cabinet has an internal width of only 23 3/4 inches.  Can you suggest a tube size that would fit that either in the TV case or extracted?

Thanks

Patrick

[metahacker]

I've got SFIV on my cab as well and I love it!! I have yet to play anyone physically next to me but I have had quite a few internet battles and it's awesome!
How did you light your buttons for SFIV? I made mine all blue except the A button which is green and the B button which is red and I had my lower button (button 1 or 7 depending on how you have it programed) to be the focus attack button and I have it set to be black.

it is lit as shown here

p1 is red/blue with a white #7 button.... and p2 is green/yellow w/ a white #7.

im using this app called XBOX 360 Controller Emulator...

it drops a local copy of a specific DLL in the folder (for DX Input , IIRC) .. and allows playing the SF4 with the U360 GamePad devices...

i did not see any clear way to map a keyboard button (i.e. the P1/P2 start on the IPAC) while using this , as input is restricted to the gamepad device .. so I dont use any dedicated focus attack button... #7 would have been nice for this, but it is start.  which is ok really, focus attack is easy when u have the arcade layout.

yeah the xbox live internet game play w sf4 is soooo epic sometimes

love it.

Very nice man! Your cab helped inspired my cabs design (especially with all the lights).

I checked out your cab .. it is very nice, and thank you very much!!!!

[metahacker]

Great cabinet!

I have a mame that I built in a Twin Eagle cabinet, but I am using a 21-inch sony monitor in it now.  I was looking for either a larger CRT or a 4:3 LCD, but could not find any LCDs bigger than 19".  I was then thinking of your CRT usage and found some SONY KV series TVs.  These have component in which should work fine with a DVI to component adapter (around $30), but I was wondering if they would be good.

My cabinet has an internal width of only 23 3/4 inches.  Can you suggest a tube size that would fit that either in the TV case or extracted?
Patrick

you should be very happy with the Sony KV WEGA series TV.  just keep in mind if u want to use a 27" u will generally need an internal width of about 25".
with 23 3/4" i would search a bit perhaps for 24".

something a bit like this
http://www.amazon.com/SONY-KV-24FV300-24-Trinitron-Wega/dp/B000067FCV
(i am not recommending that one in particular , it is just the first 24" WEGA that came up in search)

some people are claiming you can take the hack a bit further and run Soft15KHz or an ArcadeVGA through something like this
http://www.crescendo-systems.com/transcoder.html
and run 15KHz modes on these component input TV's.

i have not tried it yet, so i cannot confirm.  it will, of course, be quite a bit more of a hacking effort to get it all sorted out and configured properly.

i am very happy w/ the component input and i think you will be too .

this may be of interest to you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FD_Trinitron/WEGA

this sounds like the most uber model of 27" KV-27HS420   , as it will take the HDMI directly and probably be your best bet for compatibility.
however, the size is a bit large i think for your configuration.

the KD-27FS170   and and 210 also look very nice as they are "Hi-Scan" although only component input.

keep in mind that if you are using an NVidia card, support for 480i may be limited to old drivers.  (i had this issue).
i dont think ATI has this problem...the only problem with those, IIRC, is that they are ATI products ;-)

anyways.  if you use 24" (diag) you may possibly be able to cram in it there without total decasing.  u may need to cut the side speakers off (if theyre on the sides), which generally means decasing at least in part.  but 24" seems like it would be about the right size to fit in your cab nicely.  you MAY be able to cram the "right" 27" in there, but it is a bit tight at 23.75". ... as you can see in this pic w/ 25" (width) cabinet


i would not recommend risking it, if you are concerned with being stuck with an unusable 27" CRT.

the 24" (diag) would be best.  there are some 25" afaik, but i dont know of any Sony WEGA that size.  

[ratzz]

Sweet ... nice first build, andsome pretty good skills in it.