Ideas

[Xiaou2]

 I come up with a lot of insane ideas.  Sometimes I do not have time
or resources to make them real.   However, these may benefit or inspire
others.

 This one popped into my skull today:

 Micro / Leaf Switcher  

 There are times when you want to play fighters, and Micros are best...
yet other times, you may want to play a fast-shoot game like Asteroids,
and use an authentic leaf switch.


 You would need to modify your buttons by cutting off the holder.  Then
build a slide mount under-carriage for the leafs/micros.   By sliding a
handle from the top of the control panel, it will slide the carriage unit
left or right - positioning either leafs or micros under the buttons.


 
 I will be adding more of my other ideas at a later time.
All Ideas are free for others to use in their creations.  
 
 None of my designs and ideas may be used for commercial use without
my express written and signed permission.

[surface tension]

 None of my designs and ideas may be used for commercial use without
my express written and signed permission.

I don't want to sound like an ass here, but unless you patent anything your ideas are a free-for-all.

On-topic, I'd be interested to compare leaf switches with micros side-by-side... I don't think it would help my gameplay though!

[DaOld Man]

Button idea: I agree with st, I would want to compare side by side first.

Trackball idea: I like that idea...

About ideas: A man who was once my teacher told me that the only bad ideas are the ones you keep hid. So keep up the good work Xiaou2.

(But please heed st's warning about patenting something you think might be a real money maker.)

[Arcade Freak]

WOW guys,

some pretty cool ideas...as any one ever built some kind of flight similar pod. my wife wants me to make one. at the same time i would try to incorporate a driving game also. (eg need for speed) or better yet a dirt bike or speed bike (w/ out the crotch rocket sit) game. if any one as some kind of design (plans) also the requirements for the pc that would be great.

Thanks folks,

[Xiaou2]

 About  Leafs -Vs- Micro's
 

   I used to think leafs were not very good.   Hated them... because I felt they
had too long of a throw, and took too much effort to press.

 I never realized you dont have to push the button only a small distance
down for the thing to register.   This changed everything.

 If you play a game like Asteroids or even Galaga..  you need to be able to
fire repeatedly as quick as possible.

 With a leaf button, you can adjust it so that you barely have to touch the
thing, and it will fire.  Thus, you can vibrate the button up/down very quickly
and repeatedly.

 However, with a Microswitch,  you have to push the button fully down.  The distance
you must push it, is further than leafs.   It also has a very heavy resistence as you
are trying to push it down.   That added resistence slows your rapidfire rate down,
and tires you out much quicker.

 But again, you have to learn make sure you are using leafs properly for you
to notice the difference.  And make sure the leafs are adjusted well. (Contacts
are close together, and leaf is not bent too far down)

 And finally,  Why use Micros?   Micros are very good for certain types of games
which require perfect precision.  Hearing and feeling the click helps in this
regard.  The 'set'  throw depth also helps. This is most helpful in Street Fighter
type games.    Its also nice that they do not have to be cleaned or adjusted.

 
 As for the Patent stuff..    Well, I really dont think I could make any big money with
these types of ideas.   I just hoped that if something were to sell,  that the seller would
toss me a few bones and some credit.

[DaveMMR]

Okay, you can't take credit for the "Super Shelf" because I have something like that in my kitchen.   But you do have some interesting and good ideas.  I like the wheel idea where you can change it from a 360 degree to a 270 degree on the fly.  Probably half the battle with driving cabinets is deciding which one to use and how to switch it up when you don't want to compromise. 

[emerica]

 3 Screen Driving cab design I made a while ago...





 

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there a 3 screen pole position or something.

[Arcade Freak]

 3 Screen Driving cab design I made a while ago...





 

but is there a game that will support 3 screens...as i don't to start reprogramming the games?

[Arcade Freak]

also do you have these plan on paper ? if so i would like to see the total dimensions ?

thanks
calude

[Xiaou2]

 The Cab design was for a project that I was going to do.

 I picked up a  TX-1  a while back.   Wasnt working.   Found the problem,
fixed it...  and was planning to make a cabinet that would fit into the house for it.

 TX-1  Cabinet is monsterous.   Me and 3 guys barely fit it into the Uhaul.  It comes
in 3 pieces:   Monitors/PCBs  ,   Seat  ,  and  lightheader above the seat. 

 The main section is too Deep to fit into a doorway.   Its also like 6ft wide with
the 3 monitors,  so you cant turn any corners with it.

 The idea was to make a cab where the 2 side monitors were detachable,
By shoving all the electronics under a platform under a seat unit.

 The 2 side monitors would rest on wheeled carts for easy movement, and could
also have storage inside them.


 I had also planned to get the PCBs dumped for mame.  However, when I went to
ship them, they claimed my nice safe package was too big.   I then went to test
a few other boardsets which was a bad move.  It somehow screwed up my working
set     

 I believe there still may be useful data to be saved... however, I dont have the
money to ship & have them shipped back.  Ive thought of asking for donations.

 I was very hesitant to send the boards at first,  as I spent quite a lot of time and
money just to get the game to my house.  Its very rare, fun, and at that time, nobody
really had any interest in getting the driver to anywhere near a working state.

 I was also hassled by a guy, because I was said to have bid against a Dev
for a spare boardset.  I had no clue they were bidding,  and it didnt matter anyways,
cause they never bid high enough to win such a rare pcb set.

 Its been a bit of an ordeal.  Especially with the fact that I really need to get
it working, in a new shell,  & in the house... as the place where I live wants it out of the garage.

[Xiaou2]

Okay, you can't take credit for the "Super Shelf" because I have something like that in my kitchen.   But you do have some interesting and good ideas.  I like the wheel idea where you can change it from a 360 degree to a 270 degree on the fly.  Probably half the battle with driving cabinets is deciding which one to use and how to switch it up when you don't want to compromise. 

 Dave,  is your shelf  3 ft wide *  2ft deep  and have slide shelves?    I couldnt find any
shelves anywhere near that big, in any store.   Some shelves are just too wide, and not
very deep..   dont have many selves (4 not 8 ),   Shelves dont slide  and not easy to
re-adjust their heights.   So I had to build my own design.   Its not like
its anything Super brilliant..  its just an  Idea  that others may find useful.

 Glad you like some of the ideas.   Thanks for the comments
 
 I had thought about building many of these merely for the benefit
of the community.   However, they take time and funds.   I have the time now,
but not the funds.   Donations for steves many todo projects?  >.<   hehe

[Xiaou2]

Claude,

 I think you may find other Driving cab plans which are much more documented
on this site.   I merely put that up as it was something I had started work on.

 The work was done in a 3d program, and I dont have the size specs right now.
As you may see, its very rough (though should be fairly to scale) , and not anywhere near
complete for anyone to use as plans.

 Do search the projects section for more examples.

 Also, one could use 3 screens with a PC if one uses to correct hardware.  Theres
a company which makes a device which splits the signals into 3 monitors, and is
said to work with many games.   

 Also, Many video cards can do multiple monitor output. Mame has the ability to
output multi-monitor games to separate screens.  Only problem is that most of these
cards only have 2 outputs.   (2 pc, 1 tv)


 Best of luck on your project
 

[DaveMMR]

Dave,  is your shelf  3 ft wide *  2ft deep  and have slide shelves?   

No, it's actually 1 foot wide and 2-1/2 feet deep and yes it does have slide shelves.    But I was just busting b's on previous remark, we knew what you meant when you showed it off.   All around good job.    

Also, since I didn't say so before, I do like the flip-up trackball idea.  I'm curious to see how that'd work out so I'm encouraging that one fully. 

Also, one could use 3 screens with a PC if one uses to correct hardware.  Theres
a company which makes a device which splits the signals into 3 monitors, and is
said to work with many games.   

 Also, Many video cards can do multiple monitor output. Mame has the ability to
output multi-monitor games to separate screens.  Only problem is that most of these
cards only have 2 outputs.   (2 pc, 1 tv)

You can also have 3 video cards, no?  I used to have a multi-monitor setup a while ago and I used an AGP and a PCI card, both outputting to seperate monitors.  They were ATI cards with two outputs each, so technically, I could have had 4 monitors running.  Basically, you really only need two video cards for three monitors. 

How (or if) that works with MAME or other programs is beyond my knowledge, however.

[vertygo]

Hehe is it me, or can anyone else hear Randy's (GGG) mind clicking ?

I really like the idea of the pop up trackball too.. you'd think it'd be a matter of adapting a harness to any existing trackballs out there.. maybe..

I'd still like to see an elegant solution to adding driving pedals to an arcade machine.

[Xiaou2]

Thanks Dave,

  I will know soon,  as I should be starting construction on the CP shortly,
and will need the Flip TBall unit to function.

 
 And yeah, I didnt want to mention multiple vid cards cause I know that
it can be trouble sometimes finding cards that play nice with each other.

 Also, one has to consider what type of output one wants.   In my cab, it
was straight up arcade.  However, for a mame cab, I might use Svideo or
component.   Only one per card for that kind of output.

 But, since LCDs are cheap and easy to install... those would probably be
the easiest solution for triple screen display,  so only 2 cards would be fine.