Some Questions for those of you with Custom MAME Arcade Machines

[JKJudgeX]

I asked these in my project announcement thread, but, it got 64 views and no replies, so, I'm assuming people aren't reading the whole thing (which is okay, I'm a windbag lol). 

I could still benefit from answers though, so I thought I'd repost the question portion:

1) For my front-end, so far, I've had fun with GameEx, I tried MameWah but found it just a touch to time-consuming to configure/make look good.  Do you guys recommend any others, I am always open to spend an evening configuring a new front-end if it will work out nicely.

2) Vinyls/siding/marquees/etc... My cabinet seems very nicely set up for rapid swapping of the marquee and artwork, does anyone know where I could get/make some good stuff (I want it to still be illuminated, etc)

3) I notice that my old buttons are all oiled/greased.  Is this something I should do when I get my new buttons?  If so, what kind of oil/grease?  How do you apply it if you do, and, if not, how can i clean my old buttons?

4) Are an escape button and a utility button enough?  I mean, I'll of course keep a mouse/keyboard on hand under the hinged control panel, for emergency use, but I would like to be able to use the controls as much as possible.

5) How do you go about getting a piece of plexiglass and getting it cut to the exact dimensions of a piece of plexiglass that you already have?

6) What kind of seating goes well with an arcade setup?  Barstools?  Are there compact/easily moved/comfortable/affordable barstools?  What do you guys use?

7) Any cupholder designs that work well mounted on these things?

[javeryh]

1.  Try MaLa - it's really easy to set up and totally customizable.
2.  mamemarquees.com but I'm not sure why you would want to swap out art and stuff
3.  New buttons should not need grease.  Try the power of oranges or something to clean the ones you have?
4.  Not sure what you mean by a utility button.  You will get a million different answers to the "right" button layout - do whatever works for you.
5.  I'd just trace it and cut to the lines... or maybe use my router and a pattern bit depending on the thickness of the material
6.  I don't know - I don't use them... yet.
7.  I don't know - I won't use them... ever (they look ugly and tacked on, IMO)

 

[TheShanMan]

Do a search on "admin buttons". Here's one fairly recent thread on the subject, but it comes up regularly. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=77795.0

[emb]

Great questions. Here are my suggestions:

1) For my front-end, so far, I've had fun with GameEx, I tried MameWah but found it just a touch to time-consuming to configure/make look good.  Do you guys recommend any others, I am always open to spend an evening configuring a new front-end if it will work out nicely.

AI have been using atomicFE lately when I upgraded my mame computer. It is very pleasant on the eyes, and looks amazing (it has very fluid animated backgrounds and such, and is relatively easy to configure). Before that I used mala, which I liked alot, but it was not as graphically pleasing (in terms of animation and such).

2) Vinyls/siding/marquees/etc... My cabinet seems very nicely set up for rapid swapping of the marquee and artwork, does anyone know where I could get/make some good stuff (I want it to still be illuminated, etc)

mamemarquees.com is freaking awesome

3) I notice that my old buttons are all oiled/greased.  Is this something I should do when I get my new buttons?  If so, what kind of oil/grease?  How do you apply it if you do, and, if not, how can i clean my old buttons?

Nope, you should not have to worry about this when you purchase your new buttons.

4) Are an escape button and a utility button enough?  I mean, I'll of course keep a mouse/keyboard on hand under the hinged control panel, for emergency use, but I would like to be able to use the controls as much as possible.

I would suggest having a quit and a pause button. I would not throw a utility button in there because many of your friends will come in to play and see that button, and they WILL MESS S**T up (from personal experience). I suggest the pause button because there are many times when you are trying to beat a game. After a few beers you may break the seal and have to make frequent bathroom breaks (no sense crossing your legs and squirming). So whenever I have to do maintenance, i just pull out the keyboard and mouse rather than having a utility button. After you initially configure all your games, you will rarely see the keyboard and mouse again.

5) How do you go about getting a piece of plexiglass and getting it cut to the exact dimensions of a piece of plexiglass that you already have?

I just went to my local menards (they also carry it at at home depot  & lowes) to get a piece of plexiglass. Near the plexiglass shelves the stores commonly carry cheap plexiglass cutters you can buy for dirt cheap (for like a dollar or so), and it is pretty easy to cut yourself.

6) What kind of seating goes well with an arcade setup?  Barstools?  Are there compact/easily moved/comfortable/affordable barstools?  What do you guys use?

No idea here. I am looking for some myself  .

7) Any cupholder designs that work well mounted on these things?

Same here as well, I have no idea. I really want to get some cupholders for my cabinet as well.

Hope my suggestions help 

[Ginsu Victim]

I just went to my local menards (they also carry it at at home depot  & lowes) to get a piece of plexiglass. Near the plexiglass shelves the stores commonly carry cheap plexiglass cutters you can buy for dirt cheap (for like a dollar or so), and it is pretty easy to cut yourself.

Lowes will cut it for you free (nothing too fancy. Just 90° angles)

[emb]

Ah, i wish I had a lowes where i live, that would be sweet..

[JKJudgeX]

Ah, okay, Lowes it is then, thanks for that...

I hadn't thought of a pause button, this would have been a very upsetting thing to realize down the road, so, thanks for that...

As far as front-ends go, GameEx is really really cool, but I will definitely be trying AtomicFE and MaLa in the next couple days...  Not sure which I'll go with...  I would honestly LOVE it if someone released like a really well done multi-emulator setup for MameWah, but, I just don't have the time.  The themes for AtomicFE look awesome, that bubble bobble theme would be a hit with the woman.

I probably will have to include a utility button somewhere, just dunno where.. .somewhere hidden...

So... lessee...  8 buttons p1, 8 buttons p2, 4 start buttons, 4 coin buttons, 8 inputs for P1 and P2 sticks, Admin button, Exit button, Pause button...  not sure if I can handle all that with just a J-PAC and a DIY X-Arcade kit, but, I'll see what I can rig up ... probably just replace coin buttons 2, 3 and 4 and start buttons 3 and 4 with a shift button, such that shift-start 1 = start 3 and shift start-2 = start 4, dunno an elegant way to do the other coin slots tho

[Ginsu Victim]

Not going to wire up a coin door?

[emb]

As far as front-ends go, GameEx is really really cool, but I will definitely be trying AtomicFE and MaLa in the next couple days...  Not sure which I'll go with...  I would honestly LOVE it if someone released like a really well done multi-emulator setup for MameWah, but, I just don't have the time.  The themes for AtomicFE look awesome, that bubble bobble theme would be a hit with the woman.

Yea, they are all great frontends, and you cannot really go wrong there.

[Ginsu Victim]

MameWAH takes a little bit of reading in the wiki, but once you understand it (not hard), it's super easy and quite versatile. I love it.

[daywane]

I use atomic

bar stools

as for cup holders, I lucked out. My friend crushes cars. he had a custom van he was going to crush. I bought the wooden cup holders (with lights)

I am thinking of even putting a car lighter in for my smoke's 

esc and pause should be plenty maybe coin  if needed

[IgnoranceIsBliss]

Hold on - 4 coin and 4 start buttons, with only 2 actual sticks?

I'm using a KeyWiz keyboard encoder on my rig (I actually had an existing, dead arcade machine). The keywiz is cute because it does have a "Shazzam!" key, which is basically just a 'Shift' - in that it completely changes every button to another keypress.

So Shazzam+Quit Game is actually Shut Down. Shazzam+Player 1 is 'Tab', to edit the game config etc.

While it may be slightly nicer to have individual buttons for these things, it would also be UGLIER.

The KeyWiz has it's faults - the main two being that it doesn't store it's custom program in ROM and needs the Windows software if you want to use a custom setup (not an issue, since I use it's default setup which is rigged for MAME), and that you need to actually 'switch' from Keyboard to Controls, where some of it's competitors do that seamlessly...but the shift is valuable.

And while I hate to admit to using a commercial product, I use "Maximus Arcade" for my frontend, since although it's pretty limited in terms of customization and takes a little while to load, it's VERY pretty and comes pre-configured for a large number of emulators - it's almost a zero-effort frontend.

I personally don't use "Pause", but I do have the Shazam and 2-player buttons set to 'Save State' and 'Load State', so I can go back to that final boss battle in Marvel Vs Capcom and hopefully beat the guy this time

[whoozwah]

And while I hate to admit to using a commercial product, I use "Maximus Arcade" for my frontend, since although it's pretty limited in terms of customization and takes a little while to load, it's VERY pretty and comes pre-configured for a large number of emulators - it's almost a zero-effort frontend.

agreed. I use MA as well and I've been trying different things to minimize the time it takes to load. I only use 1 resolution for the frontend so I've taken all the other resolutions out through the skinning app that's provided. I've been tinkering with other things to make it boot faster as well.

As far as customization goes, I think it's fine. You can build your own skin from start to finish. Personally, I just took the default skin and modified it to suit the theme that I'm going after in my build (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Here's a screen of it:

[clicker]

Here's some cup holders that seem to be nice, fold-up out of the way when not needed.

http://www.jmsonline.net/DRINK-HOLDER-FOLD-UP.htm

[gonzo90017]

I would honestly LOVE it if someone released like a really well done multi-emulator setup for MameWah, but, I just don't have the time.

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=73330.0

[More Cowbell]

Make sure you measure out your barstool needs. There are different heights and you want it to be a good fit. I have a few tall ones for my taller cabs and some shorter ones for Nintendo cabs and such.

[JKJudgeX]

Let me just tell ya... I'm really glad you mentioned measuring out the barstools before getting them.  Being the moron that I am, I would have, had you not said that, gone off and just gotten the first pair of stools that looked good to me.

That being said, where do you guys buy your stools? 

The cupholder link above looks pretty cool, but at $9 bucks a cupholder I am just a tad dubious on the whole thing.  $18 to hold drinks on the side of my machine?  I was thinking I could get that done for under $10 somehow, even if they don't fold up.

[whoozwah]

...That being said, where do you guys buy your stools? 

I found mine while "treasure hunting" with a couple of my friends. We got up early and hit the yard sales and flea markets just poking around. I just happened to find a pair in great condition for dirt cheap. YMMV

[barrel_hopper]

I got my stool while doing computer work for a septic company Me - "hey where did you guys get these stools? I have been going crazy trying to find one to put in front of my DK machine!" Them - "Ohh we get them from bla bla bla we have some extras would you like one?" ME - "Sure! That would make my month!"


The rest is history. Yard Sales and Flea Markets are a good idea

[MazzMn]

Front Ends
GameLauncher is easy to use and kicks off other games than Mame
http://www.dribin.org/dave/game_launcher/
If you use it you should look at MenuMaker by DaOldMan, it makes it super easy to create Favorite menus http://members.tripod.com/~Skennys_Outpost/menumaker.html

Cup Holders
When I was thinking of installing cupholders I found Marine cupholders looked cool and were cheap (ended up not using them), something like this (would reduce CP space)
http://cgi.ebay.com/T-H-MARINE-STAINLESS-STEEL-CUP-HOLDER_W0QQitemZ250147188241QQihZ015QQcategoryZ310QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

When I needed stools for my pool table I found some nice wood/leather ones at Fleet Farm of all places (spose these could be shortened if need be for an upright cab!!)

In trying to find those stools online I noticed Sams Club has a nice selection of Chrome/Vinyl ones available for delivery (if you have such a store nearby you can generally visit once for free by asking)
http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/search.do?org.apache.struts.taglib.html.TOKEN=135504c0cc22f9fe3eadd986e8b86b9b&searchtype=simple&simplesearchfor=barstool&simpleitemtype=1&location=store&sortby=1