Jamma Cab/MAME/Golden Tee 2k Question

[JK99]

Hey Guys,

This is probably off topic, so I apologise.

One of my favourite games has to be Golden Tee 2k, and as most of you will know who love this game, the chance of MAME emulation is quite distant since the current GT versions still use some of the old Golden Tee 3D Roms.  

Anyway..

Does anyone know how one would go about converting a Jamma Cabinet (say old MK cab) to a cab that includes a Happs Trackball that can be used by both MAME and the Jamma Cab (ie. If I plugged in a GT2K PCB).

I have an Opti-Pac so the MAME side is sweet, it's the Jamma Conversion I'm quite lost on.

Hope it makes sense.

Cheers

JK

[AlanS17]

Well I don't think trackballs are even Jamma compatible. They use special harnesses. The Jamma standard as far as I know only supports joysticks and buttons. You would have to do some sort of dual wiring job.

[paigeoliver]

Yes this is doable, but it would be easier simply to make a separate Golden Tee 2K machine. The cost of a cheap jamma game to convert to Golden Tee makes it kind of silly to try to hook them both up in the same machine.

If it is already a Jamma cabinet then your Golden Tee board should plug right in and the trackball will plug into a separate plug on the Golden Tee board itself. You COULD splice the wires so that the trackball went to both the optipac AND the golden tee boardset. You would also have to splice the golden tee buttons and coin mechs in as well, and then wire a switch that switched power between your Computer and your Arcade power supply (to insure that they both COULD NOT be on at the same time). Oh, there is also the monitor to deal with too.

You could much simplify the issue by using a J-Pac and just splicing the trackball wires to go to both the Golden tee board and the Opti-Pac. You would have to move the Jamma connector to switch between Golden Tee and Mame, AND you would have to either REMEMBER to turn the arcade part off each time (forget once and you will mess stuff up bad), or wire a toggle switch so that they both could not be on at the same time. You would probably want to get an ArcadeVGA card too.

That setup would work just fine, BUT you would be risking your valuable Golden Tee boardset by all the constant handling that you would have to do.

While just making a separate Golden Tee machine would require. One used Jamma cabinet ($100) and a used trackball ($20). You could most likely sell the boardset and controls that were on the cabinet for $40, thus bringing your cost down to $80 (plus the Golden Tee boardset). Not much more expensive than switching them, and it will keep you from damaging your Golden Tee boardset with all the constant switching.

[AceTKK]

IMO Golden Tee PC is 90% just as good as the arcade version.  If you haven't tried it out you should; it just might satisfy your Golden Tee urges until you find a good home solution for GT2K.

-Ace-

[StLouisRod]

Speaking of Golden Tee PC... here's that game running on my custom-built Mame cabinet.  I agree that Golden Tee hasn't improved since 98 anyway (which is when Golden Tee PC was released), so why bother getting anything newer?  I have 5 copies of GTPC that I bought on E-bay for $5.00 apiece.  Tough to find anymore since it's not being sold by Incredible Technologies...

[paigeoliver]

Ehy Stlouisrod. I assume you live in St. Louis? What area? I live in Florissant.

[mccall]

Golden Tee PC is not that hard to find. There are 3 available on eBay now from $6 - $7 + shipping. It also turns up on the web retailers that sell old and closeout software (overstock.com comes to mind) for about the same price.

BTW - great looking cab

[StLouisRod]

Paigeoliver:  

No way!  I live in Florissant, too!  Barrington Downs subdivision to be specific.  Small world, huh?  I'll be sending you an e-mail.  Maybe we can admire each other's Mame cabs sometime.

McCall:

Glad to hear GTPC is still floating around out there.  Thanks for the tips on where to find it and the compliment.  

[SlikStik-Christian]

Not sure if this is pertinent but happ has some kind of deal for golden tee panels that looks pretty good, its at http://www.happcontrols.com/amusement/acesor/900242100.htm

[JK99]

Thanks for the input guys, settled for the PC version.

Paid a little too much for it, and got stuck with a $16 shipping charge. Very pricey.

And yeah, saw those Golden Tee panels. Look very good, and nice price.

[SirPoonga]

Yeah, I have golden tee for the pc with the expansion courses.  Love it.  It's just golden tee 97 and so forth.  I think it has better graphics than the arcade.

ITS should try and sell gtg for the pc updated to 2k3.  It would allow people to practice at home, though that is what probably takes away from their main money source.  Though I'd play gtg in the bar more if I could play it more without paying so much.

[StLouisRod]

A new version of GTPC would be nice.

IT can finally fix the most heinous thing they could have done in the translation... remove the "Use your keyboard to enter your name" crap!!!  This forces me to reach around my Mame cabinet and pull out the keyboard once per person per game.  Infuriating!

Does the arcade version force you to pull out a keyboard just to enter 3 initials?!?!? NO!!!!  So why the F#@! did they put that in the PC version?  Noone wants to play the game on a standard PC anyway....  The only way is a real 3" trackball.  Shortsighted morons!  

[AlanS17]

That whole "initial" thing aggrevated me too. I haven't tried Golden Tee PC aside from that, though. And where would I get expansion courses? Also, I haven't played it with my trackball yet. does it play about the same as the arcade?

I know MAME has no intention of emulating the newer Golden Tee's anytime soon, and I prefer it that way. But does anybody know of another emulator that does it?

[StLouisRod]

Nope, no other emulator does Golden Tee except for Mame, and those are the real early ones (1 and 2), with graphics that pale by comparison to GTPC.  Still fun though... the play mechanics haven't changed at all since then!  Except you can get back spin on GTPC by right-clicking instead of left-clicking.

I found the expansion courses on someone's PC using Kazaa.

[MilitiaMan]

Is this a correct statement?

"There are only 6 total courses you can get for Golden Tee PC even if you have the add-on."

I wish their were more courses.  

MM

[StLouisRod]

That's all I've found...