Recent Posts

Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into your project so far.   

You might want to look at the FAQ -- especially the "What type of build meets my needs?" section.

Not sure if you'll be the first to succeed at "One Cab to Play Them All"^TM, but you're certainly not the first to try.   
- Swappable panels expand the possibilities, but remember that you'll need to store them when not in use.
- With more games come more compromises on controls.

a joystick for a flight game that runs on laser disk for which I don't remember the name by now. And if Xybots requires two joystick instead of two sticks that one more.

The laser disk flight game is probably Firefox.  It used an analog yoke similar to the one for Star Wars.
http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Analog_Joysticks



Xybots used an Atari "Twist-to-Turn" joystick, but you can run it using a normal 8-way stick if you remap the buttons like this:

         1  2  3
Joy
         4  5  6

1 - Turn left
2 - Fire
3 - Turn right
4 - Super-zapper/Start

There are about two dozen games like Ikari Warriors that used a mechanical rotary joystick.
*** Be sure to change the settings for these games as mentioned in the wiki. ***

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Mechanical_Rotary_Joystick_Games_.28LS-30.2C_Happ_Mechanical_Rotary_Sticks.29

There are a number of games that use two sticks like Robotron and Smash TV.

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Joysticks#Games_with_Dual_Joysticks

1) There are many brands of buttons and sticks, what do you recommend and why?

A lot of this is personal preference and can change based on the game you are playing.
- Need rapid fire for Galaga? Leaf-switch buttons are your friend.
- Playing Donkey Kong?  Avoid 8-way sticks so Jumpman doesn't get stuck on the ladder when you accidently hit a diagonal.

If you like Japanese-style sticks, Sanwa and Seimitsu make great sticks.

If you like American-style sticks, Happ/IL makes great sticks like the Competition (Happ)/Eurojoystick (IL) or Super (Happ)/Compact (IL) sticks.

2) There are two, four and eight way joysticks. if I add games that in original cabinet have two or four way joysticks do I need those or is eight way precise enough?

You can use a 4-way or 8-way as a 2-way stick, no problem.

Using a 4-way instead of an 8-way gives you no diagonals.

Using an 8-way instead of a 4-way can cause problems with the game logic in games like DK or Pac Man.

3) I have an idea of how to attach the modules but are there examples from those who have actually done this?

Paul's Modular Control Panel - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,68892.0.html

Doc's Modular MAME - https://beersmith.com/mame/

The Velcro Based Modular Panel http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/Velcro_Based_Modular_Panel
was developed for the Ghost in the Machine build http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/The_Ghost_in_the_Machine

4) First I thought that I cover the TV with a frame that leaves the 4:3 are exposed but now I'm thinking that if it's possible I want to show the game in middle and instructions and controls schematic on sides, do you have ideas of how to do this. A launcher that can show a picture around the game and that pictre has the info?

Some people have turned a widescreen TV vertical and used MAME's ability to display bezel and marquee using layout (.LAY) files.

6) I want to launch Mame so that it shows only games that can be played with current controls, how do you recommend I do that? Separate Mame installations of which I will start the one matching the controls?

You should be able to do this using menus in the front end program of your choice.  i.e. menus for "360 degree driving games", "Trackball games", "Flight yoke games", etc.


Scott

First of all, start fresh, new windows 7 or 10, in your case i think 10 would be best, get reed of that windows 8 crap.
Fresh install, new drivers, and then afetr installing amd drivers for your card, then install emudrivers, and reboot.
once you install amudrivers, follow the old instructions, they have not been update it, as they still work just fine, so basacaly is:
Open VMMaker select you settings,

i most times leave them as they are and only select the type of monitor a 15khz generic, then on the other tab i select my video card, my output, enable eddid, and i lost image, at tis point i connect my crt monitor, and proceed with the rest. Just follow the guide, but you really really need to start fresh.

DemulShooter v10.9.7 update :

- Added outputs support for "House of the Dead 4 : Special" (Lindbergh).
- New colorfull icon (solve visibility issue on black themes)

Use DemulShooter.exe -target=lindbergh -rom=hotd4sp

Github code, release package, and wiki will be updated later as it's now under maintenance and updates are not working

I've been planning on an arcade cabinet for a long time and now that I have space for one I should finally do it. Problem is my ambitious plan for a modular cabinet which morphs from Star Wars cabinet to Gauntlet cabinet to Super Sprint cabinet and more. My plans are in my head right now, and I know what you think but it worked well enough when I build my driving rig so I intend to repeat that, I've figured the big lines already but I thought it's best to ask for advice from those who have already made cabinets so that I don't repeat every mistake there is to make. For base I'll use an old PC.

Biggest problem was the screen, there aren't big 4:3 screens available. Biggest I have is 20" LCD and that's too small, an old CRT TV would have been too big and bulky if I could find one so it wasn't an option. First I pondered what hassle it would be if I would install a monitor or TV in pivot so that the cabinet would be about as wide as normal cabinet but when I realized that I need a wide cabinet any way to fit four players for Gauntlet in front of it I decided that I can make the whole cabinet wide enough to fit a TV in it. I start with an old 40" Sony I have which means games with 4:3 aspect ratio will be 33" which is nice. (That old TV has such big bezel that when I need to replace it I can place a 42" or 43" TV to its place which will be 34" or 35" 4:3 screen.) I think that I've got the height of controllers figured out with the TankStick (and StaWa Yoke I've already bought), that showed me that the cabinet will be quite deep also, one of the reasons I wanted a big screen is that I don't have to keep it in my face but I can view it with comfortable distance. And because of that I intend to make the cabinet in two pieces that are bolted together, back part where the TV resides and front part where I connect the control modules. That way it will fit through door if it needs to be moved.

At first I planned on making the base one meter wide and modules 33cm wide which would mean I can fit one, two and three player configurations on it and in four player configuration controls for players three and four would be half way over the edge but after testing two two player gaming with X-Arcade Tankstick that I have I think that I make 36cm wide modules with 110cm base in similar design, three players fit on base and in four player configuration two control modules are half way over the base. I've been thinking of games I want to play and that has led to quite a list of controller modules needed. Gauntlet for four sticks,, box with buttons for Track & Field, Star Wars for yoke, two track balls for Marble Maddness, Super Sprint for three 360 wheels, Ferrari F355 for a 270 wheel (although I don't know if it can be played now Hard and Race Drivin' among others make sure I need the wheel) and a joystick for a flight game that runs on laser disk for which I don't remember the name by now. And if Xybots requires two joystick instead of two sticks that one more.

That's quite lot of modules so I'm thinking how I can minimize the amount. I probably do an two player module with eight buttons each and two modules with four buttons so that when the cabinet is in three player configuration the main module is in left side and module for player three is in right, even if the panel isn't symmetrical since the module for player three will most likely be in such shape that he stands in angle. Trackballs and 360 wheels (and their pedals) are probably best to put to one module each. I also try to get the controls for choosing the game, insert coin and start buttons to plate in front of the modules so that I don't have to put extra buttons in them. In any case, I plan to do each indepentent module so that it will be connected to PC with USB, ports color coded

I probably forgot something but I'll add it later. Here are questions (that I remember) for now:
1) There are many brands of buttons and sticks, what do you recommend and why?
2) There are two, four and eight way joysticks. if I add games that in original cabinet have two or four way joysticks do I need those or is eight way precise enough?
3) I have an idea of how to attach the modules but are there examples from those who have actually done this?
4) First I thought that I cover the TV with a frame that leaves the 4:3 are exposed but now I'm thinking that if it's possible I want to show the game in middle and instructions and controls schematic on sides, do you have ideas of how to do this. A launcher that can show a picture around the game and that pictre has the info?
5) In addition to previous, what launcher do you recommend and why? I've tested Launchbox but I'm not yet sure it can do all I want.
6) I want to launch Mame so that it shows only games that can be played with current controls, how do you recommend I do that? Separate Mame installations of which I will start the one matching the controls?

Hey that is some good news! Thanks for reporting, happy it works. However, just yesterday I got hold of a system with an AMD gpu, which seems to have issues as well. So before releasing a final new version, I want to check that out as well. What I'm currently thinking of is this: I currently just pick the monitors EDID value, and change the first custom resolution pixelrate, but leave everything else in. For me (as used in an arcade cab) I don't want anything else than the resolution my screen is already at, but with another refresh rate. So maybe I should more or less just generate an empty EDID override key, with only that resolution in and nothing else.

I could at least make that an option I guess. I'll try to get that working.

Thanks for reporting again!

Does someone know a good tool/script to run a programm as admin without UAC admin prompt? nirsoft tool or something? I want suggest this for cab users on the website Maybe someone has cool technique already.

It seems like the new -removeextensionblock parameter fixed the issue with the default extension blocks. If I run -refresh with the new -removeextensionblock it sets the new refresh rate. I didn't have to do much to get it working either. I re-installed Nvidia drivers with the DDU utility, I'm not sure if re-installing the drivers was even necessary. I ran the new 0.15b6 version with -setup and was able to run -refresh and -removeextensionblock with the new refresh rate. There were two refresh rates available to select, 60hz and the new one set. Once I selected the new refresh rate, I was able to set a new one as long as the -removerextensionblock was present. It seems to work every time, and the refresh rate is reflected on the refresh rate checker UFO test site. If I run -refresh without -removeextensionblock it would give me the same issue as before, it seems to always create default extension blocks, with the new refresh rate set being hidden. I'm not sure why it creates new refresh rate blocks for me, but I'm glad the new parameter seems to correct the issue! Below are screenshots of my results.

ok, you said you had the driver running, and i hadn't realised how old the VMM guide was.

Scanning the 5450 (or newer) setup guide Calamity wrote, it still looks pretty good - http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1054#p1054

That guide goes through crt_emudriver setup, then enabling EDID emulation (not in your list, but you need this) and then VMM setup and selecting the right monitor range and selecting the modelist file. Then running MAME. The order might matter.

I would not generate modes from the MAME xml just now. It makes things easier, and as calamity noted, probably isn't needed. If it all goes ok, VMM should tell you how many modes it just installed, and you should be able to see those modes listed in ArcadeOSD.

If you have trouble, please note exactly where in that guide you were up to, and exactly what has gone wrong, then post up that information. If everything looks fine, but nothing works when you try MAME, please just post that

(Note that enabling EDID emulation on 300-series cards is not always straightforward. The ports aren't always named right. Do the best you can, but [/i]write down which port you select before enabling it. If things go wrong, and you cannot get a display from any port, try booting in safe mode, and uninstalling crt_emudriver. You may need to install windows again in the worst case. Then try enabling EDID emulation again with the next most likely-looking port)

Already done, findings have not changed.

I also filled the top 10 high scores with no change so I'm wondering if the game was played to the end when the video was taken.  After all, if it's running in Zapcon, someone probably played it through.

For me, checking that will have to wait.  I don't have the skill to play through the game quickly and I have other things to complete as well.

Great start! Excited to see the final product.