Some pre-build questions on a MAME cabinet.

[Frigo]

Hello, all. I have been lurking around these boards for quite some time - gathering information, researching opinions, what have you. I have wanted to build a MAME cabinet for years, and have only now come across the time, money, and space to do so. Originally, I had wanted to do several restorations, but that is a hobby that is just a bit out of my price range at the moment. So, the MAME setup seemed like the reasonable option. As it stands right now, I have the computer built, sans a video card (I've yet to buy one), and I also have a Gateway Destination 36" monitor I plan to de-case and mount to the cabinet when the time comes. My questions to you all are:

1) What front end did you eventually use? I've seen a few posts here where Hyperspin, MaLa, and various others have been recommended. What would be a good option for a first-time builder such as myself? I have been using GameEx for a home console emulation system, and am tempted to keep things the same to provide a level of uniformity across the board, only I have never tested it with MAME. If anyone with any experience in this situation could weigh in, it would be much appreciated.

2) I had initially wanted to build a 4-player cabinet (hence the 36" monitor), but after reading through here, my hopes were quickly discouraged. Are there any real advantages to building a 4-player cabinet aside from the increased real estate and 4 player support? Does anyone with a 4-player cabinet regret their decision? Anyone glad they built one?

3)What video card should I use? I had initially wanted the ArcadeVGA, but is that really needed for the Gateway Destination?

4)Finally - and I'm not sure if I can put this question in here - how many games did you all include? I have the current ROMset but there's no way I'd even want to play all 8000+ ROMS on this cabinet, let alone cycle through them. If any of you can list some of your favorite games, I can get an idea as to what to play and what to delete from my build.

I'm sure as soon as this phase is complete and I move onto building the cabinet, I'll be back with more questions. Thanks!

[Nacimroc]

All in my humble newbie experience.

1) I'm using maximus arcade. I found hyperspin overly complicated. Although i did get it working and it looks alot better, I will come back to it in a few months when its simplified a bit. Maximus arcade looks great and is really simple to set up.

2) I went for 2 player as can't imagine having 4 people playing it at once all that often. Space and price versus times used seems pointless. BUT, you are using a 36 inch monitor so a 2 player might look small.

3) The gateway is a monitor? It should have a VGA input ? If so, just use the VGA from your motherboard (if good graphics built in) and don't bother with a graphics card.

4) Get the lot and delete what you dont want. If you get the images of each you can easily see what is junk!

[Frigo]

Awesome, thanks for the reply!

I tried using MA some time ago, but I never really got into configuring and setting up MAME with it (again, it was more for console emulators), so I'll have to take another look at that.

I'm starting to feel the same way you do about 4 player, but, like you said, the monitor is big enough for it. We'll see how things go once I start building; I may feel that 4 players are too many and a dedicated 2 player cabinet is all I need. OTOH...

I'll see how MAME performs with my favorites using the onboard video. If it works well enough, I'll just throw another 2GB of RAM into the system instead of spending more $$ on a video card.

As far as choosing/deleting games: is there an interface that will list what the file names are actually called, and let me delete the ones I don't want?

[bungy]

1) I use Maximus Arcade.  Never tried anything else because it fit my needs so well.

2) Ask yourself, "Do I have enough friends that a 4 player CP will get consistent (or occasional) use?", "How many 4 player games do I like to play?"
I went with 2 players because my answers are "No" and "Few".  I'm sure this saved me a lot of headaches in design and cost.

3) See Nacimroc's response

4) I have about 100 games in my MAME list, and I play most (if not all) of them.  They are mostly common / classic titles that people recognize.  If I included all the MAME games available, the list would be so long and full of junk that any guests would be overwhelmed.  Whenever someone suggests a good game, I add it to the list.  Search the boards and see what other people are playing, I found a lot of fun games that way.  See KLOV's top 100 for a good start: http://www.klov.com/TOP100.php
Tying in with #2 above, I only include 2 player versions of roms - for instance TMNT 4-player only allows player 1 to be Leonardo, 2-player version lets both players choose from the 4 turtles.

Good luck and take your time!

[Ginsu Victim]

Just create a favorites list. Most frontends have the option. I have ten different lists in Mamewah (complete MAME set, censored (no mature/mahjong/trivia), neo geo, namco, midway, williams, nintendo, sega, taito, and lightgun).