The Grid - Bartop using MameRoom II Kit (Pics)

[Charlie97L]

Hey all...

Well, I have been futzing around with this project for over a year, and finally am in the last stages.

This was initially conceived (and still is) as a bartop for my wife's office.  She is an arcade fiend of the late 80s, early 90s, having played them while her dad bowled in his league on weekends.  It was initially titled Freakin' Sweet Arcade, with a family guy theme, but my wife has become addicted to the new Tron film, and so we changed the name to "The Grid".  Heh.  

I started a while back not wanting to use the Mameroom kit, but all the other options either required a lot of woodworking, which I can't do in our townhouse, or didn't pan out.  So, I ended up going with that kit, which I ordered about a month ago, with a blank control panel.

Over a year ago, i ordered a u360, buttons, and a magstik plus from ultimarc, along with a pac usb controller.  I also snagged an LED marquee kit from GGG.

The layout is going to be MSP -> 6 buttons -> u360 , essentially, with admin buttons on top.  This is so the wife can play pacman with her right hand and still stay centered in front of the unit.

We got some art ordered from GameOnGrafix (formerly MM).  On that note, does anyone know what his usual turnaround is?

I'm using a 19" 4:3 Sony LCD monitor that's been decased, and some altec lansing speakers my father had laying around and decased.  Computer is a p4 3.0ghz with 2gb of ram, wifi, BT (so i can get admin work with my wireless keyboard and mouse), and 250gb hdd.  Running XP Pro SP3.  I"m likely going to run MaLa, though this will be a strictly Mame machine, so I don't need anything too fancy.

The Mameroom kit was very well put together.  the CP is the only piece i've had trouble fitting, but I was able to mount it without much fooling around.  It's a solid kit.

Right now I have the base frame of the cab put together, and the computer mounted on the bottom panel.  I had it installed, but the onboard sound on the mobo went out, so I pulled it out, and ordered a cheap soundcard which will arrive next week.  I'm still measuring for the CP layout, and monitor mounting.

Unfortunately, working on something else, today I sliced the crap out of my finger with a safety razor knife (6 stitches), so I'm not going to be able to do much hardware work for a week or so.  So i'm focusing on getting the software finalized.  Here is our initial game list, any comments, obvious additions?

SFII
defender
double dragon
rampage
centipede
frogger
space invaders
1943
rtype
bust a move
punchout
tmnt
xmen
marvel vs capcom
golden axe
mario bros
crazy climber
dig dug
burger time
bubble bobble
popeye
sinistar
spy hunter
xevious
samurai showdown
metal slug
ghouls n ghosts
asteroid
galaxian
millipede
galaga
pacman
donkey kong
ms pacman
simpsons

that's about it.  i'll get some photos up, probably monday.  

questions...
are any of these games not playable on my control scheme?  these are what the wife picked out going through the big list i gave her.

edit:  first pic up, more coming!

Thanks!
Charlie

[Charlie97L]

also, is there standard joystick/button spacing?

thanks!

[kingchimp]

Take a look here, find one you like the look of.

http://slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html

[Charlie97L]

cool thanks!

I happened to use that spacing for the buttons.  got it pretty good, but i needed space to the joystick.  Thanks!!

[jimmy2x2x]

They joystick spacing is right there in the slagcoin layouts, can you describe what you are looking for in a little more detail?

[Charlie97L]

sorry i think my wording was confusing on my last post... that link cleared everything up for me. 

ordered a smart power strip, one of my buddies came over and drilled the CP holes for me since i'm out of hardware action, and i wired up an arcade button to the power switch.

just waiting on the CP overlay to get the CP assembled, but I might do a test wire up tonight if I get bored.

[Charlie97L]

here is the CP layout.  for never having done buttons before and not using a drill press, i think we did pretty well!

as i said, the right stick will be for 4 way games... pacman, frogger, etc.
 

[Charlie97L]

update... got the speakers mounted to the rear panel, and the power for the coin button extended.  also got the pc components mounted to the bottom.

smart strip should be here today, new sound card tomorrow.

i need to source 2 small pieces of wood to set the monitor back just a bit (i just cleared out all our scrap wood pieces last week too, arg), because with the bracket the monitor is about an inch and a half more forward that it should be.

emailed scott to check on the art, that's the big holdup at this point, i can't wire up the CP until the overlay gets here.

more pics coming today!

[Charlie97L]

Art is shipping today, re: Scott.  Exciting!

[kingchimp]

Looking good. 

[Charlie97L]

Here are some more pics!

I can tell you, if I do another project, upright or cocktail, i'm definitely getting the CP professionally cut.  I measured like 20 times, and my button holes are still off just a little.

Here are a few more pics!  I think I got a good game list going, as well.

i ended up mounting the speakers with double sided tape.  we'll see how that holds up long term.  the spacing was too close to the edges of the hole in the back to drill without breaking the edges of the hole.

[TopJimmyCooks]

If you've got access to a dremel with a 1" long sanding drum, you can line those buttons up.  they usually have just a little play anyway in a 1 1/8" hole, you can hold them in place while tightening the nut.  If that's not enough, decide which ones you want to move (hopefully 3 or four of them line up pretty well to start with?) and you should be able to sand about a 16th of an inch or so off the side of the hole before the flange gets close to not covering. 

[tiktock]

Looks great!  I almost bought that kit...looks like you can fit a lot in it!  Is that a full ATX sized motherboard and PSU in there?

[Charlie97L]

thanks for the tip on the dremel!  it's just one button on the main 6 that's out of alignment.  i'll give that a shot.

yeah full sized pc/psu.  it's what i had laying around that fit the bill (old laptop did not fit my specs).

[Charlie97L]

ok, ditched mala for Maximus arcade.

my only question with that is, how do I get rid of the stuff in the () like US set or rev 2?

i'm running a small game list, so this info is just confusing, especially for the wife.  any tips?

thanks!

[BobA]

In the configuration for MAME in Maximus you can choose scan and force a rescan of media.  If you check the box to remove brackets during the scan your list will be much cleaner.

[Charlie97L]

Thanks Bob!  I will try that.  Thought I already did, but I will give it another go.

Are people still having issues with getting reg codes from MA?

Also, some of my roms aren't centered in the monitor.  would that be a Mame32 setting?  Double Dragon is off center and looks odd, to name one.

MUCH PROGRESS was made last night.  I got the monitor mounted, and I'm setting up the FE.

I used the mounting pieces provided by NCC Arcades with the kit, and a VESA LCD monitor kit.  Then I went to Michaels and got some needlpoint "stretcher bars".  They worked perfectly, 2 per side, and spaced the monitor back just enough so I have about 1/4" clearance between the front of the monitor and the frame where the plexi will go.  drilled pilot holes and attached with 4 #10 3" wood screws.  I stripped one, so I need to go get another, but it's rock solid even with 3.

Sorry I wasn't more vigilant with the pictures during the build, the cab construction is pretty straightforward.

I also snagged a round file to massage a few of the button holes to fix some alignment issues I had with the main 6 buttons.

Everything is mounted, and I'm just waiting on the art, which should be delivered tomorrow.  Once that's up, I can wire up the CP and then paint the bezel, which will be my last step.  I'm not running a case fan, but I don't think I will need to with all the holes in the back.  If I figure I need one it's simple to add down the road, as I'm not used the fan hole cutout for anything.

[Charlie97L]

@BobA, that's giving me the following error...  when i try to force a rescan and remove brackets.

Director Player Error

Index out of range

Script Error, Continue?

... also i'm getting a windows nag screen on bubble bobble, and a mame nag on galaga and rtype.  any way to fix those?  the BB screen says something abut No good dump known, it's a mame32 nag before the rom loads, and the other 2 are the "there are known graphics issues, type ok" ones.

[BobA]

Are you using the ctrl P to get to the properties menu in maximus?  There is a known problem with using the stand alone program.  Yes, unfortunately there seems to be a problem with getting key for maximus.   Are you using plain mame 32 bit or mame32 UI?  You should be using mame 32 bit in command line.

[Charlie97L]

i'm using the 32 bit UI in windows... so I should be using command line, huh.  ugh.   ok.

luckily, i had fooled around with MA a few years ago on my HTPC and had a key from then that still worked, so that was good.

by stand alone program, i assume you mean the properties.  i should be adjusting things from within?

thanks so much!

[Charlie97L]

ok so i switched the EMU i'm running to the mame .90b windows version.

seems to have smoothed a few things out.

should i be running .90?  i tried running .142s and it didn't load any of the games.

i'm still getting that Script Error when I try to scan the rom folder, and i'm still getting the nag graphics screens on startup of galaga and rtype about the video errors...

and the games that were off center are now off the screen in part, like double dragon.

i'm searching around!  any help would be appreciated.  if should post these questions somewhere else let me know.

[Charlie97L]

looks like i had a rom mismatch issue.

it's been resolved!  i also went to a higher version of mame (142), so i could get past the 2 nag screens with the joystick.

thanks. 

[Charlie97L]

OK!  So, I'm pretty much done with the hard stuff.

The cab is almost together, CP mounted and wired, CP artwork applied, CP programmed, FE programmed, windows shelled.

ALLL good.

It's working great.  I'm running Maximus Arcade with Mame32UI.

I've got the mag stik and the U360 both set as P1, so if you just happen to have a 4 way only game, you just use the u360.

Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication that was partly my fault, the marquee art is the incorrect size.  It still looks awesome, but it'll have to be reprinted.    So, that won't be "done" for another 10 days or so, however long it takes scott to turn around the correction.

I'm painting the monitor plexi the next nice day we have, which might not be until saturday.

The main issue I have now is there are 2 screw cams that i can't really reach on the bottom panel.  I'm going to try and get a screwdriver extender/L thing at the hardware store tomorrow.  Be handy to have, regardless.  The back panel can't be buttoned up until i get that settled, but i hope that will be tomorrow.  I also have to mount the power button in the back panel, but that's a matter of about 2 minutes work.

I won't give you a nightmare with pictures of my wiring job.  It works. 

Thanks to all who have assisted me with my stupid questions.    Here are some more pics to enjoy.  The CP art is "Timewarp" from GoG with the word removed, and I used dark blue t moulding.

[Charlie97L]

Got the monitor bezel painted and mounted, so all I'm waiting on here is the marquee artwork and a screwdriver extender i ordered to lock the final 2 cams on the bottom.

i might reprint the artwork myself, depending on how long it'll be for scott to do it, as i have the files.

When I'm done i'll take some better pics with my non-cellphone camera!

also, MVSC isn't working for some reason, gotta look at that too.

[Charlie97L]

OK!

Cabinet is buttoned up... and immediately I noticed a few things I have to change.

Everything fits, got the power button mounted, and it's good to go!  Had to put the back on upside-down due to a lack of length on my power button harness and I didn't feel like extending it.

The monitor bezel looks great.  I thought I had black paint, but it was actually some kind of dark bronze color, but you can't tell at all, so I'm not being picky.

List of things still to do:

1) Get marquee art re-printed and mounted
2) disable windows screen saver
3) re-load a few non-working roms
4) enable a pause button in MA
5) do a few sharpie touchups around where wood is visible (most notably between CP and bezel)

It turned out really clean.  I can see what I did wrong here and there, but overall I'm *very* pleased with the result.  

I will post some final pics once we have found its home in the house and the art has been fixed up.  If Scott doesn't get back to me Monday I'm going to look at local options.

Thank you so much to everyone who contributed advice.  I feel a little meh that I wasn't able to do something cool and custom from scratch, but my space/woodworking is limited, so, this was about all I could deal with.    I am hoping to be able to do a cocktail or upright cab for my home studio at some point in the near future, but I need to clear out some space.  It'll probably be a year or so.

[Encryptor]

First let me say great job! It's a very nice looking cabinet. I just read the whole thread and one thing I didn't see anything about or understand is why you used 2 joysticks? You're kind of wasting money and the potential of the U360 by relegating it to just a 4-way joystick. It can be anything you want it to be ie.. 4-way, 8-way, 49-way, turned 45 for Qbert. I'm not understanding your logic for this.

[Charlie97L]

Encryptor-

Thank you so much for the kind words!

I tried to explain this earlier... basically my wife is a pacman/frogger FIEND, and she grew up playing those games with her right hand.  i tried a test layout with one joystick, and she didn't like the two options of playing with her left hand and/or playing with her right hand crossed over to the other side of the CP, or sitting offset to the left of the screen.  Does that make sense?

I understand completely what's you're saying.  I tried to make the u360 work by itself (i wanted a trackball in there), BUT it is for her, after all     She wanted to be able to play Pac Man, Frogger, Millipede, and SF2, those are her faves, and I accomplished that with a layout that seems odd to me, but makes sense to her.

Right now since I've got the bug, I'm planning my next cab, and trying to decide between a full upright or a cocktail.  It would be down in my home studio.  On the one hand cocktail = classier, on the other hand, no bowling or golden tee with a cocktail, and fighters aren't as fun.  not sure. 

[Charlie97L]

Ok!

So, after running this for a week, I've determined a few things. 

-I definitely need an exhaust fan.
-I need a new processor fan, after 20 minutes it's going like a jet engine
-I got the wrong versions of a few beat em up roms, so we can't select anything other than the P1 character.

Those are all easily fixed.  Can someone recommend a good silent exhaust fan brand?

Also, re-ordered the marquee from Scott.  He was really helpful.  I will definitely use him for any projects in the future that I do.


Charlie

[Woodshop Flunky]

I like this one!  The CP looks very clean for having as much on it as you do.  Good job. 

[Charlie97L]

Thanks very much Woodshop!    I know it's pretty run of the mill, but I'm glad people seem to approve of the work I did.   

[Charlie97L]

Ok!!

So I replaced the CPU fan/heatsink, added a fan pulling cool air into the cabinet, and a fan filter.

It's still pretty audible.  not anywhere near what it was.  so i may get a fan controller, though it doesn't seem to bother the wife.

still waiting on the reprint of the marquee artwork, hopefully that'll ship this week.

still need to replace a few beat em ups with the 2p version as well.  shoulda done that this morning when i had the case open.

can someone recommend a remote access program?  i don't want to keep having to open the case with those wood screws.

[kingchimp]

Well the easiest thing to do if you're still running XP Pro is to enable remote desktop.
Click the Start button, right click My Computer, click on Properties.
Then go to the remote tab and tick the box labelled Allow users to connect remotely to this computer.

The problem with that is it locks the screen on the monitor that's plugged in.  If you didn't want to use a keyboard with the pc, you'd probably have to reboot the computer after you've finished remoting in.


VNC comes in a wide variety of flavours, I've successfully used UltraVNC in the past, but it's entirely possible that there are better options.  This will let you remotely control a computer while leaving the screen unlocked on the other end.  This is probably more useful for your purposes.