NEW HOUSE, NEW CAB

[johnndeanna]

Well,

I have been a long time lurker here that had posted a thread years ago about building a cab. That was back in 2008 and that cab never got finished and is currently a big mess in the garage, non-functional, with significant damage due to a drop while moving it to our new home. I got so far as to make it functional but never got around to getting it completed so I have vowed to not let that happen again. The old cab had no t-molding, painted black without any primer, no marquee and overall just an ugly beast of a machine.

I am about to start on a new cab in the next few days, and thought I'd go ahead and get a thread started on it. Since I have a lot of the stuff I need already from the old cab all I really need to do it get a new cab built and a new CP done. This time I plan on doing it right and not going bare bones and cheap like the last cab.

I wanted to post an image of the cab outline and get comments on it. Take a look at the image below and let me know what you think of the shape. This is intended to be a slimmer design and more upright than most. Going with an LCD in this one after loving what Knievel has done in the past.



Control panel will be a bit simpler. I'm going 2P but with only 3 buttons per side. We don't play fighters and most games I would even play on this would be a max of 3 (Metal Slug comes to mind). Going with a dedicated 4-way in the front center and a TT2 Spinner and 2 buttons at the center rear of the panel. Upper left and right will be coin and player start button.



Computer current has a full set of ROMS but I am going to reformat and only put 20 or so of the most popular games back on it. Currently uses Maximus Arcade but thinking of going to Hyperspin. Also plan on running Daphne and having Dragon's Lair and Space Ace on it as well.

It has been years since I looked at this stuff so I am not sure what all has changed since 2008 so I need to research a bit to see what emulator versions will work best and start getting the PC set up.  Comments or questions please feel free to ask or comment if you think something would work better. Again, even thought I built one cab before, I'm still very new at all this stuff.

John

[johnndeanna]

Just a bit of food for thought, but on this build I only plan on having about 24 or so games. 16 of these games are vertical and 8 are horizontal. I'd lie to use an LCD in this but am torn between using a 4:3 like Knievel uses in his or going with a 16:10 or 16:9. Since I am going to have twice as many vertical games as horizontal I am considering orienting the monitor vertical to allow my vertical games to really shine. On the other hand I'd really like to have Space Ace and Dragon's Lair look really good as well. I think its a toss up for me but I am really leaning towards vertical. I am attaching two pics below to show the difference.





Thoughts and comments?

John

[yotsuya]

Widescreen monitors in a vertical orientation always look too skinny to me. If I had to use a WS monitor, I would get the biggest one that I could and orient it horizontally. There is 16:10 bezel artwork out there that can be used for all the black space.

[PL1]

There is 16:10 bezel artwork out there that can be used for all the black space.

Link.   


Scott

EDIT: Changed link to updated procedure/URL.

[johnndeanna]

Got all the artwork downloaded. Didn't know it even existed. Once I unzip all this stuff, where in my MAME directory structure is it supposed to reside?

John

[PL1]

Pretty sure that the bezels go in the artwork directory.


Scott

[johnndeanna]

Alrighty then, hat's where I'll put it all. I'm getting the computer out tonight and getting it cleaned off and reformatted. I'd like to be able to get everything on it tonight if all goes well. Something easy to do sitting in the family room watching TV with the family and my daughter will be glad to see I'm getting this cab going. Summer is coming and with everyone coming to our house (we have a pool) she wants me to get moving on this. Nothing like taking marching orders from a 10yo.

John

[johnndeanna]

Not a whole lot to report. I did spend some time getting the PC in my old cab back in shape. I had some issues with it at first but after a bit of work I got everything working again. Got Maximus Arcade reloaded and some games put on to get it all tested out again. I am still using my old cab and CP but that's fine as I get the new build underway. The old cab may be a piece of junk, but its playable, and that will suffice until I get the new one done. Some old pics of the cab are below. Mind you this one was just a test and I never even finished it, hence the crappy look.





I am still working on the shape of the new cab but I may just pull the lines from this and adjust them to make it a slim design versus this hulk of a cab.

John

[johnndeanna]

Still nothing to report. Life has a habit of getting in the way. I have been extremely busy with work and my daughter's softball so I have not started on my new cab yet. Tis past weekend however I did manage to get the old cab disassembled and removed from the garage. The new cab is going to be placed in the sunroom just off our back porch. I wanted to get it out of the garage and someplace where the kids would actually play it. Since there is plenty of pool season left I'd like to get it out there for them to use when they are not swimming.

I have done a bit more drawing on the design. I was going to go a bot taller and use a smaller screen but I have come across a free 22" Del 16;10 widescreen that works perfectly that I plan on using now. My mother also gave me her old PC onto which I will do a clean install of Windows this evening.

I am attaching a new image of the overall shape an look with some notes and dimensions. This is a fairly slim cab so I may need some weight in the bottom to help keep it steady.



Take a look and let me know if you think the heights and sizes I have listed will work OK.

John

[Rick]

Link.   

Does anyone have a mirror for this link? I'm having trouble hitting it.

[PL1]

Link.   

Does anyone have a mirror for this link? I'm having trouble hitting it.

The page was deleted a while back.   

I have the the .LAY files (lay.zip) and the 16:9 A-F .PNG files (a-f-16-9.zip) if anyone needs them.

Like you, I'm looking for anyone who might have a mirror link or who downloaded the other files (16:9's, 16:10's, and the others from the bottom of the page) and can share.


Scott

EDIT: New procedure/URLs here.

[johnndeanna]

Well last night I got the PC I'm using in the cab set up for the most part. In my old cab I was using Maximus Arcade and while I liked it I was not in love with it. I decided for this cab I am going to use Hyperspin. I spent a couple hours getting it installed last night along with Hyperlaunch and the other requisite software, such as MAME and Daphne. At this point I don't have any ROMS on the machine other than my Space Ace and Dragon's Lair. I can launch and play both using Daphneloader but am having difficulty getting Hyperspin to launch them. At all. I need to go onto the forum and see what I am missing. I have never used HS before so I'm sure I need to adjust something or point it in the right direction.

I forgot how much I enjoyed DL as a kid. I certainly don't remember all the timing though, and I was dead after only a few scenes, not to mention playing it on my keyboard. Tonight I will spend time getting my MAME ROMS on the machine. I'd like to go by Home Depot and pick up a 2x4 sheet of 3/4" ply for the CP after my daughter's softball practice and possibly get it drilled this evening.

If anyone has any tips on getting HS to load a Daphne game I'd appreciate the information. I saw something about an AHK file last night but did not have time to read up on it. I suck dealing with the software side of things so and help is appreciated.

[Drnick]

http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?21655-Daphne-is-an-invalid-System-or-DapheneLoader-exe-isnt-supported-yet
and or
http://www.hyperspin-fe.com/forum/showthread.php?18209-A-Sort-Of-Guide-to-Daphne&highlight=daphne+setup+guide

Should get you up and running with any luck.

I am not sure if anything will have changed if you are using Hyperlaunch 3 though  I haven't got round to configuring everything again yet.

[johnndeanna]

I'll give this a try this evening. I was pointing HS to the actual roms folder and not the frame file folder. I also did not move my frame files to the correct folder. Keeping my fingers crossed. Luckily the MAME games are easy.

[PL1]

Fixed widescreen bezel links above.

This post has the updated procedure/URLs.


Scott

[mcseforsale]

I like the profile, but I'd angle the CP and the monitor for better viewing and less wrist fatigue.  The CP is really simple, just use a framing square and tilt it ever so slightly down:



AJ