My First Arcade Build - Sleepy's Arcade

[Leapinleny]

Hello, so I have been on the forum for a while now, and I thought I would share my first cabinet build. There are some great and impressive cabs on this site.
I originally learned about MAME in the FALL 2011 when researching / looking for a Galaga machine for my wife. When I found out what a Galaga machine still costs, I also learned about MAME and said why wouldn't we want that. Yes I learned about MAME quite late. I got MAME running on the laptops, bought a few USB joysticks, and some rotary joysticks and worked on getting the software working into 2012 but then I just kinda stopped.
This spring of 2013 I decided I was finally going to move forward. I originally downloaded the SuperCade plans, and was going to base it off of that one. However, I/we are mainly 70's and 80's game generation and mainly only played one and two player games with not more than 3 buttons (except for Defender), and I was also a big Tron player. So after a few months of planing in March, April and into May I finally starting building the cabinet. The cabinet is basically my design (although similar to many others) written down on paper with the exception of the control panel. I got ArcadeAddiction's CP plans and modified his to my liking. I have initially put together a single upper CP, and have plans to either replace or add to the sides, two player controls. I am also into the driving games, and am right now using the tron / tempest spinner.
I went with the wood look to match the house which has v groove ceilings, etc

The cab consists of a Pentium HT4 3.06 GHz CPU, 1 Gbyte RAM, ATI Radeon AGP 9250 Video Card, with a 40 GB and 80 GB HDDs running Windows XP, MAME 32 0.90u1
27" Zenith TV monitor with S-Video Input
Happ 3" Trackball (red translucent) to the PS-2 port with 3 button functionality
Happ 8 Way HD joystick with the TRON urethane from encryptor - works great
Ultimarc Mag-Stik Plus
Ultimarc SpinTrak
Ultimarc I-PAC2 (PS2)
Happ Buttons
Some lighted Multicade buttons
RED T-Molding

Ok, here is a start, can someone help a Newbie on how I link the photographs I uploaded to "Not a Project" to this project page. For some reason it is not obvious to me

Here is the current status of the build, I just ordered tinted plexiglass for the screen, I have red speaker cloth for below the screen to cover the TV Speakers and controls, and need to decide on and order a marquee. Coin door and remaining plywood on the back are also on the list, along with wiring up the lighted buttons and trackball.

[portugese pirate]

hit edit or modify on your post.......then under the box of all the stuff you just typed you will see attachments and other......click on attachments then browse your pc for your pics

[Leapinleny]

Yes, I understand how to get them from my PC to this post, but I though we were suppose to use the "Not A Project Thread" to upload the photo's too and them somehow link to them from there. Am I miss understanding, and I should just start uploading?

Thanks in advance.

[PL1]

If you don't use the "Not a Project" thread, your photos will show up as attachments at the end of the text like the switch diagram below and you'll only be able to upload 8 (or less) photos per post as you saw on "Not a Project".

To add photos inline with your post, click on the icon and paste the url between the bracketed img and /img like this.


The picture above was resized to 768x1024 by the editor, instead of the original resolution of 1944x2592 -- I couldn't force it to display at the original resolution, but you can click the photo to see the original resolution.    You may want to resize the photos before uploading them next time.




If you click on the quote icon in the upper right of this post, you'll see that I added " width=400" to the second one to resize the photo to a width of 400 pixels.

The other thing to watch for is that if you right click on the thumbnail and copy image location, you'll get the thumbnail, not the full-size photo.


Scott

[Leapinleny]

Thanks Scott!, I will shrink the files down to a reasonable size

[PL1]

I usually crop, resize, or both to make photos come out right.   

If you open the photo in MS Paint and press ctrl-W, it will resize the photo and attributes by the percentage you type in. (NOTE: If you have anything selected, it resizes the selection without changing attributes)


Scott

[Typefighter01]

Although not as "organic" looking as I pictured it in my head and certainly not representative of any classic arcade games I ever played, I have often wondered how comfortable it might be to have some controls flow down the the centre of the CP as you have done. I picture the standard 2 player street fighter layout with all the spinners, trackballs, etc, layed out on a centre extension. The reach on the Mag stick looks like a stretch, I feel my arms getting sore just lookin at it. How do you find the layout and what would you do different?

[Leapinleny]

So, I live not far from one of the largest arcades in the country and was there a few weeks ago.
You are absolutely right its not like any other layout. The layout of the HD joystick and spinner work well for Tron.
I had read concerns over the trackball being too close to screens when playing games like golf when it was mounted center front, so I thought I would bring it back away. The dimensions are 29" at its widest point and 14" deep. Here is a picture of the current layout.

One thing I definitely found is it had two many buttons, I have already plugged up 4. I might add "enter" back though (right now I double click the mouse button to start the games).

I've only been using the center joystick for asteriods, donkey kong, galaga and have not played anything for an extended period of time. It plays good right now, but I have only had it up and running for about a week. Give me a few more and I will provide some better feedback.

I am currently working on a new CP layout, and post it for some feedback before I go towards a build. Its basically why I didn't bother to stain the existing CP to match the rest of the cab, as I knew after I had drilled the holes that it was going to change.

[Nephasth]

You're not supposed to play Asteroids with a joystick!!!

Well, at least it's got cup holders.

[PL1]

You're not supposed to play Asteroids with a joystick!!!

Some of us learned it that way first on the Atari 2600.     


Scott