Honestly I had no idea what to call my project until I was typing the subject line, but hey why not
This is a scary long post as it includes a small introduction about myself and my background, as well as cabinet plans and first update (been keeping this is OneNote until my account got activated).
Cliff's notes: I'm new here, been lurking for a bit and was an arcade fly since as far back as I can remember. I don't have the room for a full size cabinet, so until I get back into a larger home I'm building a 2-player pedestal and using a projector for video. If I ever get the ability to PM, I will be ordering one of Crafty's SLGs to see what it looks like on a 100" inch screen (read: the exterior of my garage door, lucky neighbors!
). I started the first cuts, but now have to take a break as I'm going on vacation. I am getting pictures uploaded to an imgur account, which i will edit into this post shortly.
Introduction:Where to begin? I am born? Nay.
I'm lucky to have been around consoles and computers pretty much my entire life. I started with a C64 and an Atari, then years later came the NES. Gaming changed my life, literally. About a decade later, including a Genesis, SNES, and PS1, I decided I wanted to be a game developer. I taught myself syntax and coding in about 10 different languages. Throughout those years I also became grossly familiar with building PCs… yes, as far back as when you had to use jumpers to tell your motherboard how fast your CPU was.
Throughout all of these years, I had always loved going to arcades. Whether it was playing Pac Man or Galaga on a bartop at Pizza Hut or cutting class to go play SF2 at the nearby gas station… if I had quarters to burn, I knew exactly what I wanted to spend them on. Then came Mortal Kombat, then 2, the Killer Instinct… oh man, the friends made, the hours (nay, days) burned… fighting games were my business and, as they say, business was good. And then they all just sort of… went away. Of course I stuck with the consoles as I also love RPGs, but there's a vast difference between spending 30 minutes on a few rounds of shmups and dumping 100+ hours beating the latest Final Fantasy.
But I digress. If we fast forward a bit, after a short stint doing professional development I eventually landed on the IT side of the fence. I was devastated when I realized game programming was not going to be an eventuality for me, but I hated business software development so it was a change that needed to happen. Regardless, I am where I am and wouldn't change a thing (no time for regret). I had mingled with emulation over the years, but back in about 2005 or 2006 I was able to download and build my first complete MAME set. I knew immediately I needed to build a cabinet…
2012:I bought my first cabinet or, let's say, part of one. It had a 32" CRT and was a flying game (Air Strike) with cockpit - mine was minus cockpit. I picked up an UMK3+Zeus PCB and the components to build a Jamma rig. I then ordered more buttons, LEDs, USB thingies, etc. for a MAME cab. The goal was to take the 32" cabinet and make it into a dedicated UMK3 system and then build a separate cabinet for MAME. Plans were drawn up, lots of money spent purchasing "prosumer" grade tools to replace my cheapie stuff randomly accrued over the years. Then I had to downsize…
2013:In a 12xx square foot house, I no longer had room for such large toys. The 32" cabinet was garaged and put up for sale, but in return a small projector was acquired. Then life got in the way…
Today:Over the last few weeks I have finally rebuilt my MAME PC. It's an i7 with 16GB of ram and an ATI 6950HD - runs pretty well. Software, by no means, intimidates me in any shape or fashion so I picked up HyperSpin, got my Sync/Emu subscriptions, little bit of configuration and booyahkasha.
Editor's Note: As a joke I decided to use C:\Hyper
SIN for my HS folder. Folks, let me just say this one time - don't. What a gigantic, pointless, pain in the ass. I have since renamed the folder back to Hyperspin and re-extracted the original files for all of the necessary apps. I kept my database intact as well as Media folder, of course.
I have been using a PS3 controller to test emulation as I haven't decided on a final button layout, but so far I have been able to rebuild the wheel databases for my consoles. A bit time consuming, but launching each and every game for each and every console has assured me that there will be no issues when the system is ready to be installed into the cabinet. The MAME setup has a ways to go though. I definitely need to spend some time with the database rebuilder and pear down my genres in a big way.
Regardless, I have a need to get the software out of the way first. This will allow me to build and finish the cabinet quickly (hopefully) and not waste time with said software after it's done. I've got 10+ years of gaming goodness to catch up on, and a best friend who is ready to "No Continue" shmup with me. Yes, my arcade brethren, I see the high score challenges and yes, I'm coming for you :-)
The cabiniet:So what do you build when your mantra is "Go big or go home" and you don't have space to go big? You get creative. I ditched the ArcadeVGA video card and dropped a spare Radeon 6950HD into the PC, hooked up a VGA->DVI converter to my projector - and voila. Every foot of distance equals 10" of screen size. Yes, at only 6 feet I am playing on a 60" 4:3 screen… it is magical. My first tests were with GigaWing, Gradius, Moon Patrol, and of course Killer Instinct. ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. Eating. Grin. That's all I can say. Even the vertical shmups are ridiculously large and just… WOW. So here's the plan. The other half of my 32" cabinet was to be a pedestal. I had started cutting a few boards initially back in 2012, but they'll most likely be scrapped and/or re-cut. As much as I'd love some 4-player X-Men or Simpsons action, I need to be realistic. So it's 2 players only, 8 buttons each in a quasi-SF4 layout (curved 4x4). The goal here is to have as close to the original MK3 pattern as possible (including Run!), but not so crazy as to make the traditional 3x3 games unplayable. And the best part (to me) is, of course, RGB LED buttons so I can properly light what needs to be lit (and in the color they need to be lit!). The cabinet will have a small shelf on the rear for the projector. Again, the goal is small, transportable, and effective as possible without getting ridiculous (no 49 button CP here folks, move along).
As a first time builder, the cabinet will not be very intricate. I have ideas of grandeur, but outside of a little rounding here and there it will be nothing special. Thankfully part of my huge 2012 parts orders included T-molding (red, for the MK cabinet) and a slot cutter, so at least it will not be completely unpolished. I will order vinyl when I get back from my vacation here (Valentine's cruise with the woman), and once I have the control panel roughed out I will be looking to hire an artist to help with the graphics.
So that's that. I'm still waiting for an admin to clear me for entry, so this is all being written in OneNote until I can post it. Pictures will be taken along the way, but we'll see how much I can get done between now and my first legit post. Thanks for reading, looking forward to being a part of this amazing community!
Update 1:Front, sides, and bottom rear stabilizing panel have been cut. The rear stabilizer is rough cut, I'm going to make the outer edges into wings similar to the Dynamo showcase. It's a little taller than normal at 36" (+ 4" for CP) but it's comfortable for me, and my taller friends will appreciate not having to ape hang over it. I am going to try and get the top/bottom shell of the CP cut tomorrow, but I only have a few hours and then I'm out of time until the 22nd of Feb. That morning I'll be picking up some 2x2s to build out the frame and get her standing on her own legs. I've decided the front will have leveling feet with coasters in the rear, so I need to make sure to stiffen the interior frame between the wings and the main housing, otherwise that thing is just going to rip in two the first time I do a lift/move.
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Topic: Intro and announcement all bundled up in one... Project Bundler (Read 1704 times)
