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VECTORAMA--True CRT color multivector cab [COMPLETE]
javeryh:
This is a wonderful project. That new art looks great! :cheers:
alfonzotan:
Phase II: Multi-Controller Panel
The whole point of a multigame is to play lots of different games in the same cabinet. In the wider arcade emulation world, this tends to lead to “Frankenpanels,” large surfaces with an amalgamation of different controls. Not to cast blame, I am raising my own hand here--my own DIY MAME cab has an aircraft-carrier-sized control panel with no less than four different joysticks, a spinner, a trackball, and as I realized later, entirely too many buttons.
For Vectorama, I wanted a control set that was very versatile, but still as minimalist as practicality permits.
Not counting bootleg clones, about 35 vector arcade games were released between 1978 and 1985. The code for a few more unreleased prototypes (Demon, Topgunner, QB-3) has leaked out to the emulation community since then. The controls for most of these games are very similar: joysticks or spinner knobs for direction, and standard pushbuttons for actions like fire and thrust.
I used that baseline to lay out a relatively-simple control panel: two joysticks, a spinner, and six total pushbuttons, plus three volcano buttons for game selection and menu control. A great many games used some variation on the familiar five-button Asteroids layout (left-right, thrust-fire, and an ‘action’ button in between), and that was a major consideration for this layout.
There were of course other variants like the thrust controller for Lunar Lander, the analog joystick in Tailgunner and the famous flight yoke for Atari’s Star Wars (which all use the same simple technology: potentiometers, something that will help us out later), which we’ll get back to in a bit.
Only one vector game, Quantum, used a trackball, and while it’s a good and interesting game, that’s not enough to merit inclusion as a permanent controller. One early Cinematronics game, Sundance, used a large number of standard keyboard keys, making it unfeasible for this project… but 37 out of 38 ain’t bad. Everything else I could get playable, although with some “artistic license” for two-player configurations.
I wanted to have one top-fire joystick for this panel. Battlezone in particular just can’t be played properly without one. And I wanted ball-tops, because they’re the best. But there are no ball top arcade joysticks with top fire… until now.
What you see there is a Wico Command Control Atari 2600 shaft and top-fire assembly mated to a modern Wico reproduction base. As of this writing, as far as I know, it is a one of a kind.
The part that made it happen is this 3D printed clip, which was modeled from a very rare Wico replacement kit for the Zaxxon flight stick. The great @andrewb at KLOV was generous enough to loan me the clip from that kit; my version is simplified and scaled to fit this particular application, and it works great, although I did add a zip-tie around the clips to keep it stable when in playing position (not seen here).
Here's the 3D model file of the clip, for anybody who wants to use it to make more:
https://mega.nz/file/hdIi1bpB#ga2h7ls9t-LjPyY1t63OcprwLgpowSnaFaGm92swoEA
The CPO was built from an Illustrator file kindly offered to me by another KLOV-er, which I customized myself in Gimp (don’t give me any credit, either—I am bad at it and it took forever):
I received the Takeman control panel (outstanding work, as always) just in time for Hurricane Helene to show up and take up all the time of my buddy with a machine shop in his basement for a couple of months. Finally, things calmed down for him and we were able to get in and cut out all the holes for the controls a couple of weekends ago.
The smaller holes we did with a simple drill press, but the large joystick and pushbutton holes, those got the full PLASMA CUTTER TREATMENT (and I apologize, because when I thought I was taking video of that AWESOME CAD moment, I apparently was not).
The local sign shop that printed the CPO for me was kind enough to do the installation themselves the next Monday, and I was off to get the controls in. Rather than punch holes for carriage bolts, I elected to fix the joysticks and bolts for the Tempest spinner directly to the underside with heavy-duty epoxy.
The final build turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself:
But what about those analog potentiometer control games? Do you really have a multi-vector if it can’t play Star Wars?
I’m glad you asked: that’s what those two small black circles at the top center of the main control panel are for. I took a GRS Flight Yoke replica, removed all the wiring connections other than USB, and mated it to a modified version of this 3D print model:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4756511
I figured out from a test run that the original layout with four suction cups was not robust enough to keep the yoke in place, so I replaced the top pair with quarter-turn fasteners, the anchors for which are mounted under the panel (also with epoxy), and added some small finger holes to allow for setting or removing the locks (if I do this over, I’ll make those holes larger). The USB connection plugs in to the socket I installed on the coin door.
After some tweaking of MAME settings for TESB, it works great, although I think I may replace the quarter-turn fasteners with a slightly longer shaft version if I can find them. It’s a very tight fit right now. Tailgunner is also kind of terrific with the yoke.
I also have in-work a removable stand for an ancient MacAlly trackball for Quantum, and a USB-based Vectrex replica controller. I have all the parts for these and just need to actually put them together: definitely in the New Year. I might also build a small version of the Lunar Lander thrust lever if I get really motivated.
Sundance though, nah. That game is just too weird (insert meth lab trailer joke here).
I also added a small function key box behind the coin door for Tab, Return and Pause, just so I didn’t have to continually plug in a keyboard anytime I want to tweak a MAME setting. Getting all the games configured took the better part of a Saturday.
I built up two different SD cards, one for daily use (by me) and another with settings for two-player games where appropriate (Space Duel, Space Wars, Armor Attack, etc.). Swapping out the cards is simpler than futzing around with the Tab key on the rare occasions when I’ll have interested visitors.
I commented out Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, and Tempest from the main Atari menu. All those games work, but I have a real ADX with a Braze card sitting next to this cab, and the Asteroids games don’t look great on a color monitor anyway; the bullets just don’t have that awesome glow and vapor trail. I also have a real Tempest in the next room, so why bother with a squashed and emulated version?
Phase III: The Future
While the USB-DVG hardware is essentially orphaned, Mario is still putting up occasional updates to the software, including teasing a transition from the old version of AdvanceMAME currently in the Pi images to a much more recent version of MAME. I’m looking forward to giving that a try when it’s released.
Then there’s the open-source vtcsm project, which is similar to but more open-ended than USB-DVG. I have a PCB and a box full of parts, and one of these days I’ll see if I can turn them into a usable board.
Ideally, I’d like to migrate entirely away from software emulation and replicate these games via FPGA. MiSTeR has a bunch of arcade vector cores, but I have no idea at this point how mature they are (my cursory-look guess is, “not very”), and I also don’t know how or when they’d be translatable to vector generator hardware (although there’s at least one hardware developer who is currently giving that a try). Something I’ll be keeping an eye on for sure.
alfonzotan:
I've finished a drop-in trackball for playing Quantum.
As noted earlier, it's a very old MacAlly trackball (so old that the original Bondi Blue has faded to kind of a sea green) that I bought in the 90's when I first started collecting parts for arcade projects. It's mated via a little velcro to a cut-down version of this trackball stand:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4947186
... that I first reinforced with a couple of braces (also cut from the same model and reprinted) and added two posts to set it in place in the control panel holes. I didn't need to add actual fasteners here as this controller doesn't (or at least shouldn't) get yanked around as much as the flight yoke:
Took quite a bit of tinkering with the setup to get this operational; turns out the more USB mouse devices you have connected, the more the Pi and/or AdvMAME get confused. I also found out it's best to have all USB devices connected to the same hub, and then plugging that hub into the Pi. After a lot of thrashing I wound up removing the Opti-Pac and replacing the Atari optical board on the spinner with one of @ArcadeJason's modified units (available here: https://mikesarcade.com/cgi-bin/store.pl?sku=ADOPTO ) and connecting that board to the spinner posts on the I-Pac2. For my mouse click game exit hack, I just took apart an old mouse, removed one of the buttons, and wired that up to my Menu volcano button.
And finally, it worked:
Next up: a DIY USB Vectrex controller.
alfonzotan:
... and here's the Vectrex controller. Very simple project, I used the coolate Vectrex Pro 3D model with 18mm button holes:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3172248/files
... and this joystick and USB interface:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JZ8ZV4L?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
https://www.amazon.com/SJ-JX-Encoder-Board-Microswitch-Button-Analog/dp/B08J47Y4X4/ref=sr_1_4
The Sanwa buttons were from arcadeshock.com. Other than soldering the leads to the joystick pots, it was practically plug-and-play.
If you're going to try and use the same parts, note that the joystick is plugged into the wrong slot on the board in this picture, the correct slot is the one just to the left.
SORHP:
Whoa man, this is rad! I hope it works great! I don’t have time to read through the entire bill, but I will soon. One day I may do the same thing.
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