First project

[shanghaiguide]

OverView:

Ok, so after a week of reading tons of sites, I'm starting my very own first cabinet project here in Shanghai, China.

I have a friend who wanted a cabinet after I mentioned it shouldn't be too hard to build (famous last words?)

I stepped up to the task and am making a two identical ones (one for me, one for him).

Its going to be a 2 player MAME cabinet, with a space invaders theme.

Plans

Control Panel will be using the X-Arcade sticks (until I can source something better).

Strangely enough getting stuff in China is difficult

I can source sticks and buttons, but so far no controllers.  The ultimarc site doesn't work from here either, which is a pain.

I have friends in the states though, so I'm shipping the sticks to NY, and then hand carry from there.

Cabinet is based roughly on the nicest looking small cabinet I could find  - the space invader cabinet at http://www.blacklight.com.au/spaceinvader/plans.htm

The width is a little bigger to support the X-Arcade dual, but otherwise its about the same.

Dimensions are 140cm Metres high x 60 length x 65 wide.

Getting the initial box together was reasonably easy - I just got my carpenter to build it 

I don't see what this fuss about woodwork being difficult is 

So far only the sides and back are done, waiting on the sticks to size the rest of the parts.

Its going to have to use buttons for the coin mech, cos real money or a coin slot would make it illegal here. (All money taking machines require a licence here)

I intend to use a 19" LCD for the screen.  The cabinet plans I used don't cater for the depth of a real 19" screen, (but I only figured that out after they cut the wood DOH!)


Initial pics of cabinet are here




Xiao Ma (my builder and his carpenter)


To go with the space invader theme I'm using a space invader for the sides

JPG of that here -



I get that tomorrow morning from the printers

I'm trying to source a controller from HK, iPac or similar, but it looks like I'm going to have to wait for the US shipment before I get to play around.

PC wise, I'm just going to use whatever's lying around the apt, I have a computer company, so thats a lot of options!

Probably a PII running AdvanceMAME dos or similar, haven't decided on software yet.  I'm trying out a couple of windows front ends, but I think something quick to boot and random power outage stable will be better - wiindows just loves the power pulled on it randomly... not.

Wish me luck!

[ChadTower]

Wow, China.  It would be cool to see a classic themed cab tweaked to have Chinese characters for the titles.

[shanghaiguide]

Got the sides back from the printers.

The length is a little off, but that could be from my carpenter - haven't measured the height against the design specs so accurately.

Only about 5cm off, so I'm going to chop off a little at the bottom.  I'm not too bothered

Pretty impressed with the printout - its on a vinyl like surface with a matt finish (like I asked).

I plan to lay the cabinet sideways, and put glue on, then manuever the print into place, probably use a wallpaper thing to flatten out any air bubbles.  The vinyl?  is pretty thick though, so I'm not too worried on that side.

Any recommendations on glues to use?

I'm not sure on the material they used, but i guess its vinyl.

Shots of it here -


Laid out on the floor


Reverse of vinyl?


By side of cabinet

Coming along nicely ....


This is the first cab - I personally think its kitch to have chinese titles for the graphics - but I've lived here 10 years so I'm blase   but I'll ask my friend what he thinks.  Japanese would be better I think - its more in line with space invaders origins.


I can knock up a title in chinese or japanese if anyone is interested.

Lawrence.

[shanghaiguide]

Still waiting patiently for the sticks - looks like they'll be another two weeks.

I was down at the local Carrefour today ordering a fridge, and I noticed they had a special on TV's.
A skyworth 29" with VGA input caught my eye, and after a few milliseconds thought I whipped out the credit card and bought one.  1900RMB (about $235US)   [Corrected price - was on special!]

The vga worked perfectly out of the box from my laptop
(although I had to scour the apt for a female to female vga cable).  Luckily I'm a packrat 

First impressions - Wow!   so much better than the laptop.  Its like having an arcade monitor.

The dot pitch is perfect - playing the few games I have in EasyMame worked so well that all the people in the apt wanted a go. 

Having a decent screen *really* makes a difference.

One slight issue now - the screen is a little bigger than the cabinets we made so far.
So... the obvious answer is to build another cabinet.

I'm going to order a couple of iPac controllers from ultimarc.com once I find a working proxy server.  The ultimarc site just doesn't work here in China.

I'll put some pics up later.  Its all packed away at the moment so I have a lounge rather than the odd space of floor not covered by computer equipment

Luckily I'm not married, or I'd be in trouble!

Lawrence.

[M3talhead]

Pretty interesting cabinet. I like it......

I know to you its probably nothing special, but whenever I see an arcade (or game) in Chinese/Japanese/Korean characters, it grabs my attention immediatly. Does the same apply in the Orient? Seeing English on games/arcades?

[shanghaiguide]

I ordered the iPac's (3 of em), and told Andy about the website not working from Shanghai.
I sent him some traceroutes and ping tests, he will talk to his provider, who is also 'blocked' from here.
Their upstream provider works, so...

Got a DHL number, and hopefully I'll get them with the x-arcade sticks sometime in the next two weeks. (US/NY hand carry -> China/Shanghai)
Got some grumbles about the size of the x-arcade sticks from the courier, but he'll live.  Guess I'll have to pick him up from the airport.

Still trying to source a local supplier for joysticks and buttons.  I have some leads, but nothing concrete just yet.  Looks like I'm going to have to drive around town to find the alleged place that strips machines and rebuilds them, as heard from a 3rd hand source.  At least I have a rough area to go look at  - somewhere near Suzhou Creek.

Looks like I'm going to buy another tv in a day or two, although my apt is looking even more like a storage room.  My flatmate was commenting that he could still see the floor in a few places.

I've got 3 pc's together, although I still haven't decided on Linux, Dos or Windows.  I think I'm going to give all three a go, and see what survives crash testing random power outages the best.

I've also got another "I'll take one if it comes out well", which is promising.

Next I've got to source t-moulding, that should be easy here (unlike most of the components).

I'm still of two minds on putting CJK characters on the machine, if it looks classy, I'll do it.

I have a graphics designer who works for me, so its just a matter of finding a cool Chinese font and mocking something up.

To be honest, it doesn't really grab me if i see japanese (or chinese) on the side of a machine.  Don't think I've ever seen a machine with Korean on!

I've played a few machines in HK with Chinese (Trad) and Japanese art on  near the golden arcade center in Sham Shui Po, but you don't really notice artwork so much with the flashy lights and blaring sounds 

Lawrence

[shanghaiguide]

Finally some progress.

The joysticks came in 2 weeks ago along with the iPac's.

I also managed to source some cheesy looking local sticks finally - god bless taobao.com   (local ebay clone)

RMB100 for 2 sticks+ lots of buttons. 

This weekend, my builder finally got the boxes built the way I wanted, and the T-Molding installed.

It was the first time he'd used T-Moulding, but after a little shopping for the appropriate router bit and some glue, it came out pretty well.

I decided to put the side art on first, then do the t-moulding.  This turned out to be a good idea.

I also showed my builder how to put on side art.

My technique?

Put the cab on its side.
Place the art over the side as it would look when installed. 
Cut approximately to size.
Hold one end, and roll the side art back on the roller.

Take off the plastic backing, and stick the bottom down, folding the plastic backing back under the roller.

Then one person pulls the plastic off slowlywhile rolling the art back off the roller, and the other person smooths it out as you go forward. 

Took about 5 minutes a side, and no air bubbles!


(Photos below - they may take a while to load)



Lighting and Wiring installed


Front View


After painting and routing for the T-Moulding


With the monitor in place.
(Retrofitted a 21" CRT I had lying around the house)


Space Invaders Side art


Feeding the proletariate, with my flatmate playing defender in the background



Almost 90% complete so far - I get my second set of artwork today, and when I go home I'll measure the bezel and marquee properly so I can have those printed.


Now my only issues are how to get the older versions of mame to play nicely with the XArcade.  ctrlr = xarcade just isn't doing it, and I've even gotten the right .ini files in the right places.

Spent 3 hours on that last night, grrr.

I'm quite pleased with where i am so far.  Its looking a whole lot better than I expected it to for a first build.

This one looks like it will be my home unit.  Unit 2 will be doing some tour duty as VIP fluff for my friends events company.

Hopefully some more updates later tonight as I get the 2nd one running, and make Mame comply with what I tell it to dammit! grrr! 

My neighbours now really love me.  Paint fumes, sawing noises, and banging in the hallway for 2 weekends in a row.

Revenge is sweet.  Hahahaha.
(Anyone who has ever lived in China will know all about the noise pollution from the neighbours).


Lawrence.