Dreamcast Cabinet

[Dizzle]

How many people here have Sega Dreamcasts in their cabs?

I'd like to put one in the next cabinet that I build, but I don't know how I would interface arcade controls with the Dreamcast (other than the X-Arcade adapters).

Anyone have any ideas?

[GoPodular.com]

Use dreamcast controllers and tap into the circuits.

[Goz]

I have two cabs with DC's in them. One with an XARCADE BYOA kit and a DC adapter and another with hacked DC pads I picked up from HarumaN.

The cab with the XArcade kit has multiple consoles where as the one with just a DC has just the hacked DC pads for controls.

The cab with the Xarcade kit is capable of playing more games than the one with the hacked control pads as with the control pads they are only digital controls where as with the BYOA kit you can toggle between an ANALOG mode and DIGITAL mode. Some games require the use of the ANALOG stick which are unplayable with the hacked pads.

Deciding factors should be what games will be played, cost, and will you be using other consoles in the same cab. If using multple consoles or a MAME system in the same machine another option could be to use hacked Playstation pads instead which there are adapters for everything to use those.

Hope it helps.

-Goz

[Rip]

How many people here have Sega Dreamcasts in their cabs?

I'd like to put one in the next cabinet that I build, but I don't know how I would interface arcade controls with the Dreamcast (other than the X-Arcade adapters).

Anyone have any ideas?

Madcatz controllers are the easiest to hack.  Predrilled and labelled solder points!.  Also includes six buttons for the fighters. 

http://www.darkravenwind.com/cdvision/madcatz.htm

Here is my upright DC cab ...

http://www.pbase.com/jripley/image/49232502

and this is my sitdown DC driver

http://www.pbase.com/jripley/image/36124689

[Dizzle]

Goz,

When you say BYOA Xarcade kit, do you mean an xarcade that you changed some parts in, or do they sell a different kit?  I'd like my next cab to run both MAME and a DC, but I probably wouldn't have any other consoles in it.

jripley,

Those look real nice!     My only problem is I've never soldered before and I can almost guarantee you that I'd totally suck at it.  Has everything been pretty reliable for you?  Any particular issues?

Thanks all.

[Goz]

The BYOA Kit by XGaming (XArcade) is just an encoder. When you buy one from XGaming you get the cables to connect it to a PC or MAC and you would buy the $19 adapter for Dreamcast.

You can see the kit HERE

Depending on which games you want to play via MAME you might be able to get away with just running a Dreamcast and no PC. There is a Dreamcast MAME distribution called MAME4ALL that has pretty much all of the classics as it is build off of an older MAME set .035 I think. Do a google search for more info.

-Goz

[Frosty]

Add me to the list of Dreamcasts in a cab.  HarumaN did some great work hacking pads for controls.  Just a simple switch goes from MAME controls to the Dreamcast.

There's lots of good topics out there for connecting a DC to an arcade monitor, if you're going that route.  You can hack an old VGA box or VGA cable to connect to a standard resolution (CGA) monitor.

[Rip]

Those look real nice!     My only problem is I've never soldered before and I can almost guarantee you that I'd totally suck at it.  Has everything been pretty reliable for you?  Any particular issues?

It just takes practice and you'll develop your own technique on how to deliver those small blobs of solder.  Find yourself a old circuit board and hack away.  It'll get easier, trust me.

[HaRuMaN]

It just takes practice and you'll develop your own technique on how to deliver those small blobs of solder.  Find yourself a old circuit board and hack away.  It'll get easier, trust me.

This is how I gained my soldering skills and the title of 'Supreme Solder King' 

[Hurray Banana]

I've got my DC in my horizontal mame cab to play light gun games HOTD2, Confidential misson as well as others. I also have a Saturn hooked up to play Virtua Cop.

When I've set up my vertical cab I'll put my other DC in that and be able to play Ikaruga in proper vertical mode (if I ever get the vertical cab built!)

[ArcadeNerd]

I had a Dreamcast in my Mame cab but liked it so much I built a separate cabinet that has the DC and a PS2.  DC for shmups/Marvel vs Capcom 2 and the PS2 for more shmups as well as some sweet gun games (I love me some Time Crisis).

Soldering is quite easy if you just practice up a little first.  My first soldering project actually was my DC pads and they are still working like a dream!  I suggest looking into using a DB25 cable so that you can put in multiple consoles and get a DB25 switchbox to switch the controls.  That's how I have the DC and PS2 in the same cab.  Hack/solder the controls yourself, get a cheap switchbox off Ebay amd you can play most everything you'd want  .  That's my 2 cents!!

[shess]

I plan on putting a DC in my cabinet.  I'm going to be brave and attempt to switch the video and all the controls.  Hopefully I won't burn anything out.  I found this page was a really good start to putting everything together.. http://www.mameworld.net/pc2jamma/arc_dc1.html . 

[Dizzle]

Thanks all!

I'm gonna give it a shot as soon as I get my first cab back up and running (I think my motherboard's shot  ).

I may have to do a little testing first -- I plan on using an LCD monitor again for the display, and I've heard that a lot of Dreamcast games don't look so hot on VGA monitors with the Dreamcast VGA cable.  Anyone have any input on that?

[Goz]

A handful full of 2D fighters don't look incredible on a VGA monitor. Everything else that is VGA capable is stunning. Once you see it you wont want to go back to 15Khz.

[pmc]

Depending on which games you want to play via MAME you might be able to get away with just running a Dreamcast and no PC. There is a Dreamcast MAME distribution called MAME4ALL that has pretty much all of the classics as it is build off of an older MAME set .035 I think. Do a google search for more info.

Thatnks for the pointer Goz. It's here: http://chui.dcemu.co.uk/mame4all.html. It's an alpha pre-release and from what I understand there are screen sizing and sound issues at this point, but many of the classics run well. I'm setting up a disk to check it out now.

I may have to do a little testing first -- I plan on using an LCD monitor again for the display, and I've heard that a lot of Dreamcast games don't look so hot on VGA monitors with the Dreamcast VGA cable.  Anyone have any input on that?

I'd suggest you consider buying two hacked controllers from HarumaN (or hack them yourself if you want to try), and pick up a VGA-box off eBay. Wire the hacked controllers to your Control Panel and you are off to the races.

Dreamcast in VGA is awesome. Wait'll you see Soul Calibur.

Search this forum for more info on this. It's been a primary topic of discussion in this forum for the last couple of years.

-pmc

[markrvp]

I agree with Goz.  The 2D fighters like Street Fighter look a little blocky on VGA, but games like Ikaruga, Tail Gunner 2, Under Defeat, and Soul Calibur are un-freaking-believable in VGA.  Enough so that you will be disappointed with anything else.  I haven't finished my Dreamcast cab because I'm waiting for the funds to get another 27" multisync (which will play at both 31 kHz and 15.7 kHz).  Until then, I'm just not playing. 

[pmc]

Depending on which games you want to play via MAME you might be able to get away with just running a Dreamcast and no PC. There is a Dreamcast MAME distribution called MAME4ALL that has pretty much all of the classics as it is build off of an older MAME set .035 I think. Do a google search for more info.

After checking MAME4ALL out, I discovered that a coin drop is sent by tapping the analog stick the left -- or maybe it's the right. Either way, it's a pain if you don't have an analog control on your CP.

I didn't test much -- just 1942 which played OK.

-pmc

[Dave_K.]

Its not worth messing with Mame for DC.  Trust me.  DC is ment for playing modern arcade games anyway (like Naomi ports). 

A pic of my dreamcast cab:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=28845.0;attach=7980;image

[The 80s Man]

Dave_K, how did you get your dreamcast to output for a vertical screen??

Nice Cab BTW.

I need to take photos of my Dreamcast Arcade setup, I relocated the VMUs so they can be seen behind the arcade glass and I also relocated the Jump Pack motors to the base of my Joysticks so you can feel the rumble while playing.

[Dave_K.]

Dave_K, how did you get your dreamcast to output for a vertical screen??

Thats Psyvariar 2 for the DC, based off the Naomi version.  It has a "tate" option for vertical displays.  All of the Naomi based DC shooter games have this option...and at 31khz (VGA) output, the picture is stunning to say the least.

I need to take photos of my Dreamcast Arcade setup, I relocated the VMUs so they can be seen behind the arcade glass and I also relocated the Jump Pack motors to the base of my Joysticks so you can feel the rumble while playing.

Nice! Please post the pics.  I've had similar ideas for mounting the rumble motors in the panel, but never did it.  So how does it feel?

[The 80s Man]

To answer the 1 question about my control panel "why did you mirror the 2nd player controls?" I did this because I didn't' want the 2nd player joystick too close to the track ball. I often wonder if I made the right choice in doing that but so far it works good because I rarely have a 2nd player using my arcade.

Ok here's a photo of the VMUs mounted behind the smoked arcade glass.

[The 80s Man]

Here's a close up of the VMU in action. sorry about the bad quality of the photos every thing looks much better in person.


my arcade with the smoked glass removed.


Here's the Jump Pack motor mounted to the Joysticks. I used the nut at the bottom of the J-stick Plus to mount a thin metal plate of which I hot glued the hell out of the motor on to.
I recommend using the exact same brand of Jump Packs I used 2 different brands and i can feel a difference in strength. the Joysticks vibrate very well and have no interference with the game play at all infact they enhance the dreamcast arcade experience.


Here is the window to my madness, 2 hacked Sega brand Dreamcast controllers I use some ribbon cable to extend and relocate the VMUs and tapped 5volts of power off each controller to power the white LEDs to shine light on the VMU screens