Bakachan's Baka'cade - Project and Introduction thread

[TheBakachan]

Hey everybody, Bakachan, Overlord of the Giant Pachinko Machine of Doom here.  I live in Middlebury, Vermont, and when I'm not wasting time playing games, I 'work' as a freelance (Read: Technically unemployed) 3d modeler, graphic designer, and photographer.

Being in my late twenties, I grew up in the latter half of the big arcade era, the part dominated by fighting games and eventually overshadowed by home console gaming...  Ironically, I never had much opportunity to play in the arcade regularly, nor was I ever really good at fighting games.  (That came later in life.)

I guess maybe I felt like I had missed out on something.  Or maybe it's the natural evolution of my most recent nostalgia trip of playing a metric crapton of Famicom games.  (Nesticle's television filter for the win!  Really feels like playing games on the crappy televisions of my youth!)

I have occasionally mused about building a MAME cabinet, but I always figured it'd be ridiculously expensive.  Back in September, I actually looked into it.  At the time, my primary interest was in building a USB arcade controller, and not paying the $100+ a lot of places want for a pre-made one.  I was surprised to find that it was relatively inexpensive, as things go.

I ordered some pushbuttons, a stick, and a GPWiz from GGG after determining what I wanted my layout to be.  Being a huge fan of both Capcom and SNK fighters, I decided on a 7-button layout that combined the Neo-Geo A, B, C, D layout, with an additional 3 buttons to facilitate the CPSx 6-button layout.  (The handy consequence is, there's always a spare button to use for the coin function.)

Link to the category on my blog for posts about the project. (With pictures!)

So, this weekend I ought to be able to complete the 2P controller and be able to face off against people.  At this point I should probably mention that while I love the idea of an arcade cabinet, using my DLP projector to put SFIII 3rd or Samurai Spirits Zero up on the wall ten feet wide is INSANELY GREAT.

As for the cabinet, that's at least a couple months off, but I'll keep posting my progress as things go.

One thing's for sure...  Besides my MAME cabinet, I now seriously want to build MVS and CPS2 cabinets, too...  As if I don't have enough expensive hobbies.     I should have just taken up a drug addiction like everyone else!   


Now, questions.  Anyone have any important tips?  (Vague much?)  Also, I'm having trouble compiling MAME, and was hoping someone might be able to help.

I was following Mr. Do's tutorial, trying to compile the latest source, patched to .122u5 and with a hi-score diff applied and I ran into a few problems.

1.  I can't compile the 64-bit binaries.  (It just won't work for one reason or another)  And yes, I'm running a 64-bit dual core machine, with XP Pro x64 installed.
2.  The 32-bit binaries I -did- compile error out when I try to run a game, the error is as follows:
Error testing mul_32x32_hi (2CFDB167 x 205D9AED) = 07E83063 (expected 05B02990)

Any help I could get with this would be greatly appreciated.

[TheBakachan]

2P controls arrived from GGG this morning.  (God bless the USPS, at least SOMEONE delivers on Saturdays!)  I stuck the 3 'micro leaf switches' I ordered into my current controller in place of the microswitches on the B, C, and D buttons.  (Which double as the Capcom layout's punch row.) Which seemed like the thing to do, seeing as how I use Ibuki almost exclusively in SFIII, making the punch row most critical.  (That also covers all the buttons for Pocket Fighter.)

Last night, I sleeved some of the wiring in the old controller to make it all purdy.  I realized that, fool that I am, I don't have wire for the 2P controls... So I'm going to have to hit up Jameco for another couple ATX extension cables.  While at the same time getting some black Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 connectors and pins from Digi-Key.  (Why in the name of hell does Jameco carry 20-pin female connectors, but no male connectors?  Shenanigans.) I just bought a really nice universal molex crimper...probably the only tool I've bought during this whole thing that feels like it's actually made of something...  (I've never had my own tools, so I'm putting together a tool box, both for this, and for maintaining my arsenal of high-end Japanese airsoft guns.)

I decided that instead of later incorporating these controls into my cabinet, I'm going to keep them as standalone controllers, and I want to do something decidedly neat for their look.  Which is why I ordered a crapton of nylon cable sleeving, UV reactive cable ties, UV reactive heatshrink tubing, and even UV reactive 18AWG stranded wire! (I'm going to use that for the common ground.  That'll look spiffy.)  No, I'm not proud of it, but a part of me has simply been wanting to turn something into a SoCal Honda, and I'll be damned if it's gonna be my computer case.

On the upside, I was able to get some canned air which I desperately needed to blow out my computer case, as well as a couple 24oz cans of Jolt...because why the hell not?  (I spent most of yesterday afternoon making random high-frequency noises and generally vibrating, having downed those after a morning's worth of Livewire...  "My name is Bakachan, and I have a problem...")

The next step is to figure out exactly what I want to make these things out of...I've pretty much settled on getting some opaque black acrylic for the bulk of the body, and I want some transparent or clear acrylic too, to show off the wiring and stuff.  I'm still undecided on the sides though... I got some T-molding, so I might go ahead and make them wood like I had planned, be nice and sturdy.

At any rate, the 2P controller will start life like its older brother; foamcore and a cardboard box.  (That way it will appreciate how far it's come when I'm finished, and maybe it'll think twice before crapping out on me!)

Oh yeah, and before I forget...  The microleafs are AWESOME.  Feel so much better...and they do seem to respond faster. I can rapidly click one of the microswitch buttons and a lot of the time the button won't deactivate between presses, but you can see in the windows diagnostic panel that the microleafs deactivate almost every time.  Only detractor is that the blade contacts on the bottom aren't the same size as everything else, so the standard QD contacts I have barely hold on.