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invisibled:
Hey everybody,

So recently i have rekindled my love of arcade games when my friend showed me dodonpachi. I've been playing a lot lately and have decided to want  to build my own arcade machine, MAME machine that is.

Now, i have been reading all this information from this site, like in faq's and wiki and other links ect, but there is just soo much info, and i've got a pretty good idea, but i just wanna tell you guys what i plan to do and if you guys could point me in the right direction in a few area's that would be greatly appreciated!

Ok so this is what i want to do. Have a pc built into a cabinet, and have (authentic) arcade controls for 2 or 4 players (ideally 4 but that might be too intence... suggestions?). And i want it so when you start up the PC it doesn't look like its booting into windows or anything, it just comes up with the list of roms, i've seen these in the videos and stuff so could sombody point me to a good frontend?

1, the computer. I know how to build computers and everything so thats not a real problem, i got parts picked out for a 2ghz, 1gig ram, 160gig HD, 256mb video card computer. its got like 8 usb 2's on it or something silly like that.

2, i'm fine with building the cabinet and laying everything out.....just thought i'd mention that.

3, the arcade controls. I want to have real arcade style joysticks and buttons, no like, modified gamepads or anything. I've been trying to wrap my head around it but can't really seem too. From what i understand, i would be able to connect the control's to a jamma harness and then i would need some kind of adapter to connect the jamma harness into the USB on my computer. I could be totally wrong so please tell me, this is the part im having the most trouble with.

4, the front end. I'm sure once given a good front end i can figure out how to work it, but basicly i just want somthing to boot up so it doesn't look like im running windows or linux or whatever, i htink arcadeOS did this, and i saw a couple of guys machines when it started up it was like blue and purple and said MAME across it in big letters.

5, the monitor. I am going to use an LCD, not an arcade monitor

again, i know this is alll in the faq's and what not, but i just need a little push in the right direction to get this going, so it would be really appreciated if somebody could help!

THANKS SO MUCH

javeryh:
I wouldn't go 4 player... there are a number of reasons not to build one (they're huge, not enough games, expensive, how many times are you really going to have 4 people around to play?, etc.) but it 's ultimately up to you. 

As for hiding windows, it's not really a front end thing but you have to mess with the settings in windows - do a search and tons of stuff will pop up. 

As for the controls, if you are using a PC then you just need to get an encoder (iPac, keywiz, etc.) and wire it up - then connect it to the PC with a USB cable... or you could get a joystick like the Ultimarc 360 which is just USB plug and play (it's my personal favorite). 

If you are looking for a good front-end, try MaLa - it is totally customizable and there is a ton of support on the boards here.

I recommend reading saint's book from cover to cover.  Some of the components covered are a little outdated now but the book describes the basics very very well. 

Good luck! :cheers:

LeedsFan:
I wouldn't go 4-player either. Certainly not for a first try at this. There are some awesome 4-player cabs out there but there just aren't enough dedicated games that utilise 4-player panels. Unless you are a Gauntlet addict for example (or any other 4 player panel game) then just don't bother. 2-player is more than enough for all those fighting games.

Even if you aren't into fighting games then a two player setup allows you to play classic games like Robotron and Smash TV authentically. Put a spinner and trackball in between and you have an large chunk of games covered.  :applaud:

invisibled:
ok guys thanks for the advice. you raise some good points about 4 player, so i dont think i will do that.

I'll look into those control infaces and that front end, thanks so much

unclet:
If you have young kids, then I would go with the 4-player setup, if not, then I do not think it is that important.   My young kids and their friends are constantly playing the 4-player games (Simpsons, TMNT, etc...)

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