New Project (Restoration and Emulation)

[JKJudgeX]

Well, I've gotten a little bit of assistance from here a couple of times, but, I'd like to go ahead and post my official project thread to share what I'm doing here...

Skip down to the Project part underlined below if you just want the quick scoop on what I'm doing.

First of all, this is *NOT* a build-from-the-ground-upper.  I am eternally envious of people who have the skill and tools to build a custom arcade cabinet from scratch... seriously... some of the work I've seen done on this forum and in the past brings tears to my eyes.

Background
Since about 10 years ago, I would estimate, I've been wanting my own customized emulation cabinet.

I wanted to take a little bit of time to go ahead and address some of the questions I've been asked in the past when I bring this up with certain people... and, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but, I just wanted it all in one place (and I chose here because it's a very nice site). 

1) Why don't you just play on your PC?
   a)  I work on a PC, sitting at one when I get home from work is not fun.
   b)  I want arcade controls and don't really have room on my desk for an arcade controller.
   c)  An arcade cabinet looks and feels better, and is away from my e-mail and instant messengers.
   d)  Since I have a media room that I'm setting up like a movie theater, it completes the effect since theaters generally have an arcade machine or two at least.
   e)  I grew up DROOLING to play in every arcade I got the chance to.  When there wasn't one, I would literally scrape up all my spare change and head out to the local bowling alley to play the meager assortment of games therein.  I would even travel between bowling alleys to get to them.  Having a functional arcade machine will satiate the one and only thing I am nostalgic for at all...  video games.
    f)  Having all of my emulated games at an "emulation station" away from the PC removes unnecessary clutter from my desktop machine, freeing up resources for newer games.

I get so tired of that question from non-gamers.... but, just wanted to throw that in somewhere (and since I don't blog... )...

I can't really explain my luck on this one.  It was almost magical.  My friends have always known me as the Street Fighter guy.  No matter where we go, what system we play, I am always playing on some version of street fighter (or other fighting game, but generally street fighter).  Have been since... ohhh, about the launch of Street Fighter 2 in the arcades.  I got into emulation back when the NES was poorly emulated and slow, and MAME back when arcade@home was big...  ever since that time, I've wanted my own.  A friend of mine built his own arcade machine and that just made me even more hungry for my own.  Then, as if by magic, in sometime last year, a local movie theater closed and simply decided to put out their arcade machines for trash pickup.  A friend of mine secured the right to retrieve one of the machines that he saw sitting there by talking to the theater owner, and told me I could go pick it up.  AMAZINGLY, it was the machine pictured below... a Street Fighter 2 machine.  I thanked the powers that be for the opportunity, and rolled out to pick it up...


The Project
I have (1) Street Fighter 2 Arcade Machine (circa 1991, pictured below)

SF2 Machine Status:
Jamma connector intact, no SF2 PCB. 
Monitor, in good shape.
Plexiglass scratched, needs replaced.
Coin door connectors functional, LEDs may need replaced, need analysis.
Power Supply, wirings, functional.
Marquee light supports, broken.
Joysticks, Rusted, Damaged, missing 2 microswitches, dirty wiring, gross.
Buttons, 11 functional, all dirty and overused, some broken, dirty wiring, gross.

What I've done:
1) Purchased and installed Ultimarc's JPAC and interfaced it with the JAMMA harness to facilitate easy output to the screen from PC.  (This works well, guys, get this product, everyone will tell you how good of a person Andy is to do business with.  They aren't joking.  Dude is golden and I hope he hits it huuuge, he really helped me figure out what I needed for this project.)
2) Removed all buttons and joysticks.  I have ordered 2 Happ 8/4 way "ultimate" sticks, and 20 buttons.
3) Decided to go with X-Arcade's DIY kit for the more affordable and all-included PCB keyboard interface thing... I was advised against this slightly, but looking at other solutions I couldn't find a good 28 input solution that came with good wiring and didn't require soldering (I have no equipment for this, nor am I skilled at it, I paid extra for the EZ version.)  I do not yet have this part, it is shipping now.
4) Ordered a 1 1/8" paddle bit for my drill for additional buttons I need to add.
5) Plugged this in as a secondary display device to my existing PC, and configured all emulators/Mp3's/Pictures/etc via GameEx using an external drive (so I can easily export it when I put an actual arcade-machine specific PC to mount in the cab)
6) Repaired the Marquee Illumination light mount and got it working.
7) General cleanup and removal of sticky substances with nail-polish remover etc.
Powerstrip output setup, Soft15khz configuration testing, and GameEx setup to test the display, looks good!

The plan (I don't know if all of this will work, please advise):
1) Drill holes for buttons 7 and 8 for P1 and P2 (I think I'm just going to put them directly below buttons 1 & 2 on each side... thought about placing them in a way to get mock ergonomic placement, but figured that buttons 7 & 8 will only be used *sometimes* if you guys can suggest a place to put them other than below buttons 1 & 2 on this particular panel, please advise)

2) Drill holes for P3 and P4 start buttons beside existing P1 and P2 buttons.

3) Drill a hole in side/back of panel for an "Escape" button.

4) Drill a hole in side of panel for a "Utility" button (I figure I will use this to access menus etc in games, probably a "tab" key equivalent, to facilitate changing control setups in MAME or other emulators, if necessary).

5) Wiring P1-P4 (4), P1 & P2 Joysticks (, and P1 and P2 buttons 1-8 (16) for a total of 20 buttons to the X-Arcade USB DIY kit.

6) Wiring utility buttons (Escape and Utility) to unused switch contacts on existing JPAC.

7) Configuring MAME and other emulators using these new inputs.

Aesthetics (new side vinyls, coin door touch-ups, LED replacements, New plexi, etc)


Future Plans:
Since this cabinet/panel etc was not configured for driving games or with a trackball, and I'd like to keep it as authentic as possible, I have been looking for ways to incorporate alternative control devices to my plan.  Without building swappable control panels (I just don't have the wood shop skills to make this look good, I'm afraid, nor am I much good at wiring, etc)... what I think I've decided on is trying to incorporate Wiimotes as additional controls for this.  I have used a wiimote for playing guitar zero and other tinkering on the PC, and configuring it for use as a standard control pad (With the classic control plugged in) was very easy and functional).  With wiimotes and good configuration, I would like to have them available as the P3 and P4 contollers, get an IR bar with closer-LEDs and use it as a lightgun (in mouse mode I guess?  dunno yet), and possibly, if configuration will allow, utilize it as an analog steering wheel much the way it is done in Wii driving games. 

Holsters and Cupholders...
I notice that I drink a lot while playing video games.  I would like to have cup-holders attached to both sides, and holsters for the wiimotes/other gamepads I intend to use with this system.

Barstools...
I am thinking about adding barstools to this setup but I don't have unlimited space, are there any compact space saving ones?

Some questions I have for you guys/Advice I need:

1) For my front-end, so far, I've had fun with GameEx, I tried MameWah but found it just a touch to time-consuming to configure/make look good.  Do you guys recommend any others, I am always open to spend an evening configuring a new front-end if it will work out nicely.

2) Vinyls/siding/marquees/etc... This cabinet seems very nicely set up for rapid swapping of the marquee and artwork, does anyone know where I could get/make some good stuff (I want it to still be illuminated, etc)

3) I notice that my old buttons are all oiled/greased.  Is this something I should do when I get my new buttons?  If so, what kind of oil/grease?  How do you apply it if you do, and, if not, how can i clean my old buttons?

4) Are an escape button and a utility button enough?  I mean, I'll of course keep a mouse/keyboard on hand under the hinged control panel, for emergency use, but I would like to be able to use the controls as much as possible.

5) Is there anything else cool/affordable/fun I should do to this thing?  I am trying to keep it fairly low-budget, but if there are some really neat/cheap/easy little tricks you guys use to pimp out your machines that would fit this one, I'd love to hear about them.

6) How do you go about getting a piece of plexiglass and getting it cut to the exact dimensions of a piece of plexiglass that you already have?

7) What kind of seating goes well with an arcade setup?  Barstools?  Are there compact/easily moved/comfortable/affordable barstools?  What do you guys use?




Okay, see the pictures below.  I'll try to update this thread often, when I can steal the camera away from me girlie (she likes to take pictures of our dog, Caesar and cat, Scrawberry to put on Stuffonmycat.com and cuteoverload.com ).


Big thanks out to:
Andy of Ultimarc (JPAC, identifying my arcade screen, tech support)
The MAME team (for YEARS of development on the most important emulator in the world)
Stef (Gens developer, best Genesis/SegaCD emulator I've tried to date, love it)
#retrogamers on IRC EFNET (Inspiration to try so many awesome old games/emulators)
And many, many more, including you, for reading this gargantuan post.

[JKJudgeX]

A quick update after I've gutted the cabinet and removed old/crusty/broken buttons and installed the JPAC.

Game being played is Sonic Spinball on the Gens genesis emulator.  Current player is my girl

[JKJudgeX]

Just a quick note... got my X-Arcade DIY kit today, waiting for my Happ shipment to arrive, 28 buttons and 2 joysticks... and once i get my paddle drill bit and that, I'll be ready to finish the hardware portion of this project up...


Then it's on to finding a solution for getting those Wiimotes calibrated, IR-sensor-barred, and ready to rumble for the shooting and driving games .

[JKJudgeX]

Done with all functional external modifications for now (all buttons installed save for 4 or so, which I will install when I have proven to myself a need of them, plus gives me something to look forward to...)

All controls are Happ, now...

Also it's in bad need of cleanup (removal of goo from stickers/etc)...

What's left to do:
External:
1) Cleanup, goo gone
2) Replace old side art with new

Internal:
1) Organize wiring.
2) Install a USB hub to handle joysticks etc for console emulators.

Software:
1) Get wiimotes to work properly with MAME + get 2 Nyko Perfect Shots
2) Finish configuring GameEX
3) Try other frontends.
4) Re-organize emulators/emulation collection etc.

Bonus:
1) Fix coin slot?
2) Holsters/Cupholders?
3) Barstools?



Anyway, the controls are sturdy... I happen to be really good at street fighter games, and I pretty much judge any control setup by how easily the harder moves can be performed... the happ joysticks, coupled with either JPAC/IPAC or an X-Arcade DIY Harness actually produce arcade-perfect results. 

I went with spring-return-to-center controls that have a strong enough return that holding diagonally down to the left and releasing will give a jump-forward command on the rebound.  This is precisely the control setup used in Capcom's SVC Chaos, which I play in real arcades all the time...

So, that being said, I highly recommend the happ ultimate 4/8 way joysticks... the buttons pop exactly right, too, so they are also recommended, though looking at them, I'd say just about any buttons should be fine.