"Rainy Days" - 2-player upright cabinet [UPDATED 02/22/10!] - 100% FINISHED!

[Gamester]

Looking really good!

My concern with the speaker/marquee light clearance was that if you had to mount the light source way off center (as you did), that the marquee would be lit unevenly.  I see you have the marquee on now.  Were you able to test it?  Hopefully I'm wrong...

Not sure what types of games you're planning to play, but your computer performance is going to be bound by the video card pretty substantially.  Playing modern PC games like SFIV will likely be out of the question.  I assume you got it with the thought of running native resolutions to your monitor.  Anyway, down the road, if you find the AVGA to be inadequate, you should be able to get a good standard ATI-based card and use Sailorsat's Soft15Khz to get pretty much the same end result. 

Coming together nicely.  Can't wait to see the finished product!   

[dekar24k]

Thanks everyone for your comments!

Looking really good!

My concern with the speaker/marquee light clearance was that if you had to mount the light source way off center (as you did), that the marquee would be lit unevenly.  I see you have the marquee on now.  Were you able to test it?  Hopefully I'm wrong...

Not sure what types of games you're planning to play, but your computer performance is going to be bound by the video card pretty substantially.  Playing modern PC games like SFIV will likely be out of the question.  I assume you got it with the thought of running native resolutions to your monitor.  Anyway, down the road, if you find the AVGA to be inadequate, you should be able to get a good standard ATI-based card and use Sailorsat's Soft15Khz to get pretty much the same end result. 

Coming together nicely.  Can't wait to see the finished product!   

Yeah, I see what you mean now and the light might be a little stronger on the top middle than on the bottom, but I tested it yesterday and it really looks nice. The 'Burger Time' character sort of lights up more than the rest of the marquee because of it's color, which looked pretty cool.

I'm only planning to play MAME and 8/16-bit emulators. I'm honestly not a big fan of SFIV and other newer PC-games are out of the question (I can play those on my PC instead). This cabinet will be for pure retro gaming only.

Thanks again for your comments. I almost finished wiring the control panel today and I will post another update tomorrow with loads of pictures!

[dekar24k]

Day 4 - Wiring the control panel

So here goes another update. I am now finished building and wiring the control panel and I'm starting to see that the end of this project is not too distant.



I just had to power on the D9800 to make sure it worked. There is a weak blue shadow in the upper right corner (very visible on the picture) but I'm sure a degauss and a little OSD tweaking will take care of that, or what? 



I like circular restrictor plates on my 8-ways, therefore; off with the square ones.



The iPac4, strategically mounted in the middle of the control panel on four plastic feet.



All buttons, joysticks, spinner and trackball attached, ready to be wired.



.. and a few hours later the wiring is done! I know this is not the tidiest wiring out there, but it'll do.



.. and it got a little messier after all the switches were grounded. Still, not so messy that I can't live with it.



I attached hinges to the front of the control panel so I can have easy access to the wiring. Now I can just flip open the lid if I need to check anything.



So there it is, the finished control panel! The spinner knob was missing from the Ultimarc shipment but Andy told me he'd ship it right over, so hopefully I have it in a few days. I'm quite happy with the result on this one. Feedback appreciated!



So it finally starts to look like an arcade cabinet. What's next is to clean up the wires inside the cabinet, attach speaker grills and take care of some minor cosmetic changes.

What I'm not looking forward to is to haul the cabinet from my dad's garage to my apartment in the city, but hopefully it'll survive the trip. 

Stay tuned for the next update and thanks again for reading and commenting!

[mwong168]

Wiring job looks good to me    I'm also glad you hid the trackball mounting plate under your control panel artwork too. 

[dekar24k]

Wiring job looks good to me    I'm also glad you hid the trackball mounting plate under your control panel artwork too. 

Thank you! The U-Trak from Ultimarc doesn't require a mounting plate. It's awesome.

[dekar24k]

Day 5 - Transportation and configuring

Time for another update folks! I am 97% done with the cabinet now, only a few minor touches until the project is completed.



Speaker grills mounted. Looks a lot better than only having the drilled speaker holes.



Back panels mounted. I have attached the D9800's OSD-panel in the bottom part of the cabinet, so it isn't necessary to make the upper (monitor) part of the cabinet easily accessible.



I mounted hinges on the lower panel, so I can have easy access to the hardware. I have also drilled holes for the PC's power button and the electrical plug.



So, I was done working in my dad's garage and it was time to haul this beast home to my apartment! We managed to squeeze it into a Peugot Expert and we were 4 people in total, lifting it up two stories and into my apartment. Hell, it was hard! The cabinet weighs in at approximately 270 pounds (without the control panel).



I wired the PC's power switch to an arcade button..



From left to right: Power cable, PC power (to start the system), AC power (to turn on the monitor and marquee). A smart powerstrip is hard to get in Norway so I had to do it like this. The rightmost power button is wireless, which is pretty cool, so I could've attached it anywhere, but I decided to attach it on the lower back of the cabinet. Works great.



Time to start installing and configuring the system. First off was an nLite'd version of Windows XP Pro SP3. It boots in less than 10 seconds, which is great for an arcade cabinet.



Programming the iPac is as easy as ever. WinIPAC is truly a great application.



Every arcade cabinet needs an internet connection, right? I'm using a D-Link wireless-N USB dongle. Rock stable, wireless internet/network connection!



Copying over emulators ... sigh ..



.. and approximately 150 gigs of roms ..



.. then finally it was time to test the monitor. I've configured all MAME games using AVRes and ... IT LOOKS SO AMAZING! Seriously, you can't tell it's emulated. I'm so glad I went for the WG D9800 instead of a TV or PC monitor. It's definitely worth the extra cost!

Thanks to BYOAC user Epyx for his great AVGA2 video tutorial/review!



So that's it for this update. I am still working on configuring stuff and fixing bugs, but I assume I will be finished in a day or two.

The next update will most likely be the final one, where I will try to take some decent shots of the final cabinet and some video footage as well.

So, thanks again for reading and check back soon for the next update!

[Kman-Sweden]

Sweet! 
If you live near the border you could pick up a Powerstrip at a ClasOhlson in Sweden.
Hey! Look what I found. They have them in Norway as well. --> http://www.clasohlson.no/Product/Product.aspx?id=135949753
It's the one I use in my cab. Just plug your PC in the "blue" socket and everything else in the others.
Too bad you drilled the holes already. 

[dekar24k]

Sweet!  
If you live near the border you could pick up a Powerstrip at a ClasOhlson in Sweden.
Hey! Look what I found. They have them in Norway as well. --> http://www.clasohlson.no/Product/Product.aspx?id=135949753
It's the one I use in my cab. Just plug your PC in the "blue" socket and everything else in the others.
Too bad you drilled the holes already.  

Ergh ... I was at Clas Ohlson here the other day and asked about it, but the guy who worked there had never heard of such a device...  

I've only drilled one hole for the power button and I still need that power button after getting a smart strip, so no harm done yet. The wireless AC power button (to the right) is only fastened with mounting tape, so it's easy to remove. Maybe I'll pick up a smart strip tomorrow then. Thanks a million for the tip.

Edit: Just ordered a smart strip. Thanks again!

[Kman-Sweden]

NP. 
Where about in Norway are you?

[dekar24k]

NP. 
Where about in Norway are you?

Oslo!

Argh, I'm having some issues now with some games. E.g. Final Fight only covers 50% of the screen and if I try to expand it using the D9800's OSD then it looks blown up and the geometry gets messed up. I have used AVRes for all the games which looks great on some older lo-res games, but higher res games like Final Fight and Dungeons & Dragons doesn't fill the screen. I hope I don't have to set all those games' resolutions manually. 

[saleem]

and i was going to ask you about avres also now you seem to be having probs with it,thought i would run it on my mame cab also.think i will just stick with what i got,dont want to be running into graphic probs.

like the cp i just wish i had nice big cp area so i could do more with buttons and such,i know what you mean about winipac,great little programme for the configuration of buttons and such.i struggled at first till i realised to sit and chill out a bit more and absorb what was happening in front of me.i just wish i had like loads of room though for all the extra buttons but,the shift fuction that uhid (in my case) has is pretty usefull.i am running my spinner from an optipac though,i got it on ebay for like £3 or something,what a steal.i did not have the harness for the spintrak that fits rotary devices to the uhid.

if i aint mistaken you got a spintrak there?i am finding mine takes a bit of getting use to,its been a long time since my younger arkanoid days.

makes me want to build my own now,happy gaming.

[Kman-Sweden]

Oslo!

Argh, I'm having some issues now with some games. E.g. Final Fight only covers 50% of the screen and if I try to expand it using the D9800's OSD then it looks blown up and the geometry gets messed up. I have used AVRes for all the games which looks great on some older lo-res games, but higher res games like Final Fight and Dungeons & Dragons doesn't fill the screen. I hope I don't have to set all those games' resolutions manually.  

Cool. I live aprox half way to Stockholm from you, along E18.

I replied to your problem in another thread.
Good Luck.

-EdIt-
What are the small holes for in the corners of the CP? It doesn't look like you have bolted down the Plexi?

[dekar24k]

Oslo!

Argh, I'm having some issues now with some games. E.g. Final Fight only covers 50% of the screen and if I try to expand it using the D9800's OSD then it looks blown up and the geometry gets messed up. I have used AVRes for all the games which looks great on some older lo-res games, but higher res games like Final Fight and Dungeons & Dragons doesn't fill the screen. I hope I don't have to set all those games' resolutions manually.  

Cool. I live aprox half way to Stockholm from you, along E18.

I replied to your problem in another thread.
Good Luck.

-EdIt-
What are the small holes for in the corners of the CP? It doesn't look like you have bolted down the Plexi?

Thanks for the reply!

BTW, I have bolted down the plexi yet. Of course the buttons are holding it secure, but maybe I should bolt it down as well? It doesn't "fold" up anywhere so it's not really necessary, but I might do it just in case.

I don't see any small holes in the corners of the CP plexi. On what picture do you see that?

[Kman-Sweden]

No not oin the plexi.. on the inside of the CP lid.
You don't need to bolt it down.

[dekar24k]

No not oin the plexi.. on the inside of the CP lid.
You don't need to bolt it down.

Aah!

Well, the CP was actually (according to MameRoom) supposed to be assembled using inserts and cam fasteners, but I'd rather have a CP where the controls can easily be accessed, hence why I used hinges. The holes are for the small inserts that were supposed to be attached with the cams, but I didn't use them.

[dekar24k]

Ok I solved the issue I had with MAME resolutions. I deleted the 50hz/51hz modes from the ArcadeVGA.txt file before I ran ArcadeVGARes and now every game looks awesome (at least those I've tested so far). I wasn't aware that ArcadeVGARes read resolutions from the ArcadeVGA.txt file (but now I do).

Now I can continue working on the rest of the cabinet. The next update shouldn't be too many days away.

[dekar24k]

.. and here's why I'm glad I went for the WG D9800 instead of a PC monitor or TV:

[dekar24k]

Mounting the plexi/bezel

Hey guys. A quick update here as I just finished mounting the plexi/bezel and it looks pretty good imho.

What I did last time was painting the bezel directly on the plexi myself, which worked okay, but this time I wanted it to look even better.



So, first I carefully measured exactly where I wanted the bezel to be ..



Then I took the plexi to a shop nearby who normally do car styling/deco and got them to laminate the bezel directly on the plexi with black foil. It was a little bit more expensive than painting with acryl paint, but it looks perfect, I promise. (The pic was taken before I cleaned the plexi, so it looks a little greasy).



Plexi attached and it fits the monitor perfectly. It's hard to see in this pic but I promise to take some better shots of the entire cabinet when it's 100% done (is it ever really 100% done?).



Another shot of the cabinet. The D9800 keeps impressing me.

So, there's not much work left to do now. I have some tweaking left and I'm still thinking of replacing the AVGA2 AGP with an AVGA2 PCI-Ex, as the AGP-version doesn't seem to run Future Pinball very good (and I love FP, so I need it to run flawlessly).

See you in the next update!

[emphatic]

That is a sweet looking monitor. 

[Epyx]

Wow great job dekar24k...I like the theme a lot and of course im partial to the monitor. I agree with emphatic and personally love my D9800...almost the 1 year mark for my owning it and it has performed like a champ.

[dekar24k]

I'm glad you like it!

Yeah, the D9800 keeps on surprising me. Also, playing SNES/NES at their native resolutions really look great as well. When I'm done with the cab I'll take some better pictures and some video, so you can see how it looks.

Thanks for the feedback!

[Xiaou2]

The monitor looks good.

 Can you take 2 pics for me?   Spyhunter, and Turbo (sega).

 Thanks

[dekar24k]

The monitor looks good.

 Can you take 2 pics for me?   Spyhunter, and Turbo (sega).

 Thanks

Will do tomorrow. Going to bed now as I have to get up real early tomorrow morning.

[DCsegaDH]

Nice job on the cabinet, the monitor looks fantastic! 

[Kman-Sweden]

From where did you buy the monitor?

[dekar24k]

From where did you buy the monitor?

Xgaming.com. I checked everywhere but those were the only one I could find who shipped it to Norway. Yes, it was very expensive and I was afraid that I'd waste my money, but luckily I'm very happy with the monitor and it's definitely worth it's price.

[Kman-Sweden]

Really? I actually did some calculations about that today. $400 for the monitor and then $350 for shipping.
That's about 5000 - 5500 SEK. To steep for me at the moment.
I've emailed acradegames.se asking for more info on their monitors but haven't got any reply yet. I'd really like to upgrade my 21" to a 25" or 27" if it fits in my cab... 

[dekar24k]

Really? I actually did some calculations about that today. $400 for the monitor and then $350 for shipping.
That's about 5000 - 5500 SEK. To steep for me at the moment.
I've emailed acradegames.se asking for more info on their monitors but haven't got any reply yet. I'd really like to upgrade my 21" to a 25" or 27" if it fits in my cab... 

Yeah I was considering those monitors as well, but I don't think they were tri-sync, hence why I went for the D9800.

[emphatic]

Really? I actually did some calculations about that today. $400 for the monitor and then $350 for shipping.
That's about 5000 - 5500 SEK. To steep for me at the moment.
I've emailed acradegames.se asking for more info on their monitors but haven't got any reply yet. I'd really like to upgrade my 21" to a 25" or 27" if it fits in my cab... 

Arcadegames.se just changed owners, so that might be the cause of the delayed reply. I know that they've sold a big chunk of their monitor stock, and also that the storage is now in the Stockholm area and not Linköping like before. Easiest way of getting a nice monitor in Sweden is getting an account at arkadtorget.se and ask in the buy/sell section. The owner of arcadegames.se is known as "johanmarsta" at that forum and is quite easy to get hold of there.

[dekar24k]

The monitor looks good.

 Can you take 2 pics for me?   Spyhunter, and Turbo (sega).

 Thanks

Wow, you picked the possibly two worst-looking games on the D9800. Neither of the resolutions were supported. Screen got cut off at the top/bottom + geometry was really bad.

I'm pretty sure there will be a more supported res for these games though.

[emphatic]

Wow, you picked the possibly two worst-looking games on the D9800. Neither of the resolutions were supported. Screen got cut off at the top/bottom + geometry was really bad.

I'm pretty sure there will be a more supported res for these games though.

But those games are both vertical, right? And as you're displaying them on a horizontal screen, they get their resolution cramped down even more. You should rotate the screen in MAME (at least while taking the picture) to get a proper idea of what they look like.

[Kman-Sweden]

Arcadegames.se just changed owners, so that might be the cause of the delayed reply. I know that they've sold a big chunk of their monitor stock, and also that the storage is now in the Stockholm area and not Linköping like before. Easiest way of getting a nice monitor in Sweden is getting an account at arkadtorget.se and ask in the buy/sell section. The owner of arcadegames.se is known as "johanmarsta" at that forum and is quite easy to get hold of there.

Man! You're just full of good new aren't you?
I e-mailed them about the possibility to pick up the monitor my self, instad of having it delivered. If they're in Sthlm now I might pick it up after work.   
I've tried to embrace Arkadtorget but I have to say that the site sucks. There's not the flow and structure we have here.
How do people respond to the "Mame crowd" there?

[emphatic]

I've tried to embrace Arkadtorget but I have to say that the site sucks. There's not the flow and structure we have here.
How do people respond to the "Mame crowd" there?

^^This is completely untrue. I've not been to many forums with that kind of friendliness. Give it another shot. The site is coded from scratch, so it is a bit peculiar, but the maintainer implements cool features all the time.

Re: arcadegames: I've heard that local pickup of items is welcomed. Be sure to get installation advice while you pick the monitor up though, as these monitors don't come in a box with English papers like the Well Gardners do. It would be a shame if you fed the monitor 230V and it wants 110V for example.

[Kman-Sweden]

Point taken.

[Xiaou2]

 Opps,  I should have mentioned to please rotate them in mame.  Sorry about that.

[dekar24k]

Opps,  I should have mentioned to please rotate them in mame.  Sorry about that.

I should've figured. I'll take a few more shots later today.

[dekar24k]

Just did some quick artwork for the top and bottom of the monitor plexi/bezel:



Side art is also in the making.

[Kman-Sweden]

Sweet! 

[dekar24k]

Quick side art finished (the red border will not be visible on the print of course):

[dkssprs]

Lovely sweet artwork!!!!!!