The NEW Build Your Own Arcade Controls
Main => Project Announcements => Topic started by: dgame on June 04, 2012, 06:17:40 pm
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I am now the proud owner of a Sega Blast City cabinet!
I found it very locally on craigslist and had it home the next day.
This is the first time I have ever seen a candy cab in person and I have always wanted one.
It needs a good bath. I’m going to take it apart and give it a good scrub.
It is a Turkey Hunting USA that was a Bass Fishing.
It had the pedestal but I took it off and left it with the guy I bought it from.
I want to set it up with the two player six button curved layout. Two U360s and Sanwa buttons.
The GOOD:
It is mostly complete. I can’t spot any major parts missing.
The only lock I can’t get into yet is the coin vault.
It powers on, the marquee lights up, the power supply clicks, the monitor neck glows.
The BAD:
Monitor has screen burn-in.
The monitor board is ‘gooped’, a common problem where a coil leaks goo down and all over/under the flyback.
Connected my JPAC to JAMMA harness. No picture. Nothing.
Connected my AVGA card to VGA port. No picture. Noting.
The REST:
I bought it for a low price and I factored in buying a new monitor since I saw the burn-in.
From reading online the ‘goop’ is not necessarily a death sentence so it may have life.
The QUESTIONS:
Which new Tri-Sync monitor should I get?
Is the 27"/29" Makvision Tri-Mode a good choice?
I can get the Makvision brand new shipped for about $550.00
Is the Nieman 27” tri-mode still an option? How much does it cost?
Looking at the burn-in in the attached pictures do you think it worth trying to revive the monitor?
I’m going to try jumping Hsync and Vsync together and see if it comes back to life.
Thanks for any advice!
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=185647;image)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=120617.0;attach=185645)
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Congrats on an amazing cab. Neiman makes great monitors but he sold his last CRT about 3 months ago. You can try and recap the monitor but you'll still have burns. If you want new or good CRT for cheap you can always try and repurpose a CRT from a TV with new chassis.
As for cab, what the heck is it standing on? A pedistool?
Good luck with the restore and enjoy! Restoration is 95% of the fun!
How much did you pay?
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Update:
I scored a complete 27" Wells Gardner d9200 (27D9204) and an additional D9200 27" tube in the frame without the boards.
The tubes are in excellent condition. No burns or scratches.
The board of the complete one is a little dirty and I noticed that one of the caps on the board has a broken leg.
I haven't put any power to it yet.
In the pictures the cab is standing on the pedestal that I left with the guy.
It securely attaches to the bottom of the cab making it stand up height.
It has wheels just like the cab.
The cab and the monitors together cost me less than $400.00 delivered.
Thanks for the encouragement. This was an unexpected find and I am totally stoked! :droid
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congrats on the cab. i was going to buy this cab over the weekend but i ran out of money. By the time i managed to get the money, you had already bought the cab. :)
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I am sure the functionality of these types of arcades are up to par with classical arcade designs. But I really do not like the looks of the plastic frame on an arcade cabinet, it just puts me off on the whole experience.
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I am sure the functionality of these types of arcades are up to par with classical arcade designs. But I really do not like the looks of the plastic frame on an arcade cabinet, it just puts me off on the whole experience.
To each their own. Personally, I owned a woody and a candy cab and like my candy cab a lot more. Not only is the screen better (29" dual vs 25" 15k only) but the space is much better managed (huge bonus for big city living!!!)
P.s. the cab is not plastic. Doors are all metal, body is fiberglass .. Made same as the hull of a boat!
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I not knocking it at all, I would love that thing :cheers:
Thanks for clarifying what the body is made of. Bigger screen is definitely a plus too.
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Update:
I tracked down a working chassis for the d9200 so hopefully that will bring it to life.
I also ordered new 5575 locks and keys, a new blast city 2L12B control panel and screws, green/pink Seimitsu LB-35 balltops and green/pink Seimitsu PS-14-GN buttons, yellow Seimitsu PS-14-DN start buttons.
I’m going with the stock 2 player six button green/pink layout. I chose Seimitsu parts as I read they are less sensitive than Sanwa but more sensitive than the Happs that I am used too.
I also could get the solid color screw-in Seimitsu buttons from Japan, can’t seem to easily find them in the states.
(http://www.mak-jp.com/images/pts/OOM-8-6BSR-H.jpg)
The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors. I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.
I recently ordered everything so I am waiting for the parts to arrive.
By acquiring these parts, plus $hipping, the budget just went way up, but it should turn out nice.
I already got a non-working bill validator to fill the hole in the service door.
I’ve joined some candy cab related forums but I feel most comfortable sharing over here 8)
I have some tricks planned for power management and front-end control buttons.
PS: No new pictures as I made a deal with myself. I can’t work on breaking down and cleaning up the cabinet until I clean my apartment from top to bottom and setup my office/game room.
Motivation.
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Update:
I tracked down a working chassis for the d9200 so hopefully that will bring it to life.
I also ordered new 5575 locks and keys, a new blast city 2L12B control panel and screws, green/pink Seimitsu LB-35 balltops and green/pink Seimitsu PS-14-GN buttons, yellow Seimitsu PS-14-DN start buttons.
I’m going with the stock 2 player six button green/pink layout. I chose Seimitsu parts as I read they are less sensitive than Sanwa but more sensitive than the Happs that I am used too.
I also could get the solid color screw-in Seimitsu buttons from Japan, can’t seem to easily find them in the states.
(http://www.mak-jp.com/images/pts/OOM-8-6BSR-H.jpg)
The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors. I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.
I recently ordered everything so I am waiting for the parts to arrive.
By acquiring these parts, plus $hipping, the budget just went way up, but it should turn out nice.
I already got a non-working bill validator to fill the hole in the service door.
I’ve joined some candy cab related forums but I feel most comfortable sharing over here 8)
I have some tricks planned for power management and front-end control buttons.
PS: No new pictures as I made a deal with myself. I can’t work on breaking down and cleaning up the cabinet until I clean my apartment from top to bottom and setup my office/game room.
Motivation.
How many 5575 locks are on your cabinet? Is it just the coinbox? Or...?
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The locks are on the service door, on the coin mechanism door, under the control panel, and on the coin box.
The coin box lock is probably keyed differently from the others.
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The joysticks will be two Ultrastik 360s with standard springs and octagonal restrictors. I made a fighter stick with this configuration and it works well for me.
Let me know how that works out for you. The U360 is based on the Sanwa JLW. Most of these astro based candy cabs are designed to hold a Sanwa JLF. The JLW is pin compatible with most USA based joysticks (Happ) - JLF is not. JLF joysticks connect to the harness using a single connector that looks like a small molex connector with multi-pin. JLW has a wire going directly to each switch rather than using a PCB.
JLF joysticks are also mounted very close to the nearest buttons -- too close for a JLW to fit.
Let me know if it works for you, I'd love to do the same.
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I've been looking at the joystick diagrams and depending on how the bottom plate is it may be tricky. Par for the course in this hobby though. :banghead:
I have the usual cadre of cutting and drilling tools to modify the mounts if space permits. We'll see how it goes.
Update:
The cab has a JAMMA harness hacked into the 001 JVS loom. The RCA stereo audio input was chopped, coupled, and joined to JAMMA mono.
I uncoupled the cabinet's stereo input wires and connected a long stereo 3.5mm audio cable. I plugged the 3.5mm cable in my laptop and turned on the cab.
Now it has amplified stereo audio and the volume control under the control panel works.
Only things left to wire-up are the control panel and the monitor chassis when they get here.
The video is VGA Cable, the U360 joysticks/buttons are USB, and now the audio is 3.5mm. :droid
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Now it has amplified stereo audio and the volume control under the control panel works.
I'm confused, what are you using for amplification? The sound card in your laptop?? If so, does that provide enough juice for those speakers? Search eBay for "mini amplifier lepai" that's what I use between the sound card of my PC + candy cab speakers. Very nice and clean with no distortion (could get really loud too!)
Only things left to wire-up are the control panel and the monitor chassis when they get here.
The video is VGA Cable, the U360 joysticks/buttons are USB, and now the audio is 3.5mm. :droid
Cool.. please show pics once you get it. :)
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I'm using the cabinet's built-in amplifier and stereo speakers.
The way I got it was with the RCA audio (line level) inputs hacked off and combined into mono and connected to the JAMMA (mono audio) part of the harness.
I've read where this is a solution to get louder/better sound from JAMMA boards in the Blast City Cabinet.
Since I'm using a PC I decoupled the inputs and put a stereo 3.5mm audio cable in.
So now the cabinet can receive (and amplify) stereo audio from anything with a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The laptop was just an audio source to test the rewiring I did.
The audio amplifier is inside the cabinet's power supply, and the volume control is under the control panel. This thing is loud. :droid
Luckily the cabinet's speakers are still good although the speaker grills have been pushed in on both sides.
I'm going to try to tap them out and back into position when I take the cabinet apart.
I've read they're a pain to install (glued in) so hopefully the pushed in sections just snap back out and into place when I hit it with a wedge of wood or something.
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I'm using the cabinet's built-in amplifier and stereo speakers.
...
The audio amplifier is inside the cabinet's power supply, and the volume control is under the control panel. This thing is loud. :droid
My SEGA NAC still has the original PSU inside, with the volume control + degauss button .. I wasn't aware that you can use the amp while disabling the rest of the PSU! This is important because if you don't have a load on the PSU, while it's on, it will burn it out! (common problem with people running MAME in their cabs, and using the old JAMMA PSU to power some lights in the cab with no PCB.. the PSU's burned out!)
Luckily the cabinet's speakers are still good although the speaker grills have been pushed in on both sides.
damn, sorry to hear that. Is it metallic? If so, it shouldn't be too difficult to fix.
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This is important because if you don't have a load on the PSU, while it's on, it will burn it out! (common problem with people running MAME in their cabs, and using the old JAMMA PSU to power some lights in the cab with no PCB.. the PSU's burned out!)
I've heard this as well, but I've been running my Blast City with a Dreamcast and Xbox 360 and haven't burned up the supply yet. I swap between the consoles and PCB's and so far no problems. I don't know if I'm just lucky, or if some switchers are OK with no load.
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I don’t think the PSU load issue applies to the Blast City.
I have seen posts and videos of people with Xbox 360, Dreamcast, etc. plugged in straight to the VGA and using the built in PSU.
Forum member ‘clutch’ has MAME in a Blast City:
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35810.msg1162634#msg1162634 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=35810.msg1162634#msg1162634)
Almost 1 year later . . .
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117213.msg1241673#msg1241673 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=117213.msg1241673#msg1241673)
For the NAC:
This person made a RCA adapter to get sound into the New Astro City:
http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11017 (http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11017)
Not all NAC’s have amps:
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?208224-Q-sound-from-RCAs-in-CPS2-boards-in-New-Astro-City (http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showthread.php?208224-Q-sound-from-RCAs-in-CPS2-boards-in-New-Astro-City)
So the external amp solution may already be the best for the NAC:
http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15075 (http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=15075)
The Blast City speaker grills are metal and looking at them closely they should be able to be knocked back into shape and place.
If not then it’s remove, reshape, and re-glue.
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I also installed an amp in my NAC (since sold). I did pretty much the same thing as that link, wire a connector to the speakers so I didn't hack the original wiring then added an amp. Worked great.
(http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/astro/images/astro27.jpg)
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Update:
After a good cleaning I adjusted the AD-81P coin selector (US 25C) to also accept my .984 BYOAC tokens using this guide:
http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/AD-81P_Coin_Acceptor (http://wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/AD-81P_Coin_Acceptor)
The AD-81P only needed the first three adjustments to also accept tokens.
The third screw is the trickiest to adjust but it ended up being about a 1mm move to the left for both US quarters and .984 tokens to be valid.
The adjustments should be tested with the coin selector completely level as I think the third screw is a part of the “Lean Stopper” that prevents acceptance of coins when the machine is tilted.
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you gotta figure out how to wire that gun back up m8 lol
that would be awsome :) i love that control layout too sweet :) sweet as candy haha
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I think the easiest way to use that gun would be to implant and AimTrack into it.
Though I am not keen on the LED bars and I don't know how the 3 feet distance will work with my setup.
So making the gun work isn't high on my to-do list. Cool idea though. 8)
Update:
I got the 'attempted delivery' slip yesterday, and my parts from Japan (control panel, buttons, locks, etc.) are waiting at the Post Office for me to pick them up.
Pictures later.
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led bars could be placed at bottom of screen and top of marquee leave small holes for the actual sensors :) its possible and 3 feet is pretty good tbh :) worth a shot or at worst trade it for a darned good trackball its wth that at least :)
and ooops at least its at post office and not at customs "whistles dixxy"lol
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From what I’ve read it seems you want the LED bar to be as close to the screen as possible.
I saw a video of how someone cut the bezel to install the LED bar.
I would have to source another bezel before I attempted that.
The Postman informed me that they will not leave packages anymore, so I have to go pick up anything that will not fit in the tiny mailbox.
Update:
I received the new Blast City control panel, buttons, locks, and keys.
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=186602;image)
The Sega 5575 key opens all the locks on the cabinet. 8)
I also received a complete (working pull) D9200 chassis.
The two new U360s were shipped recently so I am waiting for those.
It looks like the angled slots on the U360 mounting plate will line up with the joystick mounting holes on the Blast City Control Panel.
So it may turn out to be a drop in installation.
Blast city Panel:
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=186606;image)
JLW plate:
(http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3622/3368205451_04c53019c7_o.jpg)
The ruler is on the edge of the holes and the diagram measures from the center of the holes.
Shift the ruler about 1mm up and 1mm left and the (84mm x 40mm) measurements are compatible.
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PC Specs:
Intel E4500 CPU @ 2750 MHz (250 x 11)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (trying to get 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production if everything can fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (Thanks for XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64 (first time using 64 bit windows, so far so good!)
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
CabMAME64 v141
Update:
Since a hole has already been cut into the control panel for the ‘Start / Turkey Call’ button I decided to use a 3 in 1 button with a similar footprint for the Front End interface.
(http://www.ablackhorse.com/store/pc/catalog/RA-3WAY-BUTTON.jpg)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=186713;image)
Press the Yellow 3 in 1 button to boot the PC and turn on the cab (smartstrip)
The machine will boot into the Mala front end.
Player 1 side controls the Front end.
Press either Player 1 start or the Green 3 in 1 to launch game from front end.
Press Red 3 in 1 three times to exit game. I modified the MAME source to on-screen prompt for two more presses when the red button is pressed. It counts the presses and Exits to the front end on the third press. Press Red twice to Quit Game, Press Red once to Quit game, Exit game. You have three seconds to press three times or the counter resets.
Press Red 3 in 1 once in Mala and the ‘Quit?’ appears. Press Red again (no) to return to Mala, or press Green 3 in 1 (yes) or Player 1 start button (yes) to exit. Mala is set to shutdown PC. The cab turns off (smartstrip.)
The coin mech works and accepts US quarters and .984 tokens.
Hold Player 2 start and drop a coin for Player 2 (coin 2) specific credits. Most games don’t need this.
Technical Stuff:
U360 #1:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 1 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 1 Start and Green 3 in 1 Button (wired in parallel)
Button 8 = Red 3 in 1 Button
Green 3 in 1 Button = Launch game from front end / Player 1 Start / Confirm front end Exit
Red 3 in 1 Button = 1. Exit Game (press 3x) / 2. Exit Front End (Auto Shutdown PC which also turns off Cab, need to press Green 3 in 1 to confirm Exit)
U360 #2:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 2 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 2 Start
Button 8 = Coin Mechanism Switch
Player 1 coin (coin 1) = Button 8 NOT Button 7
Player 2 coin (coin 2) = Button 7 AND Button 8 (Hold Player 2 start and drop in a coin. Mainly for Gauntlet 2p)
Yellow 3 in 1 Button = PC power Button to turn Cab on.
EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME confirm_quit works for exit.
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Update:
I received the two u360s and they fit the 'Licensed by Sega' Blast City control panel without modification.
All they need are eight ~1/4" long (~#6-32) machine screws and nuts to secure them to the panel.
The Seimitsu Balltop fits the U360 perfectly.
The top of the panel to the bottom of the balltop distance is ~25 mm (~1") which I read is a good height for Japanese sticks.
Next up is the monitor. I got another hopefully good chassis on the way.
I have to test both chassis, then remove the existing monitor, and swap the frame.
First I have to prepare a safe work area for this part of the project.
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UltraStick 360 with gree/pink 35mm Seimitsu balltops and Seimitsu buttons.
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PC Specs:
Intel E4500 CPU @ 2750 MHz (250 x 11)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (trying to get 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production if everything can fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (Thanks for XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64 (first time using 64 bit windows, so far so good!)
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
CabMAME64 v141
Update:
Since a hole has already been cut into the control panel for the ‘Start / Turkey Call’ button I decided to use a 3 in 1 button with a similar footprint for the Front End interface.
(http://www.ablackhorse.com/store/pc/catalog/RA-3WAY-BUTTON.jpg)
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=186713;image)
Press the Yellow 3 in 1 button to boot the PC and turn on the cab (smartstrip)
The machine will boot into the Mala front end.
Player 1 side controls the Front end.
Press either Player 1 start or the Green 3 in 1 to launch game from front end.
Press Red 3 in 1 three times to exit game. I modified the MAME source to on-screen prompt for two more presses when the red button is pressed. It counts the presses and Exits to the front end on the third press. Press Red twice to Quit Game, Press Red once to Quit game, Exit game. You have three seconds to press three times or the counter resets.
Press Red 3 in 1 once in Mala and the ‘Quit?’ appears. Press Red again (no) to return to Mala, or press Green 3 in 1 (yes) or Player 1 start button (yes) to exit. Mala is set to shutdown PC. The cab turns off (smartstrip.)
The coin mech works and accepts US quarters and .984 tokens.
Hold Player 2 start and drop a coin for Player 2 (coin 2) specific credits. Most games don’t need this.
Technical Stuff:
U360 #1:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 1 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 1 Start and Green 3 in 1 Button (wired in parallel)
Button 8 = Red 3 in 1 Button
Green 3 in 1 Button = Launch game from front end / Player 1 Start / Confirm front end Exit
Red 3 in 1 Button = 1. Exit Game (press 3x) / 2. Exit Front End (Auto Shutdown PC which also turns off Cab, need to press Green 3 in 1 to confirm Exit)
U360 #2:
Button 1 - 6 = Player 2 Buttons 1 - 6
Button 7 = Player 2 Start
Button 8 = Coin Mechanism Switch
Player 1 coin (coin 1) = Button 8 NOT Button 7
Player 2 coin (coin 2) = Button 7 AND Button 8 (Hold Player 2 start and drop in a coin. Mainly for Gauntlet 2p)
Yellow 3 in 1 Button = PC power Button to turn Cab on.
I really like the idea of the 3-in-1 button. I may put this onto my bartop to save on admin buttons on the cp. :applaud:
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Have you tried GroovyMame?
I find their XP64 drivers + custom MAME select better resolutions for the game than anything I can hack or hope MAME can select. Vertical classic games (like pacman) actually show up great (with only a slight cutoff top/bottom) rather than showing up in 480i as it did with MAME/ArcadeVGA.
As a bonus, their drivers work with the ArcadeVGA and actually support more resolutions than Andy's drivers!
I was also looking over your blast CP (underside picture) it seems to have been drilled for the JLW's, hence why your U360's fit. My CP (NAC) is drilled at the factory for JLF's; rather than 2 holes per side/at the corners, JLF compatible CP metal plates have only a single hole right in the middle of the bracket (i.e. only 2 screws hold the joystick in place - at 3/9 oclock positions)
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sunnyp,
It should work out well. One hole = 3 buttons. I would not have cut it myself though.
JoeB,
Compiling GroovyMame64 v145 v146 right now. Should be nice. I didn't know about it before, thanks!
Update:
PC Specs are now:
Intel E8400 CPU @ 3060 MHz (340 x 9)
MSI 945GCM5-F V2 (FSB 1333) Mother Board
2GB DDR2 667 (ordered different 4GB to work with MB)
160 GB HD (Have a 64 GB SSD to swap in for final production as everything should fit on it)
Arcade VGA 3000 (XP x64 drivers)
Windows XP x64
MaLa 1.7.2.0 front end
GroovyMAME64 v145 v146
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I just got a Blast City myself and I'm trying to get my jamma boards working but am getting no sound (I'm using a jamma harness that plugs into the IO pcb on the side of the coinbox, but it's not the 001 loom).
There aren't any RCA cords inside the cab so I haven't been able to get sound either from my laptop or through jamma. Can you explain how I can get both? 90% of the time I'll be playing jamma stuff but I may want to hookup a dreamcast too.
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There might be a 4 pin plug for switching between amplified and non amplified audio. See if you can follow the speaker wires from the JAMMA connector and see where they go.
My Blast loom is not the 001 either, but it worked fine for JAMMA audio out of the box. It doesnt have the plug to swap between JAMMA or internal amp. Rather than buying the expensive 001 loom I'm just adding the parts I need. When I first got the cabinet I added RCA plugs to the amp for consoles. I've got a picture on my website with an explanation. I bought the pins from Andy at AGS.
http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast (http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast)
I'm currently adding the power plugs for JVS games so I can remove the Dreamcast and add the Naomi I recently picked up. The Naomi side of the plugs and pins I bought from Digikey, the pins for the Blast end came from AGS.
Don't forget the easy stuff like checking to make sure the volume pot on your game board isn't all the way down.
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you know, I was just looking at your site. I saw the part where you added the RCA jacks, thanks!
I'm not at home so I can't check at the moment but I don't remember seeing any plugs to switch for Jamma.
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There might be a 4 pin plug for switching between amplified and non amplified audio. See if you can follow the speaker wires from the JAMMA connector and see where they go.
My Blast loom is not the 001 either, but it worked fine for JAMMA audio out of the box. It doesnt have the plug to swap between JAMMA or internal amp. Rather than buying the expensive 001 loom I'm just adding the parts I need. When I first got the cabinet I added RCA plugs to the amp for consoles. I've got a picture on my website with an explanation. I bought the pins from Andy at AGS.
http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast (http://home.comcast.net/~dark.paladin/blast)
I'm currently adding the power plugs for JVS games so I can remove the Dreamcast and add the Naomi I recently picked up. The Naomi side of the plugs and pins I bought from Digikey, the pins for the Blast end came from AGS.
Don't forget the easy stuff like checking to make sure the volume pot on your game board isn't all the way down.
are those special pins that I can't just buy at Radio Shack or something?
can you give me the pinout of those pins 31-34 that you mentioned?
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My Cab had the Stereo Input wires for the amplified sound connected here:
(http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=103207.0;attach=187238;image)
From: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=800673&sid=da5f5d8bcb45ed113079e67ec7f945e4#p800673
(http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?p=800673&sid=da5f5d8bcb45ed113079e67ec7f945e4#p800673)
The pins are numbered this way:
______
|33 34 |
|31 32 |
|29 30 |
..........
33 AUDIO_GND (-)
34 AUDIO_GND (-)
31 AUDIO_L (+)
32 AUDIO_R(+)
It was wired for JAMMA mono so:
33+34 to SPEAKER (-) JAMMA
31+32 to SPEAKER (+) JAMMA
As a quick and dirty test you could probably push the JAMMA speaker out wires into the audio connector and get some sound.
Turn the cabinet’s volume down first though.
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I wasn't able to find a US supplier for those pins. They are called 'JST RA' pins. AGS and Giz10p in England are both well known and good to deal with. Shipping isn't as bad as you would think, and both are usually quick to ship. I don't see them listed on the AGS website, although that's where I got mine. I contacted Andy via email and he was very helpful.
Here's a link to the pins on giz10p:
http://www.giz10p.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=239 (http://www.giz10p.co.uk/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=239)
By the way, my apologies to dgame for clogging his thread!
A little digging shows that Digikey does have a listing for the pins, although none in stock. Only 2 cents each, but I don't know how many you'd have to order to get them to stock it.
http://www.digikey.lu/search/en/PartDetail?partNumber=RA-SC1290TR-ND (http://www.digikey.lu/search/en/PartDetail?partNumber=RA-SC1290TR-ND)
When I needed the 8 and 6 pin connectors for the JVS power they didn't have the 8 pin in stock. I tried to order 2 and the website showed it would take 2 weeks to get them in. I went ahead and ordered them and they did show up in 2 weeks. Now they show over 2,000 in stock!
I plugged in 1000 pins and the results showed N/A for a time estimate. I then tried 8,000 and it showed an estimate of 10/16. I'm halfway tempted to order them and resell to folks in the US. With the growing numbers of imported candy cabs I wonder how long it would take to get a return on the $183 'investment'.
Current exchange rate shows .14 each when ordering from Giz10p, so even selling them at .10 I'd need to sell 1830 to pay off the investment.
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thanks for all that info man, but I wouldn't drop $183 on those because I'm positive it would take you ages to resell them all.
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Paladin,
No problem with posting things here as it relates to the project and often comes in handy.
Update:
I’ve spent some time tweaking the OS and software to play nice and do the things I want.
These are the features I now have:
1. I am now using Groovy MAME’s confirm quit option so now the red button brings up the quit menu and the green / player 1 start button exits MAME, same thing for MaLa. Quitting MaLa shuts down PC and cab (smart strip) and yellow button turns it back on.
2. Recompiled Groovy MAME with source changes to NOT turn off the screensaver or power management. Not a problem in MaLa but I don’t want MAME to possibly burn-in on the CRT. The screensaver still will not come on over MAME, but the power management will. Now my screen blanks on idle.
EDIT: In src/osd/windows/windows.c comment out lines 1538 and 1539 // if (wparam == SC_MONITORPOWER || wparam == SC_SCREENSAVE) // return 1
2a. But wait won’t your screen go blank when you are playing? USB joysticks don’t wake up the screensaver. I use Joystick 2 Mouse 3.20.5 which controls the mouse with the joystick, but the joystick still functions as normal. A side effect is the USB joystick can now wake up from screensaver and power management. I assign all of the joystick’s buttons to Mouse X Button 1 click which seems to have no effect on my system, but will wake up screensaver / power management events.
Even though GroovyMAME does a good job at picking resolutions it doesn’t always make the best choice for me.
For these games I use the INI files to set the resolution.
snd Next up will be tweaking the video modes with ArcadePerfect to hopefully match up the != 60Hz monitor refresh rates with the games that need it.
Like what clutch did here http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110487.0 (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=110487.0)
The gamename.bat file will set the resolution and refresh rate using ArcadePerfect.
For example:
** First File
C:\MAME\mame.bat :
IF NOT EXIST C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat GOTO NormalRun
C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1 -noswitchres -nomodeline
C:\MAME\SETRES\RestoreRes.bat
GOTO ExitRun
:NormalRun
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1
:ExitRun
**Next File
C:\MAME\SETRES\smashtv.bat :
“C\Program Files\ArcadePerfect\ArcadePerfect.exe” C:\MAME\SETRES\400x256x55.rsl
** Next File
C:\MAME\SETRES\400x256x55.rsl
This file will be saved using the ArcadePerfect utility setting the screen to 400x256 with a ~55Hz refresh rate.
In theory this should cause the game to run a closer to 100% than 110% at 60Hz.
** Next File
RestoreRes.bat sets the resolution (hard coded) to whatever the front end needs.
This is all untested and I am just brainstorming here so I can refer back to it.
EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME works, no need for fancy batch files.
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dgame, I also have to straighten out my speaker grills. It doesn't look like fun because you have to take the monitor all the way out of the cab to access them.
what a pain..
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Yeah, from what I've read you practically have to take the cab apart to get to the speaker grills.
These are the directions I will use:
http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?p=194650#p194650 (http://forum.arcadeotaku.com/viewtopic.php?p=194650#p194650)
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well I got my jamma sound working.
I took a look at a pinout for cn5 of the IO board online and the two pins right next to the four for line in audio were Speaker + and -, and they went back to my Jamma harness right where they should. So I knew that the harness was wired up correctly. It ended up just being problems with the particular board I was testing.
But I did learn what I need to do to get my line in working for my Dreamcast from this thread and Paladin, so it was worth the frustration.
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Glad you got it working.
Update:
I want a way to easily switch between the CGA and LCD configurations.
Anything other than 60Hz causes the LCD to go blank.
So I changed the mame.bat batch file so it checks for a file called lcd.txt and does not apply the refresh changes if it exists.
The LCD_toggle.bat file renames this file from lcd.txt to cga.txt and back.
REM File: mame.bat
REM Don't change refresh rate on LCD screen
IF EXIST C:\MAME\lcd.txt GOTO NormalRun
IF NOT EXIST C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat GOTO NormalRun
C:\MAME\SETRES\%1.bat
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1 -noswitchres -nomodeline
C:\MAME\SETRES\RestoreRes.bat
GOTO ExitRun
:NormalRun
C:\MAME\mame.exe %1
:ExitRun
REM file: LCD_toggle.bat
REM Switches filename so mame.bat will not change refresh rate on LCD
IF EXIST C:\MAME\cga.txt GOTO LCD
IF EXIST C:\MAME\lcd.txt GOTO CGA
:CGA
REN C:\MAME\lcd.txt cga.txt
GOTO ExitRun
:LCD
REN C:\MAME\cga.txt lcd.txt
:ExitRun
EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME works, no need for fancy batch files.
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Update:
I scrapped the batch file idea for now and used the triple buffer instead.
Makes things simpler for now and the triple buffer looks good to me and seems to be steady.
I am almost finished with the tedious process of generating resolution specific INI files for each game.
GroovyMAME’s (-modeline) sometimes picks some weird resolutions on my system so I turned that option off.
I use the MAME Resolution Tool (http://mamewah.mameworld.info/downloads.htm (http://mamewah.mameworld.info/downloads.htm)) to automatically and manually set the hundreds of resolutions used in MAME.
After a while you get used to what AVGA resolutions go best with certain ranges of MAME resolutions and the setup goes fairly quickly.
The Utility also does settings by specific resolution so, for example, you can set all games with the same native resolution as Street Fighter II to 292x240 in one operation.
So essentially I am using GroovyMAME the way I use CabMAME.
Though Groovy’s confirm_quit option is also a cheap way to pause.
Hopefully, I can get back to the hardware this weekend.
PS, BTW, OT, etc.:
It seems some of these other Candy Cabinet related sites are jerks to the MAME crowd.
I’ve seen some fairly innocent MAME questions get treated badly by the PCB crowd.
I mean can I understand not wanting to MAME a dedicated cab, but what could be more inviting to MAME than a generic arcade cabinet designed for running multiple games?
That’s why I like it here, I think this place has a good balance of dedicated cabs, home builds, and MAME fans.
:cheers:
EDIT: Cleaning up the thread. GroovyMAME works, no need for fancy batch files.
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Update:
EDIT: I now use GroovyMAME in normal (switchres/modeline) mode for this project. Other than when setting it up there are no INI's or other trickery needed.
I’ve been in the Monitor/video section getting help with the screen.
I did the cap kit and the frame swap.
The D9200 is now back mounted in the Blast City’s native frame. :applaud:
Next is to take the rest of the cabinet apart to clean and get to the speakers and speaker grills.
While cleaning up the control panel instruction space glass I removed all the black paint including the black border.
Debating whether to paint the black border back on the instruction space glass or just leave it clear?
I’ve been working on the artwork and came up with some cool ideas.
The marquee will be a giant Sega logo in blue.
The instruction space will be the original 8 + 4 Street Fighter II characters move lists.
The Insert Coin sticker will feature the BYOAC logo as those are the tokens I have for it.
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You know what I don't like about this thread? Not enough pictures!
Seriously though, great find!
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Thanks, more pictures coming. 8)
Continuing the cleaning.
The control panel had what looks like about two cups of dried soft drinks in it.
Here are pictures of the D9200 monitor in the Blast City’s native frame. It is in the vertical orientation.
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Finished cleaning the top half of the control panel. Mildew stain remover and Magic Eraser worked wonders on the fiberglass.
The 3 in 1 button looks weird but it is a function over fashion replacement for the big Turkey Hunting start button installed by previous owner during conversion from Bass Fishing. I did not cut this hole.
The 3 in 1 function will be: yellow to turn the PC on (power switch), red to pause/exit/no, and green to confirm exit/yes (also tied to player 1 start to launch game from front end).
Exiting from the front end shuts down the PC on a smart strip that turns off the monitor and cabinet. The yellow power button can also be held down to force the system to shutdown (normal for ATX).
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I mounted the controls to the control panel.
The two Ultimarc Ultrastik 360 joysticks fit perfectly.
Currently going stock with no restrictors but have two octagonal restrictors to try.
[jokes]
Looks like a knock off Simon game on the panel.
Custom Trivial Pursuit controls!
BYOAC radiation
[/jokes]
Next is to finish cleaning the rest of the cabinet and wire it all up.
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What size screws did you have to get to mount your U360s on that panel? I have the same one and am using zip ties at the moment. Looks great!
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Thanks, Got them from Home Depot
Screws and Nuts:
Crown Bolt #6-32 x 3/8 in. Coarse Zinc-Plated Steel Round-Head Combination Machine Screws (8-Pack)
Model # 27511
Internet # 202706056
Store SKU # 528490
$1.18 / Bag
Washers:
Crown Bolt #6 Zinc-Plated Steel Flat Washers (30-Pack)
Model # 19791
Internet # 202704547
Store SKU # 638977
$1.18 / Bag
The screw is the perfect length as it does not touch the panel but can catch the nut.
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Scored a working Stackerless Bill Acceptor / Validator for $11 shipped. Was searching for a Bill Acceptor Blanking Plate when I took the chance on the cheaper, but untested, Bill Acceptor.
It can accept “small face” 1, 5, 10, and 20 dollar bills so the current $1 bill is still good.
The cabinet already accepts Quarters and .984 tokens.
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I am not happy with how the 3 in 1 button looks on the panel.
So I bought a new 3 in 1 button that is for Atari’s Relief Picture arcade game.
I don’t want to put the power icon sticker on the new button.
So I made a legend for the 3 in 1 button to go into the insert coin label’s spot.
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I was literally making plans to pick up this blast city when you bought it before me. You've done one hell of a job fixing it up, far beyond what i would have ever done with it. Definitely went to a good home :)
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It may just be because I drink a lot of whiskey but doesn't that power button seem a little too close to the start button?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
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Thanks 404, I think a couple of us on here were after it. I was lucky that is was so close to me. I helped a friend buy a Ms. Pac-Man from the same seller before. He seems to “quit” the arcade business annually but pops up, especially around the holidays, with tons of stuff to sell. Seems like a cool guy and he drives a DeLorean!
As for the Power On button, it does nothing if pressed momentarily once the computer is on. If the power button is held for more than 10 seconds the system will hard shutdown. If this becomes a problem I could use a Normally Closed 12v relay powered by the PC to “Open” the power button circuit once the computer is turned on. This will disable the power button once the PC has power.
The PC will only run MaLa and GroovyMAME so the user needs to stop/quit MAME and then stop/quit MaLa to automatically shutdown the entire cabinet.
I also have a JAMMA fingerboard on the way so I can wire it use the coin meter, coin mech, and bill acceptor with the U360 without hacking into the already hacked wiring loom.
Thanks for the feedback. I have come back to my long notes in this thread many times to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.
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Ok Yea I wouldn't imagine it being a problem then if it has to be held. I've always had mine start the shutdown sequence right away so that's why it seemed a bit risky.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
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Looks good! Too bad you CP surround was drilled. Since you have a JPAC you could've done what I did; use shift keys for mame special keys (eg hold player 1 start button while pressing up is exit, down is pause and start 1 + start 2 is insert coin). I also have the bios set to auto start on power restore. This way the original external power starts everything including PC. Very stealth. I use mame but also swap in Naomi pcb with net dimm for newer games.
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Thanks for the advice.
The J-PAC is very cool. I used it to play a lot of Magical Drop III (MAME) with the dual sticks on my Smash TV cabinet.
U360 joysticks can be wired in output mode to work with real PCBs.
The Naomi Net DIMM stuff looks awesome.
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Installed the new 3 in 1 button and label.
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Received the marquee. It is printed on this cloth like material that has a satin sheen to it. Looks good but it has to be stretched like canvas to eliminate the wrinkles. I redid it after these pictures and it is smooth now. When the backlight is on the navy blue looks lighter and the texture looks like blue canvas. Looks good for a $5 print.
I also installed the 64 GB SSD drive last night. It’s a close fit with 64 GB but it works for MAME/Mala and all the snaps, videos, artwork, etc. Haven’t tried MAME yet but Windows boots up like a rocket.
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Looking great!
Not a fan of dust washers?
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The dust washer that came with the U360s does not lay flat throughout the entire range of motion. One side tilts up and the other side scrapes down. It clacks and gets in the way during play. I also like the look without them. Since this is for home use only I don’t think it will be a problem.
BUT since you asked I did some research and read about hands getting pinched by U360s with metal control panels and no dust washers. So the plan is to look at what needs to be done to the existing dust washers and either mod them or contact TEFightStands for some custom dust washers. It may be as easy as slightly widening the center of the existing dust washers to keep them lying flat. Thanks for the feedback.
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I used a pen wrapped in sandpaper to ream out the center of the dust washers and now they stay flat. The center ended up being about 2 millimeters larger than stock. Thanks for bringing it up.
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Nice. Such an awesome CP.
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Thanks. I enjoy learning new things while working on this as much as playing the games.
I wired the bill acceptor to the harness so it can be used with real PCB (triggers JAMMA 16).
I also received the 5 volt relay module and wired it up to the JAMMA fingerboard.
The result is that the coin switch (JAMMA 16) also triggers the 12 volt coin counter (JAMMA 8 ).
I did this because the 12 volt coin counter wired in parallel with the coin switch does not work with the 5 volt zener diode used to protect the U360. I also wanted this mod to be easily removable for PCB use.
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Just popping in to say this is awesome and I'm jealous.
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Nice setup, mate.
I for myself started messing today on my Blast. I have found almost of my questions answered here, Thanks to dGame.
Although, there's a couples of things kept hesitated about setting up mame on my cab.
namely, The PSU. i want to know, does your PC share the PSU with cabinet? If so , how?
Or do you keep them separated?
My blast have been collecting dusts since last summer, hopping to start a mame project.
Best wishes from the noob.
Crooger
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Marquee looks awesome, would you mind sharing where you can get it printed for $5?
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I got the marquee printed here:
http://myworld.ebay.com/newstartnewgroup2010/ (http://myworld.ebay.com/newstartnewgroup2010/)
Email:
newstartnewgroup@gmail.com
It comes from China and you must specify if you want your art printed in the exact size you submit.
They don't have any ads up currently but try emailing them for a quote.
PROJECT UPDATE:
I have the Blast Cabinet split in half to straighten out the speaker grills and glue them back in. After that its re-assembly time.
Found $6.28 inside.
Crooger,
The PC uses its own PSU. The D9200 CRT uses it own power cable. The cabinet PSU only powers the cabinet and accessories (lights, audio amp, 12v bill acceptor, 12v coin counter, my 5v credit counter relay.)
I use a smart strip to turn off the cabinet and CRT when the PC shuts down.
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I am finally putting it all back together. The speaker grills were really bent out of shape so I only got them good enough to go back into place. The hardest part was removing the old glue. By no means perfect but they are now glued in securely.
This Blast City cabinet has a security box around the coin mechanism and a little metal plate attached to the back of the coin box. It also has security screws in a lot of places where there are regular screws in most pictures online.
I found around $7.00 worth of quarters inside the cabinet and none in the coin box.
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I got my Blast City up and running for today. I finished the control panel by wiring up the buttons to the u360s. It uses an unpowered hub inside the control panel for both joysticks and a USB dongle for a wireless keyboard.
The bill accepter, coin mech, and coin counter all work. All my tokens are 2004 BYOAC, it also accepts quarters.
The marquee light did not come on tough. It has a new bulb and it worked when I took it out. I am going to get one of those LED bulbs that use the simplified wiring. Thinking 990 lumens 3000k as it is in the living room.
The power circuit uses a smart circuit and a UPS with a similar controllable plug system. The PC and monitor are plugged into the smart strip. The smart strip is plugged into the UPS. The cabinet power is plugged into the UPS. The PC turns on the monitor on the smart strip. The smart strip turns on the cabinet on the UPS. The cabinet power is not battery backed.
Thanks for everyone’s help over the years. Glad I finally put it completely back together. I am really enjoying it. :droid
Merry Christmas!
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Very cool dgame!
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Thanks!
I went with a 3000k / 700 lumens LED light for the marquee. It has two selectable brightness levels.
The LED marquee light plugs into to the smart strip. I also installed an inline switch so the marquee light can be turned off independently of the cabinet power.
I am calling it done! :droid
R.I.P. The Princess Leia Organa, of the Royal House of Alderaan.
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love that cab. send me those SF guys so I can jam them in my SFII Pinball
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Those figures are from the Kidrobot Street Fighter Collectible Mini Figure Series 1 Blind Boxes.
I got those in loose sets on eBay back-in-the-day.
I limited my collection to the original 8 playable characters in 1 Player colors.
I have a 2 Player Ken (in blue Gi) that you can have, PM me an address if you want it.
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for seweeus? yay PM incoming.
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for seweeus? yay PM incoming.
Charge him double for it!!!
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Too late, I already sent out the Ken in blue. Should arrive by Saturday. Always willing to support the
addiction collection. :cheers:
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$0 x 2 = $0
Thanks mang, its nice to be on the receiving end of charity for a change :cheers:
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No problem.
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This is the MaLa layout I made and adapted for this project. It is 4:3 scalable. My cabinet runs MaLa at 640x480 so I used large text. Not the prettiest thing but very functional.
Along with the usual objects, the joystick, buttons, and player icons also change dynamically with the list selection by using definables. The two player icons move slightly farther apart for 2P alternate games. There are second joystick graphics that appear to the right of the buttons for double joystick games.
To test the layout remove the .txt extension from the mala_layout_file.mll.txt and copy the mala_layout_file.mll into your MaLa layout folder. Extract the defines folder from the mala_layout_defines.zip file. Point MaLa to the extracted defines folder using Options / Configuration --> MAME Config (Tab) --> Pictures and Videos (Tab) enter your own path to the extracted defines folder, select Controls, Buttons, and Players for Definable 1, 2, and 3 respectively See mala_layout_definables.png for configuration example. Select mala_layout_file at Options / Configuration --> GUI (Tab) --> Layouts (Tab) --> Available layouts (menu) --> mala_layout_file
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After many years I have decided to update my old MAME version. When I grabbed my MaLa frontend I could see it was not able to create gamelists. What a disappointment! I suppose some things have changed with MAME and it is no longer compatible with mame.xml or other elements. I can, however, still use MaLa with my old gamelists. I wonder if I can create new gamelists somehow or download a full list so that I can add my new games to my list manually using MaLa's gamelist editor. I really want to keep on using MaLa, because I have tried Attract Mode and I didn't like very much. It's not bad for high res layouts, but it's impossible to preview a 320x240 resolution layout as you design it, which is the one I have in MaLa. I also noticed that Attract Mode is not as smooth as MaLa.
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After many years I have decided to update my old MAME version. When I grabbed my MaLa frontend I could see it was not able to create gamelists.
Use this workaround. :cheers:
https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,145865.0.html (https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,145865.0.html)
Scott