Mame cabinet

[m68030]

Just wanted to brag and show off a bit

My new toy.

Still need to get an X-Arcade Tankstick for it and black the beige of the monitor behind the bezel, but it's fully serviceable at the moment.

Here's a schematic if you wanted to build your own:

http://brahmsbbs.servebbs.org/store/cabinet/19crt_Cabinet_iso.pdf

[Drack]

The one thing your plan needs is a better control scheme.

Pads? X-Arcade? You need to read up on joysticks. If you want a top quality experience, don't skimp on the input. Get something with Sanwa/Seimitsu parts and a comfortable button layout (I like the Sega "Astro City" layout, personally). If you don't want to build a stick, you can buy sticks with Sanwa parts from Hori or Mad Catz. Or you can check the shoryuken.com forums for custom builds.

[m68030]

What's wrong with a tankstick? it looks like the easiest integration, combines all the inputs i'm interested in, and is turnkey ready.

[Species8472]

Nice. I've been investigating building one myself.

[FireSlash]

What's wrong with a tankstick? it looks like the easiest integration, combines all the inputs i'm interested in, and is turnkey ready.

A lot of it is preference, but most people would argue that the main purpose of a cabinet it to replicate the arcade "feel" which is characterized primarily by the controls. Most would would simply softmod an old xbox if they just wanted emulation on a console controller.

I'd cover the KB/Mouse shelf and yank them (put the inputs in the side for when you need them, but you shouldn't in normal circumstances), then install a nice arcade control setup as described above.

But it's your project, if you prefer that setup, stick with it.

[m68030]

I didn't make it clear that the console style controls sitting there are just a placeholder until I get some sort of arcade controls.

I looked through the site that Drack posted and didn't see any other two-player sticks with a trackball at that price point. Kinda made me sad, as I have no attachment to that specific controller, and was hoping to find something at a better price.

As for covering the KB drawer, I thought about various ways of having that covered so the front was solid but decided it would be too frustrating to have a fully functional computer sitting there that couldn't be actually used as a computer at a moments notice.

A few construction details:

The layout was designed in Autodesk Inventor 2009 to fit a Tankstick and that specific 19" monitor in as small a footprint as possible. The side panels were each cut as one piece from 3/4th inch MDF board with a CNC router, and all the interior boards holding it together were cut out of the scrap left over from those boards. It's very very solid. (:

All the wood was cut and assembled over at one of my employers sister company:

Sawtail Architectural Millworks / http://www.sawtailproducts.com/

A few other pictures here:

http://brahmsbbs.servebbs.org/store/cabinet/

[Drack]

X-Arcade joysticks have a number of problems you should be aware of.

-X-Arcade uses Happ knockoffs for the joystick and buttons (Happ is the main producer of parts for American arcades). This means you can mod them with real Happ parts, but there's no easy way to fit Sanwa or Seimitsu parts into their hardware. You're limited to the low quality buttons and stick it comes with, or you can at best upgrade to the parts used in American arcades, which frankly aren't nearly as good as those in Japanese arcades in just about everyone's opinion.

-Put your hands on your desk and air-joystick a bit. See how your fingertips over your air-buttons don't form a straight line with wide spaces between them? The button layout X-Arcade uses, widely spaced buttons in a square grid, is uncomfortable and unnatural to the human hand. It'll give you cramps.

-The microswitches in the joystick (these get pressed to send what direction you are pressing) are often inconsistent. I've seen a couple X-Arcade sticks hit a switch when you're not even touching the stick, or miss the switch if you push it in a certain way.

-Some of the PCBs (printed circuit boards) X-Arcade uses in their sticks have a bit of lag, meaning the signals of your motions and buttons will be sent some milliseconds later than they happened.

You're right about one thing though. For a 2-player MAME cabinet, X-Arcade is the easiest and most convenient solution. Most of the 2-player panels I've seen with sanwa or seimitsu parts are custom-made. Don't be afraid to commission one (There are MANY stick builders at shoryuken.com forums who would gladly take your order), but be aware that a 2-player panel with quality parts will easily cost about $160 in materials alone, add labor shipping and a little profit, and $200 is about the cheapest you'll ever see for a quality 2-player panel.

[FireSlash]

Or roll your own

[justinj212]

I am officially jealous. We've had an empty cabinet in our garage ever since I can remember, so I might rig up something like that myself. Not too particular about the controls, in fact I wouldn't mind keeping the control pads there >_>

[Reaif]

Man, whenever I see these kinds of custom jobs, it always makes me want to hit up my local nickelcade. All you need now is a stool and a cup of nickels, and you are pretty much set.

On a similar subject, Ben Heck did a pretty sweet arcade machine. He also has a few layouts and instructions. Granted it is a NeoGeo and not an emulation box, but with a case that big, putting a pc inside would be no trouble.

http://benheck.com/bens-neo-geo-arcade-cabinet

[Red Shadow]

bet you can't play sonic arcade on it

[m68030]

Wow, cognitive dissonance++

I had never heard anything negative about X-Arcade sticks before now. I'll have to do more research into it. I've looked around and seen people saying "overpriced", "sucks", and "lags on consoles". But nothing I've ready really seems to quantify those sentiments in a way I should know what to look for in an alternative. What about the components is so terrible? Why don't concave buttons make sense? It's never going to be hooked up to anything but a PC, so I don't think that lag is an issue.

I'm not much of a fighter player, the first game I fired up on it was Magical Drop III. That's about as twitchy as I get playing a game. I plan for this machine to be something my kids can play growing up, so at 16 months and -6 months old I've got plenty of time to redesign the controls in the future if need be.

With access to the woodworking place here, that small amount of wood and the tools to do whatever I want with it are basically free, so you've got me thinking about building my own deck. Of course when I start thinking in that direction it makes me want to go wild and build a 4-player deck, but that starts pushing the price of the components up quite a bit. Looked at some encoders and controllers over at LizardLick.com and for just two players after shipping it was already up to $175, and that's not including a trackball.

Either way thanks for the feedback and suggestions.

edit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16879994002

8 buttons, Hori made, $45 free shipping. It's a PS3 controller but it's suppose to work on the PC out of the box.

Comments?

[Drack]

The stick you linked is pretty good. Here's what you should know about it.

-Gear advertised for PS3 will usually work on PCs, and most of it works without any drivers, so it will be fine for a mame cab. Zero hassle and no software-level lag. Gear for 360 will work with Microsoft's drivers. All the joysticks I tried with my PC were simple plug and play.

-Hori sticks don't have hardware lag either. I haven't heard cases of bad boards with them. They use the similar boards in all their joysticks, so that's one area definitely not skimped on

-A more expensive but higher quality alternative are Hori's "Real Arcade Pro" sticks ... However, they probably won't fit your requirements because their cases are so huge! The stick you linked has a much more compact design, which some people like but others think doesn't have enough space to rest your wrists while playing. Not an issue if you play your cab standing up.

-Another alternative is Mad Catz. Their Tournament Edition sticks use true Sanwa parts, but there have been reported problems with their PS3 sticks working on PCs with certain USB chipsets. It's one of the exceptions to what I said above about most PS3 gear working well with Windows. However, even if this problem affects your PC, a $9 pci card will give you USB ports with the "right" chipset for mad catz PS3 sticks. More info (1) (2) .. Or you could just get their Xbox 360 sticks instead.

-That particular joystick you linked uses Hori's own brand for the buttons and the stick, which is an imitation of Sanwa's stuff. It's a knockoff, but it's a decent knockoff. Now, I always use true Sanwa (or Seimitsu) parts, but consider the cost. A true Sanwa joystick + 8 action buttons would be $52 alone, more than the entire stick you linked costs (and double it for two players!).

-(CORRECTION) Unlike Hori's Real Arcade Pro line, Hori's Fighting Sticks don't use quick disconnects to connect the buttons to the board. This means that it's not easy to mod true Sanwa or Seimitsu parts into it if you're not satisfied with Hori's own parts.

-The stick used here is a Japanese-style joystick. These use square restrictor gates, round tops, and usually low-tension springs for quick easy motions. For comparison, American-style joysticks use circular gates, bat-shaped tops, and heavy springs requiring a bit more force to move around. It's a matter of preference, but most enthusiasts (myself included) like the Japanese sticks a lot better.

-The button layout Hori uses is the one Sega used in their old arcade machines, commonly referred to as the "Astro City" or "Blast City" layout. It's the most comfortable layout for me, but it's all personal preference as to which one fits you best.

-For further information, I recommend registering for the Shoryuken.com forums, to check out their Trading Outlet (registration required) and Tech Talk forums. There's a huge wealth of information there concerning joysticks. Also, Slagcoin, which I linked earlier, has just about everything there is to know about arcade controls neatly organized. Don't dismiss the idea of having sticks custom-built. SRK is crawling with stick builders who would love to help out with a project like yours.

[Level 99]

I started building a MAME "box" a little while ago. I say box because the last thing I'm building is the actual cabinet itself. I've never had any experience in woodshop or that stuff, hell, I can't even really solder anything, but eventually I'll muster the energy, time, and purchase materials. For now, I have a 24" Dell Trinitron on top of a cooler on a table hooked up to my TankStick and my laptop, and I gotta say, besides seeing the cabinet, I'm loving the arcade feel.

I honestly have no bad things to say about the tankstick whatsoever. I guess that may be the case because I don't pay too much attention to arcade sticks and builds and that stuff (I couldn't tell the difference between different model buttons, but I can say that the TankStick beats the crap out of my Hori Tekken 5 PS2 stick). It was easy to service for someone who knows nothing about this stuff, and their online FAQs/sheets are great. I'd say if you're a real die-hard arcade purist, get someone to custom build using actual arcade parts. If you're just looking for a fun two-player stick setup for a casual MAME cabinet, the TankStick will probably suit you perfectly.

Note: Their lifetime warranty and the fact that they cover shipping in case you have a problem was the deal-winner in my case. I hate spending money to ship stuff back to be fixed.

[Drack]

Well, if you get a stick with good switches and a good board, and you don't mind American-style knockoff parts, the X-arcade is certainly a durable piece of equipment.

Edit to avoid double post: You can import a panel from Japan! Check out Akihabarashop (worldwide shipping). They're offering a 2-player panel, Sega button layout, 100% Seimitsu parts. All you need to do is connect it to a board. The panel is $150 equivalent in yen.

To connect it to a board, you can buy an assembled Cthulhu board, no soldering required (It uses screw terminals), or you could take the board out of some $20 logitech pad, as long as it's common ground, and solder it to that.