want to build mame cabinet or table

[drcrippen324]

amen there sid or you spend hours cutting tinning and hooking up crimps befor you get to any thing like fitting the ipac or buttons ect

[Youngjedi]

True on the Harness...I didn't get one, and spent about an hour or so on wiring each control panel.

To answer You question about the 4/8 way joystick, My super Joystick is set up 8 way as mentioned earlier. I have no problem playing pacman/Pengo, or any other game requiring only 4 directions. It also works flawlessly for Robotron, Time Pilot, Sinistar...all games which need 8 directions.

[heavyguitarman]

Oh I rolled the score over on Robotron...I think im gonna have to use 2 joysticks for sure now.

[Youngjedi]

I added player 3 and for on the side so I can play robotron with two joysticks. The way it's meant to be. I can also have four players and play gauntlet, and lastly...Since some games should be wider than they are tall, like Joust or Robotron, I use players 3 and 4 controls to play.

[Youngjedi]

Edit..."I added Player 3 and 4 on the one side...sorry, No edit option.

[heavyguitarman]

Ok new question. Im thinking about the cocktail cab. I noticed that the monitors (wider than tall) were installed with the shorter end toward the controls. Are they using the video card software to rotate the screen 90 deg. ???
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Also is this the wiring harness you all are talking about?

[heavyguitarman]

let me try again

[Youngjedi]

With the Monitor, The orientation of the screen is controlled by the Mame Software for each Game. When not using Mame, the screen on mine is sideways in relation to the Windows Desktop. If your buying a new Motherboard with on board video...Then there is an Intel board that will allow for 90 degree rotation of the desktop so it is facing player one. The board I use is old and does not have that feature, and since I am only playing the clasic games, I do not use a high end video card.

As for the harness...I think you need this one...

Ultimarc, the Ultimate in Arcade Controls.

[Youngjedi]

Here are some quick snapshots of my unit...

I know...There are a bunch of red wires that look a mess, but they are not in the way, and I haven't had the time to re-work them to look neat.

[heavyguitarman]

Ok thanks for the wiring pic i saw that one too. but back to the screen orentation. look at this pic. If i just turned the computer on and windows booted up and i was at the controls, it would be sideways. I understant the mame flipping it 180 for cocktail, but this is still puzzling me see how the montor is installed?
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ok just look at this link Oak Cocktail Cabinet

[heavyguitarman]

Wait a min, I see you have 4 sides, so mame takes care of flipping the screen appropriately to any of the 4 positions?
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If thats the case then theoretically it wouldn't matter how you put the monitor in (wide at bottom and top or narrow at bottom and top)???

[Youngjedi]

The Monitor is installed in such a way that plyer one or player two are actuall looking at the sides of the monitor. If you turn it on and just look at the windows desktop...it will be sideways to the controls. A video card would be necessary to turn the WINDOWS DESKTOP 90 degrees. Some cards can, and some cards can't. I don't use a video card, I use the on board video on the motherboard. It doesn't bother me that it is sideways, However, I am jealous of my friend that has an on board video that can do this. To sit at his Mame machine (identicle to mine) the screen boots up and faces player one. Someday, When i upgrade...I will get a board that does that.

The Mame options allow you to turn each game 90 degrees. If you have mame installed on your computer (Mame32) then right click on a rom, go to properties, and in the display tab, you can tel it to rotate...Flip...Whatever you need.

[Meathead]

You have to tell me what that box of oatmeal in there is for.

[Youngjedi]

Most arcade cabinets..Upright or cocktail, have the monitor in Portrait orientation. Most games are played that way.
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You have to tell me what that box of oatmeal in there is for.

I was wondering how long that would take...

The coin door is a new addition. needed something to catch the coins. I wanted to play it so bad, that i could not waste time building a box, so, I now have two packets of oatmeal in my cupboard without a box.

[heavyguitarman]

ok i don't seem to be making sense. lets suppose i did an upright cabinet...portrait would mean that I turn the monitor (pc monitor up on end. lets suppose now that i havent installed mame. now when i boot up I will see windows xp but sideways. hope youre with my train of thought so far. Now i don't want to play games sideways, so does mame control the orentation and if so what version do i need??? Thanks for being patient with me Im trying to figure all this out before I decide to cut out for it and screw up.

[heavyguitarman]

ok this website was freaking out on me , i wasnt getting your posts till i already asked new question sorry. I got it now...whew. Just wait till I come up with my next question
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I think it was the way i was viewing posts, I was seeing newest to oldest or something . Sorry to be annoying

[Youngjedi]

I follow...no problem. here are two pictures that the orientation was controlled by my Mame32.

The game is Dig Dug and in an Arcade cabinet...it would be on a monitor that was turned on it's side.

The first picture is the default setting of Mame. The second (sideways) picture is after I told Mame to rotate it clockwise.

All the games can be controlled this way. It's not the orientation of the monitor that dictates the orientation of the game...but rather just the Windows Desktop.
notice the Windowed bar at the top of each picture...the same orientation of the Windows Desktop.

[musky]

I use the X-Arcade Two Player, X-Arcade Two Player Arcade Joystick, Relive Thousands Of Arcade Classics!
It's built like a tank, plugs right into the USB/PS2 ports and is flawless.
I bought mine from Fry's for less then suggested price. When you figure out what the parts, time and shipping cost the X-Arcade products are a good value. Just a suggestion.

[heavyguitarman]

It does look nice but I think it would be better for the standard arcade cabinet, and I think Im gonna steer more toward the cocktail or coffee table type which would mean I'd have to buy 2.

[Youngjedi]

One note about the type of monitor you get. As you can see with the two Dig Dug pictures, The Graphics are kind of fuzzy. It's because I did those on my PC in my den and it has a Gforce card that "up'd" the resolution. the monitor in my Arcade cabinet is an Arcade monitor with a very low resolution. All the old arcade games look great and exactly how they looked in the 80's. With that said, It would be awful to try to play something like Halo or Jedi Knight on this monitor...it would look like crap.