MAME tips

Jack burton

Right, I want to get going on my mame cab, I just bought a car so it will be a little time before I can get the really expensive parts but I can get going on the cab and stuff soon enough

So I need advice on basically everything, I know a good few people here have mame cabs so like what type of monitor, sticks and buttons should i get? what ype of video input should i use?

does anyone have any drawing plans for a nice cab?

Thanks lads, any help is apreciated

CathalDublin

Ultimarc u360's are suppose to be the best sticks out there as they autoswitch(digitally) from 4way to 8way, also each stick can support up to 8 buttons without the need for an ipac.
I use an original arcade monitor 21" polo bought brand new from Handrex in the UK.
For the best mame experience an arcade monitor is essential in my opinion.
If you want to save a few euros use soft15 instead of buying an arcadeVGA card
Next thing is Frontend, if your using any type of dual core pc I'd recommend you use hyperspin as your front end.

As for cabinet plans, one of the nicest cabs I've seen is this

Jack burton

right....and what type of input from a graphics card would i need into an arcade monitor?

Myrddin

Software wise:

Windows XP (I have x64 because of my ram amount)
Soft15khz - This converts your 31khz graphics card signal down to 15khz, for an arcade CRT screen.
QuickRes - allows you to select low resolutions, which normally arnt available.
Hyperspin - This is a cracker, its a frontend that allows you to scroll through your games, most games having a theme that loads when you move to the game, and preview videos are available that play when the theme loads. Looks really sweet, & provides a fantastic arcadey feel.

Hardware wise:

A Standard Arcade CRT - The bigger the better really, there is a 25" Hantarex Polo in my cabinet.
Controls - I refit my cab with brand new joysticks (Happ Controls I think) & buttons. Didnt cost a lot of money, and I didnt need those u360's because I knew I would be using a JPac which has the connectors for the extra buttons in Mame.
Coin Mech - This is NOT needed, but since my cab had one I decided to try get it working independantly of the cab's own power supply (which is now isolated). Simply applied 12v from the pc power supply to the mechs control board and it works perfectly in Mame.
J-Pac/I-Pac - This is the king of all mame cab bits. With the jpac, it has a jamma connector on one end (so that plugs into the harness), a usb lead on the other end (which powers/controls it) and a graphics card input. Because your graphics card signal is now down to 15khz, you simply plug your lead into the j-pac and that takes care of it from there, displaying everything on the arcade screen in beautiful looking arcade resolutions. There are also connectors for for buttons 4-8 for both players. Cant recommend this product high enough.

The I-Pac is for people who use an ArcadeVGA graphics card. This card puts out arcade resolutions nativly without the need for soft15khz, but I found its specs wanting. You may choose to use other emu's alongside Mame in hyperspin, and an ArcadeVGA card will struggle with model 2 games etc. So low/mid range graphics card with soft15khz takes care of everything.

If you have any other questions just ask while its all still fresh in my head. I recently finished my cab (with hyperspin themes/movies etc) and it was brilliant seeing it all come together.

The soft15khz mega thread - http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=66402.0
The wiki - http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Custom_display_modes_(Windows)_-_Soft-15khz
Confirmed compatability list - http://community.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?t=7925

o1s1n

Fantastic post! You almost have me wanting to build a MAME cab now.

Myrddin

o1s1n wrote: »

Fantastic post! You almost have me wanting to build a MAME cab now.

You could convert your existing cab. Thats what I did with my Tekken 3 cab. I didnt damage the existing wiring/power supply in any way, meaning I can restore it to Jamma functionality in about 15/20 mins. I simply isolated the the existing power supply, soldered new wires onto buttons 3-6 and ran them to the jpac, & fit a 4-way extension point inside the cab (to power the screen, pc, marquee light & 2.1 sound system).

All I have to do to restore Jamma functionality is disconnect the jpac from the jamma harness and restore power to the power supply. Im not one to ruin a good cab so keeping jamma functionality was paramount. This way I get the best of both worlds...but Ill say one thing to you...I havnt once been tempted to play a real pcb on it since! Thats how authentic the games look via crt @15khz. I have some pcb's and they are indistinguishable from the roms on it.

Do it o1s1n, costs feck all if you have a spare/older pc hanging around. The only costs is really the jpac - but that is money really well spent

Myrddin

Actually o1s1n, I took some snaps for you to chew on. The quality isnt the best becasue the light in the shed isnt great but you will get the idea:


The basic cab:



The cab booting, you will notice the bios screen split into two seperate images. This is because until soft15khz loads via windows autorun, the j-pac is smart enough to split the 31khz into two images, therefore preventing any damage to the screen.



Same again, soft15khz not loaded yet, so the damaging 31khz divided into two.



The windows desktop, soft15khz has now taken over, and the jpac has left control of the video over to the pc now.



Easy access to the keyboard/mouse/volume control should the need arise.



The back of the cab, you can see where the existing power lead should connect. You can also see Ive made a new hole and fed the 4 way block lead through it. This means I can close the cab now and keep it closed during operation.



The brains of the operation. I mounted the pc on its own piece of plywood, cable tied the hard drive & power supply onto it also. This allows for quick & easy disconnection, & keeps the inside of the cab as neat as possible.



Low quality shot of the j-pac in action (too dark). You can see it plugged into the jamma harness, you can see my graphics cable connected to it, also the keyboard, usb & buttons 4-6 for both players.



Another low qual shot of the whole thing. You can see the sub & 4 way block here. I have to put a plug onto the marquee light yet so thats not plugged in.

Jack burton

Thanks Enternow, I have some idea of where im going now.

I know the guy who built this and somthing similar would be extremly cool but mabye a bit out of my reach so far. But then again why not, reach for the stars!

Amalgam

EnterNow, I see you have a graphics card rising from the motherboard. Is MAME not entirely CPU processed. Can you get away with not having a dedicated graphics card?

Jack burton

well i assume you'd need some form of video out from the pc

Myrddin

Amalgam wrote: »

EnterNow, I see you have a graphics card rising from the motherboard. Is MAME not entirely CPU processed. Can you get away with not having a dedicated graphics card?

Jack burton wrote: »

well i assume you'd need some form of video out from the pc

Jack Burton is correct. My motherboard doesnt have on-board video out, so I need something to process the video. The other advantage is that I run various other emu's from Hyperspin, and they arnt purely software driven. I wouldnt like to see an on board gpu have a bash at Model 2 stuff

Jack burton

Took a look at the hyperspin, thats really nice now, id be going for that id say!

Myrddin

My Hyperspin in action, the contrast/colours are crap because the light is poor and its on a digital camera;

Jack burton

Thats cool man, are all those games running off mame? even tekken and them?

Myrddin

Jack burton wrote: »

Thats cool man, are all those games running off mame? even tekken and them?

Yeah thats just the Mame section, holding up the camera I couldnt hit exit (1p start + 2p start) to get back to the main menu where you select which system you want. Also they are just preview videos, not the actual games running. But the rig runs tekken 1-3 at full speed with Mame (dual core 2.8ghz with 4 gigs ram)