Building my IKEA cab, a story of pain....

CiDeRmAn

I finally got most of the pieces together.
Well, everything bar the IKEA unit itself, no sense in buying the thing, €50, unless everything else is working as it should.

So, got a donation of a really old, 2001, Dell Latitude C600, with a monstrous 10gb hdd, 5 of which seems to be free, 256mb of RAM awesomeness, and 15" of LCD real estate, which is what I need, not to mention an oddly wonky UBS port, one, singular.
It's running XP as well.

I also have my Tekken 6 Wireless Hori Fighting Stick, from the Tekken 6 set I got for the Birthday, its the PS3 stick so comes with a USB dongle, if I was to use my similar 360 T6 stick I'd have to buy a separate dongle.

I DL's a MAME pack with a not too recent MAME32 therein.

So, the lappy was running real sssllllooooowwww so I went into the msconfig amongst others and turned off a whole load of stuff I wouldn't need, also deleted the stuff left over from the previous owners, freeing up the massive 5gb of space.
I ditched the anti-virus software as well as this would never be hooked up to the net and anything for it would be coming through my main PC thats protected up the wazzoo.

Everything was now booting up swiftly and running quick.

Popped on the MAME pack, it ran quite well considering the age of the machine, happy days.
Some of the files are coming back with files missing so going to take some time to make sure the game zip's are up to date.

Then plugged the dongle in the back and let the Dell identify the Fighting stick, which it did, nice!

Ran MAME and told it to recognise the stick, so far so good.

First problem, the stick registers, not as a joystick but, as a hat switch.
Bum!
No problem, in-game I change the global settings to accept the hat switches input as the controls, UI menus, Ingame controls, coin, start, select, 1 player button and so on.

Tell MAME to only play Vertically orientated games, pop the Dell onto it's side and, BINGO, playing Do Don Pachi with the stick! Amaze Balls!

Returning to configure the MAME32 front-end we hit our first snag.
It will not accept the input of the stick as a control for the UI, no way.
I have a look for an unofficial driver to rectify this, but none to be had, so I'm stuck.
Realise I'm going to have to find an alternate front end.....

Hit the net looking for a Build Your Own Arcade Cab resource, and found one, and it led me to MALA, a freeware MAME cab front end, that'll do me I says.
But now I have to get a standard MAME program, no problem, got that.
Then I have to configure the bugger, and believe me, there is a ton to fiddle with on MALA.

I think I was at it for 5 hours, which version of MAME gave me best compatibility, why was the screen re-orientating itself every now and again?
A lot of work!

But, finally I got everything mapped again, several cfg files deleted later.
I can go up and down menus, select a game, insert credits and so on with the stick, no keyboard/mouse required.

Figure how to filter out horizontally orientated games, and we're there, finally!

Now, I am just about ready to head for IKEA and start the easy part of the project, the cutting and painting!
I have a jigsaw but may ask my brother, a carpenter, to do the work for me, I also have to pick up a large piece of black, dyed art weight card and a sheet of smoked glass contact for the underside of the tabletop.

I also have to modify the Dell by breaking open the hinges and folding back the screen, bonding it to the underside with industrial strength double-sided sticky tape, hoping there is enough of the screen-motherboard ribbon cable to let me do this.

The original was done with a broken hinged Apple Powerbook, lets see if a PC can do the same!

here are a few of the resources I have used so far..

http://wiki.arcadecontrols.com/wiki/Main_Page

http://www.zophar.net/frontends/arcade.html

http://malafe.net/index.php?page=download

http://mamedev.org/release.html

http://mamebook.blogspot.com/

Myrddin

If the screen ribbon permits, fold the screen completely over as far as it will go, therefore you'll still have access to the keyboard from the underside. Or better yet detach it completely & fit the base in a more accessible position.

Format the machine dude! What windows is it running? Format it clean & install a basic Win98 with those specs. I know it's the last think your gonna do now after all the config work, but it will improve speed.

Hyperspin > Mala

Use Clrmame Pro to scan your roms, it will advise what ones you need to update, & will auto fix if possible.

Enjoy the experience, it's so far beyond running Mame via pc normally :cool:

landsleaving

I have a broken laptop I've been meaning to try this with myself, but haven't had the time at all recently. Looks like even more work than I thought Make sure you get a few good pics up of the build in progress, if it all works out

CiDeRmAn

Thanks for the advice, might do a clean install and start again, then use the UI you suggest, its certainly harder than I expected, thought I might get away with Mame32, we'll see how we get on and I will post pics later.

CiDeRmAn

A complete nightmare, ran clrmame pro, off it went to fix roms, but because the gap between my romset and the version of mame I was checking it against, it came back with a shed load of rom issues...
Looks like it might be quicker just to get the games I want for the emu fresh and updated, instead of going through them all, one by one....
Never knew this side of things was going to be so hard!

Optimus Prime

I cant figure any of that stuff out, half the roms i have dont work, they run really slow etc. well half may be an exageration, i cant for the life of me get one paticular game working and i want this game more than anything (not sure if your allowed mention specific roms on here)!

Retr0gamer

clrmame pro just never worked for me.

Myrddin

Retr0gamer wrote: »

I could never figure out to to use clrmame pro just never worked for me.

Fyp Strange, wasn't it you who reckons hex editing an ecrypted region code to make a console region free was simple, & yet clrmame pro befuddled you?

It's a fantastic tool for anyone who's in this predicament. Stick with it Cider, if you need any assistance I've used the tool many times in the past so I should be able to help. You are correct though, if your roms are so old, they may just need to be redownloaded again.

Lab_Mouse

keithgeo wrote: »

I cant figure any of that stuff out, half the roms i have dont work, they run really slow etc. well half may be an exageration, i cant for the life of me get one paticular game working and i want this game more than anything (not sure if your allowed mention specific roms on here)!

well some roms only work with different versions of mame.

Also for the particular rom that you cant get working it could be what I said above or its jsut a clone or regional version and you might not have the 'parent' rom.Best bet is just to download all versions of the rom,one of them is bound to be the parent.

@ciderman looking forward to seeing the finished mame cab

CiDeRmAn

You have to have the new roms to replace the missing files if a rom is failing because those files are missing, it will not create files from nothing, or download them for you.
It will rename, resize and fix other common faults, so thats good.

I may wind up trying Mame32 as the version I have is running the most of the roms.
Only problem is getting it, the actual Mame32 UI to be viewed vertically, no way to do that so far, the display options of the lappy won't accept a vertically orientated screen.

We'll keep trying though, and Romcenter seems easier to use than Clrmame Pro so far.

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

You have to have the new roms to replace the missing files if a rom is failing because those files are missing, it will not create files from nothing, or download them for you.
It will rename, resize and fix other common faults, so thats good.

I may wind up trying Mame32 as the version I have is running the most of the roms.
Only problem is getting it, the actual Mame32 UI to be viewed vertically, no way to do that so far, the display options of the lappy won't accept a vertically orientated screen.

We'll keep trying though, and Romcenter seems easier to use than Clrmame Pro so far.

Yep it definitely won't create files from nothing Renaming, resizing, & other more advanced functions are what it does. I've often had over a hundred roms marked as missing or wrong versions & after a clrmame pro scan it will have sorted well over 75% of problems.

Anything left after that will need to be redownloaded, & bare in mind some roms need bios files such as the Sony ZN1/ZN2 roms. And some roms need the relevant CHD images also.

Optimus Prime

I think my brain just exploded. My problem is its working in Mame.. but not in the front end max arcade. just get a black screen when i run it.

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

I think my brain just exploded. My problem is its working in Mame.. but not in the front end max arcade. just get a black screen when i run it.

Front ends sometimes require further configuration, as they usually run the rom with a command to the emulator, which nirmally includes rom directories etc. Have you configured your rom directory within the front end?

Optimus Prime

ah yeh i have 20gb of roms working grand, theres a few that dont but im not worried about them, there are 2 games in paticular that just wont work from it and i want to play these ones.

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

ah yeh i have 20gb of roms working grand, theres a few that dont but im not worried about them, there are 2 games in paticular that just wont work from it and i want to play these ones.

And yet these two play from mame? Verd odd Are they chd games?

Optimus Prime

honestly, not sure what that is haha.. they are 4 player games and im trying to get the 2 player clone of them going. both games 2 player clone works fine from mame but not when launched through the front end. which by the way is using the exact same mame! i just get a black screen, no messages nothing.

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

honestly, not sure what that is haha.. they are 4 player games and im trying to get the 2 player clone of them going. both games 2 player clone works fine from mame but not when launched through the front end. which by the way is using the exact same mame! i just get a black screen, no messages nothing.

Bizarre one alright. A CHD game is an arcade game that also had a hard-disc inside the cabinet. So not only does it need to rom data to tun, but needs an image of the arcade hard-drive presren too (CHD).

I did something like this with Sunset Riders. The parent rom is the four player rom, with the two player one being a child rom. On my cab, running the four player rom I couldn't add credits to P2 for some reason, so I changed the front end to load the 2 player rom instead which resolved the problem. I never had display issues or black screens though, does your frontend generate a log file? If so, run the game, let it blackscreen, & see if there's anything in the log about roms not found etc.

Optimus Prime

funny you should mention that game...

im giving up for tonight. ive been trying to get the two player going through this front end all day!

cant figure it out at all..

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

funny you should mention that game...

im giving up for tonight. ive been trying to get the two player going through this front end all day!

cant figure it out at all..

Go into the frontends install directory & see if there's a log file. When you've gathered thogether your sanity that is, Mamecab's are a thing of awesome beauty and coolness, but by the time you have it built & configured, you hate their guts!

Optimus Prime

No log files that i can see, im using maximus arcade.

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

No log files that i can see, im using maximus arcade.

Seems your right - http://maximusarcade.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2046

Though there is mention of an option to show the command string before a game is launched, check it out & let me know what the command is it's sending to mame.

Optimus Prime

ill check it out, wont get a chance to now tonight though. thanks for you help so far! Hopefully get a chance to spend some time on it again tomorrow.

Optimus Prime

Hey sorry kinda went off on a tangent on your thread.

Just wondering, what ikea furniture are you going to use for the cab? do you have a link to it off the website?

ondafly

keithgeo wrote: »

Hey sorry kinda went off on a tangent on your thread.

Just wondering, what ikea furniture are you going to use for the cab? do you have a link to it off the website?

This is the one I think

http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/50103717

seems an easy enough project too - would work well with wireless xbox 360 joypads too.

Optimus Prime

Could be cool, is that a glass top on it? Has this table been turned into a cocktail before by some one?

sham69

im starting one of these next week as my second cab.
I am then starting a bartop for my niece.
Hopefully the ikea will be easy enough, I have all the parts minus the ipac.
The one I saw originally had a less glass coverage and the controls covered in metal or aluminium, looked great.
One of the other ones I saw had the controls in the drawer which didnt look so great.
I will post pics once complete.
I think they also do a larger ramvik in ikea that I have seen as a cocktail but I think the smaller one looks better.

This is the finished one that I am aiming for.
Not sure about the speaker grills at the side though, might do something different. different.

CiDeRmAn

I saw that one too, that guy was using a windows solution and a home made/pro parts controller build, while the Mamebook guy was using a broken hinged G4 Powerbook and a modified PS/Namco arcade stick.

I finally decided to use Mala, Hyperspin looks nice but is a resource hog and the pc I'm using is really, really old.
I have spilt my romset into two, horizontal and vertical, ditched the former and use the latter.
The I went into the remaining games and selected the ones I want to play using the Mala gamelist editor, that brought the number down to a navigable 150 or so.
I'm using an older version of Mame that kinda guarantees best compatibility with my romset, although Galaga and DK don't see the sample folder at all
Also Mala seems to reorientate itself once any button is pressed and I have to turn and flip it back into position.
I also have to set the game to filter out clones each time too.
Will keep working on it til I hit the best solution.

I have been using a combination of Romchecker and Clrmame Pro to keep the roms in line as well.

CiDeRmAn

Right, I think I can live with Mala needing to be reorientated at each power up, I'll get over it.
Otherwise everything seems alright.
I have finally gotten my samples right, Galaga is up and running and DK and Space Invaders sound as they should.
Next stop is disconnecting the laptop hinges and picking up the Ramvik.
Must head for Halfords and get a sheet of lightly tinted window film, as thats what the original creators of this Ikea hack use.
The laptop power button is probably the only issue I see, having to reach inside the unit for it could be a pain.
May see if there is a way to create a plain toggle switch an mount it on the cab instead...

edit
Found one!
Might buy a soldering iron, some solder, a multimeter and have a go myself!
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/how-power-laptop/108758-simple-clean-remote-laptop-power-switch.html

Myrddin

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Right, I think I can live with Mala needing to be reorientated at each power up, I'll get over it.
Otherwise everything seems alright.
I have finally gotten my samples right, Galaga is up and running and DK and Space Invaders sound as they should.
Next stop is disconnecting the laptop hinges and picking up the Ramvik.
Must head for Halfords and get a sheet of lightly tinted window film, as thats what the original creators of this Ikea hack use.
The laptop power button is probably the only issue I see, having to reach inside the unit for it could be a pain.
May see if there is a way to create a plain toggle switch an mount it on the cab instead...

edit
Found one!
Might buy a soldering iron, some solder, a multimeter and have a go myself!
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/how-power-laptop/108758-simple-clean-remote-laptop-power-switch.html

How do you reorient Mala? Could you write a scipt to automate it & run it at startup?

Optimus Prime

no power on if it recieves power setting in the bios? or using a "wake-on lan" solution over your home network to wake it up?

CiDeRmAn

Mala has it all in its settings menu, simply tell it to be in the vertical and go into the Mame config menu to rewrite the .ini file using the autorotl or autorotr check box depending on which way up your monitor is fixed, it's pretty simple.
Only thing is when I boot it up and Mala autostarts, the moment I press any button or move the stick in any direction, the Mala menu re-orientates itself and I have to press a button or two to bring it back to rights.
Maybe this is because of the nature of the stick I'm using, I don't know.