Home made Arcade Machine???

andrew241983

lads gonna make the plunge and make one of these... i will have no problem making the cabinet at all.. i just need a bit of help when it comes to the man bit... the computer... i have an old pc here its about 5 years old it hp i think can that be used??? basically is there any tuts around for all the electronic as in buttons and sticks and getting the games running from my pc and would an lcd monitor do...
basically i wanna be able to play mortal kombat, street fighter, virtua striker, virtua tennis,donkey kong etc etc...if u could point me in the right direction or if anyone has already done it i would be very greatful...

looking forward to hearing... FINISH HIM!!! and GOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!! again:D:D:D:D:D

o1s1n

Biggest decision you'll have to make is the monitor.

Best thing to use is a real arcade monitor, as they have their own specific low resolution look to them which really can't be emulated. Can be a bit pricey though so it depends how much you're willing to spend.

Closest thing you'll get to that is a nice CRT television, Sony Trinitron would be the way to go.

LCD screens have the advantage of being light and fitting in easier, but as far as authenticity goes, it's the worst of the bunch.

andrew241983

o1s1n wrote: »

Biggest decision you'll have to make is the monitor.

Best thing to use is a real arcade monitor, as they have their own specific low resolution look to them which really can't be emulated. Can be a bit pricey though so it depends how much you're willing to spend.

Closest thing you'll get to that is a nice CRT television, Sony Trinitron would be the way to go.

LCD screens have the advantage of being light and fitting in easier, but as far as authenticity goes, it's the worst of the bunch.

Trying to keep cost as low as possible for my first one anyway...if i went for an lcd would the picture quality be ok??

o1s1n

It depends what you're happy with yourself really.

If I were building one myself and I was trying to keep costs really low, I'd probably go CRT television or CRT computer monitor.

Recently one of the lads here came across an old Dell CRT monitor and the picture quality on it was stunning with old games. Probably pick one up for about 20 euro or so.

andrew241983

o1s1n wrote: »

It depends what you're happy with yourself really.

If I were building one myself and I was trying to keep costs really low, I'd probably go CRT television or CRT computer monitor.

Recently one of the lads here came across an old Dell CRT monitor and the picture quality on it was stunning with old games. Probably pick one up for about 20 euro or so.

Cheers mate ill keep on the lookout!!

o1s1n

It was a specific old Dell monitor. I'll see if I can find the name of it for ya now.

andrew241983

o1s1n wrote: »

It was a specific old Dell monitor. I'll see if I can find the name of it for ya now.

Cheers

o1s1n

Here you go.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79152759&postcount=495

andrew241983

o1s1n wrote: »

Here you go.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79152759&postcount=495

Cheers mate

Dale Parish

Fly out to skips in your local university and you can have a CRT party

andrew241983

Dale Parish wrote: »

Fly out to skips in your local university and you can have a CRT party

Will do mate rifling through skips is not below me:-)

andrew241983

does it matter how big i go or will i lose picture quality the bigger i go???

CathalDublin

Bigger the better obviously ratio 4:3
For the best look either get an Arcade monitor or old TV(RGB to VGA) and use soft15htz or an arcadeVGA card.
I've used an old 23" TV with my cabinet for a few years before I got a new arcade monitor and the picture quality was amazing on MAME and original boards, I'll post some pics when I find them.

andrew241983

CathalDublin wrote: »

Bigger the better obviously ratio 4:3
For the best look either get an Arcade monitor or old TV(RGB to VGA) and use soft15htz or an arcadeVGA card.
I've used an old 23" TV with my cabinet for a few years before I got a new arcade monitor and the picture quality was amazing on MAME and original boards, I'll post some pics when I find them.

Ye mate post up some pics as motivation!!
Can get my hands on a 26" sony triniton telly about 10 years old would that be a good option

Optimus Prime

Trintrons are one of the best for a job like this i think, I have one at home myself.

You will need to get an arcadeVGA card for the pc and a vga to scart cable if memory serves.

I tried this route myself when setting mine up but gave up on it. the tv was cutting off the top and bottom of games, plus bear in mind you need a tv that comes on when it recieves power, because it will be in the cab with the button hidden.

In the end i went with an lcd, you can simulate scan lines in mame to make it look a bit more authentic on an lcd, but to be honest, nothing beats the real thing.

andrew241983

keithgeo wrote: »

Trintrons are one of the best for a job like this i think, I have one at home myself.

You will need to get an arcadeVGA card for the pc and a vga to scart cable if memory serves.

I tried this route myself when setting mine up but gave up on it. the tv was cutting off the top and bottom of games, plus bear in mind you need a tv that comes on when it recieves power, because it will be in the cab with the button hidden.

In the end i went with an lcd, you can simulate scan lines in mame to make it look a bit more authentic on an lcd, but to be honest, nothing beats the real thing.

Cheers ..do i need an arcade vga if im using soft15hz and my oc already has a vga output?? Ye ill have get tge vga-scart off ebay...can i ask what frontend ur using

Optimus Prime

Hmm one of the other lads might be able to answer that i cant remember to behonest, i think soft 15hz works in conjuction with the arcadevga card.. not sure.

Im using Hyperspin in mine, it takes a more beefy pc to run the graphics etc, but it looks brilliant when setup correctly with all the themes etc.

Plus i run a jukebox software on mine too and Hyperspin launchs that exe smoothly. I even setup a theme for the Jukebox in hyperspin. takes a lot of work to get going but its worth it.

andrew241983

keithgeo wrote: »

Hmm one of the other lads might be able to answer that i cant remember to behonest, i think soft 15hz works in conjuction with the arcadevga card.. not sure.

Im using Hyperspin in mine, it takes a more beefy pc to run the graphics etc, but it looks brilliant when setup correctly with all the themes etc.

Plus i run a jukebox software on mine too and Hyperspin launchs that exe smoothly. I even setup a theme for the Jukebox in hyperspin. takes a lot of work to get going but its worth it.

Ye running hyper spin myself has a nice look off it...ill do a bit more research on soft15hz and arcadevga might be getting cinfused...thanks for all the info ill keerp u informed on my build...and i know who to annoy for info....
One more thing whst spec pc are u using if u dont mind cheers keith

Optimus Prime

Off the top of my head its a in around 2.7ghz dual core dell, i had 4gb memory in it, but i upgraded that to 8gb and went with windows 7 64bit. I was getting some lag on the Hyperspin menus when it had 4gb in it.

You dont need anything near that to run mame, as its all software emulated, but hyperspin menus can be a hog on resources.

I know some of the lads on here dont have that much memory in theres and it runs fine, but for some reason it was choppy for me so i upgraded the memory. I dont think you need that much, but for me it solved the problem.

I also have 2 500gb hard drives in it, one drive has the os, roms, hyperspin vids and themes etc and the other is just music for the jukebox.

Myrddin

A tv won't accept a 15Khz signal if memory serves

Optimus Prime

EnterNow wrote: »

A tv won't accept a 15Khz signal if memory serves

Yeh, maybe you only need soft15hz if running a pc on an arcade monitor?

andrew241983

Cheers for all the info lads will update this thread with pics when i get a bit more done

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

Yeh, maybe you only need soft15hz if running a pc on an arcade monitor?

Thats my understanding of it, any normal lcd/tv won't accept a 15Khz signal. They expect 31Khz which is what a pc natively outputs

andrew241983

EnterNow wrote: »

keithgeo wrote: »

Yeh, maybe you only need soft15hz if running a pc on an arcade monitor?

Thats my understanding of it, any normal lcd/tv won't accept a 15Khz signal. They expect 31Khz which is what a pc natively outputs

Guess im off to get an arcadevga

Myrddin

andrew241983 wrote: »

Guess im off to get an arcadevga

No that'll output a 15Khz signal, as far as I know you need a graphics card with an s-video out?

andrew241983

EnterNow wrote: »

andrew241983 wrote: »

Guess im off to get an arcadevga

No that'll output a 15Khz signal, as far as I know you need a graphics card with an s-video out?

Is that not another way of doing it.. Ithought if u had a arcade vga and and where using a vga-scart it wud be ok..just cant remember id u needed soft15hz with it...i guess its back to google

Myrddin

andrew241983 wrote: »

Is that not another way of doing it.. Ithought if u had a arcade vga and and where using a vga-scart it wud be ok..just cant remember id u needed soft15hz with it...i guess its back to google

If your using a TV - normal graphics card & a method of connecting it to tv [svideo/scart adaptor]
If your using a computer monitor - normal graphics card
If your using an Arcade screen - either an arcade vga card, or a normal graphics card thats compatible with soft15khz & use a JPAC for both.

andrew241983

EnterNow wrote: »

andrew241983 wrote: »

Is that not another way of doing it.. Ithought if u had a arcade vga and and where using a vga-scart it wud be ok..just cant remember id u needed soft15hz with it...i guess its back to google

If your using a TV - normal graphics card & a method of connecting it to tv [svideo/scart adaptor]
If your using a computer monitor - normal graphics card
If your using an Arcade screen - either an arcade vga card, or a normal graphics card thats compatible with soft15khz & use a JPAC for both.

im uising sony triniton tv so im ok with my normal graphics card and scart adapter?? Sounds good

Myrddin

andrew241983 wrote: »

im uising sony triniton tv so im ok with my normal graphics card and scart adapter?? Sounds good

Yep as far as I understand that'll work

Optimus Prime

I think there are only certain graphics card as EnterNow mentioned that are compatiable with soft15hz.

Myrddin

keithgeo wrote: »

I think there are only certain graphics card as EnterNow mentioned that are compatiable with soft15hz.

Yeah the author has a compatibility list on her site