General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

dav09 · 05-04-2021 3:22pm

Cheers all, it's been a lot of time and energy so glad to see it coming together, doing more work on it today

MrVestek · 05-04-2021 4:26pm

Looks great my man!

Look forward to seeing the progress.

CathalDublin · 05-04-2021 7:40pm

dav09 wrote: »

Some more pics from the Star Wars Cockpit Repro build project, hopefully will be done in about a week's time and will do a thread then on the build. Only waiting on Artwork and finishing the construction of the cabinet.

Looks savage

CathalDublin · 05-04-2021 7:41pm

Jack burton wrote: »

Be careful they multiply

Those are old pics. What started off as wanting one cab had now has turned into 4 pinballs, 8 arcade cabs.....and I just bought another poker cab today to convert to something again

It's a slippery slope haha

12 machines and 2 kids, living the dream man

Colonel Panic · 05-04-2021 8:03pm

I think a Star Trek TNG pinball machine would complete me.

o1s1n · 06-04-2021 11:25am

And of you guys see this? Video of the unrelease Castlevania Resurrection Dreamcast game recently surfaced.

https://www.polygon.com/22368489/castlevania-resurrection-canceled-sega-dreamcast-prototype-leaked-found

Gamer Bhoy 89 · 06-04-2021 2:09pm

Bought a Wii2HDMI adapter and I'm disappointed. Diagonal lines all over the screen and the cursor feels a bit choppy. My component cable looked a lot better. I wondered why people swore by these adapters. Maybe I bought the wrong one

Jack burton · 06-04-2021 4:22pm

o1s1n wrote: »

And of you guys see this? Video of the unrelease Castlevania Resurrection Dreamcast game recently surfaced.

https://www.polygon.com/22368489/castlevania-resurrection-canceled-sega-dreamcast-prototype-leaked-found

MrVestek · 07-04-2021 1:55pm

Got my RGP-Pi JAMMA header for the Pi but have run in to a bit of an issue.

The instructions are explicit about not feeding any more than 5.25v into the Pi as otherwise a projection circuit will be triggered and a fuse in the Pi will blow.

I probed pin 3 on the JAMMA harness and it's outputting 5.9v. I need to get this down to between 5v and 5.25v so that I can use my Pi as the cabinet's brains.

The thing is... apparently the Blast City's PSU has an adjustment pot on it somewhere to manually adjust this but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

I've looked all over the Internet but there's very little information that I can find. I can find random forum posts of people claiming to have adjusted it... but no actual instructions on how to do so.

Anybody got any ideas?

MrVestek · 07-04-2021 2:31pm

You know what? Never mind. This is probably being caused by the fact that the Marquee lighting isn't working at the minute.

I'll try this again when I have the new starter bulb and tube in there for the lighting. That'll likely draw enough on the 12v rail to adjust everything accordingly.

I'll keep you folks posted.

Steve X2 · 07-04-2021 2:40pm

MrVestek wrote: »

Got my RGP-Pi JAMMA header for the Pi but have run in to a bit of an issue.

The instructions are explicit about not feeding any more than 5.25v into the Pi as otherwise a projection circuit will be triggered and a fuse in the Pi will blow.

I probed pin 3 on the JAMMA harness and it's outputting 5.9v. I need to get this down to between 5v and 5.25v so that I can use my Pi as the cabinet's brains.

The thing is... apparently the Blast City's PSU has an adjustment pot on it somewhere to manually adjust this but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

I've looked all over the Internet but there's very little information that I can find. I can find random forum posts of people claiming to have adjusted it... but no actual instructions on how to do so.

Anybody got any ideas?

I'd leave the PSU alone and use a buck converter. I use them on lots of projects and I'd be lost without them.

These are the ones i use when i need something with a display:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01DF3JUPY/

And these when i need something small:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yizhet-Efficiency-Regulator-Converter-Adjustable/dp/B0823P6PW6/

I've also a larger one hooked up to desk power supply to run some of my laser engraver/cutter extras:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01FDBY66Y/

They might be out of stock, but you can find the same ones more or less with quick search for "Buck Converter" on Amazon(or elsewhere).

The Last Bandit · 07-04-2021 4:02pm

You could use a diode, standard diode will drop the voltage 0.7v or even 2 in series to be sure to be sure

dav09 · 07-04-2021 4:32pm

Another idea if you have a phone charger that works on 100v you could easily wire that into the power supply for it

KeRbDoG · 07-04-2021 4:59pm

MrVestek wrote: »

The thing is... apparently the Blast City's PSU has an adjustment pot on it somewhere to manually adjust this but I can't seem to find it anywhere!

I've looked all over the Internet but there's very little information that I can find. I can find random forum posts of people claiming to have adjusted it... but no actual instructions on how to do so.

Looks like the whole PSU comes out as one unit from the rear, might be easier to see the 5V/12V adjustment pots

MrVestek wrote: »

You know what? Never mind. This is probably being caused by the fact that the Marquee lighting isn't working at the minute.

I'll try this again when I have the new starter bulb and tube in there for the lighting. That'll likely draw enough on the 12v rail to adjust everything accordingly.

I'll keep you folks posted.

I've only seen marquee lights using the 100V (from its manual, the Blast City runs 100V to the marquee light - connector 06, bottom right) or 220V depending on cab - are you planning to install an LED/replacement light to pull from the 12V rail?

Both suggested alternatives are good - the buck converter is a great option, cheap as chips too. As a short term solution a USB power adapter not even wired to AC within the cab would do for initial setup/testing.

MrVestek · 07-04-2021 5:26pm

So I'm not sure if you folks are familiar with what the RGP-Pi Jamma hat for the Pi is but it wouldn't really be possible to wire anything in series with it as the Pi is taking power from the JAMMA harness to power itself, doesn't need a separate PSU - that's the entire point.

CathalDub was nice enough to help over on Instagram so I know where the pots on the PSU are now.

If the lighting is running from 100v then that's not the issue then... I might just go ahead and diddle with the pots on the PSU to bring the 5v down.

Thanks for the suggestion of a buck converter, I actually have a few of these left over from tapping into my 3D printer's PSU to convert 12v down to 5v to power a different Pi directly from said supply.

So thanks folks... When I get some time later today after dinner I'll move the cab, take out the PSU, make her topless and adjust said pot accordingly.

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy · 07-04-2021 11:07pm

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Bought a Wii2HDMI adapter and I'm disappointed. Diagonal lines all over the screen and the cursor feels a bit choppy. My component cable looked a lot better. I wondered why people swore by these adapters. Maybe I bought the wrong one

Might be the model of Wii?
I got one for ps2 for super cheap but didn't know it had to a leter model, mine hasn't even a sticker, I dunno what that means but didn't work

Gamer Bhoy 89 · 08-04-2021 12:50am

Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy wrote: »

Might be the model of Wii?
I got one for ps2 for super cheap but didn't know it had to a leter model, mine hasn't even a sticker, I dunno what that means but didn't work

No idea. My Wii is the one with the Gamecube controller ports at the side. I dunno what model that is, but I know they eventually took those out of later iterations.

MrVestek · 08-04-2021 5:02am

Have you tried your component cables recently?

A lot of the launch model Wiis are having capacitor issues now that can effect the display output.

Could very easily be the case that whatever conversion circuit is built into the cable isn't getting enough voltage to do the job properly.

Gamer Bhoy 89 · 08-04-2021 10:41am

MrVestek wrote: »

Have you tried your component cables recently?

A lot of the launch model Wiis are having capacitor issues now that can effect the display output.

Could very easily be the case that whatever conversion circuit is built into the cable isn't getting enough voltage to do the job properly.

Yeah I always had component cables for it. I just bought the Wii2HDMI adapter because something in the back of my mind suggested "huh, HDMI... surely it's better than component" completely forgetting the Wii doesn't do higher than 480p regardless. Honestly, I think it's aimed at people who don't have component output on their TV.

CathalDublin · 09-04-2021 12:19am

Gamer Bhoy 89 wrote: »

Bought a Wii2HDMI adapter and I'm disappointed. Diagonal lines all over the screen and the cursor feels a bit choppy. My component cable looked a lot better. I wondered why people swore by these adapters. Maybe I bought the wrong one

Component or composite?
My new TV has no Scart/composite so I also converted to hdmi not using a specific Wii one but a generic Scart/composite to hdmi adaptor and it’s choppy as feck, totally ruins the experience, I’m not getting horizontal lines though. I’m guessing the choppy is to do with refresh rate which might be changeable in the input of the TV.
I have component though so if that was an option I’d be sorted

MrVestek · 10-04-2021 6:49pm

I built her a brain.. and now she lives!

Had a V-Sync issue but that was resolved when I found the control panel of the CRT. It's not an original Nanao screen, not sure which one it is to be honest.

Unfortunately there appears to be a bit of a colour issue on the lower left hand corner of the screen. Yellows and oranges appear purple in nature instead. Not sure if this is fixable or if it's just an issue with the screen itself.

Not too bothered anyway, I'm just happy that she's up and running!

Things left to do to refurbish fully: swap out the control panel for a two player control panel. Still waiting on new wiring looms and some buttons to accomplish this. I notice that the joystick in the machine doesn't register some inputs very well... very likely due to wear and tear so I'll likely swap this out too.

Replacement starter and flourescent tube are on the way... then I'll need to get some artwork for the marquee and the control panel instruction card area.

Ohh, then i'll likely swap out the coin entry slot for a new one as it has yellowed over the years.

Dav09 has also said that he's sending me a new coin mech too so I'll put that in when it's ready.

The Raspberry Pi setup will also be swapped out with my old PC at some point.. CathalDub was kind enough to donate a J-Pac to the project. :-)

o1s1n · 10-04-2021 6:59pm

Regarding the colour issue, sounds like it just needs a good degauss.

Do you hear a degaussing 'BONG' when you switch it on? It might fix itself after a few monitor boots.

If not you might need a degaussing wand to do it manually. Can use a corded drill too.

dav09 · 10-04-2021 7:39pm

o1s1n wrote: »

Regarding the colour issue, sounds like it just needs a good degauss.

Do you hear a degaussing 'BONG' when you switch it on? It might fix itself after a few monitor boots.

If not you might need a degaussing wand to do it manually. Can use a corded drill too.

Yep I second this, there should be a degauss on start up or degauss in the control panel or on the chassis itself somewhere. If not a good magnet like a speaker will do the trick, but sounds exactly like that issues anyway should be an easy fix, often happens transporting with dust particles or if damp somehow gets in.

And sending the 100 yen mech this Monday

Gradius · 10-04-2021 8:35pm

About the purple issue, make sure there isn't any magnetic interference, try moving things around in relation to the tube. I've spotted that same almost unexplained thing with certain pcbs if they get too close to the tube/chassis.

o1s1n · 10-04-2021 10:22pm

Gradius wrote: »

About the purple issue, make sure there isn't any magnetic interference, try moving things around in relation to the tube. I've spotted that same almost unexplained thing with certain pcbs if they get too close to the tube/chassis.

There are some weird things that can have a magnetic field. I've storage heaters in my apartment, one beside my arcade machines.

I've to keep them about a foot and a half away from machines or else discolouration starts to slowly creep in.

sniper_samurai · 11-04-2021 12:36am

o1s1n wrote: »

There are some weird things that can have a magnetic field. I've storage heaters in my apartment, one beside my arcade machines.

I've to keep them about a foot and a half away from machines or else discolouration starts to slowly creep in.

I once ended up with a Phillips tv that had magnetic interference from its own speakers :pac:

Needless to say I returned it for a refund. Absolute garbage.

MrVestek · 11-04-2021 12:41am

The distortion is right beside the left speaker, so it could be that somehow... although the speaker doesn't look nearly large enough to cause that kind of interference.

There is actually a degauss button in the control panel, I'll give that a go next time.

Waiting on some PCB feet so that I can mount the Pi on the wooden game board holder properly. Also have to 3D print a Fan enclosure for the Pi as the RGB-Pi Jamma board needs to be kept cool. Volume is a bit low but that's because I need to adjust the pot on the Pi Hat's audio amplifier itself. Then I'll need to splice a fan's cables and solder them to the 5v pad and ground on the interface so that it can be kept cool. The audio amplification circuit needs to be kept cool apparently.

It's all slowly coming together! :-)

CathalDublin · 13-04-2021 12:02am

Id a wall in the apartment that backed onto the lift shaft, it wasn’t possible to put the machine on that wall without funny colours

MrVestek · 13-04-2021 1:29am

CathalDublin wrote: »

Id a wall in the apartment that backed onto the lift shaft, it wasn’t possible to put the machine on that wall without funny colours

No danger of that here. :P

The strange thing is... if I degausse it the purple issue goes away... but if I degausse it again it comes back.

I'm not 100% up on CRT knowledge other than knowing that they're, essentially, miniature particle accellerators.

What would cause such consistency in terms of degaussing?

It's not a problem per say, I just want to understand how it works. :-)

o1s1n · 13-04-2021 9:43am

Could be a few different things, most of them are easy to fix.

First thing to do is to figure out if it's environmental. Easiest way to do that is just to move the machine somewhere else in the house temporality. If it goes away, you have a magnetic field where the machine currently is located which interfering with it.

Can be anything from heaters to speakers to things in the wall of the house that you can't see.

If it doesn't change and the issue is right beside where the speaker is located in the cabinet, there's a high probability that's the problem.

My Pony monitor is absolutely perfect, however when I drop the control panel (which the speaker is connected to) a large part of the bottom of the screen goes purple - basically the CRT has adapted over the years to the speaker's magnetic field being there.

It's more than likely one of the above.

Then you get into issues like the yoke on the back of the tube being loose. If it came loose in transport, you get issues with your convergence which can lead to colour purity issues. This one is a bit more annoying to fix, but it can be done with magnets.

Steve X2 · 13-04-2021 1:05pm

A handy tool to have when checking magnetic levels/interference is your phone. Grab yourself an app that will read the magnetometer data in the phone and get scanning. You're searching for apps that mention tesla/emf/magnetometer, plenty of free ones.

Here's a basic one reading normal background levels:

Next to my Stream Deck:

And next to my subwoofer:

Or you can get an more advanced app like below(same 3 data readings as above):

o1s1n · 13-04-2021 1:58pm

Just gave that app a go and it works fantastically! Will be trying that out when I get home around my cabinets.

DaveyDave · 13-04-2021 3:17pm

Not to sound stupid or anything, but would magnetic shielding help? Is that a thing people can do? I remember looking at some 2.1 computer speakers a few years ago and the sub wasn't shielded so you weren't supposed to place it beside a computer.

Jack burton · 14-04-2021 1:38pm

Pretty sure any a particular type of metal sheeting works well for shielding with consoles anyway. Same work for a crt?

Shapey Fiend · 15-04-2021 2:08pm

I got my Mister a couple of days ago. Absolutely love it the sound and picture are fantastic.

I've been working my way through loads of weird SNES JP exclusives I've not played before. King of Demons is my main highlight so far. Deae Tonosama - Appare Ichiban is also really compellingly daft despite being a bit janky.

o1s1n · 15-04-2021 3:02pm

Shapey Fiend wrote: »

I got my Mister a couple of days ago. Absolutely love it the sound and picture are fantastic.

I've been working my way through loads of weird SNES JP exclusives I've not played before. King of Demons is my main highlight so far. Deae Tonosama - Appare Ichiban is also really compellingly daft despite being a bit janky.

Funnily enough that's the game in my Snes at the moment, playing a good bit of it the last week. Really really like it.

Kind of half tempted to pick up one of those Mister yolks...

Retr0gamer · 15-04-2021 3:23pm

I hate that game.

I hate that I paid so much for a bare cart and the bastards rereleased it a few months later.

o1s1n · 15-04-2021 3:27pm

Swap your bare cart original for my lovely fully boxed reprint? :pac:

Tom Mann Centuria · 17-04-2021 12:10am

Towards end of last month I got a pm on here, out of the blue asking did I want a ZX81. It was the first computer in my house, and I loved playing on it, and watching my brother play. So I said, yep would absolutely love it, how much? They wouldn't take a penny for it, not even postage. Sent it to me, and not only the computer, half a dozen games, a nifty keyboard overlay and loads of Zx computing magazines. A fair few quids worth if they'd have sold them.

So they told me in advance it wasn't working, so I sent it off to a great bloke I have chatted to on faceache groups and he's soldered stuff for me before and I asked if he'd repair it for me. He did, he comp modded it, he even repainted the lettering, installed 16k onboard memory, repaired the power supply and even included an adapter so I can use my Speccy power supply with it (if I ever want to add peripherals for the extra ooomph). He posted it off, I asked how much I owed, because there was a fair bit of work and little bits and bobs that needed replacing. He wouldn't take a penny either. So I have a fantastic little machine that arrived today, for nothing, along with a load of extras, that didn't cost me anything. Both these people who I've never met, didn't even let me pay for postage.

With work being a grind the last few months this has all meant the world to me these last few weeks. First weekend off for a couple tomorrow so I'm going to enjoy playing some great (in their own special way :pac:) games on my new ZX81.

Tl;dr There's still some really generous and lovely people in the world.

MrVestek · 18-04-2021 4:20am

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Towards end of last month I got a pm on here, out of the blue asking did I want a ZX81. It was the first computer in my house, and I loved playing on it, and watching my brother play. So I said, yep would absolutely love it, how much? They wouldn't take a penny for it, not even postage. Sent it to me, and not only the computer, half a dozen games, a nifty keyboard overlay and loads of Zx computing magazines. A fair few quids worth if they'd have sold them.

So they told me in advance it wasn't working, so I sent it off to a great bloke I have chatted to on faceache groups and he's soldered stuff for me before and I asked if he'd repair it for me. He did, he comp modded it, he even repainted the lettering, installed 16k onboard memory, repaired the power supply and even included an adapter so I can use my Speccy power supply with it (if I ever want to add peripherals for the extra ooomph). He posted it off, I asked how much I owed, because there was a fair bit of work and little bits and bobs that needed replacing. He wouldn't take a penny either. So I have a fantastic little machine that arrived today, for nothing, along with a load of extras, that didn't cost me anything. Both these people who I've never met, didn't even let me pay for postage.

With work being a grind the last few months this has all meant the world to me these last few weeks. First weekend off for a couple tomorrow so I'm going to enjoy playing some great (in their own special way :pac:) games on my new ZX81.

Tl;dr There's still some really generous and lovely people in the world.

You know... I've actually experiened that with The Blast City stuff too.

I've had a number of people on Instagram really interested in the refurbishment work that I'm doing.

I've had offers from people sending me free J-Pacs to free 100 yen coins for the coin mech etc. I've even had people going out of their way to DM me to give me various bits of advice with things I'm stuck on etc.

People can be so generous when they see somebody take up a new hobby like this and, like you, no matter how much I protested they won't take a penny!

It's the small things like this that can really restore your faith in humanity!

MrVestek · 19-04-2021 9:19am

Replacement starter and flourescent tube came this morning.

I saw a cable inside the cab that looked like it had been disconnected and it had me worried that maybe the lighting rig wasn't actually getting power anymore.

Decided to do a quick probe and...

Ok... so it's not the full 100v but that might not be an issue. Swapped out the starter bulb... no signs of life. Swapped out the flourescent tube and...

....LET THERE BE LIGHT!

Happy out! Now all I need is some new artwork and she'll look the part.

Still waiting for wiring looms to arrive so that I can take full advantage of the new two player control panel layout.

sniper_samurai · 19-04-2021 2:19pm

Picked up a couple of these in B&Q for €16 each yesterday.

https://www.vikingdirect.ie/en/really-useful-paper-wrap-box-and-storage-trays-22-litre-p-5581017

Great size for any games, films or books you need to put in storage.

Goes to show how expensive Viking are though that they're a few cent off being €10 more each there :pac:

Jack burton · 20-04-2021 12:50pm

Mortal Kombat film is out in a few days. I'm super excited and can't wait to see it.

Watched this video earlier during a coffee break

https://youtu.be/V3FEYDSqGNs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3FEYDSqGNs

Skerries · 22-04-2021 10:32pm

Doge · 24-04-2021 10:46am

Check out these Arcade1up big shticks, only available in black!

TechnoFreek · 24-04-2021 2:00pm

That picture of the giant joystick taken in the Brazzers House?

CiDeRmAn · 24-04-2021 4:18pm

I just wish I could buy the Atari Pong table from them, but they don't ship here, and I don't want it enough to feck about with a forwarding service

Doge · 24-04-2021 6:10pm

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

I just wish I could buy the Atari Pong table from them, but they don't ship here, and I don't want it enough to feck about with a forwarding service

You're right, I had a look out of curiosity.

Seems there's options for the Street Fighter cab now when there wasn't much before.

Colonel Panic · 25-04-2021 5:11pm

I’ve just lost my mind and bought a Famicom Disk System and the hateful Super Mario Bros 2.

I think I just wanted it under the Famicom for the sake of it. I have an Everdrive so can play the games no problem.

I see they can be modded to write full disks. Must look into getting some of the kiosk disks!

MrVestek · 25-04-2021 7:54pm

Doge wrote: »

Check out these Arcade1up big shticks, only available in black!

Erm... why tho?

General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

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