anyone know stuff about MAME arcade cabinet builds

[alexh]

Originally Posted by techn1um

im sort of hoping that arcadevga is the answer to ALL my problems.

Throw some money at it, let someone else do the thinking and hope it works?

ArcadeVGA is not something I've ever used but AFAIK the card is just re-badged Radeon 2600 XT?

I'm pretty sure you've got everything you need. All you have to do is research & experiment how to set it up. Surely that is the exciting bit?

Originally Posted by desiv

It's possible there's a way to drive your video card (drivers???) in Windows at 25Khz??? I'm not sure about that one..

There is for 15KHz cos that's what I did. No special gfx card just a configured screen mode. The readme for that SOFT-15KHz program above says it can produce 25KHz screen modes.

Originally Posted by desiv

if you get AdvMame running, why would you want Windows?

Non arcade machine emulators? Old PC games? Movies (XBMC)?

I have never tried it but I imagine with a BlueTooth dongle you could use a Wiimote as the mouse to control windows.

[desiv]

Originally Posted by alexh

ArcadeVGA is not something I've ever used.

AFAIK the card is just re-badged Radeon 2600 XT

It's not just rebadged, but tweaked firmware (drivers?) to better support the Arcade Monitors. At least that's what I remember...

Again, I didn't buy one as my video card worked at the 15Khz I needed and that was back with his first release...

I did get some other things from him PC2Jamma, etc..

He knows his stuff...

desiv

[desiv]

Originally Posted by alexh

There is for 15KHz cos that's what I did. No special gfx card just a configured screen mode. The readme for that SOFT-15KHz program above says it can produce 25KHz screen modes.

Yep, looking up the soft 15Khz program, it looks like that should work in Windows...

You'll want to remember to turn on the PC first and let it boot all the way up, and THEN turn on the arcade monitor, so the pre-windows frequencies don't hurt the monitor.

(Same thing with AdvMame in DOS, turn the PC on first.)

I still go back to, if you have AdvMame, why bother with Windows? :-)

desiv

[desiv]

Originally Posted by alexh

Non arcade machine emulators? Old PC games? Movies (XBMC)?

As I said, why would you want to do that on an Arcade machine?


desiv

[alexh]

Originally Posted by desiv

It's not just rebadged, but tweaked firmware (drivers?) to better support the Arcade Monitors.

Ooo yeah. There would have to be different firmware depending on which monitor (15KHz or 25KHz) for it to patch all standard modes to a safe frequency?

It looks like this patched ATI firmware was developed by several people might be freely available.... I'll hunt it down.

Few interesting topics :

http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30154
http://forums.somethingawful.com/sho...8&pagenumber=6

I used to like playing SNES games on my cab, Aero The Acrobat. Sonic on the MegaDrive etc.

[desiv]

Based on that second thread, people seem to be saying that games designed for 15Khz work fine on 24(5?)Khz monitors, so your monitor should be great for most games..
(Most games are standard)

As for the ArcadeVGA, I can't tell from the info on the page whether or not they support 25Khz in the BIOS level????
If not, then you are better off just using soft15 or AdvMame...
(and if you don't mind powering your monitor after your OS is up, it's also just as good)

desiv

[cpiac64]

i remember with windows 20 year ago i used a soft for force signal at 15 k for vga to scart but any resolution are out of border

[turrican3]

i used the soft 15 khz and i had no problem with my cabinet. I didn't use it anymore because i changed the cabinet original screen for a crt monitor and it work well to.

[alexh]

You mean to swapped the 15KHz CRT monitor for a 31KHz (or MultiSync) monitor? Which cab was it? Which monitor? Was it easy to get the chassis to fit?

[Eny-]

Running some games in my cab!

[ Show youtube player ]

Using soft 15khz as well with JPAC.

[techn1um]

ok so I may not need the arcadevga then. I just use windows and install soft 15khz and see if that works but your saying I need to run all that on normal monitor first and then switch to cabinet monitor once its applied??

Advancemame does that replace the windows operating system then as you mention why would I need windows if I have that installed.

Perhaps I should have brought a pre built system, that would have been easier but a hell of alot more expensive which is why I went down this route.

The pc im using has inbuilt graphics card not a removeable one if that makes any difference??

[alexh]

Originally Posted by techn1um

ok so I may not need the arcadevga then. I just use windows and install soft 15khz and see if that works but your saying I need to run all that on normal monitor first and then switch to cabinet monitor once its applied??

Yup. From what I was able to remember + read from a few forums there are a few other utilities you can install to make sure that Windows never defaults back to a 31KHz screen.

Originally Posted by techn1um

Perhaps I should have brought a pre built system, that would have been easier but a hell of alot more expensive which is why I went down this route.

Absolutely not! I mean this getting it working is half the fun isn't it?

The only reasons I can think of to buy a pre-built system are:

A person is too lazy to read up and too timid to experiment

OR

A person's time is worth more to them than the money. (Which to me is very understandable)

Oh, ok perhaps I am somewhat biased being a fiddler by nature.

Originally Posted by techn1um

The pc im using has inbuilt graphics card not a removeable one if that makes any difference??

I think that significantly lowers your chance of making this work for free. Really depends what make of chip the onboard gfx is. Nvidia or ATI/AMD and Soft15KHz WILL work, Intel (or worse) and I very much doubt it. But you can get a 2nd hand bottom of the range ATI/Nvidia/Matrox PCI(e) gfx card from Ebay for £5 and you'll be back in business.

http://community.arcadeinfo.de/showthread.php?t=7925

If it does not work, I bet some kind soul on here would send you a compatible GFX card for free. What slots do you have on your motherboard?

[Eny-]

Be careful not to damage the monitor and remember that the loading screen of XP is 31khz. The JPAC divides the image before getting to the desktop to prevent monitor damage.

[desiv]

I agree with alexh!! This is the real fun part!!! :-) You don't want pre-built..

As for AdvanceMAME, it's basically a user perference.
If you will only be running Arcade games and are OK with some DOS (setup/configs) commands, AdvanceMAME is great.

If you are really wanting Windows and/or want to run programs other than MAME (other emulators, games, etc.. <shudder.. ;-)>), then the soft 15Khz option is better.

And about the "damaging the monitor", I use a jpac as Eny- does. It's great. But it's designed for a JAMMA cab, and I don't think your cab is JAMMA. (??) And you already have a wiring harness...

The ultimarc site might (probably) has an option like the jpac just for the video. If so, that's nice and safe. But again, I'm not sure that it supports 25Khz. So you still might not be able to use it.
Our cabs (I think??) are 15Khz...

The other option is just to make sure you turn on the PC first and then, when the OS (AdvanceMAME or Windows) is up, THEN you turn on the monitor...

Someone somewhere (helpful, huh?) actually made a circuit that I think ran off of a PC printer port that would turn on a monitor AFTER the app had run just for this, but I think that's overkill for you.. ;-)

It really is fun, and once you play your first game on your cab, it feels awesome!!
The more complicated the install, the better it feels!! :-)

desiv

[techn1um]

Thank you all so far for your advice. I am listening im just on call at the moment 24/7 so time is really limited.

OK the pc is a standard windows xp tower with intel processor. At the moment I dont have anything installed on it, I never knew there was any other options other than Mame as thats all I ever heard about. The cabinet is wanted for playing stuff like Galaga, pac man, space invaders for the wife and kids and then more modern stuff for me and the reason I was also keeping Windows was I am hoping (you can probably tell me) that I can play modern windows games on it as an arcade cabinet too.

There is no graphic card in the machine but if you think I should have one then I can buy one.

The controls on the cabinet I think will need replacing, they feel crap and the buttons tend to stick when your pushing them down. Not only that but the cable I showed you that I brought which connects to the ps2 port has bigger spade connectors so they dont fit the buttons as they are half the size and they dont fit the joysticks at all as they dont have the spade connection type connectors. So you mentioning jpac might be an idea, but as I said the first thing is to get the monitor to display the windows screen...well anything actually! *sorry just found out jpac is a board thing, I thought it was for the controllers. Doh!!! So may need suggestions for controllers later then!

I dont think my cabinet was jamma, even if it was theres nothing left in it other than the controls and the monitor, all the cards/boards have been removed.

How do I know if the screen is damaged from the refresh rate as it could be that its knackered already from when I connected it to the pc.

I am reading this thread and will try this soft 15khz thing mentioned just once I get time to play with it.

thanks again.

[alexh]

Originally Posted by techn1um

The controls on the cabinet I think will need replacing, they feel crap and the buttons tend to stick when your pushing them down.

If they are authentic arcade controls then 5 minutes with a screwdriver and some cleaning products and they'll be as good as new.

Originally Posted by techn1um

Not only that but the cable I showed you that I brought which connects to the ps2 port has bigger spade connectors so they dont fit the buttons as they are half the size and they dont fit the joysticks at all as they dont have the spade connection type connectors.

Two minutes with wire trimmers and 0.50p for some new spade connectors and you're done. Assuming everything is compatible. I'm sure you asked the guy selling the ps2 cable if it worked with the virtua striker (1994) controls? I'm pretty sure it will they will be standard digital joystick & buttons.

Originally Posted by techn1um

So you mentioning jpac might be an idea

I though JPAC was exclusively for JAMMA/+ Cabinets. But I could be wrong. It could be for anything. Plus do you really want to spend more money before you've had a play?

Originally Posted by techn1um

How do I know if the screen is damaged from the refresh rate as it could be that its knackered already from when I connected it to the pc.

It won't be. They are hardy things. If it worked when you got it then it will work.

[techn1um]

Thanks Alex

I think they are proper controls but as I said the joystick doesnt take spade connections, its like a ribbon cable type. Also theres only 3 buttons per player and I believe the way to go is 6 buttons so would need to change that lot anyway.

Ok forgot to mention that the pc is Windows but if you guys think linux would be better then I can install that but obviously there is different flavours of linux so let me know.

[alexh]

Why did you get that cab? It is not like it was cheap or anything. Because it was near by?

Interesting... while it was sold as a Naomi cab it is infact a Triforce cab (Virtua Striker 2002) powered by a Nintendo GameCube

http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=728&page=1#2226

[techn1um]

I wanted "A" cab just for my games room to turn into a mame machine but it could of been any cab just this was the cheapest on ebay at the time. If I wanted one already done then they were over £500 so thought id try doing it myself. Although now im thinking I have the wrong one as its 25khz not 15 and its not jamma etc etc.

Still thats why im on here.....hopefully for help to get it working.

Certainly not nearby, I had to pay £80 for courier delivery!

[alexh]

I'm starting to think that it may not be as bad as we think... afterall this is effectively a Gamecube that plugs into this arcade machine. You need to learn more about the capability of these cabs. This is not the forum to do it though. You'll need to join several good Arcade cab websites.


Find out exactly what is inside your cab in terms of any adapters / wiring harnesses / power supplies etc. Take some high resolution photographs to put in your threads and get asking... you never know someone on an Arcade forum probably has done this before and has a thread to point you.

This company sells all the parts you're likely to need including 6-button parts

http://www.giz10p.co.uk/cabinet-part...12.html?page=1

You might be able to part-ex some of your stuff plus the owner is likely to know everything there is to know about your cabinet and how to make it work with a PC.