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External
Since: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 3
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(Msg. 1) Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:15 pm
Post subject: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course
Archived from groups: rec>games>video>arcade>collecting (more info?)
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I posted this to the MAME group as well, but it's pretty quiet over
there.
Hope I'm not too far astray with my questions.
I'm a pinball guy who would like to have a few classic vids in my
very
limited gameroom space. MAME in a custom cabinet looks like the
perfect solution to me. Buying individual games is not a
consideration due to budget and more importantly space constraints,
and the pins are NOT leaving. I have a corner of the gameroom all
picked out for my BAM (Bob's Arcade Machine.) I have an older PC
running Windows XP, and I'm starting out with the 15 inch PC Monitor
that came with it. I'm handy enough to build my own cab or refurbish
an existing one, and good enough, I think, to hack some controls to
accommodate my favorites. I'd like to be able to play
Asteroids
Tail Gunner
Galaxian
Defender
Centipede/Millipede
Galaga
Pac Man/Ms Pac Man
Space Invaders
Joust
Tempest
Gyrus
I cannot name 5 more games I'd like to add. Seriously, that's it.
So...What advice do you have for someone who really and truly is only
looking for a limited ROM set? I looked at a couple of sites
offering
ROMs and was pretty overwhelmed and intimidated by the all of the
choices.
Am I fooling myself with this monitor? Given the limited variety of
games that interest me, I'm hoping it will do for a while. What
should I be aspiring to once I've learned enough to be more
discriminating, or should I go ahead and go for more monitor now?
I'm interested in creating more than one control layout, and
switching
them out ot accomodate different games. My biggest concern is
Tailgunner, becuase it is so different (seemingly) from the others.
It used a joystick that behaved more like a trackball/mouse in that
it
was omni-directional. Anyone have this game and have a suggestion
for
the control?
Mostly now, I'm reading. I have downloaded MAME and a couple of free
ROMs to experiment and learn with. Thanks in advance for your
thoughts.
Cheers!!
Bob |
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External
Since: Dec 07, 2007
Posts: 37
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(Msg. 2) Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:41 pm
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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> Asteroids
> Tail Gunner
> Galaxian
> Defender
> Centipede/Millipede
> Galaga
> Pac Man/Ms Pac Man
> Space Invaders
> Joust
> Tempest
> Gyrus
Wow! you picked lots of control sets there!
Are you planning on 5 buttons, 2 joysticks, a spinner and a trackball?
Do you want Horizontal or Vertical orientaion on the monitor?
Horizontal will make your boot and intall easier but will smash your
Vertical games.
Asteroids is 5 buttons
Centi/Millipede trackball
Joust is 2 sticks and a flap button for each
Tempest spinner |
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External
Since: Nov 22, 2007
Posts: 1
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(Msg. 3) Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:00 pm
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Jan 31, 3:41 pm, melchman <j....TakeThisOut@melchman.net> wrote:
> > Asteroids
> > Tail Gunner
> > Galaxian
> > Defender
> > Centipede/Millipede
> > Galaga
> > Pac Man/Ms Pac Man
> > Space Invaders
> > Joust
> > Tempest
> > Gyrus
>
> Wow! you picked lots of control sets there!
>
> Are you planning on 5 buttons, 2 joysticks, a spinner and a trackball?
>
> Do you want Horizontal or Vertical orientaion on the monitor?
> Horizontal will make your boot and intall easier but will smash your
> Vertical games.
>
> Asteroids is 5 buttons
> Centi/Millipede trackball
> Joust is 2 sticks and a flap button for each
> Tempest spinner
Here's a book that will take you through the whole process, from
blueprints to blasting!
http://www.amazon.com/Project-Arcade-Build-Your-Machine/dp/0764556169/...=pd_bbs
Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine (Paperback)
by John St. Clair (Author) "I remember vividly the feeling I had when
I realized I was really going to do this - that I was really going to
build..." (more) >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Jun 14, 2005
Posts: 77
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(Msg. 4) Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:16 pm
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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Bob,
I was in your position about 5 years ago when I build my
MAME system. Best thing I've ever done!
I'd suggest finding an upright cabinet with a 27" monitor.
A monitor this large will accomodate vert and horiz oriented
games. Also, don't limit yourself to the list of games you
mentioned. There are *thousands* of games on MAME
you've never heard of, many never seen in the US. Disc
drives are cheap, get a big one and get the full set of ROMs.
Part of the fun of MAME is spending hours looking at games.
I also hacked an old HP keyboard for my control panel. Worked
fine. I've got 3 joysticks (one at a 45 degree offset for Q*Bert),
a trackball & spinner (for Tempest) hacked from an old
mouse. Also 6 buttons per player (2-player setup).
Steve >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Jan 08, 2008
Posts: 86
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(Msg. 5) Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:26 pm
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:15:24 -0800 (PST), bobnatlanta
<rwkeown DeleteThis @yahoo.com> wrote:
>I posted this to the MAME group as well, but it's pretty quiet over
>there.
>Hope I'm not too far astray with my questions.
>
>I'm a pinball guy who would like to have a few classic vids in my
>very
>limited gameroom space. MAME in a custom cabinet looks like the
>perfect solution to me. Buying individual games is not a
>consideration due to budget and more importantly space constraints,
>and the pins are NOT leaving. I have a corner of the gameroom all
>picked out for my BAM (Bob's Arcade Machine.) I have an older PC
>running Windows XP, and I'm starting out with the 15 inch PC Monitor
>that came with it. I'm handy enough to build my own cab or refurbish
>an existing one, and good enough, I think, to hack some controls to
>accommodate my favorites. I'd like to be able to play
>Asteroids
>Tail Gunner
>Galaxian
>Defender
>Centipede/Millipede
>Galaga
>Pac Man/Ms Pac Man
>Space Invaders
>Joust
>Tempest
>Gyrus
>
>I cannot name 5 more games I'd like to add. Seriously, that's it.
>
>
>So...What advice do you have for someone who really and truly is only
>looking for a limited ROM set? I looked at a couple of sites
>offering
>ROMs and was pretty overwhelmed and intimidated by the all of the
>choices.
>
>
>Am I fooling myself with this monitor? Given the limited variety of
>games that interest me, I'm hoping it will do for a while. What
>should I be aspiring to once I've learned enough to be more
>discriminating, or should I go ahead and go for more monitor now?
>
>
>I'm interested in creating more than one control layout, and
>switching
>them out ot accomodate different games. My biggest concern is
>Tailgunner, becuase it is so different (seemingly) from the others.
>It used a joystick that behaved more like a trackball/mouse in that
>it
>was omni-directional. Anyone have this game and have a suggestion
>for
>the control?
>
>
>Mostly now, I'm reading. I have downloaded MAME and a couple of free
>ROMs to experiment and learn with. Thanks in advance for your
>thoughts.
>
>Cheers!!
>Bob
Since you have trackball games, spinner games, button-only games, plus
Defender with its crazy layout, compounded by both horizonal and
vertical orientation games, you have basically picked the most
challenging array of games to play on a single cab! You might as well
throw more on there, because there are a lot of great games to be
discovered.
Someone else mentioned John St. Claires book. Here is his forum. Look
in the project announcements section, you'll see a ton of stuff that
will give you ideas. http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/
I have a couple of MAME cabs, but for my main "do all" machine, I went
with 2 sticks (Robotron!) w/6 button layouts, a trackball and spinner.
I also added a thumb button so it'll work with Defender. It was pretty
hard to come up with a flexible layout that didn't look too cluttered.
I'll send you a couple pics if you want to see how it came out.
Tim >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Jan 08, 2008
Posts: 7
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(Msg. 6) Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:39 am
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Jan 31, 3:15 pm, bobnatlanta <rwke....TakeThisOut@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I posted this to the MAME group as well, but it's pretty quiet over
> there.
> Hope I'm not too far astray with my questions.
>
> I'm a pinball guy who would like to have a few classic vids in my
> very
> limited gameroom space. MAME in a custom cabinet looks like the
> perfect solution to me. Buying individual games is not a
> consideration due to budget and more importantly space constraints,
> and the pins are NOT leaving. I have a corner of the gameroom all
> picked out for my BAM (Bob's Arcade Machine.) I have an older PC
> running Windows XP, and I'm starting out with the 15 inch PC Monitor
> that came with it. I'm handy enough to build my own cab or refurbish
> an existing one, and good enough, I think, to hack some controls to
> accommodate my favorites. I'd like to be able to play
> Asteroids
> Tail Gunner
> Galaxian
> Defender
> Centipede/Millipede
> Galaga
> Pac Man/Ms Pac Man
> Space Invaders
> Joust
> Tempest
> Gyrus
>
> I cannot name 5 more games I'd like to add. Seriously, that's it.
>
> So...What advice do you have for someone who really and truly is only
> looking for a limited ROM set? I looked at a couple of sites
> offering
> ROMs and was pretty overwhelmed and intimidated by the all of the
> choices.
>
> Am I fooling myself with this monitor? Given the limited variety of
> games that interest me, I'm hoping it will do for a while. What
> should I be aspiring to once I've learned enough to be more
> discriminating, or should I go ahead and go for more monitor now?
>
> I'm interested in creating more than one control layout, and
> switching
> them out ot accomodate different games. My biggest concern is
> Tailgunner, becuase it is so different (seemingly) from the others.
> It used a joystick that behaved more like a trackball/mouse in that
> it
> was omni-directional. Anyone have this game and have a suggestion
> for
> the control?
>
> Mostly now, I'm reading. I have downloaded MAME and a couple of free
> ROMs to experiment and learn with. Thanks in advance for your
> thoughts.
>
> Cheers!!
> Bob
I have built 4 MAME cabs over the years and I still have two of them,
one horizontal with a 31" screen and a vertical with a 25" screen.
Cheapest is to buy a video card with SVIDEO out and use a cheap
walmart TV. Most games do not go over 640x480 anyway.
Personally, I like the clean look, so I built several different
control panels and swap them out as needed. I think you have to
decide if you are going to play multiple games every day or only swap
games occassionally. I have 7 machines including the 2 MAMEs, so I
usually leave one game on and only change control panels out about
once a month.
As for hacking keyboards, I have done that and it is quite easy- but
it does lead to one problem. Most of the chips on the keyboards I
have done are not made to handle multiple simultaneous input (at least
in my experience) So what happens is when you are playing a button
smashing game like "Track and Field" or a 4 player game, some of the
controls do not work right because the chip is overloaded. it is like
you are mashing down too many buttons on your keyboard at the same
time. I also used the hagstrom chips and they do not seem to have
that problem.
If you are going to hack a keyboard, understand that they are set up
in a matrix, so try jumping every pin to every other, not just to
ground.
Good Luck,
Jim >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Jan 08, 2008
Posts: 86
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(Msg. 7) Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:12 am
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Fri, 1 Feb 2008 04:39:22 -0800 (PST), james cardona
<JAMES.CARDONA RemoveThis @pseg.com> wrote:
>I have built 4 MAME cabs over the years and I still have two of them,
>one horizontal with a 31" screen and a vertical with a 25" screen.
>Cheapest is to buy a video card with SVIDEO out and use a cheap
>walmart TV. Most games do not go over 640x480 anyway.
>
>Personally, I like the clean look, so I built several different
>control panels and swap them out as needed. I think you have to
>decide if you are going to play multiple games every day or only swap
>games occassionally. I have 7 machines including the 2 MAMEs, so I
>usually leave one game on and only change control panels out about
>once a month.
>
>As for hacking keyboards, I have done that and it is quite easy- but
>it does lead to one problem. Most of the chips on the keyboards I
>have done are not made to handle multiple simultaneous input (at least
>in my experience) So what happens is when you are playing a button
>smashing game like "Track and Field" or a 4 player game, some of the
>controls do not work right because the chip is overloaded. it is like
>you are mashing down too many buttons on your keyboard at the same
>time. I also used the hagstrom chips and they do not seem to have
>that problem.
>
>If you are going to hack a keyboard, understand that they are set up
>in a matrix, so try jumping every pin to every other, not just to
>ground.
>
>Good Luck,
>Jim
Keyboard hacks are pretty cool as a "can I do it?" type of thing, but
a 2 player IPAC from Ultimarc.com is only $40. So worth it in terms
of not wasting time and keyboard hack shortcomings.
Gives you USB plug and play functionality, no keyboard hack issues
like that lack of simultaneous key presses/ghosting, and also gives
you a keyboard passthrough so you can still have a regular keyboard
connected to the machine for maintenance.
I'd only recommend a keyboard hack on a No Budget type build. 
Tim >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Jan 08, 2008
Posts: 8
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(Msg. 8) Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:44 am
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 1, 9:12 am, Tim O <tim... DeleteThis @REMOVEhotmail.com> wrote:
> Keyboard hacks are pretty cool as a "can I do it?" type of thing, but
> a 2 player IPAC from Ultimarc.com is only $40. So worth it in terms
> of not wasting time and keyboard hack shortcomings.
I'll second that. The I-PAC is absolutely worth it and well supported
by Ultimarc (Andy). If you want to do the keyboard hack to prove you
can... do it, but then install an I-PAC. You'll be glad you did.
Regarding control panels I agree with the multi-panel idea unless that
is too much of a pain. It just doesn't 'feel right' to play some of
those games with all the other unused controls on the panel.
As for monitors, the s-video TV suggested can be a good route to go in
order to support the vertical games without them becoming too small.
However, you might find that the classic horizontal games just look
too big (and blocky) on a bigger TV (since most were 19" monitors).
That in itself is enough for me to use 2 separate cabinets: a
horizontally and a vertically oriented monitor. You might also
consider using a standard arcade monitor and something like the
ArcadeVGA card. I think you'll find either of those choices better
than the 15" monitor you mentioned. Even a 19" VGA monitor would be a
lot better... and cheap on Craigslist. >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Nov 29, 2007
Posts: 3
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(Msg. 9) Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 8:39 pm
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 1, 2:44 pm, arkanoid <goog....DeleteThis@zumbrovalley.net> wrote:
> On Feb 1, 9:12 am, Tim O <tim....DeleteThis@REMOVEhotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Keyboard hacks are pretty cool as a "can I do it?" type of thing, but
> > a 2 player IPAC from Ultimarc.com is only $40. So worth it in terms
> > of not wasting time and keyboard hack shortcomings.
>
> I'll second that. The I-PAC is absolutely worth it and well supported
> by Ultimarc (Andy). If you want to do the keyboard hack to prove you
> can... do it, but then install an I-PAC. You'll be glad you did.
>
> Regarding control panels I agree with the multi-panel idea unless that
> is too much of a pain. It just doesn't 'feel right' to play some of
> those games with all the other unused controls on the panel.
>
> As for monitors, the s-video TV suggested can be a good route to go in
> order to support the vertical games without them becoming too small.
> However, you might find that the classic horizontal games just look
> too big (and blocky) on a bigger TV (since most were 19" monitors).
> That in itself is enough for me to use 2 separate cabinets: a
> horizontally and a vertically oriented monitor. You might also
> consider using a standard arcade monitor and something like the
> ArcadeVGA card. I think you'll find either of those choices better
> than the 15" monitor you mentioned. Even a 19" VGA monitor would be a
> lot better... and cheap on Craigslist.
Thanks guys, there is a lot of wisdom in the replies. Here's what
I've learned in the last couple of days:
I can follow basic instructions, with a lot of help from a local vid
guru - kinda like how I learned pins
I can now successfully play a screamingly slow space invaders on my PC
This tweak stage is probably going to take a while
No matter how I draw the controls, the only way I see playing this
variety of games is with multiple panels
My current monitor is only useful for the tweak stage, 19 minimum, 26
is reallly what I need, but that 24 inch TV we only use for DVDs might
get reallocated to the gameroom
Again thanks, looking forward to lots of reading and sharing.
Cheers!!
Bob >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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External
Since: Mar 27, 2007
Posts: 21
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(Msg. 10) Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 5:23 am
Post subject: Re: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course [Login to view extended thread Info.]
Archived from groups: per prev. post (more info?)
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On Feb 2, 11:39 pm, bobnatlanta <rwke....DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Feb 1, 2:44 pm, arkanoid <goog....DeleteThis@zumbrovalley.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Feb 1, 9:12 am, Tim O <tim....DeleteThis@REMOVEhotmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > Keyboard hacks are pretty cool as a "can I do it?" type of thing, but
> > > a 2 player IPAC from Ultimarc.com is only $40. So worth it in terms
> > > of not wasting time and keyboard hack shortcomings.
>
> > I'll second that. The I-PAC is absolutely worth it and well supported
> > by Ultimarc (Andy). If you want to do the keyboard hack to prove you
> > can... do it, but then install an I-PAC. You'll be glad you did.
>
> > Regarding control panels I agree with the multi-panel idea unless that
> > is too much of a pain. It just doesn't 'feel right' to play some of
> > those games with all the other unused controls on the panel.
>
> > As for monitors, the s-video TV suggested can be a good route to go in
> > order to support the vertical games without them becoming too small.
> > However, you might find that the classic horizontal games just look
> > too big (and blocky) on a bigger TV (since most were 19" monitors).
> > That in itself is enough for me to use 2 separate cabinets: a
> > horizontally and a vertically oriented monitor. You might also
> > consider using a standard arcade monitor and something like the
> > ArcadeVGA card. I think you'll find either of those choices better
> > than the 15" monitor you mentioned. Even a 19" VGA monitor would be a
> > lot better... and cheap on Craigslist.
>
> Thanks guys, there is a lot of wisdom in the replies. Here's what
> I've learned in the last couple of days:
> I can follow basic instructions, with a lot of help from a local vid
> guru - kinda like how I learned pins
> I can now successfully play a screamingly slow space invaders on my PC
> This tweak stage is probably going to take a while
> No matter how I draw the controls, the only way I see playing this
> variety of games is with multiple panels
> My current monitor is only useful for the tweak stage, 19 minimum, 26
> is reallly what I need, but that 24 inch TV we only use for DVDs might
> get reallocated to the gameroom
> Again thanks, looking forward to lots of reading and sharing.
>
> Cheers!!
> Bob- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I've been using a dual joystick, 6-button, trak-ball, and spinner
layout on all my MAME machines so far (http://web.comporium.net/
~scottith/), which seems to cover the majority of layouts, but you
might want to check out the 'examples' section over at Arcade
Controls:
http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm
And remember, the buttons can always be reprogrammed for each game >> Stay informed about: New to Vids/MAME, with some silly questions...of course |
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