12/19/2007: I recently recovered all these files off of an old server. As such, nothing really works (like the menu or anything else). I will build a new index page when I have a chance so you can see my day by day progress. Until then, good luck with your own MAME cabinet. -Blake
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August 28, 2001
*all links to
external sites open in a new browser window
(click any pictures
to enlarge)
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| While surfing the web a
couple of days ago, I stumbled across a couple of pages dedicated to
a marvelous construct known as a MAME cabinet (Multiple
Arcade Machine Emulator). After some
extensive research into the idea of a MAME cabinet and the costs
associated with building such a great machine, I decided to embark
on a mission to build one of my own.
This is the start of the journal I
will be keeping as I make progress throughout the project. I
will be utilizing my latest toy - my Canon
PowerShot S110 - to visually keep track of my progress.
Useful Links:
Lusid's
Arcade Flashback (using the .PDF
design from this site for the basic cabinet design)
Russ
Mame Cabinet (good controls info - uses PDF design above)
Build
Your Own Arcade Controls FAQ (self-explanitory)
Scott's
Unicade (great controls set-up - probably going to go this route
- see pic to the left) |
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August 29, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
5 hours |
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The trip to Home Depot
will take place later today (currently 12:30am...). I plan on
hitting the sack soon and will be looking forward to getting started
tomorrow.
9:45am - Went to Home Depot to pick
up some 5/8" particle board. Unfortunately, it was just
me at the store and getting 3 sheets onto the cart took some doing
and the employees just standing around didn't offer to help.
No worries - I accomplished the feat and took the sheets to the
front to pay, only on arriving at the cashier, I learned they were
1/2" instead of 5/8". Not wanting to go put the
sheets back and then get three new ones, I settled on the 1/2"
and paid. Total cost: (3 x $10.98 + tax) = $35.41.
10:30am - Arrived at my house,
unloaded the wood and set to work. I was able to cut out all
pieces on 2 of the 3 boards. The third will have to wait until
next week. The main accomplishment was that I got the control
panel box cut out and assembled (after one bad try). One side
of the cabinet is cut out along with most of the base plates.
Work will continue next week as I need to make another trip to Home
Depot to get some hinges for the control box top, for easy access to
the interface under the controls. I also need some L brackets
to reinforce the cabinet in pretty much every place I think it's
needed.
8:30pm - Headed off to Home
Depot once again - picked up some "L" corner brackets
along with a couple of braces and some hinges for the control panel
so that I can easily access the underside once it's all in
place. Total cost for this trip: $10.35.
The pictures are:
Left Column - Top: Just a shot of the garage floor as I was
just about to finish up. The control panel box can be seen at
the top of the picture. Lying around on the floor are the
plans used to build the box.
2nd Picture: These are just some of the panels I cut
out. Most notably the coin door and some of the rear panels
for the cabinet. The only uncut board can be seen on the
ground as I was just about to sketch out the cuts for next week.
Bottom: This is one side of the cabinet. It's just a
rough outline as I will cut away above the ledge that can be seen on
the left to create a place to drop in the TV. Also, the
upper-right corner will be cut off diagonally - 16 inches down, and
16 inches to the left.
Right Column - Top: This is
the box that most of the control wires will sit in. The
control panel will be hinged and rest on top of this box.
Holes will be cut to allow for the wires to pass through to the guts
of the system.
2nd & 3rd Pictures: I made most of the cuts using the
table saw pictured with the help of the two Tote-A-Horses (great
products). Cuts that were too long for the table saw were made
with the rotary saw lying on the ground.
Bottom: A shot of the garage from the driveway. One
side of the cabinet is pictured in the back with the control panel
box in the foreground. On the left side of the picture is the
board that will make the other side of the cabinet.
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August 31, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
5 hours |
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| Today I placed an order
with Hagstrom
Electronics for their KE-72T
encoder board (pictured to the left - top board) which will take the
inputs from the buttons, joysticks, and trackball and then convert
them into a language MAME will recognize. I decided on the
KE-72T because it is the top-of-the-line encoder board and allows 72
separate connections without matrices, and thus, no ghosting.
With 72 discrete inputs, it allows for future upgrades (think 4
players) along with great control for all involved.
Along with the KE-72T, I ordered a KE-TBH3
cable which connects the encoder board to the Happ
Controls trackball
that I plan on purchasing (still haven't decided on the exact
trackball). Also, I purchased 2 KE-MM6
cables to connect the KE-72T to the computer properly and although
they are probably cheaper at Fry's or a similar store, they were
only $5.95 each and compatibility is guaranteed. A small price
to pay for technical support and guaranteed compatibility.
When I ordered the products, I was
extremely pleased with the level of customer support on the other
end. I got through to a representative on the first ring and
was able to place my order quickly and efficiently. Since I'm
still in the process of building the cabinet, there was no rush on
these products (especially since I don't even have any of the
pushbuttons, joysticks, or other controls). They are going to
be shipped UPS ground and should arrive in a week. Since I am
receiving these as a birthday present, they will not be added to the
total cost thus far, but are added up below:
KE-72T: $139.95 + KE-MM6 x 2:
($5.95 x 2): $11.90 + KE-TBH3: $9.95 = $161.81 + shipping
(unknown right now).
After ordering, I was also informed
that I would be receiving an IOX-36 breakout board free of charge
(pictured to the left - bottom board). This was a great
addition as I was contemplating buying one anyways, but since cash
is tight at the moment, I held off on it (if all else failed, I
would have bought 2 at a later time). Many thanks to Hagstrom
for including this great accessory free!
The KE-72T
Features:
- 72 Input, programmable interface to your PC
keyboard input.
- Features 72 individual inputs.
- -T Option for Track Ball signal conversion to PS/2 mouse
protocol.
- RS-232 Port receives ASCII characters and outputs to the
Keyboard Port.
- Each input can be programmed to emulate any standard key
or Macro sequence of up to 32 keystrokes
- Supplied with PC application "KE72LOAD" used to
configure the KE72
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September 1, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
5 hours |
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| Since I've pretty much got everything on the
hardware/controls side figured out (or so I hope), I've started
looking into different MAME options and front-ends for MAME.
I've decided that the easiest way to go is probably good ol' MAME
with a frontend of ArcadeOS
(see pictures to the left for screenshots),
but I've been having problems setting the software up.
Unfortunately, there isn't much documentation on the net for helping
with the setup of software. I'm currently experiencing some
problems on my main machine, but I'm assuming that it's both a
combination of the OS and hardware I'm using (Windows 2000 and an
ATI All-in-Wonder 128 Pro running on an Athlon Thunderbird chip).
I also tried using my brother's computer and did some
experimenting with AdvanceMAME
and AdvanceMenu
- with some different results. The problem with the Advance
ports were that while they probably have some great features, they
are quite complex and would not work with the monitor I had (even
though it was in the list of supported monitors). Also, the
graphics card (on-board SiS) was supported, so I'm figuring that's
not the problem. MAME and ArcadeOS work to a point, but I have
problems running the more complex games.
I wish there were some in-depth documents to help with software
set-up, but as everyone's system differs so much, these documents
may not be of much help. When I finally get around to building
the computer part of my cabinet, I will keep detailed documentation
of the software installation and configuration on the machine.
I'll probably enlist some help via e-mail of LuSiD,
whose computer
I pretty much intend to use as a guide to building mine (although
mine will be a little bit faster).
Here's what I'm planning to do in the computer arena:
- AMD Duron 800-900 MHz (depending on cash situation at the
time)
- 128 or 256 Megs ram (see above note)
- 12-20 Gig HD (see above note)
- ATI Rage Fury 32 meg.
- Ethernet card
- Creative Awe64
- Generic CD
- Windows98 SE
DOS 6.0 (I will
most likely use the Win98 DOS system rather than DOS 6.0 -
thanks George from L.A. for the helpful hint)
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September 2, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
5 hours (Does
not include
countless hours
researching,
downloading,
testing, and
retesting) |
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| I've been playing around with MAME on my Windows 2000
computer and I am quite pleased with the results. The controls
are awkward using a keyboard, but will be easily remedied with
controls from Happ. Speaking of which, I've researched some of
the products I will be ordering when I have the spare cash:
Total cost of controls: $159.15 -
not ordered - just listed here as a reminder to myself in the
future.
As you can see in the pictures to
the left, there's a couple of different layouts I'm toying
with. All of the NeoGeo games function off of four buttons as
seen in the "single" example, but I want to have an
"ultimate" layout at an angle for games like Streetfighter.
I just created this mock-up of a possible layout. I could
easily use 1, 2, 3 & 4 for NeoGeo games (the a, b & c
shouldn't get in the way) and then use 2, 3, 4 & a, b, c for
Fighting games that use 6 buttons. I would then probably set
it up so that games that only require 2 or 3 buttons use a & b
or a, b & c respectively. If anyone has any experience
with a setup similar to this or has any suggestions, an e-mail
would
be much appreciated. I have
also been looking into Spinner controls to use for games such as Arkanoid, but it
appears that I either need to make one (most
likely choice) or I can buy one
from Happ for $121. Seems a bit expensive, but if all else
fails... I just found a great
alternative to the Happ controls spinner at a much better
price. The Oscar
Spinner runs from $45-$50 and seems to be just what I
need. The only question is, will it work with my KE72T or do I
have to somehow rig it up to be an alternate control alongside the
trackball/mouse? I'm not really high on purchasing a ME4
or an OptiPAC,
but if I must, I'll go with the OptiPAC which will allow for
installation of additional spinners/trackballs if need be.
Once again, if anyone has any experience, please, e-mail
me. Also, if you are building
one of these things yourself, stop by Build
Your Own Arcade Controls - they have almost all types of every
component covered and reviewed - an absolute godsend - a spectacular
site. |
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September 3, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
5 hours |
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| Thanks to the extremely
quick replies from Kelsey working at Oscar,
I have figured out how I am going to set up the spinners for my
cabinet. I will most likely go with model
1 which can be connected to the serial port. Alternatively,
I could go with the model 2 spinner and connect it through an OptiPAC
which would then again be connected through the serial port (up to 4
spinners can be connected to an OptiPAC, allowing for further upgrades
in the future). The problem is, that if I buy a model 1 and then
decide to upgrade in the future, I could run into some wiring
problems, thus a model 2 would probably be the smart way to go, but
the OptiPAC controller would have to be added to the cost of the
spinner.
As of September 3:
Model 1 = $49.00
Model 2 = $45.00
OptiPAC = $39.00
Therefore, Model 2 + OptiPAC = $84.00
for a spinner with future upgradeability...
Model 1 = $49.00 - no upgrade ability unless modifications to the
spinner were made.
It's a toss up right now and might be
a spur of the moment decision when I decide to purchase the spinner,
but I'm definitely going with the spinner from Oscar. I just
haven't run across a dual-spinner cabinet, nor do I see a reason to
add 2 spinners. Playing games like Arkanoid
requires only 1 spinner, so until I find a reason to have 2 spinners,
I might just go with Model 1 using a dual-mouse driver.
The top picture to the left shows the
know I'll probably go with (there are other knobs available).
The 2nd picture shows a Model 2 spinner connected to an OptiPAC.
I also had a bit of free time on my
hands, so I made a new mock-up of the control set-up I'll probably use
(very bottom picture - old mock-up is the 3rd picture). I used a
NeoGeo template for the layout of the red button along with the top
row of yellow, green, and blue. I then looked at a Streetfighter
layout which has them laid out in a row of 3 with another row directly
below. I'm not quite sure which one I'm going to use. The
1st mock-up (with the numbers and letters) probably is more
ergodynamic with the buttons in the 2 rows slightly off-set to make up
for the different lengths of your fingers, but you have to think that
the people who design the arcade games know what they're doing when
they lay out the game for a massive rollout. I'll probably end
up using some scrap wood to test both layouts and see what works
best. But I've pretty much settled on the fact that each person
will have 7 different buttons, each configured for each separate game. |
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September 4, 2001
Total
cost thus far:
$45.76 Time
spent thus far:
6 hours |
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More Pictures
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Today, work continued
(finally) after much more research. I didn't have enough time to
pull out the saw or do any woodwork, so I took out the control panel
board and proceeded to figure out how I was going to lay out the
buttons. I took the control panel templates from LuSiD
and modified them extensively. They were essentially used for a
crude layout and for approximating the sizes of the boxes (trackball
and joystick). The basic layout mirrored the 1st mock-up I did
but instead of the "1" button being between 2 & a, it is
slightly below "a." This way, I am able to use 2, 3, 4
& a, b, c for fighting games that take 6 buttons and use 1, a, b,
& c for NeoGeo type games. For games with only two buttons
required, buttons 1 & a can be used. I figured out that I'll
place 2 buttons above the trackball and then the spinner will be above
those two buttons. I have some pictures of the first layout and
spent some more time later tonight finalizing the layout.
Pictures will be coming in a couple of days (my camera-to-PC cable is
in San Diego and the cabinet is being built in Orange). I also
sketched out some blueprints for future use by others who need some
sort of guide to go by. Scans will be coming soon as well
(scanner is in S.D.).
As a side note, I've been playing way
to much Bump
'n' Jump lately. Addendum:
I continued my work on the control panel and finalized the positioning
of all the buttons - there will be 4 spare buttons located on the
control panel for future ease of use and I'm thinking about putting
two buttons on the side of the control panel box for use in
pinball-type games. I have finalized the blueprints and will put
them up online once I have them scanned in. The pictures are:
Left Column - 1st Picture: A shot of the control panel as it
lays outside. Note the trackball in the middle, bottom with the
two player controls on each side. Each one features a joystick and 7
buttons.
2nd Picture: The control panel inside - I thought it would
work better without the sun glare.
3rd Picture: A close-up of the right-side player's control
panel. Note the slightly offset 2nd buttons (top and bottom)
with the more offset 1st button on the far left.
4th Picture: A close-up of the left-side player's
controls. Same as the right. Both players are expected to
be right handed or proficient with these controls as a lefty.
5th (bottom) picture: A close up of the trackball and left-hand
controls. You can see that the controls are on a 22.5º angle
coming off of the trackball outline. From my impromptu tests,
the controls will work quite nicely.
Right Column - Top: These
blueprints are the layout for the control panel that I will be
using. In the middle, on the bottom is the trackball with the
spinner above it. Between the two, are two buttons (left and
right click for the trackball). On the top line are 8 little
slashes - these are all buttons. 4 of them will be used, 4 will
be left as spares - the buttons will be Player 1, Spare, Esc, Spare,
Spare, Pause, Spare, Player 2.
Right Column - Bottom: These blueprints (on yellow paper) is
the layout for the joysticks and buttons. This layout will be
placed within the first layout - there are two hashes indicating their
locations. The large box is the joystick (4/8 way) and the
buttons are laid out as can be seen. The first button is offset
from the others by 1/2 inch and the two buttons in the middle of the 6
are offset by 1/4 inch. These layouts have not been tested, but
should work out quite well.
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September 5, 2001
Total cost thus far:
$45.76
Time spent thus far:
8.5 hours |
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10:30am - I got to
work early this morning on cutting the third piece of wood which
included the second side to the cabinet along with the
monitor/television stand and a back panel. With some experience
cutting the first piece last week, this cut session went quite a bit
faster. After making all of the requisite cuts, I started in on
the base panel. I wanted it to be extra strong since it would be
holding up the whole cabinet - computer, television, controls and
all. The original plans called for 4 support beams beneath the
main base panel, which I have completed, but I plan on adding a couple
more stabilizing supports. I would be working on it right now,
but while doing preliminary construction work on the sides of the
cabinet, I misfired with the hammer and caught the side of my finger,
right near the fingernail, breaking the skin apart from the
nail. Once bandaged, I put in the last nail I was working on and
called it a day. Construction will continue this weekend.
Pictures have been taken and will be posted in a couple of days.
5:30pm - Work continued on the
project. I took the two sides of the cabinets, and cut out the
angled/curved section where the monitor face will be. I had
waited on this because I wanted to get both sides of the cabinet equal
before attempting this fine cut. On the first side, I used a
sliding protractor and made a 1/4 circle which then angled down to the
point marked for the cut and then towards the side. Once you see
the pictures, you'll know what I mean. The pictures are:
Left Column - 1st Picture: This is a shot of one side of the
cabinet. I made the final cuts including the part that curves
near the top. I also put in 3 reinforcing pieces of wood to
which I will install the pre-cut panels. These three panels
should provide ample support for the cabinet as I install it to the
base (see right column pictures).
2nd Picture: A close up of the other side of the cabinet -
same as the first...
3rd (bottom) Picture: Just a shot of both sides of the cabinet
back-to-back. The final construction should go quite smoothly as
the panels seemed to fit in perfectly.
Right Column - Top: A shot of
the cabinet base from the top. It's quite strong which surprised
me. Both a friend and I were able to stand on it without the
slightest hint of it giving way. Regardless, I'm going to add
one more cross beam.
Right Column - Middle: This is a shot of the cabinet base
laying on its side. You can see the two supports that reach all
the way from the "bottom" to the "top" of the
base. The two cross-supports help as well. Each of the 4
supports is held in place by 3 screws. One more thing to add is
a screw or nail through the side supports into the middle supports.
Right Column - Bottom: A shot of the base lying upside-down.
Looks pretty good don't it?
Blueprints for this
cabinet can be found on LuSiD's
site. Control blueprints can be found in the Sept. 4 entry.
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September 6, 2001
Total cost thus far:
$45.76
Time spent thus far:
8.5 hours |
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| Wow, the first day with
nothing new to report - probably because I have a big final tomorrow
that I've been studying for. Tomorrow will likely not see any
updates. Perhaps a new layout will be coming soon...we'll see. |
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September 7, 2001
Total cost thus far:
$45.76
Time spent thus far:
8.5 hours |
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| Today I had a final in my
Economics class and treated myself afterwards with a trip to Frys.
There I priced motherboards, processors, RAM, and a new hard
drive. It seems as if the best way to go is a bundle
motherboard/processor/ram which I will most likely get for $180.
Then I just need to add a power supply ($30), video
card ($70) and a hard drive (I'll be replacing one from my current
computer with a bigger sized one, so the cost is minimal). I'm
not sure about a sound card yet - the motherboard has an on-board
sound card, but I'll most likely go with an authentic Sound Blaster
Pro 32.
Construction continues
tomorrow...can't wait (as I'm sure you can't either). |
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September 9, 2001
Total cost thus far:
$55.64
Time spent thus far:
10.5 hours |
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More
Pictures:
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Work has finally started up
again. Today I headed over to Home Depot and picked up three 8
foot 2x2 pieces of wood and some Elmer's Wood Glue. Total cost:
3 x $1.74 + 3.97 + tax = $9.88. I came back and cut the 2x2's to
the requisite length and then nailed them onto the sides of the
cabinet (see pictures). The 2x2's were first glued into place
via Elmer's wood glue and then when the glue had dried enough, they
were nailed from the other side. Since I plan on covering the
outer sides with a contact paper, or something similar, it doesn't
really matter if there's nails on that side.
I also reinforced the bottom stand
for the cabinet by putting some screws through the two endplates into
the middle ones - it's now almost indestructible.
The pictures are:
Left Column - 1st (top) Picture: This is a shot of the side
of the cabinet before all of the 2x2's have been placed on it.
You can see how I had originally planned to use scrap pieces of the
1/2" particle board, but it was brought to my attention that
2x2's would probably work better (and I'm sure they will be infinitely
better.
2nd (bottom) Picture: This is a shot of the base of the
cabinet. You can see the two extra screws that I put into it to
further strengthen the base. As I stated earlier, this base
holds over 250 pounds easily and is a great base plate. I had
thought that I should add a "X" shape in the middle with
some more pieces of the particle board, but it's so sturdy as is, I'll
probably just leave it.
Right Column - Top: A shot
of the cabinet side with all of the 2x2's around it. They are
all placed 1" in from the edge of the cabinet since all of the
1/2" pieces of particle board are to be recessed 1/2".
The only piece that is not recessed 1" is the piece that will
hold the controls - see bottom picture...
Right Column - Bottom: A shot of the cabinet side (again) with
the 2x2's glued and nailed in from the other side. You can see
the control box sitting on top of the ledge which has a 2x2 underneath
it, flush with the cut of the cabinet side. This will provide an
easy target to hammer into when the time comes to put the control box
on.
Tomorrow...the box might see some
further assembly. I have to figure out where to put the 2x2's
for the monitor/tv shelf. Once that is done, assembly can
continue, but I'm pretty unsure as of now where to put the
shelf. What I'll probably do instead is to work on a drawer that
will go in the front of the cabinet for easy keyboard access. Oh
yeah, my order from Hagstrom
should arrive tomorrow (see August 31st entry), but I won't be waiting
on pins & needles. There might also be a new design sometime
soon.
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