Very nice, Seph! I was wondering how it was coming along!
Very nice, Seph! I was wondering how it was coming along!
Thanks fellers.
From what I remember about the PACs is that they could be daisychained, so it shouldnt be real hard. You can post/search http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php pretty sure it's been brought up before.
What I did with my CP was to ask for someones base shape, the dimensions part, and then went to http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/layout.html and found a style that fit me. Then I added the extra buttons. Ill upload the pdf version http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FXTQ6MFH Should be able to import it in PS np, and shrink it if need be, it's quite big at 37x18".
Figured I'd post since it's related. For others interested in building one here are some vids with a good representation:
PART - 1
http://revision3.com/systm/mamecase
PART - 2
http://revision3.com/systm/mamecase2
PART - 3
http://revision3.com/systm/buttons
PART - 4
http://revision3.com/systm/software
PART - 5
http://revision3.com/systm/itsover
There are also plenty of vids on youtube.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8318668_n.jpg
Welp, so the time has come to prime and paint, but first comes priming, how I hate thee. Before shot.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4497489_n.jpg
After first coat. Took about an hour to do this, it just soaked up so much primer. I originally wanted to prime the whole thing.. but meh, figured id forgo that and just prime what was necessary.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8138798_n.jpg
After te second coat. Went much faster, probably 20 minutes, and most of the time was filling in the seams between panels because I didnt want to putty them. Still not sure if im going to regret that or not. Probably, but hopefully a lot of finish coats of paint will solve that. It wont be noticable anyway.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3239864_n.jpg
I have to say it looks better than staring at brown MDF, but only half way there. Now I just need to sand again, and find the right kind of paint. Some spots need a bit of heavy sanding, but nothing too bad, shouldnt take a long time.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1882264_n.jpg
Ah yes, so this is the near final verion of the side art. I say near final just because I havent asked anyone to take a look over it yet. Im pretty happy with it, so itll probably stay the same, maybe some slight changes if anything. The red line just the template. Just remembered I forgot to add the cost of the griffin to the spread sheet, oh well next time. But that whole thng was an ordea; istockphoto is a horrible company, but tend to have good artists, so i had to bite the bullet. They have tiers of credits you can buy, of course you cant buy 1 at a time, only 12, or 26, 40, etc. This one cost 20 creds, so ofcourse I would have to buy the 26 creds, wasting money. Luckily I found someone giving out 10 free creds, so only had to buy the 12 cred package for 19$ Luckily the artist was nice enough to make this two images in one, where it's possible to remove the placard. I know what youre thinking 'you didnt draw/make it' oh well, im not that good, and only 10 other people in the world have this same image, so its original enough.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3906029_n.jpg
And here is the CPO art, again, something I was worried about, but I think itll come out good. Designing arty stuff is not my strong point, but oh well, it's better than my original idea of the blue and red thing.
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs312...._6455499_n.jpg
Annnd the marquee. Finding a good font was hard, but I think this one will work out good. Im not sure sure if I want to keep in that color though. After looking back at the CPO and side art, I think the marquee is lacking something, I think i may add a background to it. Theres a line between something busy, and not busy at all, but this image seems it may need some busyness.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7778380_n.jpg
Material List and Total Cost at the moment.
I'll be honest I couldn't give a shit about having my own MAME but I love to see any Diy stuff whether it's computers or home theaters, cars, and this. Spectacular job so far
Just a small entry today, though I have moved my machine in from the garage in to the house, so it's begun the finalization steps. Ill have a bigger update this weekend probably.
In the mean time.
I planned on using Maximus Aracde as my frontend, and saw that it had the ability to run an intro movie.. so I wanted to make a simple one.
I wanted to make an intro for my arcade machine I built, and this is what I came up with. My goal was to represent some of the most iconic games, along with some of the most fun, well known, and ones that I enjoyed as well. Thanks to some of the BG members for some suggestions. 68 games along with my personal arcade graphics at the end.
In near order: Altered Beast, Area 51, Arkanoid, Blast Master, Bust a Move, Centipede, Chrono Trigger, Contra, Dragon Ball, Defender, Descent, Donkey Kong, Dragons Lair, Duck Hunt, Ecco, Excite Bike, Final Fantasy, Frogger, Galaga, Ghouls n Ghosts, Golden Tee, Goldeneye, Joust, Kirby, King of Fighters, Lemmings, Lufia, Mario, Mega Man, Metal Gear Solid, Metal Slug, Metroid, Missle Command, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Ninja Gaiden, Off Road, PacMan, Pinball, Pitfall, Pokemon, Pong, portal, Phantasy Star, Punch Out, QBert, RType, Shinobi, Simpsons, SmashTV, Sonic, Sould Edge, Space Invaders, Star Fox, Star Wars, Street Fighter, Tecmo Super Bowl, Tekken, Tetrix, TMNT, Tron, Uniracers, Unreal, Virtual On, Worms, XMen, and Zelda.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jo0bPqOsxg
What's the music? I like.
Main score from Inception.
Looks exciting, Seph! I saw a DBZ laced in there somewhere, I'm surprised you didn't put the PSX 2D fighter (I think it was called DBZ: Ultimate Battle 22) on there.
I love the intro. Is that going to play on a loop?
needs weltall - weltall II clip
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6888462_n.jpg
Primer on the base
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2313996_n.jpg
Primer on the CP
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2628415_n.jpg
2x Black on the base
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4579969_n.jpg
2x Black on the CP.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6952010_n.jpg
2x Black on the cabinet. I let it dry for two weeks, and then I finally moved it inside of the house. It was slightly tackey to the touch, but most laytex paint will be for 30 days. Since it's inside of an airconditioned environment now, it feels nearly set
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2319086_n.jpg
Black went on a lot easier thats for sure
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7882867_n.jpg
I was surprized how well it covered, and theres no paint marks left anywhere. However there are a few touch ups ill need to do after everythings installed. The putty I used to cover the holes didnt come out completly flat.. but whatever, it's done
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5800176_n.jpg
TV placed inside, so much effort to get this thing in and out lol, even with the back panels off, it's just a monster. I built the base of the cabinet, and tv stand extra strong, so it's not a problem, but yeah
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1697210_n.jpg
26x24-3/4x1/4" Tempered Greylite #14 Glass. Not as dark as people were saying, I think itll be fine, I doubt ill have to turn the contrast up or anything. Just light enough for light to pass through, but dark enough to hide the things behind it
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6217997_n.jpg
Also bought some framers matte to make a bezel out of. expensive @ 10$ but cheaper than buying it from ripoff Happ
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7257508_n.jpg
This thing was kind of annoying. The material wasnt bad to work with, but trying to get all the cuts, dimensions and folds correct were
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...2_712846_n.jpg
Folded the sides in, hopefully at the right angles
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2278406_n.jpg
I cut out little triangles to fill the gaps of the corners, and hot glued them together. I took some landscaping fabric and covered the corners as well, just to make sure no light gets through.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2721661_n.jpg
Back side of the bezel
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3294368_n.jpg
Front corner. Looks slightly rouch, but behind the glass.. it shouldnt be noticable
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1180060_n.jpg
Front shot of it.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6358529_n.jpg
And just resting in the cabinet. I think it looks pretty good, I guess good enough for just winging it, and not making any real template
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1755794_n.jpg
The next step was to get the control panel ready to go, so I put the TNuts in for the joysticks, and..
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5209877_n.jpg
Started cutting out the holes in my overlay. Yup, orderd and got the graphics in last week, and im fairly happy with them, I thought the background was a bit darker.. but meh, good enough. Im just happy it's done with, and they all fit. That was my biggest concern
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4841054_n.jpg
Here it is with the holes cut out, it gets rid of a lot of the white space which I planned on
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7696726_n.jpg
So I took the overlay, and placed it on the CP, put the plexi on, put the buttons in, and tightened them down. The buttons keep the plexi on no problem. I think it looks prett good
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6610699_n.jpg
The next step was to get them all wired up. I havent done a big wiring project like this in a few years, so my hands hated me for it. Wasnt too bad though, daisychained the negatives and ran it back on itself for a closed loop, and clamped it down in to the IPac board. 16 inputs x2 is how many I could have on this particular board. Each button and joystick movement has one wire running back to the board from the NO connection
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6399041_n.jpg
I did the P2 side in green, and the P1 side in red just to make it a bit easier to tell the difference. I did P1 last because it involved a bit more work. I had to wire the P1 joystick along with the PACMAN middle joystick, nothing crazy hard, just an extra step. Just ran a wire from one joystick to the other back to the board
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6561758_n.jpg
I also had to wire the two buttons next to the pacman joy to p1 buttons, and to the spinner to act as mousebuttons for the computer, so that involved a little extra wiring. As with the joystick, I had to wire the p1 and middle buttons together, but I also had to rig it to connect to a computer pin like terminal, which was a bit of a pain, but this is what I came up with
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1409462_n.jpg
And here is it all wired up, nice and kind of clean.. Ill add zip ties and adhesive mounts to the thing once I connect it and make sure everythings working. It has a self test LED on it, and it seems everything is correct, but you never know
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1818673_n.jpg
I then added these two boards which control the spinner and the trackbal
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8074727_n.jpg
And here it is all finished from the back
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7762222_n.jpg
Annnd from the front. Looks pretty good I think. Joystick just sitting in there at the moment, ill snap them in once everything is set.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5237110_n.jpg
I also screwed the coin door in finally, looks better than just the fram sitting in it. The kick plate as well. I decided to go against drilling in to it, so I just used double sided sticky tape, and thats working quite well.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2383972_n.jpg
The marquee retainer here is also just held on via sticky tape. I also cut it very tight, so it shouldnt go anywhere.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6340214_n.jpg
And here it is with the marquee in, yup yup, that looks good too. I made it so it would be slightly big, and ordered the plexi that way too, so I had to do a little snipping to it.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2275374_n.jpg
Pull back view of the three new things installed
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7556783_n.jpg
Of course in order to light up the marquee, you need lights. LED lights. No cold tubs for this. These should last longer, and fit the bill fine.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3812401_n.jpg
Here it is installed, as well as with the speakers in with more double sided tape
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3782496_n.jpg
The black stuff is some of my dads landscaping material he uses, and id figure it would be perfect to keep the light from coming out of the speaker grills, but also let the sound through no problem. Seems to work fine.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2204757_n.jpg
Here are the coin lights wired up in parallel, simple enough. I actually had to get new lights, the old ones looked fine, but they didnt light up. Luckily there is an arcade vendor not too far away, and ive used them to buy a couple of things, and they gave me 6 lights for free, was very pleased. The marquee and coins lights are hooked up to my PCs power supply via molex.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5956107_n.jpg
Here's the cabinet all lit up
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._8322390_n.jpg
Back of the marquee
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...8_796060_n.jpg
Annnd.. doh, shadows. I had not taken in to account the casting of shadows from the furring, but uh, yeah. I half care, half dont, it looks good, but I guess I can shave down the inside a bit I guess.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3942237_n.jpg
Back of the coin door
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1946750_n.jpg
Front of the coin door
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7489878_n.jpg
Material List and Total Cost at the moment
Great job!!! Hopefully we get to see videos of it in action soon.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1111709_n.jpg
Minor addition today. So how to fix the shadow issue on the marquee? Well, A hammer and a chisel, thats how. I didnt really want to take out the support and replace them with L brackets, it would have caused more damage trying to get the things out, so I opted for this route.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2410171_n.jpg
It looks ugly, but gets the job done. Some screw exposure there, but the thing is also glued down tight as well, it's not going anywhere (or so I say now).
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1426365_n.jpg
Pretty good I think, could make it look a bit better.. but not worth the trouble when it's barely this noticable now.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4400226_n.jpg
I also spent some time getting down to the software side of things. Ive been customizing the front end which makes all the emulators and games run seemlessly, and also getting proper working emulators for the games I have.
At the moment I have every game ever made for: Atari 2600, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 400/800/800XL, Atari Jaguar, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, ColecoVision, MAME, Mattel Intellivision, MSX, MSX2, NEC Turbo-Grafx-16 / NEC PC Engine, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo Super NES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Gameboy, Nintendo Gameboy Color, Nintendo Gameboy Advance, Sega Genesis, Sega 32X, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, and SNK Neo-Geo.
So those are out of the way. Ill also be getting Virtual Boy, Vectex, and Nintendo DS, as well as some pinball games.
What's left is 3D0, CD-i, TG-CD, Sega CD, Dreamcast, PS1, GameCube, Xbox, and PSP. However with these I wont be getting all the games. Their file sizes range roughly from 300~700mb+ and ive about 60gb left to spare, and dont really feel like getting another hdarddrive yet, even though theyre dirt cheap. I really dont want all those games anyway, as there are only about ~10 real good ones per each anyway.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7932151_n.jpg
By the way, for those who are still wondering, or asking me where I got the graphics from, who did them, etc.
I got the background off of google, it is a 3000x50000 pixel 16-century japanese handscroll entitled Hyakki Yakō ひゃっきやこのず 百鬼夜行図 by Tosa Mitsuoki. It roughly means "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons".
This scroll was horrid to work worth, very weathed, differential marks everywhere, etc, if I didnt know how to use PhotoShop (and the new content aware tool) I probably wouldnt have even bother trying to work with it. It looks completly different from the original now.
As far as the griffin goes, it's done by a German vector artist named Denis Zorin, whos only given it to about 10 other people, he was also nice enough to add the placard as well, so that I could have it in some pieces, and not in others. While it's not the best depiction of a griffin, I think it looks quite good.
So, with these two images in hand, I took about a week or so in photoshop and had at it. Made lots of different things, but finally ended up with the images you see. The fonts were found randomly on the web. So no, I didnt pay someone to make these for me, I did all the work (yes, moving and minipulating can be very hard), and then sent them to be printed out.
ETA on Completion? Cabinet: End of week. Software: End of next. Though ill be on vaction for the next few days here, I think it'll get done. Either way, I will be finished by the end of the month no problem.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3270461_n.jpg
Got the TMolding in today, now I can finally put the side art on. Three 20ft coils, 3/4" thick, Black leather.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._7089579_n.jpg
Close up of the 'leather'. It just has little grooves in it really, but better than plain. I was wavering between gray and this, and just decided to go with this.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5004528_n.jpg
Here is my CP all finished now since I have the tmolding on.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...2_580197_n.jpg
Close up of the P1 side
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2106952_n.jpg
Close up of the P2 side.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2335293_n.jpg
Annnnnnd tada, it went on flawlessly, no bubbles, nothing. It looks great. I made it so it would be oversized, so I just lined everything up to look good, and then trimmed off the sides leaving a bit of overhang that I folded over and put the TMolding overtop.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1669249_n.jpg
Closer shot. The Tmolding was a bit of a pain to get on, but mstly the bottom part, but it looks very nice.
Looks amazing so far! Fantastic work. Looking forward to seeing the rest.
How much do you think you would charge for labour for a build like this? From start to finish?
Haha, im not even sure. Materials alone cost over 1k, the time I put in to it.. I didnt even bother to keep track. The graphics alone was at least a work week, configuring/getting the software/games was/will be probably another work week..
The building took me on and off a year, because I didnt have a solid game plan, had to wait on parts/etc, couldnt work during some of the colder parts of the year, laziness, busy with other things, etc.. If I had everything together, materials, plans, etc.. It would probably have taken me two or three work weeks at most. No reason for the whole project to go over a month.
Im also a very meticulous person, so it was measure 50 times, mark a line, measure 20 lins, start to cut, check 10 more times, then cut. I hadnt done a major woodworking project like this in many years, so I had to relearn a few things, redo a few things, etc. So if I had to do it again, it wouldnt be a problem at all.
But would I want to do it again? Not any time soon hahaha.
I think the next time I do something like this itll be for my home theater/game room, and then I may build another.
You're doing a fantastic job so far, I can't wait to see the first startup.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5997823_n.jpg
Finally time to put the last pieces in, the glass and bezel. Went in fairly easy, fits snug against the molding, and four angle brackets hold it in place
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6678346_n.jpg
Back view. Pretty simple installation
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3366839_n.jpg
This is a shot with the TV in, looks jet black and cant see anything behind it. The tint hides everything behind it very well
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._6469028_n.jpg
However it's not tinted so much the screen cant be seen when it's on. This was one of my bigger worries when I ordered the glass, but it came out great. I didnt need to touch the contrast or anything. Pitch black when off, perfectly viewable when on
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._1344860_n.jpg
The bezel fits it fairly well too, ever so slightly off, but good enough for being home made
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._2779506_n.jpg
Ta da, almost finished. Just a few more touches to do on the cabinet itself, the rest will be all software which should take a day or two, but thats also a never ending aspect of a mame
I'm curious as to where you plan on putting it in your house. Oh, and getting any stools for it?