Some Mame Guidance Needed

[TelcoLou]

Hi there

I've been doing a lot of research regarding building my own MAME cab, and wanted some input/ideas form some folks with experience.

We pretty much decided on going with a SlikStick setup, both for price and ease of build. (I dread the idea of wiring the controls myself)

I've been slowly getting games for MAME32 0.109 and like the easy Windows setup, so I won't be using any of those weird-ass front ends.

It will likely be several months before we're ready to take the plunge, but I wanted to get some opinions and maybe some tips I hadn't thought of.

Thanks in advance.

 

[TelcoLou]

Well, guess no one here has a MAME cab

'sokay ... I just got the full 0.110 romset and upgraded to the latest version of MAME32

Freaky 1.4MB/s download speed too ... started the 15GB download at ~4pm and finished up before 9pm.

So anyway ... we'll likely be getting the CO2 combo set-up:

http://www.slikstik.com/detail.aspx?ID=134

... now to browse for a new PC :lol:

 

[Ravnos]

Good luck with the MAME cab. I wanted to build one but my gf wouldn't let me put one in our apartment. I was thinking about getting an X-Arcade stick to play MAME on my XBox though, and for shmups and fighters on my DC. That slikstik one looks pricey, though. Too rich for my blood. Hope it works out for you though.

 

[TelcoLou]

Thanks man. It's been my dream to own an arcade cabinet since I was tall enough to peek at the screen

The Nathan's near where I used to live had an arcade in the back room; it had mostly pinball machines and a few crude (by today's standards) light-gun shooting games. I could barely play them, and had to stand on a plastic crate to reach the controls ...

Here's the color scheme we've decided on:

We're going to replace each right-hand stick with a top-fire 8-way stick (for games like Tron, Star Wars, After-Burner, etc)

 

[fluffyhamster]

Do you have a wife, if so, she must be da bomb to let you fork over that much money for a cabinet. To play Mame though, you should be able to build a 200-300 dollar computer plus Linux, or *cough* bootlegged windows *cough*.

 

[TelcoLou]

Do you have a wife, if so, she must be da bomb to let you fork over that much money for a cabinet. To play Mame though, you should be able to build a 200-300 dollar computer plus Linux, or *cough* bootlegged windows *cough*.

My beautiful Bride is as excited as I am (She rocks at Centipede)

I'll just build a cheap Windows rig, as I'm Linux Illiterate ... ZipZoomFly has some decent prices and we love their service & fast delivery.

 

[fluffyhamster]

Do you have a wife, if so, she must be da bomb to let you fork over that much money for a cabinet. To play Mame though, you should be able to build a 200-300 dollar computer plus Linux, or *cough* bootlegged windows *cough*.

My beautiful Bride is as excited as I am (She rocks at Centipede)

I'll just build a cheap Windows rig, as I'm Linux Illiterate ... ZipZoomFly has some decent prices and we love their service & fast delivery.

I like that you can admit your Linux Illiterate, because I am too! It took me forever to set up Debian, but it was a learning experience .

Based on these reqs,
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#g02

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...e=a1410e_series

that comp should be fine, for almost if not cheaper then what you can build one, with legal windows

 

[TelcoLou]

Based on these reqs,
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#g02

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...e=a1410e_series

that comp should be fine, for almost if not cheaper then what you can build one, with legal windows

Thanks for the links, but I think we need more power ... and at least a Radeon video card (for the S-Video out for the TV). I was thinking of at least an Athlon 3000+, with 2GB RAM ... I guess an older 128MB AGP Radeon should do the trick.

We don't want to skimp on power ... I find that some games are running slow and choppy now (we have an old Athlon 1100, 32MB on-board gfx and ~624MB RAM)

 

[fluffyhamster]

Based on these reqs,
http://www.mame.net/mamefaq.html#g02

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping...e=a1410e_series

that comp should be fine, for almost if not cheaper then what you can build one, with legal windows

Thanks for the links, but I think we need more power ... and at least a Radeon video card (for the S-Video out for the TV). I was thinking of at least an Athlon 3000+, with 2GB RAM ... I guess an older 128MB AGP Radeon should do the trick.

We don't want to skimp on power ... I find that some games are running slow and choppy now (we have an old Athlon 1100, 32MB on-board gfx and ~624MB RAM)

I want to know what these "demanding games are" cause i really want to know. I don't see anything that special in an arcade, ofcourse, i know absolutely nothing about it

If anyone asks, i own the arcade machine of that game

EDIT: How much money do you have to throw at this thing??

 

[TelcoLou]

Fighting games are especially demanding ... and 720º is slow for some reason ... :blink: But again, I'm testing these games currently on an basic PC with on-board gfx. I read somewhere that a good set-up needs only a fast CPU and lots of RAM (ambiguous, I know ... WTH is 'fast' and 'lots' supposed to mean?)

We figured total cost should be ~$2,500.

 

[fluffyhamster]

Fighting games are especially demanding ... and 720º is slow for some reason ... :blink: But again, I'm testing these games currently on an basic PC with on-board gfx. I read somewhere that a good set-up needs only a fast CPU and lots of RAM (ambiguous, I know ... WTH is 'fast' and 'lots' supposed to mean?)

We figured total cost should be ~$2,500.

Doesn't that leave you with like 800 dollars left (before shipping)????

My semi gaming rig is like $650 , might as well put a server in your cabinet .

 

[TelcoLou]

See, I'm unsure of exactly how 'high-end' we need to go.

I don't want to be too frugal, then wind up coming across a game that doesn't run quite fast enough. Once this thing is built and set up, that's it

 

[CABBAGES]

Some of the CHD games need quite a good pc to work well but maybe you dont care about them ?

 

[virusx]

I also have a Xarcade duo stick at home and it rocks (when it's working )

@Telco: I also use a great frontend, not for mame only it's called GAME EX.
The only problem is that you need a solid Pc to run it but it support many emu and apps.

 

[fluffyhamster]

See, I'm unsure of exactly how 'high-end' we need to go.

I don't want to be too frugal, then wind up coming across a game that doesn't run quite fast enough. Once this thing is built and set up, that's it

If you don't care about spending 800 bucks, make a comp that will last as your Mame Cabinet for 10 years, like a good AM2 set up with lots of space for upgradability , And if it's Mame Cab only , just use DOS :rolleyes: .

 

[TelcoLou]

Some of the CHD games need quite a good pc to work well but maybe you dont care about them ?

I don't have any CHD games. Yet ... * Ponders *

 

[TelcoLou]

@Telco: I also use a great frontend, not for mame only it's called GAME EX.
The only problem is that you need a solid Pc to run it but it support many emu and apps.

A couple of questions for you then; what's the appeal to an alternate front-end? I set up MAME32's interface to show the games' name, manufacturer, date and screenshot. on the left panel are the categories. What do these front-ends offer that MAME32's default interface lacks?

See, I'm unsure of exactly how 'high-end' we need to go.

I don't want to be too frugal, then wind up coming across a game that doesn't run quite fast enough. Once this thing is built and set up, that's it

If you don't care about spending 800 bucks, make a comp that will last as your Mame Cabinet for 10 years, like a good AM2 set up with lots of space for upgradability , And if it's Mame Cab only , just use DOS :rolleyes: .

DOS?@?@?@!?!?!?? Crap, I haven't messed around with DOS since 1984-ish. No thanks!

Thanks for all the input folks, I really appreciate it.

 

[craigix]

I have a couple of cabs, one is a ridge racer sit down, the other is a little bigger than a beer can and uses the guts of a gp32.

I have a spare 29" SVGA monitor if you are in the UK and want it cheap...

-Craig

 

[TelcoLou]

I have a couple of cabs, one is a ridge racer sit down, the other is a little bigger than a beer can and uses the guts of a gp32.

I have a spare 29" SVGA monitor if you are in the UK and want it cheap...

-Craig

Many thanks for the offer, but I'm in the USA

... I remember seeing a picture of that mini-MAME cab ... :lol: Do you have any pics of your sit-down cab? What steering wheel do you use? (I read that MAME doesn't officially support wheel controllers)

 

[TheMinder]

I'm in the process of moving house but when we are settled in i was going to try to build something like the mini cocktail cabinet here : http://www.digitalarcade.co.uk/diary.htm (the diary is unfinished though).