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DIY set up by Arcadeworx is only the begining - Wanting to build an AIO Cab


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Hey Peeps!

 

Firstly it's been ages since i sat and had a nice game of any sort, with 3 kids under 4 it's almost impossible to get some me time, but things are looking up with an easy DIY set up by Arcadeworx! - Viewlix 32inch It looks perfect and I want to give this a go, but I have about 1 million questions that I'm hoping I could tie into a single thread for me and others wishing to do something similar.

 

Originally I saw a thread on OCAU and posted up there, but i figured it's best to come to the gaming experts of console, cabs and mame all rolled into one, and hence where I want this project to end up, an All-in-One (AIO) setup.

 

So i am leaning towards a 32in Vewlix - Start forward from Troy and the fun begins (yet to order of course)

 

Ideally I would like to build a cab as an AIO, PS3/Xbox/Wii/MAME & Jukebox setup? I assume there would be enough room in the cabinet for all of these. So far I have found a PS360 PCB, so that covers that, next would be Wii & MAME on a miniitx board to conserve space.

 

Since I have no experience in putting together a Control Panel, and what joysticks and buttons to use, i would opt for the best money can buy, what I don't know is how can i get a track ball and Vaus on the CP as well, will it look crowded am i biting off too much than I can chew here?

 

One of the problems I have is I over commit and want stuff close to perfect, [fussy bastard] so as with my carpc it's taken over 5 years to build it perfect, and it's the second time around, it's almost perfect, LOL..

 

As i haven't played MAME in ages I am not sure what version and what is the best CP to cater for most of the games available, also a jukebox would be perfect as it can act as both game and visual entertainment, cmon, nothing like karaoke during a BBQ.

 

What I need to work out is how many buttons will the CP require, will a Vaus and track ball fit, can i get some buttons for a pinball game too?

 

Again as I have little experience in this area (although I did do work experience at able amusements some 25 years ago) my love for arcade games started back then! I have looked at places like http://slagcoin.com/ which has a wealth of information including this one http://slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html for joysticks and buttons rolled into one, but again, i need a mix bag of tricks.

 

Keen to hear peoples thoughts, ideas and any +ve criticism to help me get this started

 

Cheers

Kosti

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Hey Kosti. There is enough room in the cab for multiple consoles and a small mini tower. So space inside the cab is not a problem. Choice of components is a personal thing but so far most customers have uses sanwa sticks/buttons to keep with th vewlix theme :)
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Hey Peeps!

 

Firstly it's been ages since i sat and had a nice game of any sort, with 3 kids under 4 it's almost impossible to get some me time, but things are looking up with an easy DIY set up by Arcadeworx! - Viewlix 32inch It looks perfect and I want to give this a go, but I have about 1 million questions that I'm hoping I could tie into a single thread for me and others wishing to do something similar.

 

Originally I saw a thread on OCAU and posted up there, but i figured it's best to come to the gaming experts of console, cabs and mame all rolled into one, and hence where I want this project to end up, an All-in-One (AIO) setup.

 

So i am leaning towards a 32in Vewlix - Start forward from Troy and the fun begins (yet to order of course)

 

Ideally I would like to build a cab as an AIO, PS3/Xbox/Wii/MAME & Jukebox setup? I assume there would be enough room in the cabinet for all of these. So far I have found a PS360 PCB, so that covers that, next would be Wii & MAME on a miniitx board to conserve space.

 

Since I have no experience in putting together a Control Panel, and what joysticks and buttons to use, i would opt for the best money can buy, what I don't know is how can i get a track ball and Vaus on the CP as well, will it look crowded am i biting off too much than I can chew here?

 

One of the problems I have is I over commit and want stuff close to perfect, [fussy bastard] so as with my carpc it's taken over 5 years to build it perfect, and it's the second time around, it's almost perfect, LOL..

 

As i haven't played MAME in ages I am not sure what version and what is the best CP to cater for most of the games available, also a jukebox would be perfect as it can act as both game and visual entertainment, cmon, nothing like karaoke during a BBQ.

 

What I need to work out is how many buttons will the CP require, will a Vaus and track ball fit, can i get some buttons for a pinball game too?

 

Again as I have little experience in this area (although I did do work experience at able amusements some 25 years ago) my love for arcade games started back then! I have looked at places like http://slagcoin.com/ which has a wealth of information including this one http://slagcoin.com/joystick/attributes_brands.html for joysticks and buttons rolled into one, but again, i need a mix bag of tricks.

 

Keen to hear peoples thoughts, ideas and any +ve criticism to help me get this started

 

Cheers

Kosti

 

Hey Kosti, don't feel like you were thread crapping on the OCAU thread, I honestly didn't mind :)

 

I can help suggest a lot of things to you from my experience with the cab and from my experience with the hardware (while i'm no where near as "expert" as some of the guys here, I have quite a bit of experience on the internal cabinet part of things :D)

 

So you say ideally you would like it to be an AIO cab.

 

For the PS3 and 360 side of things, I would personally recommend the PS360 pcb, it makes things easy in terms of wiring up, it provides a completely solderless solution (don't think you'll get away with doing an all in one without not soldering though :))

 

For the Wii, you could do a couple of things, you could use an MC Cthulhu. The MC Cthulhu will work on the PS3 (with all of the functionality of the original PS3 Only Cthulhu, so yes, it works just fine on PC), Xbox1, Dreamcast, Playstion/Playstation 2, Gamecube, NES, Super Nintendo, 3DO*, Sega Saturn and TurboGrafx16/PC-Engine consoles. Playstation support appears to work well with many converters.

(3DO support is currently limited to being the only controller. No daisy chain support or support in a daisy chain.) Obviously the Wii support will only be for games that are compatible with the gamecube controller.

 

If you want full wii support where you connect a wii remote, you'd be best to use one of the Pii Wee PCB's that Toodles also created. I personally haven't used this pcb, but there'd be a wealth of information in that thread and on SRK in general.

 

MAME/jukebox wise, you should be able to use any one of those PCB's and map buttons once inside MAME. As for navigation within the computer, it's definitely not my forte and I'm sure other people here would point you to the right direction, but would a cordless keyboard with a touchpad on it work? If you just placed it inside the cabinet when not in use?

 

I know you were wanting a trackball on the CP, but would this trackball purely have been for navigation or are there games that you would actually want to play using this trackball?

 

For me personally, I would leave a trackball out on the CP, I would just have the standard 6 face buttons and additional buttons for start/home/back etc..(I would just go for the keyboard option, but like I said, that's just for me).

 

Since you're going to be using it as a jukebox, it might be worth looking at car audio speakers with a car amp so you can "doof doof" it :)

 

I'm sure some higher end computer speakers would also work, so I guess that's something you'll cross once you start doing the build.

 

As for the CP, I would highly recommend the following:

 

- Sanwa JLF joystick

- Sanwa OBSF-30's for the face buttons

- Sanwa OBSF-24's for the navigation buttons

 

Using Sanwa makes things easier as Troy's are already made for Sanwa's. I personally prefer the sanwa's compared to seimitsu's just for the softness and responsiveness. The seimitsu's are too stiff for my liking.

 

With the 2p panel, I would personally would go for the standard 6 face buttons (i'm not a fan of the 8 button layout that all of the arcade sticks that are available for the console use, i know I have 7 holes in mine, but I will be plugging it off, I simply went for the 7 button layout to try and mimic the original vewlix). 2 start buttons, and maybe have the home/back/turbo buttons at the bottom, you'll probably need to also consider how many buttons you "may" need for use with MAME and what not, although the more buttons u have at the top, the more "cluttered" it'll look, my favourite things about the vewlix cab is the sheer minimalist approach of it.

 

Once I have my cab painted and re-assembled, you're more then welcome to come over and check it out, I think though you'll probably have ordered by then though :)

 

If there is anything you need on the console side of things, I'm more then happy to help with as much information as I can :)

 

Good luck with the project mate..

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I'll jump in and plug Sanwa joysticks and buttons - I have them on my Astro, and they're awesome for arcade gaming :)

 

The rest of it is beyond me as I don't use HD consoles (or any consoles) in my cab. I would recommend that if the machine's setup for JAMMA that you grab an ATi video card that supports Soft15k and pair that with a JPAC to be able to hook your MAME PC into the machine easily.

 

Mind, if you're not going with JAMMA wiring as your standard, it's a different story. ArcadeWorx has an extremely good name on these boards, you'll plenty of love for their work on here.

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Thanks team for those that have contributed thus far...:023:

 

@ mR_CaESaR!

Mate, this is a perfect start to my quest and you have covered almost all angles that I need to approach this from. Thank you :038:

 

I was thinking for the trackball could be used as a mouse function for jukebox control and some games on Mame (marble madness and of course missile command), although this instant a show stopped, and like u said could look clustered up, but keeping options open at this stage, alternative a logitech BT keyboard/mouse combo is small enough to tuck away anywhere if I drop the trackball and the logitect is PS3 compatible too.

 

I am not sure what the function of the home/back/turbo buttons are for although I assume they have to do with the PS3:confused: these could be smaller type buttons or placed on the side of the CP (if possible) along with my pinball buttons, although not sure if it will be to wide for pinball action [Troy to confirm if buttons can be added to the sides]

 

I thought about JAMMA boards like those 1940in1 games, just not sure as want to keep some of the cost down as I have a few minitx MB i could use so may still go with a small factor PC for Mame & Jukebox.

 

After thinking about this in more detail and adding a Wii would be an overkill and possibly a waste of $$$, a PC & PS3 and or Xbox360 would be sufficient and keep cost down.

 

As for speakers, i have an old set of Boston's that I was thinking of using as these are 4.1's and would be enough i hope to keep up with the doof doof part :048:

 

So the hardest part is working out the CP, the list you provided seems to be the common theme people use and so this would be more than suitable. Although Ive yet to decide if I'm going to go with 6/7 or 8 buttons but i like the idea that you plan on plugging ur 7th, so may look at this setup

 

- Sanwa JLF joystick - so is an 8 way the one to get how hard would it be to change them over to a 4 way for SHUMPS and pacman etc?

 

- Sanwa OBSF-30's for the face buttons - Simple enough , but choosing the colour for these buttons is going to be the hardest part but may keep it simple and go with red

 

- Sanwa OBSF-24's for the navigation buttons - I assume these are for the home/back/turbo buttons, can u get smaller than 24's in Sanwa brand? - Are the player 1 & 2 buttons 24 or 30's, can you get these to illuminate when pressed?

 

So i jumped onto a few places and find most if not all are out of stock of the PS360, joysticks seem to vary in price pending were you get them from and most local .au sellers seems to be the most expensive :o and the bundled items don't seem to have Sanwa Joysticks and buttons.

 

Also with the devastating disaster that has occurred in Japan, it could be ages before stock is replenished.

 

I'm more than happy to hear from people who have items I may need to build my AIO Cab, so feel free to PM me with what you have, spare buttons, joysticks, wiring cable, PS360 PCB, etc etc.

 

@ Troy,

 

How hard would it be to mock up a 2P CP with a trackball and Vaus? Trackball in between the (middle of CP) and Vaus directly underneath trackball (also centered)?

 

Well, please keep your thoughts, ideas, suggestions coming and please hit me up with any spares you wish to off load.

 

Thanks again

Kosti

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@ mR_CaESaR!

Mate, this is a perfect start to my quest and you have covered almost all angles that I need to approach this from. Thank you :038:

 

Nps mate.. anything I can do to help, I'm all for it :)

 

I was thinking for the trackball could be used as a mouse function for jukebox control and some games on Mame (marble madness and of course missile command), although this instant a show stopped, and like u said could look clustered up, but keeping options open at this stage, alternative a logitech BT keyboard/mouse combo is small enough to tuck away anywhere if I drop the trackball and the logitect is PS3 compatible too.

 

BT sounds expensive :)

 

I'm sure an alternaive IR wireless or even corded would be sufficient, but I guess you don't want to beat around the bush, so BT would be your best bet :)

 

The Logitech DiNovo comes into mind :)

 

I am not sure what the function of the home/back/turbo buttons are for although I assume they have to do with the PS3:confused: these could be smaller type buttons or placed on the side of the CP (if possible) along with my pinball buttons, although not sure if it will be to wide for pinball action [Troy to confirm if buttons can be added to the sides]

 

- home (for PS3)/Guide (for 360) - activates the XMB or main user interface for each console

- back - is just another button on the ps3/360 controller, you could probably get away with not putting it on if you really wanted to

- turbo - this is what's used to switch between ps3/360 on the PS360 pcb, you could also use this as an "auto fire" for all those shumps :). You can wire up the PS360 to not use a turbo button, but instead wire it up for the back to do the switching, only problem with that is you will obviously loose the turbo functionality (not a real problem for fighting game funs, but might be good for the shumps)

- For your pinball stuff, I would probably go for the 30mm buttons.

 

I thought about JAMMA boards like those 1940in1 games, just not sure as want to keep some of the cost down as I have a few minitx MB i could use so may still go with a small factor PC for Mame & Jukebox.

 

I think SFF PC would be a much better option for MAME and a Jukebox, both cost and functionality.

 

After thinking about this in more detail and adding a Wii would be an overkill and possibly a waste of $$$, a PC & PS3 and or Xbox360 would be sufficient and keep cost down.

 

Yeah, I honestly don't think a Wii would be adding value to the cab, you'll have your HD gaming covered with the consoles, and your MAME stuff handled by a PC.

 

Do you plan on gaming online? Only reason I ask is there are mods out there that allow the PS3 (custom firmware) or 360 (jtag) to play MAME and also use as a media center. Probably nowhere near as good in implementation as a normal PC, but at least you go decrease the amount of items inside the cabinet.

 

Also something to consider is, with the amount of items you have in that cabinet, you may want to use some 120mm exhaust fans to draw the heat out of the cabinet, I would also consider putting the PC together without a case. Obviously this decision will be entirely up to you :)

 

As for speakers, i have an old set of Boston's that I was thinking of using as these are 4.1's and would be enough i hope to keep up with the doof doof part :048:

 

Nice!! :) I love boston speakers, wish they made computer speakers as readily available as the logitechs.

 

So the hardest part is working out the CP, the list you provided seems to be the common theme people use and so this would be more than suitable. Although Ive yet to decide if I'm going to go with 6/7 or 8 buttons but i like the idea that you plan on plugging ur 7th, so may look at this setup

 

I purely went for the plug just for "aesthetic" purposes, while having a plug is not really not great looking, it just provides that extra piece of "authenticity" to the build, which really is ironic, considering I added an extra two buttons for navigation :)

 

- Sanwa JLF joystick - so is an 8 way the one to get how hard would it be to change them over to a 4 way for SHUMPS and pacman etc?

 

Sanwa JLF comes with a stock 4/8 way restrictor gate, I believe its just a matter of turning the gate 45 degrees and you'll convert it from 8 way to 4 way, too much of a pita for my liking :)

 

- Sanwa OBSF-30's for the face buttons - Simple enough , but choosing the colour for these buttons is going to be the hardest part but may keep it simple and go with red

 

Akihabarashop.jp provides a wealth of colour options, be sure to check them out.

 

- Sanwa OBSF-24's for the navigation buttons - I assume these are for the home/back/turbo buttons, can u get smaller than 24's in Sanwa brand? - Are the player 1 & 2 buttons 24 or 30's, can you get these to illuminate when pressed?

 

Yes, 24mm is normally used for the navigation buttons (on the original vewlix, there's only 1 24mm for the start button on the 1p CP, and 2 for the 2p CP).

 

On the out of the box sticks for consoles, there are usually 2x 24mm's, back/start.

 

You can get smaller sized sanwa buttons DS-412 (16mm), SDM-18 (18mm), SDM-20 (20mm). I'm personally not a fan of how they look.

 

If you want LED's, you're going to have to manually mod the buttons for LED activation. Only seimitsu buttons (PS-14-KNs for the 30mms and PS-14-DN's for the 24mms) have a "clear" or any form of see through buttons.

 

There are no Seimitsu/Sanwa buttons that offer ready to make LED buttons as far as I know.

 

So i jumped onto a few places and find most if not all are out of stock of the PS360, joysticks seem to vary in price pending were you get them from and most local .au sellers seems to be the most expensive :o and the bundled items don't seem to have Sanwa Joysticks and buttons.

 

Also with the devastating disaster that has occurred in Japan, it could be ages before stock is replenished.

 

The only places I know of that had PS360's in stock were:

 

- In2amusements

- Focus Attack

- And finally the creators, Akihabarashop.

 

Akihabarashop currently has no stock of the PS360's, but I believe they will be receiving stock around late April.

 

Joysticks locally are around $30 dollars + shipping. If you're going to buy 2p's worth of sticks and buttons, I would recommend buying it all in one hit from Akihabara, you'll end up saving quite a bit that way.

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Once again, just awesome feedback and comments :worship:

 

Thanks heaps!!

 

Now people give me some idea's for CP, drop the trackball and vaus?

 

Anyone got some pix of CP designs?

 

BTW - the OBSF-30, these are clip in's right, the CP tops made by Troy is not to thick for these types of buttons right?

Ta

 

PEACE

Kosti

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Once again, just awesome feedback and comments :worship:

 

Thanks heaps!!

 

No problem mate, no problem at all

 

Now people give me some idea's for CP, drop the trackball and vaus?

 

For me I would :)

 

Just a simple keyboard with a trackball I think is sufficient, how often would you really use a game that needed the trackball?

 

If you're answer is a lot, then go for the trackball, if your answer is, hmm maybe once or twice, then I'd drop it in a heart beat :)

 

Different people obviously will have different needs, but you need to think what the primary reason your building the cab, is it to play MAME games, or play fighting games or just for a jukebox?

 

For me, its mainly play HD fighting games, everything else is going to be a bonus.

 

Now that I've got FBANext working properly on the PS3, I plan to shove in a couple of roms on there for that old school nostalgic gameplay, Wonderboy is gdlk!! :D I've also thrown in all the old school street fighters on, next is to get a couple of shooters in.

 

Anyone got some pix of CP designs?

 

Slagcoin will be your best resource for button layouts.

 

The most common will be the Taito Vewlix layout (7 Button, 8 Button), the Astro City layout which the older Hori's used (HRAP3, HRAPEX) and finally you've got the old school SF2 layout, the American Happ ones.

 

This is apparently the vewlix control panel measurements:

 

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1886/vewlixpanelmeasurements.jpg

 

http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/153/vewlixpanel6.jpg

 

As you can see, the most common vewlix design is a simple 7 button layout (one button plugged out for the Capcom fighting games) and a simple start button for both P1 and P2.

 

As you've seen on my one, I went a little different and added two extra buttons for Back/Select and Home/Guide, just to make my navigation easier (but I also had a lot more CP real estate as my whole CP was 1p).

 

Should you decide to go this route, you'd have to really think about your button placement, if you want select and home buttons without cluttering the CP, it might be worth to ask Troy if he could possibly flush mout a 30mm button on the under side of the CP (don't forget you'd need select and home buttons for both controllers).

 

You can also put these inside the cabinet, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having the buttons if you're going to be opening the cab back and forth to access them, you want these navigational buttons readily available.

 

For your pinball side buttons, you can ask Troy to do something like this:

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_QLzN6CnvEGE/TPVKzgjI3rI/AAAAAAAAAbY/_jtNw_qL7PE/s1600/vewlix_kitv3+126.jpg

 

Of course your's will have to be surface mounted and not flush mounted.

 

BTW - the OBSF-30, these are clip in's right, the CP tops made by Troy is not to thick for these types of buttons right?

 

Yeah the OBSF's are "Fixed" and OBSN's are "Nuts". My CP tops have been designed to fit a 3mm plexi which the buttons "snap" into, you may not necessarily want this type of design, I'm sure Troy can accommodate your needs if necessary.

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Honestly, what can i say, a working encyclopedia as far as I'm concerned and your point is valid for the trackball.

 

Damn, i want to start this mid April/May, just in time to for Winter to hit and speand all night in the garage!

 

The only reason i wanted to go track/Vaus is to fill up the CP, it looks way to big for just joysticks and a few buttons. I do like the ViewLix CP is very nice, i would go with red buttons and black Joystick, what colours would you choose out of interest?

 

Hopefully when I get some time on Friday i will go and find some CP designs that I like from Market City in the CBD and start drawing

 

I can not thank you enough for the advise as it's pleasant to know people are willing to share there experience and take the time to support them with links and suggestions and I hope this thread will be as useful to others as it has been for me.

 

Onya m8!

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Honestly, what can i say, a working encyclopedia as far as I'm concerned and your point is valid for the trackball.

 

Hahahah, nah mate, I wouldn't call myself an encyclopaedia, just a person who invested a lot of time researching this when I was working with Troy on the initial design.

 

Damn, i want to start this mid April/May, just in time to for Winter to hit and speand all night in the garage!

 

:)

 

I was thinking of putting it inside the garage too, but I think I'll make room somewhere in the office :)

 

The only reason i wanted to go track/Vaus is to fill up the CP, it looks way to big for just joysticks and a few buttons. I do like the ViewLix CP is very nice, i would go with red buttons and black Joystick, what colours would you choose out of interest?

 

Don't forgot, that it'll be a 2p CP, it won't be as much room as you think when you have two people sitting side by side.

 

As for colours, I'm going for the Original Vewlix L colours

 

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/2941/vewlixlny7.jpg

 

Button colours and artwork will be very very similar to this:

 

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/9179/dsc03996cw6.jpg

 

I've yet to get the plugs, so curently its a 7 button layout, as you can see, my artwork is still needing some work :(

 

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5171/5507091457_a72fba38fc_z.jpg

 

Hopefully when I get some time on Friday i will go and find some CP designs that I like from Market City in the CBD and start drawing

 

galaxy world will definitely have the different layouts

 

Astro city, vewlix (there's a vewlix clone there)

 

I can not thank you enough for the advise as it's pleasant to know people are willing to share there experience and take the time to support them with links and suggestions and I hope this thread will be as useful to others as it has been for me.

 

Onya m8!

 

Mate its my pleasure, I know what it's like trying to get information, and it would have been so much easier if I had the same information initially :)

 

Anything I can do to help, I have first hand experience with these and I was with Troy from start to finish so you can say I know a bit about this, just not an encyclopaedia :)

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Here's a pic of a CP with a trackball

 

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/piemaster77/vewlix12.jpg

 

Image courtesy of Cappadonna of SRK.

 

Again, as mentioned previously, I'm personally not a fan of the trackball, and I personally think that the CP should be left as minimal as possible.

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Here's a pic of a CP with a trackball

 

http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww331/piemaster77/vewlix12.jpg

 

Image courtesy of Cappadonna of SRK.

 

Again, as mentioned previously, I'm personally not a fan of the trackball, and I personally think that the CP should be left as minimal as possible.

 

Nice!!!

 

I like the colour scheme as well of the over all cab, although the colour of the trackball is wrong, i would have painted it, but that's perfect...Mmm need to get cracking, went to the city, didnt find anything appealing to try out in Market City, not sure where else to try, i guess george st would be next

 

Thanks mR_CaESaR, this picture is great and gives me some idea's!!

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