Meet the SNID-R-CADE

[skaar]

Your video drivers are likely not installed or outdated. If it is running as a VGA adapter or something similar video will be slow as hell.

[Sniderman]

Well the computer I have for it is an inherited, limp along jobber, so I'm making do as well as I can. I have MAME running at full speed with the ExtraMAME GUI interface, so I'm happy there. However, the USB and serial ports have so much corruption I've given up getting them recognized and working. So a keyboard hack for the controls is in progress.

This won't be pretty; it won't be the fastest; and it won't be the best when it comes to a controller system. But if I get it working the way I want, it will have cost me less than $75 for a fully realized MAME cab of my own. And it's also been a learning experience...so when I build my NEXT one....

[Lerxstnj]

Yeah, there's no reason to run DMAME. Once DOS MAME became a separate special build and eventually was discontinued (if I remember right) there was no reason to use it if you hardware was of decent spec. Regular old Windows command line MAME (pre built in GUI) will support all your USB devices. My MAME v0.76 setup uses regular command line MAME along with GameLauncher and I use a PS Family to USB converter with it, no problems at all.

I don't have Windows on the PC that I use DMAME. Works good, but I boot to just one game so I don't have to type anything. Still have no sound yet though.

I have to run DMAME on the Pole Position cabinet since the computer is much slower and everything with the exception of video is on the motherboard. That and I like being able to just throw the power switch without shutting anything down, since there are no extra external controls outside the wheel, shifter and pedal to do such with.

Did you have to add an old Sound Blaster type sound card or did you find a way to use the on-board sound hardware with DMAME?

[Sniderman]

In the light, you can better see the "bezel" I installed. There was no light initially, so I had to install a small florescent fixure for the signage.

Running DK. You can see the simple control panel layout (one joystick, five buttons). The yellow button under the 1-2 player buttons is the coin-in, and the green button is the Escape back to menu. And I installed a trackball mouse to assist with menu selection.

Looks nifty in the dark:

I'm going to trim the machine in red (so it's not just a big black box) as well as adding some sideart and bezel art.

[NoahsMyBro]

Very, very nice. What's the background image in that last picture?

[jb143]

Very, very nice. What's the background image in that last picture?

It looks a lot like the 80's arcade layout for mamewah from Screenshot Archive. Where'd you get the image if you don't mind my asking? I've had a lot of people wanting me to set their cab with that layout but the graphic has additional stuff that's in the way...The instructions box for instance.

Nice cabinet by the way...

[Pantechnicon]

Very nice work, Sniderman. I like how the coin box is off-center of the base. That's a unique look. I also like how it fits into the snugly into the wallspace like that. I have a similar setup with my own MAME cab.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Haha, nice job there.

It would go nicely next to a cigarette machine and a jukebox. (And while I neither smoke nor drink ... I mean that as an era-specific arcade cabinet compliment)

As far as newer versions of MAME causing slowdown on a lot of the classics : while I don't have an answer WHY, I can attest to the fact that on my MAME cabinet, which also has a Pentium 3 in it, the newer games (Street Fighter Era) run better on the newer MAME builds, while the older games (Donkey Kong Era) run better on older MAME builds.

I just keep all my ROMS in one universal directory, and have about 5 versions of MAME (from old to the latest) running/selectable.

I'm also looking to do some major RAM upgrades, and I hope that if I max out my ram (say 2 - 3 Gigs) that the classics will run smoother in the newer MAME builds.

[kingpong]

RAM shouldn't make a difference. As one of the devs reinforced recently, a few large NeoGeo games will struggle, but everything else is fine with 1GB.

As for why the older games get slower, generally it is because the emulation gets better, and more correct emulation takes more horsepower. Every now and then there are bigger changes that hurt the performance of older games in favor of moving the optimization point (for lack of a better term) to more modern games that need the extra help. The removal of 8 bit per pixel graphics a number of years ago was such a case, simplifying the code and improving performance on the now baseline 16 bit stuff. But those cases are few and far between, and nearly all performance hits are just side effects of improved accuracy.

[Sniderman]

Very, very nice. What's the background image in that last picture?

As I recall, I think I grabbed it from Cinemarcade. I just wanted a nice general arcade pic, and I thought it looked cool.

Here's a link to the pic:
http://www.cinemarcade.com/images/Desktops/arcade84.jpg

Very nice work, Sniderman. I like how the coin box is off-center of the base. That's a unique look. I also like how it fits into the snugly into the wallspace like that. I have a similar setup with my own MAME cab.

Thanks. It's not bad for "built on the cheap." The coinbox is offcenter because the speaker was installed to the left of the coin mech (you can just make out the grill in one of the photos). Anyway, I ended up installing the speakers in the same place, leaving plenty of room for the coin door to become the computer access hatch (when needed). And the area it fits into? Well, my rec room had a small kitchenette installed a long time ago. That cubby hole is where a fridge once sat. Power right there and instant recessed area.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

RAM shouldn't make a difference. As one of the devs reinforced recently, a few large NeoGeo games will struggle, but everything else is fine with 1GB...

Right. Unfortunately the PC in my MAME cabinet currently only has 256Mb of Ram ... so whether it be 1 or 3 Gigs of ram, I know I need it in general for the modern games.

*EDIT* I dropped extra RAM in my system yesterday, noticeable improvement on the latest version of MAME UI for Street Fighter III 3rd Strike, not very much improvement on Donkey Kong unless I dropped the audio sampling.

I think the death of the classic games on the newer versions of MAME32/UI is the "integrated" audio samples that weren't present in older versions ... the games ran SO much better (and sounded better) with the WAV sample archive folder.

[dave2236]

Tim, if you need some artwork printed let me know. My brother and I print arcade artwork and restore arcade machines as a full time job now.

Here are some links for 2 of the custom projects we did.

http://forums.klov.com/ubbthreads/sh...0&fpart=1&vc=1

http://forums.klov.com/ubbthreads/sh...rue#Post793104

[Sniderman]

Well, I trimmed it in red and - gosh - I think I'm just gonna stop messing with it. Was planning on some sideart and bezel art, but I kind of like it the way it is now.

[Sniderman]

Is that 'DP red'?

Actually, it was gonna be blue trim ala Tron, but the blue and black was really tough to see. SO I went with red. About halfway through, I realized it looked like a DP homage.

Good thing I didn't use a Beeknees font on the marquee.