Setting up an arcade PC - Suggestions?

[NayusDante]

I'm going to be "expanding" an Ultracade by adding a second computer to it. It uses a special board to translate the buttons and sticks into keyboard input. Here's the keyboard layout in relation to the controls. The keys are labeled with what button or stick direction sends that particular keystroke, and it's not reconfigurable.

http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/photos/USBLinx/image005.png

There's two sticks, with six buttons for each. There's also two player start buttons and an exit button.

I'm going to be using a Windows XP laptop. I would like some suggestions as to what freeware/public-domain games would be good for this sort of thing, given the controls important use of ctrl, shift, alt, etc. I've got a pretty good PC game collection, but not a whole lot that would work with arcade controls. Right now, I know I'm going to be trying to configure Virtual ON for proper twin-stick controls, MUGEN, and some random stuff like Chex Quest. How many legal MAME roms are there? Any good open-source games worth checking out? What about a frontend game selector? I'm also wondering about the PC port of Street Fighter IV and it whether it would work with the controls, but that's not a priority right now.


If anyone else has done any kind of arcade-pc, I'd definitely like see it and hear what you play on it. What are some other neat things to do that aren't necessarily gaming, just cool to see on an arcade cabinet?

[aclbandit]

http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/photos/USBLinx/image005.png


not an answer to your question, but be CERTAIN that you've got that set up so that there's no ghosting or blocking -- you have to be careful or you'll wind up with a major headache.

I've been researching it lately (I'm thinking about getting started on my MAME cab), and as far as I've been able to tell, it's actually easier to do a USB gamepad hack than a keyboard hack for the controls.

EDIT: Just wanted to re-state how off-topic this post might be, but I hope it helps.

[NayusDante]

Thing is, this is no keyboard hack. The USBLinx board actually translates the JAMMA controls into keyboard input to go over the PS/2 cable. It also sends the trackball over USB as a USB mouse.

Here's a picture of the actual board.

http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/photos/USBLinx/image003.jpg

[iloveguns]

damn mate that's a lot of work... good luck..

[aclbandit]

Thing is, this is no keyboard hack. The USBLinx board actually translates the JAMMA controls into keyboard input to go over the PS/2 cable. It also sends the trackball over USB as a USB mouse.

Here's a picture of the actual board.

http://retroblast.arcadecontrols.com/photos/USBLinx/image003.jpg

Aha! Well, there ya go. I'd just heard horror stories about keyboard hacks. I guess I just missed the part where you said "It uses a special board to translate the buttons and sticks into keyboard input." My bad...

Back on topic.

I would suggest playing the first Rayman. That'd be loads of fun in an arcade cab, IMO. Even if it is a little weird.

[NayusDante]

Alright, Rayman is one that I've been wanting to try for a while, I'll keep an eye out for it.

Here's my list of stuff to try so far:

Works:
MUGEN

Iffy:
Mechwarrior 2 - can't map to L-Alt key, most letter keys; maybe I can hack it

Haven't Tried Yet:
Virtual On
Doom Engines
Quake I/II
Heavy Gear
Mega Man X3/X5
Sonic Heroes
PS2 Emulation (I have Guilty Gear, Tekken, etc)
Freeware shooters
Dark Horizons Lore Invasion (free mech game)
Tetris Clones
Flight Simulators


I had to scrap my idea of using my old XP laptop, the controls would freeze every thirty seconds or so. My newer laptop with a dual-core running Win7 works flawlessly, however. I also tried an old P4, but I got the freezes even just in the BIOS. Feels funny navigating a BIOS with an arcade stick. I'm going to stop by CompUSA tomorrow after work to get the KVM switch, so I'll be testing lots of games tomorrow night.

[aclbandit]

Just make sure that you have Dosbox at the ready if you wanna do Rayman on anything newer than Win2K -- the CD I have of Rayman uses a Windows installer, but runs the game in DOS mode. My CD has the DOS installer as well, which certainly makes things easier.

Also, Virtual ON sounds like the greatest idea for an arcade stick, since that was what it was originally created for. I've only ever had opportunity to play my copy on the Saturn with a controller, so tell me how awesome it is when you get it running.