Cabinet Build - Rincewinds

[Rincewind]

Long story short.... found Hyperspin, then brought buttons and joysticks, 8 months later realised I hadn't even started the cabinet and was spending all my time doing everything apart from building it   so from this moment forwards I'm getting the build done 

 

Here is a layout for the Buttons (@ 50%), any advice would be great as I'm not sure if I have the right amount of buttons or what they will need to be configured for, thanks for any help

 

 

[Brob78]

I'm a member of that club as well! I have all my hardware too, just haven't decided on whether to build a bartop or full size cab. CP's are kinda personal preference, but looks like you have all the buttons covered. I think I'm gonna do a 7 button style, 3 on top row and 4 on bottom row, that way I have my basic 6 button layout, but will have the Neo Geo 4 button setup too. I have been contemplating getting a trackball mouse and hacking it into a small trackball. I want it to be my mouse mainly, but have it work for all or most trackball games too. IDK how it'll work, but I'm seriously considering doing it.

[Rincewind]

Here's the photos from today, its finally becoming to look like a cabinet.

 

I cut a vinyl template

 

Then using a jigsaw cut the shape

 

Added the fixing stripes with glue and pins

 

Removed the vinyl template

 

Added the horizontal panels to one side first then put the other side on, wish I took a photo in between this stage

 

Slotted the back panel on but not glued or pinned as this will be removable

 

Just placed the laser cut control panel for now to see if it fits

 

Next is the keyboard draw and finish the control panel, I'll post more as I go

[Rincewind]

Didn't get much done today , just added the draw

 

[Brob78]

Looking good! You're way ahead of me . I think I've decided on a full size as well. I believe I'm gonna do the 32" LCD slim line style. Just got a great deal on a trackball and some smaller pushbuttons to throw in on the cp. Drew me up a 3-D rendering in Sketchup yesterday and I think I'm satisfied with the look. Here's one that inspired me.

I'm going for a black and white scheme though. Anyways keep the pics coming, love to watch the progress.

[Rincewind]

Black and white scheme could look awesome Brob78 can't wait to see what you come up with

 

 

I found that to sink the joystick into the MDF to make it sit flush you can simply use a blade and score around it then peel off 1mm at a time

 

 

I've finished the under panel for the controls and filled and sealed the edges, its now in the spray shop going satin black, I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out 

[Rincewind]

Back from the spray shop, can't wait to graphic it up now 

 

 

With the draw open

 

[Rincewind]

Few more updates to the cabinet today, added a lock to the rear door.

 

 

The power inlet

 

 

And the monitor is mounted, even tried a few of the buttons and joysticks

 

[Rincewind]

Has anyone used this set of buttons and joysticks before http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Arcade-USB-Control-Panel-DIY-Bundle-Kit-2-joystick-20-LED-Illuminated-Buttons-/191560963489

 

I don't know which colour goes to the Ground or the Switch on the joysticks, I have a BLUE and a WHITE wire for each switch. I've sort of temp wired it but would appreciate it if someone else could tell by the photos if I have done something wrong before I muck it up 

 

 

Also the wire (player 1 button) in my hand needs to go on the encoder board but not sure how to do this as I brought these separately and there are only 2 wires

 

 

 

[Rincewind]

Got a few more things finished now, I've extended the power button on the PC and changed the switch. Also added the led lights for the marquee which will come on with the PC

 

[shaybe]

I use an encoder like that one with my cabinet. (The blue and white wires, not the LED style). Your setup looks the same as mine, the blue as the ground wire.

[Rincewind]

I use an encoder like that one with my cabinet. (The blue and white wires, not the LED style). Your setup looks the same as mine, the blue as the ground wire.

Thank you very much for the reply I couldn't find the info anywhere. Now I can finish wiring the panel thanks again

[Rincewind]

Finally finished the cabinet and the graphics, even managed to play a game of street fighter 2 which was a bonus as the joysticks and buttons seemed to work in Mame, but nothing else.

Does anyone have a sort of walk through they do when they configure there joysticks and buttons for the first time as I've set the whole thing up using a 360 pad, is there a way to methodically do it?

 

Here's the photos

 

 

 

[SkyHighGam3r]

I love the color scheme and art for this cabinet! It really looks fantastic, good job.

[Rincewind]

Thank you, I did add one more photo to the last post.

I highly recommend anyone too have ago and build one, it was fun. 

[SkyHighGam3r]

I think it's gonna be a long time till I have the space to both keep and setup a cabinet. In the meantime I've got the console I'm working on in my signature.

It's devoid of all arcade games though, so eventually an arcade only cabinet would be really cool.

I just love seeing all the great work people here do. It's fascinating and fun just to check it all out.

[albert_c]

I am a CRT guy, but you did a man's job brutha. Bravo!

 

Also, I believe those are Zero Delay encoder boards. For some reason, from a cold start, I found back in the days when RocketLauncher was HyperLaunch, HyperLaunch wouldn't recognize those boards. In any case, I abandoned them and have no idea how they would work now with RocketLauncher. So may I ask, are you able to navigate the HyperSpin UI with your joystick after a cold start up?

[SIMPLYAUSTIN]

Awesome cab mate.  Very clean and love the retro feel with the graphics  

[SkyHighGam3r]

I am a CRT guy, but you did a man's job brutha. Bravo!

 

Out of curiosity, what appeals to you about the CRT? I'm aware of the screen curve (And it's magical feeling of retro-nostalgia lol) and if I'm not mistaken it natively shows scanlines, right? Are there other reasons? I'm an LCD man myself, (I love the shaders and enhanced colors etc.) but I like to educate myself about the topic as a whole.

[Rincewind]

I am a CRT guy, but you did a man's job brutha. Bravo!

 

Also, I believe those are Zero Delay encoder boards. For some reason, from a cold start, I found back in the days when RocketLauncher was HyperLaunch, HyperLaunch wouldn't recognize those boards. In any case, I abandoned them and have no idea how they would work now with RocketLauncher. So may I ask, are you able to navigate the HyperSpin UI with your joystick after a cold start up?

 

Thank you, I did think about going down the CRT route but as I had an old LCD doing nothing it made sense to use it.

 

From a cold start up xpadder seems to be running the blank profile and not the Hyperspin "p1" profile, so this could be because of the the encoder or it could be because I still cant get my head around how xpadder / rocketlauncher / hyperspin work together when exiting. If I change the blank profile to the same as the Hyperspin profile then it works but it also then takes the profile into a game.

The setting up of the arcade sticks and buttons is the hardest part of this whole process. Mame works perfectly, you set them up and they just work

[SIMPLYAUSTIN]

I found the easiest way if you NEED to use Xpadder (only couple of TTX and indie games for me) is to use its own auto profiler.  Set up a profile for those systems so it triggers on launch.  Then set a default blank profile for it to use when not used.   There is only a few games now that need it as a must

[Rincewind]

Seems if I don't use xpadder for hyperspin I get the spinning wheel of death (well not death but it adds drama), Yes I still need to set up the Samurai Shodown TTX controls but again I dont understand how xpadder will know when I launch the game.

 

 

[SIMPLYAUSTIN]

If your control system is not compatible with standard HyperHQ control method (some aint). Then I would say Startup Script is the most compatible way to go and has no effect on the rest of your systems/games.

 

For game to game controls that you HAVE to use Xpadder like the ones you say, TTX and some Indies/pre alphas that dont yet have control options.  Use the automated method inside the Xpadder profiles.  You can make Xpadder run silent, then if it spots a program being launched it fires up and sets controls for that system.  Then when looses focus, back to default.  Have a look in options... it sound complicated, but its not

[SkyHighGam3r]

If your control system is not compatible with standard HyperHQ control method (some aint). Then I would say Startup Script is the most compatible way to go and has no effect on the rest of your systems/games.

 

For game to game controls that you HAVE to use Xpadder like the ones you say, TTX and some Indies/pre alphas that dont yet have control options.  Use the automated method inside the Xpadder profiles.  You can make Xpadder run silent, then if it spots a program being launched it fires up and sets controls for that system.  Then when looses focus, back to default.  Have a look in options... it sound complicated, but its not

Perhaps one of your magically info-licious videos is in order for some keymappers like Xpadder, eh?

[albert_c]

Out of curiosity, what appeals to you about the CRT? I'm aware of the screen curve (And it's magical feeling of retro-nostalgia lol) and if I'm not mistaken it natively shows scanlines, right? Are there other reasons? I'm an LCD man myself, (I love the shaders and enhanced colors etc.) but I like to educate myself about the topic as a whole.

 

Let me say that I am a big fan of LED/LCD HDTV displays. I have 3 of them in my house and DLP projector. But the difference is that LCD and DLP displays filter backlight to display colors (transmit or reflect). CRT's generate their own light.

 

With CRT's, black is black. What illuminates a CRT's pixel is a beam of electrons irradiating it. If there are no electrons hitting it, then no light is emitted. It is black. LCD's display black by closing the pixel to prevent the backlight of the LCD panel from transmitting through. And it doesn't do this nearly as well as a CRT. There is no true black on LCD, more just shades of gray. An LCD's pixel is basically filtered light from the back panel. There is a haze cast onto the image. Something I am sensitive to since I am big into home theater stuff. I have a projector and can see the same haze cast over the projected image. These old games play on LCD's just fine. But they glow on CRT's. They really do. Something about those glowing phosphors irradiated by electrons as opposed to CFL/LED light passing through liquid crystals, I suppose something in the light is lost as they pass through the panels that can't quite compare. I just stepped from my garage where I turned off all the lights after calibrating my CRT and just watched these 30 year old graphics in awe of their charm. I picked up both the PS4 and XBone over the Thanksgiving holiday and sometimes playing some of those games with everything on screen, it is a bit much.

 

Most importantly, these games were designed to play on CRT's. You can emulate those scalines, but you can't emulate glowing phosphors. You just can't.