Greetings!

In some of the previous MAME discussions, I mentioned that I have a HotRod SE Joystick. It is great for many games, but it is pretty bad for the one I play most (Tempest). I had been thinking about trying to either a) get an actual Tempest machine (no space and not handy with electronic repair though) or b) find a spinner control and build a case for it, when I ran across a few articles on line. It is possible to retrofit additional buttons and a spinner into the HotRod! You can see the modifications step-by-step with photos (I only want the buttons and spinner done), and the additional button layout of the HotRod (near the bottom, section 2.3a).

Now, it is possible, but I have neither the woodworking skills (I am not very graceful when it comes to manipulating mechanical devices) or the electrical talent (my very first Circuits class taught me that I was really destined for Computer Engineering...) or the time to do this kind of thing myself.

So, I am looking for someone with woodworking, electronics or MAME cabinet experience (neatness counts!) that is bored and wants to try a different project. I will, of course, pay for all time and materials and supply the HotRod for modification.

If anyone is interested, let me know via post, email or PM. Thanks.

Have you ever seen this ?
I have an X-arcade controller myself, but don't use it... I really don't play games much anymore. So forgive me if this is all too obvious.

Greetings!

I had not seen that one specifically, but I had seen the SlikStik. It is very similar and has all of the controls. But I already have the HotRod, and thought it might be easier just to upgrade that. If I decide against the conversion, or cannot find anyone to do it, I might just get a SlikStick.

An interesting note about the X-arcade. When I saw that they were coming out with a single user trackball, I thought that it would be perfect. I wrote to SlikStik about it, since they do custom work on request, and they mentioned that they were working on a single user spinner similar to the way thay X-Arcade has the trackball. That would be even better, but it is only in the initial development stages, so they cannot give me an ETA. Even if I modify / get a spinner enabled joystick, I would still get this small model (when available) to have connected all the time.

Edit: Corrected information about SlikStik and X-Arcade.

Does anyone do spinners that can pull up and push down, like the spinner in the Discs of Tron game?

I'm starting to think that my dream MAME console might be a physical impossibility: Joystick and Trackball for each of the three player positions, as well as a center-mounted spinner for Tempest and Discs of Tron.

Oh, and the trackballs have to be big. Can't have a MAME cabinet unless it's a decent platform for two player Marble Madness.

Greetings!

Oscar Controls makes the exact spinner that you are looking for. They even advertise that it is the exact spec that is used for Discs of Tron.

The dual track ball is a little difficult to have when you deal with all of the buttons in a good four player fighting configuration, or the joysticks required for anything significant. With this, I would almost recommend a control panel that can be easily substituted - disconnect and reconnect the one you need (multi-fighter or two player Marble Madness). You can get the big, 4.5" trackballs from Happ.

Why do I now have an AC/DC song running through my mind...

Yeah... i'm with Paul on that one. Just make a couple of different control panels. They are easy to unplug and pop back in on demand. I remember seeing a few that had even built insane ROTATING panes... triangular shapped, with three different control setups on each face of the triangle. THAT would be trick.

You could easily handle all those controls with a couple of Opti-PACs and IPacs from Ultimarc. Man, if i only had a garage... the modding to my MAME cabinet would be endless.

disconnect and reconnect the one you need (multi-fighter or two player Marble Madness).

Ah. Forgot to spec...

Multi-fighter isn't a genre that interests me. My MAME system would be devoid of those ROMs.

Greetings!

Another possibility. I was just wandering around on ebay, and picked up a complete, full size Tempest control panel.

Since this is the only game I am really targeting for heavy use, I might be able to retrofit the original control panel with an I-PAC (or other controller) to build a self contained, dedicated Tempest / MAME box. Using one of those Tiny-PCs, I might be able to fit it all into a small box... Hmm...

I'm just getting more serious about MAME.

I love the slikstik. I have some questions for those of you more familiar with the commercial-grade controllers.

What is the difference between the various joystick options offered with the slikstik? The button on top is pretty obvious, but what about the "12 way" and the others?

Is there any place one can go to determine which controls were used with which games?

What, in your opinion, is the ultimate slikstik combination (model and options) and why?

What are the minimum computer requirements to run MAME at a high framerate? I've read about people with 800MhZ machines having poor framerates on some games. I only use it today on my P4/2.4, which is way more than enough, to say the least. I'm consiering a dedicated MAME box and want to know what realistic requirements would be.

Thanks in advance,

Jim

What is the difference between the various joystick options offered with the slikstik? The button on top is pretty obvious, but what about the "12 way" and the others?

The 12-way refers to, I believe, the Ikari Warriors style rotatable joystick. Used on a very small number of games.

Is there any place one can go to determine which controls were used with which games?

There's a util called SortInfo which allows you to import MAME's listinfo.txt file and filter out games based on controls, display, etc. Should give you what you want.

What are the minimum computer requirements to run MAME at a high framerate?

Depends on the gmaes, obviously. If you want to play the more taxing games (some of the Street Fighter clones, Neo Geo games, NBA Jam TE, etc.) you need something along the lines of a 1.2 or 1.4 GHz machine or you'll get bad framerates. I have an 800 running @ 900 and the upper-echelon games aren't very playable.

Dunno anything about the SlikStik, I was going the home-grown control panel route before my MAME project got indefinitely postponed due to lack of funds.

Greetings!

I have given up on MAME for a little while. I found that I was only playing one game with it. I might toy around with a handful of others, but I keep coming back to one game. Tempest. So I started thinking about what it would take to put together a decent dedicated environment. It was starting to add up, and it was still just simulated... And, while you could use a new spinner or retrofit an old one, it is still just a regular monitor trying to fake that classic vector look...

More when IT arrives, especially if it survives shipment...

Greetings!

Well, I permanently solved my MAME / Tempest problem of not having a good controller...

I guess you are really into that game .

Stu

Yeah! Sweet man. Congrats. Vector monitors are some fascinating stuff! That thing looks like it's in GREAT condition!

Greetings!

Indeed! It is my first arcade machine.

It did require a bit of tweaking to get the color convergence right, but I picked up a set of manuals as well, and I was able to fine tune the monitor and boards. It is in nice shape, original side art (the control panel overlay was replaced), and (as far as I can tell) the board sets match the original cabinet serial numbers. I paid a bit of a premium for it on ebay, but I am still very happy with it.

Tempest has always been my favorite, with Joust, Major Havoc and Star Wars coming in after it in no particular order. (Note the obsession with vector monitors.)

Still, I am way out of practice. Last time I played this on a real system was in my undergrad days. I can barely make it through the red levels even with the easy settings turned on. (I said I liked it, I never said I was good at it... ) The spinner and controls make a huge improvement over the trackball or keyboard, though.

Congrats man!

If your looking for info about building your own arcade cabinet, check out this site:

http://www.arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

It has a wealth of information and how-to guides.

Wow. Very cool. I kinda saw it coming from your last post, but didn't think you'd get one in such great shape. Nice work!

I am still itching to restart my MAME project, but I'm trying to avoid spending money right now. I'm scouring the world trying to find a throw-away cabinet somewhere around here. Recently I've been spending more of my time playing Visual Pinball than anything else. So my MAME cab will definitely have conveniently-located flipper buttons on the side. I also hope to integrate a real pinball plunger once I find a cabinet. I've seen some pretty slick MAME cabs with authentic plungers.

Greetings!

Thanks. It was just a matter of time. As I stated earlier, it was a bit more money on ebay, but the machine is in very nice shape. I have been re-educating myself in basic hardware, and have already done a few tweaks - correcting the color intensities, convergence, changing game settings and the like. I have a Tempest Tubes ROM in my desk that I might try out one of these days...

Visual Pinball! Cool! I know that side controllers for the flippers are relatively common, but I have never seen a cabinet with real plungers!!! That would be very impressive. How do you configure that input to feed into MAME?

Visual Pinball! Cool! I know that side controllers for the flippers are relatively common, but I have never seen a cabinet with real plungers!!! That would be very impressive. How do you configure that input to feed into MAME?

Well actually it's VPinMAME that would be used for Visual Pinball controls. MAME itself doesn't have any Visual Pinball support to my knowledge.

Here's a good look at a prett neat plunger install:



Taken from this cabinet page.

Simple design, just a microswitch that's normally closed, and opens when you pull back the plunger.

Greetings!

Hm! Cool. Much simpler than I thought. Nice!

I was wondering if you were trying to rig something more sensitive, where the spring extension length was somehow converted to force used for launching the ball. Trying to think how you would do that electronically.

I was wondering if you were trying to rig something more sensitive, where the spring extension length was somehow converted to force used for launching the ball. Trying to think how you would do that electronically.

Not much point in it, since Visual Pinball just uses the amount of time you hold down the plunger key (Enter by default) to determine how far to pull the plunger back. The software itself has no mechanism for any kind of analog input or anything like that. So, for this application, a well-placed microswitch is the best fit. Not as realistic as what you're proposing, but I don't see them adding this kind of feature in Visual Pinball any time soon.

Still, the feel of the real plunger is a significant improvement over an enter key or push button.

Yeah, which is why I will definitely have one on my MAME cab, whenever I get around to building it.