Build Your Own Arcade Control Center FAQ
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CHANGE HISTORYUpdated!
3/31/00

Misc for sale

Check out the Ultracade
There's a new commercial offering called Ultracade.  From their web page:
"ULTRACADE is a new arcade system that puts multiple classic arcade games in one cabinet and multiple choices in the hands of the players and operators."
Sound at all similar to anyone?  :)  This is a commercial system running a customized PC/OS with VGA monitor for which you can buy licensed game packs (lots of CapCom games so far, some Taito).  You cannot put your own games in the system however, it only runs what you buy from the company.  Nonetheless very cool.  Thanks to Andy for the news :)
Dreamcast to Jamma interface
Michael B. pointed us to this item - there's a commercially available Dreamcast to Jamma arcade interface allowing you to hook your Dreamcast to an arcade machine, with wheel and gun support!  $250 not including the Dreamcast.  Click on the misc section from their main web page to find it.  From their web page:
  The following games are supported right now,
  there will be a new BIOS chip available from time to time.

  SC-00 THE KING OF FIGHTERS DREAM MATCH 1999
  SC-01 DYNAMITE DEKA 2
  SC-02 SEGA RALLY 2 (WHEEL)
  SC-03 THE HOUSE OF DEAD (GUN)
  SC-04 GET BASS (FISH ROD)
  SC-05 MARVEL VS CAPCOM
  SC-06 PSYCHIC FORCE 2012
  SC-07 POWER STONE
  SC-08 STREET FIGHTER ZERO 3
  SC-09 BUGGY HEAT (WHEEL)
  SC-10 SOULCALIBUR
  SC-11 SUPER SPEED RACING (WHEEL)
  SC-12 VIRTUA FIGHTER 3
  SC-13 ZOMBIE REVENGE
  SC-14 VIRTUA STRIKER 2 VER. 2000.1
  SC-15 STREET FIGHTER 3
  SC-16 STREET FIGHTER 3 W IMPACT
  SC-17 STAR GLADIATOR 2
  SC-18 CRAZY TAXI

I-Pac update!
Andy sent me an email about his latest changes to the I-PAC interface, and it looks great:)
Interface for PC to Arcade Controls and it now has a USB interface in addition to a regular keyboard connection. The new version has 28 inputs giving, for example, 2 sticks plus 8 buttons per player plus coin/start buttons. Also two units can be used together giving 55 inputs. Also supports LEDs. All the special MAME features of the original units are there in the form of shift function keys. Read about it updated site:

www.spaceinvaders.uk.com

 Thanks for the update Andy!
More to come
More to come of course -- I'm still very far behind on my email, so please don't feel ignored if I haven't answered yet.

3/27/00

Not *quite* building your own arcade controls...

There's a free skeeball in Long Island New York - found on rec.games.video.arcade.collecting. Tom61
New project
  • Rocket's Place - a just getting started 2-player with trackball cabinet. 123 projects now! Tom61
Dragon's Lair 2 PC conversion
Check this conversion out - use your PC to run Dragon's Lair 2 off the original laser disc - very cool.  Tom61
Found a cabinet with no key?
Anyone who gets into collecting arcade cabinets will run into this sooner or later - you find a cabinet that has the back locked and you have no key.  How do you get in without doing significant damage?  Here's the cure for what ails ya.  Tom61
Twin arcade stick for PSX (PC hack?)
Tom (different Tom) sent me this URL for a review of the Home Arcade Twin Shock joystick - a fairly cool looking dual joystick for the PSX that runs $49.99 - add a PSX convertor and you've got a cheap arcade stick for the PC - check it out :)
Free Taito cabinet in NJ
There's a free Taito cabinet up for grabs in New Jersey.

3/26/00

Another update from saint?

Yep :)
Emuscene
Miscellaneous news from the emulation scene you might not have caught...
  • Mike Green has added SNESpad support to EmuDX - the number of emus with built in SNESpad support is really building!  News pinched from Retrogames :)
  • Changes to the latest MAME of interest to us (from the what's new):
    • Gun support in Terminator 2. You must use the calibration screen to calibrate the gun.  When it asks the shoot the upper left corner, move the mouse towards (0,0), the middle is (128, 128) and the lower right corner is obviously (255, 255). If you have problems, delete hi/term2.hi.  [Zsolt Vasvari]
    • [DOS] If you are using a HotRod, use the -hotrod / -hotrodse switch to adjust the default keyboard settings. [Nicola Salmoria]
    • [DOS] Changed the tweaked VGA modes definitions to be more compatible.  It is suggested to delete mame.cfg to get rid of the obsolete tweak parameters. Remember to set tweak = yes after doing so. [Brian Lewis]
    • [DOS] The mouse buttons are no longer aliases for joystick buttons, they are independently recognized. They are not enabled by default, you'll have to add them to the controls if you want to. This is a minor annoyance that was needed to allow interfacing a Discs of Tron controller to the mouse port (spinner + up and down switches) while still using joystick buttons 1 and 2 for fire and deflect. [Nicola Salmoria]
    • Unified keyboard and joystick interface, now they are all assigned in the "Input" menu and you can mix them at will. Added the possibility to use a multiple keys or joysticks sequence to drive a generic action. This can be handy with consoles or cabinets with a limited number of buttons, to reuse all buttons with only one extra button, like a shift key. For example the COIN1 action can be mapped to the "Player 1 Fire" plus the "Extra Shift Button". It can also be used to map Q*Bert movements to joystick diagonals (since the orginal used a joystick rotate 45 degrees). It is also possible to have OR and NOT sequences. For recording OR key/joy sequences in the key/joy setup menu simply press UI_SELECT (usually ENTER) after the first recorded sequence. Don't press any UI_UP/UI_DOWN/UI_CANCEL keys beetwen the two sequences. To insert a NOT key/joy simply press it two times. The first obvious use for this is to wire button 1 to both the joystick and mouse button. [Andrea Mazzoleni]
    • [DOS] -hotrodse selects a more appropriate button configuration when NeoGeo games are played. [Paolo Fiorani]
    • The coin/start buttons are slightly changed. Now they are layed out this way:

      •   1,2,3,4 -> start 1,2,3,4
        5,6,7,8 -> coin 1,2,3,4
        9,0,-,= -> service coin 1,2,3,4
    • [DOS] The new Allegro provides support for PSX and N64 pads (info here:  http://www.debaser.force9.co.uk/ccmame), Gravis GrIP devices, Wingman Warrior and IF-SEGA (Saturn joystick I/F card available in Japan).
    • New input type IPT_PEDAL. [Aaron Giles] (!)
    • *** WOW *** Enticing news for us :)

      •  
  • HELP WANTED! - Have you visited the emulation support page?  It's a page with a lot of potential value for the arcade controls community, but it's only partially built.  Can you fill in any of the holes?  Please take a look at the page, and if you can fill in any of the gaps email me.  Thanks!
PSX adapters
Jafusells a PSX gamepad adapter for the PC for $17 shipped, and has several good feedback comments on his message board about the quality of his cables.
Table of contents update
I've revamped the table of contents.  You can now choose the standard menu, or a new expanded menu with all the sections broken down.  The default is the collapsed menu.  Also, hovering over the buttons now gives you a line about what the section contains.  Please send me feedback on this - does it work better or does it just look hideous?  I'd like to avoid java/javascript coding so no drop down menu type of things...  Suggestions welcomed!
New project
Check out Steve's MacMAME Arcade Experiment - a Macintosh keyboard hack joystick console sporting two joysticks and a bunch of buttons.  Always happy to see a Mac project and this is a nice one.  This makes 122 projects now!
Another arcade cabinet vendor
Arcadeconversion is a web site selling full sized arcade cabinet conversions-to-MAME in the $1000 to $2000 price range.  I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has done business with them :)
More to come?
Sooner or later :)

3/25/00

An update from saint?

Yep - Tom raised enough tokens for a weekend pass, and I'm taking advantage of it to work on the FAQ :)  Next week it's back to my MCSE exams but for now....
New domain name!
No, we're not moving, I'm very happy with the service provided by speedhost.com, but we do have a new address now...  From now until the FAQ closes it's doors (presumably never), you will be able to find this site at http://www.arcadecontrols.com/!  The old address will continue to function as well.  While we're on the subject of changes, I'd like to thank and welcome Tom (Tom61) for helping update the FAQ!
Looking for a pre-built spinner?
Chris on the message board posted about a spinner that he is putting together and considering selling.  He's got a web site you can see all the details on...  It interfaces with the KE72, and looks very promising!  If you're interested, please drop Chris a line and give him feedback or drop a note on the message board.
New projects
Some of these may actually have been up for a while, and I apologize to the authors that it's taken me so long to get this posted.  New projects are: This puts us at 121 projects now!
Updated projects
New pictures are up of both Chad and Andy's separate MAME cocktail projects :)
New arcade console vendor!
I've not gotten details yet, but there's a new vendor selling stand alone arcade joysticks (single stick, 4 button) in Australia.  I should be getting details shortly, but if you're "down under" and looking for one to buy stay tuned!
3/22/00
Where's Saint?
The dreaded "Real Life" monster has taken him hostage and is demanding 100,000,000 tokens for his safe return... Or, it could be that his wife and his 7 month old baby is taking up quite a bit of his time... (I'm saving up tokens either way)

Anyway I (Tom61) am going to be updating now and then, hopefully once a week. I had originally planned to include some tips for finding stuff on ebay, but it didn't show up right on the main page, so look for that comming soon on either this or my page.

Stuff you can help with:
1. We (Saint and I) are looking for CGI scripts that would allow me to upload/edit the pages directly.
2. When you tell about your new project page on the message board, please have the word "project" somewhere in the subject, it's helps with catching up.
New projects:
Sommycade/Robotron 3000/Mini Tempest(not sure if all these are new since the last update, but at least one is)
Doodi's cocktail project
Kiddcade's M.A.M.E. Mock-up
Andy S's Cocktail Mame cab.
John & Mads Mame 2K
Tom61's project If I ever update it anyway...
If I've missed any email me at Tom61@Goplay.com

 
 

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