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Ever made a MAME table?

Addy

Addy

cooking...
Well, have you?

Not got a clue what I'm on about?

I'm about to make one and was looking for some pointers as to:

Linking controllers to keyboard outputs.
Supply of Joystick / Buttons in UK.
Cheap 'Touchpad' controller.
Boot loader (so as to boot straight into MAME/Snes9x/Genasis/Windows menu from a Windows or DOS enviroment)
What not to do.

I have at my disposal:
19" crt monitor
466 celleron + motherboard
233 PII + motherboard
Various hardrives up to 6 Gig
Memmory
PSU
32MB 4x VGA GFX card
CD + DVD roms
Floppy drives
Various soundcards + speakers
MDF
Toughened or laminated glass anysize free from a windscreen supplier
Any do's and donts.....???

I'll be keeping a log of my progress if anyones interested.
 
I've been tempted (MAME user since about 2000) but have neither the space nor the woodworking skills to do it. I'm thinking now more of doing a supergun type design - a media pc attatched to the telly with a custom made arcade control panel attatched. Like an X arcade but better :D

6 gig won't cover mame complete, and the CPUs you suggest will limit you to pre 1990 games. This may not bother you.

What control panel layout did you have in mind - # of buttons, spinners, trackballs? For interfacing, I'd suggest an ipac, they're used by most serious mame cabinets (the alternative being the horrible keyboard hack)

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html
 
I'm basicaly just using up old bits n pieces that i have lying around rather than throwing them away, so i'm not planning on spending a fortune (on this first attempt - I'll prolly Ebay it when its completed)
If i'm happy with the results then i shall donate parts from one of my current pc's next time i upgrade.

Cheers for that link - The joystick and buttons/switches are a fair bit cheaper than what i have seen elsewhere.

This first one is going to be very basic.
1 set of controls - joystick and 3 fire buttons (a touchpad if cheap enough) and the horrible keyboard hack.
I plan on using a windows98LITE edition for the O/S, but I'd like some sort of bootloader to give me options for Snes/Genasis/Mame/Windows as a main frontend.
I'm gonna include a cdrom (at the back) and a network input (for updates n such)
 
I made a MAME cabinet using an old arcade cabinet as a base.

Used the Ultimarc stuff for the buttons and joysticks, and a TFT display in place of the 19" arcade monitor.

A mate of mine bought a table-top arcade cabinet off Ebay and made a Mame box.

If you only want to play the older games then a low-spec PC is fine, but the newer games require a faster PC.

Giles..
 
I'd love a MAME table. I'm sure I saw a company online that made them to order, bit pricey if I remember correctly.
 
The cheap way to do it is to look on Ebay and find someone selling an old cabinet (stand-up or tabletop). You can usually find an empty cabinet or one with a non-famous (and maybe non-working) game in it for a pretty cheap price.

Then just take out all of the old "innards" except the joysticks and buttons, and insert a secondhand PC with MAME on. Use the Ultimarc stuff to connect up the joysticks, buttons, trackballs, etc, and you are away.

Doesn't cost much. I have one, and I also have a "Chase HQ" driving game cabinet that I got for free, and I am going to make a "Driving game" MAME machine out of it soon.

Giles..
 
They are very, very cool, although i don't exactly have the space to have one, let alone build one.

Make sure you keep a picture diary in your log :cool:
 
Controls are now made. I went with the I-Pac in the end... it makes sense really. :cool:
Control1.jpg


Hopefully i will get time to finish it this weekend.
 
:D ^:cool:

what the cost going to be at the end?
you using old computer so can load any table game ? pong so on ?
 
I reckon it wil have cost around £100 when finished, but some of the parts have been donated/spare crap lying around.

donorpc.jpg


I have 6000 mame roms to sift through, along with a couple hundred megadrive and Snes roms.

The control buttons/joysticks and I-Pac PCB have been the biggest cost @ £60

Ipac.jpg
 
We now have control.....
controlwiring.jpg


controlpanel.jpg


This is a temp control panel, I'm waiting for the designer at work to sort me out a DXF file for a steel laser-cut control panel.

Doing the wiring was fun :eek:
 
I was always considering doing that. Its quite a cool project to take on.

What is the best software for selecting the roms?
 
If your only going to run Mame, then mame itself can be auto-run on a windows boot up and will let you select the game you wish to play by using the joystick and buttons, it will even give you a screenshot of the game.
If you are going to use other emulators too, then something like Mamewah is a pretty good front end for selection.

Its proving to be a fun project :)
 
The all-new-control panel :cool:

The spaggetti wiring...

controlerwiring1.jpg


The controls....

controler3.jpg


made from 2mm laser cut steel, powder coated and then covered in fablon.

aint it nice :eek:
 
I know your all bored of seeing this (unfinished)
but heres how its looking...
nd.jpg

I just have to fablon the panels, re-assemble, and install the pc components.
 
My mate and I are going to do something like this. Don't know whether we can be bothered to build the cabinet from scratch though! :)
 
I only had a 2 day weekend ( was at work monday ) and i spent saturday driving around looking for a climbing frame for the kids ( and drinking in the local beer garden ;) )

I'm still undecided as to what graphics to use, a standard 'space invaders' or a custom design? I have someone to print them on to self adhesive vinyl though :)

...and yes shippou... the screen will have a slight tilt on it towards the player.
 
I'm thinking of putting a modded xbox in mine rather than a pc - small, cheap and already does tv out. Is there any reason why this might be a bad idea? :confused:
 
Christ, i can remember when you started this, completely forgot to check it again. How much did it set you back all in all when it was completely done??
 
Alright moggy...
I still havn't finished it, although it is usable.
I need to cut my glass down to size and put a bigger hardrive in to accomodate Snes, Genasis, N64 and PS1 emulators + Roms.

I reckon its cost me about £170 all in and i have 3 potential buyers for similar units.

Like everything, you can build it better and cheaper second time around ;)
 
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