Home Arcade Concepts Thread

[Atari800]

Ok

{Tom you can axe this thread as it may step out of GAMEEX functionality a tad}

I am gonna start this thread. It'll probably blow out of control

But an unset rule for this topic is

NOTHING ABOUT COMPILE MAME OR MAKING RUN FASTER

NOTHING ABOUT ADDING EMULATORS

Just discussion about...stuff like the LED display added to cabinets...that was a cool gadget

Design, connectivity, adaptibilty...stuff that you cabinet can/could/might do outside of the cool ass EVERYTHING machine that GAMEEX makes it

GameEX is the brain..let discuss body and soul of the box

As I am in construction of the 2nd cabinet - I have come across MAME32 PLUS PLUS

It incorporates network playability so HEAD-TO-HEAD competition in mame

Giving a basic example - Mame32 plus plus running on 2 computers

both setup for playing PACMAN

Both users see same screen - same movement - same attract mode - same sounds

person who initiated the network play is player 1..person who joins in is player 2

Both toss in coins and player 1 goes

Player 2 watches (can hit joystick - nothing - add coins YES - escape out of game YES but not incontrol)

...until player1 dies

Then player 2 begins...and same deal for player one (watch, add credits, quit but cannot control)

With me?

Now take that to the next level - Street Fighter

Both are in control of their own guys....but on 2 different machines

now the data that is passed between the 2 machines varies - to keep games in sync with each other so simple games dont need too much bandwidth...more recent or "active games" would

Now I am planning to take ARCADE1 and ARCADE2 and wire them into a wireless router

- between them no latency/delays...they are only 20 feet apart from each other

The WIRELESS part is because the wireless router is a bridge to my main wireless router

These machines really arent going to be surfing the web - just get uploads on new games and an occasionaly REMOTE DESKTOP connection for adjusting and maintnence

If you interested...here are some links to get you caught up

Kaillera - ability to network emulators

-this has Mame32 v0.67 (0414)+Kaillera client v0.9 (2.9Mb).

Vuse the 108u3 is located at the bottom of this page

DD-WRT - reprogram your Linksys router to become WAY more powerful device

...Doable..yes....enough beers in fridge...no not tonight

[headkaze]

So are you talking about getting your two cabs to communicate over a wireless LAN so you can play 4 player games across two cabs. That would be awesome! I don't know about the latency issues, a game like Streetfighter is pretty fast, running that over wireless might be too slow.

I would consider getting an CAT5 cable with two high speed 1000 Mbps NIC's to connect the two cabs. In fact you don't even need a router with two machines you can run a CAT5 cross-over cable and have them directly connected to each other. Or am I missing something, do you want to run this across the Internet too?

[Atari800]

Close but....

(hopefully I can draw this)

ARCADE1 -------100Mbit wired ------>[lynksys router wireless]<-------1000Mbit wired ARCADE2

so between the 2 machines they are WIRED to a wireless router

ARCADE1 ipaddress 192.168.1.100

ARCADE2 ipaddress 192.168.1.101

Linksys wireless router 192.168.1.200 (something out of the way)

Linksys router is wirelessly bridged to my other wireless router (other part of house) on 192.168.1.1

my other wireless computer are at:

192.169.1.110 <---living room multimedia pc

192.169.1.111 <---bedroom multimedia pc

192.169.1.112 <---guestroom multimedia pc

192.169.1.113 <---garage hunk o crap that plays music

The computers at 110-113 route to 192.168.1.1

ARCADE1/2 go to 192.168.1.200 but is needed to get "out" or me to come "in" that router (200) goes to (1)

so connected between ARCADE1 and ARCADE2 is FAST where it is needed

[headkaze]

Ahh I see.. good call.

Was ARCADE1 running at 100Mbit a typo? I assume your gonna have them both running at 1000Mbit.

Really cool idea though, keep us posted about your progress with it. I bet people over at BYOC would be interested in this also.

[Atari800]

naw..no 1000mbit

That would be cool - but just using materials I have

but with my current setup with MPG's and AVI's scattered all over - anyone can watch/listen to anything anywhere

I just want that HEAD-TO-HEAD dealio between the machines

Now that MAME32 PLUS PLUS you have to drill into it make to make them communicate

BUT

I am thinking I could do some visual basic (need to brush up on skills) to open a hidden window and maybe drill inot it and query WTF is going on in my house as far as who is available for play

I dunno if THAT is possible but

The sister program to that would be to identify the "networkable" games to choose from to initiate the challenge

Since the MAME32 PLUS PLUS is in Japanese....there is gonna be a lot of guess work of what can be extracted and used

...I think the source code is there

but this is a concept not a conquest

/|\

[Will]

You can use 100 with no problems. If you are buying new, then you can get gigabit stuff for not much more than normal 100Mbit, but I wouldn't worry about upgrading just for this. The gigabit of the standard refers to the bandwidth, or the amount of traffic the system can handle. Going to gigabit equipment doesn't change the propagation delays of your network or the latencies, which are most important for gaming. You could play most games fine on a 10Mbit LAN. Most games don't require huge amounts of data to syncronize, instead they require a network with low latencies so that you don't get delays and stutters. The largest delays will come with the wireless portion, then again it depends on your signal to noise ratio, etc. My guess is that for games that MAME runs it won't matter too much. You also have to remember though that MAME games (most of them) aren't meant to be networked and hopefully the MAME++ coders have done a good job. Most networked games *approximate* your location. If you had two distant Halo screens side by side you might be surprised. Anyway, I ramble now...

The best use of this I can think of I Mario Party. Mario Party makes a good drinking game

[Atari800]

...always enjoy Wills responses....thanks Will

Credit goes out to jdkarr01 on this idea...

Touchscreen and multiple screen control

Maybe options to set up - if VIDEO is chosen..play on DISPLAY2 - mame muted but playable on DISPLAY1

Or if VIDEO is chosen..play on DISPLAY2 with sound - if game chosen while video playing - mute video and play game on display1 on exit of game - unmute display2 video

Touchscreen....nuff said