Game EX will be in a UK mag

[Mayhem]

Hi there im haveing a peace done on my arcade cab ive built called C-Macc's any way i was asked to do a write up on it and im adding your web site and software to it as its what ive used for the software to navagate it and personly think its rite that i do that.

It will apear next month in Custome PC magazine under the readers drives.

[Tom Speirs]

Hi there im haveing a peace done on my arcade cab ive built called C-Macc's any way i was asked to do a write up on it and im adding your web site and software to it as its what ive used for the software to navagate it and personly think its rite that i do that.

It will apear next month in Custome PC magazine under the readers drives.

Thats great. Thanks for letting me know.

Tom.

[Mayhem]

hi there . she was in Custom Pc this month and is now on the front page of www.custompc.co.uk you web site is on the second page in the article. .

Im working on a new C-Macc's 2 any chance of being realy cheeky and asking for a second Key for game ex so that i can add it to the new system im working on (ill put you down as a sponsor of my work). This again will help you get some more exposure.

mick

[greatflash]

hi there . she was in Custom Pc this month and is now on the front page of www.custompc.co.uk you web site is on the second page in the article. .

Im working on a new C-Macc's 2 any chance of being realy cheeky and asking for a second Key for game ex so that i can add it to the new system im working on (ill put you down as a sponsor of my work). This again will help you get some more exposure.

mick

Gameex was also in the last edition of Retro Gamer.

[Mayhem]

yip i got some quite good publicty for my logs and stuff on the build and its had more than 1/2 million views from places like hack a day and engadget and some usa tv programs. i think my new build C-Macc's 2 will be even more popular.

These are some sketches ive done for the fame work.

[iano]

I like it ! It looks like a Naomi Cab.

[Mayhem]

Its based on the design of a Naomi cab. Just ive refined it to my needs. My first attempt at a skeletal frame was not what i wanted so ive put it to the side and started on this new one.

Pic below -

[Tom Speirs]

Gameex was also in the last edition of Retro Gamer.

Shit, your kidding me. I didnt see that. I was subscribed to that mag. May even have that issue. Any chance you can send me a scan Flash?

I love this stuff.

And Mayhem, please email me to discuss about the key.

Cheers.

EDIT: Flash et all. Dont assume I know about this stuff, cos often I dont. So let me know

[Mayhem]

yeh mate ill scan it in for you. if you look on the web site its all so linked on there. Ill not shot a email just yet for extra key though as there is no point till shes built. But ill throw you a sponserd by on the work log .. I tried to get every one who deserves a mention in on it when i was asked to write it but some they left out.

A PC in an arcade cabinet, emulating thousands of retro games

Ever since the days of the ZX Spectrum, I've been a big fan of computer gaming. I've owned nearly every console ever made, and played games on plenty of computers too, such as the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro. However, it wasn't until later that I bought my first PC: a 200MHz Pentium with a mere 32MB of RAM, which set me back £1,200. I now own a small army of computers, many of which have been modified with water-cooling kits. I like to think that if something can be modded, I'll give it a try.

The idea for my latest creation, C-Macc's, came from a discussion about retro gaming with my fiancée. One of us mooted the idea of the perfect gaming system: an arcade machine that could play any game you threw at it. To my fiancées dismay, it wasn't long before I set about building such a system and spending a lot of money on the components. I was determined to turn this dream into a reality by building an arcade machine containing a PC that would be capable of emulating every console known to man.

My starting point was to decide on an arcade cabinet to use, since I needed to know exactly how much internal space I had to work with. I spent a lot of time reading a very helpful forum called BYOAC (Build You Own Arcade Controls). Eventually, I decided to buy a blank arcade unit from Gremlin Solutions (www.gremlinsolutions.co.uk), a supplier of arcade hardware. As nostalgia was a major factor in my reasoning for building this games machine, I wanted to retain the feel of the old arcade games that I used to play, while giving it a modern appearance.

CHOOSING THE SHELL

I decided upon a white Japanese-style cabinet, but the first problem I encountered was fitting it into my car. The cabinet was so big that I had to cut away the seatbelt housing to squeeze it in. When I eventually returned home, I had to remove many of the doors from our house to get the cabinet indoors, a process that took hours.

After a lot of effort to move the cabinet into my house, I could finally start thinking about how I would build this PC. Big, chunky controllers are the aspect that people remember most fondly about arcade machines, so this was my first purchase. Rather than using a pre-built joystick, I decided to customise my own. I purchased a Sanwa Joystick JLF-TP with a large ball top from Gremlin Solutions. I wanted the buttons on the cabinet to light up, so I also bought some clear arcade buttons with 5V LEDs.

After further research, I realised that not only could I squeeze an entire PC into the arcade cabinet, but at a pinch, I could also fit in a Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii. A system such as this would be capable of playing any game ever made, whether new or old. It was at this point that I decided on the name C-Macc's, which stands for 'Complete - Multi-Arcade Console Computer System'.

THE COMPONENTS

Deciding which PC components to use was fairly easy. Although emulating older gaming systems is no problem for most modern CPUs, I wanted to make sure that performance wouldn't be a problem even when emulating more recent consoles. For this reason, I opted for an Intel Core2 Quad Q6600, with a generous 3GB of memory.

Early on I encountered a major problem with the display. An arcade monitor such as the one built into the C-Macc's uses a 15-31KHz signal, but PC graphics cards output a different frequency by default. The solution is a program called Soft-15KHz, which edits the registry and forces the VGA card to run at the frequencies that arcade machines require.

The wasn't the end of my display problems. Arcade monitors require 5V to run properly, but a PC only outputs 1.5V. Although I could see a picture on the screen, the result was a dim, shallow image, as there simply wasn't enough voltage. Thankfully, I'm not the first person to have come across this problem, and after more research, I discovered a device called the J-PAC (www.ultimarc.com/jpac.html). This handy add-on uses the USB interface on your PC, from which it draws power, thus providing the necessary 5V required to drive a VGA signal.

WE'RE JAMMING

I realised that a problem with the C-Macc's would be manually switching between the PC and the consoles inside the cabinet. I didn't want to be forced to open the arcade unit every time I wanted to change games. Thankfully, another clever add-on card for arcade machines exists called the JAMMA 6-in-1 (www.jammaboards.com). Using this, I can connect up to six JAMMA boards to one arcade system. I plugged all the consoles, controllers and PC into this board, and can switch between them using a wireless remote control.

With so many gaming systems squeezed into a small space and no way to circulate air, temperatures within the cabinet rose dramatically. I fitted four 120mm fans to draw in air at the rear of the cabinet, and two 120mm fans to blow air out through the top.

Another problem is that standard JAMMA arcade units only produce mono audio. A major aspect of recreating the original arcade experience relies on audio, and stereo audio is simply a better option, so I fitted a new set of speakers to the cabinet.

I didn't need to spend much money on these, as I found an old stereo with speakers for just £5. It was broken, but after looking inside, I found that only the capacitors had blown. Once I had replaced them, the stereo worked perfectly. I sanded down the speakers, painted them with a white gloss to match the rest of the case, and then finished the wiring.

SOFTWARE

The final task was to install the software on the PC. Once Windows XP was up and running, I installed all the emulators and copied my ROMs (which are backups of original games I own) over to a hard disk. This posed one final problem - I didn't want to rely on a keyboard, mouse and command prompt to control C-Macc's, as I wanted the system to be as user-friendly as possible. I decided to use a front-end called GameEx (www.gameex.net), which can load games through any command line-based emulator within a 3D interface. With this in place, people can simply walk up to C-Macc's and select a game to play, no matter which emulator it uses.

C-Macc's has been one of the hardest and most expensive projects I've undertaken. During the build process, I never thought that it would actually work, but now that it's up and running, it was certainly worth the effort. There may not be another system such as this in the world, although somebody may well prove me wrong.

People's typical reaction when they see C-Macc's for the first time is to ask about a specific game from a specific console. In most instances, the game is archived within C-Macc's. It's especially popular with my children, and also provides a crafty way to encourage them to save coins.

[Tom Speirs]

Thanks. I do appreciate you crediting GameEx. The key shouldnt be a problem, but I like to take such discussions offline.

Cheers.

Tom.

[Mayhem]

well again another mag is going to talk about C-Macc's this time its in Austria and hopefully again your software will be touched apon ...

The magazine is called Zoo If its any thing like the UK version it should be not to bad and with in taste full Tech section .. lol. Ive asked a few ppl i know at Ausie arcade if they can to grab a Scan of it and let us see it lol .. Ill send you a copy if i get one mate. .

[Mayhem]

Its been a while since i updated this but any how this is how far i am in the process of this build ...

Metal Frame work -

a bit of wood work done ..

[gerble1000]

Its been a while since i updated this but any how this is how far i am in the process of this build ...

Metal Frame work -

a bit of wood work done ..

nice work m8

ive just read the mag online

cant beleive you have already started the 2nd one

what specs are you frowing at this one then as ur the c-macc's was quite brutal

[Mayhem]

nice work m8

ive just read the mag online

cant beleive you have already started the 2nd one

what specs are you frowing at this one then as ur the c-macc's was quite brutal

Hi there . The specs i have in hand are as follows but youll be the first to hear this.

Core i7, 16 x 1Tb hard drives, 2 x 160 gig silicone drives (OS will go here), Blue ray, 1x gtx 285, 8 gig of ddr3. 2 full water cooling loops. 42" samsung LCD tv Hi def

Xbox ,xbox360, ps3, ps2, dc, nitendo wii, nitedno 64,

The major difference between this and my last would be that this system has been made to play FPS games as well properly.

We have GH world tour and some other rock band games for it and a load of other kit as well. Hopefully this will sink my other system with out trace.

This one how ever is taking quite a while to build as there is alot of new stuff going into this one.

[gerble1000]

Hi there . The specs i have in hand are as follows but youll be the first to hear this.

Core i7, 16 x 1Tb hard drives, 2 x 160 gig silicone drives (OS will go here), Blue ray, 1x gtx 285, 8 gig of ddr3. 2 full water cooling loops. 42" samsung LCD tv Hi def

Xbox ,xbox360, ps3, ps2, dc, nitendo wii, nitedno 64,

The major difference between this and my last would be that this system has been made to play FPS games as well properly.

We have GH world tour and some other rock band games for it and a load of other kit as well. Hopefully this will sink my other system with out trace.

This one how ever is taking quite a while to build as there is alot of new stuff going into this one.

wow

thats must cost more than ur pocket money

[gerble1000]

oh i just looking up ur specs and what the hell is a 160 gig silicone drives

is it some sort of ultra fast chip based hard drive,,

like a usb dongle but an sata virsion

[Mayhem]

yeh there just solid state drives in raid 0 for the os. There being used just to install gameex on and the OS and nothing more. This should help load times and speed up load times for gameex.

as for cost c-macc's cost approx 4 grand plus to build once ever thing was included in the build costs. C-Macc's 2 well i haven't even thought about costs to be honest and the less i think about the the best.

The frame work for C-Macc's 2 is all so some thing im going to be selling so people can build there own. We might all so consider doing the woodwork as well.

C-macc's 2 is basically a proto type system. The frame that we will be selling can fully be stripped down and will come flat packed when delivered. The same goes for the wood sections as well. The frame work can hold any thing from a 32" lcd Tv up to a 60" plasma and the frame work has a load strength of 2 tones.

in total i did 3 full frame's but the other 2 were trashed (as in cut up afterwards), 1 is pictured above in this thread..

There has been alot of thought into the system and basically c-macc's 2 is going to be a show peace to show off what it can do. And i am really going over broad on purpose.

I wont be going into to much detail about what else is being done to it because so of the proposed ideas may not work.

if you interested in the work on c-macc's 1 it can be found here -

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/605043/...accs/page1.html

[gerble1000]

yeh there just solid state drives in raid 0 for the os. There being used just to install gameex on and the OS and nothing more. This should help load times and speed up load times for gameex.

as for cost c-macc's cost approx 4 grand plus to build once ever thing was included in the build costs. C-Macc's 2 well i haven't even thought about costs to be honest and the less i think about the the best.

The frame work for C-Macc's 2 is all so some thing im going to be selling so people can build there own. We might all so consider doing the woodwork as well.

C-macc's 2 is basically a proto type system. The frame that we will be selling can fully be stripped down and will come flat packed when delivered. The same goes for the wood sections as well. The frame work can hold any thing from a 32" lcd Tv up to a 60" plasma and the frame work has a load strength of 2 tones.

in total i did 3 full frame's but the other 2 were trashed (as in cut up afterwards), 1 is pictured above in this thread..

There has been alot of thought into the system and basically c-macc's 2 is going to be a show peace to show off what it can do. And i am really going over broad on purpose.

I wont be going into to much detail about what else is being done to it because so of the proposed ideas may not work.

if you interested in the work on c-macc's 1 it can be found here -

http://www.custompc.co.uk/features/605043/...accs/page1.html

when do u think c-macc2 will be finnished

[Mayhem]

I relay don't know as i keep changing things as it goes along. If i did it simple i could have the whole system built with in a day or 2 but because im adding components that have to be bought in from the USA and japan its going to take longer.

All so i was not happy with the wood work and ive started again on the back casing. I all so have to test things such as the load strength of the wheels and the adjustment bars ect ect due to the weight it all has to withstand.

[firebrand_X]

Holy Crap!! That is one damn sexy looking machine you have in the works. Kind reminds me of the SNES/Playstation demo stations I used to see in the game stores when I was a kid (happy memories of playing all the 'new games').

Keep us updated

[Mayhem]

Holy Crap!! That is one damn sexy looking machine you have in the works. Kind reminds me of the SNES/Playstation demo stations I used to see in the game stores when I was a kid (happy memories of playing all the 'new games').

Keep us updated

Lol thks for that. I think people say it looks like a lot of thing because of the way ive made it. I did it this way because it looks modern with lots of room. but over all thks for the comment its not often you get ones like that.

[firebrand_X]

I think to better sum up what I was 'trying' to say is: "It looks new, futuristic, and exciting" hence the 'game station' comparison I drew up in my screwy mind. haha.

Still, looks awesome!

[Mayhem]

well Im seemingly stuck on the art work for this one. Im going to be using fablon to cover the base of the system but im in the need of some good art work. Any one got any suggestions for this ..