Cabinets and HTPC Setups Running GameEx

[celly]

Here is mine. Not quite finished. It was once a Mortal Kombat II that I decided to make MAME. Nothing special.

[discgolfer72]

here are some more cabs i have bult running gameex

ps these are what mame rigs should look like no monitor showing/monitor decased,no more than 4layer controls with no more than 6 buttons per player , im so tired of seing people showing of rigs that looked like a arcade threw up on the controls

mame is fully configurable ther is no need for 10 million buttons

if you want a drivinag mame make a decitaded driver

want a flight stick mame mae a dedicated machine with a flight stick

everone that puts 10 milion contros on their rigs are giving all the mame builders bad names in the arcade comunity and it just looks bad

[njay]

well here is my cab:

it's and royal video arcade cab with hantarex 900MC

stil WIP ofcourse needs some painting and a monitor bezel

[gryhnd]

My second GameEx cabinet, cocktail style...sort of:

[dezblack]

Thought it was time to show mine, but I don't think it will never NOT be a WIP =)

[Sliver X]

The machine I use GameEx with isn't a cabinet, rather a console type system...

Specifications:

CPU: Intel Atom N230 (Ovclocked to 1.8GHz, Hyperthreading)

GPU: nVidia ION (GeForce 9400M, DVI/HDMI/DSUB-Out)

Audio: Onboard 7.1 sound with S/PDIF (Optical and Coaxial) + 1/8" stereo out, line-in/mic-in.

Motherboard: Zotac ION (Mini ITX, 3 SATA ports (Capable of RAID 0 and RAID 1), 1xeSATA, 10xUSB, 1xFireWire, external 90W laptop-style power supply)

RAM: 2GB DDR2-800MHz, Dual Channel

Optical: Lite-On BD-ROM/DVD+RW (SATA)

HDD: 1TB Samsung EcoGreen (5200RPM, 16MB Cache, SATAII)

Network: Gb Ethernet jack + 56Mb 802.11G USB WiFi NIC

Case: "Super Case" MI-100, Mini ITX

OS: Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs. BBLean also replaces Explorer as the shell.

My primary concerns were small size and low power usage. The Zotac board utilizing the Atom was perfect for this. Even under full load the machine pulls around 45W, and idles around 23W. Since it's always on this is great for my power bill! The ION GPU also allows full speed HD playback, which the Atom cannot pull off, and is roughly as powerful as a GeForce 7600GT for 3D applications.

The entire interface is controlled via a Playstation 2 controller. Holding the left analog stick and pressing certain buttons will do things like Alt+F4, Alt+Tab, etc. The right analog stick allows control of the mouse cursor while the D-pad navigates GameEx's menus or other things. I pulled all this off with JoyToKey, which has separate configs for things like the PC games (It can run games up to about 2005 great), GameEx itself, PowerDVD, NexusFile V, etc.

I have the media paths set to every drive letter possible, so if you plug in something like a USB drive it'll pop up under the menus.

I also ended up making an elaborate system of batch files to do some interesting things, such as changing all my emulator configs and the display to either 800x600, 1280x720 or 1920x1080, ripping DVDs with DVDDecrypter, web browsing and a full blown file manager with OSK. I also coded a program in AutoIT that will restart GameEX if it crashes.

The machine also acts as a NAS of sorts: There are several writable shares and a lot of readable ones that people can stream through whatever LAN I have it hooked up to.

And here's a few pictures of how I've got it set up:

The main menu. I have a bunch of MAME, console and handheld systems set up (With a sizable amount of screenshots for GameEx to use), some PC games that are playable with a gamepad alone (Such as Silent Hill 2 - 4, even mouse games like Sanitarium and Septerra Core). "Play Optical Disc" is a batch file that uses IF NOT EXIST Z:\NUL EXIT to check if a disc is in the drive (Cancelling if not) and if so loads PowerDVD for playback. I don't use GameEx's internal player for optical media because I need Blu-Ray support.

Browsing the web. The OSK is provided by a program called TouchIt Keyboard. It's toggled on and off via the Start button on the controller.

The file manager. Square is Enter, Triangle brings up a context menu for rename/deletion/etc, Dpad navigates, L2/R2 are Page Up/Page Down, etc.

It's still kind of WIP: I want to add PVR capabilities to it and I'd also like to do things such as make the DVD/CD rip process also burn back to discs. But I'm pretty happy with it, except the fact that at the rate I'm adding media to it I'll have to install a bigger HDD sooner than I'd like!

[Lawrence]

Here's my cab. I tried to achieve a balance between traditional and modern with it. The case is made from metal covered in special textured eurythene coating which is nearly indestructible (have taken keys and a hammer to the cab, as well as kicking it with my Doc Martins). There is no bottom floor to it at all -- combined with the metal casing, means the computer inside runs just as cool as if it were sitting on a desk, even without any noisy cab fans. The DVD drive is accessible right below the coin buttons, so no need to open the cab open just to pop in a DVD. And some pretty monster speakers. Quite pleased with how the artwork turned out as well -- a monkey vs. spaceman theme. I've hired the same artist to make a custom GameEx theme for it later.

I've put up a website for it -- http://www.magnumarcade.com -- still under construction, but getting there.

[yamo]

[Jack Sparrow]

Here is mine (Originally known as "The Alan Parsons Project" and based heavily on the dimensions of the original Atari Asteroids cabinet.

Made of 3/4" MDF throughout, it's modular so it can be disassembled and flatpacked for when it needs to be moved out.

PC is nothing special. Its an AMD 64 2800 single core, using onboard video and sound, 17" TFT (yes I know it needs to be 19" before anyone starts).

Altec Lansing 5 channel sound, so its got a sub woofer in the base for those really THUMPING pinball replays

A pair of Sanwa 8 way bat tops and Happ pushbuttons, Artwork by Mame Marquees, EmdKay and sideart by the monkey sticker shop.

False Coinslot robbed from an local arcades dustbin (its handy for an extended USB connector)

and of course in the bowels of it, the usual mini-pac board.

Running Gameex as its front end, with Mame, Daphne & VisPinball

She has of course got flipper buttons on the side, a plunger simulator button on the front right, the small mounting clamps are for a flight stick, should I feel the need to run Flightsim X on it, and just clips on and off as required.

Yes, she could do with a bigger PC, but she's more than capable of playing 'most' mame emulations, nearly all visual pinball tables and every daphne image ive got.

The only thing she does struggle with is Atari Firefox, but then again, my core duo 4600 occasionally dislikes that one too.

To see my duo running Firefox, see below.

Gameex was the first cabinet front end I tried and couldnt see the need to try another. Did exactly what I needed it to do, and did it brilliantly.

[Queeg]

As promised, here's my cabinet. All artwork and theme are 100% original.

These first two show my custom GameEx theme, bezel and cpwizard layout

arcade cabinet (1/4)

arcade cabinet (2/4)

I can't post all the content, check out the link below for more video and pictures!

Link to my BYOAC thread Project Capcom

[Raitsa]

Here is mine, still something to be done:

- monitor will get bigger...

- bezel

- marquee + led lights

- remove wheels

- remember to add joysticks + buttons...

- speakers

[Palmore]

Just some updated pics of my arcade, I put a new web gallery online and thought I'd link some pics from it.

Crackedconsole (my project logs)

http://www.crackedconsole.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=446&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www.crackedconsole.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=442&g2_serialNumber=1

The control panel bolts on with 4 heavy duty wing nuts, then 2 USB cables and 1 RJ45 cable connect up power, iPAC and other controls/buttons.

http://www.crackedconsole.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=600&g2_serialNumber=2

http://www.crackedconsole.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=668&g2_serialNumber=2

Wiring is a mess, I need to get a couple more better pics with my new camera to show the inside of the control panel, I lined it with a black felt fabric, it keeps it nice and clean looking inside =)

I still have to add a drawer under the control panel for a keyboard and Xbox controllers. But that will come later.

[we1dont7die]

Hey guys. Heres the SlikStik cabinet I have. It was fun putting it all together...I just need some artwork. The PC inside is better than my GF's laptop...she doesn't like that. ;-)

The coin slot lights are powered by the red and black cable in the pic with the coin mech...i rigged up a molex connector to it, but dont have it plugged in in the picture. That subwoofer is $40 walmart special 'surround sound' that i threw in there along with the two front speakers which are above sitting in the holes. pc is dual core 2.8ghz, 2 gb ram, 750gb hdd, with a Ultimarc ArcadeVGA2 video card. Works great with all the systems shown. Only one that really gives me problem in terms of speed is Future Pinball. I hope Ultimarc comes out with a newer card.

...I think i just wet myself. There IS a new one! http://ultimarc.com/avgainf.html

[wobbly]

here are some pics of my cab before i start on it

[WaVeY]

Heres my 3/4 size Defender cab I built, 95% finished just waiting on the marquee and to tidy the inside up.

[Nightlife]

I've finally finished my home theater retrogaming setup, and figured I'd post it 'cause it's pretty unique from the other stuff that's out there!

- Computer is a 2.0GHz Mac mini running XP Performance Edition via boot camp.

- Display is a Panasonic PT-AE1000U HD projector projecting a 100" 1080p image.

- Software is the venerable GameEx with the default theme with a few custom images here and there.

- Front end and games are controlled either with the X-Arcade Tank Stick and/or the Logitech wireless PS2 controllers (via PS2 to USB adapters).

- Puppy is a hound dog named Anakin who loves to nap while others play games!

And, of course, it plays HD movies, all current consoles, and watches TV. But who cares about that stuff, right??

Hope you like it!

[allsyop]

Here is a look of our finished game room. Gameex is on all Machines except the pinball is running Hyper-Pin. I love Gameex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mgj7QYrILO4

[WaVeY]

Finally got my mini mame cab finished today ( marquee eventually arrived from the printers after 6 weeks ) based on a williams defender caninet except its 3/4 size, 15" tft with a shuttle-x pc.

[doolin]

Here is mine...

[LarryJ]

I built this a cab a while ago:

Control panel is a SlikStik, but the rest was hand built, using plans for the Ultimate Arcade.

[Sliver X]

My media PC has been steadily evolving in the year since I originally constructed it last summer. It now has a dual core Atom 330 (Overclocked to 2GHz) and uses Dualshock 3s instead of Dualshock 2s. Both sound and video are carried via HDMI as well.

So far as the software side of things goes, I got around to adding a lot of functionality: It can copy DVDs to either the HDD for later playback or to a blank 4.3GB DVD (Takes about 20 minutes for rip/compression/burning per disc). It can also take any AVI on the machine and convert/burn it to a standard DVD compatible disc.

I'm also using BBLean as Windows' shell, which aside from allowing easy elimination of a task bar allows me to bind executable commands to key combinations: Holding L3 and hitting the PS button, for example, kills and respawns GameEX (Win+K). Holding L3+R3 and hitting the PS button runs a batch file that drops the system into an NTSC friendly resolution and restarts GameEX: This is great if I take it to somebody's house and their TV doesn't support 1080 (Or whatever I left the resolution at).

I made a bad quality video demonstrating what the machine is like, now.

[WaVeY]

Just finishing off my second Mini Defender cab, a few changes on this cab 17" monitor and added some handmade Defender style graphics on the front & sides. All running under Gameex ( of course ! )

[Jollywest]

Finally got chance to knock-up a video of my machine running GameEx. (Excuse the poor video quality)

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EDIT: Updated to a less poor quality video

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I based the Arcade Machine on the X-Arcade Control Panel it uses ... (not very original I know, but hopefully in the near future when time permits, I will be constructing my own control panel)

CAB:

TV: Sony Trintron CRT 25"

GUNS: Dual Act Labs

AUDIO: Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers/Subwoofer

CPANEL: X-Arcade Dual Joystick

PC SPEC:

CPU: Intel E8400 (overclocked to 3.52ghz)

GPU: Radeon HD 4670

MOBO: Asus P5KPL-AM

RAM: Kingston 1GB DDR2 800MHz

CASE: Casecom KB-7720BK Black ATX

HDD: 2 x Hitachi Deskstar 160GB

PSU: Corsair 400w

FAN: 1 x Artic Freezer Pro 7 CPU fan. 4 x 80mm case/cabinet fans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j_T_Yqpeso

[vsilvalopes]

Here's mine !

Its not a cabinet at all , but it runs GameEx on it !

More pictures here ! http://tiny.cc/yveww

[bkenobi]

Don't you think the box will get confused since it has both PlayStation and Xbox controllers hooked up to it?