Cabinets and HTPC Setups Running GameEx

[vsilvalopes]

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

The Xbox 360 controller is just to compare the size bkenobi! I only use PS joypads !

[Draco1962]

Here's mine !

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

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

Nice job - so what's running inside this little toaster and will it do bagels?

[SamMad]

Guys - I think these cabinets are amazing and I am tempting to look at my own project...

What is the average cost of these - I suspect CRT Monitor and 5 year old PC is just about free - but what about the controls/cabinet ( i know it varies but if built from scratch )/money slots/ electrical etc ??????

Just a rough number would be great...

Keep inspiring me and I will keep you all posted..

Just discovered GAMEEX a few weeks ago and loving it !!

Sam.

[bkenobi]

The best resource would really be the BYOAC forums. Check out the project announcements thread. Many of those include costs as well as everything else you could possibly want to know.

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade.htm

[LXicon]

Here's my cabinet running GameEx.

More details and pics here : http://lxicon.com/mame/

[antman23]

[Cret]

First post here and my first cabinet build.

Here's how my cabinet started off:

This was two side panels from an old wardrobe, a jpeg off google image of a cabinet, and some guesswork.

A bit further on now, here it is with steering wheel added. Now you see it:

Now you don't:

The wheel folds away into cupboard space in the front of the cabinet.

Here it is before the decoration/prep work began, pedals & all:

This is pretty much how it looks at the moment:

And last night's extra mod to enable it to have a hidden keyboard.

No keyboard here:

Ahh, there it is inside:

Folds out past the hidden steering wheel:

Fully upright and operational:

Not the prettiest mod but it works and is handy to have since my steering wheel arrangement prevents me having a slide out drawer like most people seem to favour.

Hope you like it and sorry for so many pics.

I originally had mamewah on it, but I decided to try out Gamex and I love it! Registered the other day and am very happy with it.

Just trying to get epsxe working to figure out how it can pick up different types of rom files at the moment but I've already got mame/n64/snes all working nicely.

Cheers

Jim

[Tom Speirs]

Sweet guys. Thanks for choosing GameEx for your projects.

[BritInVA]

This is my first MAME, and so no experience, so I decided to â??tryâ?? the Project Arcade II plan thatâ??s in 2nd Edition book.

I had old Windows XP, 1.3Ghz Celeron processor & 512Mb RAM PC which is a bit slow but so far doing OK. I also had a Sony WEGA 25â? Flat Screen CRT (KV-XA25M80) TV.

So main cost is in the materials and controls.

For controls Iâ??m using a pair of UltraStik 360â??s and using the built in encoder for the main play buttons. Iâ??m also using an IPAC for other buttons that Iâ??m including in the bezel. Main reason for this is if I later want to have changeable control panels I just have to buy the main controls only (e.g. steering wheel).

Other than the modification for the bezel my other deviation from p Project Arcade II plan is Iâ??m making the coin panel into a door.

For the software Iâ??m following Ranzoâ??s excellent guide and so far installed Mameuifx32 and GameEx. Iâ??m using David Frâ??s Game EX theme but been tweaking for my needs. Still putting finishing touches to the cabinet and also installing Visual Pinball.

Anyway â?? enough of that â?? here is a picture of current status.

[Draco1962]

Nice start, Brit! I will be glad once I can start my cab project (well, I guess I have already "started" learning what I can about GameEx and the various emus so when it comes time to set up it won't take as long to get the basics squared away so I can focus in on the details).

[Adultery]

OK, it's not 100% yet (no CP and getting a few new lighting mods over the next week), but here's my cabinet. I mean, it's been a million years I been a member here and I never posted pics before, so I thought maybe it was time to do so. That being said, here we go!

There's the front view. I wish the coin doors and the blacklighting around the back of the monitor would show up... They look really nice. I used LED wedge bulbs for the coin slots and cold cathode case lighting for the ambient lighting behind the LCD. I installed two USB 2.0 ports into the front with a jigsaw that I took from an old HP computer case. They are not intrusive and it's always nice to have easy access to USB ports without the ugliness of a hub. My L and R front speakers are mounted here as well, and I drilled a hole in the underside of the CP to keep the wires tucked away out of sight.

I had the marquee printed at a local sign shop for $50. The guy owes me a favor though, so I've been working on a new one to keep with my current SMB theme. I am also ging to replace the picture on the CP with this one as soon as I finish up the marquee. My new one will be all original, whereas this one I borrowed from somewhere on the interwebz.

There's the side view with the reclaimed mailbox on the side for my instruction manual and extra wires and whatnot. I got the removable decals from Amazon to look decent until I invest in some side art, which could take a while on my budget!

Side #2 with the power switch, HDD and power LEDs. I fashioned the cover using thumb tacks, velcro, a plastic lid for a sewing kit, some used gift cards and electric tape. We don't want anyone accidentally hitting the power button in a heated game session now do we?

A little closer to the monitor and a shot of the cpanel. My wireless keyboard usually sits here. I had a hell of a time finding a head for my screwdriver so I could remove the stupid security screws!

The center speaker is mounted right above the monitor there in the center. I left the grills on for the old speakers and I ordered a red and green LED 80mm case fan for each side to stay with the whole Mario/Luigi theme. They will look great emitting that faint light from the grill and help with ventilation.

As you can see, I took out the coin bucket and tucked my Intec XBOX 360 wireless controller charger in there instead. If I don't want my kids playing it (when they're on punishment), I can easily lock the bottom door so they can't get at them. The wireless dongle is under the CP, which pulls up on a piano hinge. This will make replacing the microswitches a snap when I get to that point.

Behind the marquee on my cabinet I mounted the power supply I use for lighting. It does a nice job keeping my lights and fans powered up, and it was free (someone donated an old PC and I took out the power supply). I used the "paper clip trick" to keep it powered on without a mobo, and took great care in taping up the ATX end so no one gets zapped. My rear speakers are also mounted up here facing the vent holes on the back, which there are three of, covered with wire mesh. These vent holes have three 80mm case fans mounted to them to help with air circulation. I used cut Bic pens to space them back just a little bit as opposed to mounting them flush with the wire mesh.

This is the back shelf of the CP. You'll note I mounted my DVD-RW drive to the underside of the shelf with metal strapping. It's pretty rare I need access to this, and I didn't want to blow the look by cutting a hole in front for it. The external drive here is a TB drive, and I've only got it about half full. Should I need more space I have a USB 2.0 PCI card I'm not currently using, but the actual PC has 80GB for the OS, and a TB internal IDE drive for the Windows games and Visual Pinball tables. I also keep some heavy space consuming sets on here (Gamecube, Saturn, PSX, and Sega CD). I really think there's more than ample space (for now)!

Here's a bottom shot. You can see the connectors and the HDDs and the subwoofer here. I try to keep my cordage organized, but it's a nightmare. Especially since there's really no good way to keep power supply wires from just being there. The big trick for me was finding an IDE cable long enough to reach my DVD drive (yay Newegg!).

And finally, here's the mobo. It's a 775DUAL-VSTA I bought on eBay for $25. I'm really quite happy with it! Running XP and 2GB of DDRII RAM from GSkill ($35), it runs just about everything I can throw at it. The CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E7500, and the video card is a Radeon HD 4650 with 1GB of DDR3. It also has a PCI-E slot if I ever decide to go that route. The PC power supply is mounted to the bottom with metal strapping also. That stuff is awesome in what it can do!

Well that's it for now. I have two LED case lights on order that should arrive Friday that I will be mounting under the CP to illuminate the bottom front (red on the left, and green on the right like with the fans I mentioned earlier). When I get that installed I'll add the pic.

Feel free to ask me any questions if you like.

.:EDIT:. Scaled down the picture sizes. Click on an image for the full size.

[Draco1962]

Well, I am a bit envious to say the least and really hate you right now! j/k Good job and keep us posted on the progress!

Seriously, I am still debating on a cab, htpc setup, or a decent pedestal/quad CP that I can wheel away from the living room when not in use. Regardless, I will likely install wireless NIC or go the ethernet over powerline route (which, for the Xbox 360 is working quite well and much better throughput than the original wireless adapter).

[Adultery]

Well my next move after this will be the jukebox, and then I wanna try and do a cocktail cabinet. The cocktail will have locking wheels for moving it off to the side and I will definately be going wireless on that. Once you get close to being done the thrill seems to be gone. I guess for me it's the build more than the enjoyment!

I've been thinking about an HTPC too. The wife got a netbook so I was debating on converting the P4 into one. But the cab has really got the wife complaining about getting 'nickle and dimed to death' so I may need to butter her up first!

[GeorgeT]

I wanna do a jukebox next or maybe a Pincab

[Draco1962]

Well the HTPC could also do doubletime as a media server so she could access stuff from her netbook!

[Adultery]

Just got the new marquee back from the printer. Fits the theme of my cab perfectly, and I'm proud to display the GameEx logo on it for all to see.

[Draco1962]

That is, in your words, AWESOMESAUCE!!! Do you mind if I use it and the GameEx logo knock-up for a few bezels?

[Adultery]

Of course not! Help yourself!

[Adultery]

She's all done! I took a couple pics:

Here's one with the flash on. The lighting didn't come up very well in the speaker grates, under the CP, and behind the monitor, so I took one in the dark also without the flash (although it came out blurry you get the idea) :

Finally, I can sit and enjoy playing it!

PS: Thank you Tom and the GameEx crew for making my childhood dream a reality!

[BritInVA]

Nice cabinet Adultery - puts mine to shame

What you using as a monitor - I think my choice of using an old TV & PC were wrong..... think a better monitor on PC need to be on shopping list - just hop my kids play it so can justify it..... so far wife thinks its a big eyesore

[Adultery]

My wife is the same way so I feel your pain! She's actually been pretty supportive though since it means so much to me which is cool. There's no chicks around these forums because I figure they're all a little jealous! Haha!

The monitor is an HP w2007 20" LCD. It's worked out pretty great once I got the angle right. I used an HDTV TV mount from WalMart for $25 which works pretty awesome. I only recently added the cold cathode lighting behind it to make it pop a bit better. The look just seems to fit the cab pretty good and the size was just big enough to fit the hole that was already there.

[Draco1962]

Looks great! To polish it off would recommend the side-art when you can afford it (it's ain't cheap unless you can cut a good deal with a local printer). Also, grab a spray can of Rustoleum semi-gloss black and paint the mailbox to fit in with the rest of the cab. I am still jealous and I still hate you!

[Draco1962]

Nice cabinet Adultery - puts mine to shame

What you using as a monitor - I think my choice of using an old TV & PC were wrong..... think a better monitor on PC need to be on shopping list - just hop my kids play it so can justify it..... so far wife thinks its a big eyesore

My wife is supportive and once the adult kids move out and we are "empty nesters" again I am sure she will be more willing for me to build an arcade machine of my own. Right now we are stacked like cord wood with people, pets, and furniture. Your wife needs to lighten up a bit - you aren't bar hopping, out gambling, etc. You are at home with your hobby with your family. That has to count for something.

[WaVeY]

This is my third mame cabinet, like the other 2 ive made its 3/4 size. Have gone down the pacman route this time

[Adultery]

Wow! That's awesome! I absolutely love the cpanel overlay you used! Nice work!!