Cabinets and HTPC Setups Running GameEx

[jthompson]

OK after a few months of fiddle farting around with my cab I finally decided to post a web page dedicated to it. Here it is Jay's Arcade Classics Cabinet.Check it out and let me know what you think.

[Deadly]

Here's my cabinet with specs, some pics are old and computer hardware has been replaced with the following:

GAMEEX of course!!!

Intel Pentium Extreme 3.2GHZ proc

(2) Gig Corsair 667mhz RAM

(1) Intel 955XBK motherboard

(1) EVGA 7800GT PCIE 256 meg PCIE video card

(2) Seagate 120 gig SATA drives with Mad Cat fans on them

(1) 10" powered sub woofer

(2) Harmon Kardon surround speakers mounted below marquee

(1) USB powered hub "needed for the Act-Labs guns as there is a non admitted USB power timing issue.

(47) buttons

(4) 8 way joysticks

(1) 4 way joystick

(1) 3 inch trackball

(1) Tornado spinner

(1) Powermate USB volume knob - the friggin best idea by the way

(2) Act Labs laser guns

(1) 27" Samsung flatscreen TV

(1) Bits LTD Smart Power Strip - everything powers on by one button

(2) Original Lethal enforcers gun holsetrs not mounted yet!

(4) Cup holders not mounted yet

Games include "and still adding"

All American Laser games such as Mad Dog McCree, Drug wars etc, the original Daphne Lasergames that alot have since been removed from the package now available, Current Mame collection 6228 games, Virtual Cop 1&2, Die Hard Trilogy 2, House of the Dead 1-3.

I personally designed the control panel top "after slikstiks quad unit" had a guy CNC it for me and had it shipped with t-molding for $45.00.

I made the bottom half of the CP myself. The cabinet is actually a 1984 Williams cabinet which I gutted and framed in the TV and everything else. Added new light fixture and removed all the old original crap.

The back board has 2 fans mounted. The bottom fan is 4 wire plugged into the motherboard which allows me to adjust speed to cool the bottom half "cabinet is sepearted into two halfs" and the top fan is one constant speed to keep the TV hot air moving it's way out!

Lastly, you learn so much by building your first cabinet. Good and bad things happen but you most certainly will want to build another. I am going to sell this cabinet and build yet another. I can't wait!

[PICS!!!] - I won't bore you with every step of the build "ok well almost not all of it" just the important stuff Excuse some of the crappy blurry pics.

I have $1400 into this and it is well worth every penny.

[U2Edge]

Well here's my "cabinet" or lack thereof. I have a second 2-player X-arcade stick on the way, so I'll have four-player capability. I'm HUGE into NBA Jam and a lot of 4-player games, so that's almost essential to have it (even though we don't usually have four people in the house -- but it'd be great for parties, etc.).

I'm pondering building a cabinet, but I want to use the infrastructure I have (2 2-player X-Arcade sticks, my Sony VAIO P4 multimedia workhorse with Windows MCE, etc.). I've even got a remote to control GameEx when I don't want to use the joystick as well as a wireless mouse tucked away on the top right swinging shelf. I don't have the need for spinners or trackballs or lightguns or anything overly fancy. Do you think it'd be pretty easy to build a 4-player cabinet ("easy" as in time, cost, etc.). If I already have all I need (pretty much), it should be simple and cheap to build, I'm hoping.

I was thinking all I would need is the wood, get it cut and painted and maybe put a lit marquee on it. I'd build a box to house both of the 2-player x-arcades, so there wouldn't be any crazy wiring or jamma cards, etc. I don't even need a coin box (unless that is crazily simple to wire into my system).

I use this computer for work a lot and I don't want to shell out cash for another one just to play MAME games. I like the idea of dual monitors for arcade as well. Your thoughts? Have you seen specs for a four-play x-arcade cabinet?

I'm open for thoughts, suggestions, etc....to cab or not to cab? And if so, how.....

[vuduman67]

Here is my second cab, Its not quite done yet. Needs some tweaking here and there. It not running Gamex yet, but will be soon. Need to send some more cash for a second license Anyway Future plans call for having the seat redone and some better trimwork installed. Toying with the idea of building a Racer X twin for some serious head to head

[bfrye]

I wish I had a laptop. Sounds like you're doing good so far. When you say a PS2 steering wheel.. do you mean PlayStation 2 or PS/2 (like keyboard/mouse plugs). If it is the Playstation, how well does that work with racing games in Mame?

To tell you the truth I haven't completely finished setting it up yet. It's been the biggest pain getting it mounted up and comfortable. It's a playstation 2 steering wheel I've hacked apart though. I'd like to find some beefier pedals as the plastic ps2 ones are kind of cheesy.

Here's a couple pics of the makeshift setup I've got going to test out placement of the controls and monitor.

All in all, should cut down on the size needed on the inside of the cab for computer stuff too as the laptop itself is pretty small. I can build a small channel into the side of it with the docking station in it that the laptop just slides into with a door covering it. Plus it works out because when you move it around you can pull the laptop and not have to worry about it getting banged up or anything if you have to put it in the back of a truck. Keeping it cool should be easier too with a couple of decent fans and a much smaller space to pull the air out of rather than a fullsized computer.

[Wouter]

Ok here's some pics of my cab/gameroom. I bought a NBA Tournament dedicated cab and then I modified it with some extra buttons. I only need to change the T-molding because at some points it's totally been broken. But this is my winter project ;-)

[katuuuz]

I love game ex.

[gorgeousjorge]

Hi all,my cabinet.Sorry because of the low picture quality,nokia powered lol!!!

Tx Tom for GameEx,it would`n be the same without it!!!

[Jontox]

Not yet any pictures running with GameEx (but my GameEx is already registered )

Lots of pictures are available : Arcadeus BLOG

Story of the project is located at : Arcadeus BYOAC Thread

Here are a quick snapshots

See you

Jontox

[nexus6]

heres my orange (!) nsm löwenplay:

[442much]

Here is my newly finished cab.

You can read about it on BYOAC: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=63718.0

You can also see additional pix: http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/547400186GmfKaX

It wouldn't be complete without GameEx running on it. Thanks Tom!

[englishman_in_PlantCity]

Here are 3 MAME cabinets I have created, originally using MALA, but since I found Game Ex, then wont use anything but, Arcade Classics is running a P4 3.2Ghz with 1GB, PC monitor, as the cabinet was a bare shell originally, this was my first MAME cabinet, then came the 25" Arcade Monitor version with 3" GT trackball, and a 2.6Ghz P4, and I have just finished another one, this time again was an empty shell, so used a 2.4Ghz P4, and an old 21" PC monitor, this was again uses a 3" GT USB trackball, it runs Game Ex, MAME, Daphne, Zinc (wish I could sort out the key config!) and my youngest fav game Tiger Woods 2007! Hope you like the pics, they are not all the finished items, more 95% finished Thanks and can I say what a great site & programs, Keep up the Splendid work!!!

[MrScary]

Here is my latest machine (incorrectly posted this in the wrong place last week). My third machine, third copy of Game Ex! It is from scratch..you can download the plans from my web site here:

Cronin's Arcade

Let me know what you think!

(As always, Tom, excellent program!!!)

[kudo59]

Hi!I'm french so sorry for my poor english

It's my cab including gameex and few emulators(mame,project 64,gens etc...)

More informations on my blog :

my cab

on the last page,a video is available

have a nice gamer day

[TigerKnee]

Thanks for everyone's help in getting it up and running.

[gryhnd]

Hey everyone,

Here's my first ever MAME cabinet. It's nearly complete now, except for a last minute addition I will be making shortly of two Bulgin LED buttons (one blue and one red) that will be for convenient use of "pause" and "quit". These will be placed below the monitor somewhere between the USB hub and the DVD drive.

I have also wired up my cabinet with a switch hidden behind the locked coin door that deactivates the X-arcade's coin buttons..for when one wants a more authentic experience....or just to soak his buddies

Two pics below. I sent Tom my Gameex donation today, and GAMEEX can be seen in the first picture (before the side art was applied).

All the sordid, probably overly documented but still incomplete details can be found at http://www.skinners.us/skinners/Misc/ArcadeCab

[gryhnd]

Here's my first ever MAME cabinet. It's nearly complete now, except for a last minute addition I will be making shortly of two Bulgin LED buttons (one blue and one red) that will be for convenient use of "pause" and "quit". These will be placed below the monitor somewhere between the USB hub and the DVD drive.

Finished the Pause and Quit LED buttons. Pic is a bit blurry b/c I tried not to use the flash (washes out the button colors), but you get the idea. It looks very slick in person.

Blue is pause, and red is quit. Their switch portions are wired into the X-Arcade. Their LEDs are powered off the second PSU in the cabinet (5V line with 150ohm resistors).

Each causes a different simultaneous 4-button press (in an unlikely combo a player would hit while gaming). A minor mod to MAME's X-arcade controler file for the new combos and we're off and running.

[Blacktiger]

Some photos of my Mame Cabinet, i know that the button layout is not so good, but got the cabinet cheap with a 21" monitor for £40. I will change the button layout or take my X-arcade instead in the future, but have no time for that at the moment.

Photo1

Photo2

Photo3

Sincerely

Blacktiger

[Chris_Williams]

This is mine built from scratch based on Webb's design. This is about 2 years ago when it had a 20" monitor which has since been replaced with a 27" tv. As well the entire comp has been rebuilt to include an AMD athalon64 3800, GeForce 7100, 512 Mb ram, 40GB SATA HDD, and a new 500w P/S.

[Shiek Yerbouti]

That's my portable MAME machine.

Here's a pic of it running GameEx.

[Dakota]

Here are pictures of my Driving Arcade. It took me around a month to build. There are still some improvements I would like to make but I haven't really got around to them since it has been playable. GameEx works great. Right now I mainly use it for launching the driving games but I really like the other features also. Launching a movie almost feels like I am in a theater since I put my older JBL surround sound system in it.

The hardware I used includes:

PC.

21 inch Monitor.

Steering Wheel/Pedals.

JBL Home theater surround sound.

Seat from a 2000 Dodge Intrepid.

Box fan for behind the seat. (It does get pretty hot inside the arcade after a while.)

Overhead light for when I need it.

I am probably going to add a joystick for flight games later. It's been a real fun project for me and im still constantly trying to think of things I can do to make it even better. I also now have a stand up arcade machine in this room but due to using a much older PC I ended up using MameWah instead of GameEx to launch the games.

[oxbow]

Time for some hardware overkill!

I've just replaced my old Celeron 2.4Ghz / 6600GT by a E6700 / 8800 GTS 640MB

Damn this runs smooth; I can finally play Hard Drivin' 'like it should be'

A quick clip:

HPIM0039.MPG

[whoisthis]

This is my first attempt at a MAME cabinet. Took over a year to make because of time/money/changes (pick one). Hope to add a trackball to it someday... or start work on a racing cab. What to do...what to do THANKS for Gamex. Its the best!

[lingpanda]

Well not the best quality video of my home theater room with cab. I'll up a better video soon.

[scurvy]

heres mine.. finally done!!!