Dedicated Mame/emulation PC

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

Chris [BEANS]

Soldato
Joined
30 Dec 2003
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Bigger box!
Hi all :)

I've always wanted a Mame cab at home, but now I've got somewhere of my own to put it and the money to build it, I've lost the access to the tools and space I'd need to actually do it!!
So I've decided to knock up a dedicated PC to sit under My TV in the living room instead. The spec me some hardware thread is here if anyone can contribute :)

Anyway, the reason for this thread is to gather as much info and advise as I can on the rest of it.

Has anyone here got one, any examples etc to look at? There are loads of cabinets, but I can't find any that just slot under the TV like a console would...
What front ends do you guys use etc?

I'm still not entirely sure how I want to set it up yet. My initial intention was to have a seemless dedicated experience, change the windows splash screen to something emulation related, have the PC boot directly into the front end which can be controlled by the joystick etc, but then I realised that some emulated games just don't suit a stick. Some play much better with a pad (snes games using the pads shoulder buttons for example).
If I'm going to be swapping between stick and pad etc then it'll be difficult to maintain control of the frontend without changing the key config each time etc and it all gets a bit fiddly.

Might get a nice wireless keyboard with a touch pad or built in track ball or something and switch between the emulators manually rather than use a front end, but then it becomes obvious it's a PC which is kinda not the point....

Might just stick to emulating consoles that are suitable for use with a stick?! Any suggestions welcome.

As an aside, just something I thought might be cool if the box was connected to the main TV... Obviously my iTunes library is all on my main PC, would it be possible to stream my music from iTunes on the main PC to an iTunes on the Mame box?

Once I've got it all sorted in theory I'll probably stick a build log on here for the whole thing (specs for the rig, building the joysticks, seting up the emu's/frontend etc) so any and all experienced advise would be great :)

Cheers
 
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Looking forward to seeing what you do. I built a mame/htpc unit about 2 years ago now and while the mame stuff gets used when we have people over I find myself using the media centre aspect on a pretty much daily basis.

Have gone through a couple of front ends myself, most recently Maximus Arcade but currently using Hyperspin. One thing I've experienced since making the build is that I have never had it 'just right', in that I am always thinking of one small thing that needs changing.
 
Arcade stick = perfect for mame as these are just arcade games and most of them use some sort of stick and buttons.

Older console use pads so just use an xbox pad or any other pad that will work on pc.

I mainly use keyboard to play emulated games on my normal pc and old laptop.

I think you should get some smaller tv if you can as old games will look terrible on some very big screen (mame games are very low resolution), preferably old crt in 4:3 format as these games are this format only.
 
Check out this site.

http://www.diyromarcade.com/blog/building-tips/diy-arcade-machine-plans-designs/

10erl7s.jpg


I'd love the Police Box but it would most probably result in a female free life.
 
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theres a guy on youtube that has a lot of videos of arcade emulations in actualy arcade cabinets...cant remember exactly who he is but i know he has 2 mk machines with one of them basically running a modified mame....you cant tell its an emulator at all.
 
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