New to emulation/mame questions

[JukeboxJon]

Hello so I have only restored arcades always using original hardware and the original boards. I am still going to do it that if at all possible/affordable and for me affordable is more than some. However there is certain pcbs ive had a hard time tracking down like Midways Total Carnage. So if I had an orignal Total Carnage or Killer instinct cabinet or what have you and cannot source the board what do I need to have to take the spot of the main board until hopefully eventually I can source one?? Im not trying to run multiple games I would only want it to do Total Carnage only if its in its original cabinet or say Killer Instinct 2 in a an original Killer Instinct 2 cabinet. I would assume a pc running software and some kind of interface to deal with the arcade control inputs into the pc? Im total noob to this as ive said Ive never restored an arcade not using the original pcb.

 

[DonPanetta]

Hello so I have only restored arcades always using original hardware and the original boards. I am still going to do it that if at all possible/affordable and for me affordable is more than some. However there is certain pcbs ive had a hard time tracking down like Midways Total Carnage. So if I had an orignal Total Carnage or Killer instinct cabinet or what have you and cannot source the board what do I need to have to take the spot of the main board until hopefully eventually I can source one?? Im not trying to run multiple games I would only want it to do Total Carnage only if its in its original cabinet or say Killer Instinct 2 in a an original Killer Instinct 2 cabinet. I would assume a pc running software and some kind of interface to deal with the arcade control inputs into the pc? Im total noob to this as ive said Ive never restored an arcade not using the original pcb.

I've never tried but you can probably run Total Carnage and Smash TV on a pandoras box assuming it correctly maps the right joystick as action buttons (then you can just wire them to a 2nd joystick). If you want to go to the pure PC/MAME route with the most minimalist form, you can use vanilla mame on just about any PC from the last 10 years with an Ultimarc Ipac2 for your control interface.

 

[JukeboxJon]

So there is lots of pandoras boxes I see, so basically you would need one that has smash tv and total carnage on it, set it to only have smash tv and total carnage and hope that the jamma it already has it mapped right for the joysticks buttons? Is there a way to map it correctly in the pandora settings and can pandoras boxes be set to coin up or charge a quarter to play and handle that? It looks like the old pc with make software and that interface board probably could?

Im thinking the vanilla mame/usb interface and brainstorming how I could make it most arcadeish. I could set the mobo to power on after power failure, and I suppose depending on the version of windows force it to start the mame software hmm

 

[DonPanetta]

So there is lots of pandoras boxes I see, so basically you would need one that has smash tv and total carnage on it, set it to only have smash tv and total carnage and hope that the jamma it already has it mapped right for the joysticks buttons? Is there a way to map it correctly in the pandora settings and can pandoras boxes be set to coin up or charge a quarter to play and handle that? It looks like the old pc with make software and that interface board probably could?

Im thinking the vanilla mame/usb interface and brainstorming how I could make it most arcadeish. I could set the mobo to power on after power failure, and I suppose depending on the version of windows force it to start the mame software hmm

I personally use vanilla mame and not a pandoras box. I just did a quick search and it appears the Pandora DX and above have Smash and Total Carnage but it only has the SNES versions of the game bundled.

If you have an spare PC you can get them running pretty easily. A few years back i made a mame cab for a friend that ran just Smash or Total Carnage using a simple frontend that would boot up during windows startup. I built it around an Area 51 cabinet that i cut up. I might have posted pics of it on KLOV at some point.

 

[JukeboxJon]

I personally use vanilla mame and not a pandoras box. I just did a quick search and it appears the Pandora DX and above have Smash and Total Carnage but it only has the SNES versions of the game bundled.

If you have an spare PC you can get them running pretty easily. A few years back i made a mame cab for a friend that ran just Smash or Total Carnage using a simple frontend that would boot up during windows startup. I built it around an Area 51 cabinet that i cut up. I might have posted pics of it on KLOV at some point.

Hmm i would need some help on the "front end" basically I would want it to just boot to total carnage as soon as its turned on.

Ive been a computer gamer and built my own pcs since I was like 12 and im 38 now lol. I have enough old computer parts from my past computers/upgrade parts, family members computers/donations/work computers thats not a problem lol. However software has never been my strength or passion as much as hardware. Hmm I could even use some old silverstrike or IT nighthawk boxes so it would even have a fancy custom nighthawk

Annnd would maybe still use it on my route, i doubt the FBI is going to kick my door down and make me show them the inside of my machine im charging a quarter to play.. plus 99% of mine are all original.

 

[DonPanetta]

Hmm i would need some help on the "front end" basically I would want it to just boot to total carnage as soon as its turned on.

Ive been a computer gamer and built my own pcs since I was like 12 and im 38 now lol. I have enough old computer parts from my past computers/upgrade parts, family members computers/donations/work computers thats not a problem lol. However software has never been my strength or passion as much as hardware.

Mame is a little bit of a process to get working but its not actually that hard if you understand the ins and outs of a windows PC. If all you want to do is boot to total carnage you can simply write a batch script to boot mame to total carnage, place it in your mame directory and add a shortcut to that batch script to your windows startup folder.

Script contents would be as easy as :

mame.exe totcarn

 

[JukeboxJon]

Mame is a little bit of a process to get working but its not actually that hard if you understand the ins and outs of a windows PC. If all you want to do is boot to total carnage you can simply write a batch script to boot mame to total carnage, place it in your mame directory and add a shortcut to that batch script to your windows startup folder.

Script contents would be as easy as :

mame.exe totcarn

I think I have some friends that could help with that part. I have one that ive pc gamed for like idk 8 years now that works IT at the university of Iowa and makes us scripts for certain games like keying a crouch to make you stay crouched instead of having to hold the c key down etc

 

[DonPanetta]

I think I have some friends that could help with that part. I have one that ive pc gamed for like idk 8 years now that works IT at the university of Iowa and makes us scripts for certain games like keying a crouch to make you stay crouched instead of having to hold the c key down etc

lol you don't need that level of experience to do this. I'll give you a rough guide.

• download mame setup zip.
• go to the root of your PC drive and make a new folder called MAME
• unzip the mame setup into the MAME folder you just created. Your working mame directory should now be C:\MAME
• Find and add total carnage rom named totalcarn to the roms directory in your mame setup
• Test your mame setup at this point by opening mame.exe and doing a search for total carnage by typing total carnage in the search window and run the game. Hit escape once you are successfully done testing.
• In the mame folder right click, select new in the context menu and make a new text document.
• Open the document and type in "mame.exe totcarn" without quotes
• save and close the document.
• rename the document to totalcarn.bat (make sure you have show extensions for known filetypes enabled in your windows setup folder options)
• right click on the totalcarn.bat and select send to in the context menu and create a new desktop shortcut for it.
• hold ctrl+R to run a new command line. at the command window paste "shell:startup" without the quotes
• Drag your totalcarn.bat you have on your desktop into the startup folder.
• That should allow you to run totalcarnage at startup

 

[bobbyb13]

Listed in order of ease of use based on my experience thus far to date.
Assuming also that you will be using a CRT and that you verify that any given solution plays the games you want before you start.
1. Recalbox Dual
2. MiSTercade
3. PC with a proper graphics card running CRtEmudriver and GroovyMAME

There is an ever-growing list of raspberry Pi based solutions, which, as those have become more powerful, actually can do reasonable jobs with emulation at this point.

 

[JukeboxJon]

Listed in order of ease of use based on my experience thus far to date.
Assuming also that you will be using a CRT and that you verify that any given solution plays the games you want before you start.
1. Recalbox Dual
2. MiSTercade
3. PC with a proper graphics card running CRtEmudriver and GroovyMAME

There is an ever-growing list of raspberry Pi based solutions, which, as those have become more powerful, actually can do reasonable jobs with emulation at this point.

Yes i will be using a CRT, ive not had a CRT chassis ive not been able to get working myself and refurbished. Plus im against using LCDs and imo diminishes the whole experience. Plus if youve seen the amazing picture from some of them ive brought back from the dead there is no way you would use a Unico garbage etc.

 

[JukeboxJon]

lol you don't need that level of experience to do this. I'll give you a rough guide.

• download mame setup zip.
• go to the root of your PC drive and make a new folder called MAME
• unzip the mame setup into the MAME folder you just created. Your working mame directory should now be C:\MAME
• Find and add total carnage rom named totalcarn to the roms directory in your mame setup
• Test your mame setup at this point by opening mame.exe and doing a search for total carnage by typing total carnage in the search window and run the game. Hit escape once you are successfully done testing.
• In the mame folder right click, select new in the context menu and make a new text document.
• Open the document and type in "mame.exe totcarn" without quotes
• save and close the document.
• rename the document to totalcarn.bat (make sure you have show extensions for known filetypes enabled in your windows setup folder options)
• right click on the totalcarn.bat and select send to in the context menu and create a new desktop shortcut for it.
• hold ctrl+R to run a new command line. at the command window paste "shell:startup" without the quotes
• Drag your totalcarn.bat you have on your desktop into the startup folder.
• That should allow you to run totalcarnage at startup

Thank you Don thats a lot of info to type but should serve as a future guide for others Googling.

 

[bobbyb13]

The MiSTercade would be a great choice as long as it plays what you want and since it is jamma you will have built a great platform for practically anything else already.
Only thing I don't know (as I have barely worked with mine) is how it handles analog controls, i.e. potentiometer driven devices, hall effect sticks, some spinners, etc.

And of course @DonPanetta 's tutorial on startup activity is awesome!

 

[FrizzleFried]

Another option:

ARpiCADE.net

Support site for the OS that powers the RaspberryJAMMA. With a RaspberryJAMMA and ARpiCADE you can play thousands of games on your JAMMA arcade machine.

www.arpicade.net

 

[DonPanetta]

Listed in order of ease of use based on my experience thus far to date.
Assuming also that you will be using a CRT and that you verify that any given solution plays the games you want before you start.
1. Recalbox Dual
2. MiSTercade
3. PC with a proper graphics card running CRtEmudriver and GroovyMAME

There is an ever-growing list of raspberry Pi based solutions, which, as those have become more powerful, actually can do reasonable jobs with emulation at this point.

CRT emu driver and compatible cards are an incredibly powerful piece of tech to have at the disposal for mame but I found more often than not You can never get 100% accurate resolutions for every game in mame and you were left constantly having to adjust and readjust your monitor.

After messing around for so long I ended up giving up and switching my setup to use a 19-in VGA CRT I got from an old late '90s gambling machine. I felt that it was easier to use and i didn't have to constantly adjust monitor settings just to get one game to look decent.

 

[JukeboxJon]

wait so whats stopping me if I have a rom burner or buy one and just changing a mk1 board to Total Carnage? They are both y unit right and mk1 boards are much more source able and not too pricey…

 

[JukeboxJon]

wait so whats stopping me if I have a rom burner or buy one and just changing a mk1 board to Total Carnage? They are both y unit right and mk1 boards are much more source able and not too pricey…

@DonPanetta

 

[DonPanetta]

wait so whats stopping me if I have a rom burner or buy one and just changing a mk1 board to Total Carnage? They are both y unit right and mk1 boards are much more source able and not too pricey…

I'm no expert on this era midway hardware. Hopefully someone with enough know-how on these can chime in.

 

[JukeboxJon]

I'm no expert on this era midway hardware. Hopefully someone with enough know-how on these can chime in.

Eh this person recanted and i thought there is security chips and maybe a few factory mm jumpers etc so

 

[bobbyb13]

Didn't realize those were the same hardware myself.

And I suppose my success with GroovyMame and Calamity's genius work has been the multisync monitors that I have those boxes routed to.
I may have gotten lucky with something in configuration but those things appear to play anything.

 

[purbeast]

Getting crt-emudrivers setup is not nearly as hard to do as it seems like based on trying to find information about it. It's pretty damn simple. You can get compatible graphics cards for like $15 on ebay. You can also setup a PC that is powerful enough to run those games for pretty cheap too, you don't need top of the line anything for it. You can use like 15+ year old hardware for it and it'll run those games just fine.

If you go the PC route get a J-PAC to interface with the PC. You'll also need an amp for your speakers, but you can get a cheap one that is like $10. I have 2 of em in my 2 MAME cabinets. I had to get more expensive ones for my Rush 2049 cabinets though since there is a sub involved, but even those were $20 lol it's not expensive.