MAME Advice anyone?

[crazygal]

I know this isn't a MAME specific forum but I thought I'd ask anyway. I am going to be building a MAME with my roommate come summer and we're getting ready to buy the goods.

The current thing on our agenda is the computer. We're not sure how fast it needs to be so that it doesn't lag, but we don't want to end up wasting money either.

Surprisingly, most of the games don't lag on our 600-700 Mhz machines. Unfortunately, some of the most fun ones do (Killer Instinct, ALL of the Mortal Kombats, Hard Drivin' (that was really surprising), NBA Jam, etc.).

We're also going to hook it up to a 25" TV, so we'll need the appropriate video card as well.

Does anyone have any advice as to what/where to buy the goods? Should we built it ourselves or just buy one from somewhere? AMDman12GHz was VERY helpfull and we both appreciate it greatly!

 

[HiTek21]

If you're into fighting games like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat you should think about investing in the X-Arcade Controller. I bought one because you can use it for PS2/PS1, Game Cube, Dreamcast, Xbox, PC(or Mac). I've been using it a lot lately on Mame and it works great. It connects to the computer via PS/2 port and it has a Pass-through port for a Keyboard.

Hardware wise, a nice XP1700+ Tbred B, 512MB of ram and a GeForce 3 should do nicely. Probably don't even need that much goodies to run Mame nicely.

 

[crazygal]

Yeah, we looked in to that too but it looks like the joysticks are too close together. How far apart are they, 12 inches? What kind of joysticks are they?

Can you take it apart and install the pieces in to a wood panel (to change the layout of the joysticks/buttons?)

 

[HiTek21]

I was reading a website where some guy modified it and it looks like a bunch of parts bought from Happ's controllers. I don't know how the Interface works with it though. I'm sure you can take it apart and put re-arrange the buttons and put it on a larger surface. Yeah you're right its not spaced very far apart but I'm not a big person so It's fine for me.

 

[crazygal]

I think that video card is a bit much. The resolution is always pretty low so it's mostly CPU bound.

I also need a video card S video out on it too.

 

[HiTek21]

Shop newegg... XP1700+ Tbred B for $42, 512mb Crucial PC2700 for $68. As for video cards probably would get a Leadtek GeForce or ATi Card.

 

[crazygal]

great, thanks!

 

[UncleWai]

www.happcontrols.com you can get the joystick and buttons.
Two joysticks and 20 buttons cost me $60.

Then you can just hook them up to any cheapo controllers you can find.

 

[HiTek21]

Originally posted by: UncleWai
www.happcontrols.com you can get the joystick and buttons.
Two joysticks and 20 buttons cost me $60.

Then you can just hook them up to any cheapo controllers you can find.

Yeah, I saw some pictures of a home made arcade controller, some guy just gutted an old USB microsoft controller and soldered the joystick and buttons to corresponding buttons & Joystick position on the control.

 

[UncleWai]

I used knock off psx controllers. I already have a ps to pc adapter, so I can use it on my ps2 and my pc.

 

[Yzzim]

holy crap, this MAME stuff looks sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks like I might have a summer project here

Can you guys give me some links to some useful stuff? Right now I just googled "MAME" and found a bunch of good resources.

I think I have a basic idea of what to do and how to do it. Only thing I'm not really sure about is the controller....but I've only done like 15 minutes of looking at pics, lol.

Don't mean to take over your thread crazygal. You just got me very interested in this, so thank you

 

[HiTek21]

Home Made Controller Text is in German or something but if you look at the pics you'll get the gist of it. I like UncleWai's idea of using a Playstation controller because they sell all kinds of adapters that connect to the PSX controller. PSX->Gamecube, PSX->Dreamcast, PSX->PC.
I had been planning on building my own controller but never had the time, came across the Xarcade and bought it instead.

Mameworld.net good place to look for some info

 

[Eli]

You know, whenever I see a thread about this, I always think it's going to be a thread about the Bonsai related Mame...

 

[dighn]

bonsai rocks

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: dighn
bonsai rocks

Yea it does. I have a number of assorted trees that I want to bonsai.

 

[crazygal]

No problem Yzzim. From what I've heard, it's not that hard to set up and the computer requirements aren't unreasonable. www.mame.dk has all the roms.


Anyone else have some info?

 

[NeoV]

Matrox card for best 2d!!!

 

[crazygal]

Any Matrox card, or is there one in particular I should look for?

 

[crazygal]

Also, any advice on a 25" tv or what kind of sound card to get?

 

[bloinkXP]

Any newer TV will do. I am testing on a 3 year old Toshiba using s-video and I found the results to be great for most stuff. Warning, vector based games (Tron and Tempest for instance) don't look so hot. I am currently considering dumping buying a TV and picking up a used 21" monitor (from secondwindpc.com) and using that...

later,
D