Drybonz

Well, I thought I would follow up here with what I have done so far, in case anyone that happens to read this wants to mod their X-Arcade. I went with 2 Zippyy classic arcade joysticks. Supposedly, they are cheaper imitations of Seimetsu controllers but actually have a pretty good reputation for the cost. You can get 2 Zippyys with switch upgrades (quieter) and balltop handle upgrades from here: http://groovygamegear.com/webstore/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65&products_id=371 shipped for $40. You will want to get an adapter plate from Paradise Arcade (their site is down so can't link). You want the Il version plate. It's a direct universal adapter that fits the X-Arcade with no modifications. The job is a bit of a pain, but something anyone can do. You just have to mount the joysticks using the adapter plate, then transfer the wires from the default X-Arcade sticks to the new ones, making sure you mark the positions of each wire. The X-Arcade has 2 prongs to transfer but the Zippyy had 3 prongs. I had to look it up but you want to match the bent prong on each one (that's the ground) and then use the second prong (closest to the bent one) for the second wire. The third prong is not used. I will attach a pic of what I ended up with. The sticks are low, like I wanted them, like a classic arcade stick... they do sell optional long shafts though. They play and feel much better than the default sticks, IMO. This was a pretty inexpensive upgrade, but I may eventually install 2 of the Ultrastiks, just because they are so cool. I can use the same mounting plate for those and the job should be a lot easier.

Derek, I can't really tell from the picture, but is that thumb button a 4-way control that you could use for the dial in Tron?

Been working on rebuilding my arcade controller, but should have some feedback for you this evening. :)

Thanks for the reply... I would say I'm looking at the lower end of the price spectrum simply because I don't play any flight sim games... I'm just looking for something for Tron, Space Harrier, and some others. I don't need the stick with the separate throttle, etc (I don't think so anyway)... the real trick is just having a button on board I can use for a dial (a la Tron).

Anyone have a recommendation for a PC flightstick that works well for a Tron controller? Need something with a thumb button on top that would work well for dial operation. Good for other flight games is a bonus. :) Thanks!

Antropus said There's always a way to do it, but the question is always: is it worth the trouble? :) -Kris In my humble opinion... as I was using Lightspeed yesterday, one of the main things that stood out as something that would improve its usefulness would be the ability to add to, or change, things you did before. I think the main limitation was having to do everything in one session and roll back the .xml if you screwed it up or wanted changes.

Antropus said Update coming soon: 4) Added "Play-Choice", "Bootleg" and "Tabletop" as new filters -Kris Sweet! Thanks... I thought of this too late but would Vs Nintendo be a good filter as well? I was deleting them manually last night and thought of it.

Now that I have added my MAME roms the only spot I have left for cabinet shots is "back", so I was hoping to add those to the game details. *edit* It would be nice to be able to customize the game details panel more anyway... banners, etc...

Is it possible to display the "back" images in the game details panel somehow?

I've been working on re-making the snapshot art for the older MAME games that have black and white "official" art with better pics with the full bezels and overlays, etc... Is that something that I could upload? Also, would there be any interest in this? I'll attach an example.

Antropus said I can add this option during import, something like "create dummy zip files to run CHDs?", or similar. -Kris Would it work to add .chd as an extension to import, like you did with .7z earlier, or does it have to be all one extension for the import? I saw your post about needing a .zip file, but if it can launch from MAME without one, wouldn't it still be able to from LB?

What do the "remove (*)" check boxes do?

Thanks for the fix... I'm reluctant to test now because I've been spending a bunch of time editing and setting everything up nicely. o_O

I noticed that my CPS3 platform games imported without a file extension. Easy to fix because there's only a few of them... just wanted to let you know.

Hey Matt... if you have all your directories set up right then you should be able to press tab while in a MAME game and bring up the in-game menu... then go to video options and you can enable and select your bezels from there.

Antropus said Cool, that's what I thought :) I just uploaded a new version that *should* import any rom extension now. Try this one and let me know: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B23vaxsfSk1yVHpnRlFpdVdfTU0/view?usp=sharing -Kris Tested and working!

Antropus said In the future I will add a detection feature that will check for stuff already there and just add what's missing. -Kris That would be awesome. I was just thinking people might make new favorites lists, etc (as an example) and want to add them with your tool after they have already done their initial import. For an alpha first release... Lightspeed is pretty brilliant. It imported everything that I wanted in seconds with a very tidy and organized format in LB... and the filters are so nice... being able to get rid of the games I don't want with no effort is fantastic. The only problem I had initially being due to having my roms in 7z format, which doesn't work in half the emulators out there anyway. It was a successful first run for me. :) Thanks for the great tool... you put a lot of time in.

So, on another note... say I screw up the first time and forget, or simply change my mind and want to add another type of screenshot, for instance (maybe I want to add cabinet shots under "fanart" for example)... is it possible to run Lightspeed a second time to make that change, or as you said above a person would need to roll back the .xml file and start over?

I just edited a random game from zip to 7z and it launched perfectly. :)

So this was the first time I had imported MAME roms to LB... everything was a clean slate when I started. I screwed it up the first time somehow... maybe had LB minimized. Then I reverted back to the earliest LB.xml and started over. I ended up with duplicate emulator entries even though I had reverted to the original xml. The biggest problem is the "rom files do not exist" error, which prevents me from starting any of the games. I'm not sure how to fix that. Any help is appreciated. If I check under "edit" in LB the rom paths appear to be correct. *edit* One min I will try to get you that screenshot. *edit* Sorry... just read the end of your post. They are indeed in 7z format. :)

It was fine in Avast as well. I wanted to mention, in addition to the comments I made above, a quick suggestion for a feature... which is a PlayChoice game filter if that is even possible. The filters seem to be working well as I scroll through the games that were imported... I just get the error about missing rom files with every game.

Everything seems to work fine, but when I re-open LaunchBox nothing is imported. Will it not use MAMEUIFX as the emulator? *edit* Ok, I ran it again from the beginning and it worked this time. The only difference I could see is that I closed Lightspeed before I re-opened LB. *edit* One initial problem that I notice is that if you ran Lightspeed more than once it creates duplicate emulator entries in LB that you have to clean up, even if you have rolled back to your backed up Launchbox.xml. *edit* After importing, when I run a game, it says the rom file does not exist, even thought the file path is right.

DOS76 said Anyone ever play Ai Chou Aniki for PCECD it is a horizontal shoot'em up but it has some strangely distorted human images. Have not played it yet, but that's a pretty good sell. :P Lots of good shooters on that system.

Thanks for the heads up... I picked up all 3 US Fatal Frame titles for $1 each. Great games.

Ok, maybe I will have to get MAME set up in RA then. Lots of options.