THRobinson

Thanks! Few things gave me issues at the start but starting to get the hang of the basics, though, having used Illustrator/Photoshop for years I keep trying to do things and use shortcuts that obviously don't work in Sketchup. Been wanting to learn it for years, figured, long weekend, no plans, may as well learn it. I've gotten most things sorted out but still stumped for painting it. Wanted to get it vinyl wrapped, but, if I do the graphics, prep the files, cut out the shapes and apply it myself... it's still $400CAD for just the sides and top of the control panel. Sort of wanna go borderlands yellow with it, or maybe Last Starfighter... but not 100% excited about either. Upside is, should be able to apply the design to the 3D model first before doing it for real.

Woke up yesterday, decided to teach myself Google Sketchup... never worked with CAD like programs before. Managed to get a very accurately designed cabinet made based on a side view outline I made. Glad I did, was able to avoid a few potential issues that would have been missed if drawn on paper. Still a bit to tweak here and there but, for the most part, I have all the braces in place inside, location of the holes for buttons, even little LED strips for the marquee. Just finishing up the back now. For extra airflow, instead of a door or wooden access panel, I'm using a 16"x20" furnace filter. I'll have a 120mm fan near the top to blow out warm air, but figured with the furnace filter I'd get better air flow and no dust inside. Bought a power bar off Amazon for $17CAD with surge protection and a 12' cord, was cheaper than buying wire and a plug to run to a light switch then to a power-bar anyways. This way I can cut off 10', wire it up to a light switch about 4' up, and have 2' from the switch to the power bar inside. 2 small holes under the monitor are for USB plugs I got off eBay for times I may need a keyboard or controller. The small hole between the speakers, I initially made for the volume knob for the AMP I got (also eBay) though may set the volume and use a button-combo to adjust the volume, and use that hole for a power button for the PC since I have a small one about 1/4" in diameter. Speakers, I have a pair of full range Sony 3.5" speakers I got for $3/pair at a garage sale. Were from a surround setup, but very heavy duty magnets in them. Still waiting for that eBay amp so I can test them out. Will have a joystick, 6-buttons, coin and player button for each (two) player. Plus 4-aux buttons recessed at the front so can't accidentally press them. Using these buttons from Amazon. Idea for this one was to make something a bit shallower and narrower than traditional cabinets. Plus I wanted the marquee to sit back more... I'm 6'3" tall and I don't want to have a marquee right in my face, and because of the angle I'd have to look down at, if it sticks out too far it would block my vision a bit when looking down at the screen. Sides are 3/4" plywood, as is the control panel and monitor panel. The monitor hole will be cut at the front to match the screen size, and at the back I'll route in 1/2" for the dimensions of the monitor's frame, that way the screen will only sit 1/4" away from the front. I may even route the front a bit, use a bit to add a 45' angle cut 1/8" in. The bottom of the cabinet will have doors and shelves for storage. Debated a drawer for a keyboard but, unlikely I'll need it... probably use a Rii when needed. Overall dimensions so far are 6'2" tall, 26" wide and 22" deep. PC specs in my signature. I'll keep this thread updated as I go... just looking for some thoughts/ideas so far.

True, but I haven't gotten Premium yet... still testing between a few front-ends to see what I like better. So far LB is the easiest to figure out and lots of how-to vids, but half the 'want' for this build is to have something that looks really cool, which is why I'm a bit concerned about themes. Hate to pay for premium and not like anything.

That's what I was hoping... I like the 'wheel' effect... I played around with the RetroPie for a while and it's fine, probably make a mini-console for my niece, but the default theme was very boring I found. I know it's supposed to be about the games, but, if doing a full sized arcade machine, I wants flashing lights and sound effects, the whole 9 yards. Then again, I went to school for graphic design... if not too technical for making themes, maybe I should just make my own. Sigh... more research.

I messaged in (contact us, not forum) and response was "Most themes unfortunately are not going to be very 4:3 friendly, though there are a few themes that are built specifically for 4:3. The default theme does work fine with 4:3. Unfortunately, there is now way to filter 4:3 themes, other than searching for them on the forums." ... which was disheartening. Didn't even think of themes and compatibility when I grabbed the monitor... figured 99% of my games are 4:3, so get a cheap 4:3 monitor and not have black bars on the sides all the time.

I clicked a few in Downloads, and none that I clicked on said if 4:3 friendly or not, and no way to filter when searching to narrow it down. I'll hop on YouTube and try to find some old demos. Maybe this? With the wheel on the left? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoZBu88ncak

I don't have Premium/BB yet... which is the default theme? I have a 4:3 monitor and finding out now that many themes aren't very 4:3 friendly, but that the default one should work fine. Not sure which theme is default though, so many show up when searching Google.

Space... I'm scratching my head trying to figure out where to stick mine. But I have so many 'need to do' projects that I needed one that was fun so, it's getting built. I was going to build a bartop... but really, when not in use, where do you put it if you don't have a bar? Figured at that point I may as well build a full size and build the bottom of it to open and have storage in it. I basically took the profile of a regular arcade machine, and trimmed it down. Not using a 50lb CRT, so, got it down to 26" wide, 22" deep, and 6'2" tall. I'm 6'3" tall and didn't want a cabinet where the marquee was chin level. Folks use to have a huge garage and ever tool ever made, but downsized a decade ago, and after my Dad passed, my Mother/Sister who knew nothing about tools kinda just shoved everything into the smaller garage and some parts were lost, broken, some tools I can't find... So, ya... I suspect by the time I'm done this project I'll probably have a few new tools. Clamps, circular saw, drill, sander and a hand held jigsaw.... be about all the tools needed I suspect. I have a few forstner bits coming off eBay, cheap but only need for a few holes. I am also buying a 3-in-1 nail gun for my air compressor, not specifically for this project but I'll definitely use it for some brad nails while glue dries. Maybe if it turns out well I can sell flat kits, like IKEA... with crappy assembly instructions.

Thanks, will give a try when at home after work. Been keeping a notebook and backups. If anything goes wrong in a year from now, I don't want to have to relearn all this stuff. I think half my day yesterday was watching progress bars. Copying files to the arcade build, importing the games, scraping the games. I was testing with about 5 games per system on my PC so was much quicker. I also partitioned my 1TB drive, 40GB for the OS, and the rest for the Arcade stuff, just in case a problem pops up and I need to format and reinstall Windows. Should be enough space. Not dealing with a lot of ISO images.

Yup... that's the one. I knew it had crush in the name but couldn't recall the rest. Exit wise. I go into LaunchBox, start the game, click START+SELECT to exit, and it takes me into RetroArch. I'd rather go into LB, start a game, then hit START-SELECT to exit and have it go right back into LB. Retroarch I never want to see once I have it setup. Don't recalling having that issue when I was on my desktop PC. I have the Arcade "guts" now built into an old case so I can get it set up. I suspect I messed something up because I have HyperSpin as well to try out so, maybe messed up some settings.

I have the PS3 working... found software that worked from links in a YouTube video. Downloaded the video and files, saved in a folder and keeping that just in case a few years from now I need it again. Been doing all my testing with the PS3 plugged in, not sure if will use on the arcade or not. I don't plan to have many games that need a controller to play on the cabinet, but I will be adding a pair of USB ports at the front just in case. So far, PS2 God of War 1 & 2 are on the list, but nothing else. Spent half the day yesterday scraping artwork/info for the systems. Got the NES, SNES, N64, Naomi, Naomi2 and MAME loaded. Main issues now are small things, like trying to close the game and getting booted into RetroArch instead of back into the LaunchBox screen, or sometimes into the MAME screen with the list of games and some config menu options, but won't let me navigate easily. Small stuff like that.

I was using that doc today for getting cores, though (if the author is reading) I would love to see the name as it appears in RetroArch in the list for each core. Some were hard to figure out based on the libretro.dll name in the doc.

Ya... been watching some YouTube vids for it, and even in the vids the people complain about some of the navigation decisions. But if it works and has some extra options stand-alones don't have, then great. Basically use it for everything except I guess Demul so far. I swear, I better play games every day for a year to make it all worth it given the hours spent sorting this stuff out, and I haven't even built anything yet! Was testing HyperSpin yesterday all day as well, and wow... LaunchBox is way easier to deal with. HS, you download, install, download the update and overwrite, change a file, delete a file, download rocketlauncher, update it, tell it to use HS and HS to use RL... takes an hour to download and install and change before you even start the thing! Upside to RetroArch I guess... once setup, you can switch between HS and LB and should just work.

Seemed defaulted to the 720 on mine, which was good. I have a 1600x1200 4:3 monitor so, a nice 4:3 resolution looks great on it. Just sorting out little things now, I think most of the learning curve basics are behind me. Next week, I need to buy some wood and start building a cabinet.