The Gaming Den

First post.

Been lurking here for years now. I want to thank you all for many hours of entertainment and some good reviews as well.

Anyways I built something and it is very close to being done. I'd like to share it with you, but keep in mind I started this project back before the whole Shadowrun Situation started. Plus I really like that art!

Hope you like it^^

and


I'll get some better pics after I get home tomorrow. Gotta convention in town that I'm working at.

That is pretty nice O.o

Okay, I'm impressed.

That's pretty damn cool.

Very nice. What did you build the cabinet out of?

Dodger wrote:I want to thank you all for many hours of entertainment and some good reviews as well.

My ego needs inflating so I'm going to claim that I provided most of it.

Fectin- I made it out of 3/4" MDF, and pine 1x2 inch slats. Over 2 1/2 years in the making, still need side art and a Marquee. I want them Shadowrun themed, but it will take some time as I CAN build stuff.....but I'm crap with artwork lol.

AH- Thanks a ton man, I'm glad you liked it. Also thank you for all of your past work with my favorite game over the years. I know that you got a REALLY crap deal....

But just know I really enjoyed and appreciated it a lot^^

Shrapnel- lol, you DID provide a good deal of it yes!

Also, if any of you are CRAZY enough to want to give a project like this a go, the build your own arcade controls forum is a great place to start! Aslo I wouldn't mind sharing my experiences i had with this build as well as the MANY mistakes I made^^

~Dodger

so what are you using as the internals for the screen and electronics?
i'm guessing it's a kinda normal-ish computer with an emulator working in there?
have you tried to play Shadowrun Returns on that yet? *snickers*

I'm using a 24 inch flat panel screen, an old duel core 2.8mhz XPS PC, 2.1 creative speaker system for sound (they are LOUD)
Running Hyperspin for my frontend software, and yes several emulators with it.

Yes, I have played Shadowrun returns, it's ok.......at least it's way more of a Shadowrun game than the shooter was lol.

Only 24"? It sure looks bigger in these Pictures.

XPS? One of these old Shuttle Computers right?
I think i still have one of those somewhere . . .
I'll need to open that one up and build an amplifier into it too, when i get a replacement one delivered.

Hyperspin? What's that? Never heard of that one before.
Some kind of Homebrew Linux Distribution or something?

To be honest, that's not hard at all <.< . .
Best thing about SRR is the Editor and the UGC.

And did you actually run the game on that Machine and play it with these Controls? O.o

You could probably at least get some Art for the Sides from the game i guess.

Yeah, the Bezal (acrylic sheet that surrounds it) makes it look big. The whole cab is 25" wide.
Yeah, the XPS looks like a space shuttle.
Sorry, what do you mean by amplifier?

Hyperspin is a frontend software that looks great, puts all of your emulators on a "wheel" so you ca easily select them while looking sweet!
Go to YouTube and search Hyperspin FE. Tons of examples there.
Caution: it can be a bitch to set up, I had to learn auto hot key and bang my head aginst the wall before I started to figure it out.

As to Shadowrun Returns, I do like the game, I'm very excited about the editor as well.....what I ment was, it's just ok. I guess I just wanted a little more.... A SAVE feature for example lol. A more open world perhaps, but then again it's still really early in the game, and the editor will allow us to add tons of fun stuff!

Yes I use those controls on that machine, runs most stuff great, it will be better when I ditch vista, and use At LEAST windows 7. Have to use MS stuff for most compatability of the emulators/ frontend.

I'm thinking a large Shadowrun "S" for the side art......now I just need to decide on red or.....blue? Green?

If in the next few days I'll see I'd I can find my camera and maybe upload a short vid of it in action!

Oh, yes, if you can get your hands on a Windows 7 32 Bit Version (because the old Shuttle XPS with the Dual Core Pentium 3 CPU are NOT 64 Bit), then you should upgrade to that. It runs much better on older Software that Vista and even XP.

I mean an amplifier for speakers. There are some that will fit into a 5,25" Drive Bay. You have to sacrifice using an optical drive for that, of course, but once the OS is set-up, there is generally no need for that anyway. Or one can go external. I tinkered around a bit with my old XPS as i said. Built in an AGP-Graphics Card from AMD/ATI for an HDMI-Port. Built in 2 Hard-Drives and a Slim-Line optical drive to make it better suited as an HTPC. Problem with these is the massive ammount of Heat these CPUs generate and the factory installed cooling system <.< . .

I'll look up Hyperspin. Probably nothing i would use for my machines, but at least interesting to know about.

I agree on the heat issue. I took the side panel off the tower and I am running another fan in there to help a bit.

As far as hyperspin goes, I just like all the shinies it has. There are many other frontends out there.

IMHO: external, powered speakers are the way to go. Just way better sounding. They don't add much to the old arcade games as the original cabs usually only had a single, mono speaker in them but.....PS 2 and 1 games as well as 1995 ish or newer arcade games benefit greatly from a stereo setup, and if you add a subwoofer all the better^^