For those who want to have a play about with Coinops in an arcade Cabinet and want an easy build, thought would share this.
There are a lot better ways I am sure of doing this but this is a lazy don't need a brain build, as will include all parts !
The Lazy PC
Buy a PC already with the hardware you need and Windows 10 installed, saves opening the case !
Dell OptiPlex 9020 SFF PC Core i5 16GB RAM 240GB SSD Radeon R7 200 Graphics
The lazy game set up
Can't be botherd to set mame up yourself
Downloaded a 120gb image of Coinops Retro Arcade, this build has everything installed already. It can be filtered to arcade, consoles etc
**UPDATE**
26/09 I am now using "Retro Arcade 2 Elites" in my cabinet. For a non cabinet build I would recommend "Retro Arcade 2".
J-PAC/Cab
My cabinet is 2 player, 6 buttons each, then individual start buttons for the two players. I have an additional button on front of cabinet and two buttons inside.
Setting it up
Dumped a copy of Coinops to the pc's hard drive.
Connected monitor j/pac/mouse/keyboard all via usb
With coinops being set for Xbox controllers first issue I had was could not insert coins so could not start any games !
I unlocked the controller settings with the batch file and used tab to reconfigure mame.
I set it so the coins from player 1 would be inserted when player 1 start button was pushed. So player 1 start button will both inserts coins and start a game.
I made its so player 2 button would either select player 2 or again insert player 2 coins. Gauntlet worked !
Next issue was that if you did a 2 player games like 1942, the player 1 joystick also controlled player 2 joystick. You go up with plane 1 and so did player 2's plane !
So went into mame via tab (attached a keyboard) and manually configured up down etc of the player 2. I also did the 6 buttons again while I was there but most of them seemed ok.
Then in a mame game annoyingly game player 2 button 3 would exit the game
I found the j-pac passes a Q and left mouse button on button 3
The Q was also running a quit instruction in another setting. I removed the Q from the other setting ! Player 3 was fine then !
To send an "escape" to exit a game you simply hold down player 1 and press player 2. This is basically a shift feature of the j-pac.
I have added an additional wire and button onto the j-pac which I think was player 1 button 7 . This send a "L", I use this to open the slider so I can then turn volume up and down without having to go in the cabinet
Its not obvious but i took the cam lock out and replaced it with the button which you can use to bring the slider up.
I have a 4:3 LCD in my cab so used the batch file supplied with coinops for 4:3. Oddly on some coinops video they showed a 4:3 LCD batch file but my version did not have that.
Image/controller issues on fighting games.
Oddly in the image street fighter 2 none of the 6 buttons worked. Traced this down to the individual configuration file of the game itself . I will see if there is a clean way to fix this rather than re-configuring or deleting the individual files. I saw someone else had same issue with a previous image. Weird they remapped the fighters.
I did find a post about this but it is archived.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CoinOPS/comments/jksiah/issue_with_mame_control_mappings_in_coinops/
Please note having a j-pac and usb keyboard attached at same time randomly would stop j-pac working . So once build is all ok remove the usb keyboard, have had no issues since.
Lazy Sound
Cant be assed to hack speakers or have issue with sound when you use the pc's 12volt.
I bought a sound amp board plugged into the speaker out and fed it 12 volts from a power supply. Lazy I know when I have a jamma power supply in my cab !
These were the parts, which you can get cheaper than amazon.
Mini Digital amp.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08FBWCLS2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Read 12v 3a would be best, bought this as had a cctv adaptor so could just wire straight from that to the J/pac, no splicing cables.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07S7PH77C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Think I messed up amp is a lot more powerful than I need. I only have some 5 watt 8 ohm 4 inch speaker in it. Going to set to mono in windows 10 too. Had a quick look on arcade world but nothing in stock to replace it, so will leave it turned low !! Anyone got an idea based on amp what speaker I need, do you think the Happ 10 watt. Its not 4" so hope drop lucky if need to make new holes !
I now lot better way to do all of this, was a guide for lazy people, like me !
I have saved the new default controller mapping if anyone wants it, so you can be even more lazy !
Bits that were not so lazy
When I went to take out the groovmame mobo I was replacing, I discoverd the SFF was not so small form factor after all ! It would not stand up behind the coin door as hit the monitor shelf, It would not lie flat as too unbalanced and fell behind back of cabinet. Ended up screwing a larger piece of wood behind the coin door overhanging the back of cabinet.
All though there is a batch file to enable you to shut down the pc from coinops, its then a pain to return on PC . ASR AC On etc only works if power is lost, not if shut down cleanly. Some suggestions for that form other members are on link below. I am not going to cut any wires yet, as want to play with this build and also give the Chunkin build a go.
http://www.ukvac.com/forum/windows-10-power-pc-on-from-mains_topic384523.html
Venom2021-09-26 12:46:47
There are a lot better ways I am sure of doing this but this is a lazy don't need a brain build, as will include all parts !
The Lazy PC
Buy a PC already with the hardware you need and Windows 10 installed, saves opening the case !
Dell OptiPlex 9020 SFF PC Core i5 16GB RAM 240GB SSD Radeon R7 200 Graphics
The lazy game set up
Can't be botherd to set mame up yourself
Downloaded a 120gb image of Coinops Retro Arcade, this build has everything installed already. It can be filtered to arcade, consoles etc
**UPDATE**
26/09 I am now using "Retro Arcade 2 Elites" in my cabinet. For a non cabinet build I would recommend "Retro Arcade 2".
J-PAC/Cab
My cabinet is 2 player, 6 buttons each, then individual start buttons for the two players. I have an additional button on front of cabinet and two buttons inside.
Setting it up
Dumped a copy of Coinops to the pc's hard drive.
Connected monitor j/pac/mouse/keyboard all via usb
With coinops being set for Xbox controllers first issue I had was could not insert coins so could not start any games !
I unlocked the controller settings with the batch file and used tab to reconfigure mame.
I set it so the coins from player 1 would be inserted when player 1 start button was pushed. So player 1 start button will both inserts coins and start a game.
I made its so player 2 button would either select player 2 or again insert player 2 coins. Gauntlet worked !
Next issue was that if you did a 2 player games like 1942, the player 1 joystick also controlled player 2 joystick. You go up with plane 1 and so did player 2's plane !
So went into mame via tab (attached a keyboard) and manually configured up down etc of the player 2. I also did the 6 buttons again while I was there but most of them seemed ok.
Then in a mame game annoyingly game player 2 button 3 would exit the game
I found the j-pac passes a Q and left mouse button on button 3
The Q was also running a quit instruction in another setting. I removed the Q from the other setting ! Player 3 was fine then !
To send an "escape" to exit a game you simply hold down player 1 and press player 2. This is basically a shift feature of the j-pac.
I have added an additional wire and button onto the j-pac which I think was player 1 button 7 . This send a "L", I use this to open the slider so I can then turn volume up and down without having to go in the cabinet
Its not obvious but i took the cam lock out and replaced it with the button which you can use to bring the slider up.
I have a 4:3 LCD in my cab so used the batch file supplied with coinops for 4:3. Oddly on some coinops video they showed a 4:3 LCD batch file but my version did not have that.
Image/controller issues on fighting games.
Oddly in the image street fighter 2 none of the 6 buttons worked. Traced this down to the individual configuration file of the game itself . I will see if there is a clean way to fix this rather than re-configuring or deleting the individual files. I saw someone else had same issue with a previous image. Weird they remapped the fighters.
I did find a post about this but it is archived.
https://www.reddit.com/r/CoinOPS/comments/jksiah/issue_with_mame_control_mappings_in_coinops/
Please note having a j-pac and usb keyboard attached at same time randomly would stop j-pac working . So once build is all ok remove the usb keyboard, have had no issues since.
Lazy Sound
Cant be assed to hack speakers or have issue with sound when you use the pc's 12volt.
I bought a sound amp board plugged into the speaker out and fed it 12 volts from a power supply. Lazy I know when I have a jamma power supply in my cab !
These were the parts, which you can get cheaper than amazon.
Mini Digital amp.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08FBWCLS2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Read 12v 3a would be best, bought this as had a cctv adaptor so could just wire straight from that to the J/pac, no splicing cables.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07S7PH77C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Think I messed up amp is a lot more powerful than I need. I only have some 5 watt 8 ohm 4 inch speaker in it. Going to set to mono in windows 10 too. Had a quick look on arcade world but nothing in stock to replace it, so will leave it turned low !! Anyone got an idea based on amp what speaker I need, do you think the Happ 10 watt. Its not 4" so hope drop lucky if need to make new holes !
I now lot better way to do all of this, was a guide for lazy people, like me !
I have saved the new default controller mapping if anyone wants it, so you can be even more lazy !
Bits that were not so lazy
When I went to take out the groovmame mobo I was replacing, I discoverd the SFF was not so small form factor after all ! It would not stand up behind the coin door as hit the monitor shelf, It would not lie flat as too unbalanced and fell behind back of cabinet. Ended up screwing a larger piece of wood behind the coin door overhanging the back of cabinet.
All though there is a batch file to enable you to shut down the pc from coinops, its then a pain to return on PC . ASR AC On etc only works if power is lost, not if shut down cleanly. Some suggestions for that form other members are on link below. I am not going to cut any wires yet, as want to play with this build and also give the Chunkin build a go.
http://www.ukvac.com/forum/windows-10-power-pc-on-from-mains_topic384523.html
Venom2021-09-26 12:46:47
