Talk:FAQ

Links to review:

1. restoration --04:34, 11 December 2013 (EST)~
2. basics --Felsir Felsir (talk) 07:09, 11 December 2013 (EST)
3. Arcade_Cabinet Felsir (talk) 05:35, 12 December 2013 (EST)

I've updated the page; it seemed that the FAQ had more information than this page, so I duplicated a lot of content from the FAQ to this page. I'm thinking what extra info could be added on this separate page...Felsir (talk) 08:57, 17 February 2014 (EST)

1. Driving_Controls Felsir (talk) 05:39, 17 December 2013 (EST)
2. Lighting (currently only deals with marquee, should eventually include all lighting options and branch out to specialized pages) Felsir (talk) 10:17, 18 December 2013 (EST)
3. MAME the page looks messy and outdated. Felsir (talk) 07:24, 9 January 2014 (EST)
4. MAME Variants Added to go more in depth. Felsir (talk) 07:24, 9 January 2014 (EST)

The list of emulators is outdated/incomplete (new stuff has arrived since the old wiki!). Once the FAQ is done, I think the emulator section will be my top priority (as this is where I struggled the most when setting up my own cabinet).Felsir (talk) 07:44, 8 January 2014 (EST)

Several emulators for the list [here]. PL1 (talk) 21:22, 1 February 2014 (EST)

1. Neo-Geo added, so the FAQ doesn't have broken links. Felsir (talk) 05:58, 17 February 2014 (EST)
2. Supermodel added, likewise. Felsir (talk) 05:58, 17 February 2014 (EST)

Problem with .GIF file thumbnails

The auto-resized versions of these images show up in my browser as "cannot be displayed because it contains errors."

The pushbutton image is showing up OK on this page, but not on the Pushbuttons page or the image page.

Any idea what is wrong? Should I just convert the files to .JPGs? PL1 (talk) 16:14, 17 February 2014 (EST)

Topics to fix/review:

• Links to Table of Contents

This FAQ is pretty long to manually scroll back to the top for mobile users. Should we add a link at the end of each section to return to the Table of Contents? (Not sure how to format the link.) PL1 (talk) 05:44, 4 February 2014 (EST)

This works:

:''[[#top|Back to the top of this document]]''

I've added it to the bottom section, perhaps we can decide on the look/text before adding it to the rest of the topics :-) Felsir (talk) 14:52, 4 February 2014 (EST)

• Malenko brought up a good layout/labeling suggestion to consider when building a 4-player panel [here]

Set up the joysticks/encoder in a 3, 1, 2, 4 configuration so the vast majority of games (1 or 2 player games) have players 1 and 2 in the center.

For 4-player games, if you change the in-game control settings so MAME has players in a 1, 2, 3, 4 configuration it will match up with the screen -- farthest left on the control panel = farthest left on the screen.

The only downside is if you have labels/start buttons with the player# imprint instead of a generic "start" label/vinyl button sticker.

Not sure where this would fit -- any ideas? PL1 (talk) 17:42, 12 February 2014 (EST)

Interesting topic (I hadn't think of that before!) I would guess it fit under the FAQ#Orientation topic? It does go with the construction topic as where to mount P3 & P4 and how that affects the rest of the setup. Felsir (talk) 02:50, 13 February 2014 (EST)

Reated thread [here]. I thought about putting it under orientation, but it mostly involves button choices (#players or "start"), artwork, and remapping in MAME. Given the number of other considerations that are involved in a 4-Player build, it might be good to put a "see also" link under "Orientation", "Buttons - Layout", "What type of build meets my needs?", and [Design Considerations] to a "4-Player Build Considerations" spinoff page that lists many of those considerations -- working list at the thread above. PL1 (talk) 12:59, 13 February 2014 (EST)

A dedicated 4-player considerations/advise page sounds like a good idea. Building a 4 player cabinet involves so much more than just slapping another joystick and a handful of buttons on a controlpanel. Felsir (talk) 03:19, 14 February 2014 (EST)

• What type of joystick should I get for my build?

This is a common question that seems like it belongs in the FAQ. Perhaps include a list of game categories and associated sticks like this: (check/verify data)

90's fighters = Happ Competition

twitchy SHMUP = Seimitsu LS-XX or Sanwa JLF/JLW

PL1 (talk) 00:21, 18 February 2014 (EST)

Images to find/make/fix:

Types of Cabs (small)

Banner with Sketchup line drawing of each sub-type with human figure for scale.

What is JAMMA/JAMMA+?

Pic of 56-pin JAMMA connector.

I touched up a picture I had stored somewhere on my HDD. Felsir (talk) 15:26, 4 February 2014 (EST)

Not sure if we need both ends of the (extender?) cable. What is the white connector cable? (confusing) Added three links to The Real Bob Roberts™ site. PL1 (talk) 18:55, 4 February 2014 (EST)

To be honest, I have zero experience with JAMMA so I don't know. The links you've added seem to point to valuable resources- perhaps we don't actually need a JAMMA picture? I'm guessing that people who are actually working with JAMMA boards or cabinets don't need a picture but the information is more valuable? Felsir (talk) 03:23, 11 February 2014 (EST)

I don't have any hands-on experience with JAMMA either, but given the number of cabs that use it and that many of the x-in-1 boards use it, it would be a good to have an image of the connector to help people visualize the basic idea without having to follow a link. The blue connector on the right is at a great viewing angle to clearly see both the edge connector and the wires -- other than the unknown white connector, I'd say crop the photo and it's good. Maybe Yotsuya or Nephasth have a similar-angled pic that we can use? (PM sent) The one on the JAMMA page is at a bad angle. PL1 (talk) 04:18, 11 February 2014 (EST)

Cropped and added. We can always ask if Yotsuya or Nephasth can provide a picture "similar but better" :-) Felsir (talk) 05:21, 11 February 2014 (EST)

Single-Color and RGB LED buttons

Pic showing the lighting and switch wiring.

Requested permission to use/edit the RGB wiring diagram at http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,137025.msg1413332.html#msg1413332 PL1 (talk) 06:35, 11 January 2014 (EST)

Permission received, text on image needs to be edited. PL1 (talk) 07:05, 11 January 2014 (EST)

Screenshots of Command Line MAME and GUI MAME

To illustrate different variants of MAME.

Different build versions/variants of MAME

Car analogy

• MAME = factory original, most reliable
• NoNag/HighScore patch = putting on new rims or a spoiler
• Alternate builds = hotrods based on the factory original offering features not found on the original, but sometimes not as reliable

When you get parts (ROMs) for your car (MAME) you not only need to know the name of the part, you need to know the make/model/year -- a headlight for a 1972 Ford Mustang =/= headlight for a 2014 Ford Mustang.

As automotive technology improves year-to-year, several parts are improved, while others stay the same.

I like that analogy! Felsir (talk) 02:47, 10 January 2014 (EST)

I tried to include the analogy in the text but for some reason I struggle with the words :-( It might be an idea to write this in the MAME Variants wikipage? Felsir (talk) 05:49, 11 January 2014 (EST)

Maybe we can hammer out the wording here on the talk page then cut/paste to wherever it works. PL1 (talk) 07:21, 11 January 2014 (EST)

CPU performance chart

A topic that comes up a lot is "will my PC run (emulated) game X?". I was wondering if we could create some kind of scale. Something like a line with on one side names of milestone games, emulator names or "arcade games from year 2001". The other side of the line CPU, GFX card combos? Not sure if at all possible to create something like this with the myriad of combo's out there... It is probably too much for a FAQ, but the topic comes up a lot so it would be nice if it was possible to point to a dedicated wiki-chart for this kind of stuff. Felsir (talk) 05:05, 14 January 2014 (EST)

Something along these lines User:Felsir/cpu-chart. I'll ask some reference points on the forum, let's see where this is heading. Felsir (talk) 05:35, 14 January 2014 (EST)

Lots of threads on that topic. Maybe list various generations of processors (AMD+Intel) and the highest version of MAME that they will run at 100% for 1.)Classics 2.)Majority of games 3.)Toughest game of that MAME version. May want separate tables for MAME and other emulators. PL1 (talk) 05:50, 14 January 2014 (EST)