Arcade Otaku - アーケード オタク

So I want to get a PC to play Fightcade in my Blast City. The thing is I'm a Mac user and have never built a pc in my life. Reading about it sends my head spinning.

So here come the stupid questions: Could I just buy an ArcadeVGA and install it into a normal Dell work desktop like this

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Dell-Inspi ... 1202!US!-1

And plug it into the J-pax and be done?

I literally just want to play Vampire Savior on Fightcade so I don't need a buff gaming PC.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

You don't necessarily need an arcade-vga nowdays, you can do more with CRTEmuDriver and some ATI HD6000+ vga . Then you pair it with GroovyMAME and you get a really really awesome setup.
I was about to link you the guide on how to install crtemudriver but the pages are offline atm, instead here is the whole project's forum: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.p ... ,52.0.html

Any good pc would work, you need s PCIe slot for the ati vga and a usb connector for the JPAC.
Then it's just a matter of connecting your sticks/buttons to JPAC and assign these buttons to mame (or whatever program you want to run, not sure what fightcade is)

I hope these info somewhat cleared things for you!

keropi wrote: ↑May 19th, 2019, 10:48 am you can do more with CRTEmuDriver and some ATI HD6000+ vga .

So any ATI HD after the 6000 with a vga output or is that whole thing a product name? Sorry, I'm clueless.

keropi wrote: ↑May 19th, 2019, 10:48 am Any good pc would work, you need s PCIe slot for the ati vga and a usb connector for the JPAC.

Awesome so basically just any decent pc as long as it has the slot for the graphics card and a usb port.

keropi wrote: ↑May 19th, 2019, 10:48 am Then it's just a matter of connecting your sticks/buttons to JPAC.

And the J-pac just slips into the jamma harness like a game right? I've also thought about sourcing a female kick harness end and wiring the kick buttons from there so I could use the kick harness that's already in my cab and easily go between circuit boards and PC.

One more question, I think I heard there's an issue with getting sound through J-pac. Is that right?

Could this work as a base?

No idea why, but the Amazon link is not showing for me. Had to quote you to see it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DNT2HTX/

OK , ATI HD6000 is the series - so it means something like HD6450, HD6670, HD6970 and models in between all are good. (technically HD5000+ works but 6000 series is just more trouble-free)
You need to keep in mind 2 things:
- you need a VGA port or a DVI-I connector that can be turned to analog vga with a simple adapter
- you don't need to worry that much about the card's specs unless you want to run other stuff as well. Something like the cheap HD6450 works excellent for all mame 2D games

CPU-wise you need something that has good SINGLE core performance. MAME almost exclusively runs on 1 thread so this is important. The cheap Pentium G3258 is an all time favorite, have a look at the table here : https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html , the higher the value the best it's gonna be on mame. Again don't go nuts with it

You are correct, J-PAC connects to a jamma loom and had screw terminals for the extra buttons (4/5/6/7/8)
J-PAC does nothing for sound so you need to connect your computer's sound output directly to your cab's speakers - or use pc speakers mounted inside the cab or something. You can patch audio to the jamma connector from pc but you need to keep in mind you will need an external amplifier (pc->amp->jamma)

I also use a groovymame setup on my cab I chose these parts a couple of years ago and haven't got an issue since:
- jpac + servosticks
- G3258 cpu
- HD6670 vga
- X-Fi Titanium PCIe soundcard
- 8GB RAM, 250GB SSD

more than enough for 2D games on mame - even 3D ones are OK but I just don't really care about them.

edit: site is up
crtemudriver tutorial: http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v ... 052#p10529
crtemudriver download: http://geedorah.com/eiusdemmodi/forum/v ... php?id=295
pre-built groovymame with nonag patches: https://b4nd1t0.blogspot.com/

keropi wrote: ↑May 19th, 2019, 4:23 pm - you need a VGA port or a DVI-I connector that can be turned to analog vga with a simple adapter
- you don't need to worry that much about the card's specs unless you want to run other stuff as well. Something like the cheap HD6450 works excellent for all mame 2D games

Awesome. Here's a plan.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pkbk29

And instead of getting a case, I guess I can just mount the motherboard on wood like I do my game pcbs.

hehe looking good!
but try to get a better PSU IMHO , a 420~550W is more than enough - never cheap out on the psu. I used a Seasonic 420W one.
and ofcourse you can mount all like arcade boards - or use a random old pc case (maybe just the frame?) to mount all and put it in the cab

If I remember correctly, since one of the latest updates, you can use any ATI videocard, no matter the model, with CRT_emudrivers, provided it uses the expansion slot you have in your MB (PCI-Express, probably)

I've just been building up my own mame setup for the first time in years, using a Dell SFF PC and J-PAC

This guide and Windows bundle that the dude put together is great, and saves a bunch of time if you're unfamiliar/rusty on setting stuff up
http://www.ukvac.com/forum/read-only-wi ... W=#1085775

I went for a HD5450 graphics card as it was only £10, and i'm planning to be able to use it with 15k and 31k monitors.
The package above allows the graphics card firmware to be updated/rolled back, which essentially turns it into an ArcadeVGA for a load less money. And tbh, the ArcadeVGA isn't overly neccessary seeing as a correctly setup J-PAC should only allow 15k to pass through.

keropi wrote: ↑May 19th, 2019, 10:48 amGroovyMAME

Keep in mind, the OP originally stated wanting a setup for Fightcade. While most if not all of the basic information on building a computer for emulation use in this thread is the same whether using GroovyMAME or Fightcade, the latter is an emulator to get online and play against others.

That’s true that that needs defining.

But knowing that, it’s good advice to use CRT Emudrivers which go hand-in-hand with Groovymame. If you’re going the ATI card route then the software and hardware requirement is the same except for network access, and Calamity is very helpful with compatibility for other Emulators

I use a little mini ITX system with a G3258, ati 7750 and a 150w Pico PSU. Fine for Groovymame and Fightcade.

When I last used Fightcade I needed a ddraw.dll wrapper that Calamity provides here. It just needs putting in Fightcade’s program folder. This was because at the time Direct Draw was Fighcade’s only video mode in which the chat overlay worked on my CRT. This might have changed with newer versions though.

http://www.arcadepcs.com

worth a look

garou81 wrote: ↑May 21st, 2019, 4:10 pm http://www.arcadepcs.com

worth a look

That looks dope. I emailed the guy yesterday. Hopefully he gets back to me soon. I read on another forum that he might not be making them anymore.

Nvm. He messaged me as I was typing this. Great solution.

Does that arcade pc work good for Fightcade 2 in a CRT cab? It seems like everyone says that’s a nightmare to set up and has bad lag.