22 replies to this topic

[Eviljubs]

I've been having this issue with B2S and the virtual external dmd.  I have 2 monitors, one is above the other.  I put my backglass on the top monitor, and play the lower screen in desktop mode.  For some reason, even if I don't have the send to front option checked on the backglass, and I have stayontop set to true on in the dmddevice.ini, whenever I click back to the table after moving the virtual dmd around, it always goes behind the back glass.  The interesting thing is, this only happens when I've got B2S set to use EXE mode.  However, if I don't run it in EXE mode, I get terrible choppiness in the gameplay (not sure why this is happening either, my computer is more than powerful enough, 8700k@5Ghz, 32GB RAM, RTX 2080Ti).  If I use it in EXE mode, everything runs perfectly, I just can't position the DMD over the back glass and have it stay on top.  If anyone has run into this same issue I'd appreciate some help, I've searched around for a long time and can't find anyone that has this issue, and none of the usual suggestions I've read have helped.

 

Edit:  I should also mention, this happens no matter how I launch into a table, directly from the table itself, from the vpinballx.exe, or from a launcher (I use launchbox/big box).

 

Thanks

Edited by Eviljubs, 04 September 2021 - 12:01 AM.

[wiesshund]

I've been having this issue with B2S and the virtual external dmd.  I have 2 monitors, one is above the other.  I put my backglass on the top monitor, and play the lower screen in desktop mode.  For some reason, even if I don't have the send to front option checked on the backglass, and I have stayontop set to true on in the dmddevice.ini, whenever I click back to the table after moving the virtual dmd around, it always goes behind the back glass.  The interesting thing is, this only happens when I've got B2S set to use EXE mode.  However, if I don't run it in EXE mode, I get terrible choppiness in the gameplay (not sure why this is happening either, my computer is more than powerful enough, 8700k@5Ghz, 32GB RAM, RTX 2080Ti).  If I use it in EXE mode, everything runs perfectly, I just can't position the DMD over the back glass and have it stay on top.  If anyone has run into this same issue I'd appreciate some help, I've searched around for a long time and can't find anyone that has this issue, and none of the usual suggestions I've read have helped.

 

Edit:  I should also mention, this happens no matter how I launch into a table, directly from the table itself, from the vpinballx.exe, or from a launcher (I use launchbox/big box).

 

Thanks

 

This happens when you move or resize it, or edit the style, but once you save what you wanted, if you relaunch the table, it should be back on top?

I think it does this to all of us when using External DLL (AKA Freezy's DMD extensions) but it is only while adjusting.
to fiddle with styles, i normally just drag it onto the playfield, do my style thing and relaunch the table
With VPX out of exclusive full screen of course, i put that back after i am done adjusting stuff

[Eviljubs]

What you suggested did the trick perfectly.  I'm not sure how I missed that, nobody else had mentioned it anywhere that I'd seen at all.  It's just not something I tried/tested I guess, what an odd behavior.  Thanks for the help man, much appreciated, and for being so fast to respond.  I'm running VPX in windowed fullscreen/borderless by the way, but that doesn't seem to matter. I've been searching for an answer on that for like 3 or 4 days now.

 

Thanks again!  Cheers!

[wiesshund]

What you suggested did the trick perfectly.  I'm not sure how I missed that, nobody else had mentioned it anywhere that I'd seen at all.  It's just not something I tried/tested I guess, what an odd behavior.  Thanks for the help man, much appreciated, and for being so fast to respond.  I'm running VPX in windowed fullscreen/borderless by the way, but that doesn't seem to matter. I've been searching for an answer on that for like 3 or 4 days now.

 

Thanks again!  Cheers!

 

It has been that way for me since i think freezy's early  betas when the styles concept was forming, i always just accepted it as one of those things.

 

A lot of people dont notice it because

a) they tend to set position global, so one and done
b) they have not really begun messing with styles

c) they have DMD on a DMD screen so there is literally nothing for it to fall behind
 

[Eviljubs]

Yeah, makes sense.  I actually don't mind that functionality at all, I just wish I knew that was how it worked before lol.  If I had just randomly left it repositioned behind and restarted a table I probably would have caught it, but I'm actually setting VPX and everything all up for the second time now, so I've been getting all the tables and things I want, and then tweaking/adjusting them before I play them at length.  I tried it out about a year or so ago with Pinup, but I wasn't ever really satisfied with how everything was.  Same for Launchbox/Big Box actually, even though I'd purchased a full license a couple years ago.  I had a different monitor configuration, and I didn't really have time to dig into all the settings and things and learn how everything worked (I don't think I ever even looked at a single table script.... wow).  A month or two ago though, I decided to check everything out again and I'm pretty happy (and surprised) with how far things have progressed.  Especially Freezy's virtual dmd color support, and all the adjustments you can make to the DMD to make it look crazy nice.  Really makes me want to build a dedicated pinball/arcade cab of some form or fashion.  That's sort of the idea I have anyway, we'll see how it goes.

[wiesshund]

I just use PinballX
It may not be the fanciest, but it is simple to setup and manage.

Depending on how much space you have a video arcade cab can be built dead cheap
Almost ANY used running PC can do MAME and probably most of the console EMU's at least the pre modern gen so say up to PS2/Gamecube era

and that includes a laptop, and sometimes you get those cheap with a busted screen etc, and all you care about is does the CPU and motherboard run

 

A used 19" or 22" 4.3 LCD makes an authentic sized screen, but you can use pretty much anything, resolution does not matter, it's all low rez

A 2 player kit with USB encoders, 18 or 20 lighted buttons and 2 4way/8way sticks and all the wiring premade is like around 30 bucks on amazon

If you want a track ball, about 24 dollars for a 2.25 inch white USB trackball, no encoder needed

 

A spinner, i can find in USB also, those are always a bit more than a trackball

54 dollars

A SPINNER

 

Now just throw in an old set of powered desktop speaker (that you decase of course)

There, there is all your hardware

 

And for a video game cab, well Anything goes, there is no wrong shape, no wrong size, nothing
And there is probably 0 advantage to using high quality birch or maple plywood on that.
MDF works fine, long as you work with it properly.

Couple inexpensive pieces of plexiglass and you're done.

A Vpin cab is going to take more.
There is an advantage to using expensive plywood because it is flexible, and cabs get shoved and nudged and the legs stress which transfers to the cab
and over time that will kill MDF, but real plywood, not so much.

You need a lot more PC for a Vpin due to all the physics and graphics etc
You also need at least 2 screens and one of them needs to be decent resolution.
You probably want at least 4 channel audio, you do not have to have it, but it is nice to hear things happening in 3d space.
But people do have just stereo sound cabs, and they work perfectly fine and sound great.

If you play much real pinball at all, you will probably want better than standard buttons, for the flippers, leaf switches are what real tables use.
Of course if you dont play real tables, then you may not actually care button wise, just dont tell anyone or they wont let you live it down LOL

 

If space is a premium a VPin can do both jobs, Look at Terry Reds cab, he only has one machine and he plays vpin and video games on it
I think he runs vertical arcade games on the playfield and horizontal ones on the backglass, MAME lets you do that easily.
Other emulations vary on how well they let you do it on their own, but there are ways around that.
But build your Vpin to pinball 1st,  because aside from planning for the arcade control panel, having your vpin run video arcade games is trivial, it could run those sleeping.

 

A micro Vpin is also an option on a budget, especially is space is non existent biggest expense is simply finding a small PC that can run VPX decently, preferably at at least 900p to 1080p, assuming we are talking a machine in the 20 to 24inch playfield range
you can find a used laptop capable of that somewhere in the 200 range
You pull off the hinges and the laptop serves as the backglass screen and the brains of the operation.
Reason for pulling off the hinges is so you can get the laptop screen and brains flat in the backbox

You could even have a micropin run video games as well, but i would probably suggest doing the arcade controls in a separate enclosure that you just plug in via USB
 

And if ones budget is super tight, one can make a micropin that runs VP9 (And there are a lot of nice VP9 tables) and use an absolute potato of a laptop to power it
VP9 runs on almost anything, 75 dollar AMD A8, it old i3 or early i5 with the intel hd 400 graphics, yea VP9 will run on those smooth.

Regardless of budget, there is probably a way to do it

[Eviljubs]

Well, I think I'm going to use this computer, since it's vastly over powered (I also want to run windows games on it, and use the arcade controls for them, stuff like dead cells, shovel knight, enter the gungeon, etc.).  Not that those require particularly heavy lifting, but I'm also emulating Switch, PS3, and 360 as well.  I've also already got this computer watercooled for both the CPU and GPU, and both are overclocked so I can get a lot of mileage out of it.  It also has two pci-e ssd slots, so I figured I would also use that for stuff that takes a while to load.  Everything else would just be on regular SSDs eventually.  I'll probably also hook it up to my living room projector, so I can play stuff in there without having to move anything around (plus, I thought it'd be cool to be able to mirror the display to it, or other monitors for tournaments and things).  It's going to be sort of a jack-of-all trades setup for home theater, arcade, pc couch gaming, etc., if I can pull it off.

 

As for a cab setup, I'm thinking of doing a pedestal setup to start with, and have the TVs/Monitors attached to the wall on articulating arms.  That way I can rotate them for vertical games / pinball.  I also wanted to do that so I could setup light guns and everything and get a feel for how all that would work before putting together a cab.  I've looked into the building process pretty deeply, someone had a really really nicely detailed pincab setup instruction guide that went through all the color pin2dmd stuff, force feedback, under t.v. surround sound for table sounds, etc. etc.  I lost it but I'm sure I'll find it again, it was a nice read through to see everything that's involved.  I think eventually what I'll end up doing is building a separate dedicated virtual pincab, and then I'll have the pedestal setup for just regular arcade/emulation.  I've set up my monitors to play vertically in cabinet mode before, and it's great, but I do like the idea of being able to play horizontally/naturally.

 

I am planning on going all out on the screens though, full 4k for the playfield/main screen for sure.  That's also why I wanted such a powerful computer for it, I need quite a bit of video ram to run things at that high of a res, while keeping things running smoothly.  As far as speakers go, I have a set of Klipsch 2.1 speakers with a nice little sub that I'll probably end up using for it.

 

Thanks for the suggestions on the button hardware.  I haven't had much experience with that so I'm going to have to do a lot of research when the time comes.  I'm sort of torn between getting just really nice 8 way joysticks, or 4-way/8-way variable/switching joysticks.  I would just imagine that the latter would eventually have some mechanical malfunctions of some kind, but I also want a 4 way for stuff like donkey kong, pac-man, etc..  I'd want everything to be as near to the arcade as possible probably, same for the pinball machine, I'd definitely want to add some stuff to make it realistic feeling.  That's why I looked into all the force feedback and surround options.  I don't know that I'll go extremely far with that, but I'd probably like to do surround and at least some stuff for the flippers and plunger at a minimum.

 

The only reason I haven't taken the plunge yet is, I don't have everything setup the way I want it to be just yet (shit, that reminds me, I still need to build out my custom playlists...), and I'd also need to do another computer build for my main computer, in order to transfer this one over.  Then on top of that there's the cost of everything, but, I also don't want to compromise on quality.  I'm getting there though, I think in another couple months I'll be finished with this setup and be able to migrate it.  So maybe by this time next year I'll have some stuff to show off, but for now I'm still just trucking away at getting everything working.

[wiesshund]

2 good sticks that easily handle the 4way 8way thing

Mag-Stik Plus

ServoStik

 

If you like ikari warriors and heavy barrel i recommend the servostik and this upgrade

Ikari 12-way Rotary Upgrade for Servostik, J-Stik

 

 

Keep in mind, when you begin to mention later consoles with full analog 4 axis controls, you start slapping into a brick wall with standard arcade controls

because 4 and 8 way switched sticks do not cut it, no precise control

and there are some coin op arcade games that did use analog inputs

 

They do have sticks like this

UltraStik 360FS Flight Stick Version

These are self supporting USB sticks, so you dont need to run a separate analog encoder for them

They also work fine for 8 way games, but they work like dog poo for 4 way games, everything but a 4 way stick does

I listed the flight stick model just for the on stick buttons but it comes in ball top also

 

There is a restrictor plate to force it to act like a 4way or 8way, but i can not say how well they work

UltraStik Front-Mounted Restrictor Kit for ball top

 

Personally though, for that era of console games, i would just use a modern gamepad
because you need shoulder buttons, PS3 you need 4 shoulder buttons, 2 being analog, same for the 360

you need 2 analog sticks with buttons in close proximity, you may well need the rumble feedback etc

And that is going to be super hard to jam into a useable amount of space using arcade sized buttons and sticks

 

For the video arcade stuff, i would have 1 servo stick, for 4way 8way, with the rotary upgrade

and then since a 2nd person playing is probably not really going to be a frequent occurance

probably an ultrastick for the analog controlled stuff, which would also work fine for a dual stick game like robotron

 

then a trackball and a spinner

and of course the usual cornucopia of buttons

 

And probably a wide format cab to accommodate the controller layout where it isnt claustrophobic  

 

Of course is space and money is no object, i am simply going to make a cab for each required controller set up, with non of them being a one size fits all
A proper cab for every game, and every game in its proper cab LOL

And by the time you finish that, you can hang a sign on my door that says Flynn's 
I figure another 55' x 100' outbuilding should house it all, including the vpins, yes?

 

If you do not want to compromise quality wise stick to ultimarc for the video arcade control stuff

Nothing is wrong at all with the stuff on amazon, like from EG Starts, for the price it is worth the values and cheap to replace if you trash something, but commercial arcade quality it is not
and you can not do actively controlled lighted buttons with it.

 

I am not certain the best route for a combined vpin/video arcade unit

Perhaps ask Terry Red, i do not know if he runs separate input encodes, or runs it all off the vpin's control encoder
or runs the buttons all off like an Ipac plus a plunger/nudge kit

 

An Ipac would do everything except for the plunger/nudging input wise
they do have controllers that could run a plunger and run DOF, but nothing that would run nudge i dont think unless you were making an analog tilt bob for nudging or something

which might be a bit quirky for the nudging part? not sure.

[Eviljubs]

Dude, thanks for the links, I didn't know about the analog conversion/switch kit and all that, that's kickass.  I'd probably definitely want the most options on the 1st and 2nd player, my wife likes to play with me, and my sister and her boyfriend are also into arcade games a bit as well.  I figured I'd probably only use 4 players if we have a party or something, but it'll be a nice option to have especially for the beat 'em ups like xmen and TMNT.  The 3rd and 4th player I don't think need too much space or buttons, I don't think there's many 4 player games that use more than 4 or so.

 

As far as the modern emulation stuff goes, it's just not really there yet as far as emulation goes, but also integration into launchbox/bigbox isn't either, I'm just sort of prepping that for the future and getting used to how stuff works.  Except for maybe gamecube/Ps1/Ps2.  For those though, I was planning on using xbox one gamepads, or maybe some 8bitdo SNES pro controllers or something (although I hate the dpads on those, they kind of suck).  I likely wouldn't use the arcade controls for that stuff, more than likely just for within windows games when I can.  I have a pretty decent collection of 2d/arcade style games on steam that I think would play pretty well.  I want to keep compatibility with 4 xbox controllers/xinput controllers for that very reason actually, so I can swap between the arcade control and xbox controllers fairly seamlessly.  I doubt I'll be playing dark souls or anything on it (although... that does sound like a challenge).

 

I'd love to do a different cab for each game type, but my wife would probably have my balls at that point lol.  Maybe after I get an office separate from the house though. I did always want a racing/flight sim setup which would be great for some arcade games as well... I'll have to think on the signage a bit, Flynn's isn't necessarily my style personally.  Maybe Ogden's Tavern or something [ https://diablo.fando...'s_Sign_(Quest) ].  Although I hate the idea of supporting/advertising for blizzard these days... guh.

 

I checked out Terry's build, I think it's this one (https://www.vpforums...ic=34005&page=3) ?  I actually ran across it before on youtube when I was initially looking into all this stuff, and didn't realize it.  I don't think he'd added the blower in the coin door and stuff at that point, but that's freikin' genius.  I would want to do it the other way around though for mine probably.  I'm semi-okay at coding/scripting so I was thinking I may be able to throw together my own .bat files and maybe some kind of toggle that's attached to an accelerometer or rotation detection switch?  That way I could close out of my front end, flip the monitor, have it run my scripts, and launch a separate parallel build of the front end that's all setup for vertical (that way I can also have custom playlists and things for that specific setup).  Someone has to have done that before I'd imagine, maybe not for an arcade setup, but just for auto-rotation based on the monitor's orientation.  I think I can find some articulating arms that should give me enough distance to be able to move up, and rotate the main tv.  (I'd use those for the backglass/DMD/marquee).  It's going to be kind of hideous I think to start with, but with some decent cable management and things I think I can get it looking pretty nice.

 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'll probably also have to have another parallel setup for newer emulators as well, stuff that doesn't play well with 8 way joysticks and stuff.  That's not too difficult though really.  I am already running 2 parallel installs for mame/retroarch mame for arcade games within the same bigbox/launchbox because they only allow the online high score functionality via native mame, but I like the crt shaders and things much more in retroarch (plus it supports retro achievements).

 

Nudging is something I hadn't really considered until now... I think in that build guide/write up I was looking at before, the guy was using a plunger that had a built in accelerometer for nudge use, but I don't remember how it was controlled, or if it was any good for long term use/dependability.  I'd think with a plunger setup like that it'd be very sensitive to vibration, but maybe there's a deadzone or something.  I was thinking of building a gas/break/ducking pedal into the bottom of the pedestal, so maybe I could use those?  Seems like that'd be unnatural, but I'm already using the left analog stick on my xbox controller when I play vpx now.  Or maybe I could rig up some pressure sensitive pads to the side of the pedestal?  Something like this? https://pressureprof...nsors/tactarray .  I'll have to think about it some more I guess.

 

Edit:  Something I was also thinking about though, have you ever seen a control panel on an arcade that can have different labels light up for each button?  I know they make light up buttons themselves, but I was thinking more like, drilling a hole next to them, and having the artwork have controller input labels next to them.  That way you could light them up for different button configs, and display the corresponding letter / symbol.  Might also be useful to have like high punch, low punch, etc. for fighting games.  Maybe someone's done little LED screens next to them?  That'd be even better.  Something like this maybe? https://www.seeedstu...O0aAiSaEALw_wcB  There are some that are a bit larger as well.

Edited by Eviljubs, 05 September 2021 - 02:28 AM.

[wiesshund]

Most 4 player games use a trivial amount of buttons, like 1 or 2 in most cases

 

If you intend to use a Vpin cab as a video arcade but want to support 4 players
I suggest a stand alone controller but for players 3 and 4
with an inexpensive zero delay kit and connect it as needed with a long USB cable

You will not get 4 people even on a wide body cab.

The only way i can see doing that is a flip out set of controls on the cab sides or something.

On a video arcade cab is it simple, you just make the control panel as wide as you need, but you can not really do that to a vpin
playing pin ball and reaching the flippers would become a real problem.

 

Xbox/PS2/3 controllers are what most of the later era consoles are designed around using, so having some of those would be best if you want to run games that are designed around that kind of control.
PS1 most games run with digital control as the PS1 original controller did not have a joystick, but PS2 games really need the analog controls, and even the N64 plays most games best with an analog controller

 

In your vision of the Home Theater arcade, so to speak, i think you will be best served with pedestal controllers.
I would weight the vpin controller, you dont want to feel like you are nudging nothingness.
You could have everything in the vpin pedestal, even DOF if you liked.
Just need a suitable length USB cable, and a power cord, the power cord if for nothing else, so you can run a powered USB hub in it, long USB cables dont transmit power too great

 

And the arcade pedestal, you could make it with a 4 player control panel, with players 3 and 4 on the outsides of the panel with 1 simple 8way stick and a few buttons, maybe 4 which would cover any 4 player game i can think of

 

All 4 way stick games are 1 player at a time only, there were no dual heads up joystick games at the time
You you only need 1 switchable stick, though you could put in a single dedicated 4 way, some people do that and put it in the center, that might be a bit crowded though

 

Personally i would go with a servo stick for player 1, that covers player1 for everything 4 and 8 way
Player 2, i would use a J stick

And 2 12 way rotary add ons IF you play ikari warriors or heavy barrel as those are the only 2 game series that used the rotary stick
If you do not play those games the rotary is totally useless

In those games you move any direction with the stick but you can point your gun a different direction by turning the stick

But again, if you do not play those games, then the rotary kit is a waste of money

 

Of someone plays them once in a great while, you can configure them in MAME to use the spinner
You can even configure them just to aim in the direction you are moving.
That is what some people do, i am just throwing stuff out that covers all bases, you have to decide what bases you actually care about though.

 

For driving games, you can actually drive with a spinner, and they make steering wheel attachments you can stick on them

and if you are not super into driving games, that is good enough.
An analog stick does work also

On the other hand, if you are super into driving games, then you are not going to look at arcade controls to cover that because presently there are none for the consumer world
you are looking at buying and adapting a real steering system, which unless you are hellbent on recreating an authentic looking racing cab or something, is not worth the money you are going to spend

Use a PC steering wheel, it will work perfectly fine and you can clamp them to a TV tray or what not

 

Speaking of analog stick, a small number of arcade games do use them (small as compared to the number of those that dont)

they will work with an 8 way stick, but if you are any good at those games, you will know the difference

You have to decide there is you need the analog stick or not.

Now the xbox game pads do work perfectly fine for that, just takes some getting used to the short throw

 

But if you want that control in your control deck, it is something you have to consider before you build it

as you have to leave proper room for a spinner and track ball
Spinner and track ball games usually use very few buttons, if any, so you could probably position them to simply share access to player1 or player2's buttons

then get an analog stick dead center, get the flight model and that covers 2 buttons right on the stick.

 

About lighting buttons

You can light them in a programmed fashion

PacLED64

but if you are going to try and light buttons in a logical fashion for 500+ or 5000+ games, i dont know that you want to go down that rabbit hole?
and there is no way to label them differently, they do not make LCD's that small that you could use with any hardware i am aware of, the one you pictured is sort of too big, you would have to design the control panel to accommodate 2 extra rows of buttons, space wise

not to mention, you would have to program the entire thing
and to get a custom made LCD panel with button holes for the buttons and sticks to go through, it to display different control schematics on, i think is outside the realm of what a sane person is willing to pay for, it would be a one off item if someone was willing to do it and for one off items you pay in blood or you are NASA.

 

 

Personally, i think you would be better suited to simply making a control panel graphic for the game with the buttons labeled
and putting those into launchbox, since launchbox will display control panels and instruction manuals etc
You look, You read, you launch the game

 

Consider that all the buttons will be doing different tasks across an untold number of games fire is jump, is warp, is bomb, is grenade, is speed, is kick, is shield, is flap, is insert something here.

Most people typically set the games up in MAME so the buttons are used in a logical fashion and not all spaced out crazy, single button games will always use top row button 1
2 buttons games button 1 and 2 etc and it usually only takes a person 1 game to get the buttons down, and they dont label them on the control panel at all
Though they will draw control schematics for the front end to display

Like this for example

[wiesshund]

You can also do this if your going to have 2 screens

Edited by wiesshund, 05 September 2021 - 05:24 AM.

[Eviljubs]

The only reason I'd want to have 1 and 2 player be both analog capable is for Geometry Wars probably... I freikin' love that game.  That was the entire reason I bought a 360 back when it came out.  The first one though, I don't really like 2 or 3 all that much.

 

I hadn't really considered the spacing for the wiring and bottom plates and things, that's definitely going to be something I have to work out for the layout.  I'm definitely going to use some type of lighting controller for everything, I hadn't really gotten that far but the pacled64 looks like it'll do the job, I think LEDBlinky integration is a must there from what I've read. As for doing custom colors on all the games, I think I'd probably just do the popular ones, depending on how much effort it actually takes.  I'm surprised that nobody has made some sort of universal presets for them or anything, maybe they have though, I haven't looked into it all that much yet as I'm still quite a ways out from doing it.  I'd be fine setting them up myself though.  

 

I think maybe for flight sim type games, I may just have a space or something for my HOTAS that I can plop down or something.  Or maybe I'll work out a custom clamp-on thing for it, as I do have a Logitech X52 pro.  There's not too too many games that I'd use it in anyway probably.  I could probably make that interchangeable with a wheel setup, as I also do have an xbox 360 steering wheel as well, which supports force feedback and all that.  I should be able to also just use the pedals on the pedestal for it.

 

On the LED screen control panel stuff, I know they'd be doing a ton of different functions, but that's kind of the point, it'd be neat to have it integrated into the cab itself, rather than within big box/launchbox.  Each mame table (and I think most of the consoles too?) should have exposed controller configs that a program could theoretically pull from automatically to display on the screens in real-time as soon as they're saved.  It seems to me like that'd be almost less time consuming than having to do custom layout images for each, although I'm sure someone's already scripted up something that'll pull your controls and create the images automatically.  I can't imagine spending thousands of hours doing it by hand.  Hell, if not, that'd probably be easier than the LED display idea anyway.

 

I'm definitely going to do the 2nd screen marquee setup like what's in the video there, once I separate the two I'll probably end up using the top monitor in the pincab setup, and getting an appropriately sized / aspect ratio marquee only type display for the arcade setup.  I've seen a couple on youtube that look fantastic.  The only thing that I'm worried about on the universal setup is where to put my DMD, like if I want to get a real one, and do it that way, or do yet another monitor... I kind of hate having the backglass art be covered by the DMD, it's always such a shame, as most of that art is gorgeous and I'd want to be able to see it in all it's glory.  I guess I could build a real DMD or monitor into the pedestal itself, and then remove that when I do the solo pincab.  A monitor on there might also be useful/handy for displaying controller info during gameplay (I'd angle it so it's kind of leaning towards the players at about a 45 degree angle or so probably).  Or, build it into a dedicated pincab pedestal, I like that idea as well quite a bit.

[wiesshund]

The program is called CPWizard i think
It looks at your MAME configs and generated a control panel image

then you use those images for the marquee in launchbox

 

As far as the thousands of hours doing something by hand, unfortunately you would be wrong or disappointed
That is how people do MAME bezel art, 1000s of hours, by hand, making custom bezel art for their cab and screen layout, marquee screen too if they have one (Yes MAME can display a marquee image)

 

And yes, you have to use LEDBlinky with MAME
And many, perhaps even most MAME ROMs do not inherently do anything with LEDs
Galaga for example doesnt light or blink any buttons, nor Dig Dug etc, so you would have to set those up by hand to do anything much.

I imagine you could employ DOF too, as there is some way to use it with MAME

 

As to having the control panel itself tell you what every game is, that is something you are most likely totally on your own with figuring out.
I do not think i have ever seen anyone bother.

 

About the DMD
There is little reason to cover the backglass art, almost all backglasses come created to work on both 2 and 3 screen setups
And no artwork is covered by the DMD

 

[Eviljubs]

Yeah, I know about the grill settings for the back glasses, but so many of them are super low res and look terrible.  Some look great, Jurassic Park and Batman Forever come to mind.  I'd much rather just have an entire screen dedicated to it like on a 3 screen typical setup I think.  Maybe there's some default replacement grill graphics or something that I haven't found, I did look a bit, but I just ended up turning them off in almost all the games.  Since you told me about the trick with the virtual DMD the other day, I also figured out how to setup the bezel overlays and glass overlays for them, which look stunning.  I may even render out my own glass overlays or adjust some of the bezels.  I sort of want a nice black metal/brushed aluminum finish rather than the silver, so I may play around in photoshop with some of the images later and see what I can come up with.  I looked around for ones that were maybe themed to different games, or just a larger file pack of overlays, but I couldn't find any.  Maybe my search verbiage wasn't correct enough or something, or the feature is just too new.  Either way, happy to create my own as well.

 

The control panel stuff was just an idea, I like the controls images a bit more I think.  I've seen some pretty awesome marquee work as far as mame/retroarch/launchbox setups go, they even have fully animated ones and things, it's gotten a bit out of hand frankly lol.

 

Ah I see what you mean about the LED integration with games, I probably wouldn't do that, I'd just want the buttons to be certain colors to match the cab they're from and things like that.  I assume people have probably already done that to some extent.  I've seen some pretty amazing cabs with ridiculous LED transitions and flashing and all that, but it's usually a bit too "flashy" for me if you know what I mean.  If anything, I'd just want them to light up a bit to be able to have some different colors, but be fairly muted overall.  Maybe turn off the lights on buttons that aren't used? but just some basic functionality like that for ease of use for lesser nerds.

 

Once I get going on all this stuff I'll have to post some updates here on the forums.  I finally think I'm where I want to be with my collection of stuff overall, right now I'm just building out the media files and everything and tweaking stuff so it looks nice.  Recording videos for the pinball tables has been a bitch and a half, but I'm almost done.  I checked out pinup popper's automatic recording solution, but I didn't really like the resolution or encoding, it looked to be at like 30fps and had a lot of artifacting.  I decided to use launchbox's OBS integration, and that's been way way better, it's just not automated, so I have to do it all individually.  It's not necessarily a bad thing though, because it's allowing me to check all the settings on my pins and make sure stuff is setup nicely (volumes and stuff).  I also found quite a few of my older tables that I'd downloaded way before when I was first looking into virtual pinball that have some really really nice redone versions or updates, so that's been great.

 

I checked out CPWizard, that's exactly what I was thinking of.  I think launchbox even has a separate image selection now for controller layout images, so that'll be perfect.  I'm really liking this community and the launchbox community, everyone's so helpful and just a wealth of knowledge about all this stuff.  I couldn't be more thankful for all these people and all their time and effort, it's really something incredible.

[wiesshund]

You can light up specific buttons
and if you use clear buttons and RGB lighting you can change the colors

But that is something you would have to create yourself, on a per game basis, as it is not something the games themselves would internally do
 

Most arcade games do literally nothing as far as cabinet interaction goes
A few will blink the player start buttons, and even the coin returns
A smaller amount actually blink button lights during the attract sequence

But most do nothing interactively with the lights, heck for the majority the only lights are the marquee lights
and later on, the coin returns when everyone went to the coin doors with the red\orange plastic coin return buttons.

 

On the marquee images, MAME itself will even display them, you just need to learn how to do MAME cab art
MAME artwork goes in a zipfile named the same as the ROM which goes in the artwork folder
And you have the images, and an sort of LUA ish file called a Lay file that tells MAME what image goes where and how etc
So you could even let MAME itself display the control schematic, either way works.

As for launchbox, you can also make PDF docs for the games and do more than only show the button layout
you can also list the rules and gameplay info, they go in the appropriate manuals folder.
Those could be more useful than just a control panel schematic for a person who does not even know how to play a given game.

They are especially useful for console games where simple instructions might just not quite cut it.

 

As for the backglasses
If it is super low rez and looks terrible, it will look that way grill or no grill, because in both cases, the backglass uses the same image.

All you can do there is create new artwork at a better resolution and update the backglass.

Now you can totally put a DMD screen in a picture frame and hang it on the wall
Be it a real DMD or and LCD panel, of course you have to figure out placement and how to work that out with out pivoting tv screen setup etc
but it is doable, but it wont help or harm a low rez backglass, for that problem you need better rez art

Same exact backglass as above, just in 3 screen mode (sorry small rez pic because it is from laptop)

 

On the controls, you probably will not feasibly cover it in a single arcade control panel
Not when you toss in late era consoles and PC games into the mix as both of those use way more advanced controllers than 99% of video arcade machines ever had.
And some of that, the PC controllers are simply the best way to go, there is no compromise going on and the games play as you expect them to.
It would be a damned miracle to get a PS2/3/Xbox type of game controller into an video arcade control panel and have it be actually useful

You figure you have up to 2 digital shoulder buttons, up to 2 analog shoulder buttons, 2 analog 2axis sticks, 4 digital buttons in the form of a D pad, a start and select button, 
and at least 6 digital gameplay buttons, unless we are talking pre xinput era and then you might have 8+ digital gameplay buttons but literally no one makes those gamepads any more.

 

The lions share of video arcade games can be played with 4way/8way digital sticks, spinners and trackballs, even some of the games that used an analog stick

A few of the flight/space type games dont work terribly well with a digital stick cause they require more finesse.
And most of the driving games just really need a wheel to play well, and are probably nicer to play sitting down anyways

though a few of the very old driving games
actually need a spinner, sprint and sprint II come to mind, because holding the wheel does nothing, the cars only turn as the wheel is in motion, and the faster it spins, the sharper they turn.
Not realistic no, but at the time, they did not have spring centering analog steering wheels

 

If you look around enough, you will find people with arcade cabs where they did the control panel as a drop i module
and they might have 4 or 5 different modules with different kinds of control setups plus a set of Xbox/PS2 like gamepads for console EMU use.
That is their answer to having only one cabinet, but not compromising the controls at all. So that is always a possibility in your case too.

 

It is a lot of repetitive wiring of control panels and quick connectors (so that you dont need a USB encoder in every panel)

but once it is done, it is done.
And you could probably do a single pedestal that way for both arcade and VPX.
You would just lift the control module up and unplug it and drop in a different one

[Eviljubs]

I was thinking about going with like matte white buttons, to help dim the LEDs some more possibly, maybe white center, and then clear for the area around the buttons?  I'll have to see how it looks.

 

I'm familiar with the mame setup for overlays and stuff, I'm actually using retrolust's collection for my setup right now.  I've seen some with the marquee images on the overlay cabinets, but it usually makes the screen too small.  Unless maybe you mean displaying it on another screen, in which case I'll look into that as well.  I haven't had a use for it just yet.

 

As for manuals and things, I'm pretty sure launchbox can automatically download them from their database and all that, I have a huge collection of that stuff I just haven't messed with it too much yet.  I think the only thing I checked out so far was the manual for TMNT on DOS, which was pretty cool, really high quality scan of it.  I haven't messed with the LB/BB pause menus, and getting all the in game shortcuts for that all setup yet, or adjusting those menus.  I've basically just been getting everything in, working, looking it's best, getting the rendering settings proper, and then getting all the media and stuff in there so when I do get to all that, it should be quick and easy.  Just for an idea of how large everything is, as of right now, I'm looking at probably around 2TB or so of games and related media files.  I haven't even touched anything prior to the NES era yet (except arcade, dos, and pinball), and anything that used DVD's for a storage medium I've been very selective about what I've got backed up.  I like a lot of that older stuff, the Atari games and whatnot, but they're pretty primitive and I doubt many people will play them ever.

 

On the back glass stuff, there's quite a few I have where the backglass image itself is very pretty and high resolution, but the grill looks like absolute ass.  I assumed this was because most people just turn it off, because they're using 3 screen setups, and don't need the grill image at all.  Either that, or just people fixing up the main image, and not bothering with the grill I guess?  Either way, it'd be nice if they were separate images or something you could select, so you could always have a nice default one if you wanted, and then select the nicer custom ones if they're available.  It's not the biggest deal, but it would be a cool feature to have some kind of override setting by default in b2s for that specific image.  Would also be neat/useful if you had a particular themed cabinet and were using the grill so it could be used across all your games and stuff if you wanted.

 

Using the arcade controls for more modern games would probably just be for very very specific titles (I'd have playlists sorted out for that purpose ahead of time).  For instance, geometry wars only requires 2 analog sticks, and one button for bomb basically.  I might also need an A and B button to use the menus, but that's about it.  There's also a few shmups and things I'd probably do that way, Ikaruga and a few others.  I wouldn't be trying to play Tony Hawk or something like that with them, that'd be pretty insane.  I would think all the fighting games and things would work just fine though as well, same for most modern 2d platformers and things similar to that.  The new Killer Instict, Mortal Kombat, and Street Fighters should work just fine I think.  I certainly wouldn't be playing counter strike or dark souls or anything with that layout lol, I'd have controllers setup for that kind of thing for sure.  I do have a couple of steam controllers lying around as well, I may repurpose those for some of that.  I also may get some wireless N64 controllers to use for those games, as re-mapping those tends to be a huge pain in the ass as well.  Retroarch does a good job of auto-remapping, but some stuff just doesn't work well without that ridiculous layout.

 

Interesting idea about the modular setup, that might be the thing to do, I hadn't considered that.  That would also allow me to sort of build them out as I see fit over time.  So many ideas to think about with all this.

Edited by Eviljubs, 05 September 2021 - 10:03 PM.

[wiesshund]

I was thinking about going with like matte white buttons, to help dim the LEDs some more possibly, maybe white center, and then clear for the area around the buttons?  I'll have to see how it looks.

You can turn down LED brightness
You can use a resistor on the 5v line, or a small rheostat.
So you could use translucent buttons with out them being eye killing bright

You could have some LEDs that are not pointing at you face be bright like front panel?
and put those on a separate 5v feed

 

 

I'm familiar with the mame setup for overlays and stuff, I'm actually using retrolust's collection for my setup right now.  I've seen some with the marquee images on the overlay cabinets, but it usually makes the screen too small.  Unless maybe you mean displaying it on another screen, in which case I'll look into that as well.  I haven't had a use for it just yet.

 

As for manuals and things, I'm pretty sure launchbox can automatically download them from their database and all that,

 

It can, where they are available
Which for arcade machines is not so much.
And for those usually a quick 1 page manual with a controller layout image and some brief instructions is good.
That is about all the arcade cabs ever gave

 

 

I'm familiar with the mame setup for overlays and stuff, I'm actually using retrolust's collection for my setup right now.  I've seen some with the marquee images on the overlay cabinets, but it usually makes the screen too small.  Unless maybe you mean displaying it on another screen, in which case I'll look into that as well.  I haven't had a use for it just yet.

 

 

No, Marquee on a different screen
Bezel overlays are a different artwork, which my the way, if used on a 43" inch screen should not remotely make the game look too small
enable to cropping function when setting the video to use the bezel and it will only use bezel where the game itself simply has no use for the screen.
But on a 43" screen, the games will be so big anyways, you can most likely display the entire bezel without cropping.

 

Now mind you have have never seen the bezels you are using, and yes, i can most certainly make a bezel that does smash the game into a postage stamp
on a 43" monitor, but that is bad designing on my part, no one has a 34" 4.3 CRT screen, so you can not make a bezel like that (which would shot the game in a proper 19" screen sized window) Everyone today nearly has a 16.9 aperture screen and the average screen size is between 20 to 27 inches
You have to make your art with that in mind and take some poetic license with it, but enabling cropping will cure of the art not suiting the screen

 

But MAME art has different pieces
and you can make art that has a dedicated MARQUEE 
and it displays on what ever screen you tell mame to display marquee only on, and that is all that screen shows
See the marquee only element in this layout file?
If i pick screen 2's video options and set it to marquee only, it will display that image

<mamelayout version="2">

 <element name="marquee">
      <image file="boothill.png" />
   </element>
 
   
   <view name="Marquee_Only">
    <bounds x="0" y="0" width="1600" height="900" />
      <marquee element="marquee">
         <bounds x="0" y="0" width="1600" height="510" />>
      </marquee>
   </view>

	
	<element name="backdrop_m">
		<image file="boothill.png" />
	</element>
	
	<element name="overlay_m">
		<rect>
			<bounds left="80" top="0" right="155" bottom="260" />
			<color red="1" green="1" blue="1" />
		</rect>
		<rect>
			<bounds left="0" top="0" right="80" bottom="260" />
			<color red="0.125" green="1" blue="0.125" />
		</rect>
		<rect>
			<bounds left="155" top="0" right="224" bottom="260" />
			<color red="1" green="0.125" blue="0.125" />
		</rect>
		<rect>
			<bounds left="35" top="0" right="225" bottom="18" />
			<color red="1" green="0.125" blue="1" />
		</rect>
	</element>
	
	
	


	<view name="Upright_Artwork_Midway">
				
		<backdrop element="backdrop_m">	
			<bounds x="0" y="1179" width="3871" height="2345" />
			<color alpha="0.3" />
		</backdrop>
		<screen index="0">
			<bounds x="1300" y="1365" width="1308" height="1744" />
			<color alpha="0.8" />
		</screen>
		<overlay element="overlay_m">
			<bounds x="1300" y="1365" width="1308" height="1744" />
		</overlay>
	</view>
	
</mamelayout>

 

 

On the back glass stuff, there's quite a few I have where the backglass image itself is very pretty and high resolution, but the grill looks like absolute ass.  I assumed this was because most people just turn it off, because they're using 3 screen setups, and don't need the grill image at all.  Either that, or just people fixing up the main image, and not bothering with the grill I guess?  Either way, it'd be nice if they were separate images or something you could select, so you could always have a nice default one if you wanted, and then select the nicer custom ones if they're available.  It's not the biggest deal, but it would be a cool feature to have some kind of override setting by default in b2s for that specific image.  Would also be neat/useful if you had a particular themed cabinet and were using the grill so it could be used across all your games and stuff if you wanted.

 

Could be either way, someone updated the glass art and did not update the grill, or someone just pated in a crappy old grill and figured oh well, no one will use it anyways

 

In any case, you can fix/remake a B2S
And yes, you can design one grill, and ally it to all your backglasses.
Make a nice grill of appropriate dimensions, then export a backglass image, put in YOUR grill, reimport the image and create the backglass

 

Got old school tables whose backglasses are narrow and you hate them stretching?
Export backglass image, create a new 16.9 image, insert original backglass, if it is nice enough, as a layer in the new blank 16.9 image and center it

paint the layer below the backglass black, or apply a texture or what ever you feel is suitable to fill in the extra space, save that out as a png and reimport the image
and now you have a non stretched to hell backglass

Backglasses, one can always fix the artwork on.

There is another way, by the way, for the grills
Make an image, 16.9 make it all black
Put a grill of the right size in the bottom of the image
Save it and use it as screen 2's desktop background

Now have your backglasses display with out grill
And set your B2S setup so that the backglass screens resolution is real-width x real-height - size of grill
The grill will always be there, and the backglass will magically appear above it, some people with 2 screen setups do that for grill consistency with minimal editing.
May not be the option for you, but it is a possibility, so im mentioning it

 

 

 

 I also may get some wireless N64 controllers to use for those games, as re-mapping those tends to be a huge pain in the ass as well.  Retroarch does a good job of auto-remapping, but some stuff just doesn't work well without that ridiculous layout.

 

I dont use retroarch, hate it, i use all stand alone emulators
For N64 i use Project64D
no issues with it and setting up an xbox layout controller, i set the right thumb to be the C pad
I do have a N64 to USB adapter, and sometimes i do use that instead, but  use one of the after market n64 controllers i had bought
All the original N64 pieces are in the N64 box and put up, maybe some day it will be worth a dumb amount of money and i can sell it and retire LOL
All of my consoles are presently in their boxes (Yes i kept the boxes, even the NES/Robbie box from 1986, dont ask)

 

I dont think i have even close to 2TB worth of stuff though, i never bought that many of the games to start with, only ones i actually liked, and i am real picky, so aside from MAME i only have what i dumped from my own carts. PS1/PS2 wise, i just imaged the discs, though i can actually run right from the CD's which i do on my laptop due to HDD space, same with 3DO and some of the Sega systems.
Gamecube i am stuck though, as i only have one CD drive that can actually read a gamecube disk, so those i have to image, laptop or not, but at least dolphin lets me compress the images.

 

The only thing i never bothered to set up to emulate was atari 2600
I came to realize that it just aint as great as it seemed back then and the coin op games were much better.
That thing has not left the box in a bazillion year, or at least since like 1983

[Eviljubs]

Ah, I see what you mean about the mame marquee stuff.  I'm mainly just talking about on my primary desktop setting for now, it just makes stuff too small to have the whole marquee on the cab in the screen.  I could easily do that on my projector though, it's 125", so size isn't an issue at all there.  I think a reasonable t.v. is gonna work fine for it when I set it up, I haven't tried it on our 4k 65", I should though just to see the dimensions.  Is 43" the recommended size for arcade cabs?  That's something else I haven't checked on either really.

 

Man, I never even thought of that desktop background solution, that's ingenious.  I'll definitely look into doing that for my current setup.

 

I prefer retroarch just for ease of use, I do use separate emulators for some platforms though, namely ps2, and anything newer than that basically.  Retroarch doesn't update those cores often enough.  Everything else seems to run well, otherwise I would use individual emus, but retroarch being unified is just too easy for me not to do it.  That's what I mean about the controller layouts and stuff, it automatically has binds for every single game setup for xbox/ps4 controllers, so if something has a funky layout it's pretty much already fixed.  The other benefit I really liked was hyperspace madness' CRT reflection shaders, they really add some extra oomph to the whole thing.  There's also some other guys that have added custom bezel overlays for each console and things, it's really pretty nice.  I've had most of that setup when I recorded this a couple weeks ago:  

. 

 

Don't mind the audio popping/clipping, I resolved that issue.  That was also recorded before I had my parallel setup for Mame, which I use because the overlays/bezels are nicer, and it has the high score upload support for the BB/LB database which I really wanted to have as a feature.  Oh, and it was before I had set it up to also launch into Kodi, so I can watch old t.v. shows and things with the shaders, and some old t.v. overlays and stuff.

 

I do have a 21" dell trinitron CRT that's 4:3 as a 3rd monitor on my desk, and I actually just got a 19" dell CRT brand new sealed in the box a few months back at my old job (it's my backup in case the 21" dies eventually).  My other buddy who's a game collector actually picked up like 9 or 10 of the 21" ones as well, it was pretty crazy.  He has the space for 'em though, my wife was upset that I was keeping 2 lol.  I wouldn't be too keen on using those for a build though, I'm mostly just keeping them for older windows games (and maybe some emulation here or there).

 

Damn, that's nice on keeping the boxes man, I didn't even keep my consoles themselves usually let alone the boxes.  I wish I had   .  That's super legit about the NES/Robbie lol.

 

Yeah, I basically have the same opinion of the older early 80's and 70s consoles.  I played them as a kid in the early 90s, but, meh.  I did setup emulation for the vectrex though, just because I think it's a cool/unique thing that most people haven't heard of.  The hyperspace madness shaders actually do a lot for that one with the vector graphics.  The screen overlays all work properly as well.

Edited by Eviljubs, 06 September 2021 - 12:32 AM.

[wiesshund]

.  Is 43" the recommended size for arcade cabs?  That's something else I haven't checked on either really.

 

 

Not really LOL
The games were all made for screens that displayed 640x480 or much much less, unless we are talking consoles
and  those are made for 480i until we get into the PS2/Gamecube era

 

Pacman is 224 x 288 for example

so is Galaga and Gorf and most other vertical games

 

Ghost N Goblins is 256 x 224
Gauntlet was 336 x 240

Super Sprint was 512 x 284

 

Vector games have no resolution, because they literally have no pixels
but they are based on a vertically oriented 19" screen

There are 4.3 and 5.4 screens in video arcade games, but unless you stick them side by side you dont really notice the slight difference

 

Gauntlet Dark Legacy, a game from 1999 is only 640 x 480

 

So a 43" 4K screen is not exactly optimal
But the classic games sort of can not look terrible on it because their graphics were designed to be seen at a pixel level
You can not really hurt them much by making them very large

 

Later games that have actual painted art and FMV etc, yes those do like any other thing designed like that does when you put it on a big screen
Like put Doom 2 on nearly any modern LCD from 19" up, then put it on a 14" screen
But with a screen that large, you can afford to use bezel art, uncropped, which brings the game itself back to sort of normal scale except still bigger
if one is bothered by the image quality, though many people are not.

 

But i mean if you ask what is literally optimal, it would be a 19 to 22 inch 4.3 screen, played at normal arcade cab distance.
i mean that is where you will see the game look as close to what it was intended to look like.

 

But that is no reason not to run it on a 43" 4K TV, hell everyone else with a living room setup does.

 

 

 

I do have a 21" dell trinitron CRT that's 4:3 as a 3rd monitor on my desk, and I actually just got a 19" dell brand new sealed in the box

 

Those would be optimal
IF you plan on building a full depth cabinet, and properly suspending the things in it
19" on its side for vertical, 21" normal for horizontal

 

Probably not optimal for your living room setup idea, because they wont hang flat, on anything, not short of punch a big square hole in the wall
So now you got this big gaudy old Heavy CRT chassis sitting in the middle of the living room, and there aint no hiding that.

Mind you both will eventually die and then so much for that unless you wish to take up TV and CRT repair as a hobby.
LCD you just jet off down to best buy or craigs list etc when you cook one of those

 

.

 

 

Yeah, I basically have the same opinion of the older early 80's and 70s consoles.  I played them as a kid in the early 90s, but, meh.  I did setup emulation for the vectrex though, just because I think it's a cool/unique thing that most people haven't heard of.  The hyperspace madness shaders actually do a lot for that one with the vector graphics.  The screen overlays all work properly as well.

 

The vectrex i simply never bothered because most of the games are replicated in some arcade game with in MAME
When the vectrex came out they weren't, not in your living room anyways.
Vectrex i have not turn on recently. Oh it's been recapped, fixed the sound to eliminate the hum/clicking etc, replaced the flyback, but if that little CRT dies
Then i am off to hunt down a good black and white 9" TV tube (Because the vectrex does not use an actual vector tube)
and then i get the joy of redoing the ass end of a raster tube to do a vector display, which is easier to do in a factory than on the living room floor.
Fiddling with the vectrex became less fun when MAME became actually functional, and MAME didnt require a soldering iron to run.

Funny thing though, the Vectrex cost $38.50 at Twinfair and the games were .50c each or 3 for  $1.00
In 1983, poor thing had already commercially failed due to stuff that was not it's fault.
 

Edited by wiesshund, 06 September 2021 - 01:20 AM.

[Eviljubs]

Ah, no, I totally understand render resolutions and all that for the older games/consoles etc.  I just meant more so for optimal size for emulation on a modern screen, with overlays and shaders and things like that, I didn't know if there was like a standard size people went with generally.  I'd probably want to go as big as I could since weight isn't really an issue with modern t.v.'s, but maybe I'll actually measure out some screens and things and try to find an appropriate size to make most stuff close to it's authentic size.  It doesn't have to be perfect necessarily, it just has to be close.  Plus I'd want a somewhat larger screen for some of the lightgun games, alien/terminator 2/house of the dead/etc.  And the rarer double-wide monitor games like x-men and that japanese shooter... I always forget it's name, but I think it's like 3 screens wide.  Speaking of weight though, that's why I didn't want to go with a full CRT cabinet, it'd weigh a ton.  My friend and I actually just passed on a couple of brand new arcade cab CRTs that were about an hour away from us for $450 each for that very reason.  I also wouldn't want to have on die on me and then be stuck with a dead one.  I'm not sure about your area, but they're a huge hassle to get rid of these days around here.  Most places won't even take them, or they want to charge you.

 

That's awesome that you have a vectrex, I hadn't ever heard of them until I watched some classic game room stuff like way back like 10 years ago or so.  They've interested me since then, very strange/unique things.  The games kind of suck and are super clunky, but some of it was pretty impressive for the time.  The soccer game in particular I was pretty impressed by.