Arcade Box Project - SplashScreens and Gen Info

[TMNTturtlguy]

@THRobinson I am currently building a full size stand-up arcade machine using a pi3b! Regarding screensaver, the main build of retropie with emulationstation does not support screensaver/videos while the machine is not in use. There are a few people in this community who have worked very hard on screensaver builds and there are alternate ES builds that support video screensavers. I hope in the near future that screensavers will be included within the main ES. I am currently running the following build at this link. It is a build from @pjft based on the screensaver/omx player build by @fieldofcows. It works really well, i would recommend researching this and related threads to decide if you want to try it, i highly recommend it! Please test: Random Game selection/launch via Video Screensaver Here is a link to a post with the screensaver in action: Video

Regarding a monitor, there are not very many 4:3 LCD/LED screens still in production. I was able to find a refurbished 4:3 21" monitor by NEC. I found mine on Tiger Direct. 21" is the largest 4:3 monitor that was mass produced (any larger and they are really expensive). Dell has several 19" 4:3 monitors that will work. As for HDMI - you just need to get a DVI monitor and by an HDMI to DVI cable. Works really well. My 21" fits right into my original Donkey Kong 3 stand up arcade box.

For arcade controls, i have these installed into my arcade box, i am making a 4 player machine. They are from amazon and come in multiple colors. If you get the LED buttons you will want to run them through a powered USB hub. Easyget Led Arcade I have not had a chance to configure the controls yet as I am still customizing my pi setup with a theme i am making, a custom splash screen and other cool bells and whistles. The buttons and joysticks did install nicely into my control panel, and the company that sells them has great customer service.

[THRobinson]

@TMNTturtlguy

Shame can't simply have an MP4 play as a screen saver, that

one would be fun to have playing, even though no game for it.

So, is it preferable to get a PC monitor with DVI and adapter? vs a TV with HDMI? Forgetting about 4:3 for the moment. I was looking at TV's because most have speakers built in and figured powered speakers all through HDMI for sound, save some wiring... otherwise I guess dismantle powered PC speakers or get a 3wx3w amp add-on for the RaspPi3?

4:3 to me seems better because arcade machines were 4:3... haven't had much of a chance to really play around with the RetroPie build yet, just a few select games. Mostly have NES, Genesis etc... which were all 4:3 games, but I might put a few PSOne games and not sure, were any of those 4:3 or Widescreen?

I have a 15" LCD PC screen at home collecting dust, but VGA only on that one.

Again, just started researching... looking for ideas and such now before I get too far into the designing phase.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@THRobinson I already made the suggestion that another improvement to the video screensaver would be to allow for custom or user defined screensavers, but I thin our first step is to wait and see if the screensaver mode gets incorporated into the main ES. I don't yet have the ability to write and compile my own ES builds, so for now I am just thankful to @fieldofcows and @pjft and the others who made the screensaver build a reality.

I think you will have better game performance with a computer monitor with a game mode, they often run the graphics for games better than an HDTV does, and as you have mentioned, most games are either in 4:3 aspect ratio, while some original standup arcades are in vertical screen mode. If you use a TV you will have a lot of blank screen on either side of your monitor. I thought about building a bezel over a widescreen monitor, however when i tried to force the main emulation station menu screens to a 4:3 ratio i often had weird things happen to themes. By getting a 4:3 I am getting a much bigger picture area in my cabinet than a widescreen would have provided. I beleive that most if not all original psone (psx) games were 4:3. I think a lot of early PS2 may have even been in 4:3? I know i was playing my ps2 on a standard TV for a few years before i bought my first widescreen. If you want to use your old 15", you can buy adapter to adapt to HDMI, however I am guessing your video quality won't be great. You can pick up a good 19" 4:3 for fairly reasonable.

The raspberry pi has a 3.5 audio jack, do you not want to use that? I picked up a set of speakers with a powered sub for $35 and they are awesome.

Are you planning on building a full size stand up arcade cabinet? Or are you thinking of a bartop? IF you are going table/bartop, then I guess I would toss out everything I said about monitors and go with a nice widescreen tv or monitor because you won't have to worry about fitting it into a space made for an old 4:3 CRT monitor.

[THRobinson]

Are there black bars on a PC screen?

TV's were 4:3 which the games were originally played on, but the 'square' PC screens are 5:4...? Won't be a big difference, 64px I guess on the left/right sides.

I found a good Samsung PC monitor, 5:4 19" with 2ms response time used for $15CAD which I may grab. My 15" would have been fine, but VGA only, no DVI... adapter to go from HDMI to VGA would cost more than buying another screen. :D

RaspPi I was looking into more yesterday for the audio jack, because I recall when buying it that it was an audio/video jack, but I guess can be used with a standard headphone jack for just audio. Which is actually better because I can get powered PC speakers, add wire to reposition the speakers, and have the volume adjust elsewhere on the machine so, I think I may go that route, 19" LCD PC screen and a $35 pair of powered speakers.

I guess my next debate is joystick buttons... seems to be a few options there, and how to link to the RaspPi. One guy I was watching a video for used an IPAC-2 control board which makes things look easier to organize. Still trying to find buttons/joystick I like. Seen them used but not found for sale yet.

Next debate too is.... full cabinet, bar top, one player, two player, not make one with a screen at all, just plug into the TV when wanting to play, or, was thinking of a fold-away version of the bar top ones. Like a briefcase.

I'll be building from scratch not an old cabinet so I could go widescreen, but, if all the games are 4:3 then I'll get a 4:3/5:4 screen... otherwise I'll have big black bars on the left/right, plus... a 19" 16:9 vs 4:3, means you lose about 2" in height. So, smaller image with bars on either side using a 19" Widescreen.

But ya, in full debate mode now because I have 2 nieces and 2 nephews that like old games, but not sure if I made it 2 player, would they play as a pair. Might be something that gets used by 1 at a time.

Side note, I swear this notification thing doesn't work, I never seem to get notified of responses. Weird.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@THRobinson You can get 4:3 monitors, They cost a bit more than 5:4 monitors, but they exist. Mine is a 21" 1600x1200 NEC monitor. With this setup, I do not have any bars when running games. I have full screen original aspect ratios.

For controls, like I said, i haven't actually hooked them up yet, but i opted for the usb kit and powered usb hub to make the wiring easy and so I can quickly disconnect the Pi from the arcade box if i need to do any work on it.

[THRobinson]

I've been mostly on eBay looking at kits... button wise, how many works well?

If I end up doing a 1 player... I guess a joystick and 8 buttons, plus... 1 player? Coin?

See some kits with 6 button, 8, 10... some with 8 one size and 3 another... I guess the player number and coin buttons are mapped to something like start/select?

I'm pretty sure the nieces/nephews have no interest in 2-player so probably building a 1 player system. Joystick and 8 buttons I think is a common config, but what other buttons are needed or at least make it easier?

[TMNTturtlguy]

@THRobinson The button config is up to you. I did a joystick, 6 game buttons, Start Button, Select Button and a Coin button. My start and select buttons are smaller buttons than the rest.

[THRobinson]

So, no common or recommended number?

My fear is buying parts, building the system, then a week later trying to play a game where I wish I had 2 more buttons. :D

[THRobinson]

https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/5220/arcade-buttons-how-many-layout/2

Good discussion on buttons/layout

[Capeman]

@THRobinson said in Arcade Box Project - SplashScreens and Gen Info:

Screen itself... I wanted a 4:3 LCD but, I don't think 4:3 LCDs had HDMI

Any 4:3 with DVI will take HDMI with a passive adapter. You'll have to re-route the sound out through the headphone jack though since HDMI/DVI doesnt support audio.

A great place to get good screens is PCliquidations.com, they are all used and come with quality ratings, and best of all each monitor's spec includes the response rate, you'll want 5ms or lower (most 4:3 monitors 5ms is the lowest they go).

Dell makes some nice 4:3 displays on there that have fast response times and they're only like $50.

[TMNTturtlguy]

@THRobinson I used the same layout pattern as the 8 button pattern in the thread, however I too only used 6 buttons. Most games that are supported by the pi are only 2 or 4 button games. PSX, Dreamcast, N64 have more buttons, but most of those can be accomplished with 6 buttons. A, B, X, Y, LS, RS.

The only one that really has issues is N64, but how often are you going to play N64 standing at an arcade machine? The trouble is that the N64 has A, B, 4 "C" buttons and a Z button. So you will be one button short. I am making due by pretty much only playing games like diddy kong racing and mario kart 64 on the arcade machine, so really just need A, B, and Z. PSX and Dreamcast work well as they have 4 buttons and 2 shoulders. 6 pretty much covers most everything you want to do. If you do 8, you can't go wrong for future proofing, but there will be a lot of empty buttons for most games.

[THRobinson]

@Capeman ... with DVI is the thing... I have a 5:4 at home, got for free and only 15" but works fine. 1 VGA port only. :(

But 4:3 I was referring to TV's... figured get a TV with speakers and HDMI and save some time, wires and money but, old pre-widesreen TV's seem to be all pre-HDMI. See a rare one pop up but, oddly high in price or such a no-name brand I don't want to bother.

I think I'll be going 5:4 computer monitor with DVI and buying a cheap/short cable. I'll probably go on local ad pages... I'm in Canada so, lot's of those sites that have great deals, I can't take advantage of because of ship/duty. :( Shame too because you're right, some good looking 4:3's there.... at least I can use the site to quickly find model numbers for searching. I have a Dell as my PC monitor at home, quality is great.