Upright Arcade Build

[aechadwick]

This has been an occasional-weekend project for a couple years.

The nominative mission has been, "so my son can learn the classics," and i really emphasized two-player games and favorite hotseats. To that end, this is an overbuilt box of 2x4 and MDF, it's virtually indestructible.

there is a set of overpowered car-audio speakers in the upper part, and a big subwoofer in the base. The whole system makes a satisfying rumble.

The Marquee changes artwork based on system or game, and the buttons light up in game-specific layouts.

i made custom launch screens showing off the controls, and custom overlays for each game. Artwork is ruthlessly appropriated from everywhere, including around this forum (thanks everyone!).

The main buttons are Spectra Eclipse by GroovyGameGear--the outer ring lights up around black buttons. The pictures do not do them justice, it's very clean in person, with just enough spill to give neighboring buttons some life. The basic layout is non-standard--that's not because i'm a know it all, it's purely because i'm a scene designer, i was just... going for a look.

2½" trackball by Holland Computers, SpinTrak by Ultimarc. Everything is controlled by an Ultimarc Ultimate I/O.

30" monitor with custom black sintra bezel, mounted behind 1/4" smoked glass. The Bezel has a series of "game type" indicators--fight! cooperate! hotseat! there's no real need for them, i just wanted to see if i could make it work (plus it fills the space under the monitor)

the panel itself is under-printed onto plexiglass and backed with white vinyl (then laminated into a couple layers of MDF, it's a good thick board)

*in retrospect, i wish i'd done light-up joysticks, and/or servo-lock sticks that can be set to [Only 4-way, Only 2-way] and so on. I might still tear the panel apart and redo that. Never be satisfied!

after some playing around, I hacked in a set of coin acceptors... i couldn't acclimate to simply pushing a button to get more credits, i really wanted the panic of [need quarters where is the slot oh god faster]

a buddy welded the monitor-holder frame for me. 700W power supply is overkill, but damn i was tired of getting under voltage warnings.

the crash kitchen is what i call my garage. i used to do cooking shows like "iron chef america," and always liked the name.

[aechadwick]

more pictures of how i utilize the buttons.

sometimes i use the "non-functional" buttons as just pixels, like color-keyed to the character/graphics.

launch screens give you five seconds to memorize the layout!

for v2, i will do a light-ring around the spinner, too...

[aechadwick]

people ask "do you have Joust?" and i reply "this was built to play joust."

[GreenHawk84]

@aechadwick wow man, the theming detail is crazy. So much work! Very impressive. I would love to have a dynamic marquee on my bartop.

[h2805270]

That's pure dedication right there...

[maschine]

Love the digital marquee

[aechadwick]

@greenhawk84 how i did it...

from ebay... (3) P4 PH4 32*64 Pixels Dot Matrix RGB Full Color LED Module Board For Video Wall, i think they were like $20 apiece when i got them.

that just happened to fit the arbitrary 30½" x 5½" marquee (i didn't plan a marquee, i decided to add it later) (this whole project is "oh you know what ELSE would be cool...")

controlled by a second Pi with the Adafruit "RGB Matrix HAT + RTC"—maintaining the matrix just chews up too much power, i tried using one pi for both but decided against compromising gameplay for cosmetics.

The two pi are directly connected with an ethernet cable, and the RetroPie runcommand scripts, onstart & onend, send ROM info to the MatrixPi to trigger the change.

I'm glad to share the scripts if anyone is interested. there might be a better way, it's just how i did it.

[aechadwick]

@h2805270 it's my distraction from work and stuff, so it's totally worth the time. priceless.

[aechadwick]

he visibly flinched several times. GOTTA LEARN THE CLASSICS.

[h2805270]

@aechadwick
I didn't even know the Arcade Original used an Overlay.

[BritX]

@aechadwick hey! great build!
Would you be willing to share you code for the marquee? im trying to get some LCD panels for the RGB hat working but failing big time...
I would like to use just one pie also so if you have anything like that illl take it..:-)

I have installed pimarquee2 but this uses LCD via a second HDMI port...its great software also but i cannot get it working with a RGB hat....
im not a coder either so its all trail and error....

Using a second pi perhaps a zero may work also....

thanks in adavance!

[aechadwick]

@britx Here is how i did it; i'm open to other ways, but this has worked constantly & consistently.

i named the units RetroPi and MatrixPi. They are connected directly with an ethernet cable; they connect to the network via Wifi, and to each other over ethernet. (I don't remember the exact instructions i used but it';s pretty straightforward.)

on MatrixPi, i created folders for Scripts and Marquees:

/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/
/home/pi/Scripts

I made a script that, when called, searches the Marquees folder based on the arguments sent to it: the script will search for an image based on the ROM or SYSTEM. If it does not find an image (or is not sent any information) it will just display the "crash kitchen" logo.

I am using the Adafruit Matrix Hat with the hzeller library.

#!/bin/bash

system=$1 # get the system name
rom_bn=$2 # get the ROM with full path

exec 2> /home/pi/Arcade/Scripts/runcommand-onstart.log # send stderr to a log file
exec 1>&2 # send stdout to the same log file

# first, make sure marquee is clear
sudo start-stop-daemon --stop --name  led-image-viewe

function contains() {
   local n=$#
   local value=${!n}
   for ((i=1;i < $#;i++)) {
         if [ "${!i}" == "${value}" ]; then
            echo "y"
         return 0
      fi
   }
   echo "n"
   return 1
}

# rom_bn receives $rom excluding everything from the first char to the last slash
rom_bn="${rom_bn##*/}"

# rom_bn receives $rom_bn excluding everything from the last char to the first dot
rom_bn="${rom_bn%.*}"

ArcadeArray=("lr-fbalpha", "lr-fbalpha2012", "PiFBA", "lr-mame2003", "lr-mame2010", "MAME4ALL-Pi", "AdvanceMAME 1.4", "AdvanceMAME 0.94", "AdvanceMAME 3", "lr-mame2014", "lr-mame2016", "lr-mame2000")
if [ $(contains "${ArcadeArray[@]}" $1) == "y" ]; then
   system="arcade"
fi

# set the image file to the first result matching the ROM name - accounts for various possible file extensions
img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/${system}" -type f -name "${rom_bn}.*" | head -1)"

# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE find an image based on system
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/systems" -type f -name "${system}.*" | head -1)"
fi

# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE use Crash Kitchen logo
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/systems/CrashKitchen.png"
fi

# display the image, (6) 32-pixel panels, centered
sudo /home/pi/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master/utils/led-image-viewer --led-chain=6 --led-daemon -C "$img"

That's pretty well noted... (thanks, PASTaechadwick)

I called it "runcommand-onstart.sh" simply to keep track of it—it is triggered by runcommand on the RetroPi...

to trigger the MatrixPi Script, i added this line at the top of /opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-onstart.sh on the RetroPi...

ssh pi@192.168.1.22 "/home/pi/Scripts/runcommand-onstart.sh \"$1\" \"$3\""  # tell MatrixPi to display logo

(of course, use your pi’s IP address)

I also made scripts for -onend and -onstop, they simply revert the marquee to the “crash kitchen” logo.

#!/bin/bash

# first, make sure marquee is clear
sudo start-stop-daemon --stop --name  led-image-viewe

# set to crash kitchen logo 
img="/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/systems/CrashKitchen.gif"

# display the image, (6) 32-pixel panels, centered
sudo /home/pi/rpi-rgb-led-matrix-master/utils/led-image-viewer --led-chain=6 --led-daemon -C "$img"

That's it.

When i add a game or system, i can just drop a new logo into the MatrixPi’s “Marquees” folder, and it's all taken care of. (I always make custom images and save them as a PNG, but it will try to display anything it finds.)

Let me know if there's anything i can explain further. good luck!

[BritX]

@aechadwick Amazing....thank you so much for posting...
here is a burner email, nkfey6aod59a@opayq.com
if you ok with it send me an email and ill reply back with my personal one..i dont know how to DM on this site...

Iv been trying to get things working for weeks....so this may give me the info :-)
Also i have a good way of scrapping files automatically for the system..
plus i have over 1000 gifs in the 32x128 format...

thank again..i know what im doing tomorrow working from home...:-)

[BritX]

@aechadwick hey quick question, does emulationstation have to be running for this to work?
I have everything done...but upon boot nothing is displayed? but if i execute the command manual then it displays the crashkitchen file?

Ill bash away at it....but you answered a lot of open questions i had teaching myself :-)

[aechadwick]

@britx i think the runcommand scripts are a function of retroarch, not emulationstation? regardless, i understand exactly what's happening:

at boot, there is nothing started nor anything ending, so you need one initial call to get an image on the marquee. i did that by simply having rc.local run the "onend" script after boot--that's functionally the same as your manual execution.

(also, you don't have to use the name crashkitchen.gif, you can change that to anything you want)

[BritX]

@aechadwick hey thanks again...
Im nearlt there.....i have the image playing on boot :-)
have the stop gif playing when exciting a game from arcade:-)

I dont have the change when selecting a game... i have just the default retropie installed noting else and i chose lr-mame2003 as the default.
It appears its not picking up the "$img" through the system? as it does play the gif on the ELSE command when it doesnt find a suitable file....

I have also set it up to just run on one Pi for now as easier on reboots etc....

here is my runcommand-onstart:

#!/bin/bash
echo "message to log" >&2
	
# get the full path filename of the ROM
rom=$3
# get the system name
system=$1
# get the ROM with full path
rom_bn=$2 


exec 2> /opt/retropie/configs/all/runcommand-onstart.log # send stderr to a log file
exec 1>&2 # send stdout to the same log file

# first, make sure marquee is clear
sudo start-stop-daemon --stop --name  led-image-viewe
	function contains() {
   local n=$#
   local value=${!n}
   for ((i=1;i < $#;i++)) {
         if [ "${!i}" == "${value}" ]; then
            echo "y"
         return 0
      fi
   }
   echo "n"
   return 1
}
	# rom_bn receives $rom excluding everything from the first char to the last slash
rom_bn="${rom_bn##*/}"
	# rom_bn receives $rom_bn excluding everything from the last char to the first dot
rom_bn="${rom_bn%.*}"


	ArcadeArray=("lr-fbalpha", "lr-fbalpha2012", "PiFBA", "lr-mame2003", "lr-mame2010", "MAME4ALL-Pi", "AdvanceMAME 1.4", "AdvanceMAME 0.94", "AdvanceMAME 3", "lr-mame2014", "lr-mame2016", "lr-mame2000", "retroarch", "mame-libretro")
if [ $(contains "${ArcadeArray[@]}" $1) == "y" ]; then
   system="arcade"
fi
	# set the image file to the first result matching the ROM name - accounts for various possible file extensions
#img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/${system}" -type f -name "${rom_bn}.*" | head -1)"
img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/${system}" -type f -name "${rom_bn}-image.*" | head -1)"


	# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE find an image based on system
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees" -type f -name "${system}.*" | head -1)"
fi
	# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE use Crash Kitchen logo
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/systems/intro.gif"
fi

# display the image, (6) 32-pixel panels, centered


sudo /home/pi/rpi-rgb-led-matrix/utils/led-image-viewer -f -C --led-no-hardware-pulse --led-rows=32 --led-cols=64 --led-chain=2 --led-slowdown-gpio=2 --led-gpio-mapping=adafruit-hat --led-daemon "$img" 

Any ideas on what im missing...:-) i just cant nail it down...also the log is blank indicating the logic is correct?

I think its something here:

	# set the image file to the first result matching the ROM name - accounts for various possible file extensions
#img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/${system}" -type f -name "${rom_bn}.*" | head -1)"
img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/${system}" -type f -name "${rom_bn}-image.*" | head -1)"


	# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE find an image based on system
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="$(find "/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees" -type f -name "${system}.*" | head -1)"
fi
	# check to see if there was a file found (length of the file name not zero), ELSE use Crash Kitchen logo
if [[ -z "${img}" ]]
then
   img="/home/pi/Arcade/Marquees/systems/intro.gif"
fi

maybe the path to where the gig/png/jpg are stored? arrrhhhhhh LOL

thanks for your help....i have learnt so much just through this.......

[BritX]

@britx
cracked it.....a simple $2........

[LandyVlad]

Hmm, that's a LOT of buttons.

[aechadwick]

@landyvlad some games use more, some games use less. better over-prepared than under-equipt!

[aechadwick]

i added a (re)Action Cam, a fisheye lens mounted inside the bezel.

it shoots out so you can watch faces people make while playing—more fun than staring at backs.

the camera is connected to the direct interface slot of the pi that controls the LED marquee, running the RPi Cam Web Interface; the feed can only be viewed inside my house's network, it is not connected to the internet. It's just for fun.