slotsmagic
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Posts posted by slotsmagic
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5 hours ago, davep180 said:
Hope you feel better soon.
I hope so too. Bloody hate congestion. Especially when it involves sinuses. Urgh.
Day hasn't been a complete write off. I've been chilling and doing some research on cabinet stuff at the same time, specifically with regards to coin mech and hopper connections. Coin mech should be a doddle (I hope!) as I can use the old connector and wiring from the scrapped Go For Gold
Decided I would order a few more bits - a DuPont crimping kit with 1550 different connectors, and some Molex splitters. I'm hoping I can use the Molex splitters to give me a tidier connection for 12V components to the PSU.
I've always kinda fancied a proper crimping set for PC use, Amazon had a 'like new' one in the warehouse so have ordered that. If it turns out to be rubbish they can have it returned at their cost
Preciva brand, most of their other tools I've used have been pretty good to be honest - soldering station, multimeter and other crimping bits.
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No progress today. Have been struck down with super mega ultimate Man-flu. Hopefully it's better before my last couple of days at work. If not I'll leave them the option of me turning up (presenteeism?) or me having the weekend off sick. Haven't had a sick day since rejoining the business 13 months ago so not like I'm taking the proverbial.
But yes, getting knackered just walking around the house so the idea of trying to stay warm in the garage while aching a lot means I really don't feel like working on the cab. At least the spacers, nuts and the monitor PSU have arrived. So I reckon I should now have everything I need for when I next feel up to it.
Apart from possibly a DVI-HDMI cable. I have several of them somewhere, and adaptors rather than cables, but might just order a new cable to be safe since they aren't dear and if it's not needed now I can use it for another cabinet in the future.
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1 hour ago, thealteredemu said:
I’ve seen this with a couple of MPU5 roms. TOT2, sounds like a different version branch from the original, especially as it has different lamps?? Wonder why this was done, just a revamp of the cabinet, looms etc? Strange one, even though it says 0.2 it might be that it’s an even more updated revision than the 0.5, be interesting to see how it plays. Of course playing it will require lamps reshuffling
J
Ah... That's got me thinking. Wasn't the original in the short Genesis cab? At the same time I'm sure I played at least one in the 'New' tall Genesis cab. But I could be remembering that completely wrong!!
Wondering if maybe one set for the old cab and one for the new?
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6 minutes ago, Martinb said:
All good stuff I have wanted to do an MFME cab for a while and bought some of the boards in prep but never got any further (yet), so is the Interplay better for conversion or this? I am curious based on your experiences.
The Interplay has a massive 32" portrait touchscreen and is a lovely, hefty machine. But I never fully completed mine, I'm going to revisit it after this conversion and finish it up. It does work fine - buttons and lamps, touchscreen works, speakers work, it's just I never finished coin entry, and if I revisit it I'd do that, and also relocate the PACdrive and iPAC to better positions
But for playing on... lovely big portrait mode means it does feel pretty amazing to play on
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Thought I'd kick this thread off, since I've had an odd experience with a machine in my cabinet which I'm going to assume is anti-stat code or anti-force code in operation?
@Tommy c released a stunning Ultra HD version of Cash Explosion by Mazooma. I used to have this in a local pub, and it's on my MFME cabinet.
Until the point where I buggered up and caused a COIN MECH error, which means I'll need to RAM clear... but anyway...
The machine absolutely, point blank refuses to give the 5 dynamite sticks or an IM. I've been playing purely with £1 coins in, as that's normally what I do (despite the fact the mech does accept other coins).
I'm not talking just makes them hard to get, I'm taking £1000+ into a £25 machine - over several sessions - and while it'll sometimes allow a cheeky single JP from red-line features on the base, it's refusing to play ball with regards to the top feature.
It is one of those 'collect on a mystery' type games, so I'm assuming either it can't be forced out (IM / top feature cycles round on a certain amount of plays) - OR I've triggered the anti-stat code.
Not sure if anyone else has played the layout but it's a corker from a graphics perspective, lovely and clear. Just a shame it's been playing like a total pig!!
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Little update for today - have made myself a little plywood board for the back of the cabinet. I've used the original M4 threads that were in the back of the cabinet (they held the original Quixant PC in place) - that space is now used by my plywood I/O board
It'll handle buttons and coin inputs (iPAC) and lamp and hopper outputs (PACdrive), as well as hold my cute little Chinese amplifier.
Only small things are
a) Don't have any M3 nuts in my big nut organiser. They are coming tomorrow (cheers Amazon!).
b) Can't find my ABS spacers, so as a bodge for now - obviously with no power connected - I've used lots of nuts and washers to act as spacers. Big 1000pc box of ABS spacers coming tomorrow. Once again, thanks to Amazon
Once they are here I'll tidy it up a bit, sand the edges I've cut, and I'm also debating whether to paint it black or just leave it plywood coloured. Black would look more professional, but plywood adds a bit of DIY charm
The big space between the iPac and PACdrive could possibly hold another board or device down the line if required. If not I'll probably stick an MFME logo there or something similar
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Picked mum up from hospital last night, so in-between work and that I've had bugger all free time. We are still awaiting biopsy and MRI results but at least she's back home and seems chipper.
Anyway, I've spent a few hours in the garage today. Taking a bit of a plodding approach with this, but achieving little bits is better than nothing.
All I've done today is remove the buttons, clean the button panel, replace the buttons, and have a look at the loom for buttons and lamps - checking continuity and labelling the wires ready for connection to iPac / PACdrive.
I'm pretty shocked - but it looks like I can use the existing loom for the microswitches and lamps! Probably because the base machine had so few lamps and switches - it doesn't seem to use any diodes on the loom itself.
Lucky really as I can't find my crimping set
Also fired up the PC I intend to use, with a fresh Windows 10 Pro installation. I've put the Radeon R7 250 graphics card in - only slight concern is the power draw. It doesn't use any additional power connectors - just getting power from the PCI-E socket itself - but it's got a 50W potential power usage. Doubt FME is that demanding mind. The PC has a 240W SFF power supply. Fingers crossed everything combined doesn't overload it
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I generally liked these, but think the one in a local village pub must have been an early chip, used to go utterly bonkers. The one in the centre of town once gave me an absolute battering. I felt safe on it knowing what the other one played like.
The joys of being an underage addict, not appreciating the difference a shit chip could make
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4 hours ago, Dougsta said:
The CHR/PIC is wrong and needs to be amended. Later versions of Barcrest ROMs almost always updated the CHR. I'm not an expert on how that is fixed these days, but one of the layout designers will certainly know how.
And what an amazing machine it was on the early £15 chips. You could easily get £100+ on a streak. I always found it interesting how Follow Me offered a repeat chance after the £25 upgrade, which it never did on £15.
I don't have access to the ROMs from here but shouldn't MFME automatically insert the correct PIC code on booting? If not I'm pretty sure it can be worked out easily enough.
Failing that, if the lamp numbers - while wrong when used in another DX - remain the same between boots and when being played, it wouldn't be too hard to convert the lamp numbers. Just a case of editing the layout, probably about an hour's work.
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2 hours ago, wearecity said:
So sorry to hear about your mum. As you say, the best place for her.
To me the most important person in the world, is my mum.
2 hours ago, vectra666 said:Take care slots, hopefully she’ll get better and be back home soon
Cheers chaps. Waiting to hear updates now, she's just gone for her MRI scan and I'm just about to start work.
I changed my mind on the graphics card... I've ordered it and paid for it, but probably won't be using it. I got an AMD R7 250 for £15 that I plan on using instead. It's significantly more powerful. The GT610 may well have been enough but with running dual screens I just wasn't convinced, it's a pretty crap card
No other updates on cabinet yet and doubt there will be any until Monday
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4 hours ago, Ginge said:
Hope mum is ok and didn’t have to wait long in A&E, especially with the junior doctors on strike etc. looking forward to see some pics when you get started.
... Was in ED for 8 hours, which I never want to go through again! After that Mum got moved up to a ward, which is lovely and peaceful and she's got her own room and the staff are fantastic.
Prognosis looking potentially worse than expected, which is shit. But she's in the best place and hopefully her scans and whatnot will be good tomorrow. Although the consultant was honest and didn't want to give any false hope.
So yeah, shit day by all accounts. Back at work tomorrow and have forewarned them that my mind is elsewhere. I went to get petrol on the way home, filled the car up, got back in, started driving off and realised I'd forgotten something. Paying for the bastard fuel. Then grabbed a KFC and walked off without my drink. Was still there when I returned but surprising how worry can make you function like a complete idiot!
Back on the cabinet front, I'm working now til Sunday and have so much stuff on I can't see me getting anything done over the weekend. But at least I reckon I have almost all the stuff I need now!
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Well the plan was to get up nice and early to spend a full day on the cabinet, but I ended up getting a call from mum and have had to take her to A&E. The joys of being a carer for an aging parent! (Only joking really, obviously family comes first!).
While she's being seen and I'm sat in the waiting room I may as well post an update.
I've ordered a very basic, cheap and terrible GPU for the PC - a 1GB GT610. An old Fermi card. The PC only supports low profile graphics so I had a limited range of choice, and since it's only going to be running basic lo-techs with minimal lamping and two lower resolution screens (I believe they are only 1024x768 but they might be 1280x1024 at a stretch) it should be sufficient. The card has DVI, HDMI and VGA outputs, so I'll probably use DVI for the bottom screen and HDMI with DVI adapter for the top. Pretty sure I've got HDMI to DVI adapters and cables somewhere. I'll have a quick look when back home... if not I guess I'd better order some
Positive is it the graphics card cost less than a tenner including postage, and I can always use it for testing other bits and bobs!
There's existing threads in the back of the cabinet where the PC was fitted via machine screws. My plan is (or was!) to either find some scrap wood in the garage, make a template of where the threads are on the cabinet, grab some MDF / chipboard or similar and mount the amplifier, iPac and PACdrive on that. So one wooden board with the devices mounted to it.
PC almost certainly going into the base of the cabinet rather than mounting at the back. The base has open air to the upper part of the cabinet so ventilation shouldn't be too bad. I've spare 14CM PC case fans I can use if need be.
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Oooh, positive monitor update! I was measuring up for a replacement portrait mode screen and decided to try a DVI output from the T7 into the monitor I suspected was faulty.
Turns out the monitor is fine, even if it does display a white screen instead of 'no signal'. Not sure what's happened there.
Back to the original plan then of running dual screens. At least until one of these breaks. It looks like converting to a single screen wouldn't be the end of the world (a 27" in portrait mode would fit nicely with a couple of CM spare vertically and horizontally - but feel as I may as well use the original screens for the moment, keep it 'original', and doubt the current screens have much value.
(edit)
But now I keep thinking a single screen would be much easier, even though I'd have to make my own bracket / frame... I can see why people build cabinets from scratch now
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First packages of bits have arrived after the bank holiday!
Was happy with the Lepy amplifier in the Interplay so have gone with the same here, a 3.5mm to RCA cable to connect to the PC, a reasonable length of 20AWG (I found the 22AWG I used last time to be a bit too thin), some wire labels to keep things identifiable, a PacDrive 'Special' and an iPac.
I was going to look at a DuPont crimping kit... but what I think I'm going to do instead, since I can't see me using one much in the future, is I'm going to just butcher the existing connectors and looms, and use some Fago (fake Wago) connectors to link it all up
They are due to arrive tomorrow
Plenty of hurdles to overcome yet though. I found some PSUs that were capable of powering the monitors. However the bottom, touchscreen monitor is now helpfully only giving me a white screen. Not 'no signal', just a white screen. So possible the interface board has died between the machine stopping working and now? To narrow it down I'll try swapping interface board from the top monitor.
Another, simpler (in some regards) option would be to modify the top door to fit a single portrait mode screen. That would make my life a lot easier in terms of layout compatibility, and the fact I'd only need to drive a single video output. I don't require touch screen functionality in this cabinet as it's going to be purely for lo-techs and I can probably just use the bottom gameplay buttons to navigate a simple menu
But also would introduce more issues - like how to cut the metalwork to allow the fitment of a large single screen
PC shouldn't be any massive problem, I've got a couple of spare SFF units (Dell and HP) that I can happily lob inside. I may well keep the computer in the bottom of the machine this time and just keep the iPac, PacDrive and amplifier on inside rear of the cabinet for simplicity.
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16 minutes ago, thealteredemu said:
I don't think the emulation is complete to allow these to run, seems to be other reel options required?
J
It is possible, absolutely. Just got optimistic from the way they seemed to initialise correctly, but they stop seeing the opto soon after.
24 minutes ago, dad said:I gave it some time last night but didn’t get very far. I’ll have another look tonight.
its very strange that DIP 8 controls the motor steps. I’ve never come across that before!
It's in the manual, it depends on the donor machine the kit was fitted to. If it was fitted to an OXO machine then doesn't need switch 8 on, only if fitted to a BAR X 125 (I'm guessing they used different / bigger reels as they had stacked symbols and possibly more stops per reel?)
I honestly don't think they'll be playable in the current emulator, but just having them boot piqued my curiosity. In some ways it would be been better if they didn't boot in that we could just draw a line under it!
Wish I'd kept a copy of my OXO 777 ROMs as I wonder if stock Electrocoin ROMs might run, at least the ones from single player units?
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Just now, hitthesix said:
Yeah feel free to send it over and i will see if i can get anywhere with it, i know you have sent it to dad,
and quite rightly so, but i only want to see if i can help to get it to run(if possible)
Weird timing, I got notified about this post just as I'd sent them over
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7 hours ago, infection said:
Is this same tech as labyrinth 2?
I would expect so but honestly don't know as I've never looked inside one!
The only difference between the version Concept used in Go For Gold and the standard Phoenix 2 is that Concept, in their ultimate wisdom, replaced the stock Z180 CPU with a 20MHz (?!) version. Seems like overkill but must be a reason for it.
I was concerned that it might cause issues, but now I'm wondering if the 'auto throttle' of MFME might compensate and allow the machine to run at a useable speed? Again the fact it even runs to this extent has blown my mind
7 hours ago, hitthesix said:Chuck it over and i will have a look for you as well.
just had a look at the video, and noticed you didn't add any reel opto
so try adding reel opto 3 tab for all reels , to see if that helps first.
Ta for that, a mentioned above in a reply I've tried that as @dad suggested it as well, but no joy. Maybe it would just be a case of trying many different opto numbers?
Really appreciate the offer and great to see you back around here
I have passed the layout and ROMs over to @dad for the moment, I can send them over you if you fancy a look (and @vectra666 as mentioned above) but feel I've already offered exclusivity to @dad should he be interested, at least should he fancy a DX. Being a fellow lo-tech / Electrocoin fan it made sense
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1 hour ago, vectra666 said:
was trawling through past wips of mine and super red bar came up. the reels were out of line but @Tommy c sorted em out
do you have the Wip layout to hand?, have you a image of said machine
Yeah, I'm going to finish off some of the Concept WIPs that I started back in March in the near future. As I move back towards emulation I'm in need of some of the sort of machines I'd have played while out and about
As for the layout, I've passed it and the ROMs over to DAD for him to have a play with. No rush, happy to leave him with it.
It may well be that it just won't work correctly anyway - but if it does work it would be nice. Something a bit unique as far as lo-techs (well, mid-techs) go.
Crap image attached - I still have the glasses so obviously if it does run to a reasonable extent I could photograph the glasses.
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1 minute ago, dad said:
I'll have a look if you like but first I'd try 20 stops, 400 half steps and opto tab 3 and see if that cures the problem
I've just tried your suggestion, many thanks
Unfortunately it still does the same - but now gives a couple of spins before it seems to be unable to see the opto
It might be that it's just going to be impossible to get going, but it would be lovely to see that even though the machine is physically no more (metalwork and woodwork going to the tip tomorrow), it could live on in some regard
If you did fancy a tinker with it I'd be happy to send anything over that might help
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So, after scrapping Go For Gold (but I've kept the glasses, as I quite like them, reels, hopper and coin mech for other projects), I decided to dump the ROMs today.
To my surprise, they actually kind of work - I mean the machine boots, I've worked out START and STAKE buttons. BUT after initialising I can't get the reels to stop (like they can't see the opto tab?). The machine apparently uses either 48 step or 200 step reels (switchable using DIP switch 8 on bank 1). But using both I'm still getting a bit stuck. The bands have 24 symbols on, but the manual refers to '20RM' - no idea if thats the amount of stops, or if that's something else?!
Also the 7 seg displays are displaying random things... but that's probably something simple I'm doing. Main thing though would be to get the machine into a playable state first
I'm quite happy to plug away and problem solve but wondered if anyone wanted to assist? Would be nice to have a collaborative thing, even if all I've managed so far is to kinda get the ROMs to at least respond.
I do have the original instruction manual here, which might make things easier! I obviously still have the glasses and reel bands too
Link to YT video
Of course if someone wants to try and go it alone that's also fine, let me know and I'll shove the ROMs over, and again I'd be happy to assist with a scan of the manual if it helped!Would need to be someone with good experience of classic layouts, or who enjoys tinkering to see if they can get things going of course
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5 hours ago, Ginge said:
I think the pin out are the same I have a few machines like crazy fruits/line dancer where you can either use 126dfx or sr5/c435 only thing different is the routing plug and 9way plug. Bfm attached in the machines the routing plug and the 9way diverter so you could use both types. But the 17way plug would fit both mecks.
Brilliant, thanks!
Just remembered something else I need to order. An amplifier lol. Going to do the same as the Interplay - use the original cabinet speakers running off an amplifier.
I'm back at work until Sun, then off for 4. I guess it's possible some of the bits will have arrived before I'm back at work on the following Thursday. If not there's plenty of cabinet prep I can do. Needs a bloody good clean for a start, plus I may actually come up with a proper plan on my days off and remember the rest of the bits I should have ordered and forgot to do
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... Ordered various bits to get me started -
PACdrive (ID1 'Special')
iPAC 2
10 x 5V 10mm wedge LEDs (the cab already has LED buttons but not sure if they are 12V or 5V!)
30m of 20AWG red and 30m of 20AWG black. I used 22AWG in the past and it was a bit thin!
Bunch of cable / wire labels and a marker pen.
... still more bits that I'll order as I remember them. I've never been one to have a proper plan. I tend to jump in and cross my fingers. Note to others - for god's sake don't follow my example!!
I'll be trying to work out which PSUs I need for the screens next. Might just try random ones I have from other machines and hope nothing explodes!
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Theres been a few of them pop up over the years. The games appear to be pretty basic, but they allow a £10 a spin 'Super Bet' which does make them more desirable. I wouldn't suggest buying a working one to convert, but if you got a broken cabinet it could be worth it.
The Interplay I started converting and will finish off with real coins and notes at some point is another cabinet considered amazing for MFME, but I'll probably be the first one to actually convert one. Only started converting it when I started getting some minor errors. Probably would have made more sense to fix it up 100% and carry on running it until it properly died, but decided to crack on and split it anyway.
While I have it running games in free play, I will be redoing the internal design and whatnot at some point when I also stick a hopper and coin mech in. Only slight annoyance is that the coin mech is part of the gas lift door. Would prefer it if the mechanism was part of the hopper metalwork inside the cabinet with just an entry chute inside the door!
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48 minutes ago, Ze Frog said:
Should be an interesting build to follow, plan on doing my own at some point in time.
It should be easy in some ways - if the metalwork is all compatible e.t.c. then that's good!
Very early days though. I need to put together a shopping list next. I've got a spare PC which should do the job, but need to order the applicable iPac and PacDrive units. I'll do some more research later on how others have wired theirs up to see if I can get away with a single PacDrive (remembering to order the 'special' one for hoppers!) or if it's worth running two.
(edit) here's a random one, the original SR5 says that it works in Parallel mode. I wonder if it might be possible to use the original SR5 mech then? Not sure if it has different pinouts to the 126DFx (probably has), but at least it would fit without needing to chop bits off
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Electrocoin Vegas Strip to MFME project.
in Cabinet Building
Posted · Edited by slotsmagic
... And been back at A&E with mum since this morning. Plus Amazon cancelled my 'like new' crimping set as they couldn't find them. Which I think might be code for they found them and the box was either empty or smashed. Not really an issue as I can order a new one anyway, which would arrive with my 3m HDMI to DVI cable tomorrow anyway.
Assuming I get back in good time today I'm feeling a little better than yesterday but not 100%. Less tired and achy, less sore throat, just a load of congestion and my head is a bit fuzzy.
Annual leave from Monday so all being well I'll be able to spend plenty of time on it next week. Really just gagging to get some Concepts running. I need my bleepy bloopy Bar X fix