hi-scores are working, thanks to mame32FX’s save states. MAME now automatically saves the machine state when exiting a game, so that when you launch it again, it picks up right where it left off. obviously, this keeps persistent high scores, and lets you make it all the way through a game if you want to, in multiple sessions. that is, if no one else plays it while you’re gone.

the potential downside is that if someone else leaves a game in the middle, you might have to wait and die in order to start over. i think that this is outweighed by the fact that you don’t have to wait for the machine to boot and check its roms and do video tests and all that.

party for your right to fight,

-tony.

we’ve switched emulators. we were originally originally using plain ol’ vanilla MAME, but i like the occasional autofire button, so a flavored build was in order. for the past couple weeks we’ve been using mame32 plus, which is a nice little emu that features some nice things including autofire. here’s where the problems start. our romset is .105, the version of mame we were usin’ is .105, but the mame plus we had was *gasp* .105u5! i wouldn’t have worried, except that some games like gauntlet weren’t running. so i tried and tried (and still i can’t find / a lollipop that’s halfway refined…) to find an older version of mame plus that was .105. no such love. i could only get .106, and while i know i’m going to have to update the romset eventually, i have no desire to do so right now. so.

say hello to mame32FX, featuring autofire and high-score saving, among other things. we hope you enjoy it… we know we do!

less filling, tastes great,

-tony..

i came in to work early this morning. i was going to just stay home and get my WoW on (i’m lagging behind the rest of my guildies by about 20 levels, thanks to much overtime at work), but i just couldn’t do it. i got here about an hour early and opened up the back of the cabinet. i carefully pulled out sega’s model 2 hardware and harness, and in its place… a cambrige soundworks subwoofer! muaaahahahaahaaahaaaaa.

i know, i know. probably don’t need a subwoofer. not authentic. not reaaaaally necessary. overkill. you know what? i don’t care.

so i cleaned up some of the wiring, adjusted the positioning of some stuff, etc. i think it’s in good shape. i have to grab a y-adapter (at lunch today) for the sound output (going to both the regular speakers and the sub now), but other than that, i think we’re in business. i tested the sub a little, and dear lord, it’s loud.

enjoy fatty foods,

-tony..

are wired and working.  players one and two now have six buttons each, and there are coin buttons for each player as well (near the p1 and p2 start buttons).  we tested it out on Street Fighter II Championship Edition, and it was teh aw3s0mez0rz.

i’m going to see if i can borrow a camera from someone and get some snaps of this sexy beast in it’s fully awesome condition.

so i stopped in at the hardware dept real fast to drill the holes for 8 more buttons on the current control panel. simeon had bought the 1 1/8″ bit that we needed to drill the right size holes, and jeff down in hardware was nice enough to let me use their more highly powered drill for the job. i’d measured the center holes this morning, and so the actual drilling was quick work. in, out, done. then i came back up and bolted everything back together, made sure we had enough extra microswitches, and tomorrow simeon and i will come in early and wire everything together.

well, maybe Pacifico instead.

so i went to the electronics shop around the corner, only to find out that they don’t make the 6-pin kind of molex connector that i need anymore. *sigh*. so i bought some crimping pins and connector blocks anyway, and jury-rigged a new video cable together. it took most of the lunch hour; i was tired and i wasted a block because i put the damn pins in the wrong direction. duh. but i got it together, and it works GREAT. the monitor still isn’t the best monitor in the world, but by god it works.

i invited people by to check it out, and there was pretty much a constant stream of people from about 4:30 until 8 when i left the office. almost every person who came by flipped through the list of games, and inevitably found The Game. the one game that had captured their imaginations when they were kids. the game that they had plugged the most quarters into. the one that they kept coming back to. a grin would creep up on their face as they read the title, and as the game started, they would inevitably say “oh, man, i remember this game. i put so many quarters into this…” and the waves of nostalgia emanating from the cabinet was just awesome.

okay, more later. g’night.

so in a blinding flashback of nostalgia…
will mccown just came by with an oscilloscope, and showed me how to use it. as things turn out, i think that we need to split the signal. right now we’re wiring the V and H sync together into the monitor’s H sync input, which is ok because the input can actually accept a composite signal, but just wiring the lines together isn’t sufficient. we need to either:

a.) get a new wiring block and wire up a connector (should be easy at radio shack or similar), which is probably desireable anyway since the wiring is in bad need of cleaning up.

b.) configure the arcadeVGA card to output a composite signal to the H sync cable. this is tricky as it would require hooking up the computer to another monitor (probably at kurt’s house), and might not actually solve the problem.

so i am opting for a.), and will stop by the radio shack or equivalent on my way home tonight if i can (and if they’re open) and pick up the appropriate connection block.

hang tight, peeps.

maybe after today i’ll have more of a chance. museum’s been crazy. sorry. still holding onto hope that it’s something simple and not something that = new monitor. jeff may be able to get ahold of plans for a degaussing coil if necessary, but that’s for after we revive the monitor, if possible. again, i say wheee!
in other news, i’m now posting to the blog via email, and if i’ve done things properly, the posting mechanism should also post a copy of the email to the mamecab mailing list. wheee! there’s your bit of geekiness for the day.
the host has also moved, so the blog is now at http://fatblue.homelinux.org, but access attempts to http://tetujin.myftp.org should get redirected. hoorah for dynamic DNS updating and free redirect services.

edit: i’ve let tetujin.myftp.org expire.

edit edit: fatblue.homelinux.org also no longer exists.  if you’re reading this, we’re at www.tonyetienne.com now.

anyway.
i’m out. laters.
-tony.

something is screwy with anything lower than the document root. we’re working on it, please stand by…

update: okay, it’s fixed now.

update update: fuck, i broke it again.

update x 3: okay! wow, a lot more was broken than i realized. all happy now. :)

several hours later…
the monitor has now lost all ability to sync horizontally or vertically. i can almost get it to sit still, but it’s still moving around ever so slowly. it was fine, nay, perfect for half the day, and then after a reboot, it’s just lost. i don’t know how it happened or how to fix it. if it’s an “it’s been on too long” problem, then maybe on monday it’ll be better. if that’s the case, then we’ll probably need to buy a new monitor after all… because who the fuck needs a monitor that only lasts for a couple hours before you have to turn it off? hell, i may as well put batteries in it and call it portable.