Cabinet

Cabinet is the logical map of the machine: how many players it has, which controls belong to each player, how those controls bind to hardware, and where RGB zones sit.

Development status

The current development build includes the Cabinet schematic and inspector, templates, player and control editing, keyboard and registered-hardware bindings, RGB placements, Map and Ids views, and Save cabinet. The schematic is a logical map, not a photorealistic copy of the physical cabinet.

Understand the ownership boundary

• Hardware registers physical devices.
• Cabinet maps players, controls, bindings, and lighting placements.
• Controllers maps gameplay inputs and tuning.
• LED assigns lighting behavior and hardware channels to the saved map.
• Overlay can project saved control slots onto the game-screen scene.

A dual-purpose board can cross these boundaries. For example, bind its buttons in Cabinet and assign its LED outputs later in LED.

Choose a starting layout

1. Open Cabinet.
2. Choose a template close to the physical deck, such as a classic two-player, fighting, or MAME-style layout.
3. Review the generated players and controls in Map.

A template is a starting point. It fills the logical map; it does not redraw the schematic as a racing cockpit, cocktail cabinet, or exact physical panel.

Add players and controls

• Select Add player on the schematic to add the next player.
• Use + on a player card to add a control for that player.
• Select a player in the inspector to enable or disable it.
• Turn Show grouped on to group that player’s buttons and stick, special controls, and external controls.
• Use Unbound only to hide controls that are already finished.

Players remain separate even when grouped display is enabled.

Bind a control

Select a control in Map, then choose either:

• a keyboard key; or
• a device control from hardware already registered in Hardware.

Binding answers which physical input owns the logical cabinet control. It is not the same as controller mapping, tuning, or game-specific feel in Controllers.

Add RGB placements

Select Add zone on the schematic to name a lighting placement such as marquee, side, or under cabinet. Cabinet records where the zone belongs in the logical map.

Open LED later to assign behavior, output hardware, and a channel. Cabinet does not wire LED ports.

Save the cabinet map

Select Save cabinet after changing players, controls, bindings, marquee enablement, or RGB zones. LED, Overlay, and Publish consume the saved map.

Caution

Publish copies saved state. Installing a layout pack or editing the schematic does not make the map available to the cabinet runtime until you save it and publish the cabinet bundle.

Use Ids when you need to inspect the stable logical contract, such as P1.Joystick. The IDs allow LED and Overlay to refer to the same controls without creating another cabinet map.

Continue setup

1. Register missing devices in Hardware.
2. Save the Cabinet map.
3. Configure gameplay mapping and feel in Controllers.
4. Configure lighting in LED.
5. Publish the completed cabinet bundle to ArcadeServer.

Next: Hardware or Controllers.