Author Topic: Multiple Racing Emulators? (Read 19490 times)

Hadeys · « **on:** March 05, 2012, 10:57:44 pm »

Hey, so recently I've been seeing a lot of people making these racing cabinets that appear to be pretty cool. Has anybody considered the possibility of making a 2 player system? Is it possible to have 2 computers linked? Or is it possible to have one computer run the same emulator on two seperate monitors, each responding to their own controls? This has been making me curious for weeks! Thanks

paigeoliver · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:17:08 pm »

Yes it is possible, however purchasing a pre-existing linked game is cheaper and easier than the emulation route.

Quote from: Hadeys on March 05, 2012, 10:57:44 pm

Hey, so recently I've been seeing a lot of people making these racing cabinets that appear to be pretty cool. Has anybody considered the possibility of making a 2 player system? Is it possible to have 2 computers linked? Or is it possible to have one computer run the same emulator on two seperate monitors, each responding to their own controls? This has been making me curious for weeks! Thanks

Hadeys · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2012, 11:18:49 pm »

How do you go about it? Because I actually would possibly build one as a senior project and I have the ability to do it. Does it require two computers?

wizkid32 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 06, 2012, 12:31:26 am »

I am pretty sure it is possible link 2 PCs together, but I don't know how. If I were to build one, I would simply use 2 monitors.

BadMouth · « **Reply #4 on:** March 06, 2012, 07:34:25 am »

Nebula's Sega Model 2 Emulator can do that.

It does require 2 computers, preferably with similar specs if I remember right.
There used to be a good write-up on speksnk.org, but it seems to have disappeared.
There are instructions in the readme file that come with the emulator.

Basically, you just connect all the computers to a router.

That wil get you multiplayer Daytona, Sega Rally, Indy 500, etc.

So far, M2 emulator is the only one that supports linking cabs, but I've also heard tales of guys running NASCAR pc games over a LAN with a half dozen driving setups.

From the Readme file:
NETWORK

Model 2 network is designed as a ring linking all games together. In order to use it, you must properly emulate
the ring with your machines running the emulator. The original games are designed to run in a high speed, low latency,
no packet drop, optic fiber network, so it's very likely it won't work over internet. It works fine on LAN.
To configure the network, create a m2network.ini file like this in the same directory where emulator.ini is:

[Network]
RxPort=1978
NextIP=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
NextPort=1978

where:
RxPort is the port where your machine is listening for packets
NextIP is the IP of the next machine in the ring
NextPort is the port where the next machine is listening for packets

Remember to setup them so they make a ring. For example, for 3 computers connected

Computer1 (192.168.1.1): RxPort=1978   NextIP=192.168.1.2    NextPort=1978
Computer2 (192.168.1.2): RxPort=1978   NextIP=192.168.1.3   NextPort=1978
Computer3 (192.168.1.3): RxPort=1978   NextIP=192.168.1.1   NextPort=1978

If you want to run several emulator instances in the same machine, you must use different
RxPorts for each instance.

Once the network is setup, enter test mode in each emulator and set one as master and the rest as
slaves (some games also allow you to select Relay mode that is like a live tv show of the race

)

When running with network enabled, it's very likely that Windows or your firewall will warn about
the emulator trying to access the network. You must allow it (or open these ports in your firewalls) or
the network won't run.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #5 on:** March 06, 2012, 11:21:56 am »

You would be better of building a senior project that was completely legal. Instead of emulating a linked arcade driving game (which like I said will cost a lot more than buying one), you should run some pre-existing PC driving software that supports multiplayer.

Or if you really insist on emulation then your most cost effective route is STILL to start with an existing linked arcade driver setup, since you would spend more on the controls and displays alone than the whole thing costs.

Bramlet · « **Reply #6 on:** March 06, 2012, 11:29:52 am »

If you can get cheapo TV's and computers for free or close and have sources for cheap wood and junkyard car seats, I think it could possibly be done for less than purchasing. How much would a linked driving cab cost to purchase? The only ones I've seen in my limited amount of time looking was around $2000.

brad808 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 06, 2012, 11:56:01 am »

I know it's not exactly what you asked about but have you considered a console based driving setup for multi player? There are a ton of good console driving games and almost all of them are designed for multiplayer. You would unfortunately have all the down sides of console games such as loading times and endless menus but you could probably get close to 30-40ish sweet multiplayer games vs only a few "arcade" games setup for multiplayer.

The cost of xbox,ps2, xbox360 is going to be way cheaper then a computer running even good pc racing games. I see second hand ps2's at the second hand store by me selling for $30 all the time. You can't even get a half decent video card for that.

Unless your dead set on arcade games (which I completely understand) then forget the console.

Sent from my Desire HD

Hadeys · « **Reply #8 on:** March 06, 2012, 10:22:29 pm »

Quote from: brad808 on March 06, 2012, 11:56:01 am

I know it's not exactly what you asked about but have you considered a console based driving setup for multi player? There are a ton of good console driving games and almost all of them are designed for multiplayer. You would unfortunately have all the down sides of console games such as loading times and endless menus but you could probably get close to 30-40ish sweet multiplayer games vs only a few "arcade" games setup for multiplayer.

The cost of xbox,ps2, xbox360 is going to be way cheaper then a computer running even good pc racing games. I see second hand ps2's at the second hand store by me selling for $30 all the time. You can't even get a half decent video card for that.

Unless your dead set on arcade games (which I completely understand) then forget the console.

I would consider anything, and I have a cabinet which could be used. It has monitors and seats but no other electronics in it. I think it would be a great cadidate to do something like this with.

paigeoliver · « **Reply #9 on:** March 06, 2012, 11:06:55 pm »

The monitors you have are the most important thing. What they are is going to determine everything about the rest of the project. Are they normal arcade monitors, medium resolution or VGA?

Trying to use a console would be a mistake as it could make interfacing with the driving controls very difficult and has less functionality than a PC and can be more expensive. You don't need new PCs to run a racing setup, any old ones would do. A 10 year old PC driving game on a computer someone threw in the trash would still look better than Daytona did.

rCadeGaming · « **Reply #10 on:** March 06, 2012, 11:39:03 pm »

I think Gran Turismo 5 would make the ultimate racing cabinet. Keep in mind that you may not like it if you're not a car nut though; it's more of a "simulator" intended to be as realistic as possible than a "game" intended to be "fun." If you're cool with that it would be awesome.

Pros: supports networked multiplayer for side by side cabs
supports online multiplayer if no one else is arounded
supports logitech g27 wheel (900 degree steering, force feedback, six speed shifter with clutch)

Cons: $
you need a PS3, game disc, and wheel for each player
PS3 can run at 480i so it might work with certain older monitors, but it should really be played in 1080p
don't forget sound, a small 5.1 system for each player will give the best effect

I will definitely build matching cabinets like this after my more traditional MAME cab. Just need a lot of time and money. When I do get around to it, I'll try to put a MAME PC , a Dreamcast, and a Wii, into at least one of the racing cabinets. Adapting those Logitech wheels for consoles other than PS3 and PC will be a serious electronics project though.

For arcade-style racing games I'd recommend the Cruis'n Games and San Francisco Rush in MAME (will need a very fast PC, don't know if Rush will can be run at full speed yet), Rush 2049, ReVolt, Star Wars Episode I: Racer (great game, terrible movie), and Hydro Thunder for Dreamcast, F-Zero GX for Gamecube (use a backwards-compatible Wii for more flexibility), and of course Mario Kart.

Super Mario, Mario Kart 64, Mario Kart Double Dash, and Mario Kart Wii can all be played on the Wii with virtual console and backwards-compatibility.

I think Super Mario Kart and Mart Kart 64 are far better than the latter two. I think Super Mario Kart might actually be the best, but games without analog steering may not work too well with a wheel. I wonder if you could work out something where turning the wheel a certain distance would activate the d-pad and turning it further would also activate the L or R button, which makes you turn harder. This would also be great for Stunt Race FX, another amazing Super Nintendo game.

What games would you guys in a racing cabinet? More suggestions please.

Keep us updated on your progress. Oh yeah, I definitely agree with the suggestion above to find some cheap car seats at your local junk yard. It'll be authentic and a hell of a lot more comfortable than plastic arcade chairs.

rCadeGaming · « **Reply #11 on:** March 07, 2012, 01:03:33 am »

Oh yeah, Need for Speed 3, High Stakes, Porsche Unleashed, and Hot Pursuit 2 for PC were great. I think all the NFS games since then have been trash.

Doing a PC-only cab would definitely be the cheapest and simplest.

Hadeys · « **Reply #12 on:** March 11, 2012, 11:28:58 pm »

Well, here is my complete setup. I picked up a old beaten up Daytona USA cab cab for $200 a few weeks ago. It has two arcade monitors, both working with no burn in. The seats are in good condition, so there is no need to try to source them. They are both missing the control panels completely, so I picked one up on Ebay for $25 with just the view buttons. I also managed to get a Happ active steering assembly for $60, along with a servo amplifier ($30) and a logitech driving force pc wheel ($40). I will wire the Happ wheel up to the logitech wheel to support force feedback like I have seen others do on the forums. I would like to find another dashboard and wheel so that I can run BOTH of the cabinets, but I was unaware what the limitations for connecting two pc's would be. In the end, my ideal setup would be two fully working cabinets which have a couple games that can be played multiplayer. I would prefer to stick with a computer only, because I think consoles would add too much complication to an already over complicated project. It would just confuse people and make people not want to play it.

rCadeGaming · « **Reply #13 on:** March 12, 2012, 12:52:32 pm »

Getting both of the cabinets playing with each other should be very easily doable. Getting two PC's running emulated games to link together would be very difficult, but it should be pretty simple to get a LAN game going using games that were designed for PC. Check out the which of the PC games that we've mentioned support LAN games.

The wheel setup you're talking about should work great for this, just need to get more parts and duplicate it in the other cabinet and put a PC in each one; you shouldn't need a very fast or expensive computer to run the games we've been talking about either.

The hard part might be getting the monitors to work with a PC, have you gotten into that yet? I'm not familiar with Daytona USA cabs, do you know if the monitors are 15, 24, or 31kHz? If they support 31kHz it should be easy to get them running in 640x480 progressive. If not, you might need a video card capable of 640x480 interlaced or 320x240 progressive.

Trip · « **Reply #14 on:** March 12, 2012, 01:34:32 pm »

iRacing or rFactor 2 or some of the other hardcore high end driving sims for PC would be my choice

Wish iRacing hadn't gone all Cease and Desist on us for modding the crap out of NASCAR Racing 2003... That nonsense pretty much gave me a distaste for continuing my driving sims obsession...

Hadeys · « **Reply #15 on:** March 12, 2012, 01:49:28 pm »

Hey, thanks for all of the input. I would like doing racing simulators, but do keep in mind that i am currently set up for a 4-speedwhile shifter and i do not have a clutch, so that is a limiting factor. As far as the monitors go, i have taken them out and looked at them but i have no knowledge on them. They are Nanao monitirs abd i believe from what i read they can switch the frequency that they support. I am a bit confused because i didnt see a way to power them... so any input on this would be awesome

Hadeys · « **Reply #16 on:** March 12, 2012, 02:33:17 pm »

I just looked at the monitors model number, it is a Nanao ms8-26su.

rCadeGaming · « **Reply #17 on:** March 12, 2012, 03:09:52 pm »

The shifters built into those cabs are really just 4 pushbuttons. One is held down for each gear depending on where you put the lever. I think most of the PC games you'll be working with only support two buttons; one pressed momentarily to shift up and one pressed momentarily to shift down, not one that is held down for each gear. Also, most cars in these games have five or six gears, not four. You need to either toss those 4-speed shifters or make them modular so they can be swapped with something else. They'll probably only be useful for playing the games they're actually designed for in MAME, and those won't give you your dual-cab multiplayer.

For PC games you need a simpler shifter. Does the Logitech wheel you bought have one in it? I have a Logitech Driving Force GT that had a shifter mounted behind the wheel. It's a stupid location, but it was easy to mod, just taking it out of that housing, extending the wires and mounting the shifter next to the seat.

None of the games I mentioned use a clutch. Some others might be able to use one, but it probably isn't required. The Logitech G27 wheel has a clutch, but it also has a six speed shifter that might not be compatible with most games, and it's expensive.

Nanao's are common monitors, there should be plenty of people here that can help you get it hooked up.

--

Aside from all this I just wanted touch on your concern that using consoles would be more complicated. Once you got some PS3s hooked up to your monitors (PS3 can output 480p and 480i, you'd have to use one of those) it would be far far simpler to run the cabinets off of them. No modding controls, no dealing with handling inputs in the computer, simpler setup for networked multiplayer, no wiring except for hooking up the monitors. Just buy two copies of GT5, two PS3's, and two Logitech G27 wheels, and plug them in, no hassles. You probably will not want to go this route because of the cost (understandably so), but I just wanted to clarify that you shouldn't count it out because you think it would be complicated.

Trip · « **Reply #18 on:** March 12, 2012, 03:26:19 pm »

The high end sims have settings to have auto clutch shifting. There are a lot of wheel/pedal setups that don't include clutches and have paddle or up/down shifting, every game I know of has auto clutch settings.

isamu · « **Reply #19 on:** February 25, 2013, 08:10:50 am »

Quote from: Trip on March 12, 2012, 01:34:32 pm

iRacing or rFactor 2 or some of the other hardcore high end driving sims for PC would be my choice

Can't run iracing in a LAN environment. Great sim but it's online mp only.

Great thread guys. I believe OutRun 2006 PC also supports LAN play. Hopefully SuperModel will as well someday. I wish we could get it for the Ridge Racer games in MAME too.

90 Arcade Racer is coming out this year so perhaps it'll support LAN as well as online multiplayer.

ant2 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 25, 2013, 08:44:17 am »

You can play daytona usa on model2 over hamatchi.

Theres already a small community playing. Im going to give it all a go on the weekend and will do a write up.

BadMouth · « **Reply #21 on:** February 25, 2013, 01:06:52 pm »

SailorSat has Virtua Racing multiplayer working via his own custom MAME build.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,130136.0.html

I haven't tried it. $:-\$

dgame got all 8 linked up and running on one computer.

Brian74 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 25, 2013, 03:09:34 pm »

Soon as I finish this cab and have room. Im getting a 2nd, just so I can play linked games and games over lan!

dgame · « **Reply #23 on:** February 26, 2013, 11:07:55 am »

I’m using business surplus machines for Virtua Racing/Model 1 Link emulation.

I got some HP DC7700 SFF Small Form Factor computers for around $45 each including delivery.

They have a Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM. They run Virtua Racing at a constant 100% speed.

There is a Virtua Racing Twin for sale on Tampa Craigslist (not my ad and I am not affiliated):
"Virtua Racing two player Formula One race car game (one monitor needs flyback) ($350 as is or $500 fixed)"

isamu · « **Reply #24 on:** February 26, 2013, 12:38:23 pm »

Slightly unrelated but I'm curious....are there any other Model 1 racing games besides Virtua Racing?

BadMouth · « **Reply #25 on:** February 26, 2013, 01:22:06 pm »

Quote from: isamu on February 26, 2013, 12:38:23 pm

Slightly unrelated but I'm curious....are there any other Model 1 racing games besides Virtua Racing?

No, but there are a few others that would play well with an analog flight stick.
http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=712
IIRC, Virtua Racing is the only one working well in MAME.

ant2 · « **Reply #26 on:** February 26, 2013, 02:30:25 pm »

Quote from: dgame on February 26, 2013, 11:07:55 am

I’m using business surplus machines for Virtua Racing/Model 1 Link emulation.

I got some HP DC7700 SFF Small Form Factor computers for around $45 each including delivery.

They have a Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM. They run Virtua Racing at a constant 100% speed.

There is a Virtua Racing Twin for sale on Tampa Craigslist (not my ad and I am not affiliated):
"Virtua Racing two player Formula One race car game (one monitor needs flyback) ($350 as is or $500 fixed)"

I am jealous
cabs in the uk are like gold dust and are often sold for stupid prices

dgame · « **Reply #27 on:** February 26, 2013, 03:08:07 pm »

Quote from: isamu on February 26, 2013, 12:38:23 pm

Slightly unrelated but I'm curious....are there any other Model 1 racing games besides Virtua Racing?

Well there is Virtua Formula which is a Virtua Racing update/clone that has the motion controlled F1 style cockpit. It has a different attract mode and the initial car view is from the cockpit mode perspective. The actual gameplay seems identical. I usually put on Virtua Racing as that is the one most people remember. Virtua Racing starts with the car view in the follow mode (behind the car) perspective.

SailorSat · « **Reply #28 on:** February 27, 2013, 03:07:04 pm »

Well yeah, Virtua Formula has a lot of additional features for the "relay" machines. gameplay wise it's the same as virtua racing.

gbeef · « **Reply #29 on:** February 27, 2013, 03:58:57 pm »

If anyone gets the M2 stuff running i would be interested!!!

vandale · « **Reply #30 on:** February 27, 2013, 07:39:54 pm »

my cab, all emulated

Definately doable for less than $1000

gbeef · « **Reply #31 on:** February 28, 2013, 11:33:10 am »

Do you have any guides on how to do this? i would love to get Daytona usa Setup.

BadMouth · « **Reply #32 on:** February 28, 2013, 11:38:15 am »

Quote from: gbeef on February 28, 2013, 11:33:10 am

Do you have any guides on how to do this? i would love to get Daytona usa Setup.

There are instructions in the readme file that comes with the emulator. (same thing that's in my above post)
There used to be a good tutorial on the speksnk forums, but it disappeared.

SailorSat · « **Reply #33 on:** March 05, 2013, 02:29:55 am »

Big "proof of concept"-Test coming this saturday

Nuexzz · « **Reply #34 on:** March 05, 2013, 05:51:26 am »

haaa I can not wait! I tried to model 2 (daytona usa) in cabmame and get a freeze.

gbeef · « **Reply #35 on:** March 05, 2013, 11:43:42 am »

OMG!!!!!!!!... ok how did you get this dialed in?.. this is awesome.

Fursphere · « **Reply #36 on:** March 05, 2013, 09:49:02 pm »

Can't wait to see the results of that!

SailorSat · « **Reply #37 on:** March 14, 2013, 10:43:06 am »

short and not too great quality, but hell - that was a lot of fun

deathrow · « **Reply #38 on:** March 14, 2013, 11:43:11 am »

Sweet!

dgame · « **Reply #39 on:** March 26, 2013, 04:57:19 pm »

I posted an unofficial diff patch to add SailorSat's Model 1 Communications (Virtua Racing link / Wing War link) to GroovyMAME 148u2.

See http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,131340.0.html


Main	Restorations	Software	Audio/Jukebox/MP3	Everything Else	Buy/Sell/Trade
Project Announcements	Monitor/Video	GroovyMAME	Merit/JVL Touchscreen	Meet Up	Retail Vendors
Driving & Racing	Woodworking	Software Support Forums	Consoles	Project Arcade	Reviews
Automated Projects	Artwork	Frontend Support Forums	Pinball	Forum Discussion	Old Boards
Raspberry Pi & Dev Board	controls.dat	Linux	Miscellaneous Arcade	Wiki Discussion	Old Archives
Lightguns	Arcade1Up	Try the site in https mode		Site News


Unread posts \| New Replies \| Recent posts \| Rules \| Chatroom \| Wiki \| File Repository \| RSS \| Submit news