PGA Tour Golf by Global VR & EA Sports Owners Thread

[Spitfire]

Everything still there at the back end as I have seen just disabled in the menus that's all trying to get them to appear in the menus and will let u know how I go.

[Spitfire]

Yep deactivated n try as I may couldn't get the registration menus appearing in the operators menus even though I made them active in the XML table menus file?? Will just wait for your instructions or might even hook up a stock standard machine and see how I go.

[boostinallovryou]

Do you have a regular team challenge machine?  Or cds and dongle to make one?  If not then i will acquire an AAP kit and see what magic i can cook up.  Let me know.

[Spitfire]

yes I will test tomorrow or later tonight on my regular team challenge pc.  Also have a portable challenge machine going.  STP has the All Access Pass Cds in ISO in his Dropbox which Im sure he will give you access to.

[boostinallovryou]

Sounds like a plan.  Ping me when you go to try connecting to the server from tc.  I have not tested this code yet and can look at the logs if you see issues.  Was going to test it tonight if possible.  If not then definitely tomorrow.  But it is uploaded and waiting.

[Spitfire]

Ok boost Hooke up stock standard team challenge pc and all went well forced connection to sever got to 4% and then connection error 4010 this cabinet has not been registered yet. Also my start up screen still says tournament deactivated. I can feel that we are close. I hope it's jut that the sever isn't up yet your end. Waiting eagerly. Thx Joe

[boostinallovryou]

I just looked at the server logs and i saw your machine connect 4 times.  It asked for the first stage of connection, the server gave it to your machine, but your machine never asked for anything else.  Plus the error number you received i have never seen before.  I am pretty sure the issue is your machine is in hibernation mode or it has never been registered before.  Can you register your cabinet using your operator card.  This will force new communication with the server.  Communication i have never seen before as my machine was already registered at some point.  I just had to change its status from hibernation to active internally.  We will work through all of this.  Thank you for helping debug and the exciting part........your machine in OZ was talking to the new server!

[boostinallovryou]

Another thing i can do and will do tonight is completely "deactivate" my machine.   There is an option to do that in the service menu.  This should put my machine at the exact state your machine is in.  Only problem is i dont have an operator card.  Looks like i need to get to a local arcade and get two need for speed cards and then reprogram one to be an operator card and the other to be a player card.

[boostinallovryou]

I just did some testing and logging.  There are two things i need to address:

Registration:
On a fresh install or a machine that has never been registered there are fields not set in the machines config that will keep it from calling in or enabling tournament play.  There are 3 possible solutions but only one makes sense.....i must find a way to generate operator cards for people that need them.

Unregistering:
I tried to unregister my game but it was unhappy with the servers response.  I am missing logic to handle this prorocol.  I need to add this.

It is going to take me a few days to investigate and solve these problems.  I have taken the server offline until i get this fixed.  Will report back in a few days with progress / results.

[stpcore]

I have about 30 of the GlobalVR Tournament Play Players Cards. If you need one or two let me know know.

[boostinallovryou]

There might be another (and better) way to do registration without an operator card.  I believe i can create another bootable cd that can make the necessary changes.  Gonna take some work but i think that is the best way to go as all one has to do is download an iso, burn it, run it.  Let me investigate this further.

[Spitfire]

Morning from OZ, seems like I've opened a can of worms but glad to hear you have a plan to sort this out. So do you still want me to try my operators card or should I just sit tight for now?

[boostinallovryou]

Good Morning.  It was good that you brought these issues to light.  All I could do was test with my machine and it already had operator data in it.  Anybody that does a fresh install or has a machine that has never been registered would face this problem.  I'm glad it came to light now so the proper fixes can be implemented.  Just sit back for a few days while I create a solution.  Even if you used your operator card and we got everything going there it wouldn't help the next person that wants to join with a fresh machine.  We can use yours as the guinea pig if you don't mind.  That and as soon as I finish the unregistration code my machine should start getting the same errors you are getting.  So we will have all of this fixed in a few days.  The bootable disk image is the right solution, but it just means 3x the amount of work on me :-)    I'm not worried about it though, we WILL have a solution.  This is great stuff.  Just the fact that you were able to connect to the server and start the first stage of communication has made my day!  When was the last time one of these machines has seen a server?  I think it's pretty cool.  So give me a few days to do the magic that I do and we will try again.  Thanks for your help and patience!

[Spitfire]

No prob buddy happy to use this machine as the test machine. As I have 4 golf machines running my Access all areas this stock standard one, a Challenge machine so I can enjoy skins and a championship 3 version for different courses such as peeble beach. Very exciting stuff can't wait to see what u come up with. Thx Joe

[boostinallovryou]

Hey spitfire, just did some investigating and found that the 4010 error you got is because your machine does not have a client id.  This value is given to you by the server when you register.  Just wanted you to know i found the root cause and all will get fixed.

[Spitfire]

No prob mate thx for the info. Let me know our next move. Thx

[boostinallovryou]

Last night i discovered my mistake.  Need about 4 hours to write new code then my machine will unregister.   After unregistering i will create boot cd to trigger registration.  I cannot do it manually as the machine has to write info to the dongle.  Im all over it, just need time.

[Spitfire]

Hey Boost I hope everything is slowly coming together and we are all connecting to your golf server soon.

[Yeti]

I just got mine home Challenge Edition - PC appears to have a bad graphics card and the monitor appears to have no HT output.

I'll be using the housing (and hopefully monitor) for a MAME cabinet - the rest of the parts I'll be putting up for sale if anyone is interested - just now I need to try to get the monitor working.

[Spitfire]

Hey mate to good a cabinet and game to use for a mame machine better off getting it up and running again. Post what your problems are maybe with some pics and well get it going for you again?

[96p993]

Since this was just brought up Im wondering if anyone has done both with one of these games...Kept all the PGA as well as added a Mame system and controls to the control board. I think this system is large enough to add 2 players and plenty of buttons then just switch from one to the other depending on what you wanted to play.

[boostinallovryou]

Have a server update.  I FINALLY got my machine to unregister.  There was a lot of stuff I had to figure out and account for in the unregister protocol and I still didn't get it 100% right yet but I got it good enough that my machine unregistered.  After unregistration I was not allowed to do a force call or anything, my screen changed to this:



When I select to register I get prompted with the following now:



This is great because we won't have to use an operator card.  I can give everybody a unique 4 digit code and then that machine can register.  Obviously I now have to analyze and handle this new registration process but it will be a LOT easier than creating bootable CD's and nudging the machine to do the right thing.  It natively wants to do it hahaha.



This might only be for the TC version software though.  But at least it's a start.


Spitfire, you actually forced a call correct??  The error you got was 4010 right?  That error means the cabinet does not have an ID from the server BUT for some reason you were able to make a call.  That means the software believes the cabinet is registered but the dongle thinks it is unregistered.  Am I correct or are you able to see the same menus I have screen shots of above?  If you don't see these menus then I think we need to attempt to unregister your machine using the private server.  I will put the server back online tonight and upload my latest build.  You should be be able to select the unregister option, make a connection to the server, you WILL get a 4000 error but after that your machine should be unregistered like mine is now and you should see the same menus.

Next thing for me to do is write the logic for this 4 digit code registration.

[Spitfire]

Yes I did force a call. I don't see these menu options.  Please let me know why my next step is?

[boostinallovryou]

I just updated the server and brought it back online.   Please unregister your machine.  It is the last option on the same screen as force call.  You will get a 4000 error but it will unregister and you then should see the same screens as me.

[Spitfire]

Doing it now

[Spitfire]

Got to 57% stalled for a while than have error 4000.  Have option to register now should I?

[boostinallovryou]

Perfect.  That is what it should have done.  See if you have the menus and are unregisteted now.

[Spitfire]

Yes I have those menus now in the option register cabinet.

[96p993]

Sounds like some real progress 

[boostinallovryou]

Yes!!!!  Ok you are properly unregistered.  Now i need to write the server registration code using the 4 digit code method.  Give me a day or two.

[Spitfire]

Yes we r getting closer each day thx to Boost

[boostinallovryou]

Thank you spitfire for testing and helping.  I appreciate your, and everybody's patience.

[boostinallovryou]

I started investigating the four digit registration this morning and ran into a new issue.  It really applies to all registration attempts.  There is a check to make sure the cabinet has a matching and active operator entry in its database.  This will not exist on a fresh install or if the machine has never been connected before.  This is where the operator card comes in.  It would be the one to supply this info to the cabinet and configure the operator info in db.  Looks like i have to go back to the bootable cd to get this info into the machine.  What i will do is modify the original iso i created to not only point a machine to the private server but now also clear out any old operator info and insert new one for private server use.  This will take a few more days as it is a tad complex.

[Spitfire]

I have an operators card if needed mate.

[boostinallovryou]

Yea but that won't provide a solution for everybody that doesn't.....like me hahahaha.  It's ok, just means more work, which I am not afraid of.

[96p993]

funny how almost all of this is over my head but I enjoy reading the progress

[boostinallovryou]

It's cool to read all of the behind the scenes stuff hahaha.  All the things the machine is doing that nobody knew.

I can explain a bit about where the complexity is right now.  I could easily supply a bootable disk that blows away the current machine database and put down a fresh one with the operator info in it.  That means though that for people that have had their machine for awhile and have high scores, world tour accomplishments, etc, all that would be blown away.  So now I have to find a way to modify the db.  The db is Microsoft SQL.  That means I have to mount it on a MSSQL server, make the changes, then unmount it.  Well all of the bootable disks are linux.  So there is a way to execute windows applications on linux and that is through Wine.  That would be great but Wine requires and X server.  This is something most bootable linux cd's don't have.  So I am thinking of alternative routes like seeing if a signature is produced in the database when the entry for an operator is added or subtracted.  If so then I could write a quick program that just modifies the database binary using signatures instead of the proper method.  Also when the db is modified their is a log db that also gets modified.  This is part of MSSQL.  So anyways these are all the things I am thinking about and contemplating.  I will come up with a solution.  Just need to evaluate everything.

[96p993]

Im actually picking mine up this weekend (hopefully)...Sounds like just getting it up to snuff will be my main goal, this way I can continue to follow what yall are doing and hopefully get in on these tournaments. Shame my real handicap cant just be thrown into the game, its been awhile since Ive played PGA Tour

[boostinallovryou]

WAIT A MINUTE!!!!  PGA All Access Pass was not a bootable disk.  It was something that was executed while the current game was running and it patched the machine.  This means that Team Challenge has windows autorun enabled!!  This is the answer.  I don't have to create a linux boot disk, I can write a windows program to use the already executing mssql server and patch the database just like All Access Pass does.   Because autorun is enabled it will automatically execute my program as soon as you put the CD in.  This just got easy!

[Spitfire]

Hi Boost glad to hear your hopefully on top of things as you were starting to sound a little like our mate Ed ha ha ha ha can't wait to see wht you deliver. Thx Joe