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Linking two cabs together?
DaOld Man:
Ok, I know this has probably been discussed before, but my search function must be sick, cause I cant find it.
Has anyone connected two cabs together to play 4 player games? (IE Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles)
I would like to be able to connect two cabs together via a cord, then when the cord is plugged in, one of the cabs becomes the master, with game selection control and P1 and P2 starts and coins, and the second cab becomes the slave, with P3 and P4 starts and coins.
When the cord is unplugged, both machines revert to normal 2 player cab operation.
Any ideas?
kuchta:
I'm planning on doing something like this with 2 bartops, but I haven't even gotten all of my parts yet, so I don't know how successful I'll be. I'm going to have 2 1-player bartops that when linked will allow the second bartop to act as player 2. My plan is to set-up a KVM in the player 2 bartop with a button that switches between the 1 player setup (keyboard, video, and audio come from bartop B) and making it a 2 player setup (keyboard from bartop B becomes player 2 on bartop A, video and audio comes from bartop A). On bartop A, I'll use a VGA amplifier to split the signal into 2 signals for when bartop B is hooked up to bartop A. I'm just going to have 1 USB cable (for the player 2 encoder), 1 3.5mm audio cable, and 1 VGA cable connecting the 2 together when you want to link them together, but I suppose they could all be merged into 1 cable.
I'm going to be using 2 KADE encoders, but I don't have them yet to test. They are configurable though, which may be necessary so that you can assign different keystrokes to both bartops so they have unique key presses. I guess you could also split the controls in bartop B before it reaches the first encoder if you had enough inputs on bartop A (which the KADEs do not).
I hope I'm explaining this well. I don't have anything drawn up yet, so this is all coming from my head. I'm thinking this should work and hopefully won't cause too much input lag when linked together. Let me know if I need to clarify anything that I'm saying. I hope to explain this much better once I get my parts and start my own project thread.
BadMouth:
No experience with it, but I'll throw in my $.02 anyway.
I'm thinking usb KVM switch and a simple VGA splitter on the master cab.
Utilize the encoder in the slave cab so you only have to run VGA and USB between them.
PS2 keyboard encoders wouldn't cut it, as they'd have to be plugged in before startup.
I'd use encoders that show up as usb gamepads and use Dr. Venture's joystick ID utility to keep the joystick IDs straight.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,108767.msg1154628.html#msg1154628
Having it switch automatically when a cable is connected.....
Well that sounds like a job for DaOld Man. :lol
Maybe run everything through a DB25 connector and have two of the unused pins connected in one of the cabs.
That could complete a circuit in the other cab when the cable is present.
ed12:
simple
02 here also
look into crusing usa
they run multi link cab's
maybe u can grab a few idea's from them
ed
SavannahLion:
Idea 1:
Short patch cable loop in slave. Unplug one end and run cable from Master.
Idea 2:
Use some CBT3244 or MC14503B
Idea 3:
Slave Cab uses wireless receivers. Install in a "common" cartridge and swap carts. Slave cart contains control receivers, Master cart contains Video receiver.
Idea 4:
See if Kaillera can run on a LAN.