Best way forward after many years away from started conversion

[mentalmike]

Hey all, after some advice on what the best way forward is after a long time away from my twin cab conversion.

So a long time ago (end 2010 / start 2011) before any English guides existed I translated the L2M2 instructions from gameover, got a couple of boards etched and made a working L2M2 board with a model 2 wheel.


I then moved house, couple of years past and I got rid of my two wooden daytona cabs for two sega rally 2 cabs. Got the L2M2 board working again with one of the cab screens but never got round to putting it all into a cab as was converting my garage to a games room which has taken me years to bother to finish. Now that it's done I'm ready to actually get this up and going.

So my question really is what is the best way forward now as after having a quick look around on here somethings have moved on.

I've quickly read SailorSat's post http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,145000.0.html using Adruino - something new to me. Looks great but if I understood correctly I need model 2 components and cannot play PC if I wanted? (need to read it again more thoroughly!).

I also came across mR_CaESaR's post http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,158293.0.html using L2M2 which looks to be nice as well.

Things I have...

2 Sega rally 2 cabs complete, apart from 1 with dodgy game boards 1 with none
2 L2M2 boards - 1 made, enough bits 2 make the second
2 Logitech wheels
1 uVC UltraCade board (converts vga to EGA 25KHz)
2 Model 2 steering
2 Model 2 pedals

So what route would you guys take from here? Continue with L2M2 as I basically have what I need or change to a different approach?

Any advice or posts to go read much appreciated!



For anyone interested...

Dodgy graphics on my sega rally 2


Screen image via the uVC



Games room

[nipsmg]

so.....  I'm a little upset you haven't gotten a response as I just picked up a SF Rush The Rock Alcatraz Edition and am attempting to do the same thing.

I've got a Logitech driving force on the way, and as I understand it SF Rush, M2, and others all use the same motor/mechanism for force feedback, so L2M2 should work with the Rush as well (If anyone knows this to be false, PLEASE let me know).

From what I undersatnd SailorSat's solution is pretty specific and needs specific implementations for each game, where (I at least was under the impression) that l2m2 can be used with more games more widely via mame + FFB translation plugins / companion apps.

I'm really just starting my journey here, so anything you can help me with would be huge, and I'm happy to compare notes.

[SailorSat]

First:
Well, my setup is primarly to be used as a "drop in replacement" for the board cages in model1/2/3 cages. You can always put the real hardware back.
The L2M2 approach is a permanent change, as you have to rewire some parts of the cab.

Second:
While my setup allows "translation" of drive board commands, it is rather specific and on a "per game base".
The L2M2 approach works with anything that has FFB on the PC side.

However - due to differences in several "effects", the games may feel different.
Daytona allows the wheel to "be free" (just the springs centering it), which the L2M2 cannot.
Neither can the L2M2 engage the "clutch" without turning the motor in any direction. (which is used to "brake" the wheel and make it feel more stiff)

*edit*
Later games used a diffrent setup (Indy500 as example) which has a direct driven wheel and not springs.
So the driveboards had different firmware also. - Playing Daytona on an Indy500 cabinet will feel "different" either way.

[nipsmg]

Thanks for the information on that, interesting to know.

I hadn't put any thought into 'braking'/stiffening the wheel -- it makes sense that the L2M2 wont' be able to do that.

So I had thought that M2 games and Rush both used the same steering, but they don't.

The happ active steering has a similar solution too the L2M2 which I'll be using: https://www.gamoover.net/Forums/index.php?topic=20417.0

Driving Force wheel is on the way.  I plan on making the machine a MAME driving machine in the future so I'm fine with having to modify the machine-- but I totally do appreciate your solution being a drop-in replacement for the Model x machines.. that's so amazing for preservation.

[mentalmike]

Managed to miss the replies!

So after I did a bit more research I've now got Aganyte's PWM2M2 board and njz3 vJoy feeder software working great with a Sega model 2 wheel on my bench. Just need to get it all in fitted in the cab, currently planning how to route all the cables and what connectors I need to buy to make a nice job of it all.

nipsmg, looks like you've found the info for your setup. As I think you've realised Sega model 2 hardware and Atari rush are very different. Years ago before I had a model 2 motor I did setup a HAPP motor - a bit of a different process to the Sega setup. Much easier with Aganyte's boards.

I'm keeping my Rush cabinets as they are, it's my sega rally 2 cabs that I'm running as emulators. Not sure where you're located but if you have any parts of your rush cabinet you don't want I might be interested - always need spares when trying to keep cabs running original!

[nipsmg]

I’m working the cabinet over to get to functional as is for the summer.  Once the summer is over I’m going to start mameing it.  I’ll let you know if I plan on selling the stock boards.

Thanks.