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SOLUTION: Use one PC to start games on two or more PC's (for twin cabs etc)

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Pstylz:

--- Quote from: Fursphere on July 07, 2022, 09:56:32 am ---Can you give an example of the LNK file you reference here?  Its contents? 
Are you putting the specific game startup command in this file?

For example:

Host Machine:
retroarch.exe -L cores/fbneo_libretro.dll -H romname    ??

Client Machine
retroarch.exe -L cores/fbneo_libretro.dll -C hostname romname   ??

--- End quote ---

The LNK file is just a windows shortcut to start the game.
In my case, BIGBOX isn't set up with emulators. It just pushes the GAME TITLE to my GameStart script to execute.
Considering I only have a limited number of racing games for these machines, it's a manageable process.

Fursphere:
So I got this all working with BigBox.   

On the "Primary" cabinet, I setup a new Platform for FinalBurn Neo.   Then Setup a BATCH file (I'm an old school DOS guy...) to start RetroArch with all the required parameters and %game% argument passed from the command line.

The Batch file does two things:
-Dynamically create a batch file on the Secondary cabinet with the required parameters to launch Retroarch in CLIENT mode, then delete itself. 

-Launch RetroArch in HOST mode.
I used the basic AHK script you came up with to look for the game.bat file being created in the folder on the secondary machine, and launch it.   

This works perfectly.   Primary and Secondary both launch the game, and on the secondary it just launches right on top of BigBox, and BigBox goes dormant. 

I made the secondary FBNeo platform for two reasons:
-It has a unique romset from mame
-MAME is still a separate platform and launches games locally in 2 player mode.   FBNeo is setup strickly for 3+ player games.

The 'emulator' is just an FBNeo.bat file.    This exact concept could be used for other platforms w/ RetroArch (and various cores) to do netplay the same way.   

this is the batchfile if your curious.   I may re-write the thing using AHK, but this was just really quick.


--- Quote ---del \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo d: >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo cd\ >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo cd emulators >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo cd retroarch >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo start d:\emulators\retroarch\retroarch.exe -L cores/fbneo_libretro.dll -C cab-a %1 >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
echo del d:\ahk\game.bat >> \\cab-b\d\ahk\game.bat
d:
cd\
cd emulators
cd retroarch
start retroarch.exe -L cores/fbneo_libretro.dll -H %1

--- End quote ---

vrmax81:
I am currently building a 2 player 2 cab linking racing multicade. Before reading this thread I had no idea this was attempted before. I was able to accomplish this using psexec. I have notes and a small guide going as I am still working on this project. I have linked arcade and console emulators together using bat and vbscripts. Some emulators like project64 and dolphin I had to send keystrokes as command lines are not an option. I do have scripts setup to launch before the game incase another emulator is being used or the same emulator and wont cause a conflict of two emulators going at the same time.

Fursphere:
Sorry for the nerco bump, but in case anyone digs up this old thread - there is a front end way to do this now with Launchbox and a Plugin.

https://forums.launchbox-app.com/files/file/4587-cli-launcher-launchbox-command-line-interface-for-launching-games-directly-from-stream-deck/

The plugin is billed as a Stream Deck integration, but its also got a handy CLI utility that can be used for remote launching of games on a remote LB platform.  Great for netplay / linked gaming.

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