Virtua Racing link success

[vandale]

Hi all, has anyone got SailorSats Virtua Racing link working yet?

http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=297577&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1&new=#Post297577

I have tried but no success.

RetroRepair, I am sure you are giving it a go as we speak 

[vandale]

Hi all, all working now. Will post my config and video soon.

Cheers

[Howard_Casto]

It's hard to follow threads over at MW because of how their forums are setup.  Could you give me the gist of what this is please?   I'm assuming it's some sort of hack to get VR working on twin cabs. 

[vandale]

It's hard to follow threads over at MW because of how their forums are setup.  Could you give me the gist of what this is please?   I'm assuming it's some sort of hack to get VR working on twin cabs.

Hi, I cant speak for SailorSat but I assume it is a hack until submitted and accepted into the official mame. I am not too fussed as long as it works in my cabinet 

Yep the layout of those forums is horrible when trying to follow anything.

Here is a vid of it working in my cabinet

I ran into a few issues on the way. I had never used any other mame than mame32 so having to do a quick refresh of how command line mame worked was needed, things like joystick saturation, hw stretch and no mame.ini had me reading for a few mins to figure it out 

I havent tried Virtua Racing, works fine with Virtua Formula. Next to try is Wing War. Hopefully this will open some doors to other network connectivity in mame.

[Howard_Casto]

That's pretty awesome man. 

What's with all the racing game progress btw?

There's this, my work on model 2, cannonball.... all kinds of racing stuff. 

[vandale]

Thanks. I dont know the answer to that. My thinking is that mame is mame and once you build a cool upright mame cab then what can you do next. Racers suck with joysticks so it was only a matter of time before peope started building kick ass driving cabinets when they couldnt get there driving fix from a stand up mame machine, then when playing by yourself gets boring the only thing to do next is build a twin, whats next after that, maybe a 4 player....haha

Probably the same thing with M2. You can only play the gun games by yourself a few times then bordom sets in, whats the point of having these cool games if you cant share with your mates and play co-op games.

Well thats my thoughts on the subject.

Thanks

[Yenome]

I ran into a few issues on the way. I had never used any other mame than mame32 so having to do a quick refresh of how command line mame worked was needed, things like joystick saturation, hw stretch and no mame.ini had me reading for a few mins to figure it out 

to get a mame.ini with command line mame. make a short cut to it and add -cc on to the end and run it. or just open a cmd window and go to the mame folder and run mame -cc

[vandale]

I ran into a few issues on the way. I had never used any other mame than mame32 so having to do a quick refresh of how command line mame worked was needed, things like joystick saturation, hw stretch and no mame.ini had me reading for a few mins to figure it out 

to get a mame.ini with command line mame. make a short cut to it and add -cc on to the end and run it. or just open a cmd window and go to the mame folder and run mame -cc

hi, yep sailorsat pointed me in the right direction.

have this now booting via hyperspin so its seamless in the cabinet, works a treat. Have played 5 full races with wifey and no issues apart from some very minor sound syncing during attract mode.

thanks

[bdam]

It's hard to follow threads over at MW because of how their forums are setup. 

For what it's worth; if you want to view the forums in flat mode you can do so by using the Flat/Threaded toggle in the upper right.  You can also set this permanently in your display preferences.

[dgame]

I tried the communications link on a single system.
First time running multiple instances of MAME at once.
Wing War and the other dual screen intros are nice.

Congratulations SailorSat et al. on a wonderful achievement. 
Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. 

[dgame]

Read the Virtua Racer Twin Communications Link Manual and setup 8 players on one system.

Obviously not practical for actual play.

[RamjetR]

Obviously not practical for actual play.

Well that depends on the size of your TV 

[Howard_Casto]

Actually yeah.  If somebody wants to do some crazy split-screen action I think it would be possible to remove those borders. 

I dunno about performance though. 

[dgame]

I am really impressed by the networking functionality especially in the context of the racing game.

The many screens are just for testing how the various link configurations work. Ideally each racer would be on a separate networked system.

Even with a single player racing setup you could add the Live Monitor with Virt McPolygon on any computer on your network. The live camera action and virtual commentary add to the spectator experience.

[RamjetR]

Actually yeah.  If somebody wants to do some crazy split-screen action I think it would be possible to remove those borders. 

I dunno about performance though. 

My borderless program will remove those borders in a jiffy... 3 lines of code... let me know if you want it done?

Even with a single player racing setup you could add the Live Monitor with Virt McPolygon on any computer on your network. The live camera action and virtual commentary add to the spectator experience.

I love the live Camera screens option in M2... I want to put a single screen up for that when I get all 3 cabinets together in the new house... just waiting for the tenants to move out so we can move in

[vandale]

Actually yeah.  If somebody wants to do some crazy split-screen action I think it would be possible to remove those borders. 

I dunno about performance though. 

My borderless program will remove those borders in a jiffy... 3 lines of code... let me know if you want it done?

Even with a single player racing setup you could add the Live Monitor with Virt McPolygon on any computer on your network. The live camera action and virtual commentary add to the spectator experience.

I love the live Camera screens option in M2... I want to put a single screen up for that when I get all 3 cabinets together in the new house... just waiting for the tenants to move out so we can move in

so to use the live commentary do you set the link to 'live' under f2 service options?

I have a neat 10inch LCD that I can connect to a old notebook pc hidden in the back

[RamjetR]

Yeah, just make the extra emulator a Link or Live machine in the service menu. It has been known to have some bugs, bug for the most part works well in my testing.

No need for running multiple computers if any of your main rigs have enough grunt... Check out my video on multiple emulators on one PC fullscreen with VMware virtual machines... works a treat with dual output graphic cards.

[dgame]

My borderless program will remove those borders in a jiffy... 3 lines of code... let me know if you want it done?

How do you do this? Is it a standalone program or MAME code change? I would like to try this.

Can two windows share focus for the controls to work on both?

[Howard_Casto]

Joysticks (not keyboards) should work regardless of focus.  That is unless mame has some strange code that halts the joystick or something. 

[dgame]

In my testing with v0.148 only the focused window gets joystick controls.

I also tried it with the "#define FORCE_DIRECTINPUT   1" setting in input.c with the same result.
 
Any suggestions?

[RamjetR]

My borderless program will remove those borders in a jiffy... 3 lines of code... let me know if you want it done?

How do you do this? Is it a standalone program or MAME code change? I would like to try this.

Can two windows share focus for the controls to work on both?

In my testing with v0.148 only the focused window gets joystick controls.

I also tried it with the "#define FORCE_DIRECTINPUT   1" setting in input.c with the same result.
 
Any suggestions?

I must have missed what the issue was...

Your trying to run 2 instances of mame on one PC with separate wheels on each? But the only the focused one is taking input?  Hrmmmm

I haven't tried that kind of setup. Like howard said, it should work? But failing that... VMWare.

The latest version of VMWare workstation will use 3D graphics card aswell as processing power. Make the virtual PC as powerful or as weak as you like when you set it up, install TinyXP or similar on it for mame and virtual network it. You can force the VMWare machine onto another screen and it will lock the controls to the VM PC regardless of what the main PC is doing...

That's how I would do it with a single PC anyway...

[Howard_Casto]

It's kind of odd.... pretty sure a recent version of mame switched the directinput code to non-exclusive, which is good... that means that mamehooker can wrangle your joystick as well for force-feedback.  That might be the issue though.... I dunno if DI in non-exclusive mode can read the joystick when the app loses focus. 

It might not be (easily) possible.  Oh well, it was a good idea anyway.

[SailorSat]

No need for running multiple computers if any of your main rigs have enough grunt...

But... It looks damn impressive

[yotsuya]

That does look cool!

[Howard_Casto]

How much did that cluster set you back if you don't mind me asking?

[dgame]

No worries about the single screen focus. Would still like to know how to remove the borders though.

Been actually playing the Virtua Racing game with different controllers and it needs an analog accelerator pedal.

Some hard cornering requires powering through the apex which doesn't always work right if you have digital on/off throttle.
 
Got pretty good with the analog throttle slider on the  Logitech Cordless Rumblepad.

Throttle Slider is on the shoulder above the right shoulder buttons:


I have had an  InterAct Concept 4 Racing Wheel for Dreamcast in my collection for a long time going unused, so I ordered an Dreamcast to USB adapter to try it with Virtua Racing.

If it works well I will probably get another one for a two car setup.

[SailorSat]

How much did that cluster set you back if you don't mind me asking?

About 100€ each.
75€ for the PC itself, 20€ for some used logitech wheels, and another 5€ for speakers and keyboard

[Howard_Casto]

That's not bad at all. 

I never run across good deals like that. 

[SailorSat]

hehe, ebay - refurbished business pcs

[dgame]

SailorSat,

Which  logitech wheels did you get and how do they perform?

Thanks

[SailorSat]

logitech driving force (not ex, not pro, not gt)

they performe well, but yeah, not even close to a real arcade wheel...

[Hunk_4TH]

This amazing! How exactly does one get this working? I agree with Howard, Mameworld's forums are rather confusing lol.

[dgame]

If you want to try the link with two cars out on a single machine:

Get the link-cabmame binary linked here, extract, and put it in your MAME folder: http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=303661

Create a vr2.bat  batch file with:

Code: [Select]

start /b cabmame.exe vr -w -nvram_directory nvram1 -localport 15111 -remoteport 15112 -localhost 0.0.0.0 -remotehost 127.0.0.1
start /b cabmame.exe vr -w -nvram_directory nvram2 -localport 15112 -remoteport 15111 -localhost 0.0.0.0 -remotehost 127.0.0.1
This launches two instances of MAME with separate non-volatile memory [nvram] folders.

Having separate nvram folders allows each instance of MAME  to be defined as specific car.

In one window configure Car 1 as RED/MASTER, and in the other window configure Car 2 as BLUE/SLAVE or LIVE Commentary.

Press F2 to enter TEST MODE:


Configure Car 1 as RED/MASTER:


Configure Car 2 as BLUE/SLAVE for Car 1 vs Car 2:


-OR-

Configure Car 2 as Any Color/LIVE for the Virtual Race Commentary.


EXIT and SAVE THE CHANGE:


Quit MAME and restart the vr2.bat file.

 The two windows should now link.

[RamjetR]

No need for running multiple computers if any of your main rigs have enough grunt...

But... It looks damn impressive

LOL.... do Like!

That does look pretty cool hahaha...

[RamjetR]

If you want borders removed, I'll do a little app to do that back end of this week when I come off call. I'll have to double check how you can exit the program once I take away the min,max,close buttons off the screen. It can be launched in your .bat file too to keep it nice and clean.

Ramjet

[Howard_Casto]

If you want borders removed, I'll do a little app to do that back end of this week when I come off call. I'll have to double check how you can exit the program once I take away the min,max,close buttons off the screen. It can be launched in your .bat file too to keep it nice and clean.

Ramjet

A post close message will probably work.  Not sure what message mame needs though. 

[Hunk_4TH]

If you want to try the link with two cars out on a single machine:

Get the link-cabmame binary linked here, extract, and put it in your MAME folder: http://www.mameworld.info/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=303661

Create a vr2.bat  batch file with:

Code: [Select]

start /b cabmame.exe vr -w -nvram_directory nvram1 -localport 15111 -remoteport 15112 -localhost 0.0.0.0 -remotehost 127.0.0.1
start /b cabmame.exe vr -w -nvram_directory nvram2 -localport 15112 -remoteport 15111 -localhost 0.0.0.0 -remotehost 127.0.0.1
This launches two instances of MAME with separate non-volatile memory [nvram] folders.

Having separate nvram folders allows each instance of MAME  to be defined as specific car.

In one window configure Car 1 as RED/MASTER, and in the other window configure Car 2 as BLUE/SLAVE or LIVE Commentary.

Press F2 to enter TEST MODE:


Configure Car 1 as RED/MASTER:


Configure Car 2 as BLUE/SLAVE for Car 1 vs Car 2:


-OR-

Configure Car 2 as Any Color/LIVE for the Virtual Race Commentary.


EXIT and SAVE THE CHANGE:

Quit MAME and restart the vr2.bat file.

 The two windows should now link.

Sweet thanks man!! I love detailed responses

[RamjetR]

If you want borders removed, I'll do a little app to do that back end of this week when I come off call. I'll have to double check how you can exit the program once I take away the min,max,close buttons off the screen. It can be launched in your .bat file too to keep it nice and clean.

Ramjet

A post close message will probably work.  Not sure what message mame needs though.

Post close message is what I did for v0.4 but it has compatibility issues with Windows XP. It worked fine on Vista/7 but XP didn't. What I ended up doing was monitoring the process and when it was closed (by user or by FE) then closed itself. Actually from memory I think it was the cmd window that didn't respond to the post message...

I think I'll make just a generic version of the program which you can just put a window/hwnd name into an ini and it'll just grab that and remove the borders... that outta just do the trick for everything in the future then?

[Super-Becker]

Anyone willing to do an updated tutorial on how to run on two PCs communicating? I would be immensely grateful.