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Warlords 4 LED (start button) support
KrawDaddy:
I am building a Warlords cocktail and have everything worked out except the I-Pac and Mame only support 3 LEDS from the keyboard. Warlords uses these LEDS perfectly but the forth is not supported. Is it possible to change the driver for Warlords to output all 4 LEDS (start bottons) to the parallel port and then build an LED driver board? I currently have a dedicated machine that I am getting measurement from. I am placing these in a CADD file for everyone. If I can set the software up I would like to build a website.
Is anyone available to do something like this?
2600:
There are a couple of projects, software and hardware, but you are a tad early. You'll have to wait for them to be released. Then of course for there may be a couple of changes to the source for warlords specifically, I haven't looked at the source. Others I'm sure will add it or help you, but not till the base software and hardware are around.
Out of curiosity, as I've never seen a real Warlords, what do the leds do? Are they always on, blink at a constant rate, or ?
Can't wait to see your finished plans and your project once it's done.
KrawDaddy:
Thanks for the info. I can complete the project and upgrade the leds then.
the buttons all begin to flash at a contant rate when a coin is inserted. when the player presses the start button it remains lit. If there are enough coins the remaining buttons flash until more player join and use up the credits. right now it works well in mame up until the third player. If i hook 2 start button leds to the same output the last players button wouldnt flash any longer but would still allow him to start.
Krawdaddy
Buddabing:
--- Quote from: KrawDaddy on August 06, 2005, 12:19:11 pm ---Is it possible to change the driver for Warlords to output all 4 LEDS (start bottons) to the parallel port and then build an LED driver board?
--- End quote ---
Yes, there are circuit diagrams available for a cheap parallel port hack that will support 8 LEDs.
Here's an example I found for googling "parallel port LED".
You will need to change the driver to support this.
Or you can purchase one of the forthcoming LED driver boards, but I think that will be overkill in your case.
Howard_Casto:
The hardware definately isn't the issue here. A "parallel port circuit" can be as simple as 8 leds wired straight into the data lines of a connector.
The problem is software. While you definately can hack in support, atm it would be very "picky." Some examples of what I am talking about.
Dos Mame: You'd have to use very very old and very convoluted calls to send a straight binary signal to individual lines. Strangely enough, this method probably won't work in the windows builds.
Mame running in 98: To do it easily you have to use an external dll. It's a straight shot as far as coding is concerned, but it probably won't work in 2k/xp. The dll gives the added "bonus" of figuring out if mingw and it's odd, dos-like compatability will accept the dll. I think par-io.dll has been confirmed to work by the pinmame guys.
Mame running in 2k/xp: See above. You can use the same dll but there are limitations. For one the leds are stuck in the "on" position until a program changes them. This would be ok for your application but a real bother if you were to install a rumble motor or a knocker. Also an additional dll/app would be required to open the port's permissions because xp is security crazy about that stuff. (Why? When's the last time you heard of someone being hacked by a parallel connection?)
Things are being worked on, but atm, there isn't an easy two or three lines of code you can change.
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