saturn "vs link cable" (new pictures posted Nov 2n

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Xranger60
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Post by Xranger60 »

Excellent. Keep us updated.
Willing to play Bomberman, Duke Nukem 3d, Virtual On, Sega Rally. Send me a PM.
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rush6432
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Post by rush6432 »

No dice guys, after hours of fiddling with it, it just wont work with the program im using. turns out its not the original program i used way back when i was testing. infact i cannot seem to even find that program anymore.

The cables ive wired up work fine, but the conclusion ive come to is that it needs a custom program written to work.

Most of the serial pins on the db9 port on a computer are pre-assigned a function (carrier detect, data terminal ready, data set ready, ect ect ect)

what i need is a program that takes ANY data on ANY pin and sends it straight through to the same pin on the other machine. more or less making two computers and the internet act like one long giant extension cable for both of the sega consoles to connect to.
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Post by humbug »

I'd pay for this program if someone was to take the time to write it.
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rush6432
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Post by rush6432 »

The project isn't dead, its just kind of on the shelf until i can get some more time and we can write a program for it.

There has been talk of maybe integrating a feature like this into xband 2.0 for zero tolerance, but thats not official. We havn't even come close to crossing that bridge just yet as we need to support the original games that were supported by xband first. But it could possibly happen.
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xDerekRx
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Post by xDerekRx »

ah I hope someone can get that program to you rush
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Macabre
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Post by Macabre »

This would be a good idea to throw around at any community that favors any console with a link option (ps1, dc, xbox, ect).

You might get a lot of attention from the original xbox community as currently to get it online you have to do some modifications to your system. Giving that community the idea of 4 vs 4 halo xbox link fights from long distance would surely spark a lot of interest.
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Warp2063
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Post by Warp2063 »

You don't have to do any modifications to your system to do 4v4 link play over long distance... you just use Xlink Kai or XBConnect or one of those other tunneling programs. You just do a LAN link, and the program on your computer does the tunneling for you. I've used it before.
I have my Saturns, I have some of my games, I have a RasPi. Gotta put all this stuff together!
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Post by Macabre »

I've been having a lot of fun with this set up. A slight update;

I've began working on a custom vs arcade setup, that features two saturns & two dreamcasts, that will have back-to-back vga (flatscreen) monitor displays.

It will have a drop-down sort of controller mechanism, where the controllers for each system (1x saturn virtua stick, 1x saturn twin stick, and 1x saturn wheel), are on hinged surfaces that can swing down into the main compartment of the arcade unit. Each of these three controllers will merge into one socket for their respective system (I'll be abusing Total Control 3's for a saturn-to-dreamcast connection).

This will have to have a separate switch for the TC3's to switch between twin-stick & normal modes.

Player 1 (saturn 1 + dreamcast 1) will be sent to the first vga monitor, while player 2 (saturn 2 + dreamcast 2) will be sent to the second. But, I'll be working a switch (possibly bus switch) for switching the control input from player 2 to the player-2 socket of player 1's systems, along with a switch for player 1's systems to send video/audio to player 2's vga monitor (for two player games like shoot-em-up's).


Current status; already have the four systems prepared (mod chipp'ed the dreamcasts, still need a second 4-in-1 cart chip for the second saturn for playing imports with ease). I'll be mounting the motherboards on plexi shortly and building the four optical drives on top of them as neatly as possible (still trying to configure ideal placement for ease of access & lens protection).


Obvious problem with this set up is the reliance on purely saturn controller hardware (mainly the entirely digital wheel) when playing dreamcast games requiring analog (Aero Dancing). It reallly boils down to my preference, which is the sexy saturn hardware. I can always leave a socket for an actual dreamcast controller I suppose.

Current problem; I do have a dc vs cable... I don't want to sacrifice it for this system. I'm considering taking it a part and analyzing the chip inside of it, and seeing if it can easily be reproduced.




Also I apologize for the the huge # of down pictures in this thread. I've been offline for a rather long time, and have been rather lazy in the fact that I rely on villagephotos, appose to more convenient (and up-to-date) picture sharing sites.






WipEout is still freakin sweet vs mode like this. :wink:
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Warp2063
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Post by Warp2063 »

The "chip" as you put it, I believe not to be much more than some buffers to help keep short circuits or power surges from burning out chunks of the Dreamcast's mainboard. The NeoGeo Pocket-Dreamcast link cable does this, so it would make sense that the Dreamcast-Dreamcast link does as well.

Also, it'll probably be tough to analyze. I'm betting it's one of those dealies where there's a black plastic dome over the circuitry rather than an actual packaged IC.

Finally, the big problem is finding those plugs. Building buffers into a serial cable is easy. Getting those cable ends isn't.
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Post by Macabre »

Found another game; Hyper Reverthion, a Japanese release fps type game. Has heard that it works, and the box has the link logo thing, will give it a try for verification.


edit; more info on the game; its a prequel to Steeldom, which is a pretty good virtual on clone. The only review of the game I could find says that its a dumbed down virtual on clone with less tedious controls.

Also a possible problem with searching for Japanese games by just looking for the little link cable logo; The location of the parapherials is hidden under the spine card, which sort of sucks. Just means that one would have to find a more specific picture of the back of a games case.
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rush6432
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Post by rush6432 »

that chip you speak of is a max3222 or something like that. ive got two of them sitting around here from when i was going to build a dreamcast coders cable.
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Post by Warp2063 »

rush6432 wrote:that chip you speak of is a max3222 or something like that. ive got two of them sitting around here from when i was going to build a dreamcast coders cable.
I don't think it's even that... after all, you're not going to raise the voltage coming out of one Dreamcast to send a higher one to the other. Something similar, though... just a signal booster.
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rush6432
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Post by rush6432 »

Warp, you interested in working together on a link cable project for the saturn??? id like to try to get it hooked to a pc serial port and from there tunnel a serial connection over the net p2p style.
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Post by Warp2063 »

rush6432 wrote:Warp, you interested in working together on a link cable project for the saturn??? id like to try to get it hooked to a pc serial port and from there tunnel a serial connection over the net p2p style.
I'm thinking about it. Not sure yet. It does sound interesting...
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Post by Macabre »

Again I vanish off the face of the earth, sorry for not keeping this updated! I've been in a bit of a financial crisis as of late - so bad that I had to sell a large % of my gaming collection (it is after all a financial asset sadly).

As a quick recap on this topic, once I get back to my loft I'll post a summary of what games I have so far successfully linked up.

As a fun teaser till then, check out my customized cases for my link games! I finally obtained a dreamcast link cable (official) and have started collecting the games for that also.

These cases are all custom 2-disc jewel cases I imported, having the highest of highest ratings on strength and durability. And they look bad ass, no? I've had to retrofit some of the back artwork as you can see, but a problem is that most Japanese games have that black plastic spine on the case, so I'll have to make custom inserts for those titles.

I have most of the games, but am still working on getting a 2nd disc for a few.


I've also been greatly slowed down by becoming aware of the disc-rot phenomenon! I've had to go and renovate / revise my entire video game collection and trade/replace many of my disc games due to this! Including (the very rare and expensive) Sega Tetris for dreamcast, as well as one of my copies of Steeldom and Doom (J)!


Gungriffon 2 is still by far the absolute perfect reason to purchase the goods for this setup!





edit; update on the custom vs link cabinet! This has evolved slightly to be a sort of mini-trunk that opens at the top, with two vga monitors on pivoting arms. It's rather hard to explain, and I have a few sketches already drawn for dimensions and size, so I'll just post those!

Yes, i DID get a successful VGA signal out of my Saturn! I used an S-Video to vga converter box, and it looks great!!!
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