Dullaron |
Diablo III - Dunard #1884
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Reged: 07/22/05
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Posts: 6126
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Loc: Fort Worth, Tx
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Re: Williams Predators Flies Again! (Williams 1987 Prototype at CAX 2017)
07/30/17 05:27 AM
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> Williams Predators flies again at California Extreme! > > Pictures here. > https://photos.app.goo.gl/0RgOxgxCBNNmfohR2 > > www.Andys-arcade.com > http://www.retrokade.com > www.Gastarchitects.com > > This machine is based around the only orignal parts i have from this game - the > original game PCB set and power supplies which belong to Domonic Escott in the UK. He > entrusted me with this in order that i figure out the big technical challenge that it > had. > > This PCB has been around for a long time, but was it missing the crucial control > interface pcb that was inside each cabinet. These interface pcbs link each players' > special 49-way joystick and action buttons, along with switches and cabinet buttons > to the main pcb. With all of them missing, it was only possible to play at the Red - > Hawk position. No paperwork is known to exist for this game so everything had to be > worked out by hand. > > With help from members of the MAME team, a reverse look at code interfacing the UART > to the main cpu, it was determined that there was a 7-byte packet expected from each > interface pcb. The exact order of the bytes (and the bits within them) and what they > represented in the packet was not immediately obvious, but was worked out eventually. > The added complication was the 7th byte was a'check' packet which was a calculated > sum based on the contents of the other six bytes. If it was not calculated correctly, > the entire packet is ignored. > > After some considerable trial and error, I was able to write code for a small > microcontroller (a PIC) that reads the Joystick positions, and the 4 minimum buttons > needed per player for the game to function, and translates them into the 7-byte > packet that the game pcb expects. This output is then converted to RS-485 and send to > the respective connection on the game pcb. > > The game was intended to occupy 4 FULL SIZE arcade cabinet which made the game very > expensive labor intensive for the game owner requiring a large amount of space and > upkeep. It was a hard sell when compared to the money generated by 4 individual > games. 30 years later with the advent of flat panel monitors, it is now possible to > have a single cabinet and superior player interaction. > > This cabinet has been hand-made to fit four players in the most space efficient > footprint that i could make for my small home-arcade. The cabinet design has > developed organically over a number of years, being made from scrap wood, an old > metal filing cabinet, more reclaimed parts, old LCD monitors and lots of wiring and > connectors. This went from a bunch of monitors sitting on some wood balanced on top > of a metal cabinet into an exhibition-ready machine largely in the last three weeks, > working all day every day to work out how it was going to look, work and be durable > for CAX. > > Vector artwork was created from online photos by Lindy Groening, and NightVoice from > the MameWorld Art Project in Adobe Illustrator and Coral Draw. Final artwork layout > and control panel design was created by Trevor Brown in an exceptionally short period > of time using ArchiCAD. All other technical engineering and cabinet creation work by > Andrew Welburn of andys-arcade.com. Additional thanks to Gast Architects of San > Francisco for color plotting and assistance. > > Andys-arcade.com. > TrevEB
Two thumbs up on the machine arts.
W11 Home 64-bit + Nobara OS / AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X 8-Core 3.59 GHz / RAM 64 GB
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