Linking 2 California Speed's together - questions & concerns

Bullwinkle

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Linking 2 California Speed's together - questions & concerns

I'm in the market for a 2nd California Speed sitdown for the sole purpose of linking them together so I can kick my neighbor's a$$ headon :D (or at least attempt to)

I've done a quick google on linking them and the first thing I see is that someone did a bit of research (at least he says he did) and found out that California Speed was released with 3 different motherboards and at 3 different processor speeds, and he had trouble hooking 2 together and getting them to link properly.

Before I spend the bucks on the 2nd game, is anyone aware of this issue (or any other with linking machines) and if so, do I need to have the same speed proc to get them to link properly?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

-tom
 
I was under the impression that these were really easy to link and all you needed was a network hub or switch to link them.
 
Well... That's what I'm hoping for. The setup "looks" straightforward enough. Maybe the guy who posted it had a crappy ethernet cable or worse.. He tried connecting them directly together with a standard ethernet cable instead of a crossover.
 
Hmm. I remember going out on a service call for two that one had a dead battery on. I don't remember a hub (maybe there was) but just an ethernet cable between the two. Then you go into the menu to choose one as the master (primary) and the other as the secondary...if I remember correctly...
 
That's what I figured. I have the cable (came with my first cali spd). It might be a crossover cable to start with or it may be atari decided to build the switch into the game.
 
My SF Rush's just use a crossover cable. A switch is probably only necessary if you've got more than 2.
 
I'm sure you can use a crossover. Mine came with one. You can link up to 8 with a hub or switch. I wouldn't mind having a second one, though this game is pretty solid as a single player.
 
If you're linking 2, you'll need to make sure that 1. Both games are running the same revision, 2. both boards run the same speed. Now, the easy way to tell is to fire both up unlinked, with the attract mode sounds playing. If the music changes at the same time on both units, chances are they have the same clock speed. If one changes the music in attract mode quicker than the other, then you have boards with differing clock speeds. And... 3. You'll need 2 CAT-5 cables and one crossover coupler to go in between them.

The revisions, I believe, are whatever version is loaded onto the hard drive. The clock speed... Cal Spped was also made as an upgrade kit for Hyperdrive. I think those Hyperdrives perdominantly use those faster boards, so as long as you have cabinets with matching seats, you're probably fine (although I did once get a CS dedicvated with a faster clock boar in it).

-Mike
 
If you're linking 2, you'll need to make sure that 1. Both games are running the same revision, 2. both boards run the same speed. Now, the easy way to tell is to fire both up unlinked, with the attract mode sounds playing. If the music changes at the same time on both units, chances are they have the same clock speed. If one changes the music in attract mode quicker than the other, then you have boards with differing clock speeds. And... 3. You'll need 2 CAT-5 cables and one crossover coupler to go in between them.

The revisions, I believe, are whatever version is loaded onto the hard drive. The clock speed... Cal Spped was also made as an upgrade kit for Hyperdrive. I think those Hyperdrives perdominantly use those faster boards, so as long as you have cabinets with matching seats, you're probably fine (although I did once get a CS dedicvated with a faster clock boar in it).

-Mike

Damn.. well, I captured a screenshot of the bootup and the testscreen text.(see attached). The bootup gives program version, but I'm wondering if the test screen shot which gives info on "GUTS" & "MAIN" is any indication of what processor / clock speed is in the machine. Or..is there any other way to tell? I havent had time to look at the main board as I realize there may be a chance that the processor itself has the speed written on it.
 

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Nope no way to tell the processor.....the revision is the only thing that it will tell you. its either 2.1a or 1.0r7.

1.0r7 does not have the extra cars when you hit the radio button.
 
ok, I'm torn here as I can't find any hard information regarding California Speed's Seattle board running multiple speeds for this game. There's a link here: http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=782 which says the game runs at 150mhz and it also says there are two versions of the game, a dedicated, and a conversion kit.

Can anyone verify, yes or no, if there are actually multiple releases of this game at various processor speeds?

My dilemma is that I can't check out the one I'm looking at (the plan is to ship it here)...it's a few miles away (the word "few" is relative when compared to the distance from the earth to the moon), and I'd hate to get one shipped here and not be able to hook it up!

any input greatly appreciated.
 
there are not "official" versions for speed of processor. but the conversion kit was for hyperdrive. hyperdrive used the 200mhz processor. i have compared the two and there isnt a huge difference. load time is the same, the game play is slightly quicker (higher fame rate).

unless your have two different machines next to each other you wont notice the difference in game speed.

there are two official version of the game: early release 1.07r and 2.1a. 2.1 is more refined and allows you to pick the additional cars using the radio button.

while in attract mode push all the view buttons and radio and it will display the version. these must match between machines. i have linked boards with different speeds, not versions
 
there are not "official" versions for speed of processor. but the conversion kit was for hyperdrive. hyperdrive used the 200mhz processor. i have compared the two and there isnt a huge difference. load time is the same, the game play is slightly quicker (higher fame rate).

unless your have two different machines next to each other you wont notice the difference in game speed.

there are two official version of the game: early release 1.07r and 2.1a. 2.1 is more refined and allows you to pick the additional cars using the radio button.

while in attract mode push all the view buttons and radio and it will display the version. these must match between machines. i have linked boards with different speeds, not versions

wow..that is good news! thanks MrSinister. I suspect the one I'm looking at is dedicated like mine, but not 100% certain. I'll verify the versions are both 2.1a (as that's what mine is). If not, I did see a guy on ebay selling cali speed hdds version 2.1a, can I simply replace hdd's to upgrade it if it isnt the same?

Thanks,

-tom
 
awesome...thanks a ton. I may have to get this bad boy shipped over here! I guess the only question I havent asked is: Where this is a solid 1p game, is the 2player head to head gameplay as good as most head to head drivers? (I've done mostly daytona head to head and LOVE that, but I hate daytona as a 1p. that being said I really enjoy the California Speed 1p mode..hoping the 2p mode translates well)
 
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they are always better with more cabs, but the single player is good. id love to get my hands on another one or two..lol
 
Bumping to say this thread helped me with the issue I was having. The guy I bought my pair from gave me two useless Cat5 cables. I didn't even think to check if they were crossovers.
 
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