My 2 Rush 2049 SE conversions to emulation racing machines (work log)

Wow!
Impressive work.
I'm guessing those boards and drives are still available from the people in France?
 
thank you for this thread. while my rush the rock and rush 2049 are still working great, I can see having to go this route someday.
 
Wow!
Impressive work.
I'm guessing those boards and drives are still available from the people in France?
Yeah I paid for them back in May with a build date estimated for late July. It took about 2 weeks longer but yah, they are actively making them.

The 2 issues I mentioned with the sound (the connector port being for a smaller JST and the LR sound being same channel on rear LR) on the add on board I am relaying to the guy who made them and I'm guessing his next revision will include the larger JST connector pin thingie as well as 2 extra RCA plugs on it with the JAMMA L/R being rerouted to those. I was the first one ever to do a Rush 2049 one so this was his first time ever making them.
 
Oh one thing I want to put out there too is that I do not think there is a way to use the number key pad on the cabinet.

I have looked at the manual how it's wired up to the schematics and it looks like it's just 7 wires, but for 12 buttons. So it's not just like I can use some extra buttons and wire them up 1:1 to some kind of button inputs on the UFFB. I don't fully understand how it works after looking at the schematics.

I did ask the creator about it just to hear what he thinks though.

tZAoby1.png
 
My two cents: I would just replace the keypad with something off the shelf that plugs in via USB to the PC. Those keypads are getting more expensive every time I need to buy one to replace my stock keypads and once they start to go bad I usually have to just junk them as every time I've tried to clean, repair and resurface the contact matrix it just makes the problem worse.
 
Yeah the thing is I want that one because it fits the cabinet and stuff. But honestly it probably won't be used often anyways so it's not that big of a deal if it doesn't work. You can still use the numbers on a keyboard to enter numbers if you really want to keep track of stats.

I just snapped a few videos, one of Project R and then one of a few games and the interface that was included with the drives I got. It's HyperSpin but it was already configured.

Here's Project R:


And here is a demo of the HyperSpin setup showing Virtua Racing and then Daytona 2 (the only 2 games I've really messed with and somewhat configured).

The first menu is single player games and then linked games. There are dupes in them as well but like the ones configured for linked mode won't work single player because they are looking for another machine to connect to, at least the 1 I tried was that way lol.

Also notice how the lamps change too and work. In HyperSpin they just rotate across all the buttons but then in game, they do what you expect them to do (for the most part).

 
Looks like it was wired like a lamp matrix for a pinball machine.
Oh one thing I want to put out there too is that I do not think there is a way to use the number key pad on the cabinet.

I have looked at the manual how it's wired up to the schematics and it looks like it's just 7 wires, but for 12 buttons. So it's not just like I can use some extra buttons and wire them up 1:1 to some kind of button inputs on the UFFB. I don't fully understand how it works after looking at the schematics.

I did ask the creator about it just to hear what he thinks though.

View attachment 846173
 
Oh one thing I want to put out there too is that I do not think there is a way to use the number key pad on the cabinet.

I have looked at the manual how it's wired up to the schematics and it looks like it's just 7 wires, but for 12 buttons. So it's not just like I can use some extra buttons and wire them up 1:1 to some kind of button inputs on the UFFB. I don't fully understand how it works after looking at the schematics.

I did ask the creator about it just to hear what he thinks though.

View attachment 846173
The number pad can be connected to an Arduino and configured as a matrix pad.
 
@purbeast

Do you know if the projectR emulator supports the keypad funtionality?

Also, two more things that I didn't see on Aganyte's thread, or Mackie's tutorial thread... can ProjectR be configured to boot straight into Rush2049, and can it be configured for coin inputs, both features preserving the coin op arcade "feel"

I saw in your gameplay video that you launched the games from the desktop... I surmise that is mostly because of dialing in and troubleshooting the setup?

Thank You again for blazing this trail! Awesome work!

Dylan
 
@purbeast

Do you know if the projectR emulator supports the keypad funtionality?

Also, two more things that I didn't see on Aganyte's thread, or Mackie's tutorial thread... can ProjectR be configured to boot straight into Rush2049, and can it be configured for coin inputs, both features preserving the coin op arcade "feel"

I saw in your gameplay video that you launched the games from the desktop... I surmise that is mostly because of dialing in and troubleshooting the setup?

Thank You again for blazing this trail! Awesome work!

Dylan
I can check later but I am like 99.9% positive that when I was playing Rush 2049 that I pressed a number key on my keyboard and heard the distinct phone button sound. As for like direct input with the actual hardware, that you'd have to wire up yourself. The add on board that I got for Rush 2049 does NOT support it however. I talked to the creator Aganyte, and he told me that he didn't want to do that because he had no way to test it out and he wasn't sure how to do it properly without some trial and error. I am actually debating getting one of the USB keypads on Amazon for like $10 and opening it up and just seeing if I can put the guts behind the actual one on the bezel. I will post if I do end up doing that.

I know you CAN boot directly into Rush 2049 (or The Rock), as there are 3 executables. One boots up to the selection screen and the other 2 directly into the game. I am not sure about the coin input stuff however.

Once I have this all setup, my Windows is going to boot directly into HyperSpin. Right now it just boots to the desktop which is why you saw the desktop there. I was sitting with the keyboard/mouse on my lap while I was playing just so I could interface with the settings and switching games and stuff.
 
I can check later but I am.....
CHOP
.......so I could interface with the settings and switching games and stuff.
Thank You for your speedy response... you have filled in a couple more blanks!

Re the keypad... the 2049 keypad is wired up as a 3x4 matrix... if the inputs in projectR correspond to keyboard strokes, it may be possible to hack a usb keyboard encoder, or interface it to a programmable arcade control interface that the PC recognizes as a keyboard... one potential solution that comes to mind is a modified Arduino Pro Micro setup that @DonPanetta put together for his FixIt Felix kits he offered a while back(Don... I'm not sure exactly how it was programmed, but I suspect the .ino can be modified to output specific keyboard strokes for gpio pins mapped as a matrix?)

Or perhaps the DeamonBite Arcade Controller used on another project I stumbled onto recently.

Thanks Again, Great Work!
Dylan
 
CHOP

Thank You for your speedy response... you have filled in a couple more blanks!

Re the keypad... the 2049 keypad is wired up as a 3x4 matrix... if the inputs in projectR correspond to keyboard strokes, it may be possible to hack a usb keyboard encoder, or interface it to a programmable arcade control interface that the PC recognizes as a keyboard... one potential solution that comes to mind is a modified Arduino Pro Micro setup that @DonPanetta put together for his FixIt Felix kits he offered a while back(Don... I'm not sure exactly how it was programmed, but I suspect the .ino can be modified to output specific keyboard strokes for gpio pins mapped as a matrix?)

Or perhaps the DeamonBite Arcade Controller used on another project I stumbled onto recently.

Thanks Again, Great Work!
Dylan
Ah so the 3x4 explains why there are 7 wires huh. Now it makes sense!
 
@purbeast

Do you know if the projectR emulator supports the keypad funtionality?

Also, two more things that I didn't see on Aganyte's thread, or Mackie's tutorial thread... can ProjectR be configured to boot straight into Rush2049, and can it be configured for coin inputs, both features preserving the coin op arcade "feel"

I saw in your gameplay video that you launched the games from the desktop... I surmise that is mostly because of dialing in and troubleshooting the setup?

Thank You again for blazing this trail! Awesome work!

Dylan

You can use an arduino for this (there are tons of examples online for using matrix keypads with an arduino) your biggest hurdle is going to be decoding and configuring the keypad matrix.
 
You can use an arduino for this (there are tons of examples online for using matrix keypads with an arduino) your biggest hurdle is going to be decoding and configuring the keypad matrix.
I haven't had the chance to look over the .ino to see what you did for FIF... obviously it is just an interface to generate keystrokes to feed to WinBlows from the arcade button/joystick switches... each switch input generates a corresponding keystroke... I am out of town without my laptop this week, so I can't look now... does the 'duino drop an ascii code onto the USB bus for each individual input?(of course i recognize this may be an oversimplification of the actual mechanics involved, but basically?) And is that defined for each input in the hard code... IOW if you want to change an input/output relationship, is it a simple matter of changing the specific output definition for a given input(or matrix condition)?

Thanks for helping!
Dylan
 
I haven't had the chance to look over the .ino to see what you did for FIF... obviously it is just an interface to generate keystrokes to feed to WinBlows from the arcade button/joystick switches... each switch input generates a corresponding keystroke... I am out of town without my laptop this week, so I can't look now... does the 'duino drop an ascii code onto the USB bus for each individual input?(of course i recognize this may be an oversimplification of the actual mechanics involved, but basically?) And is that defined for each input in the hard code... IOW if you want to change an input/output relationship, is it a simple matter of changing the specific output definition for a given input(or matrix condition)?

Thanks for helping!
Dylan
I may well have answered my own question with the example below:
~D

#include <Keyboard.h>

void setup() {
// Define the pin your button is connected to
int buttonPin = 2;
pinMode(buttonPin, INPUT_PULLUP); // Use an internal pull-up resistor for the button

// Initialize the keyboard object
Keyboard.begin();
}

void loop() {
// Check the state of the button
int buttonState = digitalRead(buttonPin);

// If the button is pressed (buttonState is LOW due to pull-up)
if (buttonState == LOW) {
// Send a single character key press
Keyboard.press('a'); // Press the 'a' key
delay(100); // Small delay to avoid multiple presses
Keyboard.release('a'); // Release the 'a' key

// Or send a string of text
// Keyboard.print("Hello, Arduino!");
// Keyboard.println("This text will be followed by a newline");

delay(250); // Wait before checking the button again
}
}
 
I haven't had the chance to look over the .ino to see what you did for FIF... obviously it is just an interface to generate keystrokes to feed to WinBlows from the arcade button/joystick switches... each switch input generates a corresponding keystroke... I am out of town without my laptop this week, so I can't look now... does the 'duino drop an ascii code onto the USB bus for each individual input?(of course i recognize this may be an oversimplification of the actual mechanics involved, but basically?) And is that defined for each input in the hard code... IOW if you want to change an input/output relationship, is it a simple matter of changing the specific output definition for a given input(or matrix condition)?

Thanks for helping!
Dylan

The code i used for Fix it Felix is a direct GPIO pin to ground configuration. It does not rely on a key matrix in any way. Because you are looking to repurpose an already existing key pad matrix then you will need to decode the matrix pinout before you can properly remap them to keyboard strokes.

Unfortunately I don't know much about the Rush keypad but as long as its a standard 4x3 keypad with the correct 8 corresponding pins, you should be able guess which pins are which without much fuss. Either that or replace the existing keypad with a more generic unit.
 
The code i used for Fix it Felix is a direct GPIO pin to ground configuration. It does not rely on a key matrix in any way. Because you are looking to repurpose an already existing key pad matrix then you will need to decode the matrix pinout before you can properly remap them to keyboard strokes.

Unfortunately I don't know much about the Rush keypad but as long as its a standard 4x3 keypad with the correct 8 corresponding pins, you should be able guess which pins are which without much fuss. Either that or replace the existing keypad with a more generic unit.
I suspected your encoder was individual GPIOs to ground... I wouldn't have expected it to be a matrix. The only question I had was the mechanics in getting the inputs to yield a specific output. The "Keyboard.Press('x')" noted in the example I found online was the missing piece for my understanding.

Between the example you linked, and the code sample I posted, along with the 2049 schematic(7 wires in a std 3x4 matrix just like the example you linked) a feller should have all he needs to build that encoder. (Yes, I'm aware the 2049 keypad has 8 pins... one pin is unit ground which IIRC isn't hooked up on the machine.)

Thank you for your input!
~D
 
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