Race Drivin' Link Question/s- Any Help Appreciated

bluestreak

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Trying to link 2 Race Drivin' units together.
Unit 1 says unit 2 not responding. (laymans terms as I don't remember the exact message)
Unit 2 says Link not implemented when trying to enable in "Operator Screens".

I've searched the forum for similar questions but only found questions on different name machines using parallel cables.

Does anyone have the pinouts for the DB25 serial connectors? There was mention about pins needing to be crossed from a standard serial cable, which I am trying to use, but not pin info or if it was serial or parallel.

One other question: There are 2 serial ports on the interface board, SerialA and SerialB.
Does unit 1 need to be connected to SerialA and unit 2 connected on SerialB or are these to connect more than 2 games?

Thanks for any help in advance.
 
OK, I kept searching the forum and found I have 2 different Rom versions that will cause this. DOH!
Maybe the 3rd machine I got for spare parts has the same version of one of the other two. Keeping fingers crossed.

Still could use the DB25 pinout information if anyone has it.

Thanks
 
Too bad you were not asking this over a year ago. I did research then. Of course, I don't remember any of it now, lol. I do know the romsets HAVE to be SAME version.

Kevin
 
Luckly the 3rd machine has the same rom set as one of the others. Not sure how many versions there were.
I'll see about swapping around boards tomorrow as it's time for me to call it quits for the night, but thanks for the response.
 
OK, still stuck. Verified the cable I was using is a Serial NULL cable and it is. Pinouts are correct.
Both machines now have rom version 1.7 and the link option in setup states "Not implemented 1" and does not give the option to enable the link. Let's me play a "linked game" but doesn't show the other machine when playing, just a ghost car not being controlled from the other unit.
The machine with ROM ver 1.8 shows this option. Now wondering if the link was not available in ver 1.7
That's really going to suck to get a new 1.8 ver ROM set if that is what it takes.
Anyone ever get two of these linked together? If so what ROM ver did you have?

Becoming frustrated, but I'll get over it once the alcohol kicks in.
 
It's gunna suck when you realize you don't really even race "against" the other person... just his "ghost car"...
 
Seriously? KLOV lists the below but doesn't really say.
"Two game cabinets can even be linked through a cable and players can race against each other simultaneously."
The technical desighner doesn't seem to indicate either way either as no where I've found goes into any detail about the link connection. www.jmargolin.com
Have you had these linked before to know for sure? All in all a ghost car is OK as long as it is real time.
I know you race a "ghost car" for high scores and when there is only one game, but not positive for Link setup.

Still looking for someone who's successfully linked these up to verify rom versions or the above information.
 
Bluestreak, apparently Im proven wrong now, but this game was ground breaking and extremely popular when it came out, and to this date Ive never seen a 2 player hookup or heard of a 2P Hard/Race Drivin in any arcade.

It's gunna suck when you realize you don't really even race "against" the other person... just his "ghost car"...

Frizz are you talking about racing the fastest time player as Phantom Photon?
 
PhoenixStar, thanks for the input.
Hard Drivin' definitely didn't have the link option but Race Drivin' did.
But you may be correct if it was ever used or not as no one seems to know much about the link plug on the rear of the cabinet or how to get it to connect.
I'm putting this one aside for now and will get back to it later when I have time to perform more digging for information.
 
Just thinking back a while <<<<<<cue time warp montage<<<<<<<<If memory serves me correctly,when that game first came out, it was supposed to be used as a police training simulator, and when the police/atari contract went bad, atari decided to put in the stunts, etc, and market it as an arcade game for the public. Perhaps, just maybe perhaps, there was a generic hookup to do police training exercises head to head (good guy bad guy), and they decided to leave the hookup in there after production and not remove it. Ive seen this on a few consoles, and other things too where hookups are produced, but the programming isnt made or finished, leaving the hookups rendered useless.
 
Mickster Thanks a Million X2
Finally someone who has actually done this!
I was heading down that path about the software version having to be newer than what I have on two of three games I acquired. Looks like the 1.8 version allows the link where 1.7 does not. (2 of them I have are 1.7 and only 1 is 1.8, What luck!)
I noticed another thread (saw it just a while ago) that version 1.9 rev 5 and later must be used, but still not sure of that.
I considered contacting Jed Margolin also as I helped out on his website about where to obtain motor brushes for the Hard Drivin', so was hoping He might help me out also. Just was holding that option back as a last resort.
Regarding the Ghost vehicle part, I think that will be acceptable since these are the games I have and just trying to get the most out of them.
Friends liked playing the cockpit Hard Drivin' I have, so hopefully these will be as popular(and much smaller as they are the compact version).
Anyway, thanks again. I will be on the look out for newer Roms so I can hopefully get this going.
 
Good luck Bluestreak. Would love to see pics of the final hookup. Please post followup!
You bet. I'm sure it will be some time for me to locate replacement Rom's and get the monitors and controls fully working as well, but once I get it going, I'll post all info I have acquired about it, as well as pics.
 
Just an FYI, there is another collector on here that has linked Race Drivins'. He is one of the Washington guys. I will do a search and see if I can figure it out....I think it's Fullthrottle. Also a guy from Georgia named Kaboom.
 
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RAce Drivin Link

The two units will link together. You will be able to race simultaneously.
You will not crash into your opponent, like a ghost car. But not the ghost you get when running twoplayer on 1 machine

You definitely need the null modem cable.

You need the latest roms I believe they are 2.4 - I got mine from a guy named Starwriter about 4 years ago.

Also Mickster is the guy who knows this inside and out. Well maybe Jed....

Bob
 
Thanks Bob.
My 1st step is to update the Roms but currently do not have an eraser or burner. (wished I would have kept the ones I had about 20 years ago, but who new?)
Keeping an eye out for a good deal on those.
Even though Race Drivin' is outdated by today's standards, I think it will still be great fun when linked, only if, like Mickster said,the 2 drivers are similarly experienced.
For now moving on to an Operation Thunderbolt that needs attention until I can locate the eraser and burner but thanks for the input.
 
Thunderbolt is done, among others. 1st Race drivin' is restored...and now... Success!
A few more bucks spent than I anticipated, but acquired a burner, eraser, older PC, and spare 27C512 Eproms.
Copied the version 1.8 to the older 1.7 chips and games link up perfectly with the null modem cable.
As posted previously in another thread, version 1.9 (final version for compacts) is not required, version 1.8 will work. Although the thread could have been referencing the cockpit version, not 100% sure about that, as the cockpit version went additional revisions.
As Bob metioned above, not a ghost car per say, but a fully colored car as I could see working the games by myself, that you race against.
I do believe at this point that they are not Interact able (crash into each other), but that's OK.
As stated earlier, just wanted to get the most out of what I had.
Now to finish up the cosmetics and control issues, but no big deal there, just the usual.
FYI, between version 1.7 and 1.8 only 10 Eproms needed updating on the Mulitsync (main board) which is the largest in the set.
Location 10Y,00Y,10V,00V,10U,00U,10T,00T,10S,00S had to be updated.
Now,
anyone know what type of switch is on the brake pedal or where a replacement can be obtained?
Seems to not be the norm and haven't been willing to pull of the glue to dismantle it to try to determine what the heck it really is at this point, unless I can't determine it any other way.
Seems to be some type of "pressure" switch or something. Not anything controlled by a POT or mercury switch, or at least doesn't appear to be mercury type.

Mike
 
Very cool that you got the cabs linked up! I think it would be fun racing against someone who is of similar skill. All it takes is practice! Also probably the only way to get a set of linked drivers in a "classics only" gameroom.

The brake pedal is a sort of pressure sensitive switch. I think your best bet there is to find someone parting out a broken cabinet for that one. Keep an eye on the FS section, it shouldn't be long. RD just doesn't get the love it deserves from some folks.
 
Very cool that you got the cabs linked up! I think it would be fun racing against someone who is of similar skill. All it takes is practice! Also probably the only way to get a set of linked drivers in a "classics only" gameroom.

The brake pedal is a sort of pressure sensitive switch. I think your best bet there is to find someone parting out a broken cabinet for that one. Keep an eye on the FS section, it shouldn't be long. RD just doesn't get the love it deserves from some folks.
Brick Top, thanks for the input.
I agree, I love this game. Not sure why others don't feel the same way. It take's a heck of a lot of discipline to drive it and hoping I can get friends up to speed to be challenging.
I even drag race in real life on occassion and still love this one. Probably because it's not straight line and less expensive.
I have an advantage of course since I am playing while repairing. I may even "throw" the game a bit just to make it exciting.
Working on getting the 2nd unit 100% so I can connect it to the 1st for the real challenge.
The brake adjustment, I've found, takes 5 minutes of being powered on before it will accept a setting, so not totally out but suspect it will be some time later.
I'm keeping an eye,ear out for a replacement.
Thansk again for the support.
Mike
 
Here is a dumb question to revive this old thread. How do I determine which version of ROMs are running on Race Drivin. I see on the self test screen 'self test 1.7' but that doesn't seem to indicate the rom version (one of the units is at least 1.8 as it has rear view mirror, the other doesn't).
 
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