Spy Hunter Behavior

FrizzleFried

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It's been years since I played a real dedicated Spy Hunter...

Please let me know if the following is normal behavior or perhaps I have issues...

(1) When going too slow in HIGH gear, the car slows to a stop and sort of "revs repeatedly" until dropping to low at which time the car starts moving again.

(2) Does the Spy Hunter music only play when you first start the game, and again when you enter the weapons van... otherwise it doesn't play at all? I seem to recall the background "bass" line playing all the time back in the day, but perhaps my memory is foggy...
 
1. yes, if you go to slow in high gear the engine stalls, and you stop. to restart shift back to low until your speed gets back up.

2. Peter Gunn plays at the beginning and then stops. Then begins playing again after you exit a weapons van, and continues until you crash.
 
i pretty much keep it floored and shift back and forth from high to low to adjust my speed. love them speakers behind the head on the cockpit version!
 
i pretty much keep it floored and shift back and forth from high to low to adjust my speed. love them speakers behind the head on the cockpit version!

Then you probably need to replace your gas pedal pot. When working as designed, the game is unplayable with the gas pedal floored for more than an instant.
 
i keep it in low 90% of the time and only shift to high when passing or in short bursts.
 
Wow -- does that really work okay?

I guess everyone has their own playing strategy but in general its best to be running at a slightly faster pace than the traffic with occasional bursts of speed to get out of nasty situations.

In low gear you're a sitting duck for enemies that are approaching you at 2-3x your speed and they will literally hit you from behind and destroy your car fairly often. I always get out of low gear ASAP because the speed differential between you and the enemy is too high.
 
Your car's speed is one of the most effective tools that you've got for getting out of jams.

Let me give you an example. I recently played a SH (at a real-live arcade!!!) and as is typical for the original gas pedal pots, this one was complete crap and many years past needing to be replaced.

I replaced mine about a year ago so it's pretty fresh and new.

I worked my ASS OFF at the arcade to set a new high score and when I did, it was less than half of my high score at home -- all because that gas pedal pot was bad and it was cutting the top-end speed of the car by probably 40%.

Granted, this particular machine's pot was *very bad* so its an extreme example but (occasional) extreme speed is your friend and what the game was designed for!
 
i will keep your advice in mind next time i have a chance to play. thanks!
 
Any way to test the pot to see if it's partially bad? Floored, I go faster than traffic... and fast enough to die if I hit a car I recently shot.... but I've noticed the weapons van will keep up with me and even floored I'll just barely creep in unless I slow down then gas it.
 
there's 2 pages in test mode - player input or something similar that you can check to see that the numbers change smoothly as you press the accelerator, then their is a pot calibration page that will let you set the center of the steering. The accelerator pot setting shows the pot setting, and tells you the value to set it at, by adjusting the pot itself.
Fwiw, my pot will go from 0a to 24 at full throttle in the player input page.
What your really looking for is when you go full throttle you should see small flames come out the back of the car.
 
Frizz,

Your pot is likely original and likely bad based on what you've told me.

Your car is meant to go like a bat out of hell when floored and if the weapons van can keep up with you then something is wrong.

As cdjump said, you should get a burst of flames out of the tailpipes when you floor it -- these are your turbos kicking in and it should come with a big burst of speed. Beyond that, there is more than 1 level of turbo and it's all "back end loaded" so you don't get any turbo until late in the pots range.

In the user input screen I get 0 to 22h (or maybe 23h) for the gas pedal and the turbo doesn't start to kick in until around 1eh. Anything much over 20h you can't drive at a sustained level because its too fast. Which is good -- you want the power on tap but don't want to use it normally because you'll just wreck.
 
Frizz,

Your pot is likely original and likely bad based on what you've told me.

Your car is meant to go like a bat out of hell when floored and if the weapons van can keep up with you then something is wrong.

As cdjump said, you should get a burst of flames out of the tailpipes when you floor it -- these are your turbos kicking in and it should come with a big burst of speed. Beyond that, there is more than 1 level of turbo and it's all "back end loaded" so you don't get any turbo until late in the pots range.

In the user input screen I get 0 to 22h (or maybe 23h) for the gas pedal and the turbo doesn't start to kick in until around 1eh. Anything much over 20h you can't drive at a sustained level because its too fast. Which is good -- you want the power on tap but don't want to use it normally because you'll just wreck.

Any sources on a new pot? I am not getting the flames... I did a calibration and it's a little better... goes from 0 to 25... but that is it.

I have a couple pots used in a SW yoke on hand... I wonder if they'll work.
 
Any sources on a new pot? I am not getting the flames... I did a calibration and it's a little better... goes from 0 to 25... but that is it.

I have a couple pots used in a SW yoke on hand... I wonder if they'll work.

Frizz,

Here's what you want from Mouser:

360 degree 1K linear pot 882-eup1125-1K

You might as well get 2 of them in case you have issues with the steering wheel pot.

Ignore the calibration screen and tell me what range you're getting from your user input screen for the gas pedal. I can't believe you're getting 0-25 on the user input screen.

My guess is your top end value is probably more like 19 or 1A...
 
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Frizz,

Here's what you want from Mouser:

360 degree 1K linear pot 882-eup1125-1K

You might as well get 2 of them in case you have issues with the steering wheel pot.

Ignore the calibration screen and tell me what range you're getting from your user input screen for the gas pedal. I can't believe you're getting 0-25 on the user input screen.

My guess is your top end value is probably more like 19 or 1A...

Thanks... I'll check when the wife gets home... watching the baby right now...

Also, I am still having issues with POPPING when the lights flash/come on... I posted about it in the REPAIR forum if you think you can help... please check it out...

Thanks!

EDIT: Here is a direct link: http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=116331&page=2
 
My component repair skills are pretty low -- I have spare boards for everything in my SH game except the main boardset because that was too pricey to keep spares for. If anything ever acts up I just swap in a known working good spare to test with. (Not that I've gotten much use out of my spares).

cdjump is extremely knowledgeable about SH -- I'd just do whatever he suggests. :)

If you can find someone locally with a game that would let you borrow a lamp driver board for 10 minutes, that'll pin the problem down to that board or tell you it lies elsewhere. I think they only go for about $20-$25 anyway.

BTW, I don't think it's critical that you necessarily replace the gas pedal pot either -- but if you're shooting for good scores or want to play the game the way it was really intended then you should think about it.

Depending on what values you get back from your user input screen then there may be other things that can be tweaked...
 
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