Spy Hunter "dash" lights with MAME rig

texasmame

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I've got a SH project and I've got the old guts of my MAME cab (which I since upgraded).

Long and short, wanting to gut the SH but keep the original controls and cab, etc., putting the MAME rig in there, just to play SH. Easy enough with the proper interface, I know.

Catch is - I want the smoke, missile, etc. lights to work. I know there is the version on MAME where the "dashboard" is displayed on screen, but I want to have the exterior look/function/feel like a legit SH but without all the ribbon cable and power supply issues that go with that damn MCR setup.

I'm pretty sure this isn't possible but looking for input.

Thx!
 
it isn't that big of a pain in the ass.

rebuild the power supply board and you are good. get the boards repaired by cdjump if they need it.
 
it isn't that big of a pain in the ass.

rebuild the power supply board and you are good. get the boards repaired by cdjump if they need it.

Thx but still leaning towards the gutting/dedicated MAME setup but still want my dash lights! :)
 
This is probably not the best forum to be asking about MAME advice, especially when it involves gutting a classic game that COULD be repaired.

I would suggest asking over at "BYOAC" forums

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php


Understood. The whole "purist" thing. I get it.

Still, it's not like I'm asking how to turn it into some damn redemption game - all I asked is how to essentially keep it a SH yet make it so, you know, it would work for years without constant tinkering.

Anyhow, mods please consider this thread closed and do as you will with it.
 
I'm no purist- I like the ideal of keeping a classic game in it's cabinet, even if the guts are a PC and emulator.

I think what you're doing is possible, but it would involve modifying some of the MAME driver source to hook into some external hardware.

You could probably intercept some of the writes to the CheapSqueakDeluxe routines and send them to the parallel port, which you could have wired up to a CSD board or minimally, a circuit to handle switching the weapons lamps. I don't think the PC ports are meant to handle the current required for those lamps, hence the need for the latch/relay/scr circuitry.

The MAME driver nicely separates some of this operation- you would have to dig into that CSD driver. You could also do a TINY compile, just picking up SpyHunter and booting straight into it. I'm sure it's been done before.

See this file:

http://mamedev.org/source/src/mame/drivers/mcr3.c.html


402 static WRITE8_HANDLER( spyhunt_op4_w )
403 {
404 /* Spy Hunter uses port 4 for talking to the Chip Squeak Deluxe */
405 /* (and for toggling the lamps and muxing the analog inputs) */
406
407 /* mux select is in bit 7 */
408 input_mux = (data >> 7) & 1;
409
410 /*
411 Lamp Driver:
412 A 3-to-8 latching demuxer is connected to the input bits.
413 Three of the inputs (J1-11,10,12) specify which output to write
414 to, and the fourth input (J1-14) is the data value. A fifth input
415 (J1-13) controls the strobe to latch the data value for the
416 demuxer. The eight outputs directly control 8 lamps.
417 */
418 /* bit 5 = STR1 (J1-13) */
419 if (((last_op4 ^ data) & 0x20) && !(data & 0x20))
420 {
421 static const char *const lampname[8] =
422 {
423 "lamp0", "lamp1", "lamp2", "lamp3",
424 "lamp4", "lamp5", "lamp6", "lamp7"
425 };
426 /* bit 3 -> J1-14 (DATA) */
427 /* bit 2 -> J1-11 (A2) */
428 /* bit 1 -> J1-10 (A1) */
429 /* bit 0 -> J1-12 (A0) */
430 output_set_value(lampname[data & 7], (data >> 3) & 1);
431 }
432 last_op4 = data;
433
434 /* low 5 bits go to control the Chip Squeak Deluxe */
435 csdeluxe_data_w(space, offset, data);
436 }
 
Thank you for the on-topic replies, you two!

Also been told that LEDBlinky or LEDWIZ may do the trick.

Got plenty of leads now, thx!
 
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