OP
OP
EagleTG
Active member
Maxstang strikes again! I will try this tonight, THANK YOU!
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Please post all monitor technical topics in the Technical - Videogames - Monitors section, not in the General Help section.
UltraCade System Freezing?
- Thread starter EagleTG
- Start date
OP
OP
EagleTG
Active member
Ok, I bring news... and pictures!
First, as mentioned previously I have confirmed beyond the shadow of any doubt that the drive serial number is the only thing that matters when generating a machine ID for these cabinets. I took a drive, blanked it out (seemed to also be required), re-installed the base OS, and the machine ID was exactly the same even though the computer surrounding it was entirely different.
So, I installed the base OS v3.86. Installed the base game pack v3.86. Taito games were missing completely from the menu system (Elevator Action, Zookeeper, etc.). I installed the v3.12 base game pack over the v3.86 just to see what would happen. It was intelligent about the upgrade and only installed the older version of games that didn't previously exist (it left the 3.84 and 3.85 versions of the games that were duplicated).
Essentially, I was back to where I was on my "real cabinet" before disabling the v3.1 games. I noted the same behavior in this build, that v3.1 games would lock up during the attract mode, yet if I entered the game quickly (before the Ultracade menu tried to play the attract movie), it would work fine (then disallow me from exiting the game properly).
So, in a nutshell... Running 3.91.3 or 3.86 of the OS with 3.86 game pack does not show Taito games at all. Running 3.1(2) of the base game pack does not work (all games lock up when the menu tries to play the movies). Installing both 3.86 and 3.12 will work until you try to show the attract movie for a game that was not upgraded to 3.86 (Taito games).
Edit: Also looks like a couple of Gottlieb games are included in the issue.
Here are a few screen shots of the installed game list. Again, even though I got there a bit differently, this list is the same as it was on my real cab when I installed the 3.91.3 OS and 3.12 game pack then upgraded game packs to 3.86.
First, as mentioned previously I have confirmed beyond the shadow of any doubt that the drive serial number is the only thing that matters when generating a machine ID for these cabinets. I took a drive, blanked it out (seemed to also be required), re-installed the base OS, and the machine ID was exactly the same even though the computer surrounding it was entirely different.
So, I installed the base OS v3.86. Installed the base game pack v3.86. Taito games were missing completely from the menu system (Elevator Action, Zookeeper, etc.). I installed the v3.12 base game pack over the v3.86 just to see what would happen. It was intelligent about the upgrade and only installed the older version of games that didn't previously exist (it left the 3.84 and 3.85 versions of the games that were duplicated).
Essentially, I was back to where I was on my "real cabinet" before disabling the v3.1 games. I noted the same behavior in this build, that v3.1 games would lock up during the attract mode, yet if I entered the game quickly (before the Ultracade menu tried to play the attract movie), it would work fine (then disallow me from exiting the game properly).
So, in a nutshell... Running 3.91.3 or 3.86 of the OS with 3.86 game pack does not show Taito games at all. Running 3.1(2) of the base game pack does not work (all games lock up when the menu tries to play the movies). Installing both 3.86 and 3.12 will work until you try to show the attract movie for a game that was not upgraded to 3.86 (Taito games).
Edit: Also looks like a couple of Gottlieb games are included in the issue.
Here are a few screen shots of the installed game list. Again, even though I got there a bit differently, this list is the same as it was on my real cab when I installed the 3.91.3 OS and 3.12 game pack then upgraded game packs to 3.86.
Last edited:
Maxstang
Active member
Very interesting. I guess I added the Taito games to my system. It's been too long and I don't remember! The oldest game I have on my system is version 3.77, so the 3.1 versions you have must be pretty old. I do have alll the games your pictures show, so I guess they were all updated before any licenses were lost. I'm sure if you had a disk that had the new versions of the games on it, the system would let you upgrade them because they were already installed. Then you'd be able to play them. There are about 270 or so games available for the system if you include the Beta game versions that show up on some drives. Glad you got your system up and running.
amr
Well-known member
Now if someone could only figure out the encryption and packaging of the game packs so we could make our own packs to install 
So far, what I have been able to tell from messing with this in the past is the package is a file with crypto key hashed with your harddrive serial number.
Without knowing the construction of the game pack file it's impossible to make an installer (without having the Ultracade pack creator/installer software.)
So far, what I have been able to tell from messing with this in the past is the package is a file with crypto key hashed with your harddrive serial number.
Without knowing the construction of the game pack file it's impossible to make an installer (without having the Ultracade pack creator/installer software.)
Maxstang
Active member
As far as I know that encryption has never been broken and the game pack creation software is the property of GVR now. I think development on this system has stopped due to the lawsuits against Mr. Foley et all. It's too bad as I think, if updated, it would be a real great alternative to a MAME machine. The Hyperspin FE is based on it, but has really grown to be an incredible system. Gives you an idea what Ultracade could have been if it had been allowed to develop.
