SmartyPi –Emulation PCB replacement (SEGA edition)

[Fantazia2]

there are so many people with outrun2sp/ initial d cabs. would it be outside the realms of possibilities to adapt this to those cabs in the future?

You would have to consider what to do with the steering in the cab if its the sit down type, there is no mechanical self centering on the wheel, its all done with the FFB board, not sure how it would behave without something speaking to the FFB board.

 

[vib_ribbon]

You would have to consider what to do with the steering in the cab if its the sit down type, there is no mechanical self centering on the wheel, its all done with the FFB board, not sure how it would behave without something speaking to the FFB board.

you are correct. only the standup naomis have self centre springs like crazy taxi iirc.

 

[Yin1974]

Well done, and would be nice to use on normal cabs with joystick controls if that would be possible.

Very interested.

Nice work and looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

[wallix]

I would be very Interested too

 

[nonosto]

wonderful, is it compatible with outrun rebuilded version canonball?

 

[Fantazia2]

wonderful, is it compatible with outrun rebuilded version canonball?

I dont think the cannonball engine has been ported to the Raspberry Pi so unlikely to work.

 

[smarty]

17th February
2021 update.


Video
demonstration of reading MAME outputs (start lamp & motor control) combined
with use of the Hang-On/Super Hang-On adapter which now mostly verified as
working correctly.

Big thanks go out to Rich aka Chunksin for his general Pi and Python coding skillz,
the addition of output control and game switching at the same time had me
nearly beat, but Rich stepped up and guided me through. As a thank you he’s taken
ownership of a SmartyPi board to tinker with.

My main
objective now is to finalise the Pi image, making it easy to duplicate, then
get a handful of boards out to be tested by others. I’ll then finalise the PCB
design, removing features of the 1[sup]st[/sup] batch that were for debugging and
are simply not needed now.

Progress is good, I’ll update when there’s anything new to add.

To answer some
of the questions raised in the thread:

· - Cannonball
support – I have been compiling the source but can’t get it to run at the moment,
I would like to have this supported and will be in touch with dj_yt with intention
of getting it running

· - Additional game
support. This will likely need additional Arduino and Python coding to integrate,
at this time I will only consider adding games from my current supported game list.
If there’s a game combo you think should be included, please pm me with the cab
you will be using and what game should be added that is not already configured.


· - Deluxe support.
Output control will require changes to the main PCB to cater for the control lines
needed. I would probably prototype this and need to test it on a DLX game to
see how well it functions before committing to making a batch. 100% a day two
challenge.

smarty2021-02-17 21:25:01

 

[forcefulfil]

Great work !

 

[Nintendo Arcade]

Amazing work Martin
This is such a cool project.
Love how easy it is to switch games around.

 

[2huwman]

Excellent work! I'll happily do any outrun deluxe testing needed!

Would be great to do Cannonball's 15 stage continuous mode with motion control.
2huwman2021-02-18 10:11:47

 

[dj_yt]

Cannonball - yes my intention is to get it running in due course once I have the hardware in my hands.

So you'll have 60fps OutRun with lots of other bells and whistles too.

 

[JAG555]

That looks amazing mate! Really good work!

 

[karlcdoe]

Continues to look interesting....

 

[smarty]

CannonBall is coming to SmartyPi, curtesy of Chris.

smarty2021-02-27 09:27:30

 

[antray84]

This is really starting to get too good to be true. To have an OutRun is amazing for me, But to have one that I know will always turn on is a game changer.

Just waiting for the announcement that smarty-pi is found to reduce Covid transmission by 99% in the over 80s. Nothing would surprise me now.

 

[2huwman]

Sweet! Can cannonball output motion controls perchance?

 

[dj_yt]

Sweet! Can cannonball output motion controls perchance?

From a software perspective yes, but currently the hardware (which is excellent) only supports upright cabinets.

 

[Purity]

This is really exciting guys. Well done!

 

[ColinD]

It's quite possible that I could do a 'lite' version of my cannonboard to plug in to the pi's usb port if Chris is able to get the coms running. Most of the hard work has already been done.

The only issue I can see is that some of the connectors are shared on both the Smarty Pi and the Cannonboard, also some of the controls are repeated.

 

[smarty]

Hi All.

General update is that the software has progressed and it almost at the point where there are very few minor alteration needed, the code seems reliable and works as it need to.

Chris has been burning the midnight oil porting and tweaking CannonBall to suit the SmartyPi design. I've attached a video showing CannonBall in action - this is the first build Chris sent over, the Gameplay is perfect, we just have a few UI adjustments to make to meet the fact we're using CannonBall in a cabinet with limited controls. Within CannonBall we have a SmartyPi section where the controls can be tested along with the IO of lamps and motors.

The PCB layout is now being reworked, I have been able to add a 4th output control line, this will enable all the flashing lamps and motors of an After Burner upright. I am also designing into the game adapters a dip link to allow use of the cabinets service button to trigger the game switch, instead of using an additional button. The service buttons generally add a credit to the game and do nothing else so its viable to use this in most cases.

The video below shows a quick game play of CannonBall, along with a brief tour of the menu system which is all controlled from the steering wheel, test and start button. CannonBall can be selected as an individual game for a cab or if you select it as part on a multigame system (as in my Turbo Out Run for example) I remove the MAME version of Out Run and use CannonBall, so you can switch between Turbo Out Run (MAME), CannonBall, Power Drift (MAME) you can also choose not to use CannonBall and run Out Run from MAME.

Things are progressing nicely, I'll keep you posted.

@Colin I'll message you to discuss.

smarty2021-03-06 17:24:36