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LazerFlux

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Figure I should start dumping things here instead of spamming up the "Post your recent buys" thread.

Popped open the control panels on my VOOT 5.66 cab for a mixed bag of surprises.

Regreased the sticks and replaced the grips on the original sticks on the RNA side.
Need to mold a new bottom plate for the right stick though, the hot glue irks me.
9pR20Ci.jpg


What work was done to this, was done pretty well. I'm still going to see if I can find some original sticks to replace the DNA side though.


Rest of the images are here:
https://imgur.com/a/gm5tfXf


EDIT 2021/01/14

Figure I should document some specifics about this cab since there aren't many floating around.

Monitor is a Nanao MS2933 with the expected Toshiba tube.

I/O is standard Sega JVS.
Billboard VS functionality exists from factory as winner lamp only, however the game supports full VS Billboards.

Game supports a third networked unit in spectator mode, selectable with the "satellite" option in the game test menu.

There are 4 speakers in each side (and perhaps also a subwoofer under the seat, I need to double check).

The monitor-side and seat speakers are an odd 3 inch by 5 inch size.
The monitor-side speakers are shielded. I'm unsure of the impedance as of present. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JV18YM0/ These may be a suitable replacement, confirmation TBD. I have purchased one pair to test.
Seat speakers are in gullwing boxes with an odd rating. I think 4 ohm, 16W? I will need to double-check on this the next time I visit my cab.
Amplifier PCB is 838-11650-23, paired with a 838-11651-91 lowpass.

If you are lucky enough to have original joysticks in decent condition and you plan to actually use them, a recommendation that I heard from TwistedSymphony is to fill the money-saving spaces in the bases with epoxy as well as the spaces next to the joystick shaft in the grips. Be sure to cover the the outside of the joystick grips with tape before doing this.
The bases also commonly crack around the screw grommets on the bottom, I would reinforce there too.

Marquee holders are bespoke to Virtual-On 5.2, 5.66 and Force.

VMU Slot is present in both control panels, uses sega maple pcb 171-79738.
Spring-loaded door on this slot often is missing or broken (both of mine are).

All of the artwork, except the marquee backing is printed on holographic material.

The screws / scrivets in the seat backs are completely plastic and must be removed EXTREMELY CAREFULLY. Ideally you should have replacements on deck.
This is not specific to this machine but it really annoys me regardless.
 
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it looks like you've got middle revision sticks (square section of the shaft around the bolt holes.
early revision sticks have no square section, and late revision sticks are square the entire length.

grips for the early revision sticks used the same mold as the Saturn and Dreamcast sticks so they should be interchangeable.

I'm not sure about the middle revision sticks, I'd definitely check the shape of the cavety around the bolt holes inside the grip to see if it actually accommodates the square section of the shaft.

I do know that the late revision grips used a different mold as they also changed the trigger button mechanism.

plastic quality was a bit cheaper on the home consoles and of course Dreamcast sticks are light gray and orange.
Saturn grips will be closer in color to the arcade, a bit darker than the originals but overall better than the Dreamcast.
 
it looks like you've got middle revision sticks (square section of the shaft around the bolt holes.
early revision sticks have no square section, and late revision sticks are square the entire length.

grips for the early revision sticks used the same mold as the Saturn and Dreamcast sticks so they should be interchangeable.

I'm not sure about the middle revision sticks, I'd definitely check the shape of the cavety around the bolt holes inside the grip to see if it actually accommodates the square section of the shaft.

I do know that the late revision grips used a different mold as they also changed the trigger button mechanism.

plastic quality was a bit cheaper on the home consoles and of course Dreamcast sticks are light gray and orange.
Saturn grips will be closer in color to the arcade, a bit darker than the originals but overall better than the Dreamcast.
It looks like the middle revision sticks are compatible as well, as I pulled the grips and button mechanisms off the set of DC sticks I've had kicking around (viewable in the link).

As far as I can tell, mold and plastic composition is identical (visual inspection, sounds exactly the same when I flick it, and my frequency sensitivity tops out at about 23KHz) between the DC and middle revision arcade grips.

I may grab a couple sets of Saturn sticks for spares. The grips looked identical on the outside but I wasn't sure about inside.

Thank you so much for the info!
 
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Post reserved for joystick repro progress

Successfully reproduced the base part that breaks all the time, with a restrictor plate gracefully modeled and printed by @twistedsymphony
stick-repro-base.jpg

panel-underside-repro.jpg


Working on the rest of it.

Update 2022/07/03:
Been working closely with a local friend of mine for the past several months to get the original joystick parts modeled and improved.

voot-repro-joystick-parts.jpg
Spring perch and cap need to be slightly adjusted, however all plastic parts unrelated to the grips should be accurately reproducable for play-feel and greatly enhanced durability.
The reproduction parts you see there are currently undergoing stress testing.

There will be models available eventually for original and revised reproduction parts.
 
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Post reserved for artwork repros

Still very WIP but here's a preview.
I am having a very good friend of mine do these and I need to get him out here to actually see the cabinet in person, so they are like.... 85% done


 
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Post reserved for live monitor progress and related rigging/fabrication

It works! It's pretty dang cool that they had this as a feature from day 1.


2020/09/18 - got it set up for gameplay.

 
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Post reserved for ROM translation efforts

I have no idea what I'm doing
3monitors.png



Update 2020-09-21:
@MetalliC provided some very welcome assistance with getting resources extracted (thank you again! :D) -- Now I need to get a lot of the extracted resources extracted, however I was able to get one translatable PVR out of it.

pvr0029-t.png


I have no idea what I should do with these MRG/TEX/MT files, I may have to dive in and try and yank the actual compression routines from the game code depending on what I figure out.

update: MRG files appear to be whatever resource type they represent, just with the data all concatenated together. --- NVM just some of them. Others appear to be obfuscated/compressed.
update #2: appears to be zlib-compressed
2021/01/26 update #3: successfully extracted textures into an editable form.

2021/05/08 update #4:

SUCCESS.PNG

Thanks again to @MetalliC for additional technical assistance, which I assuredly would have been quite lost without.
I've now got a workable method for messing with all the texture data I need to mess with in order to get this done. This is obviously not a finalized thing at all right now but I am happy for progress!
 
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Still very WIP but here's a preview.
I am having a very good friend of mine do these and I need to get him out here to actually see the cabinet in person, so they are like.... 85% done
any chance your friend wants to do 5.2 conversion seat backs? :D
 
Still very WIP but here's a preview.
I am having a very good friend of mine do these and I need to get him out here to actually see the cabinet in person, so they are like.... 85% done
any chance your friend wants to do 5.2 conversion seat backs? :D
I'm sure he'd take the work on :) though I don't know if he'd want to touch virtual on for a bit after doing the 5.66 artwork LOL
 
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Wow looks stunning!

love the holographic artwork on the cabs :)
 
live monitor progress
DUDE!

I've been pestering everyone I know with a VO setup to get a live monitor going and I'm pretty sure you're the first to make it happen... perhaps even the first in the USA? I've only ever seen it in JP tournaments back in the day.

now you've got to get some Vs. billboard units mounted for scorekeeping :D
 
live monitor progress
DUDE!
I've been pestering everyone I know with a VO setup to get a live monitor going and I'm pretty sure you're the first to make it happen... perhaps even the first in the USA? I've only ever seen it in JP tournaments back in the day.

now you've got to get some Vs. billboard units mounted for scorekeeping :D
I saw a JP basement setup on twitter recently with what's probably a live monitor between the two cabs with a PC screen, but that's as much as I've seen as of late.
Ever since you told me about it, I've been wanting to set it up! :D

Billboard units would be cool as heck!!! I'll have to poke you in PM about it sometime, as I know you've done considerable work with those.
Wow looks stunning!

love the holographic artwork on the cabs :)
Thank you! That's actually stock, which is coincidentally why getting reproductions made is such a hassle :D ;(
 
Billboard units would be cool as heck!!! I'll have to poke you in PM about it sometime, as I know you've done considerable work with those.
you'll want to seek out a set from New Versus City or Blast city as they're more compact. The Versus City units will work but you'll be dealing with a bunch of extra hardware and wires.

the TLDR is: basically it's power+ 8 wires from the IO board output pins to the billboard. you only need to hook it up to one unit and that can control both billboards. I'm not sure if it would work running out from the satellite board, though you probably don't need an IO board hooked up to that at all.
 
Didn't you also research those pretty much up to the point of prototyping/full repro? I figure if I can just snag some extra large digit panels it'd be cheaper (and more fun) to send a Gerber off to jl and socket an atmega.
 
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