Progress Update!
https://imgur.com/G9ySXOv
Massive thanks first to
@Darksoft for decrypting the netboot from from the install cd. The game rom ended up being almost a gig, so I had to upgrade the ram in the netdimm to accompany it. Also worth noting that the Chihiro needed JP10 on the media board adjusted to recognize the netdimm with 1gb of memory.
Onto the actual game. It boots on a Type 1 Chihiro, except startup complains about the media board (which tells me I my info was wrong, so I need a Type 3 media board. Need to solve later.) Only check that passed was the I/O since i had a type 2 jvs connected. Worth noting also that without the game preloaded in the ram takes pretty long, though I would assume this only happened on the original cabinets for the first install and whenever a new update / rom was pushed out to the satellites.
https://imgur.com/bLi9tDV
The screen moved to an error after the checks failed saying it couldn't find the network board, which is to be expected. It gave the option for going to the test menu or pressing "PSW1", which i couldn't figure out. Most likely it's some button I just don't have, but I'll get around it eventually once I solve the media board problem.
https://imgur.com/8eR10Zz
Test mode is pretty dense, lots of stuff to look at, also with noting that the build date for the rom is September 8th 2004. I can't find any concrete proof online, but i have a decent feeling this is the launch version of the game.
https://imgur.com/USCKwc6
Game assignments had one main option, defining if the Chihiro was a satellite or "Live" (I'm going to assume this is short to Live Monitor or something similar to what Daytona / Virtual-On use)
https://imgur.com/Ol2rzOj
https://imgur.com/FQTandk
If the mode is set to "Live", test menu becomes much much smaller and gives you zero options for input/output test which makes me think the live monitor / server cabinet doesn't have any IO board.
https://imgur.com/TLWGacK
One other thing is the network check. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume "Nationwide" means ALL.Net, while the inhouse server is the local Linux server that runs in the live monitor / server cabinet. I have the server running in a VM (I'll post about this later since I'm still researching it), so I still need to move it to a physical interface that the Chihiro can see. Actually trying the checks gave a "NG", and I didn't see anything being pushed out from the Chihiro in Wireshark so I know it isn't trying to send anything out right now. (Maybe it's upset there's no ethernet cable on baseboard?).
https://imgur.com/VDTYxm7
I also visited the input check, and cross referenced it with some pictures online to get a good idea of what the control panel is supposed to look like / how it's supposed to function. Main thing to note is the joystick is analog (I would assume similar or exact part as virtua striker 4).
https://imgur.com/dqqhA0b
https://imgur.com/06JZGdn
Some last few notes on what I've learned and tried so far in case anyone wants to chime in;
- Touchscreen through the type2 I/O's db9 connector doesn't seem to work, I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to get this working?
- Type 3 Chihiro has two ethernet ports, any chance media board port is just for netbooting and base board port is for LAN/ALL.Net?
- Card reader is for IC cards, so maybe Virtua Striker 4 / Virtua Fighter 4 card readers would work?
- Is Live Monitor Chihiro required for satellite to boot? (Since it's in the same cabinet as the Linux server)
Honestly I'd really like to try and find a manual for this or some wiring diagrams, since alot is unclear right now on how the cabinets and the server are supposed to be connected / wired up. It's entirely possible the game can boot without the card readers (which would be good), though I'm not sure how many people would want that considering how thorough the game's content regarding card usage is.
