Hey there! Appreciate anyone taking a look at this as I'm not super clear if I'm posting in the right thread. Making an educated guess since Groove Coaster appears to use a Taito Type X system/splash screen but of course I could be mistaken.
I recently came into ownership of a Groove Coaster/Rhythmvaders 4 cabinet and have been having a blast taking it apart and seeing how it works. Really stunned to see just how simple it all seems to be, however also a little annoyed to find that because I'm just a one-off owner that a number of songs/modes are locked off to me. I believe it comes down to the NESICA connection/system built into the game. Since I can't get on Taito's network, I can't use the card system and thus can't keep progress or unlock songs/modes through playing the game. All that said, my questions are as follows:
1) Does anyone have any work around for connecting to the network so that I can just get a card and use it like a normal/legit player? Only bright idea I tried was linking the cabinet to a PC which was connected to a VPN in Japan, however that did not work lol. Based on some reading I've done it doesn't seem like I can mimic the connection as Taito is looking for very specific static IPs, but hey, it was worth a shot.
2) Are there any means to unlock the songs/modes that are gated to me? Something to spoof the progression the system so that I can have everything opened up? I did find a user here from the UK that seemed to manage it through a few hacks, but he didn't leave any methods or tips and sadly doesn't appear to have been active for about 3 years now. (I still dropped him a line in case he happens to get a notice from here, fingers crossed!)
3) Does a repository somewhere have a copy/image of the Hard Drive for this game? Main reason I ask about this is data protection since the game runs off a simple 2.5" laptop hard drive that obviously won't last forever, so was really hoping to make a copy or create a backup drive (or 3) to ensure if anything conks out I can just swap in a new drive. I did look into cloning the existing drive from the system, however based on a few horror stories it seems that the file system is not common enough to work with most cloning software and you're more likely to brick the hard drive you're trying to preserve.
Any thoughts or ideas the community might have are certainly welcome. If it isn't obvious this is the first machine I've actually pulled the trigger on purchasing, so just doing whatever I can to protect/make the most of the investment. Thanks again!
I recently came into ownership of a Groove Coaster/Rhythmvaders 4 cabinet and have been having a blast taking it apart and seeing how it works. Really stunned to see just how simple it all seems to be, however also a little annoyed to find that because I'm just a one-off owner that a number of songs/modes are locked off to me. I believe it comes down to the NESICA connection/system built into the game. Since I can't get on Taito's network, I can't use the card system and thus can't keep progress or unlock songs/modes through playing the game. All that said, my questions are as follows:
1) Does anyone have any work around for connecting to the network so that I can just get a card and use it like a normal/legit player? Only bright idea I tried was linking the cabinet to a PC which was connected to a VPN in Japan, however that did not work lol. Based on some reading I've done it doesn't seem like I can mimic the connection as Taito is looking for very specific static IPs, but hey, it was worth a shot.
2) Are there any means to unlock the songs/modes that are gated to me? Something to spoof the progression the system so that I can have everything opened up? I did find a user here from the UK that seemed to manage it through a few hacks, but he didn't leave any methods or tips and sadly doesn't appear to have been active for about 3 years now. (I still dropped him a line in case he happens to get a notice from here, fingers crossed!)
3) Does a repository somewhere have a copy/image of the Hard Drive for this game? Main reason I ask about this is data protection since the game runs off a simple 2.5" laptop hard drive that obviously won't last forever, so was really hoping to make a copy or create a backup drive (or 3) to ensure if anything conks out I can just swap in a new drive. I did look into cloning the existing drive from the system, however based on a few horror stories it seems that the file system is not common enough to work with most cloning software and you're more likely to brick the hard drive you're trying to preserve.
Any thoughts or ideas the community might have are certainly welcome. If it isn't obvious this is the first machine I've actually pulled the trigger on purchasing, so just doing whatever I can to protect/make the most of the investment. Thanks again!
