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Namco Mach Storm / Star Wars Battle Pod

Tableblazer said:
Hey. Just purchased have 1 as well. Does your dongle have any identification numbers on it. As well can you see what is on it when you put it on a PC. My machine does not have a dongle... so I am looking to purchase on from manufacturer.
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Here's a picture of the dongle case. I still haven't got to try to repair it, it is in fact missing components (diode, resistor) of which I do not know the values.

20230410_110856.jpg
 
vholfx said:
Here's a picture of the dongle case. I still haven't got to try to repair it, it is in fact missing components (diode, resistor) of which I do not know the values.

20230410_110856.jpg
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Ok cool. Thanks. The number I got from the manufacture is in the next picture.
Screenshot_20230410_163408_Outlook.jpg
 
It's alive!, well I cheated for now, I'm using "dancing bird emulator" and it's running at like, 2 FPS.

I'll keep tinkering with it while I fix the original dongle and get the original setup running again.

20230412_223938.jpg
 
vholfx said:
It's alive!, well I cheated for now, I'm using "dancing bird emulator" and it's running at like, 2 FPS.

I'll keep tinkering with it while I fix the original dongle and get the original setup running again.

20230412_223938.jpg
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Well that is cool. I will have to get on discord and see how you did it.

I ended up ordering a replacement dongle from Bandai-Namco. It should be here next week. It was more than I wanted to spend, but at least it we be working(fingers crossed). I will let you know how it goes when it shows up.
 
Tableblazer said:
Well that is cool. I will have to get on discord and see how you did it.

I ended up ordering a replacement dongle from Bandai-Namco. It should be here next week. It was more than I wanted to spend, but at least it we be working(fingers crossed). I will let you know how it goes when it shows up.
Click to expand...

Actually, getting a new dongle is the right move, Franko is helping me fix the one I have, otherwise I would have bought a new one too. With any other solution you have to make compromises.
 
Tableblazer said:
Well that is cool. I will have to get on discord and see how you did it.

I ended up ordering a replacement dongle from Bandai-Namco. It should be here next week. It was more than I wanted to spend, but at least it we be working(fingers crossed). I will let you know how it goes when it shows up.
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As for the Star Wars running slow. Have you hacked how much ram is in your system. I noticed mine only has 1 stick, but did not look at the value of it. Maybe more ram would help with the speed. Just a thought.
 
vholfx said:
Actually, getting a new dongle is the right move, Franko is helping me fix the one I have, otherwise I would have bought a new one too. With any other solution you have to make compromises.
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Yeah now I am playing the waiting game.

So when you put your dongle in a regular PC you don't get anything, no files appear or it is not even recognized?
 
So low performance was just a graphics card driver issue, I got it running at native speed now. No news on the dongle yet, the traces are lifted and it is overall pretty bad, It will be tricky to repair, and it doesn't help I'm not that good with SMD soldering, at all.

Tableblazer said:
Yeah now I am playing the waiting game.

So when you put your dongle in a regular PC you don't get anything, no files appear or it is not even recognized?
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According to others, there's nothin you can see on the drive, which is expected, but it should be recognized as a USB device.
 
So I received the dongle yesterday.. I.plugged it on and fired ip the machine. Still coming up with 19-22 USB Dongle Error(no dongle). I am now at a loss. I did plug into another PC after trying I game, and it is not even recognized. So now I do not know if I got a faulty one, or if it is because my machine is from Japan.
Your emulator idea is starting to look real good.

May be hitting you up for info.
 
How are you running the star wars. Are you using the machines PC, or are you using another PC. I think I want.to make another PC and try that way. Any advise would be appreciated.
 
If the machine is from Japan, you should have ordered a dongle for the same region. You might reach out to support again and ask for them to exchange the dongle, you would lose on shipping but it would be significantly less.

I am running Star Wars on the original hardware, although it really is just a PC with a JVS interface for all the controllers. There is a great post about the ES3 system shared by Franco23444 where he explains the ins and out of the system.
 
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vholfx said:
If the machine is from Japan, you should have ordered a dongle for the same region. You might reach out to support again and ask for them to exchange the dongle, you would lose on shipping but it would be significantly less.

I am running Star Wars on the original hardware, although it really is just a PC with a JVS interface for all the controllers. There is a great post about the ES3 system shared by Franco23444 where he explains the ins and out of the system.
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Well I am interested as well. I am.not familiar with the ES3 system so I guess I will be doing some research. Thanks for all the information you have passed on so far. I will keep you updated with.my progress.

I was hoping to.maybe get onto the bios, but it is password protected. No to find a way to get around that.

Thanks again
 
I have to report back, I managed to fix the original dongle thanks to the invaluable help of @Franco23444.

One thing to note here, the USB slot you plug the dongle into DOES matter. I first plugged it in the first USB slot, but after reading the manual, which states it should go into USB slot 3, I did so and it worked!

@Tableblazer We noticed your error is different than mine 19-21 USB DONGLE ERROR (INVALID DONGLE), if your says "NO DONGLE" that means either a bad dongle or a bad usb port.

Anyway, this beast is up and running again! All is left is adjust the projector and possibly get a new lamp for it.
 

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One more thing, I managed to hack into the "dancing bird" program source code and got Mach Storm and Star Wars running on the same hardware, fully IO operational by bypassing all the input hooks it uses to emulate the JVS interface.

I have some issues with the screen resolution and full screen display but I should be able to fix those.
 
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vholfx said:
I have to report back, I managed to fix the original dongle thanks to the invaluable help of @Franco23444.

One thing to note here, the USB slot you plug the dongle into DOES matter. I first plugged it in the first USB slot, but after reading the manual, which states it should go into USB slot 3, I did so and it worked!

@Tableblazer We noticed your error is different than mine 19-21 USB DONGLE ERROR (INVALID DONGLE), if your says "NO DONGLE" that means either a bad dongle or a bad usb port.

Anyway, this beast is up and running again! All is left is adjust the projector and possibly get a new lamp for it.
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Yeah. The error I get is with or without the dongle.plugged in. It's like it doesn't see it. I am trying all ports 1 by 1 at the moment. I have tested all with a mouse and they all.see that so pretty sure the ports are ok.
 
UPDATE. So I got in touch with Joe at Bandai-Namco America, appears that my pod is not from the N.A region(according to S/N), and therefore the "Dongle" they sold me will not work.

Good news is there is still a chance.

In the mean time I am playing mame games on it.
 
Tableblazer said:
UPDATE. So I got in touch with Joe at Bandai-Namco America, appears that my pod is not from the N.A region(according to S/N), and therefore the "Dongle" they sold me will not work.

Good news is there is still a chance.

In the mean time I am playing mame games on it.
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Just a stupid question... the fan fir the projector is really annoying loud... is that normal. I plan on a remote vent but this is stupid
 
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