Sega Daytona USA Mega Adapter Installation Help

[themotherbrain]

Hey all I'm hoping to get a little assistance with setting up mega adapters in my daytona usa cabs. I bought these a few months back (thanks @Khatru311) and am just now trying to make sense of it all. I'm familiar with virtual pinball stuff (vpx) but this racecab ffb stuff is new to me.

This lot included the preloaded ssd with the image available from github. I'm told this is pretty much plug and play but I don't know where to start setup. I've plugged the connectors into the mega adapter and installed the ssd into the pc. How do I make this adapter and ssd communicate with my cabinet? I've installed the model 2 emulator separately and confirmed it works with a keyboard but I assume all this stuff is on the ssd already correct? Should the wheel start working automatically like a joystick regardless of the feedback working once plugged in?

I'd settle for just getting a single daytona cabinet running first and going from there. Ultimately I have 4 that I would like to link. Just running lcd screens and speakers off the pc so nothing complicated there.

I figured starting a thread would be good to help others as well and I will be happy to pay it forward once I can grasp this myself. Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

 

[Tibal]

Hi

A lot of info can be read here:

Thread 'MEGA ADAPTERS - Plug and Play PC in SEGA Racing Cabinets'

Nov 18, 2023

Hi,

To make PC conversion of SEGA Racing Cabinets easy, I started making PCBs based on SailorSat, BigPanik and njz3's work and code. The goal is to have something Plug and Play, and user friendly from a Hardware perspective, doing no harm to our beloved cabinets.

These PCBs are made to replace the original stack cage. The connectors are the same as on the cage's Filterboard.
All the other original boards, including FFB boards, are kept.
PC <-> Cabinet communication is performed by an Arduino MEGA2560 with njz3 software. Thus, its name : MEGA Adapter
It allows Multi-game with FFB or...

• Tibal
• Replies: 110
• Forum: Project Showcase

• 
• 

In particular in the latest youtube tutorial (conversion of an Initial D cabinet)

The Mega Adapter and the PC communicate via USB, thanks to BackForceFeeder which should be already installed and launch automatically. Once launched, it's in the tray, and you can right click on its logo to display its window (if Hyperspin launches, quit it with ESC, then V on the keyboard).
From BackForceFeeder GUI you can check everything.

Yes Model 2 emulator is already installed.
Yes, steering should work even without FFB.

Can you show me your Mega Adapter installed in your cab ?

 

[themotherbrain]

Sure!

Ok so I've read the readme file that was on the ssd and have successfully been able to boot it from the pc! When booted the lights came on for games I tested and the controller seems to works minus gear shift 1-4 seem to be in incorrect order. I will have to worry about the basics first I guess

I have been able to play a few games but the hyperspin menu is hard for me to navigate. The steering wheel will only turn left in the menu. The only way to scroll right is to us the shifter for some reason. The steering and view change buttons work fine in games so does this mean I have a button mapping issue in the frontend? How would I go about solving this issue?

 

[themotherbrain]

I'm having trouble getting the shifter to work correctly with manual transmission. Is there a specific menu to set up the daytona style shifter? If I try to assign a button to any of gear 1-4 in the model 2 emulator it just assigns button 11 no matter which gear I select. Button 11 is supposed to be neutral according to the menu. All of the other buttons function as they should but I can't properly shift gears in the game. I've tried messing with raw inputs on vjoy but not sure I understand what I need to do.

 

[Tibal]

Is there a sticker on your SSD, to see if the image you have is optimized for Daytona or if it's a version prior to the date njz3 began to optimize for each cab?

According to my notes you should have the "3.0 Neo" version of the M2 Mega Adapter which has the latest and standard hardware mapping njz3 uses. So your issues should be soft related only.

In any case, your shifter has 3 switches, that correspond to the upper row (shifts 1&3), the lower row (shifts 2&4) and left (or right?) column (shifts 1&2 if I remember correctly, or 3&4 if I don't). The shifts are combination of these raw buttons, seen as raw input 9,10,11.

There is a H shifter section in BFF where you can set these 3 raw buttons so they become 4 vjoy inputs. That's what you want to check for H4 games such as Daytona series, Sega Rally series, Scud Race etc.

For Hyperspin, I'm not really sure, I don't use it usually.
Did you calibrate and copy your axes like explained in my video?
I know that njz3 added (or replace ?) the wheel selection with the shifter selection on Up/Down shifter equipped cabs, because it's more precise. Shifter scrolls 1 by 1, view buttons 10 by 10 or so.

And thinking about it, maybe the easiest option for you is to get the latest version of BFF on njz3's Github, and the latest config files that match your cab (4 views/H4). Maybe everything will work without having to configure anything except axis calibration.

 

[themotherbrain]

Yes there is a sticker on the ssd and I do have the neo 3.0 adapter. I've attached pics for reference. Is this the latest and greatest? I had not watched your video yet but I will after work today and report back with my progress.

Ok good so the shifter select thing is normal in the menu. I thought the steering and shifter controls were mixed up somehow. I still need to figure out why I can't turn the wheel right to scroll the menu though. What frontend do you use? This is my first time using hyperspin. I've been using pinup popper for years on my virtual pinball cabinet.

Also good to hear it should just be a software issue with the shifter. I saw the h shifter section I will have to check it out again. Hopefully I can get this solved so I can play it properly! Worst case I need to set up more than one cab still so flashing a new drive isn't out of the question if I need to. I'd like to understand the program itself if possible so for now I'll try to adjust things myself.

 

[Tibal]

Ok so for some reason you have an SSD optimized for an up/down shifter, so that's normal your H4 shifter is not set properly.
I confirm that updating BFF and putting the latest config files from Github will be a good thing to do. Backup you current files to avoid mistakes.

I don't use a front end, I launch on a specific game automatically, and I change from time to time. And I use a tiny wireless keyboard if I want play a different game just once.

 

[themotherbrain]

I got a couple new ssd today and will flash a new disk image so I can start fresh. I see the control sets available for download. I know I need to the files for a 4 view 4 shift cab but where do I put these files so I can optimize my setup?

 

[Tibal]

The Controlsets are to be put in Documents/BackForceFeeder/Controlsets

Starting from 0 is a lot of work, even if it's a good way to know and understand your system. Maybe it will be faster just to replace your Controlset folder though. Up to you.

 

[themotherbrain]

Ok! Yeah I just worked through the config issues on this ssd rather than start from 0 and I've got everything mostly working now.

I have managed to update Backforcefeeder to the latest version and I've updated and renamed the correct control set files for my cabinet. I've calibrated my wheel, pedals, and duplicated the adjustment. This has made the cabinet function overall as it should including the hyperspin menu scrolling issue I mentioned earlier. The lights work fine and blink as they should in game but I still have no steering feedback.

I've placed my license key file in the documents folder and have full access to the backforcefeeder program. It is saying in device manager that my mega adapter is com port 16 but I'm not sure how to confirm it's working. I am still running the original model 2 feedback board. I have a couple of the multi rom boards but I don't know if they are important to install now. I THINK when I installed the latest BFF program the motor kicked on for short second so maybe something works but I'm not configured correctly.

I'm so close! Already having a blast with it now that the shifter is working correctly! Can you please help me get this wheel going now? Thanks so much for making these. I have many more cabinets that I will be looking to convert as well!

 

[themotherbrain]

Also is there a way to correct the shifter on Outrun? Can I somehow turn the toggle off so I can have a low/high gear shift?

 

[Tibal]

For your FFB it's normal, the method you see in my video tutorial with the COM thing is dedicated to JVS cabinets with MIDI or RS Servoboards.

For Sega Model cabinets like your Daytona, you have 2 options:

- Option 1 (not for you, as you want to play many games): leave your Driveboard as is, with its Daytona EPROM, and set the Target Hardware in BFF/App&Hardware to RAW mode. This would give you the ORIGINAL force feedback, only on Daytona game. Other games wouldn't have FFB.

- Option 2: install carefully your MultiFFB board (remove the original EPROM checking the key orientation, install the MultiFFB board in its place with the same orientation). Pay attention, the legs can break easily.
Select Sega Rally (SR1) EPROM (all dips to Off) on the MultiFFB
Select the "Comp_M2_SR1" Target Hardware in BFF.
You'll get EMULATED force feedback for all games.

 

[Tibal]

Also is there a way to correct the shifter on Outrun? Can I somehow turn the toggle off so I can have a low/high gear shift?

Yes, look in the Button window of BFF when Outrun controlset is selected (you may have to temporarily disable the Auto Select Controlset at Runtime option in App&Hardware to do so), find your shift buttons and play with toggle options to find the behaviour that suits you

 

[themotherbrain]

It's alive! I followed your instructions and I now have feedback communication from the pc. The steering feedback clutch doesn't seems to be engaging fully though and it's weak. The wheel will twitch a bit. I can't get it to turn the wheel in the diagnostics test like in the video. Is there an adjustment I should be making from here to make it stronger? I've tried 2 different feedback boards and 2 different wheel setups and seem to be getting the same result. I have not tried the other transformer/power supply/wiring harness set yet to compare but thought there may be a something else I need to do first.

I have a feeling my issue is hardware related in the cab because when I power the feedback on the wheel doesn't not turn left and right like it should. Wonder if I have a power issue. The motor just turns on and runs for like 30 seconds until I manually move it left and right.

 

[Tibal]

Good!

I don't know how the wheel should behave at startup, I don't know these Type A motors well enough. I know that for Type B (Touring Car, Le Mans...) and Type C with Model 3 FFB boards, the wheel init performs at startup without the need of a game. If it's the same thing for Type A, then yes you probably have an hardware issue.

Maybe you can try to select D1 EPROM on your MultiFFB and see if it behaves like you're used to. EDIT: Always switch EPROM when power is OFF

You can also show me your main BFF window and your App and Hardware window to double check everything is ok.

Next step for you is to get the Diagnostic Mode working with SR1 EPROM

 

[themotherbrain]

Ok so I replaced the power supply and it now works great! This is so awesome man! I will now work on assembling a second cabinet so I can link them. I appreciate your help greatly.

I started with the original daytona rom so I could feel the correct feedback for a bit and then installed the multi rom boards. Now it's very sensitive in the hyperspin menu. When I start hyperspin it starts twitching a bit while sitting idle. Is gain and power law the proper adjustment in the control set to make this stop? I adjusted both and it's better but I wasn't sure if there is a more suitable method.

Also when I boot Outrun the game says warming motors moves the wheel right then moves the wheel left and just holds it there. The game will actually start while the wheel is still being held in the left position. Is this normal? I haven't been able to play a game yet with ffb. I do have an outrun cabaret but I was looking forward to trying it in the racecab

 

[Tibal]

My pleasure, glad to see you're happy with it

I started with the original daytona rom so I could feel the correct feedback for a bit and then installed the multi rom boards

Remember the original Daytona EPROM is included in the MultiFFB board under "D1" name. You can try it again whenever you want just by selecting D1 EPROM and choosing RAW as Target Hardware in BFF

Now it's very sensitive in the hyperspin menu. When I start hyperspin it starts twitching a bit while sitting idle. Is gain and power law the proper adjustment in the control set to make this stop? I adjusted both and it's better but I wasn't sure if there is a more suitable method.

Yes Power Law (above 1, it reduces small effects) and Gain are appropriate ajustements. Just make sure you selected Hyperspin Controlset before tweaking.
You can also adjust the torque deadband so that the Spring effect does not operate at the very center (because I believe the twitching you see is related to this)

For Outrun, I don't know. Are you talking about Outrun 1?

 

[themotherbrain]

Ok I can deal with those adjustments easily enough. I think I've got it sorted already but didn't want to get too involved in case there was a different method.

When changing the dipswitch in the multi ffb board do I need to power the board off or can I change it while on?

Yes I am talking about the original Outrun. It's just holding the wheel pinned to the left. I will try to post a video later to explain what I am saying if it's not clear.

 

[Tibal]

When changing the dipswitch in the multi ffb board do I need to power the board off or can I change it while on?

You have to change dipswitch config when power is OFF

Yes I am talking about the original Outrun. It's just holding the wheel pinned to the left. I will try to post a video later to explain what I am saying if it's not clear.

I don't know sorry. Maybe @njz3 has an idea?
In the meantime you can check your wheel calibration for this game in BFF, check the motor calibration in App and Hardware, and check if there is a calibration setting in the service menu of the game.

 

[njz3]

@themotherbrain you can try to open FFBPluginGUI.exe that is located in C:\Racecab\Emulator\MAME\ and test your FFB for "outrun".
No idea so far