Stunt Car Racer Multiplayer link and WinUAE - a nostalgic journey

Wasn't sure where to post this, but I promised b33rZi and atk on the irc channel I would post my results so here it is.

but first, some nostalgia...

I had an Amiga when I was a kid, and my friends and I all loved playing stunt car and keeping track of records etc.

We built a serial connection but were never able to get it to work.

Recently I got bored and started to play some WinUAE again, Pinball Fantasies mainly, but then I got to thinking about getting multiplayer working via WinUAE.

I got to figuring that a virtual null modem could work, so I found Com0Com and VSPD.net and got to work. Unfortunately I was unable to get them to work. VSPD connected, but the game link just didn't seem to progress.

Anyway, I came across a post on this board that said "Serial to Ethernet Connector 5" could do the job and after chatting with the guys on the irc channel, I gave it a try.

What ho, after a few hours trying to configure it (turns out a firewall setting was wrong, I turned firewalls off to get it to work) Stunt Car Racer multilinked perfectly and I was away for my first taste of smashing my friend off the track.

So now I'm looking into Stunt Car Racer TNT (which I found on the eab webserver) and whatever other serial link games I can try (anyone got a list?).

Cheers,

Mark

PS: If anyone knows of a free Virtual null modem software package that works with UAE and stunt car racer, I'd love to know. I'll probably buy a reall Null Modem Cable now that I know WinUAE can do serial link.

[Dreedo]

I believe Lotus 2 can serial link, supports 2 players on each amiga and 2 amigas, so a total of 4 player.

And welcome to the forum!

EDIT:

Skidmarks super, 1 & 2 are linkable.

Alien Breed 3D

Gloom 1,2,3, Deluxe.

XTreme Racing.

Dogfight

Populous 2

Cammy posted a better list here: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost...95&postcount=4

[Eclipse]

Vroom, knights of the sky, Lotus and Stunt car racer are awesome multiplayer.

[john4p]

Falcon (I think you can even link to Atari ST and PC)

[Twiggy]

http://www.amiga-online-games.de/gam...tribut=netzart

Does anyone know if there is any way to play tracks other than the first division over the serial link?

Shame someone didn't do a rip of each combination of the tracks moved into the second division when they were making TNT.

Still running ok on Serial to Ethernet Connector. Bought a Null modem cable today but have had no luck connecting with it.

Cheers,

Mark

[Anakirob]

Originally Posted by MarkOZLAD

Does anyone know if there is any way to play tracks other than the first division over the serial link?

Yup, it is explained in the manual which I shall quote for you here.

ACCESS TO TRACKS
----------------
Since there is no promotion in multi player, access to tracks higher than division four can only be made by saving games from single player when you have made it to a higher division. If you're good enough to reach division one in single player, you can play those tracks in multi player! Super League tracks can also only be accessed in this way.

[turrican3]

Toni,
have you abandoned the idea to play amiga games online through WinUAE ?

Originally Posted by Anakirob

Yup, it is explained in the manual which I shall quote for you here.

ACCESS TO TRACKS
----------------
Since there is no promotion in multi player, access to tracks higher than division four can only be made by saving games from single player when you have made it to a higher division. If you're good enough to reach division one in single player, you can play those tracks in multi player! Super League tracks can also only be accessed in this way.

Actually worked that out tonight without the manual, but thanks, this will be a good reference. I've never seen a manual :-)

I'll make an addendum to this, game saves made in regular Stunt Car Racer will also work with Stunt Car Racer TNT so you don't have to go to the bother of winning the division again.

Cheers,

Mark

as mentioned, bought a null modem cable today. Also had to buy a Usb to Serial Port adaptor to use on the laptop side.

Have had no luck.

Connected it. Used telnet to test connectivity. It was ok.

Tried Stunt Car Racer with all different combinations of serial port parameters in WinUAE, multilink won't start. Link Completed on one screen but not the other or just Link Abondoned depending on which machine starts the link first.

Checked the pinouts of the cable with multi meter against the diagrams on the amiga forever page http://www.amigaforever.com/kb/13-105. They matched.

Anyone have any experience doing this?

Cheers,

Mark

[DDNI]

I built that cable. It works great.

Does anyone out there have stunt car racer saves for all divisions?

Originally Posted by DDNI

I built that cable. It works great.

DDNI,

Did you use that WinUAE to WinUAE?

[DDNI]

no A1200T 060 to 1200D 030

[turrican3]

Originally Posted by Dreedo

I believe Lotus 2 can serial link, supports 2 players on each amiga and 2 amigas, so a total of 4 player.

And welcome to the forum!

EDIT:

Skidmarks super, 1 & 2 are linkable.

Alien Breed 3D

Gloom 1,2,3, Deluxe.

XTreme Racing.

Dogfight

Populous 2

Cammy posted a better list here: http://www.amiga.org/forums/showpost...95&postcount=4

populous 1 too.

[jPV]

Originally Posted by DDNI

I built that cable. It works great.

Games don't usually need handshaking in the cable, so just three wires connected is enough (txd and rxd swapped, ground direct). I once built a 10 meter long 3-wire cable to play SCR between two rooms.

[AmigaHope]

Stunt Car Racer works fine via null-modem with Atari ST (tested in real life many years ago) as did a number other games that were essentially ST ports. xD In the case of SCR I believe the Atari ST got a slight advantage over the Amiga in terms of in-game performance (i.e car speed is tied to framerate)