serial link for games on one PC

[abu_the_monkey]

Hi there,

Is it possible to run serial link for games on one PC between 2 open winuae 'sessions'?

odd ball question i know.

[Lineof7s]

I'm not in a position to look up the relevant parts of WinUAE at the moment, but I can say that yes, yes you can. I've done it before to set up a "split-screen" 2-player game of Stunt Car Racer on one machine. Worked well, too, once I got it running.

[abu_the_monkey]

Awesome

[abu_the_monkey]

so I still haven't got this to work.
I have had stunt car racer report it has linked up between the 2 instances of winuae but not been able to start a game, and in alienbreed3d2 (whdload version) I get an 'out of fast ram' from the slave instance when trying to enter a game.
anyone have any advice/experience with this?

[abu_the_monkey]

I got lotus turbo challenge 2 to work using 'IO ports/Serial Port/WinUAE inter-process serial port [Master]' with 'Direct' selected only for the first instance and 'IO ports/Serial Port/WinUAE inter-process serial port [Slave]' with 'Direct' selected only for the second instance.
however the other games just get stuck before entering a track or level...

[Lineof7s]

Well now you've made me go and do it again.

First of all, I know I've made this work before, including games starting and playing them. I know it's not exactly convincing, but here's a screenshot of two WinUAE instances running side-by-side in NucleusCoOp (a program for running multiple instances of games to play networked multiplayer as split-screen) in a game of Stunt Car Racer.



Here's the WinUAE config file I used back in the day to get it working (after much trial and error). Rename this to [whatever you like].uae

https://pastebin.com/BydCYFHT

In my brief pokes at it this morning (on a work day, no less!) I haven't made it much further than you - Lotus Turbo 2 starts and runs great; Stunt Car Racer connects, but doesn't start the game - but this might give you something to go on with.

[abu_the_monkey]

cheers for taking the time to look into this again
I will defiantly take a look at you config, but I cant help thinking its something obvious that I am overlooking

[Lineof7s]

To be fair, I don't think there's anything in that config you haven't already tried. Certainly, when I started tinkering this morning (before I found the config) I tried multiple combinations of options in the Serial settings to no avail... but when I started with the config it worked first time, so goodness knows what else has changed (if anything).

Still, it's with that experience in mind I offer it up, such that it is.

[malko]

https://eab.abime.net/showthread.php...37#post1235337
(and read from the start of the thread)

[Lineof7s]

Thank you for that link... but I'm not sure what it's telling us that we didn't already know (and/or tried). ...unless I've missed something obvious, which can happen.

[abu_the_monkey]

ok, so by unchecking 'IO ports/Serial Port/Direct' stuntcar racer now works (need to run without jit to avoid graphic corruption) it stutters a bit on the 'master' instance of winUAE. Ab3d2 with the same settings still gets stuck when entering a map/level, the 2mb version draws the first frame out and that is all. the 4mb version draws the boarder out but that is all.
still some way to go but going in the right direction

[abu_the_monkey]

the serial link code in ab3d2 seems to be a little bit sensitive, I have had it running but its a bit hit and miss. more tinkering required, no wonder it is called 'serial_nightmare' in the source code.

[abu_the_monkey]

I have found that for ab3d2 using 'IO ports/Serial Port/WinUAE inter-process serial port [Master]' with only 'Direct' selected (with jit on or off) for the first instance and 'IO ports/Serial Port/WinUAE inter-process serial port [Slave]' with only 'Direct' selected (with jit off) for the second instance works reliably with both the original/whdload and the new builds, haven't mastered the control setup to actually play against anyone yet but very happy that it works.

note. the jit can be enabled on the second instance after you enter a level/map for better performance but must be off when selecting a new one from the games menu system.

[abu_the_monkey]

amended a typo in the previous post

[lesta_smsc]

Just a quick message to say, yes it is possible! In fact, I've managed to run Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 this way. I believe WinUAE lets you enable this by bypassing it, however, if I remember correctly, I used 2 emulated COM ports using Eltima Virtual Serial Port Driver and essentially connecting the COM ports to each other.

However, the most incredible thing is that there was a YouTube video that showed serial gaming between an Amiga and WinUAE: [ Show youtube player ]

[abu_the_monkey]

that's cool

[abu_the_monkey]

is it posable to have separate keyboard and mouse input to each instance of winuae?

i.e. 2xmice 2xkeyboards 1 set for winuae instance 1 and the other for winuae instance 2

as I am finding it difficult to setup the inputs so that one does not effect the other with a single mouse and keyboard setup.

[Mock]

Try and use the version 4.1.0 64bit. all newer versions seems to not work. i am on 5.0 Beta 6 and was unable to get stunt car racer working. the first time i tried 4.1.0 it worked otherwise it end up being stuck when typing player 2 name and cannot press continue. for 4.1.0 the interconnect works as it supposed to do. remember to goto pre. & ext and remove disable controller when inactive in that why its possible to play with controller and keyboard at the same time

[Toni Wilen]

https://www.winuae.net/files/b/winuae.7z should fix it, please confirm.

Thanks for finally having post that includes recent version numbers

i.e. 2xmice 2xkeyboards 1 set for winuae instance 1 and the other for winuae instance 2

Mouse is easy, just select different in config #1 and another in config #2. Make sure "Mouse/joystick autoswitching" is not ticked!

Two physical keyboards are possible but currently it needs manual input panel configuration.

[abu_the_monkey]

thanks Toni

I have been running 2 player serial link games fine in 4.10.1 (2023.01021) 64-bit RC2 for a while now, it can be a bit quirky to setup but once it is it works like a charm.

thanks also for the info on mouse/keyboard input

I will (hopefully) have time to test the link you posted tonight and let you know