Fun with Sega Lindbergh shooters...need help or advice

[Opelspyder]

So I have a small personal arcade inside my automotive restoration shop in Cookeville, TN. I purchased a Sega Rambo Deluxe, and it plays flawless...so I was looking at other games that I could possibly just hook up the computer to and it work. So the three additional Lindberghs I bought are Ghost Squad Evolution, HOTD4, and Let's Go Jungle. Now I realize Let's Go uses pot guns, but I thought it would be worth a try.
When I got the Rambo unit, it played, but the Guns had no recoil (Sub Guns like GS Style) And the front lamps didn't work. After extensive research I found the wrong I/O board was being used. it had the 837-14505 as used in GS Evolution and Let's GO. The seller traded me out the correct board, which appears to be the same except for power for lights. That I/O board is 837-14572
So with GS Evo and Let's Go Jungle using the same I/O boards as the old one I had, and worked...I thought it was worth a shot
So now I have currently received the LGJ and GSE. I got them booting up, and most of the controls work, but the positioning of the rifles do not work. I wasn't too surprised with Let's Go, but Ghost Squad I would think it would work easily. I have it up and running, but calibrating the guns, it doesn't seem to work. I occasionally can get a shot off, but nowhere near correct. In my next post I will post some pics.

My question first off is....Does the JVS Board in the PC need to match what I am using in my Rambo Red EX? It is A76E-03A3816 Each game has a different part number...so I'm not sure if this could be a simple fix. I can swap it out of Rambo and test, but someone may know better. Maybe I have to use the I/O board specifically for each game...which I can get
2nd question is about Ghost Squad Evolution. My Lindbergh for that does not have a sound card in it. So I have no sound. Sould there be one, all the other games have one, and sound is connected to aftermarket speakers.

I know this is a lot for a first post, but I know it can work, just got to figure out the right setup. Also Lets Go Jungle the bottom left and top right corners seem to track good with the guns, but the top left and bottom right are reversed. The 2nd gun recoils when I pull player 1 trigger too.

 

[Opelspyder]

Ghost squad with no sound card

The deluxe cabinet I’m trying to play more Lindbergh games in. I know I can get a Lindbergh multi, but I don’t mind setting things up for one computer to play each game. I might make a switcher down the road if I want to change them out easier

 

[Opelspyder]

Also a few other thoughts, guns are wonky, but noticed resolution on Ghost Squad is off, maybe guns aren’t working well because of resolution not set the same as Rambo?
Also noted only one light comes on for player 2 with Ghost Squad hooked up, put Rambo back on and everything works? I’ve ordered the correct I/O board for GS Evo and Let’s Go. I’m hoping maybe something with that, but I know the Rambo worked
Are there different Hard drives for Ghost Squad Deluxe and Standard? Or Software disc. I know some things are different with the cabs, but started thinking maybe the deluxe matters

 

[elrod]

As far as i remember, GS Evo sound is sourced from the integrated sound card, i think it’s the green connector labeled as Front.

 

[Opelspyder]

As far as i remember, GS Evo sound is sourced from the integrated sound card, i think it’s the green connector labeled as Front.

You are correct, I found an article here about the sound coming off the motherboard. So I’ll get an adapter tomorrow to hook it up. I’m also going to change the dip switch settings for the resolution like my Rambo is set to and hope for the best. It’s got everything else the same, so it should work. I don’t have a full screen, so thinking it is set on 640. I hope to at least get one game going

 

[Opelspyder]

Ghost Squad Evolution will not start up in any other resolution than having all dip switches off except #8. I just do not get it. Was there no difference with the deluxe model dip switch settings? The guns will not calibrate with this setup at all. I can get a random shot off, but according to wiring diagrams, Rambo and GS use the same sensor boards and guns. Controls work, I have a correct I/O board coming, but it should work off this one, as I stated I had the board working for Rambo, but it wasn’t correct, and I didn’t get recoil and such.
Notable screen size is off

any ideas here?

 

[Opelspyder]

I received HOTD4, and it does pretty good. Something is wonky with Player 1 gun, but player 2 works great. In the calibration menu for the guns, the Player 1 says it’s going off screen after it calibrates, the crosshairs will show up and disappear rapidly. Could be an I/O board issue, but I finally feel like I’m getting somewhere with this adventure. I think GS is going to be a resolution issue, but will know more by the end of the week

 

[Opelspyder]

So not many Lindbergh experts on here, so I’m just going to post about breakthrough’s and disappointments about my project.
I know I’m jumping around on 4 different games with one of them having a major difference…that is Let’s Go Jungle ( Going from pot guns to sensor guns).
So today I had a breakthrough, and I’m so close I can see it. So I studied wiring diagrams for The Rambo and Let’s Go Jungle. I knew all the gun controls were messed up x and y, so I decided to cut the 4 wires that work x and y on both controllers. I traced x and y wires from LGJ to Rambo and found they are reversed. I will make a jump harness that can be connected back to factory settings, but switch when playing LGJ. It worked!!!…well sort of. The game was playable now with the guns, but everything is backwards, though stable. So point down shoots up, left shoots right.
The Pot guns just have X and Y rheostat potentiometers, where my setup has ten led boards to sense the gun x and y position. So the potentiometers have a resistance range for x on the minimum and maximum, and so do the boards in a way. So I need to basically figure out how to reverse the sensor board outputs for x and y. A little more research is needed, but I have 5 wires from the sensor board on Rambo marked ABCDE. I’m thinking the AB are X min/max and the DE are Y min/max. I have a feeling C is just a center position, but will study more. But I think I just have to swap these 4 wires as well to get the results I’m looking for. I might be able to do this on each gun harness too, as it can work both ways I feel.

This is the connector that I swapped the four wires around for each player. The white wire gets left alone.

 

[Opelspyder]

So good progress on Let’s Go, but a small roadblock. Some good chats withMichael Pica. He’s gotten through on my hard headedness about swapping wires. So as I also read in his posts, the Gun Sensor Board has a 2 position dip switch. On earlier boards it has 29” and 50” and HOTD or JPL (Jurassic Park)
The first switch is in the position of the 50”, and as he mentions, they probably used a mirrored projection on some of those, so it reversed the X axis, and that fixed it, but Y is still the same issue being reversed. So I have to get a board made to reverse the 5v analog signal to the I/O board. Or swap all the top sensors with the bottom sensors. But I want to play other games on this, so that is counter productive. I found a local guy that can possibly make the board and seems knowledgeable about the board I need

 

[Opelspyder]

Okay, latest update. Let's Go Jungle is getting a board built to reverse the Y axis...so other than getting a 5.1 surround sound instead of 2.1, that project is in wait.
So I jumped to the Ghost Squad Evolution. I have the correct I/O board, and was talking the Twistedsymphony about the I/o boards as reading took me down a rabbit hole, I asked myself again about the resolution. I knew it was a 4:3 aspect ratio, but changing the aspect on the Lindbergh was going no where, but then it dawned onto me. Why is my screen cut off left and right? Thats when I thought about the TV settings and questioned it. So I have a 55" Smart TV, but it isn't smart enough to automatically detect settings for the game...I went to the test menu to calibrate the guns, and found the 4:3 resolution allowed me to see all the targets to calibrate. Eurika! Even my cursors were working now. So it plays 100% I couldn't for the life of me determine why Rambo worked so good, and GSE with the same basic hardware wouldn't

So 100% working
Rambo
Ghost Squad Evolution

90% working
Let's Go Jungle

80-90% working
HOTD4

 

[Opelspyder]

Okay, so HOTD4 is 99% working. I don’t get to use the accelerometer function to shake off zombies, because of the GS guns…but still very playable.
The only thing on why I say 99%, is for about 1 minute during start of game, and then it goes in and out is the guns only shoot one round and then it automatically reloads. Then it all of a sudden starts working in full auto, and I have to manually reload. Then it goes back to reloading itself after one shot. I wondered if something with the accelerometer controls is coming into play here, because when it is in that mode, I can successfully shake off the zombies. Any one else have a glitch with reloading. Could it be a hard drive issue?

 

[bobbydilley]

Just some notes you might find interesting, in the Jakulus/Crediar multi there are versions of Let's Go Jungle which have the X and Y swapped in software, so you can play it on your light gun setup without having to mess with any wires. The version of The House Of The Dead 4 on the multi also has the shake to get off zombie parts of the game patched to auto complete so you don't need to add in an accelerometer and it'll just work in any cab.

> so other than getting a 5.1 surround sound instead of 2.1, that project is in wait.

I'm not sure what version of the game you have and what you're trying to do here but version DVP-0011 only outputs in 5.1, but DVP-0011A can output in stereo if you set the cabinet type to upright in the settings. The version on the Crediar/Jakulus multi is unforunately DVP-0011 so cannot output in stereo.

> Does the JVS Board in the PC need to match what I am using in my Rambo Red EX?

JVS is a standard protocol so most IO boards are likely going to work, it doesn't check specifically for a version number or string when the game starts. Some games have an issue with the analogue resolutions being a certain size (8 bit vs 10 bit vs 16 bit). I think Ghost Squad possible requires a TYPE 3 IO board due to needing a specific analogue resolution. This isn't noted down anywhere though, so you'll just have to try.

 

[Battlesmurf]

interesting thread! I am dipping my toe into this stuff right now. Being able to play Rambo/Ghost/HOTD/LGJ with minimal hassle- and recoil- would be amazing.