I decided to make a separate thread for the USB link cable.

I just successfully played TicTacToe with my VB using my computer. Sending commands through RealTerm (terminal program) out a USB port to my MCU and then into the VB gamelink port.

Right now it only works if the MCU is master and the VB is slave, or MCU is player 1 and VB is player 2.

I also tested using the linktest.VB ROM that DogP created and can get successful transmissions with MCU as master and VB as slave. See attached image.

Lots of more work to be done but it’s a good start. I’m working this project and another one in between wired link cable builds. Can’t promise when any of this will be done but I’m working on it.

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TheHandsomeDan wrote:
So, how might one procure one of these awesome looking little units? And how much would they set a person back?

Hi,

I’ll be doing preorders soon. Just finished the first testing of v0.2 firmware last night. I’ll be building a second unit this weekend hopefully. Then I’m ready for some game testing. Even if some of the games don’t work over a network, the cable will be functional. Games may need to be written specifically for networked play. We’ll see.

No price yet. I’ll work on that. I will be having these assembled by my board house so I’ll need to know how many units are needed up front based on preorders. I have to get away from hand assembling everything otherwise I end up with no time for new projects. 🙂

Kevin

mellott124 wrote:

Hi,

I’ll be doing preorders soon. Just finished the first testing of v0.2 firmware last night. I’ll be building a second unit this weekend hopefully. Then I’m ready for some game testing. Even if some of the games don’t work over a network, the cable will be functional. Games may need to be written specifically for networked play. We’ll see.

No price yet. I’ll work on that. I will be having these assembled by my board house so I’ll need to know how many units are needed up front based on preorders. I have to get away from hand assembling everything otherwise I end up with no time for new projects. 🙂

Kevin

Looks like I need to go sell a kidney. My hobby is getting expensive this month lol

Well boys and girls. Just had my first successful connection between two VBs over local Ethernet. Two VBs with two USB link cables connected to my PC. Then software performing serial-TCP connection. IP: 10.0.0.17 port 5001. One as server and another as client. Running DogP’s linktest.vb code on each VB. Streaming away like crazy!

The linktest.vb code is the simplest test because it sits there with one unit as master and another as slave. Games like TicTacToe and 3D Battlesnake actually ping pong back and forth between master and slave. This is going to require the USB link cable to be aware of which game is being played in order to stay sync’d with the VBs. More work to do in firmware there.

Those games are also the easiest because there is source code I can refer to. Any new game should also be easy to integrate the USB link cable code as we can define the protocol. The two tough ones are going to be Mario Tennis 2 Player and Hyper Fighting as I need to reverse engineer how they’re using the link cable. Bought some new gear to do exactly that but it might take awhile.

So at this point I’m going to continue working and hopefully get the games up and running. This USB Link cable is going to come with open-source Arduino based code so that it can be upgradable and modified by end users, if they so desire. That way it can continue to grow with new games and improve with programmers who are better than me.

I’m also going to start taking a preorder email list for people who are interested. No money yet, just emails to start a line and gauge interest. PM me if you may be interested in a cable and how many. Like I mentioned previously I need have the PCBs assembled from my board house so they’ll come in one big batch. Pricing currently looks like its going to be around $65 for an assembled cable. Trying to reduce that but currently that’s where it sits.

Picture of the server and client programs streaming data below as well as another one of my messy lab. Still lots of work to do but finally hit that first successful test. 🙂

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That is so exciting, Kevin! 😀

welp, this is about the craziest thing ive ever heard of. i cant believe you got it to work!

Sorry to crush your hopes, but it’s impossible to make HF playable over the internet.
It might be possible to play turn-based games like TicTacToe over the internet, but in case of existing realtime games this isn’t possible.
Depending on how the communication is implemented in a game, you will either get an unplayable slow framerate or the game won’t work at all.
Realtime games will work over the internet only if they are designed to handle the network latency.

M.K. wrote:
Sorry to crush your hopes, but it’s impossible to make HF playable over the internet.
It might be possible to play turn-based games like TicTacToe over the internet, but in case of existing realtime games this isn’t possible.
Depending on how the communication is implemented in a game, you will either get an unplayable slow framerate or the game won’t work at all.
Realtime games will work over the internet only if they are designed to handle the network latency.

Would youre upcoming starfox-clone be able to support the usb cable? Assuming it would even have a 2 player mode(which is probably unlikely)

Thanks for the feedback MK. Understand it may not work. I’ll get a baseline and we can go from there. Understand it’s possible we may need to wait for a new game that was designed to use the USB link cable. It’s a chicken and egg dilemma at this point and I’m willing to make the cable the egg.

Updated PCBs have been ordered and should arrive in about 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, there’s no where near enough interest to warrant getting a batch of PCBs assembled. Understandable as there is no game support at this point. So the plan is to hand assemble about 10 cables. Probably won’t do more than that. About 1/2 of those will go free to some developers already identified. I’ll have about 5 units for people who want to get a cable and are willing to wait for a game to release which uses it. Once a game releases that uses the USB link cable, I’m guessing interest will peak and I’ll do a batch order then.

I’ll send emails out this week to people who have already contacted me expressing interest. Target to ship assembled cables is mid to end of December.

All the parts have come in to build these now. I’ll start this weekend. They’ll trickle out a few at a time. Thanks for your patience!

OK, here’s the first assembled USB link cable. The holes for the status lights are OK but not 100% because I have to hand drill them. This is so I can share the housings with the wired link cable builds. I also ordered some cheaper FTDI cables to keep costs lower but the cables aren’t up to my quality standards so I’m probably not going to use them. The real FTDI cables look good and the unit in the pictures is using a real FTDI cable. That will delay some units as I need to order more cables.

These are more painful to assemble then I thought they would be so they’ll trickle out even slower then originally planned. Appreciate the patience from those who have ordered one. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me.

I’ll also most likely limit free developer units to 1 per developer due to cost.

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Looking top notch as ever!

Looks Amazing Kevin! Keep up the great work. I’ll gladly wait for something that you deem quality! Merry Christmas!

Here’s the first free developer units going out on Monday. These use the cheaper shorter cable but are fully functional. The thicker FTDI cables are due 1/5/2018 for the early adopter units. Those units should ship week of Jan 15th or so because I’ll also be out of town the second week of Jan. One early adopter unit is also going out on Monday.

I’ll have some details on the USB link cable operation on my website in the coming weeks for those who are receiving them.

Once I finish the rest of the early adopter units, I won’t be building anymore of these until a game releases which supports the cable. When that happens I’ll spin a new housing and board to make it cheaper and eliminate the ridiculously expensive FTDI cable. I can also spin a mechanical housing pretty quickly now, so not going to restrict myself to the original link cable housings either. This should make things cheaper and easier to build. They’ll probably end up looking similar to the VB controller USB adapters.

Enjoy your New Year! No more VB work for me this year! LOL.

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How much are you charging for one of these cables ?

MineStorm wrote:
How much are you charging for one of these cables ?

You can PM me for pricing. You also have my email. Although all the current units are allotted for already and I don’t intend to build more of this version anytime soon.

The target price for the next version, when there is game support, will be around $50. That seems to be about the best I can do for these VB projects and their volumes.

The FTDI cables came in last night so I’ll be starting the build of the remaining units this weekend. They should start shipping out on Monday.

Building tonight and it looks like I’ll have enough parts for a few extra USB link cables. If you’re interested send me a PM.

OK, all built. I’ll do final test tomorrow and they should ship out Wednesday morning.

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Looks great Kevin! Can’t wait!