Guides:MAME - Linked Mode
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Linked Mode Arcade Machine
Linking Virtua Racing, this machine uses serial based comms
MAME supports the following cli options for serial based comms
-comm_localhost -comm_localport -comm_remotehost -comm_remoteport
To successfully link two+ Virtua Racing instances you will need two separate nvmram directories because you will need to set the machines as master/slave devices as applicable
- The first machine (Car 1) will be the Master in all cases
- Each additional machine (Car) will
* be in slave mode * need a port open to listen on * be on the same network with an ip address
Setup (2 machines)
- Create two nvram directories to store the machine configs
- Get the IP address of the each machine
- Assign each machine a port with their IP address, just do this on piece of paper for now
One the first machine (car 1 / master) start mame
mame vr -nvram_directory <path to nvram> -localhost <machine1 ip> -comm_localport <machine1 port> -remotehost <machine2 ip> -remoteport <machine2 port>
On the second machine (car 2 / slave) start mame
mame vr -nvram_directory <path to nvram> -localhost <machine2 ip> -comm_localport <machine2 port> -remotehost <machine1 ip> -remoteport <machine1 port>
When the games start for the first time set their mode
- Press F2 to enter test mode, navigate
- Navigate to GAME SYSTEM
- LINK ID -> Master (machine 1) or Slave (machine 2+)
- Back out of the menu and when prompted save your settings
- Exit test mode
The two machines should find each other and the game will start