Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 and Playing Between 2 MiSTer's via Lan

[lroby74]

Hello,
i have 2 Misters, both connected to same LAN, i would like to know if is possible on someway to simulate serial connection (on original Amiga was via null modem cable) between them for playing some games like Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 or Stunt Car Racer on Minimig core through LAN connection..
I just tried many settings on OSD menù but no results.. (each machine can't see other one)

Thank you

[YLFAndy]

I don't think, unless you can write a TCP/IP serial wrapper and client for the Amiga, that you'll be able to do that. I was literally planning on making a MiniUSB-MiniUSB crossover cable this weekend to test UART over the Console port between two MiSTers (but in ao486 for null modem Warcraft). That might work for this as well, if it works at all. I don't have high hopes, but it's worth a shot!

Update: The Console UART mode is for the guest to talk to the host console, not to output serial information over the console port, it seems. Damn.

[bbond007]

Hello,
i have 2 Misters, both connected to same LAN, i would like to know if is possible on someway to simulate serial connection (on original Amiga was via null modem cable) between them for playing some games like Lotus Turbo Challenge 2 or Stunt Car Racer on Minimig core through LAN connection..
I just tried many settings on OSD menù but no results.. (each machine can't see other one)

Thank you

You can easily connect two Misters with OSD setings:
UART : MIDI
MidiLink : Remote
Type : UDP or TCP

With the TCP you'll need to "dial" the 2nd MiSTer with the "ATDT" command using a terminal program such as Ncomm: --> https://youtu.be/lVhUU7xzhrE

Example:
ATDT192.168.1.130
or if you have working DNS...
ATDTMISTER2

With the UDP you'd need to edit the file (on both MiSTers) "/media/fat/linux/MidiLink.INI" and change the "UDP_SERVER=" to correspond to the other MiSTer's IP or hostname. Make sure to set both so the communication will be bi-directional.

For things to work right with UDP or TCP you'll need to have the correct baud rate set. Baud rate can be set with OSD or to make it persistent you can set "UDP_BAUD=" or "TCP_BAUD=" in the MidiLink.INI file. Some games like Populous will let you specify the baud, others can be figured out via trial-and-error.

I have not tried Warcraft networked. I have tried Lotus and never gotten it to work. I suspect it relies on more RS232 signals than just RX/TX.

UDP is probably slightly faster response compared to TCP, although I have tuned the TCP for low-latency by disabling the Nagle's algorithm.

Knights of the Sky --> https://youtu.be/TH1GDu2Da9A
BattleChess (Amiga vs ST) --> https://youtu.be/hDWlSjPu5p4
Tyrian (DOS) --> https://youtu.be/u_zZQl7AWis

[YLFAndy]

Awesome, thank you!

[lroby74]

Wonderfull news, thank you
I will try these settings ASAP!

You can easily connect two Misters with OSD setings:
UART : MIDI
MidiLink : Remote
Type : UDP or TCP

With the TCP you'll need to "dial" the 2nd MiSTer with the "ATDT" command using a terminal program such as Ncomm: --> https://youtu.be/lVhUU7xzhrE

Example:
ATDT192.168.1.130
or if you have working DNS...
ATDTMISTER2

With the UDP you'd need to edit the file (on both MiSTers) "/media/fat/linux/MidiLink.INI" and change the "UDP_SERVER=" to correspond to the other MiSTer's IP or hostname. Make sure to set both so the communication will be bi-directional.

For things to work right with UDP or TCP you'll need to have the correct baud rate set. Baud rate can be set with OSD or to make it persistent you can set "UDP_BAUD=" or "TCP_BAUD=" in the MidiLink.INI file. Some games like Populous will let you specify the baud, others can be figured out via trial-and-error.

I have not tried Warcraft networked. I have tried Lotus and never gotten it to work. I suspect it relies on more RS232 signals than just RX/TX.

UDP is probably slightly faster response compared to TCP, although I have tuned the TCP for low-latency by disabling the Nagle's algorithm.

Knights of the Sky --> https://youtu.be/TH1GDu2Da9A
BattleChess (Amiga vs ST) --> https://youtu.be/hDWlSjPu5p4
Tyrian (DOS) --> https://youtu.be/u_zZQl7AWis

[throAU]

Wow, just discovered the serial emulation.

This would mean that if you were using TCP or UDP, you could do port forwarding on your router at each end, and do serial play over the internet?

I'm guessing there's some docs on which TCP/UDP port it uses somewhere?

[bbond007]

This would mean that if you were using TCP or UDP, you could do port forwarding on your router at each end, and do serial play over the internet?

Yes...

With TCP only the "server/host" router wound need to be configured with port forwarding.

Some games are sensitive to lag and may not work reliably...

I'm guessing there's some docs on which TCP/UDP port it uses somewhere?

--> https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MidiLink_MiSTer

Code: Select all

  TCP_SERVER_PORT    = 23           --> Port for TCP Listener
  
  UDP_SERVER_PORT    = 1999         --> Port for UDP SERVER and local
                                        listening port

[throAU]

This would mean that if you were using TCP or UDP, you could do port forwarding on your router at each end, and do serial play over the internet?

Yes...

With TCP only the "server/host" router wound need to be configured with port forwarding.

Some games are sensitive to lag and may not work reliably...

I'm guessing there's some docs on which TCP/UDP port it uses somewhere?

--> https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/MidiLink_MiSTer

Code: Select all

  TCP_SERVER_PORT    = 23           --> Port for TCP Listener
  
  UDP_SERVER_PORT    = 1999         --> Port for UDP SERVER and local
                                        listening port

Cheers for that!

But yeah, in terms of lag, back in the modem days, you'd have 80ms before you even get to the ISP, so over reasonably close internet, games that worked over dial-up should be pretty decent.

And yeah, TCP would be easier to deal with due to NAT state tracking, but UDP perhaps faster (I'm a tcp/ip networking nerd as my day job )

[kolla]

Back in modem days, amiga games were meant to be played over null-modem cable, not over dial-up

[bbond007]

But yeah, in terms of lag, back in the modem days, you'd have 80ms before you even get to the ISP, so over reasonably close internet, games that worked over dial-up should be pretty decent.

Back in modem days, amiga games were meant to be played over null-modem cable, not over dial-up

Yes, most of the modem playable games are deigned to run with null-modem or two modems directly usually connected at 300, 1200 or 2400 baud - not through an ISP over PPP. These older V.22 modems had relatively little lag...

Later 9600+ modems introduced data-compression and error-correction which added latency.

And yeah, TCP would be easier to deal with due to NAT state tracking, but UDP perhaps faster (I'm a tcp/ip networking nerd as my day job )

If you use UDP, it might be a good idea to set "UDP_SERVER_FILTER = TRUE". This should cause UDP packets not originating from the UDP_SERVER to be ignored. Otherwise the game could be potentially interrupted by bots and random things on the internet probing ports.