New Life Games LLC
**Video Poker, Keno, Slots, 21** Gaming machines => IGCA (aka IGI) Video Slots => Topic started by: MacGUYver on March 21, 2020, 11:36:47 PM
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Pretty excited, picked up my first IGI Wild Monkeys nickel video slot. Got it stuck in power up.
Tries to power up, starts going through self checks, fails at CD-ROM verify error. The screen shows it finds the CD ROM hardware , but fails to verify the CD? Or maybe fails to verify the contents? It's hard to tell if the disc is spinning up or not tbh.
I put the CD in my laptop, all files transfered. Also had a spare CD of IGI Monster Money, took those off too. Both look like they're valid files, I see reference to both games.
Any chance someone's got a good manual? The one I have is strange
I took the CD-ROM apart and cleaned the laser. No difference. The game boards fan is so loud and vibration s thatni can't tell if the CDs reading or just barely moving (the game face if the CD is in different location after each in/out, so it's doing something???)
Think I can plug and play this CD-ROM? Should I try burning a new disc? Either way, looks cool!
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There's a simple Molex connector plug for the fan.
Why not just pull it apart to disable it for now to check if the CD player is working or not?
You can always plug the fan back in afterwards.
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Discovered cdrom was working. Previous owner had spare parts, and told me one of the boards has some security chips on it. Replaced with other board devoid of chips, and was able to boot past it
So now I can get into an actual CD boot sequence. It starts loading scripts on the imagine, finds video cards, etc. Now fails at a "slot test", where it tries to query several HW parts of the actual machine, ie hopper, coin acceptor, etc. It fails the test. I assume it fails all of them.
Very interesting. Both the CDs can get to this failure depending on what bios settings I put in.
Bunker, you're gonna help me through this one right? Im suspecting either power is not going to those he components at all, or a board that controls them is not telling them to turn on. I get no button lights, no BV lights or sound, no hopper, etc. Im not sure where in the boot sequence the BV would get power, accept where I get stuck.
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Also I'll occasionally get a "cable disconnect'. I found that the power plug to the main board needs to be jimmied sometimes to force contact. I'm wondering if the plug is not fully connecting to all components for power. Might just be the main board.
After I Jimmie it, I get main board power and it starts booting. I'll probably take it all out and see if there's bad solder underneath
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Yep....bad connection of a pin somewhere....this is where you have to be patient and really roll up your sleeves & get down into it.
Sometimes it's easier to find the problem part if you swap harnesses one at a time but at the moment, because the machine gave you a "cable disconnect" error....that's where I'd start looking. :sherlock:
The small harness that is the communications link between the topbox stuff and the lower MPU.
Be patient....you'll find it. :yes:
Check the female pins on that power connector....if you have a power supply box that has the little screw on the left, screw it tighter or push the PS towards the main connector Molex and push the main connector Molex housing with your other hand towards the PS box to force a better pin connection.
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Minor updates. I got a second main board, I was hoping this would fix power issues. Swapped out all the support boards, and powered it up. I don't get the spotty main board power anymore, so that's nice. But everything else remains the same.
DOES anyone have a working igi/igca? It would be incredibly helpful to see a power on.
What id like to see, or if anyone remembers, is when the power is switched on, do all the slot components (ie hopper, coin acceptor, BV etc) all get power instantly? Or does that happen after the board gets booted, CD gets verified, or Linux boots up its kernal and performs the "slot test" config? I get no power. So when the boot image performs the 10ish component configuration script, it fails on all accounts. I would assume by the time it performs the config script the components would get power, but when?
I'll be focusing on all power plugs next. I was just hoping the main board replacement would be the magic bullet.
I've been reading through some of the scripts on the image, pretty interesting. I'm hoping if I can get it to work, I'll be able to modify minor parts of the build so I can create my own game, ie family pics or something.
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Ok, lots of interesting updates. IT WORKS! Kinda...
I went through all the connectors I'm the top box which holds the mpu, deox sprayed them. No difference.
Tried a few variations of bios settings, no change.
Finally found a schematic of the wires, and walked through a few that were for power. Check for power, saw voltage where I expected. But wasn't looking for range. Than finally realized I was being stupid, and should just check each plug on the dc power supply output (was a 3am moment of clarity). I saw the 5v was 5.5v, 12v was around 10.5, -5v was -4.5v, forgot what the -12v read. But ultimately the numbers were all jacked up.
Opened the power supply and attempted to calibrate them, got them to something more reasonable, but k. The midst of it I forced the little dial a bit and broke it I think, oops. But luckily it seemedike it was enough.
The boot sequence where I was failing is the machines first attempt at giving the hardware power, BV, coin acceptor, etc. So answered that question. Also now, I was able to turn the reset key and get to a test screen, all my hw worked. It was glroius.
Progressed to game booting, but my main disc for Wild Monkeys asks for a password. I didn't know it. In the bios settings on boot, you can set passwords, disable them, etc. But no combination would turn off that password checker upon boot, so I was stuck.
But than I popped in my Monster Money, and it booted just fine without a password required. My next goal will be to copy the Monster image, and set it up for wild monkeys. Both the image files have all the folders for all games (area51, tiki, etc), and I think I've identified the file that configs the game folder path. So hopefully if I can make it work, I can make a bootable disc for all games.
I'll write more detailed responses here for historical. Just wanted to show off my pretty new toy.
I generally flip the machines, but this one has so many configurable possibilities, I think I'll keep it for awhile.
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What's funny is that you fixed it by breaking something...haha :rotfl:
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It's how all my best go. I'm just curious if it's gonna power back on tonight. Fingers crossed.
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Dear diary, Microsoft hates Linux, especially their files headers.
I've been banging my head against the wall, I've performed at least 30 boot disc images with varying success. If I ever get it, I'll write down a how to. All I'm trying to do right now is re create a bootable disc, but everything I have is windows. And it seems to corrupt the headers no matter what I do.
So I finally gave in and am downloading Ubuntu. I'm gonna make a bootable USB with Linux, install it ad a partition (hopefully without erasing my entire computer), and see if I can just do all this from an actual Linux disc burn. I feel like it'll be more pristine.
So ultimately I can make a boot disc with the 1.44mb boot image in this folder struture. But as it boots, it pulls a Linux kernel and all the files get F'd in the process (can't read headers, read-only files, etc). So I get a failed load. No matter how many times I convert the files to open them up, they get forced back to read only, corrupt headers.
In my mind it's a 3 phase test process.
1) recreate a bootable disc with what I have.
2) alter 2 files that controls game configuration, and make a boot disc for ALL games (10ish).
3) See if I can create my own game with my face as the main jackpot!!!
Diary...it's cold in the garage
#corona2020
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Btw the CDrom verify failure at boot seems to be when I have a board installed with two chips, one security, ones a bios boot. I'm assuming the bios chip Is looking for the file at the top level of the folders called verify, which contains a CRC check of all files installed. Mine fails.
I actually CRCd the files, none match the verification file. So not sure if the two proms have built in CRC expectation, or if it finds those files and crcs them realtjme. Either way, more info. By removing the chips, it by passes that check and let's the CD go straight into boot mode. So that at least fixed the main issue I had in the beginning.
Also, I was able to make a clean copy of the Monster Money CD, so now I have a good backup. Phase 1 complete!
If I ever become success on phase two, I'll modify the CRC check verification file and see if I can get that to work too.
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Serious question for anyone reading.
I feel like someone had to have done all this before.
Does anyone have a set of boot discs? Or maybe a CD of at least one other game they can send me a copy of? Or maybe just the trick of creating a boot disc for each game, with Instructions how to make the iso and modified game.files?
I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually, but no need to re invent the wheel.
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I DID IT! Phase 2 Complete...in theory.
So I was finally able to make a boot disc that could boot other games. I had a hell of a time trying to get the right settings for the Wild Monkeys, got so many errors, my laptops so slow at burning discs, and it kept coming back saying my theme was designated incorrectly. So since there's a configuration screen you can get to at the last step of power on, I figured my best bet was to configure for games there. The game selection/jurisdiction/perecentages are locked fields, but my goal was to unlock them.
So instead of making a boot disc for a specific game, I used the current game "Monster Money" as kind of a default game, and toggled the fields for the THEME / Percents/ Jurisdiction to "true", which allowed me to change them. This was all done in the folder/file:
powerpit/slots/default.conf
This lets me utilize the slots boot sequence to go to an OPTIONS page, and since I unlocked the themes, I can now select ALL of the games (folders of games).
The main part that was messing me up apparently was they defined 8 different game "types", video slot 1-8. Monster Money is video slot 1, and Wild Monkeys is 3, duh! The other thing I've struggled through is the verification*.* file has ALL the scripts CRC checked. And for some reason, I can't figure out which CRC check It does. Its definitely the CRC16 output (4 hex numbers) type, but the crc calculators I find never have the same output as what the file has, or what the game gives. So luckily this error is logged on the screen. Basically my method is stupid. I change my file, accept that the verification file is going to fail the CRC, and capture the actual output it gives me. And than put that back into my image, and remake everything. Whatever, it works.
So now I can toggle through all of them, and select them. It takes a bit of time to actually do this boot process, so I'll check them all out tomorrow, but here's some pics to prove success!
Games: American Star, Area51, Box Office, Buck Bonanza, Caesars, Golden 7s, Jackpot Gems, Jackpot Hunter, Wild Jumping Jungle, Monster Money, Mummy Hunter, Storybook Fantasy (Princess), Spanish Gold, Tiki Treasure, Wild Eagle, Wild Monkey.
I'm going to put all my learnings into a notes document for myself, and can make a HOW TO separate post.
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References of the game themes, which "video slot #" they are, and percentages (missing some percentages atm). These are the required field updates you'd need to update your default.conf file, to make a hardcoded boot disc image for any specific game theme. ie
TYPE "Video slot 3"
THEME "Wild Monkeys"
PERCENTAGE 90.17
Everything else can remain static, but these 3 are tied together. To make the boot disc "configurable" at the options page to change the games, set these values to "true"
CHANGE_THEME true
CHANGE_TYPE true
CHANGE_PERCENTAGE true
REFERENCE MATERIAL BELOW:
Video Slot 1 <90.12, 92.75, 94.83, 97.00>
-Monster Money
-Storybook
-Area 51
-Tiki Treasure
-Jackpot Hunter
-Casesars
-Wild Jungle
-Box Office Bucks
Video Slot 2 <88.26, 90.96, 92.78>
-Spanish Gold
Video Slot 3 <87.84, 90.17, 92.41>
-Wild Monkey
-Wild Eagle
Video Slot 4 <87.81, 90.36, 92.39>
-Mummy Hunter
-Jackpot Gems
Video Slot 5 <00.00>
-future game (NOT A REAL GAME)
Video Slot 6 <88.86, 90.75, 92.57>
-Buck Bonanza
-American Star
Video Slot 7 <88.89, 90.20, 92.09>
-Trolls Treasure
Video Slot 8 <88.89, 90.20, 92.09>
-Golden 7s
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More pics. So far most games are working, except Storybook. It had an internal error saying the images aren't linked properly. I'll try to fix it. It also looks like I'll be able to insert/modify my own *.gifs. phase 3 will commence soon!
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Pics
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Pics
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Troll treasure seems to be a dead game too, but doesn't give me a hint why yet. I'll investigate.
More pics! This one seems kinda weird/interesting
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Wild eagle pics
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Alright, seriously, no one cares? No one has an IGI? Or did everyone already do all this and just not share?
I keep forgetting to do phase 3. Maybe this weekend.
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Hey Mac...
This is where my buddies game stalls...
Did you get this far or further?
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I went all the way.. :)
I sent you an email with better explanation, but yes that's exactly what I had in the pic on my third post. A couple post later I described how I fixed it. Had to recalibrate the power supply for whacky voltages.
Long story short, the cpu on top is correctly reading the boot disc and going through power on functions, like a computer. But when it's running it's "slot test" script, it's not correctly turning on the actual slot machine parts. From what I remember if the script, it's an all or nothing attempt. Start with your voltmeter on the 3 outputs power supply in the bottom/back of the machine. See if some are whacky. Than check the cables next.
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Also, pls add a pic of the machine, I've only ever seen mine and the other random pic from the other post.
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Also, pls add a pic of the machine, I've only ever seen mine and the other random pic from the other post.
One cabinet is parts only...
Thanks for the direction to check the power supply...
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Parts only machine? What's it missing??? I have another cpu, pretty sure I was finally able to figure out that it just had weak solder joints on the power plug.
Almost all the other parts are generic slot parts.
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I'm just going to add some notes here for anyone else that's messing with one of these games ** For Home Use** ... I did this on QE2-N.
If you are the creative type and want to make your own custom slot theme based on one of the current paytables on the disk, this is how you'd accomplish it...
1. Familiarize yourself with the great Sticky written by MacGUYver, you'll need this knowledge for burning a new CD.
2. Pick one of the games in Powerpit to use as your base, I used Box Office Bucks.
3. Use your favorite photo editing software to make a new background, new symbols, etc... (I used Photoshop)
- The symbols need to be .gif's and have a white background
- Make sure everything is the same dimensions as the original (file size doesn't matter)
- Save everything as exactly the same file names, and in the same locations
4. By far, the best option at this point is to go into the Powerpit folder, open up startx and edit it. Comment out the section on medium.verification, from the first "if" to the "fi". This will stop the integrity check and the game will boot much faster. I'd also suggest this for the other changes that could be made to the disk.
5. Follow the guide to burning a new disk and enjoy!
6. You still will need the password for whatever theme you pick, I wasn't able to get the multigame selector stuff to work in my revision. I don't think the passwords are secret so I'll post up what I have later.
Side note, I tried to get the IGCA stuff to run from a hard drive unsuccessfully as well as a CF card. I'm sure there is a way, but for now CD's work.
Hope this helps someone...