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How to load/play Ghostbusters, no UC or IPC required!

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sccarlso:

Greetings AVPers.

Well, aside from the posts saying you need a UC or IPC for Ghostbusters, you actually don't.  All functions, features and progressives work perfectly.

I read up on the PSR's for the game and its bonus server, but neither had any mention of an IPC or UC required.

So I gave it a go.  Was really easy to get it up and running.  If you REALLY wanted to, you could have the bonus server video out to a large top monitor.  But if you like to switch regularly or have multigame.  You can go simple too.

You do need a little extra though.  A second AVP.  lol   However the specs are minimal, 2GB RAM, no add on video card required for the bonus server.  Pretty sure the bonus server AVP could be gutted and all it really needs is the brainbox and a power supply.  I just used a standard video G23

Loaders needed

Ghostbusters Game GI014-002JK4-C01
Ghostbusters Bonus server  GI014-001JK5-C01

So you need a good G23 with an SMLD, 4GB RAM, and the add on video card.  Most SMLD's would have these already...

Game itself is loaded as the only game enabled on the SMLD machine.
The bonus server is loaded on any old AVP 3.0 standard machine (probably helpful to have the newest OS you can get).  Also, while it's not a "Game", it's the only thing enabled on the machine and shows up under BONUS, not SLOTS if you have other games loaded.

All loaded?  Make sure the machine ID on the bonus server is set to 1.  The client machine ID (Game machine) can be set to 1 as well and I had no issues.

Grab a simple ethernet cable and connect the two brainboxes directly together by their ethernet jacks on the front of the brainboxes.  And set IP addresses on each machine, I ran the ethernet out the back of each so can't see it.

Machine 1 - Bonus server - Address  192.168.0.1  gateway 192.168.0.254  leave the rest of the settings at default
Machine 2 - Game machine - Address  192.168.0.2  gateway 192.168.0.254  leave the rest of the settings at default

Basic settings on the bonus server running on the plain old AVP machine, set one denomination as the game is single denom.  I set $1  Your bonus server IP is 192.168.0.1  pull the ekey and it loads the main screen attract display which also displays the progressives on the main screen and is now doing it's only job.  Nothing is displayed on the top screen of the bonus server machine.  So if you wanted to, you could just connect video normally going to the primary screen to a large top screen.  Nothing else is done on the bonus server machine.  Don't need a BV, printer, etc.  Probably not even a button panel, but didn't test that.  Not certain, but the brainbox might choke if it can't initialize a touchscreen.  If it does, perhaps that check can be disabled on the bonus server.  Doesn't have to work except to initially setup, after that it just has be seen and initialize if it will stop it from loading if missing. 

Enable the game on the SMLD machine, can only set a single denom, set it to match the bonus server, $1.  Enter in the IP of the bonus server as 192.168.0.1

Pull the ekey from the SMLD running the game.   Button it up and tada!  Ghostbusters in all it's glory.

The progressives are machine set and count up as you play the game machine, so no forced progressive to set, it all just works.  I actually won two progressives playing for 30 mins.  lol

The bonus server also doesn't output tall, so any screen would do.   The SMLD game machine itself also doesn't output any top video.  It assumes there is a big screen above a bank of machines.   So if you were able to tuck the brainbox and what not running the bonus server somewhere behind the game machine, you could also just plug it's primary video to the top box on the SMLD machine.  Then you would have the attract video/bonus video clips, and progressives displaying on top of the machine running the game and have less "stuff" with the same result.  The bonus server though, DOES have it's own seperate audio during bonuses.   But after the bonus server was running, you'd want to test what you can disconnect so it still boots and runs the bonus server with components disconnected.  Not sure if not seeing a button deck or such would stop it from running, but I suspect it would still run as it really only uses the brainbox and it's video output, and of course, it's ethernet jack so client machines can access it.  Just a guess.   

If you had say 3 SMLD machines, they could all be given different IP's and point to the same bonus server IP, you'd just use a switch so all client machines can reach the bonus server.  All machines will play the game.

That's it!  After pulling the ekey from the client machine and closing up.  No errors, no issues whatsoever.  Played perfectly, and when you hit a bonus, the slimer spins and flies "up", so it's assuming the bonus server display is above the client machine and pops up on the bonus server display.  If one client machine is on a bonus, it says so on the bonus server, so I assume if another client hit a bonus it would hold them if you have other client machines and one was on a bonus until it completed.  At least that's how it plays out in a casino setup.

I have a few other brainboxes, I might just wire one up and configure it, see how much I can disconnect without any error.   I suspect it may run fairly small, so it's a "mini" IPC.  That could be enabled or disabled.  If you had a bunch of other games running, the bonus server would do nothing but sit there unless Ghostbusters was running on a client machine that's connected to it by direct network cable and/or switched for multiple client game machines.

And right now, I already reviewed the PSR's for "The Hangover - Pretty Awesome Duo" game, it's setup exactly the same way.  And has the main game, and a bonus server.  No mention of a required IPC or UC.  It does list that you need a feature pack for Wide Area Progressive and a central counter display, but it is listed as OPTIONAL.  Hey, everything is all wired to test.  So now I'm going to simply disable what's on my machines doing Ghostbusters, and load and configure The Hangover - Pretty Awesome Duo on the same, the bonus server is a std screen, and the game is SMLD just the same.    BUT, for whatever reason...guess I'll see.  The Bonus server for that game does need the add on video card as well.  Probably because it has more video clips and bonuses.    But my std machine I used here has the add on card, so thinking it might work as well.   

If you've wanted to play Ghostbusters, and happen to have a second std screen machine, you can play it!  Hope the info is helpful for anyone that likes custom setups.  Wouldn't be too hard to jam it all in one machine if the bonus server will run without the components connected which it doesn't use.

Pics of the bonus server and game loaded machine side by side, and the PSR's attached that outline the basic setup and requirements for setup of each machine.

Tilt:
That's amazing!  :applause:  I can only imagine the number of hours and trial and errors it must have taken to figure that out!  Thanks for sharing your hard work and Congratulations on getting it running!

sccarlso:
Glad at least one worked!   :)

Tried the Hangover Duo, was looking good, but after loading the bonus server, I enabled it and set it per the PSR.   Then it seems good as it starts to load, but then it just crashes the machine and reboots!  lol

Not sure but even if it wouldn't work, it shouldn't just hard crash the machine, it should just progressive tilt or something. 

But, it may be due to it being a MegaJackpot game.   It does say it's optional though.  There are about 5-6 more titles that use a bonus server.  But it's slow to be able to test as once it crashes like that, the only way to recover is to use a diag key to remove the bonus server and let it reboot which takes forever.  But I'm pretty sure that any title that uses a bonus server, but isn't a MegaJackpot game should work.  Not sure if there are more titles with a bonus server which are set like Ghostbusters, but it's a fun game!

And switching to play Ghostbusters isn't a huge task, disable everything else and enable the server and game on each machine.   If you have multigame, at least it doesn't lose all it's settings.  You have to re-enable all the games, but you can just click enable game and it remembers the denom, and any standalone forced progressives.  So that's a little easier.

Stayouttadabunker:
sccarlso...this is "sticky" material!  :cool_thumb_up:
Job well done! :yes:  :applause:

RodneyK:
I would try putting the bonus server and the game on the same CPU. Connect it to an unmanaged, powered switch essentially pointing it back to itself. Should work. The duos as you know where two machines sharing one large top screen. One machine acts as the host to the other and itself I believe. I may be wrong…

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