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yavuzg

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I received my ST-V multi last week.

IMG_2783_zpsm1w6xosy.jpg


I was so excited, unpacked it, burned an SD card, adjusted the dip switches and plugged the multi into my spare ST-V mobo. Hurray! What a great product, thanks Darksoft for letting us play our favorite ST-V games on the real hardware...

After some testing, loading different games and playing on my test bench I decided to install the multi into my other ST-V mobo which is in the cabinet. Then I realized to change dip switches when the ST-V is "in" the cabinet will be a pain in the neck, especially when my daughter and her friends come to party in my home arcade and want me to change games (Yes, they think switching to another game in an arcade cabinet is as simple as opening an app in iphone!)

Anyway, I've read @'miisalo''s arduino based game selector (great product btw) posts I said to myself I need something like this. It is weekend and I was so excited that I do not have the patience to order that game selector and wait for it to be delivered I decided to make something similar from scratch.

I didn't t have any arduinos but have plenty of Atmega8 chips in my parts drawers and personally, I prefer to play with plain microcontrollers with hardcore C in my projects. So I decided to built something with the parts I already have...

This is yet another game selector project with only a single Atmega8 chip, a cheap 16x2 LCD and three buttons. The firmware is written in C on Atmel Studio 7. (I didn't used that LCD on the photo. It turned out to be a 4 line LCD which I didn't wanted to waste it in such a simple project)

IMG_2816_zpszd4wmuwc.jpg


The schematic for the circuit is very simple. I tried to keep things simple. No fancy filter inductors, capacitors, debouncing stuff etc.

AVR-GameSelector_zpsu0fmhtlu.png


Here is the schematic built on the breadboard. First, tested the dip switch controls with LEDs... ;)

IMG_2824_zpskm2fk8sr.jpg


Then after a lot of testing on the firmware I connected the circuit to the ST-V + multi setup.

IMG_2844_zpsrhdjs4zm.jpg


Ahh! Almost forgot to mention... The St-V multi obviously came with the new auto-reset firmware. I connected the auto-reset wire to the ST-V mobo and connected the reset line of the multi to my circuit.

IMG_2842_zpsensglfcj.jpg


With this, when I press the button to select a game, the microcontroller sets the dip switch and sends a 100ms reset signal to the multi. Then the multi keeps the ST-V reset line LOW while flashing the game and when finishes flashing the game it releases the reset line and the ST-V automatically boots. Basically this is exactly the CPS2 multi setup. No more power cycles or anything ;)

For those who like to make things by themselves, attached are the high-res schematic image and Atmel Studio 7 project file and fuse settings.

Enjoy!
 

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I received my ST-V multi last week.
IMG_2783_zpsm1w6xosy.jpg
I was so excited, unpacked it, burned an SD card, adjusted the dip switches and plugged the multi into my spare ST-V mobo. Hurray! What a great product, thanks Darksoft for letting us play our favorite ST-V games on the real hardware...After some testing, loading different games and playing on my test bench I decided to install the multi into my other ST-V mobo which is in the cabinet. Then I realized to change dip switches when the ST-V is "in" the cabinet will be a pain in the neck, especially when my daughter and her friends come to party in my home arcade and want me to change games (Yes, they think switching to another game in an arcade cabinet is as simple as opening an app in iphone!)Anyway, I've read @'miisalo''s arduino based game selector (great product btw) posts I said to myself I need something like this. It is weekend and I was so excited that I do not have the patience to order that game selector and wait for it to be delivered I decided to make something similar from scratch.I didn't t have any arduinos but have plenty of Atmega8 chips in my parts drawers and personally, I prefer to play with plain microcontrollers with hardcore C in my projects. So I decided to built something with the parts I already have...This is yet another game selector project with only a single Atmega8 chip, a cheap 16x2 LCD and three buttons. The firmware is written in C on Atmel Studio 7. (I didn't used that LCD on the photo. It turned out to be a 4 line LCD which I didn't wanted to waste it in such a simple project)
IMG_2816_zpszd4wmuwc.jpg
The schematic for the circuit is very simple. I tried to keep things simple. No fancy filter inductors, capacitors, debouncing stuff etc.
AVR-GameSelector_zpsu0fmhtlu.png
Here is the schematic built on the breadboard. First, tested the dip switch controls with LEDs... ;)
IMG_2824_zpskm2fk8sr.jpg
Then after a lot of testing on the firmware I connected the circuit to the ST-V + multi setup.
IMG_2844_zpsrhdjs4zm.jpg
Ahh! Almost forgot to mention... The St-V multi obviously came with the new auto-reset firmware. I connected the auto-reset wire to the ST-V mobo and connected the reset line of the multi to my circuit.
IMG_2842_zpsensglfcj.jpg
With this, when I press the button to select a game, the microcontroller sets the dip switch and sends a 100ms reset signal to the multi. Then the multi keeps the ST-V reset LOW while flashing the game and when finishes flashing the game releases the reset line and the ST-V automatically boots. Basically this is exactly the CPS2 multi setup. No more power cycles or anything ;) For those who like to make things by themselves, attached are the high-res schematic image and Atmel Studio 7 project file and fuse settings.Enjoy!
Great job.
Thanks for sharing.
:)
 
And finally, last night I managed to move the circuit from the breadboard to a perf board.

IMG_2849_zps14gexctr.jpg


IMG_2851_zps9zpugjzi.jpg


Sure its not a beauty but it is cheap, functional and works ;)

Now I'll have to install this in the cabinet where it'll stay forever :)
 
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Looks great! Thank you for sharing your schematic and source code!!
It is really nothing compared to what darksoft has done for us. ;)

Apart from the LCD menu code (which is also open source by Peter Fleury) I only written just a few lines of code. Fun weekend project :) So its all yours, enjoy!
 
And lastly, installed the whole setup into my Neo Geo cabinet...

IMG_2862_zpslzfojl6k.jpg


Attached the remote game selector to the coin door with cable ties. Not the perfect place to install but still, allows me very easy access! Even my daughter can change games on her own ;)

IMG_2868_zpsscuv8m2z.jpg


And finally I can play some RS on my Neo cab ;)

IMG_2870_zpsudmnoxmi.jpg
 
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Btw, I don't know if anybody attempted to build this, but I realized that I didn't mentioned an important info;

!!! You have to feed the circuit with power taken either from the multi or from the st-v pcb. Do NOT power the circuit from another source (i.e. a wall adapter or something). This is important! Actually this is basic electronics and if you attempt to build this circuit you probably already know this but, again, for future reference, the rule of thumb is: The grounds (GND) must be "common".

Moreover, for the record, I do not send logical "1" (i.e. 5V) to multi's dip switch pins, only "0". For logical "1" I always change the I/O direction of the related pin of the microprocessor from output to input to isolate two circuits (That way, the pull-up resistors of the multi which are already there will provide 3.3V which is a safe logical "1"). This is called Hi-Z (High impedence) operation and for such one-way 5V-3.3V interfacing of two circuits this is the simplest and safest way.
 
Hey @yavuzg, I wanted to re-read about you STV Selector project, but now all of your pics are down. Can you please reload them?
 
Hey @yavuzg, I wanted to re-read about you STV Selector project, but now all of your pics are down. Can you please reload them?
I know but I'm not planning to pay the ransom that f*** photobucket is asking for.

I'm trying to migrate all my pics to a hosting plan and it is taking time unfortunately (modifying the links etc). I have near 5000 pics linked in many project posts spread over internet :(
 
im going to give this a try as ive got a 2nd multi and stv mobo. Just got to get unpacked from my move then the fun begins.
 
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