I think a fresh thread for the discussion of conversions as a whole is in order. But here's my quick take on it.Darksoft and I actually appear to have some differing opinions on the subject of conversions.
I'm going to admit here that I'm not a big fan of conversions. And while we allow a lot more leeway here than other forums, mostly because some of our projects were considered conversions and "bootlegs" under other forums' rules, I don't want to be known as the wild west of arcade forums. I think Darksoft and I need to discuss this issue further.
The main thing I look at when considering the impact of conversions is SFII:CE. This pcb used to be plentiful and cheap. It was a $50 pcb for more than a decade straight. Now it is not easy to come by and the average price seems to be North of $150 when NOT on Ebay. Yet people still say its a common pcb. Well, it's not anymore. Period.
I will say this, I don't think we should allow conversion guides to be posted. Info stating what is necessary may be ok but not the procedure. Also, noone should be pressured to release info. There is good reason for people to not want to release some of these things. My opinion.
+1 for Arcade Hacker.The best example is probably the way http://arcadehacker.blogspot.com does it - interesting, complete, no secrets, and no financial motivation.
I have ZERO problem with that... I do take issue with people jumping into a discussion just to imply that they have information that no one else is worthy of knowing. IMO that kind of attitude doesn't belong here on AP and the fact that we've so far avoided the stereotypical "insiders club" circlejerk is a big part of what makes this site worth vising over any of the other arcade forums.I still don't think people should be pressured into divulging info if they really don't want to.
Those are examples of exactly the kinds of information I was looking for when I created this thread...I think information should be open, but personally I would not make a "how-to". An example that tells you everything you know to make sys246/sys256 bootlegs: wiki.arcadeotaku.com/w/Namco_system_256#Memory_card_details
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]The best example is probably the way arcadehacker.blogspot.com does it - interesting, complete, no secrets, and no financial motivation.
It's not as cheap as anymore, but there's still loads available. I can buy multiple in the next hour if I wanted to. It's not rare at all.The main thing I look at when considering the impact of conversions is SFII:CE. This pcb used to be plentiful and cheap. It was a $50 pcb for more than a decade straight. Now it is not easy to come by and the average price seems to be North of $150 when NOT on Ebay. Yet people still say its a common pcb. Well, it's not anymore. Period.
and dare I say... Somewhat hypocritical as well, after all what is a multi if not a fancy hardware conversion?Honestly, not allowing conversion guides would be super weird for this forum.
All our multis are fully reversible. Like I said there are different levels of conversions. I'm jst not sure I would want a guide that showed that you needed to remove a bunch of components, add jumper wires, etc.and dare I say... Somewhat hypocritical as well, after all what is a multi if not a fancy hardware conversion?Honestly, not allowing conversion guides would be super weird for this forum.
That sounds like a lot of work and, unfortunately, my free time is running scarcer every day.Probably no, customs are not all the same, also priority chips are different sometimes. You might be able to, but looking to audio customs on premier soccer is way different then Sunset/tnmt, it could not work. Tnmt2 defenetly no, there's no room for 6 proms (that is also why they use sunset riders for it), i think they are 1mb 27c160, maybe you'll be able to join some roms to an 27c322 (2Mb) but probably CPU can't read it in whole data
Also, you need the PAL/GAL dump and set jumpers with resistors at 0 value.
Is still possible anyway.. if you have the patient to take a look at schematics and follow/check all (if not most) of the connections, you will probably able to.
I succesfully converted many martial champions into mystic warriors/methamorphic force just because the layout is pretty much the same, they eventually miss some like a 054539 for the audio, i usualy take them from dead boards that i know i can't fix
The hope is that the hardware/board is un-altered from an original Sunset, and TMNT2 is running because it's been patched/hacked removing the protection/customs.Someone could buy that eBay conversion and see what modifications were done, be it cut traces/jumper wire and/or patches to roms.
You must be good friends with JörgHello,
Sunset Riders-->>Turtles 2 = OK,
Premier Soccer-->>Turtles 2 =NOK,
Martial champions-->>Metamorphic force = NOK.
Good luck, Dragos
Ummm, who is Jorg ?You must be good friends with JörgHello,
Sunset Riders-->>Turtles 2 = OK,
Premier Soccer-->>Turtles 2 =NOK,
Martial champions-->>Metamorphic force = NOK.
Good luck, Dragos
Another smart guy who won't share "secret" Naomi information with the scene.Ummm, who is Jorg ?