thetanbanan
Student
Hi,
I'm looking at picking up a CPS3 and would like to get battery-less 3rd strike running on it (or a darksoft multi-bios setup would work as well, basically I just want to have a setup where I can play 3rd strike without fear of the cart suiciding) and I have a few questions. I was primarily looking at following this guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/falvk1sdfli1913/Guide to Battery-free 3rd Strike 9-15-13.pdf?dl=0
So first of all, my bill of materials looks like this:
CPS3 hardware w/ 2nd impact SIMMs and CD
an extra 128mbit SIMM
a CD/DVD player/burner
a few blank CDs
I already have a supergun for my CPS2 which I believe should work by just using a standard JAMMA connector, although please correct me if I'm wrong.
So first question, the batteryless 2nd impact cart seems pretty straightforward, but this does indeed work with all versions of 2nd impact? And it's really as simple as just removing the battery and then it'll literally just work as if the battery was still there? My experience with arcade hardware is pretty much limited to just CPS2 hardware, so I was moreso expecting something along the lines of an infinikey or something to replace the battery with, but if it really is just removing the battery than I should be good to go.
Then I also had another question regarding the processor on the CPS3 cartridge, I see a lot of references to the normal SH2 processor and the encrypted SH2 processor (I think that those are the two versions I've seen?). What exactly are people referring to here? Is the "Normal" SH2 processor a completely reprogrammed chip? Is it referring to the batteryless Second Impact Cart? Or is there something else entirely I'm missing there? The reason I ask is that I've been having some trouble understanding exactly how the Darksoft multi-bios works with all 6 games on the single disk, it just has seemed rather unclear to me up till now exactly what I'm looking at in terms of what the best way forward is. Also, does the Darksoft multi-bios require that SIMM kit that's going around? I could see myself investing in it since it sounds like it could get every game on a single SIMM set, but I'm very confused as to the requirements of that kit and how it interacts with the SH2 processor as well as the battery-less cartridges. From what I've seen it seems like it's going to be quite a bit less of an investment for me to just set up battery-free 3rd strike rather than going all in on the Darksoft stuff, but I just find all the information around the darksoft stuff pretty confusing.
Lastly, I'm a little unsure on the CD image creation stuff. While I should be able to aquire the ISO for 2nd impact and I believe I have the correct ISO for 3rd strike, I was wondering if it'd be possibel to use one of the ISOs that contain all the games on it from Darksoft? I'm also not 100% sure I have the correct ISO for 3rd strike, and any help to verify that or point me in the right direction to get more information or really any help at all on the ISO would be greatly appreciated. I really have no idea if what I'm looking at is the correct one or not, so a little help would go a long way.
So yeah, basically I'm just rather confused on the CD part of all of this and feel like I'm rather lost on that, getting a battery free 2nd impact cart doesn't seem too complicated, but I'm finding all the information around the Darksoft bios + SH2 Processor + 3rd Strike CD + Darksoft CDs rather confusing, and it's made it rather difficult to figure out what CD image I actually need to use.
Thanks for any help!
I'm looking at picking up a CPS3 and would like to get battery-less 3rd strike running on it (or a darksoft multi-bios setup would work as well, basically I just want to have a setup where I can play 3rd strike without fear of the cart suiciding) and I have a few questions. I was primarily looking at following this guide: https://www.dropbox.com/s/falvk1sdfli1913/Guide to Battery-free 3rd Strike 9-15-13.pdf?dl=0
So first of all, my bill of materials looks like this:
CPS3 hardware w/ 2nd impact SIMMs and CD
an extra 128mbit SIMM
a CD/DVD player/burner
a few blank CDs
I already have a supergun for my CPS2 which I believe should work by just using a standard JAMMA connector, although please correct me if I'm wrong.
So first question, the batteryless 2nd impact cart seems pretty straightforward, but this does indeed work with all versions of 2nd impact? And it's really as simple as just removing the battery and then it'll literally just work as if the battery was still there? My experience with arcade hardware is pretty much limited to just CPS2 hardware, so I was moreso expecting something along the lines of an infinikey or something to replace the battery with, but if it really is just removing the battery than I should be good to go.
Then I also had another question regarding the processor on the CPS3 cartridge, I see a lot of references to the normal SH2 processor and the encrypted SH2 processor (I think that those are the two versions I've seen?). What exactly are people referring to here? Is the "Normal" SH2 processor a completely reprogrammed chip? Is it referring to the batteryless Second Impact Cart? Or is there something else entirely I'm missing there? The reason I ask is that I've been having some trouble understanding exactly how the Darksoft multi-bios works with all 6 games on the single disk, it just has seemed rather unclear to me up till now exactly what I'm looking at in terms of what the best way forward is. Also, does the Darksoft multi-bios require that SIMM kit that's going around? I could see myself investing in it since it sounds like it could get every game on a single SIMM set, but I'm very confused as to the requirements of that kit and how it interacts with the SH2 processor as well as the battery-less cartridges. From what I've seen it seems like it's going to be quite a bit less of an investment for me to just set up battery-free 3rd strike rather than going all in on the Darksoft stuff, but I just find all the information around the darksoft stuff pretty confusing.
Lastly, I'm a little unsure on the CD image creation stuff. While I should be able to aquire the ISO for 2nd impact and I believe I have the correct ISO for 3rd strike, I was wondering if it'd be possibel to use one of the ISOs that contain all the games on it from Darksoft? I'm also not 100% sure I have the correct ISO for 3rd strike, and any help to verify that or point me in the right direction to get more information or really any help at all on the ISO would be greatly appreciated. I really have no idea if what I'm looking at is the correct one or not, so a little help would go a long way.
So yeah, basically I'm just rather confused on the CD part of all of this and feel like I'm rather lost on that, getting a battery free 2nd impact cart doesn't seem too complicated, but I'm finding all the information around the Darksoft bios + SH2 Processor + 3rd Strike CD + Darksoft CDs rather confusing, and it's made it rather difficult to figure out what CD image I actually need to use.
Thanks for any help!