kyletwentytwo
Enthusiast
Update on this:
The ST-V Multi wasn't an issue, works fabulously. A little more digging revealed something I didn't know; there are two different socket variations that the ST-V can come with for the BIOS IC, and they are not swappable. It seems like almost everyone has the standard 27C400 IC, but there is an (early?) variation of the ST-V that uses a 27C4002 equivalent, and those ICs are not compatible with the 27C400 IC sockets. Ajax and I confirmed that my board had this less-standard socket type by swapping our BIOS chips and noticing that neither ST-V would boot up when we did that, just a black screen.
I then found a series of posts from user arc11, culminating in this post: https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...tructions-and-trouble-shooting.512/post-92455
He mentions that he got his ST-V multi working by using the modbios (multi-region bios). What intrigued me was that in one of his earlier posts, his list of games that would work and games that wouldn't work was exactly the same as mine.
Once I put these two things together, I figured it couldn't hurt to try ordering a programmer and a 27C4002-equivalent IC (I got a 27C4096) to burn the modbios to. Instructions here in case anyone finds this post helpful in the future: http://www.tjaberg.com/stv/index.htm
I grabbed a really cheap programmer and IC from Amazon, and didn't exactly have high expectations for either/this solution, but... it worked perfectly. All games on the multi are now loading and I can play that sweet, sweet Soukyugurentai.
To be clear, this is not an issue inherent to Darksoft's multi; with this old BIOS (mine is revision EPR17740, which is the oldest known ST-V bios), original carts of these games very likely don't work either. It's just a weird, rare ST-V board variation/BIOS thing. Why exactly an older version of the BIOS makes a ton of games give loading errors is a mystery well beyond my ability to figure out.
TLDR: If you get an ST-V multi and Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang, and Radiant Silvergun work but ~70% of the games don't, you might need an updated BIOS IC. Beyond that, there are two different ICs that are used for ST-V BIOS, so confirm which type you have before ordering/flashing one because they are not universal.
The ST-V Multi wasn't an issue, works fabulously. A little more digging revealed something I didn't know; there are two different socket variations that the ST-V can come with for the BIOS IC, and they are not swappable. It seems like almost everyone has the standard 27C400 IC, but there is an (early?) variation of the ST-V that uses a 27C4002 equivalent, and those ICs are not compatible with the 27C400 IC sockets. Ajax and I confirmed that my board had this less-standard socket type by swapping our BIOS chips and noticing that neither ST-V would boot up when we did that, just a black screen.
I then found a series of posts from user arc11, culminating in this post: https://www.arcade-projects.com/thr...tructions-and-trouble-shooting.512/post-92455
He mentions that he got his ST-V multi working by using the modbios (multi-region bios). What intrigued me was that in one of his earlier posts, his list of games that would work and games that wouldn't work was exactly the same as mine.
Once I put these two things together, I figured it couldn't hurt to try ordering a programmer and a 27C4002-equivalent IC (I got a 27C4096) to burn the modbios to. Instructions here in case anyone finds this post helpful in the future: http://www.tjaberg.com/stv/index.htm
I grabbed a really cheap programmer and IC from Amazon, and didn't exactly have high expectations for either/this solution, but... it worked perfectly. All games on the multi are now loading and I can play that sweet, sweet Soukyugurentai.
To be clear, this is not an issue inherent to Darksoft's multi; with this old BIOS (mine is revision EPR17740, which is the oldest known ST-V bios), original carts of these games very likely don't work either. It's just a weird, rare ST-V board variation/BIOS thing. Why exactly an older version of the BIOS makes a ton of games give loading errors is a mystery well beyond my ability to figure out.
TLDR: If you get an ST-V multi and Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang, and Radiant Silvergun work but ~70% of the games don't, you might need an updated BIOS IC. Beyond that, there are two different ICs that are used for ST-V BIOS, so confirm which type you have before ordering/flashing one because they are not universal.
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. Upload the “roll-up” rom set into your Sd card, set the jumpers, let it load a bit and boom! Play on!
