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bobbydilley

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I've recently purchased a System 246 Type C with Time Crisis 3.

The plan is to fake the JVS I/O so I can just play the game with some wii remotes or something, however I was wondering what exactly I would need if I wanted to play the game with a light gun.

I've currently got:

The System 246 Type C with Game + Security Dongle
A Namco arcade optical Gun (from TC 1 I think)
A v291 Time Crisis 3 Converter PCB

I think I need:

Time Crisis 3 V291 Gun I/O PCB ( Seems like they both have the same name, the converter + gun i/o pcb so not really sure whats going on )

I was wondering if anyone knew if I needed anything else or if this would do. I don't think i'll be able to find the cables either, so i'll probably need to make them myself.

Also does anyone know if the game will run in 31KHz so I can play it on a standard computer monitor, or is it just low/medium?
 
The plan is to fake the JVS I/O
There is no JVS i/o. It's just the v291 gun board. Test and service buttons run to it, and the v291 connects into the usb port on the 246.

Also does anyone know if the game will run in 31KHz so I can play it on a standard computer monitor, or is it just low/medium?
In my experience it runs at 15khz despite what dip switch you are using.

The System 246 Type C with Game + Security Dongle
A Namco arcade optical Gun (from TC 1 I think)
A v291 Time Crisis 3 Converter PCB
Power supply/wiring to power the 246 and the gun/io, but otherwise I think that's enough for it to boot, but you might have to wire up a test panel to make it work, I'm not sure if the left/right test switches are normally open or closed. I guess if you boot into test mode you'll know! But they're not momentary switches, they are toggle switches. You also need a 24v psu for the gun solenoid, and while I'd mark it as optional, it's really not :thumbsup:
 
The plan is to fake the JVS I/O
There is no JVS i/o. It's just the v291 gun board. Test and service buttons run to it, and the v291 connects into the usb port on the 246.
The v291 gun board is essentially a v185 gun board previously used in Time Crisis 2. Either board will work with either game. Time Crisis 3 can also make use of a v221 MIU or JVS Rays pcb but that requires a compatible IR laser and a CCD camera (same system used in Crisis Zone and Vampire Night).

Seeing that both board versions are compatible, it looks to me the MCU downloads the gun I/O data from the main board (internal rom).
 
Thank you all for the really useful information, sounds like I should be nearly good to go. Main issue is probably that I don't have a 15Khz monitor, and have to use a converter which I'm assuming will ruin the light gun.

I purchased one of these, just because - does anyone know what it actually does?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0Y4AAOSw3XZc1VJn/s-l1600.jpg

Also sounds like if the system can use the JVS Rays PCB, I can hopefully fake one of those and play the game with an aimtrak or something using OpenJVS.
 
Thank you all for the really useful information, sounds like I should be nearly good to go. Main issue is probably that I don't have a 15Khz monitor, and have to use a converter which I'm assuming will ruin the light gun.

I purchased one of these, just because - does anyone know what it actually does?
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/0Y4AAOSw3XZc1VJn/s-l1600.jpg

Also sounds like if the system can use the JVS Rays PCB, I can hopefully fake one of those and play the game with an aimtrak or something using OpenJVS.
I’m having the same conversation with a buddy over text lol. that pcb probably combines the sync so the lightgun can track it. The 246 outputs H and V sync but the gun (and a lot of monitors) need combined.

I think it may also reduce the io usb signals I to standard usb A.

Haven’t tried any of this yet myself though.

If you get the jvs stuff worked out, let us know! Id love a way to play LED gun games on original hardware with something like a Sinden light gun.
 
Also sounds like if the system can use the JVS Rays PCB, I can hopefully fake one of those and play the game with an aimtrak or something using OpenJVS.
translate some analog inputs into gun position data and then you can use the Sega IR gun setup :D

... then I can play it too :P

seriously though, Cobra the Arcade and Time Crisis 4 use IR guns that are cross-compatible with the Sega IR system, so that would bring TC3 in harmony with those.
 
Also sounds like if the system can use the JVS Rays PCB, I can hopefully fake one of those and play the game with an aimtrak or something using OpenJVS.
Idk how OpenJVS actually works. It seems you can fake Time Crisis 3 with OpenJVS with a MIU pcb since that MCU is the same as used in a handful amount of Namco games. You demonstrated on getting Ninja Assault to boot with OpenJVS but analog/gun inputs currently don't work.
seriously though, Cobra the Arcade and Time Crisis 4 use IR guns that are cross-compatible with the Sega IR system, so that would bring TC3 in harmony with those.
Kind of since Time Crisis 3 uses a different IR system with the camera mounted in the cabinet and the IR emitter inside the gun. It was a nice system but probably cheaper for Namco to stick to Ohmic for their later IR guns.
 
@twistedsymphony Technically you can use both my OpenJVS (linux inputs -> JVS) and JVSCore (JVS -> linux inputs) to convert a Sega IR setup to the Namco type setup - but it's all way off working properly, and I'm back at university now so don't have much time to play with arcades at the moment - but if I ever manage to get it working I'll be sure to tell you ;) It might be something that a big Arduino would be better at doing, a sort of Sega IR -> Namco / Namco -> Sega IR converter board.

@Hydreigon Yeah unfortunately I didn't have much time to play with Ninja Assault before having to give it back. I've got access to a couple of Rays I/O boards that a buddy owns, so at some point I'm going to try and sniff the traffic to work out how they all work and hopefully I'll be able to report back.

@ekorz Ah thank you, that sounds like what it does to me. Thought as it was cheap I'd just get it to have a look at. I'll report back if I manage to work out how to fake the gun JVS for this game. Playing with a sinden light gun would be awesome!
 
Things I've found out:

- Time Crisis 3 requires no I/O to boot, and will just start strait into the attract mode as long as the CD + Memory Card are in.
- Time Crisis 3 takes zero notice of the dip switches on the front.
- Boot process is as follows:
1. Beep * 6
2. Blue Screen
3. Black Screen
4. Blue Screen with Buffer Write Text
5. Black Screen with Texture/Game loading text
6. Attract mode starts
- Game will work for a bit and then crash if power supply isn't good enough
- Arcade CGA -> VGA board finds it very hard to lock onto the signal, and only seems to work when you change the resolutions in the settings once turned on.
 
So on my quest to find a computer monitor that will sync to the 15KHz signal that the System 246 is giving out, I found out that both of the projectors that I own can sync to 15KHz with no problem. I had a Dell SE2416 which had a good go at syncing, but kept cutting out.

The projectors however set themselves to RGB(scart) mode when they are running. I was wondering, if I bought a VGA to Scart cable online, do you think that the System 246 would work on a normal TV via scart? Or is the projector especially good at syncing to anything i.e it says scart but really its doing 15KHz RGBHV?

But in conclusion, if you need to display a 15KHz game, you can pick up a cheap sanyo projector online for £30 that might just do the job!
 
Displaying the game is one thing, getting it to play with the gun is another. My guess is your projector is syncing on one of the sync signals but the gun needs it combined.

I do wonder how the arcade monitors worked. The dang manual says it takes RGB and “Sync” but it seems like not matter what you do the 246 outputs H and V only.

If I recall my PVM would display the game with only one of the two sync signals, probably Pin 13 Hsync, but the guns wouldn’t work.
 
My projector is a DLP so won’t play the gun anyway as it’s buffering the video. I’m just gonna use OpenJVS with a wii remote to play it for the time being, or if I do get the gun I/O see if I can get it running on a TV.
 
Sorry to keep bumping the thread, got it running but it likes to crash every minute or so, and then works for a bit after reboot.

Anyone got any ideas, I’ve got a 250watt PSU on it - do these 246s require more power?
 
Mines not that exact one, but I've tried 3 different PSUs all over 250watt and of good quality.

I've recently got a Sun PSU from a lindbergh, so i'm going to try that as well as that'll let me dial the 5v and 3v3 up and down.
 
You just need 5v and 12v. And 24v for the gun solenoid but that’s another power supply. The one I linked says 5v 20A, +12v 13A which is considerable, so maybe yours isn’t supplying that many amps. It feels like a lot to me, it’s just powering the 246, dvd drive, and gun io, but who am I to say.

Lindbergh psu might work just saying 3.3v won’t matter.
 
I can be of help here, as I've worked on several TC3's, including tearing a couple apart, and having spare parts for almost every bit of this game in my garage.

So the cable that is used on the 246 system in TC3 is a 15pin dsub,(left one) (cga signal, in a vga connector) that breaks out to a 12 position molex style connector at the monitor. If I remember correctly, the Sanwa 27z21C monitor that was default in these games, takes separate sync.

There is a 2nd 15pin dsub connector on the front of the 246 system (right one) that goes to the I/O pcb, to link sync to the I/O for the light gun to work.

There was a projector dlx version of TC3 that used different hardware, that im not as familiar with. I just worked on the CRT models. I think it used the Svideo connector on the I/O board, but please don't quote me on that.

The I/O took a 6pin connection for the gun (sync/grnd/5v/trigger/ and 24v and i think 24v grnd), and also had a 12pin connector that sent pins out to the usb port on the front of the 246, the sync cable that hooks up to the right 15pin dsub, and 24power from the separate 24v power supply.
A very common problem for this board, was the solenoids in the gun locking on, or the 24v supply frying, and it would melt holes in the I/O pcb at the 12pin connector, due to the constant 24v locked on.

Several games worked in 31khz on the 246 system, but TC3 is definitely not one.
To get everything to work, the harness that came with the game, and the I/O would be extremely helpful, as rewiring that harness, and acquiring the connectors is a bit of a pain. Once you have those, you simply need a light gun (namco best, happ with recoil works, happ without recoil will still function), and a 15khz monitor, and you're set. You can break out any vga cable, into the pinout for your respective monitor, and it should still function even if you have to combine the sync wires into common sync, to work with your monitor.

If you have any othe questions, or can use some parts/harnesses, give me a shout.
 
I can be of help here, as I've worked on several TC3's, including tearing a couple apart, and having spare parts for almost every bit of this game in my garage.

So the cable that is used on the 246 system in TC3 is a 15pin dsub,(left one) (cga signal, in a vga connector) that breaks out to a 12 position molex style connector at the monitor. If I remember correctly, the Sanwa 27z21C monitor that was default in these games, takes separate sync.

There is a 2nd 15pin dsub connector on the front of the 246 system (right one) that goes to the I/O pcb, to link sync to the I/O for the light gun to work.

There was a projector dlx version of TC3 that used different hardware, that im not as familiar with. I just worked on the CRT models. I think it used the Svideo connector on the I/O board, but please don't quote me on that.

The I/O took a 6pin connection for the gun (sync/grnd/5v/trigger/ and 24v and i think 24v grnd), and also had a 12pin connector that sent pins out to the usb port on the front of the 246, the sync cable that hooks up to the right 15pin dsub, and 24power from the separate 24v power supply.
A very common problem for this board, was the solenoids in the gun locking on, or the 24v supply frying, and it would melt holes in the I/O pcb at the 12pin connector, due to the constant 24v locked on.

Several games worked in 31khz on the 246 system, but TC3 is definitely not one.
To get everything to work, the harness that came with the game, and the I/O would be extremely helpful, as rewiring that harness, and acquiring the connectors is a bit of a pain. Once you have those, you simply need a light gun (namco best, happ with recoil works, happ without recoil will still function), and a 15khz monitor, and you're set. You can break out any vga cable, into the pinout for your respective monitor, and it should still function even if you have to combine the sync wires into common sync, to work with your monitor.

If you have any other questions, or can use some parts/harnesses, give me a shout.
The export deluxe cabinets used a 50" Mitsubishi projector and used a RGB/NTSC converter pcb to feed the video signal to that pcb and then to the rear projector. The Japanese deluxe cabinets used a 46" Thomson projector but didn't need the converter pcb.

Time Crisis 3 can use three different I/O boards. The v185 I/O board previously used in Time Crisis 2 used for optical guns or the v221 MIU/JVS Rays board used in Crisis Zone for CCD camera guns. That solenoid problem is naturally present in Time Crisis 2 for obvious reasons and in Ninja Assault because it shares the same MCU and solenoid transistor.

Namco guns may be superior to the happ guns but sourcing new Namco gun shells is pretty difficult. Are these shells no longer in production? This is especially a concern for those CCD camera guns that require the original shells.
 
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