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Anyone with Taito Wolf Hardware (Psychicforce 2012)

twistedsymphony

twistedsymphony

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I've a Psychic Force 2012 PCB coming to me but I was curious about a few things before I get it in.

1. What resolution does it run in, and if it supports multiple how do I set the resolution?
I can't seem to find a straight answer about the resolution. KLOV states it's 15K, System16 suggests it supports both 31K and 15K, I looked at the service manual and couldn't find anything about resolution (though it does show an Egret 29 as the example cab which suggests that it should support 15K or 25K).

2. Does it need a special power supply, and if so what's the voltage?
I've seen listed on YAJ and mentioned in the manual, a wall-wart style DC converter that plugs into a circular port on the main board. I'm wondering what the deal is with this. Is this something that the PCB requires, or is some kind of optional port for powering the board without the JAMMA edge?

Of course after I bought the board I discover that it's one of the NESICA games that have been dumped... doesn't matter I loved this game on Dreamcast so I'm looking forward to having a proper arcade PCB for it too :)
 
I did find this page talking about the video output: http://www.thedodgegarage.com/3dfx/q3d_arcade.htm

Seems to confirm that it supports 15K, and the guy was claiming he couldn't find a way to activate 31K output contrary to claims from others.

Also for anyone that might be interested I found the Japanese service manual here: http://www.gallopingghostarcade.com/qr/psychicforce2012/psychicforce2012.pdf

Also cool is that Taito was kind enough to include full color move strips and marquees at the end of the manual.
 
So I got my Psychic Force 2012 PCB in today and set it up in the Egret 29 and the monitor wouldn't sync, so at first glance it doesn't appear to be 15KHz

I should be getting in a SCART to VGA adapter soon which will allow me to hook my bench harness up to my NEC multi-sync. From that I should be able to tell what resolution is actually getting output.
 
Mame shows the resolution as 512 x 256 which falls in standard res.

I would be extremely surprised if it ran in anything else.
 
it's possible there's some other issue. I suppose I could put my multimeter into frequency mode and see what the sync pin is actually outputting.
 
I had this one in the past - it is 15k (Standard res).
But it is picky with voltage...you need quite strong psu to still the power hunger this thing has, have you measured the voltages?
 
I'll didn't test voltages. But it looked like the game was running through attract mode just not syncing.
 
What kind of cab are you installing it in? I know there's issues on AWSD cabs with sync on some boards and there's a connector you disconnect which separates the sync lines and this solves the problem

There's also some cabs that have issues with boards with a higher or lower sync voltage than the monitor is expecting, common problem on Wei-Ya tri sync chassis with MVS boards - you need to install a resistor or capacitor on the monitor chassis to resolve it
 
Depending which style of MS8 it is, it may only accept a composite sync signal and the board you're using may be using seperate H and V sync signals.

If this is the case you need to combine the signals to get a composite sync the monitor can use

There's a guide here for doing that

https://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=87727.0
 
I solved the Sync issue... it was a simple dirty edge connector. didn't even look that dirty either but I went to test this the other day and noticed that the sync flickered around when I moved the board. so I put pressure on the edge connector and it snapped into focus. Cleaned the pins and the picture is crystal clear (this game has better graphics than I remember. The textures are really great for it's age). it also looks like it's running an interlaced resolution. (check out the timer in the image below)

17126308_626687944207538_9107543610764558336_n.jpg


I have another problem now though... no sound. There doesn't appear to be a volume pot on the PCB, my cab has the volume all the way up and I found a sound settings menu in test mode that lets me set volume level (all the way up) stereo or mono and volume balance.

With everything cranked I get some faint squeeling/feedback out of the speakers but it honestly just sounds like interfearance from other circuits on the PCB.

After a few minutes of play the heat sync on the on-board amp was stone cold. this PCB has a pre-amp stereo header so I may try to build an adapter for that and see if I get anything out of it.

One other thing is that there's a big cap next to the amp that looks like it's been replaced (it's physically much larger than silkscreen outline and has to sit crooked to clear some near by components) so I'm wondering if this was an existing issue that someone else tried to fix by replacing it.

I'm open to suggestions on what to check to get the sound working.
 
Does it have a function similar to CPS2 where you have to tell it which outputs to use for sound in the menu somewhere?

Or since I think I saw you checked the menu already, is there a DIP switch that performs the function?

Is the amp dead and needs replacing? I guess the next step is to check and see if it's getting power since if it's getting power but stone cold it must be dead

Could be the volume pot on the board is busted?
 
Last edited:
xodaraP said:
Does it have a function similar to CPS2 where you have to tell it which outputs to use for sound in the menu somewhere?
Click to expand...
The menus are all in Japanese but there doesn't appear to be any options other than what I listed.


xodaraP said:
is there a DIP switch that performs the function?
Click to expand...
There doesn't appear to be any jumpers or or dip switches on the non-PC portion of the boardset. You're welcome to see if you can identify something youself there are some great pictures here: http://tdfx.de/eng/arcade_wolf.shtml



xodaraP said:
Is the amp dead and needs replacing? I guess the next step is to check and see if it's getting power since if it's getting power but stone cold it must be dead
Click to expand...
I don't know if I agree with that deduction; there are lots of things that can prevent an amp from heating up even if it has power. but checking the voltage would rule out the audio power supply circuit.




xodaraP said:
Could be the volume pot on the board is busted
Click to expand...
as I stated before, there is no volume pot.
 
That's pretty cool. It's an absolute monster but still pretty cool.

What's the DC in jack for out of interest? Do you somehow have to provide this beast of a boardset with additional power to boot it? Is the extra power required to get sound?
 
Last edited:
No idea what that DC jack is for, I don't think I've ever seen anyone with one of these boards using it, though I did stumble upon a YAJ auction for the official DC Adapter setup:
sin_inx-img450x600-1461498433kvoqnw28972.jpg


The guy wanted more than I paid for the board, but I've been unable to even determine what the output voltage of the DC adapter is supposed to be.

I did manage to get the chip number and data sheet for the amp: LA4705N / 8CD6
https://www.digchip.com/datasheets/parts/datasheet/413/LA4705N-pdf.php

Not that it's of much use but I identified the motherboard that this is based on too. It's a P5TX-LA: http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/ecs/P5TX-LA.htm it looks like the game uses a stripped down version that's missing the on-board video processing.

I also took a look at the MAME driver for this board: https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/taitowlf.cpp
I noticed there's only 1 ROM version. Which is curious as I've seen English language service manuals for this. it makes me wonder if there's a way to set the board as a US region or Export region. that'd be nice.
 
The DC jack might be for cabinets with a weak power supply to make sure the board is getting a solid voltage? I would imagine this thing is picky as well as power hungry like a NAOMI setup

Out of interest have you checked the +12v?
 
yes, +5V, +12V, and -5V are great.

I haven't had an opportunity to test the amp voltages directly though.
 
Yeah I was more wondering if +12 was not strong enough but if that's working well next step is to check the amp

Luckily if the amp is dead that should be a common replacement if it's used in car stereos
 
I've confirmed no pre amp audio. So it seems the problem is the audio circuit, not the amp.
 

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If that was any normal arcade hardware I'd be saying the audio CPU is bad - but on something PC based like this all those components could be scattered all over the different boards

Need to locate the sound area and check the DSP and DAC and somehow see if they're functioning

I can't help but think that AC adapter is involved here somehow
 
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