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Midway Wolf conversions

Some of my Wolf Units are stripped bare. So even with new EPROM's, no security PIC's. What can I do to replace the missing security PIC's?
 
Didn't someone create a universal one?

Edit: never mind, Darksoft patched all games to work without it, first page of the thread

There's also the AnyU64 project which lets all games boot with any security PIC
 
yavuzg said:
And lastly, when I remove the PIC, I do not see any video on startup, just the single "bong!" sound. The game won't boot.
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Darksoft said:
That happens with both hacks I guess, right?
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yavuzg said:
Yes, it happens for both hacks, tested on two different wolf units. The game won't boot without a security PIC.
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brizzo said:
Start up without PIC -- the PIC has several functions that it provides to the Wolf unit pcb, so it is needed
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brizzo said:
But what I wanted to show is there are two checks in every Wolf unit game. It always looks for 528, then a unique value for each game. The serial prefix 528 was perhaps a 'developer id' used internally, so they had a single PIC for booting any game

I can confirm it is possible to create a PIC that returns an encoded serial number starting with 528
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Darksoft's and brizzo's releases don't work without the PIC from what I've read here.

@brizzo, did you ever release a universal security PIC for the Wolf Units?
 
looking in more detail at the PCBs here is what we've determined so far:

2 on 2 Open Ice
U55 = Not Populated
U57 = A-20255
U62 = LH52B256N-10LL (32Kx8 SRAM)

MK3/UMK3
U55 = Not Populated
U57 = A-20093
U62 = LH5268AN-10LL (8Kx8 SRAM)

NBA Hangtime/NBA Maximum Hangtime
U55 = Not Populated
U57 = A-20093
U62 = LH52B256N-10LL (32Kx8 SRAM)

Rampage World Tour
U55 = Not Populated
U57 = A-20255
U62 = LH52B256N-10LL (32Kx8 SRAM)

WWF Wrestlemania
U55 = Populated
U57 = A-20093
U62 = LH5268AN-10LL (8Kx8 SRAM)

Populating U55 is a matter of installing
1. install a 32.768KHz crystal near U55
2. install an MK41T56N IC at U55

Upgrading U62 is a matter of
1. Remove U62 and install an LH52B256N-10LL.
2. Remove the 4.7K resistor at R138.
3. Add a zero ohm link at R644.

Thanks to @Phil Bennett for the excellent info on U62 and to @rocket for pointing out the U57 GAL differences

I've seen a few MK3 PCB with U55 populated, but it's clearly not necessary, I think that's a good indication that it can be populated and still work for games that don't use it. As for U62 It would be nice to see if an NBA Hangtime could be converted to MK3, that would let us know if the larger SRAM at U62 will still work with games that normally use the smaller SRAM. If so that would be good for a multi as it would mean we could have 1 hardware config that works with all games.
 
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Did anyone look closer at the WWF code for something time based except a clock? Wondering why it has it.
 
A friend of mine said he is fixing an MK3 -- this should be easy to convert into WWF, right?

MK3s are easy to find over here, but WWFs are nowhere to be found -- and I like that game a lot :)
 
MK3 is a 5 row game with no EEPROM where WWF is a 4 row game with EEPROM

However the U57 and CMOS RAM are the same on both MK3 and WWF so might be an easier conversion
 
xodaraP said:
MK3 is a 5 row game with no EEPROM where WWF is a 4 row game with EEPROM
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The 4-row/5-row thing is irrelevant, it was thought that the 4-row games had the serial time keeper in U55 but it seems that only WWF actually uses it.

this information about an EEPROM is new though, which IC is the EEPROM and what's different about them?
 
ZERO_MILES said:
A friend of mine said he is fixing an MK3 -- this should be easy to convert into WWF, right?
Click to expand...
based on what I know right now, it should be possible by installing the U55 serial time-keeper and associated crystal described in the "populating U55" post here: Midway Wolf conversions if your lucky your MK3 already has this installed as some of them do.

I'm not sure if there are other changes necessary but if you want to give it a try and report back that information could be useful.
 
twistedsymphony said:
I'm not sure if there are other changes necessary but if you want to give it a try and report back that information could be useful.
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Will do.

The guy who is doing the work for me converted a Gunforce M92 into R-Type Leo and said it was "easy" (and according to some experienced forum members this should have been a very difficult task), so once he fixes MK3 he wil ltry converting it into WWF for me.

I'll let you guys know how that goes.
 
twistedsymphony said:
xodaraP said:
MK3 is a 5 row game with no EEPROM where WWF is a 4 row game with EEPROM
Click to expand...
The 4-row/5-row thing is irrelevant, it was thought that the 4-row games had the serial time keeper in U55 but it seems that only WWF actually uses it.
this information about an EEPROM is new though, which IC is the EEPROM and what's different about them?
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My mistake, I thought U55 was an EEPROM
 
I just repaired 4 Wolf Unit PCBs, two of which had faulty U57s (GAL20V8).

U57 is an address decoder for the sound DSP. I reverse-engineered a working one and submitted the JED file to jammarcade.net.

A-20093 and A-20255 are functionally identical; they're just labelled differently (as are the CPLDs depending on the game).

Next task is to reverse-engineer the CPLD at U35!
 
Phil Bennett said:
I reverse-engineered a working one and submitted the JED file to jammarcade.net.
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Great news! Thanks Phil... Either I'm an idiot which I can not find it on the site or the file is not yet public?
 
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You shouldn't need an adapter to program the U54 and U63 since they are 27c4001 and directly supported by the TL866 (If that was your question). If the programming is interrupted, then

a) Always test your TL866 (Tools->System Health check) befor any programming. It is crappy assembled and sometimes internal connectors, solders etc get funky).
b) The legs of the EPROMs might get rusted. First clean them with a dremel metal brush (both sides)
c) The connectors of the ZIF socket of the TL866 might have been rusted. Clean them with brush.
d) If that is an ID error, uncheck the ID control before programming EVEN if the markings says AMD, Fujitsu, Intel etc. Sometimes those do not match (most of the time if you buy them from aliexpress, they are just re-painted/re-branded old stuff)
e) Re-erase the EPROM, this time 45 minutes!
f) Still no joy? Your EPROM might have simply died. Use another fresh one.

good luck
 
Sending off some Universal U64 chips to @acblunden2 to try out :D

20190424_220155.jpg
 
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