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Has anyone done a Game Swapping on Midway Seattle hardware?

ekorz said:
I just bought a PIC from ToplessZ. If he doesn't have more I'll send you this one after I mess around with it!
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I got my PIC in from ToplessZ, I don't have a PCB yet though. he said he "thinks" it should work on a Blitz PCB. I was wondering if you had a chance to try it out on yours.
 
twistedsymphony said:
ekorz said:
I just bought a PIC from ToplessZ. If he doesn't have more I'll send you this one after I mess around with it!
Click to expand...
I got my PIC in from ToplessZ, I don't have a PCB yet though. he said he "thinks" it should work on a Blitz PCB. I was wondering if you had a chance to try it out on yours.
Click to expand...
I got mine too, even burned the roms and the CF. However, my Seattle board is at my office and this week I'm working from home (they're doing some construction on it this week).

Seattle uses sub-boards for i/o on some games but I'm guessing this one doesn't need anything extra. I bet you will need a kick-harness using the same pins Blitz uses for 3/4p. Beyond that, the base is the same for all the games, Blitz, Blitz99, Carnevil, Mace, etc. Some games do use a different speed processor, so if Blitz (150mhz) doesn't 'work' my guess is that it'll actually just run slowly. I do have a 200mhz cpu to try in that event. Seattle did use something like a 194mhz cpu for one game, but I don't have that one and I somehow doubt it would have used it anyway.

So... next week I can tell you how it goes!
 
Well I couldn't get it to boot, but I haven't given up (just ran out of time for today). My guess is that dip/jumper settings are off, but I don't have a primary resource to use so it's more just trial/error.

good news is MACE boots with a 150mhz cpu, so I assume this should too (even if it runs slow) and I can omit that variable for now.
MACE uses software dips (so hard are all-off), Blitz/Carnevil use hard dips. I tried both those options but couldn't get it to run.

There are several options to try: e.g. http://www.crazykong.com/manuals/NFLBlitz.man.pdf

I checked my boot/sound roms, trust this PIC works, and have yet to double-check my CHD.

More later!
 
If it is the DIPS I'd suspect it's dip bank 2 switches 2-5 that determine resolution and GPU speed.

EDIT:
ok looking at MAME source it seems the dip functions are completely different depending on the game.

for bio freaks it lists:
PORT_DIPNAME( 0x0001, 0x0001, "Hilink download??" )
PORT_DIPNAME( 0x0002, 0x0002, "Boot ROM Test" )
all the rest are either unknown or unused.
 
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I should say it booted, bonged once, seemed to change a few screens, but video was way off. @twistedsymphony i wonder if it's medium res only - i won't be able to handle that until I find an L5. tomorrow I will play with more jumpers, but I will also let it sit for a few minutes after boot and see if i can coin-up/play-it blind and at least hear if anything is going on.
 
if it is set to medium res what you're seeing would make sense. I really hope it's NOT as don't have any JAMMA cabs setup for medium res. Technically the MS8-29 in my E29 can do medium res but it required swapping around a few connectors on the chassis.
 
Well every other Seattle game I've seen can be switched with dips. Only question is how. Maybe MAME has some answers too, I'll keep digging
 
Hm, had a little more time just now. It plays blind, but I can't get any dips to really do anything. Bank 1 sw 8 should be a test-mode loop, but it doesn't work. Bank 2 sw 2/3 should toggle refresh rate, but that's having no effect either. On top of that, neither of the Test/Service buttons do anything (through my HAS supergun). Prototype indeed!


I'm thinking it's just medium res and they didn't build the rest... maybe i'll play with it in MAME to see if there are some settings somewhere. Maybe one could force it to boot into 15khz somehow.
 
twistedsymphony said:
If it is the DIPS I'd suspect it's dip bank 2 switches 2-5 that determine resolution and GPU speed.

EDIT:
ok looking at MAME source it seems the dip functions are completely different depending on the game.

for bio freaks it lists:
PORT_DIPNAME( 0x0001, 0x0001, "Hilink download??" )
PORT_DIPNAME( 0x0002, 0x0002, "Boot ROM Test" )
all the rest are either unknown or unused.
Click to expand...
Enabling dip2, boot rom test, in MAME lets you get into the normal test menu!
Sadly there was no config there for setting resolution ;(

edit: tried all the dip switches one at a time, only 1 & 2 had any effect (as listed above / in mame)

So at this point I think it's standard-res only. When my OSSC arrives I can give that a try, otherwise I'm stuck right now. Maybe someone with more skills can force standard res (or enable dips, something...) by hacking the boot rom?
 
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I doubt it. Going down from 25khz Aka mid res to 15khz sometimes it's just not possible with tgat hardware. It Implies processing data to downsize it
 
Update... It rendered with the OSSC (this thing is pretty sweet...) at medium res, and seems playable. Some characters didn't seem to do damage, it's probably the same in MAME (I don't know the game that well). ToplessZ also said he only got it to run in medium res. Bummer! He does also say he has a 'friend' who has a "full version" of the game for $200. I'm not ready to sink any more bucks into this project but maybe some people like the game and would want a copy to dump. I'd chip in for that, but I'm also hoping to confirm the security chip would be the same.
 
I'd be in. Though I'm curious exactly what his friend did... is this pulling assets from the console version to flesh out the incomplete arcade version, is this a newer undumped revision, or something else completely.
 
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I've been swapping games on the Seattle hardware for years, California Speed in my Hyperdrive cab, Vapor TRX, Mace, Carnevil, Blitz, all easily swappable. Only booger is there's like 4 different CPU speed variants out there if I remember correctly and trying to link two boards (for racing games) is a crapshoot if they don't match. I've never had a game not boot on any specific board and I have like 8 or so Seattle boards floating around the house so I imagine I have several CPU speed variants, hah.

Tangent, Tenth Degree on the Vegas hardware is pretty cool IMO.
 
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halaga:

you can make a california speed a blitz?! I have a california speed sit down and was wondering what i could do with it.
 
TheDrunkenArcade said:
halaga:

you can make a california speed a blitz?! I have a california speed sit down and was wondering what i could do with it.
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yep, both use the same 150mhz cpu so you're fine there. you need a security pic but ToplessZ sells them on KLOV (or get them from a dead board). Then just burn a bios and sound rom from MAME, and the HD data on a CF or actual hard drive (also from MAME).
 
hmmmm is toplessZ anywhere other than KLOV -- im not a "registered" member as I wont pay $$ for the board so I cant send messages to people
 
I picked up an NFL Blitz board last year that already had its hard drive replaced with a compact flash card and adapter. When I received it, I couldn't get it to work (it complained of an IDE HD error). I got busy with some other stuff and didn't touch it again until now.

I finally purchased a replacement card and adapter from Arcade Services and I'm now in business. For some reason, the old adapter doesn't work. In any case, I started looking at what other games I could use with the PCB. It seems that I can use other 150Mhz games such as Blitz '99, CarnEvil, California Speed, among a couple others.

Can I simply get replacement compact flash cards or do I need the kits with the chips? I'm assuming the latter, but I figured I'd confirm with some more knowledgeable folks. Thanks for your time.

Steve
 
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