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Darksoft

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Hello everyone,

if you got your deco Multigame and want to know how to install it. This is the place to go!

It's very important that whenever possible you try to test first if your deco is working properly. These sets are very old and may have some problems, so it's good to know if problems come form your setup or maybe the multi.

Notice that the multi is still not 100% ready and may have some bugs.

INSTRUCTION
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you basically just need to do 2 things:

1) Put the multigame PCB in the slot where the dongle would usually go.
2) Replace the BIOS with the one supplied by us. Note where the notch is on the old bios eprom before replacing it.

There are 2 types of Deco revisions so find out first which one you have. Some have the PCBs names ending in -3 and some in -8.

TYPE -3
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For the ones ending with -3, you'll need to remove the 2 old bios Eproms. They are on the DSP3 board and are labeled p0 and p1. The bios chip installes in place of p1. P1 is the one that's more towards the center of the board.

TYPE -8
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In the -8 version install on the board labled RMS8. The bios is below dip switch 1.

3) You can leave the tape deck but I recommend to unplug it.

Our kit can also run the old Widels eproms that are available from MAME or you can get them from attachment in this post.

You can reprogram the BIOS and the EPROM of the kit if you need to see if the problem is coming from your setup or from our kit.

Please post any questions or trouble you may have.
 

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Online manual scans are garbage. Trying to trace back to determine cause of 6502 reset line being stuck low, but parts of the schematics are unreadable.

Anybody got a higher res copy or scannable original?
 
Online manual scans are garbage. Trying to trace back to determine cause of 6502 reset line being stuck low, but parts of the schematics are unreadable.

Anybody got a higher res copy or scannable original?
Did you find any better scans of the schematics (and the manual)?
 
I have finally installed my kit (late 2017) in version -3 PHAT board set and have some issues. It could be kit or partially boardset. I can load some games and play them (Manhattan, Bump N Jump) but not others (Burger Time, etc). I can load Lock N Chase but can't move the character. I only have the single 27c800 but will try Widdell's code as well.
@Darksoft would it be possible to add the test cassette roms (romset=ctsttape) to the rom 27c800? That would be really helpful. >>edit just realized Widdell's code has the test tape.

note: I do get slightly different behavior on failed burger time load when setting setting dip1 5&6 to ON. It will actually boot but runs Burnin Rubber.
 
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Probably your dips are wrong. Can you send a picture of your multi, just the Pcb. Front and back please.
 
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I tried with different dip sw settings but believe I have reviewed them multiple times. DIP 1 appears to be mostly cabinet set up info but I haven't looked at code. 1-4 is coinage, 5-6 tape size, 7-8, Upright or Cocktail.
 

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That looks OK to me. Which speed and size is the eprom?
Those 2 electeolitic capacitors in the back which numbers do they have written?

Let us know if it works better with the widel romset.
 
100ns eprom. 33 and 152 for capacitors. Will try widel rom tonight.
 

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@Darksoft the widel decomulti file you have in post1 doesn't match what is in mame. I installed it and it doesn't have the test tape on it. Then I checked the bios roms and the hashes are different.

Anyway, it seems the code in post 1 works fine for me. To eliminate any dip switch settings, I will try again.

Another thing I noticed while looking at mame driver was the proms for older boardsets differ from newer board sets. It jumped out at me as mame runs dave's roms with the newer boardset proms. << Could be nothing but figured I would mention it.
 
Interesting. I guess the Widel code in post 1 is newer but doesn't include the test tape rom.
looks like I have some bad memory on bio board. No idea which chip D450 would refer to though.

2021-08-02 21.47.52.jpg
 
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There must be a chip that in the PCB BIO will be silkscreen as D450. You need to replace that.
 
Success! I knew there were a couple 4118s with questionable legs and after reinspection, one of them fell off. I soldered on a couple new legs and replaced, same error. I then swapped the two questionable ones with the two working ones and got past the bio board ram error.

Put the Darksoft kit back in and it works fine. Note my dip switch settings . SW1 all off except 7&8 for upright. SW2 all off except 6 for country B = USA.

I then changed dips to purposely try and cause a failure. SW1 5&6 ON, for large tape?, 7&8 off for cocktail, SW2 6,7,8 off for Japan. Seems to boot and play, burgertime and lock n chase, fine.
Note: I have not tried the per game setting dip switches (SW 1-5 ) to see if they have an impact or not.

Definitely helpful to have the Test Tape Roms from Widel's mame version code.
 
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I am curious about the bprom differences between Old -3 and Newer -8 now though. My whites are a bit more yellow but admittedly, I haven't tested nor adjust monitor fully yet :)
 
I am curious about the bprom differences between Old -3 and Newer -8 now though. My whites are a bit more yellow but admittedly, I haven't tested nor adjust monitor fully yet :)
Colors are fine. My monitor cable is a bit flaky.

One thing that is slightly different is, which is a bit weird as I have no idea what in the game code would cause this, is when running the original LockNChase code from cassette, or could be the bios code, my monitor focus is adjusted at a certain point and with the multi-kit, I have to adjust the focus to a different point. Screen position is slightly different as well.<<edit ignore this. Change monitor behavior after 20-30min. Nothing to do with kit.
 
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I have the first shipping version of the kit from 2017 and have been running Widel's code on my -8 boardset successfully. Is there an update to the Darksoft code that will work with my kit and boardset at this time?
 
I have the first shipping version of the kit from 2017 and have been running Widel's code on my -8 boardset successfully. Is there an update to the Darksoft code that will work with my kit and boardset at this time?
I am running the latest version of Darksoft's code on my -3 and it appears to be working fine. You can get the "final" code on the first post here
https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/get-your-deco-multigame-here.4149/

I don't think anyone reported problems with the -8
 
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