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twistedsymphony

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Based on the bounty thread for the CPS QSound games to CPS2 I'd like to propose a Bounty for more CF conversions that run on Taito G-Net Hardware.

For this bounty because there are so many games from so many different sub-board configurations I'd propose that the bounty is split on a per-game basis.

Personally I'd be willing to offer $30 PER NEW GAME that is playable on a G-Net CF setup; bug free and feature complete (that means with working music/sound fx). $30 isn't much, hopefully some other people here like the idea and are willing to pitch in to expand the G-Net library.

To this end I've broken the games down into a few categories [listed below]. For the sake of this bounty and to put a cap on the limits of how much each donor is likely to spend I'd propose the bounty is ONLY valid on the "Likely Conversion Candidates" list below. If someone thinks it's possible to convert games with Yamaha or QSound audio chips to run on the G-Nets Sound hardware then it might make sense to open a different bounty for those games.

With that said there are 11 games on the "Likely Conversion Candidates" list so my $30 per game offer has a maximum payout of $330 should all 11 games get converted. If there are features of the "likely" games that makes them not viable candidates or "unlikely" games that make them viable candidates please let me know and I'll update the lists accordingly.

LIKELY CONVERSION CANDIDATES
Tecmo TPS ROM Games:
Most of the Tecmo TPS games seem to not have any special sound hardware on the sub-board. In-Fact Three TPS games have been converted already: Flame Gunner, Shanghai Matekibuyuu, and The Block Kuzushi. These have the highest potential for conversion:
  • 1 on 1 Government (TPS BIOS)
  • Dead Or Alive ++ (TPS BIOS)
  • Gallop Racer 2 (TPS BIOS)
  • Gallop Racer 3 (TPS BIOS)
  • Logic Pro Adventure (TPS BIOS)
  • Monster Farm Jump (TPS BIOS)
  • Tecmo World Cup Millennium (TPS BIOS)
  • Tondemo Crisis (TPS BIOS)

Viable Games with more complex Sub board:
These games don't seem to have any unsupported sound hardware on the sub-board but they do use a hard drive or other expansion PCB to store their game Data.
  • Bust a Move 2 - Dance Tengoku Mix (PS Arcade 95 BIOS) - uses a hard drive for game data
  • NBA Jam Extreme (Acclaim BIOS) - uses a secondary ROM PCB
  • Primal Rage 2 (Atari BIOS) - uses a hard drive for game data

UNLIKELY CONVERSION CANDIDATES
Yamaha Sound Games:
Conversion unlikely because the Yamaha sound hardware used on these games' sub board is absent from the G-Net Sub board. Brave Blade has already been (partially) converted; it's missing music due to the missing Yamaha sound chip on the sub-board, these other games might be possible minus music but it's unlikely a complete conversion could be done without converting the sound code.
  • Bloody Roar/Beastorizor (PS Arcade 95 BIOS)
  • Bloody Roar 2 (PS Arcade 95 BIOS)
  • Brave Blade (PS Arcade 95 BIOS) - converted except for music.
  • Cool Boarders Arcade Jam (TPS BIOS)
  • Heavens Gate (Atlus BIOS)
  • Magical Date (FX-1A)
  • Magical Date EX (FX-1A)
  • Psychic Force (FX-1A)
  • Psychic Force EX (FX-1A)
  • Super Football Champ (FX-1A)
Q-Sound Games:
Complete Conversion Unlikely due to the lack of a Q-Sound chip on the G-Net sub-board
  • Battle Arena Toshinden 2 (ZN1 BIOS)
  • Choukou Senki Kikaioh (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Gallop Racer (ZN1 BIOS)
  • Rival Schools/Shiritsu Justice Gakuen (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Star Gladiator (ZN1 BIOS)
  • Star Gladiator 2/Plasma Sword (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Street Fighter EX (ZN1 BIOS)
  • Street Fighter EX Plus (ZN1 BIOS)
  • Street Fighter EX2 (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Street Fighter EX2 Plus (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Strider 2 (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Tech Romancer (ZN2 BIOS)
  • Tetris The Grand Master (ZN2 BIOS)
Special IO Games:
Conversion of these is unlikely because the sub-board includes IO hardware that is absent from G-Net sub-board.
  • Gallop Racer 2 Link Version (TPS BIOS) - has link connections on sub-board
  • Judge Dredd (Acclaim BIOS) - has CRT GUN connections on sub-board


PLEDGES & BOUNTY PAYOUT:
Pledges per "likely" game
$30 - twistedsymphony
$30 - rewrite
$30 - Darksoft
$50 - ekorz
$30 - jugu
$30 - suverman
$60 - brentradio
$10 - theoddtech
$30 - CoinFeeder
$60 - ShootTheCore
$30 - Tietscha

total pledged bounty per game: $390

Bonus Pledges for Primal Rage II
$450 - ekorz
$100 - rewrite
$130 - twistedsymphony
$30 - PascalP
$1000 - plasticfactory


pledged Primal Rage II bonus bounty: $1710
total pledged bounty for Primal Rage II: $2100
 
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I'll also throw in an extra $100 for PR2.

Total Bounty information added to top post.


PR2 deserves a special bonus because of the added complexity and the rarity of the original PCB.

I don't want to start getting into a whole bunch of bonus-bounties for specific games but If anyone does decide to start tackling these I would be super happy if they started with either Primal Rage II or Tondemo Crisis. :D
 
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I've never had a deep look into this hardware (a bit too "modern" for me, It coincides with the time I stopped going to the arcade as early 3D was just unbearable for my delicate eyes ;) )

But now I'm tempted, not necessarily because of the bounty but rather for the technical aspect and the interest people have in those conversions.
 
Primal rage 2 would make me buy a G-net board!
$30 for that one
 
It coincides with the time I stopped going to the arcade as early 3D was just unbearable for my delicate eyes
I feel like most of the G-Net games are right at the tail end of that "hard on the eyes" era. a lot of the games hold up pretty well graphicly but some are definitely hard on the eyes.

I feel like the games from that era that tried to be "realistic" ended up looking incredibly dated and crappy, while the games that accepted the hardware limitations and went for a "stylized" look that played to the hardware's strengths are the ones that stand the test of time.

Some of the games on this platform are still sprite based too. Primal Rage 2 for instance is all sprites created from 3D renders (similar to Killer Instinct)
 
Ok so I've tried to launch the conversions of Flame Gunner and The Block Kuzushi in MAME without any success.
Of course I'm using the modified BIOS.

Not sure what's wrong, will keep investigating.

[EDIT]
Got "DIFF CHD ERROR: invalid parent".
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can confirm that CF modified version of Flame Gunner works on original hardware.

I'm assuming you're running these in MAME? Maybe it has to do with how the BIOS is being "installed"? on the actual hardware the MODBIOS EPROM is installed in an empty socket and a jumper is set, you power on and it "installs" the bios. After this you remove the EPROM and jumper. I'm not sure if it uses the data from the EPROM as-is or if's modified during installation.

If you're interested in playing around with actual hardware TOPS has them for a reasonable price: https://www.tops-game.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=4098
 
  • 1 on 1 Government (TPS BIOS)
  • Dead Or Alive ++ (TPS BIOS)
  • Gallop Racer 2 (TPS BIOS)
  • Gallop Racer 3 (TPS BIOS)
  • Logic Pro Adventure (TPS BIOS)
  • Monster Farm Jump (TPS BIOS)
  • Shanghai Matekibuyuu (TPS BIOS)
  • Tecmo World Cup Millennium (TPS BIOS)
  • Tondemo Crisis (TPS BIOS)
Out of the titles listed, Dead or Alive and Tondemo Crisis seem to be the best candidates. They're both really good games a vast majority of people would enjoy. Also, Shanghai Matekibuyuu has already been converted, so you can remove it from that list.

Also, am I the only one not being able to run RC de Go via CP + modbios? The game doesn't boot for me at all. Another error I get is crashes and garbled text in the high score list with Flame Gunner.
 
Out of the titles listed, Dead or Alive and Tondemo Crisis seem to be the best candidates. They're both really good games a vast majority of people would enjoy.
Agreed!
Shanghai Matekibuyuu has already been converted, so you can remove it from that list.
You're right! good catch, top post has been updated.


Also, am I the only one not being able to run RC de Go via CP + modbios? The game doesn't boot for me at all.
I've never tried it since I don't have the proper controller. Maybe it needs to see a stable voltage from the analog inputs to boot? I know some racing games are like that.


I get ... crashes and garbled text in the high score list with Flame Gunner.
I've never experienced that. though it's been a long time since I've fired up that game. when does this problem arise exactly: when entering a new high score, or when viewing the scores during the attract loop, or some other time?
 
I have RC de Go on original cart and Go by Rc on CF,
Both run fine on my modbios system, you should see a controller calibration screen, wich you won't be able to pass without the analog controller connected.

Have you tried a known working CF card? I've had a lot of different cf cards not working on Gnet.
 
I burned The Block and Go By RC last night and both booted file. I played The Block for a while, but I only got as far as the calibration screen on Go By RC since I don't have an analog controller setup for it.
 
Ok so I've tried to launch the conversions of Flame Gunner and The Block Kuzushi in MAME without any success.
Of course I'm using the modified BIOS.

Not sure what's wrong, will keep investigating.

[EDIT]
Got "DIFF CHD ERROR: invalid parent".
Erase the contents of your 'diff' folder (and nvram etc folders).

It never occurred to me to check out the cat 702 stuff in the g-net conversions.
I guess that this means g-darius and raystorm for the super football champ rom board won't be too much trouble as security has been worked out.
 
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