Any PGM Conversion info out there?
- Thread starter 98pacecar
- Start date
well it does some stuff with the ASIC in a normal cart, but on a converted cart it's only used for the T-ROM
Okay, then I'm stumped. One thing to try would be all four options for pin 17 and 18 for U1, but otherwise maybe Apocalypse can find the secret sauce.
hmm.. maybe I need to try making a new U7 with everything but the T-ROM stuff stripped out.
PASTBLASTER
Grand Master
By the way, does anyone have experience with laser cutting acrylic? I'm toying with ideas for a simple cartridge shell.
The simplest version would be just two laser cut rectangles with mounting holes, with the lower one resized to fit into the bevelled area. That should protect the PCBs, and prevent inserting the boards the wrong way around. A more complicated version would require bending the cutout into a clam-shell to fit the bevel. Or you could reproduce the bevel with several layered cuts.
(Of course the simplest way would be to just buy a cheap or damaged cartridge and using that shell...)
The simplest version would be just two laser cut rectangles with mounting holes, with the lower one resized to fit into the bevelled area. That should protect the PCBs, and prevent inserting the boards the wrong way around. A more complicated version would require bending the cutout into a clam-shell to fit the bevel. Or you could reproduce the bevel with several layered cuts.
(Of course the simplest way would be to just buy a cheap or damaged cartridge and using that shell...)
KalessinDB
Grand Master
Asure
Grand Master
Opcode 1010, no idea what that is.
I need to debug (credit feed?) this and find out if it's a sneaky trigger they have in stage 4. The code at 0x14169E might contain a write/check for something.
Note this wasn't extensively tested, and i'm not skilled enough to reach second loop on White Label or even Black Label.
If they have some tests/protection trick when the true boss Hibachi shows up and it crashes then & there, that's gonna be an issue
Asure
Grand Master
@EVAWINGZERO I've duplicated the bug by credit feeding, except I didn't get the debugger screen for some reason. So thank you for the screenshot, that will help narrow down the problem. Now I need to find some spare time to figure out why this happens exactly.
I compared your screenshot and mine hangs in the exact same spot frozen but with sound.
It's very likely a writer or read from the asic as there are several 'random' moments the game does this (right after the ship drops down into the game at the start for example.)
Anyway free time is sparse, maybe later this week I'll have some moment to look at the code. Thanks again for your report!
I compared your screenshot and mine hangs in the exact same spot frozen but with sound.
It's very likely a writer or read from the asic as there are several 'random' moments the game does this (right after the ship drops down into the game at the start for example.)
Anyway free time is sparse, maybe later this week I'll have some moment to look at the code. Thanks again for your report!
PASTBLASTER
Grand Master
Happy to help test anything you need me to. I can try to recreate the error if you need more data.
A
Apocalypse
You can probably do a lot of debugging in MAME by setting appropriate watchpoints and using cheats.Opcode 1010, no idea what that is.I need to debug (credit feed?) this and find out if it's a sneaky trigger they have in stage 4. The code at 0x14169E might contain a write/check for something.
Note this wasn't extensively tested, and i'm not skilled enough to reach second loop on White Label or even Black Label.
If they have some tests/protection trick when the true boss Hibachi shows up and it crashes then & there, that's gonna be an issue
Even if MAME doesn't crash at least you'll have locations writing to the ARM.
Aren't PGM games almost exactly the same as Neo Geo cartridges other than the pins? I don't know if PGM PCBs would fit into a Neo geo cart but MVS shells aren't that hard to get a hold of. I've ordered some of those banana MVS shells before and clear greenish blue ones.
Just an idea..
KalessinDB
Grand Master
They won't. They're similar sized but not the same, and the PGM games have a bevel on one side so that you can't insert them backwards, because unlike Neo Geo games, bad shit will happen if you do that (you can burn things out from having power go where it shouldn't go)
NOPE
You can actually get a few MVS and AES cartridge shells, but I expect the demand for PGM cartridges is comparably small. (Unless some company still has the moulds somewhere in their warehouse...)
The bevel is indeed the problem, without it it would be trivial to make a fitting laser-cut case. My current best idea is a rectangular case with fins at the end to centre the cartridge in the slot.
Though I just found this case for MVS, which seems to combine laser-cut and 3D-printed parts: https://lions3.com/product/mvs-custom-game-shell/
(Is that the same Lions3 that KalessinDB mentioned above?)
The bevel is indeed the problem, without it it would be trivial to make a fitting laser-cut case. My current best idea is a rectangular case with fins at the end to centre the cartridge in the slot.
Though I just found this case for MVS, which seems to combine laser-cut and 3D-printed parts: https://lions3.com/product/mvs-custom-game-shell/
(Is that the same Lions3 that KalessinDB mentioned above?)
KalessinDB
Grand Master
This thread is getting rather unwieldy, and I'm here to be part of the problem.
Picked up two cards from @lydz on Taobao (side note, cannot recommend TaobaoFocus enough).
On the Custom PCB I see the usual missing bypass caps etc.
I have a bunch of 100nf 0805 caps that I use on the NeoGeo 120 in 1 multi carts.
Should I throw some on this board too? How about the electrolytic caps?
@Fluffy I see your custom board is fully populated
Picked up two cards from @lydz on Taobao (side note, cannot recommend TaobaoFocus enough).
On the Custom PCB I see the usual missing bypass caps etc.
I have a bunch of 100nf 0805 caps that I use on the NeoGeo 120 in 1 multi carts.
Should I throw some on this board too? How about the electrolytic caps?
@Fluffy I see your custom board is fully populated
Attachments
Well, I guess "it depends":
The prog board is 4-layer, and the internal planes act as a bypass capacitor as well, so you may as well get away without. As the guy says it depends on many factors like power supply quality or board layout.
My current version of the prog board is 4 layers, just because I don't have the equipment (or experience) to properly test this. The CPU runs at 20Mhz, which is far outside the range I normally do as well.
So if you have them laying around you can put them on. But if the board works stable for you you can leave them out as well.
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