BOUNTY: CPS1.5 games (with Q-Sound) on CPS2 multi

[Apocalypse]

There seems to be a kind of status quo.

We are several who got quite far on porting C&D and now we're just waiting one of us to spend the needed time to complete it 100%.

Also I don't remember if there was a bounty for single games? Cause let's face it, that's the only way you'll ever see C&D on CPS2, even so the bounty is quite impressive, the fullset would require an infinite amount of time.

Here's the mathematical demonstration, where $$$$ is the bounty and h = hours:
$$$$/ထh tends to $0/h

 

[Morden]

I guess the most logical way about it would be to rank the games by the amount of interest and divide the bounty. Here's how I see it, and for the purposes of this example, let's assume the bounty is one currency and that the total is €4200. We have five games, not counting their variations, so for the sake of simplicity I'll just count them as five. We could divide the bounty by 15, and so, based on how desirable a given title is and how they rank, it would look like this:

Game 1 - €1400
Game 2 - €1120
Game 3 - €840
Game 4 - €560
Game 5 - €280

One problem you see right away, though, is the cut-off "price point" for someone to take an interest in porting a game. I can't imagine someone doing one of the Muscle Bomber games for €280, for example.

One thing is certain: If this project doesn't get anywhere, now, when so many people are stuck at home, looking for something to do, it's never happening. Also, in all honesty, I have never believed that someone would pull this off by themselves and get the complete bounty. Doing this by game would at least give us the top two titles, which I assume are Cadillacs & Dinosaurs and a fully working Punisher.

 

[Brentradio]

The bounty, while nice, really doesn't mean much.

Projects like this are always done by people who just want to do it. Not for any money. And when they don't want to do it anymore, no amount of money will change that.

I look at this as the glass is half full. I will take a mostly working Punisher on a system never designed for it all day long and not complain about not having more. I am grateful for what I have and always will be.

 

[Darksoft]

Projects like this are always done by people who just want to do it. Not for any money.

Exactly that.....

 

[Morden]

I look at this as the glass is half full. I will take a mostly working Punisher on a system never designed for it all day long and not complain about not having more. I am grateful for what I have and always will be.

Of course! I'm not complaining. There are many other ways of playing these games on the cheap. Raspberry to JAMMA is an excellent solution for something inside of a cabinet, but at the same time it's a shame things just came to a halt. I know several people lookes at Cadillacs. It must have taken a considerable amount of work of several people who figured things out on their own. It's almost a shame it wasn't a joint effort. Anyway, I just wanted to check the status. People post here from time to time, but like I said, it's been a while since aky kind of a progress update. I just thought I'd ask. It's fine either way, really. That Punisher release alone was worth starting this topic.

 

[ShootTheCore]

I think splitting the bounty up on a per-game basis is a fine idea.

 

[xodaraP]

I think splitting the bounty up on a per-game basis is a fine idea.

It's been talked about and the reason it hasn't been done is because then C&Ds and Punisher are the only ones ever going to be done

I'm not a huge fan of Slam Masters but it's not a bad game and there are people who really like it. I do like Warriors of Fate though, and I think they both deserve to be ported.

As said above though, no amount of money is going to make people put the work in unless they want to do it

 

[Brentradio]

I look at this as the glass is half full. I will take a mostly working Punisher on a system never designed for it all day long and not complain about not having more. I am grateful for what I have and always will be.

Of course! I'm not complaining.

Just so you know, when I used the word "complain" I wasn't talking about you.

That's just the way I worded my thought.

I too want more games. And more and more!

 

[nem]

It must have taken a considerable amount of work of several people who figured things out on their own. It's almost a shame it wasn't a joint effort.

I bet everything done was still more or less low hanging fruit, and what's left is more than likely just tons of tedious and time consuming work. Hard sell to anyone.

Them's the breaks.

 

[fredjss]

Ah, ok...

I thought that was a some bug or another error.

So all is super freaking awesome with my CPS2 Multi!

Thanks Jeremy.

Fixed that for you!
Sometimes we forget because we're all spoiled rotten by this place...

Hello @brentradio

I get the rom from Street Fighter II CE, but I have the same. I am unable to enter the "service" mode and modify some settings. My CPS-2 has a Neo Geo configuration controller.

Another game have the same behaviour as Street Fighter II Turbo.

It´s not a claim! It´s only to ask your guys if is possible some single modificatios to you "turn on" this feature?

Street Fighter II CE

Street Fighter II Turbo

 

[Apocalypse]

Hello @brentradio
I get the rom from Street Fighter II CE, but I have the same. I am unable to enter the "service" mode and modify some settings. My CPS-2 has a Neo Geo configuration controller.

Another game have the same behaviour as Street Fighter II Turbo.

It´s not a claim! It´s only to ask your guys if is possible some single modificatios to you "turn on" this feature?

Street Fighter II CE

Street Fighter II Turbo

It's not "turning on the feature" but rather adding it.
I see the SF2 Turbo is signed by its author, maybe ask him.

Anyway, I went pretty far on the C&D before and I thought "Dammit, I'd rather tackle it 100%!".
But then I couldn't find my files anymore…
But reading my (handwritten) notes it all seemed not that complicated (you know that feeling, at first it looks impossible and when you've done it once the following times seem like a breeze).
I'm not pretending writing a guide but here's what has to be done (or maybe what I'll do all over again):
1) Decrypt sound ROM cleanly to obtain a file of the same size where data and opcodes are decrypted separately
2) Patch main CPU code for default B21 registers
3) Patch main CPU code for checksums tests and sound CPU ROM checks (doesn't apply to C&D IIRC, but Slammasters as tons of those)
4) Rearrange gfx data for CPS2
5) Adapt memory map (for inputs, etc.)
6) Create a sprite array (reversed) to recalculate priority

 

[fredjss]

Hello @brentradio
I get the rom from Street Fighter II CE, but I have the same. I am unable to enter the "service" mode and modify some settings. My CPS-2 has a Neo Geo configuration controller.

Another game have the same behaviour as Street Fighter II Turbo.

It´s not a claim! It´s only to ask your guys if is possible some single modificatios to you "turn on" this feature?

Street Fighter II CE

Street Fighter II Turbo

It's not "turning on the feature" but rather adding it.I see the SF2 Turbo is signed by its author, maybe ask him.

Anyway, I went pretty far on the C&D before and I thought "Dammit, I'd rather tackle it 100%!".
But then I couldn't find my files anymore…
But reading my (handwritten) notes it all seemed not that complicated (you know that feeling, at first it looks impossible and when you've done it once the following times seem like a breeze).
I'm not pretending writing a guide but here's what has to be done (or maybe what I'll do all over again):
1) Decrypt sound ROM cleanly to obtain a file of the same size where data and opcodes are decrypted separately
2) Patch main CPU code for default B21 registers
3) Patch main CPU code for checksums tests and sound CPU ROM checks (doesn't apply to C&D IIRC, but Slammasters as tons of those)
4) Rearrange gfx data for CPS2
5) Adapt memory map (for inputs, etc.)
6) Create a sprite array (reversed) to recalculate priority




Thanks @Apocalypse




I'll try to do...

 

[bdlou]

Progress is being made on a port of the 3 player Final Fight 30th Anniversary Edition to CPS2, including a Q-Sound music upgrade. There may be some interest in some other projects based on discussions in this thread. Check out the project at https://www.patreon.com/arcade_atavism

 

[Hammy]

1) Decrypt sound ROM cleanly to obtain a file of the same size where data and opcodes are decrypted separately
2) Patch main CPU code for default B21 registers
3) Patch main CPU code for checksums tests and sound CPU ROM checks (doesn't apply to C&D IIRC, but Slammasters as tons of those)
4) Rearrange gfx data for CPS2
5) Adapt memory map (for inputs, etc.)
6) Create a sprite array (reversed) to recalculate priority

2 & 6 are the time sinks here...
+3 for slam masters.

The remaining errors on the neocps1's punisher will be 2 / 6 related.
If it's an error on #2 it should not be *that* hard to sort out. If it's an error on #6 not so much as that will be his own custom code.

 

[twistedsymphony]

You know what would be great.
if someone made a custom mame build that would automatically capture and record the position in code where these reads/writes occurred. Then you could crowd-source identifying where these fixes need to occur by just sending out that mame build and saying "hey guys play this game a bunch start-to-finish and test every nook and cranny then send in the file it produces once you're done. This could also be used to validate that you got them all after the-fact.

 

[xodaraP]

You know what would be great.
if someone made a custom mame build that would automatically capture and record the position in code where these reads/writes occurred. Then you could crowd-source identifying where these fixes need to occur by just sending out that mame build and saying "hey guys play this game a bunch start-to-finish and test every nook and cranny then send in the file it produces once you're done. This could also be used to validate that you got them all after the-fact.

Doesn’t MAME do this already? That’s what the debug mode is for - or does that only give you the option to view the data live?

 

[twistedsymphony]

Doesn’t MAME do this already? That’s what the debug mode is for - or does that only give you the option to view the data live?

MAME has all of the tools to do this but it requires a strong knowledge of how to use those tools. What I'm talking about is something stupid simple that you can give an .exe file to an 8 year old and say "play this" and get useful output.

The idea being that someone could create the "collection" build, post it on the forum, have 50 people play the game. Then have hundreds of hours of data collected in a fraction of the time it would take for the developer to do it themselves. And all the supporters would have to do is play the game.

 

[Derick2k]

MAME has all of the tools to do this but it requires a strong knowledge of how to use those tools. What I'm talking about is something stupid simple that you can give an .exe file to an 8 year old and say "play this" and get useful output.

The idea being that someone could create the "collection" build, post it on the forum, have 50 people play the game. Then have hundreds of hours of data collected in a fraction of the time it would take for the developer to do it themselves. And all the supporters would have to do is play the game.

 

[sammargh]

with protection like slam masters you're just throwing shit to the fan in the hopes it works.. while manual capture works it's a game of cat & mouse to make it remotely useful

 

[bdlou]

Here's the latest on the Final Fight AE port to CPS2 with progress on the Q-Sound soundtrack. Headphones on! Links to all the information are in the description of the video. This is amazing!