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Conversion of single layer Taito Cup Finals PCB to something else?

A full new set of roms burned and now all working. :)

(Next job is i really must fix my test monitor, the green output is way too low, and its starting to get annoying !)

elevator action game working - 1.jpg
elevator action game working - 2.jpg
elevator action game working - 3.jpg
elevator action game working - 4.jpg


pcb with roms in

elevator action pcb - 1.jpg
 
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So with the PAL mod does that means any conversion is possible? or are there still limitations?
 
twistedsymphony said:
So with the PAL mod does that means any conversion is possible? or are there still limitations?
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The honest answer is i dont know yet as i haven't looked at all the rom files for all the games, but having got a game working that uses the larger game roms, i am pretty confident that alot of the games in the list will now work. The previous work to sort out the use of larger sound roms has also helped.

Another good thing about the board is the sprite, tile and sound roms that use the 42 pin locations all have the capability to use either 27c400, 27c800 or 27c160 from factory so that means nothing needs messing with so far on that side.

One limitation i can see is possibly the sound sample banks. The board only has 2, so games using 4 banks may not work right. Not 100% on this though yet.
 
Nice to see you testing some other games and getting them running :)

I guess with the higher capacity PAL the smaller <meg count> games still work?
 
I guess there is still the option of adding an expansion board, if there is not enough space on the main board.
 
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twistedsymphony said:
So with the PAL mod does that means any conversion is possible? or are there still limitations?
Click to expand...
From what I remember that's the case with regular Taito F3 and cartridges. You just change the PAL and that's all you need to do to change between games. There were 3 versions of pal IIRC. Let me see if I can dig my notes...
 
I think the next game i might try on this boardset is light bringer (dungeon magic) as looking at the roms this uses the 3 extra sprite roms on the board, so that would mean i have maxed out all the rom sockets. 3 more ics to cut out and socket though. Will give the most flexibility

Regarding games that might not run on this single later board, the only ones i can see are the ones using more than 2 sound roms for the ensoniq part listed in mame. This seem to be mainly Kaiser Knuckle & Puzzle Bobble 3 &4
 
Darksoft said:
So.....

this is basically what I do with the multi. I only use PAL13,14 or 15.

The pal being used, depends on the size of chips 11 and 12.

PAL13 --> fileSize<=262144;
PAL14 --> fileSize<=524288;
PAL15 --> fileSize>524288;

The CPLD takes care of that.
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Does the code check for the point where the data wraps or is it some odd mapping?
 
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I havent checked anything like that, or at least I don't remember. In my case it's about understanding the Hardware, not the code and I know that just assigning the right PAL based on the Size of chips 11 and 12, did the trick.
 
Extra Sprite roms now socketed, (and no i didnt try to save the old roms, cut the F%^&kers out.)

light bringer all extra sprite roms - 1.jpg


New sockets and the rom locations

light bringer all extra sprite roms - 2.jpg
light bringer all extra sprite roms - 3.jpg
light bringer all extra sprite roms - 4.jpg


Now we have fully working sprites

light bringer all roms changed test - 3.jpg
light bringer all roms changed test - 4.jpg



light bringer all roms changed test - 2.jpg


I think the extra 3 sprite locations on for light bringer are for the help text screens and also some of the non moving sprites like furniture in rooms etc. It kind of doubles the 2 spirte sections, ie normally you get 2 low and 1 high sprite roms and on this you get 2+2 low sprite roms and 1+1 high sprite roms.

SO thats everything tested now i think hardware wise
 
mypinballs said:
Extra Sprite roms now socketed, (and no i didnt try to save the old roms, cut the F%^&kers out.
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I made a start with the sound roms, but especially the ground pins were such a pain that I cut the rest out. Especially with thin traces right next to the pins you don't want to take any risk...
 
Fluffy said:
mypinballs said:
Extra Sprite roms now socketed, (and no i didnt try to save the old roms, cut the F%^&kers out.
Click to expand...
I made a start with the sound roms, but especially the ground pins were such a pain that I cut the rest out. Especially with thin traces right next to the pins you don't want to take any risk...
Click to expand...
Exactly, these multi layered boards, with the ground and +5v layers inside the boards make the removal of those pins very tricky. I take no chances and just cut out the old nasty footy roms and throw them in the bin! and when you have 11 42 pin roms to remove ...
 
mypinballs said:
Exactly, these multi layered boards, with the ground and +5v layers inside the boards make the removal of those pins very tricky. I take no chances and just cut out the old nasty footy roms and throw them in the bin! and when you have 11 42 pin roms to remove ...
Click to expand...
I think it's all down to the tools you have. I often read people complaining about power planes on this or that board. Just one recent example, someone was moaning about the ground plane on OutRun. I pointed him to my blog: almost 70 chips pulled cleanly from the top board.
 
I mostly use hot air these days to pull DIPs. You have to be careful and depending on the board you have to add some foil or tape to protect other components. Has worked really well for me. You still have to remove the solder from the holes but it is a lot easier without the pins in there.
 
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