DARKSOFT CPS1 Multi - Support thread

[Darksoft]

Finally you are starting to receive your CPS1/CPS1.5 Multi. It's been amost 2 years of development, basically because we never could see the end of it, we always wanted to add something more, make it even better, and it was being extended and extended. Now is finally out and we hope it meets your expectations.

In this thread and specially in this 1st post, we will post firmware updates, if needed or improve the documentation or help people troubleshoot their multi if they have any troubles.

We can finally provide you with some basic instructions. You can get them from below.

CPS1 Multi Instructions (11th May 2022): https://www.mediafire.com/file/79hi9mwd4h7lzdc/CPS1_Multi_Guide_v1.4.pdf/file
Before installing the multi MAKE SURE that both your A and C board work properly! and it's highly recommended to use unmodified C Boards.

Here is a tutorial by @ShootTheCore about how to install your multi. Br sure not to miss it!

View: https://youtu.be/NTWg7clOqKs


There are currently 2 known bugs:
* Glitches on 2nd stage in Mercs. Can be fixed with a FW update.
* King of dragons has a strange coinage issue if you are NOT running it on a board at 10Mhz. You will insert coins but when you press 1P start it will decrease coin but not start the game, until the number of credits remaining is 1. This behaviour is identical in the original.

Anything else other than that is a problem with your setup. Remember to check the dipswitch settings. Those can make a lot of problems and they change COMPLETELY from game to game.
When you report a problem please specify the exact model of A board and C board that you are using. Also indicate the frequency of the clock and post a picture of your C board if it's been modified. Also report exactly which version of which game is making issues.

ENJOY!

UPDATE 12/12/2022: New Firmware that fixes the Bars on the cave stages of Chiki Chiki Boys. See attach.

 

[Darksoft]

In order to get the multi working, you need to place each game in one folder and all the games should be placed inside a folder in root called \games

each game should have the following files:

CPS1
-----
config --> as explained in the instructions, indicate the graphic configuration.
enckey --> it tells which Bxx chip is to be used for this game.
gfx.01 + gfx.02 --> each file has the upper and lower 16 bits of the gfx rom, they are loaded exactly as MAME does.
maincpu.03 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME does.
oki.05 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME does.
z80.06 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME does.
name --> this file contains the name to be displayed in the LCD screen.
dash --> optional file. If it's present, it indicates that the game runs @12Mhz and the pin DASH in the multi will be active to 1.

CPS1.5
-------
config --> as explained in the instructions, indicate the graphic configuration.
enckey --> it tells which Bxx chip is to be used for this game.
gfx.01 + gfx.02 --> each file has the upper and lower 16 bits of the gfx rom, they are loaded exactly as MAME does.
maincpu.03 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME does.
qsound.07 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME loads the Qsound samples.
z80.08 --> same as above. Loaded as MAME does.
dash --> optional file. If it's present, it indicates that the game runs @12Mhz and the pin DASH in the multi will be active to 1.
qsound --> this file is compulsory for CPS1.5 games. It can be empty, just needs to be present. If indicates that the game is a Qsound game and the pin Qsound in the multi will be active to 1.

That's all you need to be able to run the CPS1 Multi.

 

[GeorgeSpinner]

I got my multi set up.

games flash fine but no video or audio output. Just black screen.

I followed the manual.

A board is 89626A-4.

I am using 92641C-1 C board. I replaced the PAL with the one provided.

I have the switch on top of the multi set to ON.

I have the reset and qsound wires hooked up correctly.

I have tried 2 different C boards. They were both on conversion boards and the conversion has been reversed.

Traces were cut so I soldered a jumper wire from pins 45 and 46 to pin 40.

I thought I was buying an unmolested C board but it actually still had the traces cut, but no bridge wire.

Any suggestions?

 

[ekorz]

I am using 92641C-1 C board. I replaced the PAL with the one provided.

Maybe that is two separate thoughts, but the way that reads is that you replaced the pal on the C board. The pal actually goes in the A board. Just making sure

Otherwise the C pins should go to ground, I don’t think 40 is ground is it? I used a negative from where the battery was

 

[GeorgeSpinner]

Maybe that is two separate thoughts, but the way that reads is that you replaced the pal on the C board. The pal actually goes in the A board. Just making sure

Otherwise the C pins should go to ground, I don’t think 40 is ground is it? I used a negative from where the battery was

I replaced the wrong PAL. I did replace the one in the C board.

I replaced the correct PAL and everything is great. Thank you very much!!!!!!!!!

I'd put more exclamation points, but I don't think anyone would appreciate 5 or so pages of just exclamation points.

I'll never get those 3 hours of my life back, but at least it's resolved. And somebody had to get the ball rolling in here.

I corrected my initial post to reflect what I actually did.

I regards to ground - Pin 40 is ground, so is 41. So is whatever pin is diagonally across from them. Pin 47 might be ground too. But Idk.

I am also using the negative battery spot now too. It's nice and beefy. I like it.

Thanks again.

 

[ekorz]

Glad it’s all working! It’s brand new stuff, I’m sure folks will make all the easy mistakes. I sure made a few…

I spent an hour swapping SD cards and A boards when I’d actually just got my Reset and QSound wires reversed. Spoiler alert, it boots to a little bit of text garbage if you do that.

(I also forgot to swap the PAL when I swapped A boards… using the original yeilds a RAM error on most cps1.5 games and Dino won’t boot, but cps1 games seemed fine!)

And somebody had to get the ball rolling in here.

If it had stayed empty for another day or so I was gonna post “Help me. I can’t stop playing the multi, it’s too awesome.”

 

[GeorgeSpinner]

I haven't spent a ton of time with it yet but I'm having trouble with most of the ROMs I've tried.

Ghouls n Ghosts - every version has music cut out. at new section music starts again.
Final Fight - all roms except USA and JAPAN 900112 just show black screen after flash.
Captain Commando - all show black screen
Street Fighter 2 - most show black screen

It's late, so I can't make a comprehensive list.

I've tried 3 SD cards. 64GB XC, 32GB HC, and an old 2 GB micro SD card.

All the ROMS seem to load fine and say I should "HAVE FUN"; so I believe they are loading.

I'm running at 5v.

I'm sure the multi was test extensively, so something must be off.

EDIT - I noticed that if I hit the credit button it would make sounds. The game wasn't fully playing but something was going on in the background.

SWITCHING C BOARD SEEMS TO HAVE CLEARED IT UP!!

I will leave this here in case any one else has an issue like this.

 

[opt2not]

What version of C-Board did you have before, and what did you switch to?
Or did you have a faulty C-board and replaced it with a working one?

 

[bodgit]

So my question is how did you make the ROM files?

I’m happy to wait for a roll up pack to appear but I’d like to manually craft one or two games together just to test the multi out and verify everything is working.

I have a current MAME ROM set already so I just need some hints on how to splice the various files together; are they just concatenated together, interleaved, etc.

 

[nnap]

if you happen to enter 'multipacks' in the searchbar of archive.org you might be suprised what you find.

 

[bodgit]

That’ll do nicely, thanks

 

[opt2not]

Has anyone been able to get the Street Fighter II hacks working? Rainbow, Red Wave, etc?
When I load any of those hacks I get nothing but garbled graphics or the game locks up at the initial boot screen.

Regular versions work fine.

 

[the Goat]

Has anyone been able to get the Street Fighter II hacks working? Rainbow, Red Wave, etc?
When I load any of those hacks I get nothing but garbled graphics or the game locks up at the initial boot screen.

Street Fighter II Rainbow edition has garbled graphics and locks up? Sounds like you successfully got it working.

 

[MostroVeneno]

I need the laugh button reaction please, will be used with responsibility I swear 😁

 

[GeorgeSpinner]

What version of C-Board did you have before, and what did you switch to?
Or did you have a faulty C-board and replaced it with a working one?

I replaced it with the same version. I have 4 of them, so it was just bad luck that this one didn't work with the multi. It works fine with my GNG conversion (when the mod is active).

 

[Omnibot]

I’ve just finished setting up the multi but I’m getting a white screen with all the games I’ve tried (Final Fight, Strider, SFII, Pang 3). I see garbled black and white stuff on the left half of the screen while it’s flashing and when it finishes it goes to a white screen. I’ve replaced the PRG1 PAL chip on the A-board which is a 12Mhz Dash board and the C-board is a 90631C-5 with 2 PAL chips and the extra connectors. The C-board is however a modded one with the bodge wire and cut traces. The switch by the C-board is in the Off position. The donor board thread said that that C-board should work:

These "Good" Options will work, however you will be limited to only using "decrypted" ROM sets.

Is that correct and the problem lies somewhere else or do I need to try and get a different C-board? I think I have some other ones I could try but they’re difficult to get at at the moment! 😅

 

[Darksoft]

The C-board is however a modded one with the bodge wire and cut traces.

Seriously? Did you read the instructions?

 

[Omnibot]

Seriously? Did you read the instructions?

I did, but the I also read the donor board thread where it said unencrypted ROMs would work. If that thread is no longer correct, shouldn’t it be updated?

 

[LHantz]

Realised the potentiometer for controlling volume for Q-Sound in both Stereo and Mono modes. I should read instructions !

 

[Darksoft]

I did, but the I also read the donor board thread where it said unencrypted ROMs would work. If that thread is no longer correct, shouldn’t it be updated?

It's all explained in the instructions. Undo that hack or even better, get a new C Board that hasnt been tampered with and try. AFAIK only CPS1.5 Kabuki roms were encrypted, the rest are not.

Let us know how it goes.