That's the problem, I am not in the US (see my profile location) so sending this thing out of the country costs a small fortune, plus the risks involved with customs "losing" packages. Even if expensive, getting the discover would be cheaper...or leaving the kit playing only decrypted games, that's another option I guess. What would I miss if I choose the "decrypted-only" route?
- Thread starter Mitsurugi-w
- Start date
After buying this kit from highscoresave.com several years ago, I finally got around to installing it last night. I figured I would share my experience/process as I have not been following the project, don't know jack about CPS2 hardware, and spent quite a bit of time reading here, watching @Mitsurugi-w videos, reading video comments, googling, etc.
I started with a working, non-suicided, Asia X-Men COTM that was missing B board cover. It is a revision 7 board and had the B3F Pal.
I started with a working, non-suicided, Asia X-Men COTM that was missing B board cover. It is a revision 7 board and had the B3F Pal.
- I didn't know what version of the kit I actually had. I searched my saved emails for "darksoft" and found the highscoresave receipt from 3/2019. Not a guarantee but assumed it was likely built around that time. If there is a better way to identify kit version, that would be interesting but doubt there are too many laggards, like me, out there.
- I read the manual (v3.2 on first page of this thread) and was concerned about using this board (non-suicided) as my donor. So I went looking for a suicided b boards for 30 min on ebay and didn't find any good alternative candidates. I also didn't really want to wait.
- I then read the link and watched video https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/new-cps2-multigame-firmware-with-key-writing.4342/. From this, I felt a little better (not guilty) about using my non-suicided board but still wasn't 100% certain if I was doing right thing. I also learned that with "latest" firmware I wouldn't have to worry about my jumpers and I could use encrypted roms. Ok Cool. However, I also didn't really know what version of firmware I had.
- I removed roms and installed the kit on the board. I had a GAL16V8A and the ability to burn a new "G PAL" so went looking for and found dump of that
https://wiki.pldarchive.co.uk/index.php?title=CAPCOM_CPS2#PLD.27s - I booted the kit and it said no flash card on led readout so I thought I am in decent shape.
- I prepared my flash card (formatted fat32) and downloaded the flash.zip, from 1st post in this thread, and unzipped. Worrying about firmware update warning (don't connect key write cables before update) I left the key write cables off and opened flash.zip archive. It had a date of 11/2017 so assumed (2nd assumption) I likely had the latest firmware. Risking making an ass of u and me I pushed on and did not put flash.img on card.
- Now I needed some games and keys to actually run them. The link to in post#1 is broken but I found https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/cps2-roll-up-packs-all-roms-for-the-cps2-kit.17566/ and after some reading, clicking and investigating found the base rollup pack. I don't know enough if I should care about hacks and stuff so this seems good enough for me.
- With flash card loaded but key write cables still not connected, I thought I should be able to boot COTA game w/ the existing still preserved original key from my b board. I booted up and I think the kit tried to write a key for the 1st game in menu but w/o wires that would have failed. Using the menu, I went to COTA and loaded that game but it didn't work. The roms (after success of step 9) say "euro" version so I thought maybe my stored key was not compatible or maybe I should have only loaded the COTA game files. not sure
- So I soldered some wires into their correct locations. Great pictures and directions in 1st post here https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/new-cps2-multigame-firmware-with-key-writing.4342/ and I was up and running.
Long story short, it took me a bit of research and time but I have the kit up and running on first try. I have no idea what I am missing from latest "Champion Edition" of the kit or if I did a bad thing basically losing my original COTA Asia key.
Thanks @Darksoft @Mitsurugi-w @BaronVonRollup
Last edited:
Hello!
Glad to hear that you finally decided to put that beast on play. Let me answer to you briefly:
1.- Look at the back of the main PCB of your multi. If it has some long pins that insert into eprom sockets (I'm talking about the big PCB not the smaller one), then it's OLD type. If it has no long pins, it's new Champions Edition)
2.- No problem. You can always restore it back to what it was.
3.- OK
4.- OK
5.- That means that most probably the multi works
6.- Not a good idea. You must know first what multi you have either OLD or NEW as they have different firmwares.
7.- I can't help on that.
8.- You should forget about your old keys as they are now probably gone or corrupted. Short EXC5 and try any game that has as a key, all the values filled with 0xFFFFFFF
9.- Ahhh so it was a happy ending! Good news! Enjoy!
Glad to hear that you finally decided to put that beast on play. Let me answer to you briefly:
1.- Look at the back of the main PCB of your multi. If it has some long pins that insert into eprom sockets (I'm talking about the big PCB not the smaller one), then it's OLD type. If it has no long pins, it's new Champions Edition)
2.- No problem. You can always restore it back to what it was.
3.- OK
4.- OK
5.- That means that most probably the multi works
6.- Not a good idea. You must know first what multi you have either OLD or NEW as they have different firmwares.
7.- I can't help on that.
8.- You should forget about your old keys as they are now probably gone or corrupted. Short EXC5 and try any game that has as a key, all the values filled with 0xFFFFFFF
9.- Ahhh so it was a happy ending! Good news! Enjoy!
good to know.
Also good to know but I did surmise I had the old pre 2020 version. What I did not know was if I had the latest (key write capabile) firmware for the "old" version of the kit. Would it have hurt to "reload" same firmware?
I am not quite following here but will do some more reading on exc5. I would be interested on how I would reload a working key and run original roms back on my board but doubt I will personally need to do that. I don't plan on swapping this kit out
Yes sir! I will and Thank you. Nice little change up to some Christmas arcade gaming. Thanks again!
No, overwriting the same firmware again can't hurt. So you had the older one, right?
Smart decisionI don't plan on swapping this kit out
Perfect timing! Enjoy it!
sorry for miscommunication. I had/have older (pre2020 kit) with newer > 11/2017 firmware. Bottom line is I didn't update firmware and didn't need to either.
Will do!Smart decision
Perfect timing! Enjoy it!
First post updated with new Firmware for this older version of CPS2 Multi (with long pins)
This update fixes the problem with not original or slow microSD and also the problem with MicroSD written in a Mac.
IMPORTANT! This firmware is only to be used with the old version with long pins. DO NOT USE with Champion Edition!!
This update fixes the problem with not original or slow microSD and also the problem with MicroSD written in a Mac.
IMPORTANT! This firmware is only to be used with the old version with long pins. DO NOT USE with Champion Edition!!
Fixed! Thanks for the letting me know.
I have a couple of questions and hope someone can give me guidance.
I bought my board in 2015 (holy time is flying
) and it's a "93646B-7" Revision.
I just opened it and there's still the "old" wire going from SWD5 to one pin of the "big" connector. (see pics).
So now to my question. In what order do i have to modify my CPS2 multi so i can use the Roms with the key files? I read that i shouldn't install the 4 wires until my motherboard is on the correct firmware.
a) but where can i download the latest firmware i need for my old board and how do i install it?
b) after updating my old CPS multi to the "newest" old firmware i desolder the one green wire which is still installed and solder the 4 new wires?
c) then downloading the new firmware, install it and replace the ROM folder on my SD Card with the original files and the key files?
Sorry for the many questions, but when you are away from the topic for several years it's pretty hard to get in again. Don't wanna brick my CPS Multi because it's running just fine now.
Thanks in advance!
I bought my board in 2015 (holy time is flying
) and it's a "93646B-7" Revision.I just opened it and there's still the "old" wire going from SWD5 to one pin of the "big" connector. (see pics).
So now to my question. In what order do i have to modify my CPS2 multi so i can use the Roms with the key files? I read that i shouldn't install the 4 wires until my motherboard is on the correct firmware.
a) but where can i download the latest firmware i need for my old board and how do i install it?
b) after updating my old CPS multi to the "newest" old firmware i desolder the one green wire which is still installed and solder the 4 new wires?
c) then downloading the new firmware, install it and replace the ROM folder on my SD Card with the original files and the key files?
Sorry for the many questions, but when you are away from the topic for several years it's pretty hard to get in again. Don't wanna brick my CPS Multi because it's running just fine now.
Thanks in advance!
Attachments
Hello!
a) It's in the first post of this thread.
b) Correct. That wire is just a reset wire, now you need 4 wires to write the keys. One of these 4 wires is reset, so might be that you can leave that. Check instructions also in 1st post of this thread.
c) when keys are being written, there should be a file in each folder of each game with the corresponding keys.
You wont break anything. Just upload the firmware as described in the instructions and you should be good.
a) It's in the first post of this thread.
b) Correct. That wire is just a reset wire, now you need 4 wires to write the keys. One of these 4 wires is reset, so might be that you can leave that. Check instructions also in 1st post of this thread.
c) when keys are being written, there should be a file in each folder of each game with the corresponding keys.
You wont break anything. Just upload the firmware as described in the instructions and you should be good.
It's possible hos FW doesn't have the SD update function since his kit is so old. He may need to send it to someone with a Discovery to update.
TechnicalMonkey
Student
Are there silkscreen markings to let one know if they might need to do just that, or at least hint at it?
Where are you based? Can you please update your profile with your approx. location? You should try to copy the file on the microSD and see if it dissapears. If it does, then you are good. It means that your CPS2 can do updates. If it doesn't then you need to either update yourself using a discovery or send to one of us for an update.
To be a bit clearer, try to put the firmware update file on the root of your SD card and boot your multi. The leds should flash rapidly for a few seconds. If it updated then the update file will be deleted from the SD card. If the file is still there you have super old firmware that needs to be updated via a Discovery device.
Oh and use the FW for the original version. FW for the new version multi will brick your old version.
Hello,
I have a strange sound issue with my multi board. All games working well, but some newer CPS2 games like Street Fighter Alpha 3, Progear or Vampire Savior have heavy sound glitches. It sounds like the samples are misplaced or wrong addressed, to put it simply, it's like Ken would say "Yoga Flame" instead of "Hadoken". Therefore the sound fx and music is completely messed up in those games. I read a lot of threads here about sound issues but funny is that most of my games actually working. (Like Street Fighter Alpha 2, D&D, Vampire Hunter).
My B board is a 93646B-3 (Grey SFZero2) and my jumpers are SOOS SO OSOSOS SOSOSOSO SOSOSOSO (As it says in the manual) The Pal is lifted and all wires are fine. I have checked all jumpers with a DMM, also checked the continuity of all pins from the Darksoft board to the A borad. I tried different SD cards with different ROM Sets (Also with decrypted ROMs) but no success yet. Is there something wrong with e QSound addressing? Unfortunately I don't have another A borad to test it. Any ideas?
I have a strange sound issue with my multi board. All games working well, but some newer CPS2 games like Street Fighter Alpha 3, Progear or Vampire Savior have heavy sound glitches. It sounds like the samples are misplaced or wrong addressed, to put it simply, it's like Ken would say "Yoga Flame" instead of "Hadoken". Therefore the sound fx and music is completely messed up in those games. I read a lot of threads here about sound issues but funny is that most of my games actually working. (Like Street Fighter Alpha 2, D&D, Vampire Hunter).
My B board is a 93646B-3 (Grey SFZero2) and my jumpers are SOOS SO OSOSOS SOSOSOSO SOSOSOSO (As it says in the manual) The Pal is lifted and all wires are fine. I have checked all jumpers with a DMM, also checked the continuity of all pins from the Darksoft board to the A borad. I tried different SD cards with different ROM Sets (Also with decrypted ROMs) but no success yet. Is there something wrong with e QSound addressing? Unfortunately I don't have another A borad to test it. Any ideas?
