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Crisis Zone + 246 games IR led replacement tests - Work in progress

Franco23444

Franco23444

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Hello, I want to show everyone something and hopefully help some people who want to have or fix a Crisis Zone, Vampire Night, or Time Crisis 3 CCD Camera setup. I wanted to test some of these games for myself but the most expensive part was the Gun Sensors themselves. I went ahead and tested a cheap simple IR led circuit and it worked. I’m not sure if it’s common knowledge but it turns out that you don’t need a specific led. It just needs to be bright enough for the CCD camera to pick it up. I tested this with both the Namco Rays JVS pcb and the Namco V221 MIU pcb. Any CCD camera (Color or Black and white) seems to work as well. What you do need is a good piece of IR filter. I did also notice that the black and white camera picked up the led much better than the color camera. Hope this helps anyone out there. This is just a fun experiment that I did :)

Edit: I was able to play the whole game like this without any issues. Works fine, I will test with the other games and with other monitors.




View: https://youtu.be/sES3m8Qo_fc
 
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Here is some gameplay on a 32” Samsung flatscreen LCD. Works extremely well. I wish I had the real gun but this substitute works fine for now. I will do some further explanation on how to build your own gun. On another post, I showed that Time Crisis 3 works. Vampire night works, but with mixed results. Need to do further testing with that game. (Edit 07/12/2021: the gun works perfectly fine with Vampire Night)

Crisis Zone Namco System Super 23 arcade gameplay test on 32” LCD TV
View: https://youtu.be/bqoSKF9PeS0
 

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If anyone is interested, I will start doing a limited run of reproduction IR guns. Just DM me if you’re interested. Will probably take some time to make as I’m still in the testing stage. By far the easiest way to play the arcade version of Crisis Zone, Time Crisis 3, and Vampire Night at home with any display as long as you have a compatible I/O board (Rays or V221 MIU with the correct program eeprom) and CCD camera.
 
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I see the gun in the picture isn't a original Namco gun but instead that "named/nameo chinese aftermarket gun. It looks all used as opposed to new. I wonder where you got that gun from? What you did would be beneficial to any Japanese Time Crisis 3 owners that have trouble finding those original Namco gun shells.
Franco23444 said:
Vampire night works, but with mixed results.
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The nature of that game is the fact it uses two IR guns but only one camera unlike the other games which had only one IR gun to begin with. An earlier thread mentioned the LED pulses differently depending on which player connector it's plugged in to. Idk if you were able to get player 2's side working on Vampire Night and on both I/O boards. The MIU board has its PLD labeled different implying that board is probably not intended for use with the two IR emitter setup.
 
Hydreigon said:
I see the gun in the picture isn't a original Namco gun but instead that "named/nameo chinese aftermarket gun. It looks all used as opposed to new. I wonder where you got that gun from? What you did would be beneficial to any Japanese Time Crisis 3 owners that have trouble finding those original Namco gun shells.

The nature of that game is the fact it uses two IR guns but only one camera unlike the other games which had only one IR gun to begin with. An earlier thread mentioned the LED pulses differently depending on which player connector it's plugged in to. Idk if you were able to get player 2's side working on Vampire Night and on both I/O boards. The MIU board has its PLD labeled different implying that board is probably not intended for use with the two IR emitter setup.
Click to expand...
I got the gun from a Chinese seller that I usually buy my stuff from. Really good price as well. It’s not in the best condition but it works for my purposes. I plan on mainly making these for people who would like play these types of games at home, specifically Crisis Zone. I might actually mold and cast some repro shells from a good shell I have (blocking out NAMCO for obvious reasons) but using a standard PlayStation Guncon 1/2 or a toy sub machine gun will work as well. I do have some experience casting plastic parts because I used to customize action figures. I did try vampire night with two IR led sensors. It worked but the player one gun had an issue registering on the bottom left. Vampires night uses one I/O pcb. I sadly have booting issues with both of my rays pcbs. If I remember correctly, @bobbydilley did some test and say that the player 2 gun on vampire night pulses the led while player 1 stays on. I did do some extra digging around and I might have a solid idea on how the IR gun sensors for both Crisis Zone and VN/TC3 work. Right now the IR led pcb is using uses 2 pins (5v DC and Ground) which means the gun will be constantly on which isn’t good for long term arcade use. There is a third pin that both pcbs use called “led on” which seems to control when the led should turn on or in the case with vampire night, what the led should do (pulse?)
 
Sorry those Rays PCBs are giving you trouble. But sounds like you got some use out of them, so glad they didn't just end up in the trash.

Interesting find that the V221 IO (The IO in the CRT cab) will work with a ROM swap. If I remember correctly, the arcade manual specifies that the game PCB (and IO board I guess) are not cross compatible between the CRT cab and the rear-projection cab. So I am assuming there's a difference in the programming and gun LED setup for each cabinet type. I can't remember but I think the CRT mirror cab places the camera behind the mirror, and the rear-projection cab has the camera in the pedestal looking at the front of the screen.

I wish I had never sold my CRT cab back in the day. 10 years ago these cabs were buying and selling for like $300.
 
andynumbers said:
Sorry those Rays PCBs are giving you trouble. But sounds like you got some use out of them, so glad they didn't just end up in the trash.

Interesting find that the V221 IO (The IO in the CRT cab) will work with a ROM swap. If I remember correctly, the arcade manual specifies that the game PCB (and IO board I guess) are not cross compatible between the CRT cab and the rear-projection cab. So I am assuming there's a difference in the programming and gun LED setup for each cabinet type. I can't remember but I think the CRT mirror cab places the camera behind the mirror, and the rear-projection cab has the camera in the pedestal looking at the front of the screen.

I wish I had never sold my CRT cab back in the day. 10 years ago these cabs were buying and selling for like $300.
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It’s ok, I know the earlier rays pcbs have this booting issue. I am able to get them to work as long at the processor chip heats up first. About that thing that the manual says, I don’t think that the gun matters and they both seem to have the same gun sense pcb. I tested crisis zone with both the Rays pcbs and and V221 with the led circuit I found and they both work fine (CRT and LCD TVs).I did manage to find a crisis zone gun and I will test it with both I/O pcbs once the gun arrives.
 
I forgot to mention that the Rays pcb, with an SH-4 processor, is susceptible to BGA related issues with some solder joints becoming loose (most likely failure to communicate with main board or unresponsive inputs). On the other hand, this is rather a bit of a smaller scale BGA issue compared to the other larger BGA chips we dare not speak of. If in the event this happens, you might be able to get away with a simple reflow without having to use rework equipment.

Oh, and heatsink the processor too because of the fact the SH-4 packs a lot more power than the average JVS microcontroller.
 
Hydreigon said:
I forgot to mention that the Rays pcb, with an SH-4 processor, is susceptible to BGA related issues with some solder joints becoming loose (most likely failure to communicate with main board or unresponsive inputs). On the other hand, this is rather a bit of a smaller scale BGA issue compared to the other larger BGA chips we dare not speak of. If in the event this happens, you might be able to get away with a simple reflow without having to use rework equipment.

Oh, and heatsink the processor too because of the fact the SH-4 packs a lot more power than the average JVS microcontroller.
Click to expand...
I have already tried reflowing both SH-4s and it would work, until the they cooled off (until I shut the pcbs off). There seems to be a different issue somewhere else. Just to check if it was an issue with the 33.33mhz oscillator crystal things, I replaced both of them, even putting new 10 ohm resistors. Same thing happens. I got to wait for the SH-4 to heat up until it can boot properly. Luckily, both Rays pcbs aren’t totally dead. They work normally without any issues once they boot properly. I did notice that on both pcbs, the SH-4 heat up from the middle and once most of the chip is warm, I press the reset switch and it boots. I’ll post a video to show you what it does. I’m thinking that probably recapping the whole board would work?
 
I got vampire night to work successfully with my custom IR guns, both player 1 and player 2. I did a full gameplay video capture of this game working. I did the gun calibration quickly and didn’t have the second player gun hooked up. I am using the usb multi dongle and the V221 TMIU gun PCB if anyone is interested. Will have the sensors and hopefully the guns available soon. You can also purchase the custom sensors themselves and put them into the gun shells of your choice! Prices will be posted soon!
Vampire Night real arcade full gameplay Namco System 246 Arcade Hardware HD 60 FPS
View: https://youtu.be/ziSPREPlk8U
 
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Just a recent find while messing around with CCD camera I/O boards, the Crisis Zone V221 MIU gun I/O board WORKS with Time Crisis 3! If you don’t have a Rays pcb, this is a great working alternative. The V221 TMIU PCB, doesn’t work with Time Crisis 3 or Crisis Zone as the gun glitches out. that pcb does work with Vampire night.
 
Curious, if you run Time Crisis 3 on a CCD setup, does it omit the flashing white screen each time the gun is shot? It wouldn't need it on a CCD anyway.
 
Hello, Franco! Thank you so much for your work. I have a Vampire Night CRT cabinet with no guns, so I am very interested in buying a couple from you. Let me know when they are available. Thanks again!
 
SMMM said:
Hello, Franco! Thank you so much for your work. I have a Vampire Night CRT cabinet with no guns, so I am very interested in buying a couple from you. Let me know when they are available. Thanks again!
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Sure thing! I’m still working on them, getting some parts ready. I know that vampire night doesn’t use recoil guns but I’m hoping to make a transistor or mosfet circuit so the 24v recoil can work. Also testing some other IR led emitters as well. I’ll keep updating this thread!
 
Quick question for the peeps who are interested in a set of IR hand guns: which hand gun type would you like? Time Crisis 1-3 style ( black or pink “NAMED” brand) or Time Crisis 4 style (Black, no brand)? I found some empty time crisis 4 style gun shells on Alibaba.com. The seem promising. The only issue with it is that no solenoid recoil would be present unless you have your own to install. I have no idea where to find some metal brackets. These would look newer but will be more expensive. The other option is to use old Named branded guns. They work perfectly and will have recoil. I will replace the solenoids with new ones. The only downside is that they are old and a bit worn down. This gun type would be the least expensive ones as I would be reusing the wiring than having to make my own. Not to mention, that sweet, sweet recoil!
 
I'd have to double check but i'm pretty sure the recoil distance on the NAMED guns is actually reduced from that of a genuine NAMCO one, like the slide doesn't physically go back as far.

I did open them up side by side ages ago, can't remember if the restriction was in the plastic housing or part of the metal slide attached to the solenoid.
 
tiff_lee said:
I'd have to double check but i'm pretty sure the recoil distance on the NAMED guns is actually reduced from that of a genuine NAMCO one, like the slide doesn't physically go back as far.

I did open them up side by side ages ago, can't remember if the restriction was in the plastic housing or part of the metal slide attached to the solenoid.
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I have one, the recoil is actually pretty weak. My authentic Namco gun and the Named one slide back the same amount. The solenoids on these named guns are pretty cheap and weak, that’s why I will swap them out with newer better ones. My original Namco light gun has stronger recoil despite being in even worse condition than the Named gun lol!
 
I am ok with the cheaper option - the guns do not have to look brand new.
 
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