DARKSOFT Darksoft's MultiMVS Latest Firmware, Menu and Instructions

[Apocalypse]

What bios are you using right now?

UniBios 3.3. I haven't updated the bios since I got it installed.

You should use OG BIOS for troubleshooting. UniBIOS relies on tiles accessible in some ROM of an OG cartridge to display text, that's why you get an initial garbage screen when unsing a xxx-in-1 cartridge or multi cartridge.

 

[jmandmc]

What bios are you using right now?

UniBios 3.3. I haven't updated the bios since I got it installed.

You should use OG BIOS for troubleshooting. UniBIOS relies on tiles accessible in some ROM of an OG cartridge to display text, that's why you get an initial garbage screen when unsing a xxx-in-1 cartridge or multi cartridge.

I have the original Bios, but would that address the system appearing to skip the MVS multicart altogether?

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

It will always skip the multi until it has fully loaded the games. After that it should act as a regular cart.

 

[Apocalypse]

I have the original Bios, but would that address the system appearing to skip the MVS multicart altogether?

Maybe not but it's worth trying.

P.S.: Are you sure you mutli cart isn't plugged backwards?

 

[jmandmc]

It will always skip the multi until it has fully loaded the games. After that it should act as a regular cart.

Perhaps I don't understand the process. This is what I did the first time:

1. Put in AOF 3 in slot 1
2. Put DSMVS in slot 2
3. Turned on cabinet
4. Unibios loads - no garbled Unibios logo (that only seems to be garbled when DSMVS is loaded into slot 1)
5. Neo Geo intro screen loads
6. Watched AOF3 demo run its course
7. Garbled DSMVS screen appeared and I then pressed "A" to load the first game
8. Screen blanked out
9. Unibios loaded again
10. Neo Geo intro screen loads
11. Watched AOF3 demo run its course
12. Neo Geo intro screen loads again
13. AOF 3 demo loads

How long should I wait? Also, would I wait each time I power on the machine?

UPDATE: I let the demo of slot 1 run for over 10 minutes, but never saw the first game from the multicart.

I have the original Bios, but would that address the system appearing to skip the MVS multicart altogether?

Maybe not but it's worth trying.
P.S.: Are you sure you mutli cart isn't plugged backwards?

I made sure that the triangle is visible before installing. My 4 slot won't let me install the wrong way - I tried just to be sure, and it won't go down when backwards.

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

And you've successfully loaded three games into the multicart via the cart menu already?

 

[jmandmc]

It will always skip the multi until it has fully loaded the games. After that it should act as a regular cart.

Just out of curiosity, I selected bookeeping in Unibios and got the attached display. Not sure how I got those extra slots, but Slot 2 should have the MVS. The other slots appear to display two of the games I loaded into multicart.

 

[jmandmc]

And you've successfully loaded three games into the multicart via the cart menu already?

Yes. When I started trying to use the cart, I could at least see the text, and made assumptions about which buttons I should press to load games in. Once I did that, I exited out and since then, have the multicart's 3 games displayed when I power on and the demo switches to it for the first time. After that, the demo never goes back to the multicart, or at least seems that way.

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

So even in the menu you had scrambled gfx?

 

[jmandmc]

So even in the menu you had scrambled gfx?

Yes - when first I booted up the cart, which at the time was in slot 1, I got garbled graphics and music that sounded like just static with a rhythm. There were screen animations that I could make out from the demo that was on YouTube, but all of that was garbled, too. Only the text was legible, which was how I got around the menu.

 

[Darksoft]

It will always skip the multi until it has fully loaded the games. After that it should act as a regular cart.

Just out of curiosity, I selected bookeeping in Unibios and got the attached display. Not sure how I got those extra slots, but Slot 2 should have the MVS. The other slots appear to display two of the games I loaded into multicart.

@jmandmc Here is a link to the video: mediafire.com/file/zncudxdc6ncb96d/VID-20180326-WA0003.mp4

TRy deleting the files "Slot" from the microSD and write a game on them. The GFX that you see clearly show that the DDR memory isn't loaded yet. The same with Samples.

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

I think you may have some corrupted menu files causing your menu glitches. Can you rewrite the menu? For this test please copy all menu files to update AND to the menu folder in the games folder.

 

[jmandmc]

It will always skip the multi until it has fully loaded the games. After that it should act as a regular cart.

Just out of curiosity, I selected bookeeping in Unibios and got the attached display. Not sure how I got those extra slots, but Slot 2 should have the MVS. The other slots appear to display two of the games I loaded into multicart.

@jmandmc Here is a link to the video: mediafire.com/file/zncudxdc6ncb96d/VID-20180326-WA0003.mp4
TRy deleting the files "Slot" from the microSD and write a game on them. The GFX that you see clearly show that the DDR memory isn't loaded yet. The same with Samples.

When you mention "and write a game on them", you're referring to the normal process of loading a game into the slot?

Also, if the DDR memory hasn't loaded yet, is that because of the SD card? I bought a class 10 Kingston SD card. It seems to happen even as I have it as the second slot and demo the first game multiple times.

The video shows 3 games and then the MVS. At the moment, I only have two MVS games, save a 161 in 1 cart that I could put in the 3rd slot.

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

I think your menu files are corrupted. Try to write the menu again and let us know. Could happen if power was removed while cart loading was going on.

 

[jmandmc]

@jmandmc Here is a link to the video: mediafire.com/file/zncudxdc6ncb96d/VID-20180326-WA0003.mp4
TRy deleting the files "Slot" from the microSD and write a game on them. The GFX that you see clearly show that the DDR memory isn't loaded yet. The same with Samples.

I think you may have some corrupted menu files causing your menu glitches. Can you rewrite the menu? For this test please copy all menu files to update AND to the menu folder in the games folder.

Okay - I'll first copy all the menu files to the update folder and then the menu folder in the games folder.

I'll then try deleting the files from the slot folder. I'm assuming that 'writing a game on them" means adding a game from the list into a slot afterwards.

 

[jassin000]

Okay - I'll first copy all the menu files to the update folder and then the menu folder in the games folder.

1. Delete the (old) "sd:\games\menu" directory completely.
2. Copy BOTH the firmware file AND the entire (new) menu directory to the "sd:\update\" directory.
3. Power on the NG and WAIT (do not panic because of scrambled grafix and power down before menu has fully loaded)!

IMPORTANT!!!
Notice that with new firmware you dont need to copy the menu in both \game\menu and update\menu. Just copy in \update\menu

Finally (and potentially optionally) I would clear my NVRAM.

 

[jmandmc]

Okay - I'll first copy all the menu files to the update folder and then the menu folder in the games folder.

1. Delete the (old) "sd:\games\menu" directory completely.
2. Copy BOTH the firmware file AND the entire (new) menu directory to the "sd:\update\" directory.
3. Power on the NG and WAIT (do not panic because of scrambled grafix and power down before menu has fully loaded)!

IMPORTANT!!!
Notice that with new firmware you dont need to copy the menu in both \game\menu and update\menu. Just copy in \update\menu

Finally (and potentially optionally) I would clear my NVRAM.

I wanted to comment on my file system. When I loaded up the SD card, I noticed that there was no \games\menu directly on the card. There was also no update\menu folder. Are these auto generated by the cart, or is that a set of files that I needed to add from somewhere? I didn't see that mentioned in the instructions.

Update: I see a file with "menu" in the name in the first page of this thread:

mediafire.com/file/ighja4ukcr9ojhj/menu_20180401-A.7z

Was this the menu files I kept hearing about from you guys? I honestly couldn't follow because I didn't know I was supposed to load this file into the SD card before plugging in the cart.

I now have the menu folder inside of "update". I also cleared my NVRAM (backup ram). After that, I installed the cart in the second slot behind my AOF3 cart.

Now when I power on, the AOF3 cart runs through part of its demo, then glitches out back to the Unibios screen, then Neo Geo screen. Once it finished displaying the SNK logo for AOF3, everything glitches out and the screen starts to reset multiple times in succession.

When I remove the multicart, the issues stop.

Update 2: I powered back on, AOF3 glitched once back to Unibios, AOF3 demo ran all the way through. I got to darksoft cart and saw a cleaner menu, though somewhat glitched out (attached). I started adjusting the menu settings, changing music tracks to hear it. All of a sudden, the screen glitched out and performed the multiple resets again until I powered off.

I'm not sure what is going on. Not sure if my Unibios is to blame, though once the cart is removed, I don't get the glitches.

Update 3: Tried again. AOF demo loaded fine. Darksoft multicart loaded much cleaner. I tried setting menu again to off animations and music. I move the cursor to Exit and Program games, and then the screen glitches back out to Unibios. Once that happens, the screen glitch resets multiple times again.

 

[Apocalypse]

Sorry if you mentioned it before but are all you slots functional?
IIRC my 6 slot was a 2 slot when I got it

 

[jmandmc]

Sorry if you mentioned it before but are all you slots functional?
IIRC my 6 slot was a 2 slot when I got it

Far as I knew up to this point, the slots on my MVS did not have problems.

A moment ago, I was able to load up multicart change menu settings, load games into slots, and exit/reprogram. Unibios and Neogeo loaded, and now AOF 1 (I switched out games) cart demo is going properly. However, it keeps looping back to AOF 1 as if nothing is on the multicart. I'm letting it loop multiple times because of what was said about letting the DRAM load the games from SD cart, but honestly not sure what else to do.

UPDATE: Still no sign of the MVS cart games. Just keeps looping my AOF 1 cart.

UPDATE 2: After a while, I got the multiple resets again. I'm going to try without the multicart tomorrow to see if I can isolate it to my system or multicart.

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

It does not auto loop the three games. You have to manually switch the game the cart plays yourself using the button combination. It will just keep playing the selected game until you change it.

The cart does not set up your games on the SD card. You have to put the games folder on the root of the card yourself.

To me it now sounds like your sd card is not properly loaded.