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Midway Wolf conversions

Can't wait to get those security chips actually. I spent a brutal few hours burning EPROM's for UMK3 and booted to just a black screen on a board without a security chip. LED was lit. Used both brizzo's and Darksoft's releases to no avail. Frustrated me so much, I bought a new programmer which I hope is faster.

Question, what role does the GAL play in these conversions? Is it required at all? And if required, any specific code that the GAL's must run? I ask because some of my boards are stripped of even the GAL's.
 
The GAL is the same between games and is solely for the sound CPU. Without it, you'll get no sound and a sound system error but the game will still boot and run (badly).
 
Thank you Phil. No encryption on the GAL? i can dump and burn? And if burning new GAL’s what is a suitable and readily GAL to use?


EDIT: Right when I asked the question, I realized the GAL is U57 which I read about earlier here and here.
 
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These came in today from @brizzo. I will test right away on:
  1. A legit NBA Hangtime
  2. A NBA Hangtime->UMK3 conversion (using brizzo's any-code)
    • Will test Darksoft's code too
I have 6 Wolf Units in total that were stripped of EPROM's. Bought enough 4001's and 801's to populate all the stripped boards. If anyone wants me to test any conversions let me know.

EDIT/Update: brizzo's U64 EPROM's work great on my legit NBA Hangtime and NBA Hangtime->UMK3 conversion. I only tested through the attract mode however. Also, I did not test Darksoft's code yet.

WolfUnitSecurityPics.jpg
 
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Hay anyone tried to convert a WWF to a Rampage World Tour? Would there be issues doing this as I am tempted to try it.
 
This isn't necessarily a conversion question so much as a sound repair issue. I have a 2on2 Open Ice board that doesn't play any audio. CPU test indicates a problem at U86 but in my research it seems more likely that the fault is really at U57 for these types of errors and sound problems.

The other piece of info I found is that apparently U57 has been figured out:

Phil Bennett said:
I just repaired 4 Wolf Unit PCBs, two of which had faulty U57s (GAL20V8).

U57 is an address decoder for the sound DSP. I reverse-engineered a working one and submitted the JED file to jammarcade.net.

A-20093 and A-20255 are functionally identical; they're just labelled differently (as are the CPLDs depending on the game).

Next task is to reverse-engineer the CPLD at U35!
Click to expand...

Is there anyone who can make a replacement chip for me? I don't have a means to do this on my own. In the meantime, is it possible to find a replacement from a Crusin USA board? There is no A-20093 or A-20255 labeled on that board but there a GAL20V8B with a different label (A-19668 ) that seems to be the same style as the one in U57 on a Wolf Unit board.
 
Hey guys,

I am looking for an UMK3 security chip may someone can make a replacement chip for me?
 
whats the barcode and the numbers below it on the U64 chip label stand for ? Is this the serial number of the game ?
 
Bluechen said:
whats the barcode and the numbers below it on the U64 chip label stand for ? Is this the serial number of the game ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, it is a Code 39 barcode. The first 3 digits is the 'game id' followed by 6 digits which is the serial number. The asterisk as prefix/suffix are like the start/stop code for the Code 39 algorithm.
 
was recently playing around with this myself. The U55 RTC I think is just used to store the date/time on the PCB when the game is off.
Funny enough it's not Y2K compliant so after 1999 to goes to 1900... blows my mind that they didn't think to make the date work 5 years past release.
 
Phil Bennett said:
I don't think Porchy has uploaded them yet. In the meantime, here they are.
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Necro Bump. @Phil Bennett is there a reason to upgrade U57 between wolf units, you mention that they are functionally identical but labeled differently, but in the zip you have two differnt JED files? Thanks for this, I am poking at more Wolf units lately and have upgraded a bunch to larger RAM and am just wondering if I should be making GALs also for u57 when switching games.

THanks!
 
SCUBA King said:
Necro Bump. @Phil Bennett is there a reason to upgrade U57 between wolf units, you mention that they are functionally identical but labeled differently, but in the zip you have two differnt JED files? Thanks for this, I am poking at more Wolf units lately and have upgraded a bunch to larger RAM and am just wondering if I should be making GALs also for u57 when switching games.

THanks!
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I think you mean more ROM space? I don't understand any reason for more RAM, there's a lot on those boards already.
 
Asure said:
I think you mean more ROM space? I don't understand any reason for more RAM, there's a lot on those boards already.
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I think there's been some suggestion somewhere that the ram capacities differ depending on what games they ran. I don't believe that cause they would run the same standard parts.

my one RWT board has one of those timekeeper oscillator gimmicks on it, were those all WrestleMania conversions or something?
 
mecha said:
I think there's been some suggestion somewhere that the ram capacities differ depending on what games they ran. I don't believe that cause they would run the same standard parts.

my one RWT board has one of those timekeeper oscillator gimmicks on it, were those all WrestleMania conversions or something?
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As far as i know RAM is the same on all boards. (The 8 flat chips in one of the corners.)

I'd go and say that they had a lot of WWF boards, they only went into the dedicateds and didn't sell a lot of loose boards like MK3/UMK3.
It's a pretty difficult game to get into, but once you know the mechanics WWF is really great. I think it didn't do too well.
It's also a bit unfinished, there is not enough program rom space for example, to add back Adam Bomb, or do fatalities for all the characters.
(I did enable the Robotron game at one point after extensive cleanup of unused code and removing some unused language/text strings.)
 
mecha said:
I think there's been some suggestion somewhere that the ram capacities differ depending on what games they ran. I don't believe that cause they would run the same standard parts.

my one RWT board has one of those timekeeper oscillator gimmicks on it, were those all WrestleMania conversions or something?
Click to expand...
I think you're confusing the main RAM with the NVRAM for storing high-scores.

yes, some games used more NVRAM than others and a couple of games used an additional timekeeper.
I documented all of it here: https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/midway-wolf-conversions.3106/page-6#post-140299
 
Asure said:
As far as i know RAM is the same on all boards. (The 8 flat chips in one of the corners.)

I'd go and say that they had a lot of WWF boards, they only went into the dedicateds and didn't sell a lot of loose boards like MK3/UMK3.
It's a pretty difficult game to get into, but once you know the mechanics WWF is really great. I think it didn't do too well.
It's also a bit unfinished, there is not enough program rom space for example, to add back Adam Bomb, or do fatalities for all the characters.
(I did enable the Robotron game at one point after extensive cleanup of unused code and removing some unused language/text strings.)
Click to expand...
I set WWF to the easiest settings and still get absolutely destroyed by the computer, so I guess I didn't ever figure out the mechanics.
I actually got back into the setting every time I play one to check its on easiest settings when I cant believe how badly I get whoopped on.
 
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