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Updated Namco 2x6 ODE (V3) - modifications and new Rpi Images

mathewbeall

mathewbeall

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Hi Folks,

@electric_monk is still finalizing some items before his new ODE goes on sale - so be a bit more patient with him! As a few folks are still beta testing it, I thought I would get this information out there for everyone to consume, and warm up their 3d printers if they are upgrading from the old ODE to the new one.

Attached is a diagram of how the new one needs to be hooked up (a bit simpler than the last one) - this is assuming you are using the 3d printed file with front mounted USB passthrough ports, if you are going to internalize everything - its even simpler.

wiring for IDEV3.jpg

Attached are two zip files for the 3dprinted parts - one is STL, and one is a 3MF file (Bambu). You don't HAVE to change the front faceplate if you are upgrading, but there is a new faceplate here that has some holes to glue in some LED's off the main board. I used these LED's - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D25GK3S6?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1 , and a (sixty eight) ohm resister for the green LED, and a 150 ohm resistor for the red LED.

For the ODE mount - I used these M3 heat press fittings, makes it super easy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077CJV3Z9?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1 . I use a soldering iron to just gently push them into the posts and then screw a small M3 screw in. If you don't want to use the heat press fittings - I suspect you can just thread a M4 in there (someone can likely verify this).

1754238356810.png


For this new Rpi image - it is much more complete set, and has support for HDD images. To prepare the files to move onto the USB stick, you will need a 256GB thumbdrive to hold everything. You are going to want to go to archive.org and look for the "Namco System 2X6" set - this was uploaded by @defor a while back and is very complete. You will want to grab all of those files and put them into a directory, and then grab this powershell script: https://mega.nz/file/Z6wRFLjb#jXiLD01OBoioomHjl-Sze8eL05o31RaAb1WlxN0h3PY . put this script in the base directory, and then run it.

Open up a powershell as administrator and run the ./convert.ps1 command (feel free to look at the script ahead of time if you like). It is going to uncompress all the files, rename most of them, and trim down the HDD images to remove the blank space. As it's doing all of this - it will move the files into a new directory it will created called "USB Drive" and delete as it goes (to save on actual space needed). This process will take a while (a little over an hour on my 12th gen intel and SSD system) - and when it's all done, it will compare the SHA5 hashes against known good. It is possible that you will have some errors on 9 of the CD rom images if @defor hasn't updated his archive yet. If that is the case - grab the fixed images CD here - https://mega.nz/file/l34RlRzD#HOAO7ZVK8gMHMpLqYVVWKpYe0P3mpzvUvyr7S8Y61XU . Copy these into the USB Drive directory and overwrite what is there.

Once that is all complete, copy all of these files to the base directory of your USB thumbdrive.

Thanks to @BladeZX - here is an archive of all the files properly modified to use for this new ODE and image. You will want to grab the file called "usb_drive.zip", unzip that into a directory and copy all the files in the "USB Drive" directory (78 of them) onto the root of the USB thumbdrive you intend to use:

https://nextcloud.btmaslen.com/s/riRX4XZGdGp8fnK
or
https://mega.nz/file/hjgBlDSQ#ejn1Wxeg5nOfEjK9Rr0buSmMEc0SPMCktSbHCRQnfXQ

Here are the Rpi images that work with this new ODE/ image set.

246 image: https://mega.nz/file/1rJABKrZ#GB17MTWUizeBRGQ3OTwlskjA7fPDxC0tM2ezTB0v1HM
256 image: https://mega.nz/file/wrxVnZ6L#0XH9CCQ4bEXg7NF1b--XBAKbiLSe0qRLSLDxg-NhYkc

This is a compressed/zero'd out image - so when it first boots it will expand to fit the size of the SD card you have written it to - I tested a 16GB and 32GB - you might even be able to use an 8GB. The first boot does take longer as it expands the volume.

The *only* difference between these images is that one has "246" selected as the game system in the menu, and the other has "256" selected.

I think those are the complete instructions! As always - post questions here. Thanks to @electric_monk for a great update to the ODE (v3) that now supports HDD images, and I especially love the LED breakouts so that you have a visual indication that something is happening with the drive!

Thanks to @twistedsymphony who built the new mappings and romsinfo file to map all the new .iso/.hdd images over to the correct dongles and performed testing to get the ball rolling on all of this!

Thanks to @BladeZX for the work on the multi and the initial Rpi image!

UPDATE! Big QOL updates on this one - links for the images above are all new, to be used with the new ODE.

  1. Now monitors the ODE via serial after commands are entered, as well as the progress of the dongle load to give feedback on both interfaces (LCD/Web) if one of those loads errors out you will see an error message and it will keep the system in hold mode.
  2. Visual progress on the dongle load on both interfaces (lcd/web)
  3. Reduced load time as much as possible so that it holds the system at reset now about 6-8 seconds into boot
  4. Reduced time across the board (aside from dongle load which is fixed) to load new games
  5. Some games weren't showing in the web interface, now ALL games are showing in the web interface
  6. Added graphics for all games - sorry, this isn't my area - some of them are ps2 game covers - if anyone wants to really go through that and curate a better list, send em over, and I will get them on it - but at least for now, everything has a graphic (web UI)
  7. WebUI is more streamlined - when you pick a game like Soul Calibur - you can see that it has 7 versions, and when you select it, you then pick which version
  8. Lots of little changes to make it more robust

Please give me feedback.

Matt
 

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When I finish the SoulCalibur2 conquest card, I'll try to deal with SD2PSX firmware to support this thing

Programming the new images through USB is a direct No-Go

But things like sending a string so the device switches to the appropriate one will be a good idea.
Maybe something simple like `$GID:NM00007` or something
 
El_isra said:
When I finish the SoulCalibur2 conquest card, I'll try to deal with SD2PSX firmware to support this thing

Programming the new images through USB is a direct No-Go

But things like sending a string so the device switches to the appropriate one will be a good idea.
Maybe something simple like `$GID:NM00007` or something
Click to expand...
This would actually be preferable as all dongle images would be there, so switching time would be very quick - just a reboot.
 
Thanks a lot for all the work and information!

Can this image be used without the raspberry pi selector and without the sys 2x6 dongle?

Does your image have a webui?

I am only owning the ODE V3 and waiting for SD2PSX solution (until then i will manual select the correct dongle file)

For loading an image the reset wire has to be connected, or not?
 
It is based on @BladeZX original image - so yes, it can be used without the selector plate (it has a web interface that lets you configre/select, etc). but it CANNOT be used without the sys 2x6 dongle - that is what it was built for. When the SD2PSX is working, and is able to be remotely triggered to select a game, I will get one, and make a version of this for that dongle.

And yes - the reset wire does have to be connected - it turns the system off while its loading the dongle, and then releases it, turning the system on. I am sure it will be required for the sd2psx as well as you need to go through the boot process for each game.
 
Thanks for the fast reply. Guess i have to wait for the SD2PSX magic to happen (as far as i understand the sys 2x6 is not available anymore)

Do i need the selector plate for connecting the reset wire or is it 1:1 connection to an GPIO?
 
with the setup that @BladeZX designed - you are right, its through a buffer chip as the GPIO's on the Rpi can be a challenge, and until the rpi is fully up and running, they are all kind of floating. But that buffer chip IS hooked up through a GPIO on the rpi which controls the reset.

Correct on the sys2x6 not being available (as far as I have seen anyways).

Matt
 
Hey @mathewbeall, have you successfully written the RPi images to a 32GB microSD card? I'm trying to write the 246 image with Raspberry Pi Imager and it keeps failing with a write error near the end. I believe it's a capacity issue; my OS is reporting 31.91GB capacity for the card, but the image is 31.93GB. I've tried a a few different cards; two SanDisk Ultra 32GBs and one SanDisk Ultra PLUS 32 GB. The former I bought from Amazon, but the latter I bought from Target, so that one should be legit at least.
 
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mathewbeall said:
Try this links - I used "pishrink" to get them down to a smaller size, and at first boot - they should resize themselves to the total volume, so first boot might be slower as it involves a reoboot:

246 image: https://mega.nz/file/hyoU1bJI#69lilHkWFEm5OYV9zkLxc2b5KavbXPISonP9Z5ie-Iw
256 image: https://mega.nz/file/hq4yEQDS#gQk5Vjw_NnRdF9oa_8WPyqnY7FY3XqTws3c28BNRKh8

Matt
Click to expand...

Let me know if these work fine, and I will update my main post, and remove the other images.
 
BladeZX said:
Great work on this @mathewbeall

I have been away for a bit.
Did @electric_monk confirm whether we can update the older IDE to work with the HDD images or if we need to buy new ones?
I have 2 older IDEs I use with my 246 and 256
Click to expand...
He said at some point he will go back and hopefully port the HDD functionality to the older IDE boards - but nothing yet - I think he is still working to get the newer IDE boards buttoned up and out the door.
 
The shrunk 246 image didn't work for me on my 3B+. Trying to boot with it strangely gave me the "power failure type two" error via the ACT light - 4 short and 7 long flashes.

Anyway, searching around led me to this document that instructs you on how to update the firmware. I followed those directions (overwriting start*.elf and fixup*.dat in your image with the ones from this firmware archive), and it fixed the error! After a moderate delay, the selector board came to life and I was able to select a game. It flashed my dongle, setup the game file on the IDE sim, and rebooted my System 246.

Unfortunately, that's as far as I got; I was unable to actually boot into a game. On Bloody Roar 3, I got the JVS init screen, the Namco copyright screen, then it got stuck on a screen that said [ SETUP CD LOCATION FILE ]. I tried booting Basara X and Soul Calibur 2, but both of those failed as well. I then remembered I hadn't setup the `autorun.txt` file on the IDE sim thumb drive, so I did so, following the directions in this thread. But, still no joy.

I'll play around with it a bit more this evening before I go to bed.

EDIT: Still unsuccessful. I tried swapping out the USB and IDE cables but no change. Here's a summary of where I'm at:

- I followed all of the instructions in the original post to connect my IDE Sim v3 + selector board + PI + 2x6 dongle to my System 246 board. I also soldered a reset wire to my mainboard and connected it to the selector board as described in this thread.
- I set up a thumb drive and processed/copied the 2x6 archive as described in the original post, and connected it to my IDE Sim.
- I set up a 32GB microSD card with the shrunk 246 image and patched the `.elf` and `.dat` files as described at the top of this post. I also added the `autorun.txt.` file as described earlier. I inserted the card into my Pi 3B+.
- The selector board is functional and appears to both flash the dongle and set up the game on the IDE sim. Dongle flash seems good since after resetting the game will get up to the CD loading stage before getting stuck. The IDE sim setup is at least doing something; after flashing one of the Gundam VS games and powering down completely, after I power back up I get the "alarm" sound and the "wrong data" error (I forget what exactly it says). After the Pi boots and sets up the IDE sim, it reboots the 2x6 and it's able to start up and progress to the CD loading stage, where it gets stuck. After rebooting, I see the two LEDs on the IDE sim flashing a while. But when once it's stuck, the "X" LED will flash once every 5 seconds or so.

Before setting up any of the multi hardware, I made sure my 246 was working with a genuine SC2 dongle + disc. I also re-tested it with the same after failing to get the multi hardware working. The 246 model number is COH-H31100, and the front sticker says "TEF1 Game PCB Assy C03652".

I'm not sure where to go from here. I have an extra System 256 that I can test this all on, but it'll have to wait for the weekend.
 
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Ok - well - my intial tests with both of the images on a 3b+ did exactly what I expected it to - it booted up, after getting to full bootup (maybe 1-1.5 minutes) it did some fdisk action, and then rebooted the pi. Upon bootup - it then resized the volume to the max of the sd card, and then booted all the way up. I am not sure of those errors you were running into and why you had to update the firmware - I haven't had to do that before with any of my pi's. Can someone else test the new shrunk images to see if they work for you as expected? You don't need anything hooked up like the selector or anything - just see if it boots and the console over hdmi should give you an indication that its working.

Reading through what you were experiencing - my initial guess is that somehow the ODE wasn't working properly - there isn't really any error status or any way to get status back from the ODE to the 3b+ - so the automation is trusting that everything is working. You don't need the autorun.txt file as the selector automatically selects master and/or slave as required.

on your usb thumb drive - everything is in the root directory? it's not under the usb_drive directory (or any directory)?

validate that your reset wire works by holding down the reset button on the front of the selector - you should see everything go dark on the monitor as you lose sync.

hook up a monitor and keyboard to the pi - so you can see what is going on - it will log to the console and also write a temp log file over to /tmp/

If everything still looks good - I would do troubleshooting and essentially remove the selector from the mix. I would try to get SC3 running - that one seems the simplest and most forgiving. These are the steps I would take to manually test it w/o the selector.
  1. Unplug the power cord from rpi (and I think you also need to unplug the reset wire from the selector board).
  2. Program the dongle with SC3
  3. Plug the programmed dongle into the front of the 246.
  4. Get another usb thumbdrive and ONLY put the one SC3 iso file on there - and plug that directly into the thumbdrive port on the ODE (make sure its the right one paired with the dongle file). The ODE will just load the single ISO file everything when it boots up - so you don't need the selector to test this.
  5. Then power up everything - with the rpi off, this will test that the ODE is working properly with the single file auto selected.

If that all works - I would suspect that the ODE isn't selecting the file properly - in the /tmp/ log there should be an indication if it can't connect to the ODE at all ('no screen session found' errors). If it looks like its selecting properly - I would test by connecting to the ODE via serial AFTER the rpi has done its selection via a usb cable and terminal into the ODE to see what is selected. OR - if you installed the little OLED screen - that might show the current loaded file?

Let me know how your testing goes - and also post some pictures of the inside of the 246 - ODE connections to the RPI, etc. so I can see if all of that looks correct.

Matt
 
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Thanks for the thoughtful reply!

mathewbeall said:
I am not sure of those errors you were running into and why you had to update the firmware
Click to expand...
I updated the firmware after coming across this thread on the RPi forums. According to that thread, there was a hardware revision that necessitated updating the firmware. So, it wouldn't be necessary if you were running an older rev.

mathewbeall said:
on your usb thumb drive - everything is in the root directory? it's not under the usb_drive directory (or any directory)?
Click to expand...
Yep, all of the images are in the root directory.

mathewbeall said:
validate that your reset wire works by holding down the reset button on the front of the selector - you should see everything go dark on the monitor as you lose sync.
Click to expand...
Reset wire works as expected.

mathewbeall said:
If everything still looks good - I would do troubleshooting and essentially remove the selector from the mix. I would try to get SC3 running - that one seems the simplest and most forgiving. These are the steps I would take to manually test it w/o the selector.
Click to expand...
I did some troubleshooting that points to an issue with the ODE image selection:

1. ODE on separate 256 with production GvG Next dongle and only GvG Next HDD image on thumb drive: OK => ODE is OK
2. Production SC2 dongle + SC2 CD in a CD drive on 246 hardware: OK => 246 HW is OK
3. 2x6 dongle flashed by Pi with SC2 image + SC2 CD in a CD drive: OK => 2x6 dongle is OK
4. 2x6 dongle flashed by Pi with SC2 image + ODE with only SC2 ISO image on thumb drive: NO GOOD
5. 2x6 dongle flashed by Pi with SC2 image + ODE with only SC2 ISO image on thumb drive + autorun.txt: OK => ODE is OK on 246
6. 2x6 dongle flashed by Pi with SC2 image + ODE with all all images on thumb drive + Pi: NO GOOD (with or without autorun.txt)

Step 6 has the same behavior as before: after rebooting, the JVS init screen etc. comes up, but it never progresses further from there. The ODE LEDs show initial activity while booting, but eventually it appears to get stuck and the X led flashes briefly every 5 seconds or so.

mathewbeall said:
If that all works - I would suspect that the ODE isn't selecting the file properly - in the /tmp/ log there should be an indication if it can't connect to the ODE at all ('no screen session found' errors). If it looks like its selecting properly - I would test by connecting to the ODE via serial AFTER the rpi has done its selection via a usb cable and terminal into the ODE to see what is selected. OR - if you installed the little OLED screen - that might show the current loaded file?
Click to expand...
I grabbed the log file after step 6 (see attached). I don't see any obvious errors, though this line might be suspect?
pi-monitor: mysimulatordrive=USB:
Should this be showing a specific USB port like USB0 or USB1 or something?

Assuming the logs look okay, the next step is to inspect the ODE; I found info on the CLI interface here and can try that out tonight.

mathewbeall said:
Let me know how your testing goes - and also post some pictures of the inside of the 246 - ODE connections to the RPI, etc. so I can see if all of that looks correct.
Click to expand...
I'll post some pics later, but I stripped everything down to the bare minimum for these tests and I'm pretty sure everything's correct. One question: does the Pi<->ODE USB-A to microUSB cable need to be plugged into a specific USB port on the Pi? Apart from that, I don't see what could be wrong.
 

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