johnparker007

@andrew96 I rewrote a bit of MPU4 stuff to do with chr in MAME, haven't got round to committing yet... there's some good info in the source you might be interested in It's a challenge/response doohickey, I think they were trying to stop people copying the boards with off the shelf parts and chip burners. In terms of the lamps (for non-BwB), there was this - it maps the lamp matrix column based on input value, based on square series (0,1,4,9,16,25 etc - so 1x1==1, 2x2==4, 3x3==9, 4x4==16 etc) // Rather than the search strategy, we can map the calls directly here. Note that they are hex versions of the square number series switch (call) { case 0x00: m_lamp_col = 0; break; case 0x01: m_lamp_col = 1; break; case 0x04: m_lamp_col = 2; break; case 0x09: m_lamp_col = 3; break; case 0x10: m_lamp_col = 4; break; case 0x19: m_lamp_col = 5; break; case 0x24: m_lamp_col = 6; break; case 0x31: m_lamp_col = 7; break; One of the key source files: https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/machine/mpu4.cpp Some interesting comments from the source: As built, the CHR is a PAL which can perform basic bit manipulation according to an as yet unknown unique key. However, the programmers decided to best use this protection device in read/write/compare cycles, storing almost the entire 'hidden' data table in the ROMs in plain sight. Only later rebuilds by BwB avoided this 'feature' of the development kit, and will need a different setup. This information has been used to generate the CHR tables loaded by the programs, until a key can be determined. For most Barcrest games, the following method was used: The initial 'PALTEST' routine as found in the Barcrest programs simply writes the first 'call' to the CHR space, to read back the 'response'. There is no attempt to alter the order or anything else, just a simple runthrough of the entire data table. The only 'catch' in this is to note that the CHR chip always scans through the table starting at the last accessed data value, unless 00 is used to reset to the beginning. This is obviously a simplification, in fact the PAL does bit manipulation with some latching. However, a final 8 byte row, that controls the lamp matrix is not tested - to date, no-one outside of Barcrest knows how this is generated, and currently trial and error is the only sensible method. It is noted that the default, of all 00, is sometimes the correct answer, particularly in non-Barcrest use of the CHR chip, though when used normally, there are again fixed call values. Apparently, just before the characteriser is checked bit 1 at 0x61DF is checked and if zero the characteriser check is bypassed. This may be something to look at for prototype ROMs and hacks. ... BwB Characteriser (CHR) The BwB method of protection is considerably different to the Barcrest one, with any incorrect behaviour manifesting in ridiculously large payouts. The hardware is the same, however the main weakness of the software has been eliminated. In fact, the software seems deliberately designed to mislead, but is (fortunately for us) prone to similar weaknesses that allow a per game solution. Project Amber performed a source analysis (available on request) which appears to make things work. Said weaknesses (A Cheats Guide according to Project Amber) The common initialisation sequence is "00 04 04 0C 0C 1C 14 2C 5C 2C" 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Using debug search for the first read from said string (best to find it first). At this point, the X index on the CPU is at the magic number address. The subsequent calls for each can be found based on the magic address (0) = ( (BWBMagicAddress)) (1) = ( (BWBMagicAddress + 1)) (2) = ( (BWBMagicAddress + 2)) (3) = ( (BWBMagicAddress + 4)) (4) = ( (BWBMagicAddress - 5)) (5) = ( (BWBMagicAddress - 4)) (6) = ( (BWBMagicAddress - 3)) (7) = ( (BWBMagicAddress - 2)) (8) = ( (BWBMagicAddress - 1)) These return the standard init sequence as above. For ease of understanding, we use three tables, one holding the common responses and two holding the appropriate call and response pairs for the two stages of operation

That is a beautiful post @Reg. Here's to Chris, and keeping the scene going and growing into 2022

A video on this one, looks surprisingly pretty decent Could potentially be a hint of input lag, so perhaps not great for skill stops... https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001136290398.html?spm=a2g0o.store_pc_groupList.8148356.4.39d97220cz9Ju1

Thanks for that test! Yeah I'd expect them to get gaming performance up to snuff with more updates

That's a really nice MiSTer build man! The game/system OLED looks great too

I've been searching for a Artura for the ZX Spectrum for a couple of years... well on and off, gave up after the first year of not finding it, just had a look and it's on eBay for £33.. but I have no eBay account - pm-ing you @serene02 in search of a quick favour

I have this rare Saturn dev disc You can do things with it Probably worth a few quid... Edit: Looked on ebay, it's as rare as hen's teeth - they've got it listed at £700 - jeez, may have to look at flogging this - I'd be happy with half that!

Hiya mate Don't think there's a discord channel, though I think a few guys do youtube videos showcasing layouts being emulated. Glad you're enjoying the new FME tech experiments - welcome to the forum

Sounds like pinball companies, great policy - Stern have this: Company policy requires that all employees play at least 15 minutes of pinball each day. Stern himself likens the game to “magic” and readily admits that the company is “in love” with the business of pinball.

I enjoyed the slots in the mobile game Jetpack Joyride Gave you bonus stuff you could use later in the game - nice mechanic...

That was my first thought looking at the feature board, looks very Indy-like!

I was on VPForums for a while - I did a little hacking around with the source, but only uploaded one patch build (that allowed you to load VP layouts that needed more GPU memory then was available, feature was later done properly by the dev team, so it's no longer an issue). And part built a VP cab about 10 years back, but drifted away, due to lack of time. Amazing the progress in that scene

Yeah great work @Laylow with all these Dutch layout releases, much appreciated And I thought I recognised that name, I used to be quite VP-focused many years back!

I use to sequence back in the day (Noisetracker, protracker, Octamed), was good times If you sail the high seas there's this: Amiga Mods Anthology - 4cds A massive 4 CDROM-Set, 18,000+ files (Protracker, S3M, XM, Amiga Synth...) Many, many, artist represented (with their OWN permission, info-files, pics and previously unreleased mods!) from the origins of the scene (Amiga days) on up to early 1996 featuring most of the best PC-Multichannel musicians. This CD is readable under all major platforms (MS-DOS, Win, Mac-os, UNIX, Amiga-DOS...) Hope that is of use - would recommend most stuff Romeo Knight did, one of my fave scene musicians from back then Edit: also found this collection of torrents, covering a 29gb base collection plus update torrents: http://tracker.modarchive.org/

Happy birthday Chris, I hope they have fruit machines up there to tinker with You are very much missed around these forums, and I wish we could have worked on the new 3d stuff together - rest in peace dude.

You can see the effect kind of replicated just by watching some Indiana Jones flashes - I noticed recently that most of them (hold buttons flashing etc) have a ramp up/down coded into the ROM. I guess because it was an expensive license they took their time... but anyway, on a modern monitor it gives the same effect. So all machines would look similar to that, with a single frame of ramp/decay each side of the 100% lit frame(s). Right - sorry for taking this off-topic, back to the Autoplaying - gotta hit that 10K @Reg!

If it turns out to be the case that is a shame. I will continue to hold off doing any intensive work on anything like that for now, and keep working on Arcade Sim (which is emulator-agnostic, it can be driven by MAME running fruit machine data layouts). If you need any pointers on getting Cheat Engine to speed up MFME, gimme a shout, I'll perhaps knock up a very quick guide

I did actually think about this for the 'auto-player' when I was doing my turbo startup feature for arcade sim - you can just use the off-the-shelf Cheat Engine to run MFME at turbo speed once you've started the auto player. I'd put it to one side in my mind, as I am still unsure if Chris's code is now lost, or if it will one day find its way to the community. If it's certified never to come back, I was planning as a long term project to build on my DLL injection work, to develop an enhancement suite or 'player' - such that you would use MFME as the emulation core, and it would render the 2d layouts via Unity engine, and have various things like support for bulb 'ramp/decay', turbo start until machine has booted (like you can already see in Arcade Sim)... and whatever else can be dreamed up within the contraints of DLL injection hacking to enhance the final released MFME version. But yes, you can definitely make autoplay run fast (insanely fast if it's pre-Scorpion 5 / MPU 5 tech) - just using standard cheat engine

Hi @MrRog - there's an awful lot of great layouts these days, I don't really get to spend time playing them as I'm usually busy working on some research or coding when I do get 'hobby time'! Off the top of my head - the Happy Hour layout from Pook aka DXcellent is nice and clean, would look good in a cab.

Totally agree, the AI upscaling will never be substitute for a good source art. It's a tricky problem to crack for sure

Hi @MrRog One of the issues is getting 'clean' source images of a high enough resolution. The layout artists do a fantastic job with the resources available, though it can be challenging when all they have to work with is a grainy flyer from the 1980s! I did have a look into this and am planning to provide 'AI upscaled' machines (in cases where good results can be achieved from the source images) in the arcade simulator project. For more information of my preliminary AI upscaling tests and some general chit chat, see here: And for more information on the arcade simulator project (3D machines / AI upscaled virtual streaming textures (planned, not yet implemented) / VR), see here: