johnparker007

Amazing news on the TMS1000 dump! (and thanks again to Sean for his decapping/scanning work) ...and keep up the good work man - that'll be three brand new platforms in MAME from you now once you've done Golden Spin, really great progress

Just noticed, it looks like the BWB font is a pixel perfect copy of the font from Mortal Kombat (The only change I could see was a couple of pixels trimmed from the middle of the 'M') ... it really was a wild west back then, that shit would not fly now! Reno Reels: Mortal Kombat:

Sadly with Chris's code being lost, the process of getting board photos/schematics for these will prob need doing again... at least once it's in MAME it's open source, and won't be lost again Just checked, that currently just has synth sounds in MAME, no sampled sounds (that play when you get nudges etc) working at present...

More progress on setting up initial extract stuff for MFME components BarcrestBwbVideo BfmVideo AceVideo MaygayVideo PrismLamp (except image extraction) Bitmap (except image extraction) SevenSegmentBlock (in progress)

Wow that's a fast turnaround, go Sean! Yeah, I did wonder that - I spied that 1983 stamped on the flyer and thought it might be too new to be worth mentioning sound - but I'm really not sure when it comes to these older machines, I thought it might be a random date! ...but if there's code trying to call sound - then maybe this one will end up being mute... still playable though!

Great news on the TMS1000 side project! And also great progress on the Black Box driver I had a quick google - I wonder if they were going to add some kind of sound, but then didn't in the end (leaving an abandoned sound board connector)..? There's two adverts for it, and neither mention the sound, which would've presumably been a marketing point at the time: Awesome progress anyway, keep up the good work!

Implemented 'full' extracting of seven segment, previously I'd just been extracting the number and on color... Then decided to set the data structures and screen grabs up for what I think are all the remaining ones: This is the test layout containing the new components I am setting up (pretty sure I have them all after this pass is done): Quite a bit more scraping still to set up, but making solid progress - the video screens will be quick as they've not many fields ...and then some other issue to sort out (too narrow layouts, and an old issue I'd forgotten; mfme font scraping bug which gives me problems between uppercase I (i) and lowercase l (L), and also the '£' character). The aim at the end of it is so that I can run any layout through it, and initially extract all of the data to my 'open format' which is JSON and .bmp images... I'm bound to run into most/all of the components above and need some of the data from them, on the ~3000 layout pass for making the 'MAME classic internal layout set'.

Glad you got it working It may have been that you visited when there was some kind of hiccup with the server, and so it cached a link to that internal/default landing page. So every time you revisited, it would then show that cached page instead of the live page. Incognito mode / another browser is my usual go-to when sites are acting up, sometimes you can end up with a broken cached copy of a site on your local machine.

Implemented more MFME components into the extractor : DotMatrix, BfmLed, BfmColourLed, AceMatrix, EpochMatrix

Hmm that's odd, I just tried the site in InCognito in both Chrome browser and Edge browser, and they both work correctly... not quite sure how that is happening. Here is the direct link to where the installer is currently hosted (on this forum's server), this should work for you: https://desertislandfruits.com/arcadesim/Arcade Simulator Setup.exe

Made some progress on the extractor, now is extracting and storing the data parts (number fields, checkboxes etc) of these 'new' components: BandReel, DiscReel, FlipReel, JPMBonusReel, BFMAlpha, ProconnMatrix, EpochAlpha, IgtVfd, Plasma There's more to do on these to store the images on those that have them, and then some more components not yet done (Bitmap, the legacy Seven Segment Block, a bunch of LED displays). And then also the 'layout too narrow' issue... and that's all that's left to do on this stage I think... though there's quite a lot more stages to go, before I can generate the ~3000 layouts...

Don't forget to build a doorbell that plays Oranges And Lemons!

I also checked Sean's website, he's done a bunch of these TMS1000 variants, so it looks like we're in great hands Here are the resulting die shots from another of his TMS1000 decaps (MP3300), which look super cool: Package: Metal: Acid:

Awesome! I've sent Sean $50 through Paypal from the Arcade Sim fund, with a brief note attached saying thanks - and also, thanks very much to @wolf676 and @Altharicfor their kind donations towards this side quest, really appreciated (The expenditure and donations are logged on the Arcade Sim public ledger: https://tinyurl.com/yzvgl4xo)

Wow nice one on the Nudge Climber - Blackbox platform is really coming along nicely! If you want to DM me Sean's info if he replies and is up for doing the dump, I'm up for sorting out sending him the dosh (he'll have to make the purchase though as I don't have an eBay account)... and then anyone who wants to contribute can make an Arcade Sim donation to my donations link in my forum sig below (so Sean doesn't have to deal with a bunch of different people sending him fractions of the money). I've started on initial extraction stage of more MFME components (benefits both MAME and Arcade Sim conversions directly), doing reels first (Disc / Flip / Band etc), then it's onto the more unusual lamps and matrix displays (and the legacy Seven Seg Block) It's nice to finally get chance to work in this, because this stuff has needed looking at for ages anyway, regardless of the new MAME angle.

Thanks guys that's awesome!

Ah wow - nice work finding that image with the song list verification. Brill to verify the chip, but also I love how futuristic it looks! At a glance I though that was like a blue backlit LCD slide-out display, looks pretty cool to be fair. So using VPN, I see the price with domestic US shipping is $49.50: I have some budget left in Arcade Simulator (I've got a pot built from ~2/3rds donations from kind AS supporters, along with ~1/3rd suggested donations from real fruit machine peeps I have built patched ROMs for). I didn't take VR headset from that as it only benefits a small subset of users, but things like this that benefit all users generally I take from the fund, so this falls under that I feel If you DM me some payment info, I could Paypal/bank transfer you the funds (say £44 GBP), and then leave it in your capable hands? I'm not in contact with Sean, I only interact with a few FME-related guys on the MAME team. I also am unable to have an eBay account (crazy thing from years back), so I don't think I can be of further use on this task unfortunately. Again, really amazing work on the drivers you are putting together!

I know it's just for sound on one obscure machine, but I had a look and there is actually one on US eBay haha @SomeRandomGuy https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/302524285134 I guess if it was to be bought so the chip can be decapped and scanned for the MAME driver, if the MAME decapping peeps are stateside, might make more sense to wire them the money/get it sent direct to them - to avoid paying import fees from USA, then import fees again from UK-> USA. Also, seller says "I tested and does work.", I guess someone with an eBay account should message first to ask to check that song 2-3 is the Oranges And Lemons song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om-fw_Ty0ek ... to verify it is programmed with the correct set of 24 songs. But... it is out there anyway Over 40 mins of well lit 1080p footage on youtube, so ample material for a DX... one day could be played in Arcade Sim in 3d cab with sound... just very quickly grabbed a few quick frames, I'm sure there's better shots:

Glad you got it working again I don't have an eBay account (long story), but I guess that's the best place to look then, so we will continue the search for this chip - thanks for your help!

Ah buggers... that said, even if the chip doesn't work in a physical board, perhaps the scan would still be fine - it might be one of more of the tiny fly wires that link from the legs to the inner chip itself have corroded and snapped, or another part on the board altogether... doesn't sound too happy though!

Excellent stuff Someone may have scanned full .pdf collections of those old magazines somewhere out there, I know there's a lot of scans of old computer mags from around that era... might be a nice nostalgia trip since you used to read them There's this old collection from a quick look on the high seas, not seeing an early 80s ones though: Everyday Practical Electronics 1998-11 - 2012-03 I guess the next logical question is, would you be up for sacrificing that chip to the MAME team so it can be decapped and scanned so the machine can ultimately be emulated with sound? (they have some pro decapper/scanner peeps I believe who do quite complex chips). It would end up looking like this though: So it'll definitely be out of action afterwards!

I remember buying a couple of ZX Spectrum games out of a magazine ad via mail order, think a cheque was involved So here's a snippet of the real fruit machine playing that Oranges And Lemons song - so it really is that actual chip that was used then! ...and they probably based that fruit machine theme/name around the MP0027A, when they realised they could get a cheap chip that would play a non-copyrighted fruit themed song. Cool

OMG that is insane Andrew! @SomeRandomGuy I cannot believe this lol! Wow - well that's why it's good to hoard stuff - I suddenly don't feel so bad about my many plastic tubs of old electronic bits 'n' bobs... you just never know Absolutely fantastic hoarding Andrew Holy shit - it gets crazier, check out the name of this song from Andrew's original typed 'track list': "Oranges And Lemons" - the exact same name as the fruit machine it was used in!!! This is all just bonkers lol And the feature music on the machine is the Oranges & Lemons song, so it must be the same chip!

There's always going to be cats and porn lol Loads of people working away on FME stuff at the mo; people doing MAME work, layouts of course, this forum, the fruit machine DB, other stuff... a lot riding on the back of MFME of course, so thanks to Chris as always RIP.

A little more progress update, still legacy section work, I now have ~3,000 'records' at folder level, generally one per game, that shows general folder info, plus the layout it's chosen as best candidate for providing layout and config data for MAME, as well as it will be used for direct AS DX creation. Here's scanning through some games: Next jobs are jobs that definitely benefit Arcade Sim directly, as well as MAME; it is fixing various issues with my (flakey) layout extractor... for example, I currently have manual additional steps to do when a layout is not so wide, and the menu bar wraps onto a second row: So that needs to be automated. Then there are various components that I'm not scraping yet, such as Band Reels, Disk Reels, Prism Lamps, lamps greater than 1-4 in a single lamp component, 7 Segment blocks, the list goes on... But before that, I'm looking to help fill more info on the Fruit Machine Database (link in my sig) - @spa has been doing incredible work, getting all the flyers linked in from his drive(s), and also filling in lots of cabinets, this will all be great for AS when I'm back to making new machines for that - so you can hover and see flyers in this database, that is still in development - quick demo vid of the database WIP here: I've realised I can tie in some of the legacy section work I've been doing, to fill in more gaps in the Club/AWP - Platform - Manufacturer columns, as it's data I have now by game (where there is an MFME layout), highlighted here: So much to do But it's nice how some MAME work also feeds into the Fruity DB, some MAME stuff feeds into AS etc... fruity DB will feed into AS, this current work feeds into all three... it feels like it's all very slowly coming together... just a few more years haha