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Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 6:16 pm
by Fisher
I just got a "gift" :-D
2 pirate 60 pins board, 1 original 60 pin board and a SNES' Gamegenie.
As expected, none worked as it should :-(
At least, I could fix one of the boards, it is Top Gun. :-)
But there's one that is Rockman 3, it boots, but the boss selection screen is like this:
mm3-problema.jpg
After I choose a boss, the game begins the amimation music, the screen fills with the blue logos and it locks.
I reviewed the whole board with a multmeter, all seems fine.
It uses 2 PRG ROMs, 28 pins, demuxed with an 74LS139, it's also used to generate the CHR ROM's /CE, since it's 28 pins too.
I had put LEDs on the PRG ROM's /CE lines to try to debug.
Both stay on, all the time. Is it correct? I was specting them to be only one on at a time...
Maybe they are, but are switching too fast for the eye to see.

So, any suggestions of what I could try next?
Thanks in advance.

Re: Help fix Rockman 3

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 2:21 pm
by Fisher
I just exchanged the 74LS139.
No deal...
Since a image is worth thousand words, I'll post some pics here...
Here is the component side of the board:
Rockman3 Frente
Rockman3 Frente
I really don't think this will be usefull, but here's the solder side:
Rockman3 Solda
Rockman3 Solda
And here is the locked game:
Rockman3 Travado
Rockman3 Travado
I think I should strip this board naked and make some scans, them try another game.
But today I'm just feeling too lazy for that... :|
Even my scarce soldering skills seems to have degraded.
I may even end destroying the board. :-(

Re: Help fix Rockman 3

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:15 pm
by lidnariq
Fisher wrote:I think I should strip this board naked and make some scans, them try another game.
Do you not have any other way to dump the game?

Anyway, I see an NTDEC ND-C3 mapper, which may be something funny rather than "just" an MMC3. The only other instance of it that I can see is in an Argentine forum...

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 7:42 am
by Fisher
Hey, I have that game with the energy recover cheat enabled.
Unfortunately it's an epoxy blob game.

I'm really tempted to try the Tape Dump program, but what should I do with the resulting wave or mp3 file?
The convert tool I found is DOS only, does a Linux tool exists or I should run it on DOSBox or DOSEmu?

By the way, I was looking at the mapper pinout, but looks like someone already did that.
I'll post it here as soon as I can. This mapper seems to have a CHR A18 pin.

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 11:53 am
by lidnariq
I believe Minimodem should be able to decode the output of tapedump...

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 3:02 pm
by Fisher
I'll sure give minimodem it a try!
Thanks for the info!!

As promissed, the pinout I could get:
3.jpg
I discovered I have other game with the same mapper chip:
20170305_182122.jpg
20170305_182313.jpg
I think this is the next to be dumped!

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 05, 2017 4:45 pm
by ccovell
Fisher wrote:Hey, I have that game with the energy recover cheat enabled.

I'm really tempted to try the Tape Dump program, but what should I do with the resulting wave or mp3 file?
The convert tool I found is DOS only, does a Linux tool exists or I should run it on DOSBox or DOSEmu?
If it's a custom mapper, it might not work with the normal MMC3 dumper in TapeDump.

Anyway, there is a newer version of KCS with a Windows console version too: http://www.ballyalley.com/program_downl ... tools.html

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 12:49 pm
by Fisher
Looks like some weird thing is going on...
When I change Tapedump with this Rockman, it freezes.
I'm testing with other game right now and all seems fine.
By the way, I'm using Tapedump's MMC1 hack, since it was easier to me to repro.
Could you please do a UNROM (mapper 02) version?
Thanks in advance!

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:35 pm
by zxbdragon
Fisher wrote:I'll sure give minimodem it a try!
Thanks for the info!!

As promissed, the pinout I could get:
3.jpg
I discovered I have other game with the same mapper chip:
20170305_182122.jpg
20170305_182313.jpg
I think this is the next to be dumped!
:lol:

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 3:55 pm
by Fisher
zxbdragon wrote: :lol:
:?:

I could suscessfully dump Solbrain.
It's CRC32 is 3683552b
Md5sum is 7de878f798e30899d62fdce07f099fc0
Had it already beem dumped??
I just don't know how to consult the dumped database, if it ever exists...

I used Tapedump's default options, just selected the mapper blindly (my repro is having trouble with the CHR RAM) switched the cartridge and pushed start.
It took about 2h and 45min!!

Next I'll try the pirate Rockman, but the mapper may be even deffective or has issues.
Can someone give me some technical advice?

Edit: I managed to start dumping the pirate Rockman.
Unfortunatelly, I got a small power outage.
The PC was kept on, but the console not. :cry:
I got a ~15kB file with a nice ines header:
GAME.NES
(15.27 KiB) Downloaded 262 times
Looks like the first PRG ROM is having problems...
Or, there's something nasty with the mapper, since the Ninja Gaiden 2, that uses the same chip, is dumping normally right now.

Edit2: Ninja Gaiden 2 dumped!!
CRC32: 37b811db
md5sum: e14bacec2e6edf5506d20866015280f1

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:28 pm
by zxbdragon
Fisher wrote:
zxbdragon wrote: :lol:
:?:

I could suscessfully dump Solbrain.
It's CRC32 is 3683552b
Md5sum is 7de878f798e30899d62fdce07f099fc0
Had it already beem dumped??
I just don't know how to consult the dumped database, if it ever exists...

I used Tapedump's default options, just selected the mapper blindly (my repro is having trouble with the CHR RAM) switched the cartridge and pushed start.
It took about 2h and 45min!!

Next I'll try the pirate Rockman, but the mapper may be even deffective or has issues.
Can someone give me some technical advice?

Edit: I managed to start dumping the pirate Rockman.
Unfortunatelly, I got a small power outage.
The PC was kept on, but the console not. :cry:
I got a ~15kB file with a nice ines header:
GAME.NES
Looks like the first PRG ROM is having problems...
Or, there's something nasty with the mapper, since the Ninja Gaiden 2, that uses the same chip, is dumping normally right now.

Edit2: Ninja Gaiden 2 dumped!!
CRC32: 37b811db
md5sum: e14bacec2e6edf5506d20866015280f1
dump full data to me;
4325692@qq.com

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 6:58 pm
by Fisher
zxbdragon wrote:dump full data to me;
Wouldn't be easier to just PM it to you?

I'm dumping the deffective Rockman 3.
Finally the dumping process is working. :D
The famiclone I'm using had a problem that powered it off and on quickly when I connected the cartridge. Very weird!!
I'll wait for it to finish and send it too.

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:11 pm
by zxbdragon
Fisher wrote:
zxbdragon wrote:dump full data to me;
Wouldn't be easier to just PM it to you?

I'm dumping the deffective Rockman 3.
Finally the dumping process is working. :D
The famiclone I'm using had a problem that powered it off and on quickly when I connected the cartridge. Very weird!!
I'll wait for it to finish and send it too.
working,ok.

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2017 7:52 pm
by Fisher
Yes!!
Finally I could dump Rockman 3 and confirmed that it sure has some problem.
I need to find if it's the 1st rom bank that's bad or the mapper IC.
I'll post the PRG and CHR CRC32 tomorrow, individualy.

Re: Help fix a pirate Rockman 3

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:07 am
by zxbdragon
I think 74 ic bad or first PRG bad.