MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

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gutomaia
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MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

Hi guys, I'm facing some problem with a ROM a very specific device.

It's a generic DVD player that has support for playing some NES roms.
Given this demo at this github branch https://github.com/gutomaia/NES_bankswi ... th_chr_ram

I'm trying to make it work properly on the device itself. The ROM, works perfectly on all emulators that I've tested. As benchmark I was suggested by rainwarrior to test with Megaman 4. Witch uses MMC3 with CHR-RAM. And it works perfectly. So, it's not a lack of support of CHR-RAM.

Any clues about what might be missing on the ROM to make it work on the device?

Below I have some images of the demo and Megaman 4 running on the device.

https://ibb.co/XJ4XJr2 Megaman
https://ibb.co/Mp1Ffh6 Demo
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Quietust
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by Quietust »

Unless I'm missing something, your demo doesn't appear to initialize the MMC3's CHR bank registers, the mirroring state, or the IRQ counter. Many emulators initialize these to "nice" values for various unknown reasons, but other emulators (and real hardware) might not initialize them at all, causing them to be random on powerup.

Just because a game uses CHR RAM doesn't mean you don't have to initialize the CHR bank registers - even though it might not seem useful to do so, it's still possible to rearrange the banks.
Quietust, QMT Productions
P.S. If you don't get this note, let me know and I'll write you another.
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

There is code to initialize, and debugging the artifact build for that branch this code does run. Unless the test was done with a different ROM (e.g. the master branch build?) I don't think MMC3 initialization is the issue here?
crt0.s wrote:

Code: Select all

.segment "STARTUP"

; startup values for the 8 MMC3 registers
mmc3_register_init:
.byte $00 ; 2KB CHR $0000
.byte $02 ; 2KB CHR $0800
.byte $04 ; 1KB CHR $1000
.byte $05 ; 1KB CHR $1500
.byte $06 ; 1KB CHR $1800
.byte $07 ; 1KB CHR $1C00
.byte $00 ; 4KB PRG $8000
.byte $01 ; 4KB PRG $A000

start:
_exit:

    sei
    ldx #$ff
    txs
    inx
    stx PPU_MASK
    stx DMC_FREQ
    stx PPU_CTRL		;no NMI

	; initialize all registers of MMC3
initMMC3:
	lda #0
	sta $E000 ; IRQ disable
	sta $A000 ; mirroring init
	tax
:
	stx $8000 ; select register
	lda mmc3_register_init, X
	sta $8001 ; initialize regiter
	inx
	cpx #8
	bcc :-
It seems to run OK in emulators I've tried, and on PowerPak. Mesen in particular has option to randomize MMC3 power-on state, and it gets through that just fine.
lidnariq
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by lidnariq »

As a random shot in the dark, try padding your proof-of-concept PRG up to 256KB.
gutomaia
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

Thanks for replying guys.

@lidnariq i've just tryed to raise the PRG up to 256 KB. Change made is on the last commit: https://github.com/gutomaia/NES_bankswi ... ec11297ea9

The actual result was:

https://ibb.co/RczS1j3

Well, something interesting is that the noise pattern that appears on the screen is the same of the first smaller ROM.
lidnariq
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by lidnariq »

It appears to be ignoring your header and giving you some uninitialized RAM as though it were CHR ROM. But that's weird. I was hoping that pretending to be an Established TNROM/TGROM game would fix that but ... apparently not.

Maybe the emulator incorrectly uses the PRG RAM protection bits for CHR RAM also??
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

lidnariq wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 11:00 amMaybe the emulator incorrectly uses the PRG RAM protection bits for CHR RAM also??
Mega Man 4 doesn't ever write $A001 (or its mirrors) as far as I can tell.

Though it might be worth having a "sta $A001" after the "sta $A000" in the initMMC3 code there, just to be sure to initialize that.
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

Another thought: change one byte in the Mega Man 4 ROM and see if it still runs? Might want to rule out that the emulator is relying on a database of CRCs to select the cart function.
gutomaia
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

rainwarrior wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 1:00 pm
lidnariq wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 11:00 amMaybe the emulator incorrectly uses the PRG RAM protection bits for CHR RAM also??
Mega Man 4 doesn't ever write $A001 (or its mirrors) as far as I can tell.

Though it might be worth having a "sta $A001" after the "sta $A000" in the initMMC3 code there, just to be sure to initialize that.
Hi,

Just didit, although, it's still looks that's is showing some dirty on memory.

Check it out: https://ibb.co/QYxZKb1
gutomaia
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

rainwarrior wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 12:07 pm Another thought: change one byte in the Mega Man 4 ROM and see if it still runs? Might want to rule out that the emulator is relying on a database of CRCs to select the cart function.
Any recommendation for a specific program that works on mac for patching it out?
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

gutomaia wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 2:08 pm
rainwarrior wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 12:07 pm Another thought: change one byte in the Mega Man 4 ROM and see if it still runs? Might want to rule out that the emulator is relying on a database of CRCs to select the cart function.
Any recommendation for a specific program that works on mac for patching it out?
You could just open it with a hex editor and change any byte (except the first 16).

Or I dunno, pick a random hack and apply the patch?

The point is to figure out whether the device actually uses the header, or does a CRC check on the ROM to guess what game it is. (If it requires a CRC, an altered ROM will fail.)
gutomaia
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

rainwarrior wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 3:43 pm
gutomaia wrote: Thu May 13, 2021 2:08 pm
rainwarrior wrote: Wed May 12, 2021 12:07 pm Another thought: change one byte in the Mega Man 4 ROM and see if it still runs? Might want to rule out that the emulator is relying on a database of CRCs to select the cart function.
Any recommendation for a specific program that works on mac for patching it out?
You could just open it with a hex editor and change any byte (except the first 16).

Or I dunno, pick a random hack and apply the patch?

The point is to figure out whether the device actually uses the header, or does a CRC check on the ROM to guess what game it is. (If it requires a CRC, an altered ROM will fail.)
The great news is that it does work!
I've tested a Megaman 4 hack, patched from romhacking and it runs nicely.

check it out:
https://ibb.co/pRF5J1c
https://ibb.co/hWwJ4hW

Now, what comes in mind is, what's the real difference between Megaman 4 ROM and my demo.
gutomaia
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by gutomaia »

Guys,

I still don't have any clues on why my demo ROM does not work on that specific device. What I'm doing then? Using FCEux debugger to try to find if any particular instruction on the start of the MegaMan game makes any sense.

Any tips on how to better use the debugger?
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

Put a breakpoint on writes to $4020-$FFFF (i.e. writes that could affect the mapper) and see if you spot it doing anything unusual up until the point the first graphics are properly displayed.

Do that with both ROMs you are comparing, make a log of all the writes. See if anything stands out as unusually different.

However, I've kind of already done this and not found anything of interest. I haven't made a meticulous log, but I have gone over the startup on both ROMs with just the breakpoints looking for anything weird. I haven't noticed any differences that should be significant, but it's possible I missed something.


One other thing I noticed is that your ROM has "vertical" mirroring in the header and the Mega Man 4 ROM I have has "horizontal" mirroring in its header. This shouldn't have an effect on MMC3, since mirroring is mapper controlled, but you might try changing your header to "horizontal" just to see if it affects your device?
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rainwarrior
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Re: MMC3 with CHR-RAM on specific device.

Post by rainwarrior »

So you've verified that the ROM works and runs some code. It's clear that it's setting the nametable data.

Try reducing your main() to just the minimum needed. Maybe just clear the nametable to 0 and try to write some simple pattern to CHR tile 0. Don't do any PRG switching, just verify that you can write to CHR-RAM first.

If CHR-RAM writes are working, then my next guess would be maybe there's something weird about switching to the PRG bank where CHR is contained?
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