NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Discuss hardware-related topics, such as development cartridges, CopyNES, PowerPak, EPROMs, or whatever.

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mrrepel
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:10 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by mrrepel »

Hi,

Sorry to bump an old topic. Today i bought the white arcade for my son. I want to put some "original" games on it like Mario etc. I've ordered the CH341 SPI programmer. I've downloaded some ROMS and used the tool for making the ROM. I've installed nintendulator and when i start the ROM i get "Selected ROM has no CH ROM or CH RAM". If i load the ROM directly from source it runs in Nintendulator.

I'd like to flash the white 240 in 1 to some of the "nicer" games. Can someone point out for me what i am doing wrong ?

Greetz

Mr|Repel
timschuerewegen
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:42 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by timschuerewegen »

mrrepel wrote: Sun Oct 11, 2020 9:10 amI've installed nintendulator and when i start the ROM i get "Selected ROM has no CH ROM or CH RAM". If i load the ROM directly from source it runs in Nintendulator.
Nintendulator != NintendulatorNRS
mrrepel
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:10 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by mrrepel »

Thanx, that did the trick. Now to wait for the programmer to arrive :-)
gelotus
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:20 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by gelotus »

Hi to all, this is my first post, just to share some infos about another vt369 device owned by my little nephew.
Here are some pics:


IMG_20201012_225725.jpg

IMG_20201011_164135.jpg

IMG_20201011_164241.jpg

IMG_20201011_164029.jpg

IMG_20201011_164426.jpg


I've pulled off the flash that is a SOIC-16 W25Q64FVFIG and dumped it, here is a rom dump:

rom.bin https://mega.nz/file/BgRVEa4b#yy5uRXcvx ... AKPH6cDW20

and there is the same with ines header for testing it in NintendulatorNRS:

rom.nes https://mega.nz/file/QoYlmIDB#wXUK17fGF ... qLwME4_oHE

I've tryed to make a custom rom with timschuerewegen's NES Maker 1.7.0, using "My Arcade Retro Machine (200-in-1) [v2]" setting, and just works.
I've noticed some strange behaviours in smb3, it don't plays some pcm samples and seems that don't masks sprites when they are obstructed, like the piranha plants when they come out from pipes. I don't know if this is a known vtxx issue or maybe a sw thing caused by using a rom for different device. Some advice?
mrrepel
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:10 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by mrrepel »

mrrepel wrote: Mon Oct 12, 2020 1:07 am Thanx, that did the trick. Now to wait for the programmer to arrive :-)
Just flashed the Winbond chip, up and running. Thanx !
NewRisingSun
Posts: 1510
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 11:30 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by NewRisingSun »

I never knew that EmuVT could run VT369 ROM files. :)

Cool, MAME had the Oplayer MGS2401A, this one is just Oplayer MGS2401. Many bytes are different, though the game list appears to be the same.
gelotus
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:20 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by gelotus »

NewRisingSun wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:29 am I never knew that EmuVT could run VT369 ROM files. :)
In effect it plays only the splash screen, when I press start it crashes.. :lol:
NewRisingSun wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 3:29 am Cool, MAME had the Oplayer MGS2401A, this one is just Oplayer MGS2401. Many bytes are different, though the game list appears to be the same.
Wow, I wasn't know about MAME

About that sprites issue, there are info about?
mrrepel
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:10 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by mrrepel »

About the issues, can only comfirm the issues. With SM1, 2 and 3 the music starts "in game", title is silent. Same with the sprites, they come out of the pipes. Not a big problem, games are still playabe. (White 240in1)
timschuerewegen
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:42 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by timschuerewegen »

mrrepel wrote: Thu Oct 15, 2020 6:35 amSame with the sprites, they come out of the pipes. Not a big problem, games are still playabe. (White 240in1)
Yes, you are right, I never noticed this before.

Image
kludge
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:01 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by kludge »

I found a "Gaming Tech CT-885" 200 in 1 at my local grocery store and brought it home. It's almost certainly a rebranded Cheertone CT-885. It looks to be a NES on a chip solution with a 8 MB 25Q64C serial eeprom. Would it be possible to add support for it? Or maybe it works already?

ROM dump: CT-885 G25Q64C.bin
User avatar
Ben Boldt
Posts: 1149
Joined: Tue Mar 22, 2016 8:27 pm
Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by Ben Boldt »

kludge wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 3:01 pm I found a "Gaming Tech CT-885" 200 in 1 at my local grocery store and brought it home. It's almost certainly a rebranded Cheertone CT-885. It looks to be a NES on a chip solution with a 8 MB 25Q64C serial eeprom. Would it be possible to add support for it? Or maybe it works already?

ROM dump: CT-885 G25Q64C.bin
I took a look at this dump tonight and I find that from the beginning, each $20000 bytes is a PRG ROM, 8 games that I checked. Just clipping each chunk and adding this header reveals games that run (no CHR data):

Code: Select all

4E 45 53 1A 08 00 40 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
Of the first 8 games tried this way, the 4th and the 8th did not run, but the others did run and I and found absolutely nothing familiar to me. The very first game contains graphics from 1943 as seen with YY-CHR. When playing that game, it is ENTIRELY different, including horizontal scrolling but still the enemies fly around in a very 1943ish way. I think it could be an elaborate hack of 1943, would be interesting to see it. Later on I found text "broderbund" and found out that came from "Raid on Bungeling Bay". Narrowing down that PRG data and running it, it seemed the same as the original. However, searching for random 16-byte excerpts from the original game's CHR data didn't turn up any matches in this dump, so I am thinking that game must have different graphics.

CHR data seems to start at $620000. I don't know how tell the lengths of the CHR data or how it connects with the PRG data.

This is a pretty interesting one, it will be cool to see if anyone comes up with better ways to hack it.


Edit:
The menu PRG-ROM appears to occupy $60000 - 7FFFF. The game names in ASCII can be found here.
Last edited by Ben Boldt on Tue Oct 27, 2020 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
lidnariq
Posts: 11432
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 11:12 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by lidnariq »

These VTxx machines are all OneBus famiclones, with integrated MMC3-like bankswitching and slightly fancier graphics and audio capability. The ones that use SQI flash are impressive because they've got to be running the SQI bus at 80-odd MHz to keep up with the random access needed for the CPU and PPU.

The problem is that not all models have the same LCD, so they have different configuration registers needed for their different LCD timing (and sometimes different specific silicon capability revisions), so you can't just put new ROMs in without tracking down that bit and copying it forward.
timschuerewegen
Posts: 38
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 10:42 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by timschuerewegen »

kludge wrote: Tue Oct 27, 2020 3:01 pm I found a "Gaming Tech CT-885" 200 in 1 at my local grocery store and brought it home. It's almost certainly a rebranded Cheertone CT-885. It looks to be a NES on a chip solution with a 8 MB 25Q64C serial eeprom. Would it be possible to add support for it? Or maybe it works already?
Can you post a picture of the PCB? I think it contains a second 8-pin chip that contains extra code/data. If so, then I will make/send you a small program that you can flash and that will display the contents of this mystery chip on the LCD.
kludge
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2020 8:01 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by kludge »

timschuerewegen wrote: Wed Oct 28, 2020 12:39 am Can you post a picture of the PCB? I think it contains a second 8-pin chip that contains extra code/data. If so, then I will make/send you a small program that you can flash and that will display the contents of this mystery chip on the LCD.
Yep, there’s a second IC on the PCB (U7), but I couldn’t see any markings on it. Sorry about the shoddy soldering on U3, it wasn’t meant to be seen by anyone :D

6288BE10-9692-4945-8099-6D9EB03DBEC0.jpeg
NewRisingSun
Posts: 1510
Joined: Thu May 19, 2005 11:30 am

Re: NES Maker (for VTxx machines)

Post by NewRisingSun »

I suggest that the extra ROM, which I expect to be very small, be specified as a "Misc ROM" in the NES 2.0 header.
Last edited by NewRisingSun on Wed Oct 28, 2020 1:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
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