The truth about Atomiswave to Naomi Project

I have heard some rumours that arcademodbios.com (AMB) says that he is the one converting the games and that this is all his work. THIS IS FALSE!

AMB converted the first games, that means the games that had NO PROTECTION, ZERO PROTECTION, LITLLE COMPLEXITY. When he noticed that newer games had lots of protections and were more complex then he didn't like the project so much, but the real reason why he left the project is another one.


To start with, I agreed with him on helping him on the project to make sure it will become a reality. We discussed how to publish the converted games and get some reward for it. We decided to go for donation mode.
I wanted to make sure this project will become a reality and here is shocking news, I agreed on giving him ALL the donations that we achived. All for him. Zero for me. Even with that when he saw that the level of donations was not the one he expected, well, he just quitted and let me alone with this. How do you like it? Obviously he won't get a cent.

It is true that when we started this project, AMB had already done some code that will read the game content from DIMM instead of AW cartridge and will translate JVS Input to Maple Input. The trasnfer routine uses some lame PIO mode that is quite slow and is the reason why some games still lag.
These parts of code were created by him and I'll be using them until I have succesfully converted all games, so I can concentrate on the conversions itself and avoid introducing new bugs. This will be replaced by real DMA transfers, once I finished converting the games as this code is not the best and I had problems with it as it changes too many registers which are later on used.

I have spent hundreds of hours (literally) in this project and  removed a lot of protections related to HW differences between AW and Naomi like:
* Checking for the Content of the BIOS
* Use the BIOS code for calculations.
* Flashing areas of memory that in Naomi aren't there and checking if they are really flashed.
* Trying to read from the programm code again, once the program has been loaded into RAM
* Etc.

The worst of all is that I forwarded him all the contacts of people who wanted to get their CPS 3 BIOS updated with MY Cps3 BIOS (maybe now it's also his Bios :) and when people complained that they don't have the latest ISO, you know what he did, he said he couldn't help and he forwarded them to me!

If he has done all conversions already, I challenge him first of all to prove it and second to release here and before the end of the year Metal Slug 6, KOFNW, KOF XI and all the driving games. I know he won't do it, because it won't bring him any money.

Happy 2014!

Driving Games on Atomiswave

I bewlieve I have some issues with  my Sega I/O and can't test driving games properly. If someone has a driving NAOMI cabinet and would like to test some conversions, please let me know!!

The King Of Fighters XI

This game is 99% completed now. I just gave it a try on the real Naomi and....what do you think? The same black screen hang just as the beggining when initializing video. Brrrrr.

Status of the Project (UPDATE 4)

STATUS OF ATOMISWAVE ROMS (With MAME v0151)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animal Basket --> Not working on MAME.
Demolish Fist --> Working and released.
Dirty Pigskin Football --> Not working on MAME.
Dolphin Blue --> Working and released.
Extreme Hunting --> Not started working on it.
Extreme Hunting 2 --> Not started working on it.
Faster Than Speed --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Fist Of The North Star -->  Working and released to donors.
Guilty Gear Isuka --> Working and released to donors.
Guilty Gear X ver. 1.5 --> Working and released.
Knights of Valour - The Seven Spirits --> Working and released.
Maximum Speed --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Metal Slug 6 --> Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum --> Not working on MAME.
Net Select Keiba Victory Furlong --> Not started working on it.
Ranger Mission --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Salary Man Kintarou --> Not working on MAME.
Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden --> Not working on MAME.
Sega Bass Fishing Challenge --> Converted and boots fine.Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
Sega Clay Challenge --> Converted and boots fine.Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
Sports Shooting USA --> Converted and boots fine. Working on gun controls.
The King of Fighters Neowave --> Not started working on it.
The King of Fighters Neowave (Japan) --> Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
The King of Fighters XI --> Not working on MAME.
The Rumble Fish --> Working and released.
The Rumble Fish 2 --> Working on it.

* Green= Converted. May have some issues.
* Blue= Looks like can be converted.
* Red= Not working on MAME. Much harder to convert. In worst case will need to wait until MAME supports it.


Notice that converting the games is something that is already under control and this is not what is delaying new releases. Problem comes from the many protections that producers have inserted into the code, to avoid ports or bootlegs, so each game must be converted + fixed. Each protection can take up to 30 hours to fix!

Games from 2003 and some of 2004, have little or no protection, so they are much easier to port. After that companies started using multiple protections to try to stop bootlegers or conversions.
I've seen many tricks, like trying to write to the memory with typical ERASE commands. This has no effect on a Mask rom, but is the precise command to erase a Flash rom. You follow me, right.
Games also check using some complicated algorithms doing calculations with the values present in memory area 0x0-0xFFFF. If the AW BIOS isn't there, game won't boot. Solution is to copy at least part of the BIOS into Upper Naomi memory.

More  updates soon.

Sega Clay Challenge

I succesfully converted also this game (except analog) and again it works great on MAME and DEMUL, but doesn't even boot on the real thing.....this is making me angry now...

Link here for the ones who wanna try it.

http://www.mediafire.com/download/bcyol26xxaynpd1/claychallenge.7z

Sega Bass Fishing Challenge

I succesfully converted Sega Bass Fishing Challenge (except analog controls) to Naomi and it works well in MAME and DEMUL (In noami mode) but as happens with MSLUG 6 and KOFNW it won't boot on the real thing....This is now pissing me off! It seems to be the same problem in all 3 games. Probably video related...

I guess I'll need to take care of that as 1st priority now.

Here is the link to Bass Fishing for the ones who want to try it:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/wb3ntnx36u1blss/basschanllenge.7z

Guilty Gear ISUKA. Converted!!

Guilty Gear was succesfully converted and will be released today to donors. Please give your feedback on how it works for you.

ST-V Multi Game Cartridge.

When I get saturated doing AW2Naomi I like to change topic so I can come back to the current problem with a different perspective. In that time I've been working on the design of a ST-V multigame cartridge that reads games from SD Card and transfers them to cartridge own RAM and then will run like a normal ST-V cartridge.

The idea is to make it independent, so no change is needed in the BIOS. It will run transparently and will support most (if not all) games like Soukyugurentai, Golden Axe, Radiant Silvergun,etc. I still haven't decided it it will just run a fixed file name on bootup or it will have some buttons on the cartridge (LEFT, RIGHT, ENTER) so you can sort of navigate on the files of the SD Card. In the second case I should accomodate a small display listing the current filename.

I've been runing some numbers and in order to make sense at least 50 units should be made. Selling price would be around $200. This is a complete new PCB, not a conversion of ST-V cartridges.

I'm just checking what is the interest of the people on this. If I go ahead, I'll make a list of people interested and I expect them to get one :)))

Please avoid comments like I don't think it's a good idea, or I don't think people will buy it. Only comment if you'd be  interested on getting one and what is your point of view about how it should look like.

Looking forward to your comments.

Knights of Valour - The Seven Spirits AND Fist of The North Star. Naomi 2 Fixed!!

Unless I introduced a last minute bug, this version should also work on Naomi 2, what would hopefully lead us very soon  to a.....Naomi 2 working version of FOTNS!

Can you please test it both on Naomi 1 and 2 and let me know how it works for you?

http://www.mediafire.com/download/d0yn5cs4xomxn17/kov7spirits_Naomi2_Fixed.7z

First of the North Star Released to donors. Fully working on Naomi 2 :))

Status of the Project (UPDATE 3)

STATUS OF ATOMISWAVE ROMS (With MAME v0151)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Animal Basket --> Not working on MAME.
Demolish Fist --> Working and released.
Dirty Pigskin Football --> Not working on MAME.
Dolphin Blue --> Working and released.
Extreme Hunting --> Not started working on it.
Extreme Hunting 2 --> Not started working on it.
Faster Than Speed --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Fist Of The North Star -->  Working and released to donors.
Guilty Gear Isuka --> Working and released to donors.
Guilty Gear X ver. 1.5 --> Working and released.
Knights of Valour - The Seven Spirits --> Working and released.
Maximum Speed --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Metal Slug 6 --> Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
Neo-Geo Battle Coliseum --> Not working on MAME.
Net Select Keiba Victory Furlong --> Not started working on it.
Ranger Mission --> Converted and boots fine. Working on analog controls.
Salary Man Kintarou --> Not working on MAME.
Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi Kenkakuden --> Not working on MAME.
Sega Bass Fishing Challenge --> Not started working on it.
Sega Clay Challenge --> Not started working on it.
Sports Shooting USA --> Converted and boots fine. Working on gun controls.
The King of Fighters Neowave --> Not started working on it.
The King of Fighters Neowave (Japan) --> Working on MAME but not on the real thing.
The King of Fighters XI --> Not started working on it.
The Rumble Fish --> Working and released.
The Rumble Fish 2 --> Working on it.

* Green= Converted. May have some issues.
* Blue= Looks like can be converted.
* Red= Not working on MAME. Much harder to convert. Will try all possible anti-bootlegging known tricks.


Notice that converting the games is something that is already under control and this is not what is delaying new releases. Problem comes from the many protections that producers have inserted into the code, to avoid ports or bootlegs, so each game must be converted + fixed. Each protection can take up to 30 hours to fix!

Games from 2003 and some of 2004, have little or no protection, so they are much easier to port. After that companies started using multiple protections to try to stop bootlegers or conversions.
I've seen many tricks, like trying to write to the memory with typical ERASE commands. This has no effect on a Mask rom, but is the precise command to erase a Flash rom. You follow me, right.
Games also check using some complicated algorithms doing calculations with the values present in memory area 0x0-0xFFFF. If the AW BIOS isn't there, game won't boot. Solution is to copy at least part of the BIOS into Upper Naomi memory.

More  updates soon.

Naomi Emulators

I tried running the Atomiswave convertions and they run both on DEMUL and Makraon Naomi.


This leads me to believe that the reason why some games still don't boot on the real Naomi, but boot on the emulators is related to the way in which video is initialized. Maybe they use another trick to fool Naomi or DC.

It works faster and with better sound in Makaron for Naomi, but maybe emulation is not so accurate as with DEMUL.

In Demul Choose in the Menu--> Run Naomi (don't Run Atomiswave!) --> Load Decrypted rom --> choose any of the converted games I've released.

Unfortunately afaik none of them has a debugger, so they can't help me much.

For the non-believers, you can try yourself the not finished conversions of Metal Slug and KOFNW in any of the emulators that I mentioned befor. The links here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download/28terwx7hk2wk7v/mslug6.7z

http://www.mediafire.com/download/z08w0gebdjeg70g/KOFNWJapan.rar

More updates coming soon.