Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Who needs a custom SH2? Mitsurugi-w and I don't

Why do you need a Custom SH2 when you can run games from a standard SH2!!!!!

Proof of concept here:  http://youtu.be/TkziJzE-baQ

Thanks to Mitsu-w who made all the soldering, testing shild I was working on the BIOS. He is the best supporter ever.

I have 95% ready the new multi-game BIOS that will run all 6 games from 1 single CD (yes all 6 inside one unique CD).

I will adapt this BIOS so it will run also from standard SH2.

This opens the door to many features:
The most important one, no tables are needed anymore and the games will be working 100% as in the original.
The second, we can easily edit or modify the SH2 code directly.
The third one, for the purists, we can include a routine to decrypt 'on the go' the games using original CDs.

More ideas?

15 comments:

  1. That's some serious progress, good work and congrats to both of you guys!
    Unfortunately I have no clue what else would be worth implementing.
    I guess this has nothing to do with being able to tell the board where to load roms from, e.g. like kooking up a SSD harddisk instead of the cd-rom to decrease the time needed to flash a game, right?

    Thanks for this awesome update!!!

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  2. Hi Alex!

    Problem with speed of update are the Flash eproms which are very slow when being programmed. If someone skilled could help on making an adapter, the rewrite process will take about 15 seconds. :)))
    If I have to do that, it will take me 2 years ;)

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  3. When I say adapter, I mean adapter of normal SDRAMs or SIMMS, yeah those who get erased when powered off, but as the update only takes 15 seconds...who cares!

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  4. Completly awesome work, once this custom BIOS is finished, we can consider the security system down once and for all.

    Do you think it would be possible to have "custom SH2 and BIOS" service for a fee ?

    My 3rd Strike EURO cartridge will finally raise from the grave !

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    Replies
    1. Darksoft and I have been discussing this. It looks like the cost of converting a cart to a standard SH2 plus custom bios will be around $150 plus the cart to be converted. Basically because of the skill level needed to change the SH2 I want to have working carts in hand to swap with your cart. That way you have a working cart whether something happens to your cart or not. This will also speed up turnaround.

      But if you just want the custom bios that works with the cart as it is, I charge $55 for that. There are certain advantages to either choice.

      SH2 = custom bios = accuracy of the game, etc.
      Custom bios only = financial

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    2. So even if I have to sell some other beloved items of mine... I have to get one :D

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  5. Replies
    1. Oh, and may as well add a region switch into the BIOS too, I guess. No more hacking CDs then, just switch it in the BIOS. Reckon it's possible?

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  6. What happened to the latest Blog entry about the new bios?

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  7. Didn't get released in two hours. Had to push it back until tomorrow.

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  8. ah, no worries. I'm in no hurry, was just going to reply to the other comment. I have some tips regarding surface mount ill write up, or maybe even have a quick conversation if your interested

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  9. I'm amazed at how well you guys are doing with this project! I'll be willing to pay 150$ if you guys can revive my US cart back to life :)

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    Replies
    1. I can do it. Contact me at mitsurugi_w at hotmail dot com

      Best part is you will be supporting this and future projects!

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