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    Main » Emulation » Please help me with some PCB/Board issues
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    Posted on 19-06-04, 20:37
    Post: #12 of 21
    Since: 06-02-19

    Last post: 1738 days
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    OK, so here's the deal. I have mostly perfected my Super Famicom.bml file and I'm quite happy with how things turned out to be but there are some things that bothers me.

    Lufia (PAL/AUS) - and Lufia II uses the SHVC-1A3M-30 board and my copy of Lufia (AUS) works perfectly with that, and my copy of Estpolis Denki 2 also works great with the SHVC-1A3M-30 board.

    All good right? No, Estpolis Denki 2 uses the SHVC-BA3M-20 board but it refuses to boot in bsnes if I change from SHVC-1A3M-30 to SHVC-BA3M-20.

    The SHVC-BA3M-20 board is used in a couple of other games, Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball and Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World but in the original Super Famicom.bml these two games is using the SHVC-1A3M-30 and SHVC-BA3M-01 boards.

    Changing my Estpolis Denki 2 entry to SHVC-BA3M-01 which is used for Super Mario All-Stars + Super Mario World actually works but again if I change it to SHVC-BA3M-20, you guessed it, black screen.

    I got the same issue with the Japanese version of Super Mario RPG which uses the SHVC-1L5B-02 board, black screen unless I use the same board as the NTSC-U version SHVC-1L5B-11.

    The NTSC-U version also uses the SHVC-1L5B-10 board on some copies, changing my Japanese copy to that doesn't work either.
    SHVC-1L5B-11 works and oddly enough SHVC-1L5B-20 which Kirby 3/Hoshi no Kirby 3 uses.

    I really want to be as authentic to the real games as possible and use the SHVC-BA3M-20 board for Estpolis Denki 2 and the SHVC-1L5B-02 for Super Mario RPG (Japan) in bsnes but I can't for the love of god figure out why they don't boot.

    The easy way out would be to continue using SHVC-1A3M-30 and SHVC-1L5B-11 for these respective games but it will haunt me that I could not use the original boards in my Super Famicom.bml

    These are the values for SHVC-1A3M-30:

    memory
    type: ROM
    size: 0x280000
    content: Program
    memory
    type: RAM
    size: 0x2000
    content: Save


    These are the values for SHVC-1L5B-11:

    memory
    type: ROM
    size: 0x400000
    content: Program
    memory
    type: RAM
    size: 0x8000
    content: Save
    memory
    type: RAM
    size: 0x800
    content: Internal
    volatile


    I have no idea what needs to be changed in order for the real boards that the Japanese games are using to work.

    If anyone could help me with this puzzle I would be really grateful, thanks in advance!

    What am I missing here?
    Posted on 19-06-05, 12:05
    Full mod

    Post: #266 of 443
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 863 days
    Last view: 60 days
    The board names in Super Famicom.bml aren't just documentation, they refer to the board definitions in boards.bml. In particular, the only mention of "BA3M" in boards.bml is "SHVC-BA3M-(01,10)", so putting "SHVC-BA3M-20" into Super Famicom.bml isn't going to do anything good.

    This goes back to "higan's database is a record of the things byuu has personally dumped"; if byuu hasn't personally dumped a game from a SHVC-BA3M-20 board, then that board isn't going to be in his database, and other games won't be able to use it.

    (In case anybody is wondering whether SHVC-BA3M-20 is a totally made up board identifier, SNES Central has a photo of one)

    Likewise, the only mentions of "1L5B" in boards.bml are "SHVC-1L5B-(11,20)" and "BSC-1L5B-01" (that last one is SD Gundam G Next with a Satellaview slot). There's no SHVC-1L5B-02 because byuu hasn't dumped one yet, although it is definitely a real board.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 19-06-05, 20:23
    Post: #13 of 21
    Since: 06-02-19

    Last post: 1738 days
    Last view: 1722 days
    Thanks @Screwtape

    I don't think anyone here would doubt that either SHVC-BA3M-20 or SHVC-1L5B-02 is made up boards, honestly I have paid snescentral.com some unhealthy amount of time last couple of days and I have looked at those board images trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong more times than I can count.

    Now I know why it won't work and I can finally put this mystery to rest, SHVC-1A3M-30 for Estpolis Denki 2 and SHVC-1L5B-11 for Super Mario RPG (Japan) is more than enough until such time @byuu have dumped games with the boards I want to use.

    One honest question though, based on all documentation and information that exists with these boards, would it be possible to add them anyway without dumping the actual games?

    (I have spent so much time with this that I practically memorized every single board names that my games use, it's sick how devoted I have been to this)

    F*** it I just love Super Famicom so much.
    Posted on 19-06-06, 06:47
    Full mod

    Post: #267 of 443
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 863 days
    Last view: 60 days
    If I recall correctly, byuu's process for dumping games involves reading the entire 16MB address space of the cartridge, then analysing the extracted data to figure out the original content and mapping. For example, if the upper 8MB of the address space is an exact copy of the lower 8MB, then it's probably an 8MB cart whose memory-mapping ignores the most significant bit of the address bus. If you understand the theory of how each board works, you could write your own board description; if you don't understand the theory you could probably get a good idea if you had the pinout of the cartridge connector, the ROM chip, and a multimeter in "continuity tester" mode. But byuu prefers to be brutally empirical about these things rather than guessing based on his own understanding.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 19-06-06, 11:27 (revision 1)

    Post: #128 of 210
    Since: 10-29-18

    Last post: 1639 days
    Last view: 1611 days
    I don't think anyone was implying that there were made up boards. I do think someone was trying to explain that memory mappers aren't based on guess work...but, yeah.
    Posted on 19-06-13, 08:41
    Burned-out Genius Developer
    Post: #43 of 51
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 1182 days
    Last view: 1105 days
    I haven't yet dumped a game using BA3M-20, hence it's not in my boards database as a valid target yet.

    I don't add boards until I personally analyze them. There's a 99% chance BA3M-10 == BA3M-20, but 1A3B-13 is different from 1A3B-20 in a way that breaks certain games, so I'm not risking it.

    You'll have to add the game to the boards database yourself, or wait for me to dump a cart that uses it, sorry.

    The main boards missing right now are the Japanese-only special chip games.
    Posted on 19-06-13, 19:00
    Post: #14 of 21
    Since: 06-02-19

    Last post: 1738 days
    Last view: 1722 days
    Thanks for answering @byuu

    I really would like to add them to the boards.bml but I'm using bsnes v107.1 and from what I can see it does not use the Systems folder anymore like higan does, therefore no boards.bml present.

    From what I could see on Gitlab history, bsnes test used to have a Systems folder but it was scrapped at some point.

    Changing boards.bml for bsnes would be pointless as I think it's baked in the bsnes v107 releases.

    My best bet would to be changing back to higan, use my customized Super Famicom.bml and then customize the boards.bml in the Systems/Super Famicom.sys folder.

    But I rather not right now as I recently started fresh with everything on my computer and bsnes v107.1 is what I decided to use.

    Maybe later when a new release of higan is out I will attempt this, I have sufficient understandings of how things work now and based on my hunches it should be able to work quite well.
    Posted on 19-06-14, 07:42 (revision 1)
    Post: #15 of 21
    Since: 06-02-19

    Last post: 1738 days
    Last view: 1722 days
    So I was playing some games this morning and noticed an option in bsnes called Manifest Viewer.

    Out of curiosity I clicked it and saw the game entry from the Super Famicom.bml but I also saw a glimpse of the board information but again boards.bml is not to be found when using bsnes.

    OK, so for a stupid question here, creating a Systems folder and then a Super Famicom.sys folder populating it with the contents present there in higan would do absolutely nothing when using bsnes right?

    There is absolutely no way changing boards in bsnes? I'm correct in that assumption?
    Posted on 19-06-14, 08:44
    Full mod

    Post: #270 of 443
    Since: 10-30-18

    Last post: 863 days
    Last view: 60 days
    Nothing is ever impossible, but it may be impractical.

    The bsnes source does contain a copy of boards.bml, but for technical reasons it's not used directly. Instead, a separate tool called sourcery reads a manifest file that directs it to read boards.bml and some other data files bsnes needs, and encode them as C++ source code which is built into the bsnes binary.

    So, you could hex-edit bsnes.exe to change the embedded board database, as long as you don't change the length. If you were willing to build bsnes yourself, you could modify boards.bml and re-run sourcery to rebuild the resource.cpp file, then build bsnes as normal. Otherwise, I guess you can use higan and just edit boards.bml whenever you want.

    The ending of the words is ALMSIVI.
    Posted on 19-06-14, 11:25
    Post: #16 of 21
    Since: 06-02-19

    Last post: 1738 days
    Last view: 1722 days
    Thank you @Screwtape for a well written and thorough answer!

    Next time when I will start fresh I'll definitely go with higan instead so I can finish what I started.

    OK then, I know everything I need so there is no need to go on with this any further now.

    Thank you yet again!
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