Good news for ROTD owners with reset problems.

Hi,

It looks like the test version of the UNIVERSE BIOS I gave to someone to test does solve all issues with this game resetting on some systems. It's just undergoing a few more tests to be 100% sure the problem is gone...

If it has then I can confirm the reset issue is not due to the BIOS on the system and is not due to bootleg or bad carts. The actual cause is bad programming (and bad QA) of the game. Its simply a case of the game code not updating the NeoGeo reset watchdog often enough thus forcing the system to reset. I can't for the life of me understand why playmore havent caught this already and made new revisions of the game to fix.

All the test version of the UNIVERSE BIOS does is write to the watchdog in every frame so the game can't reset.

From this whole episode we can deduce that the reset timers are slightly different on newer models of the Geo.

It's possible this issue could also affect Matrimelee as its based on the same engine but I guess we will have to wait some before we can be 100% sure of this.

Raz

What do you mean by "test version" I have 1.0 (I think) is this problem only solved on the newer bios revisions?

I have make all the tests possible, and no reset with ROTD, your fixe works 100% on my slot MV-1
thank Raz, great job multi_co
Geese

did someone tell you about problems with pulstar? (europe & console)

supergoose79:
did someone tell you about problems with pulstar? (europe & console)

Click to expand...

What Problem is that?

Raz

Lashujin:
What do you mean by "test version" I have 1.0 (I think) is this problem only solved on the newer bios revisions?

Click to expand...

The ROTD problem will be fixed in v1.2 and later if the fix is indeed good whick I think it is going off that GlobalGeese just said in this thread also (he is the person actually testing the fix).

Raz

may i post it right here?

i have a legit pulstar mvs cart (it passed the crc check) and i always use it in "europe" & "console" mode.
(last time, i tested it, i still had v1.0.)

ok ... i have to admit, that i'm using the cheat engine quite often. mainly, 'cause i sometime enjoy listening to the soundtrack much more than actually playing the game.

anyway ...
the problem is the boss of level 5. it always worked, but it crapped out on me as soon as i came to the 5th boss.
there were 2 different results :

- the invisibility cheat didn't work anymore
- it resetted the whole thing about 4 or 5 times

there also seems to be a problem with pausing the game (home mode) while using the cheat engine.

last but not least :
i also noticed some distorted graphics on the level select screen, which were most definitely not caused by dirty contacts. (only in home mode)

tested with :
mv-1fz, mv-2f & mv-4ft

<small>[ May 12, 2003, 05:32 PM: Message edited by: supergoose79 ]</small>

supergoose79:
may i post it right here?

i have a legit pulstar mvs cart (it passed the crc check) and i always use it in "europe" & "console" mode.
(last time, i tested it, i still had v1.0.)

ok ... i have to admit, that i'm using the cheat engine quite often. mainly, 'cause i sometime enjoy listening to the soundtrack much more than actually playing the game.

anyway ...
the problem is the boss of level 5. it always worked, but it crapped out on me as soon as i came to the 5th boss.
there were 2 different results :

- the invisibility cheat didn't work anymore
- it resetted the whole thing about 4 or 5 times

there also seems to be a problem with pausing the game (home mode) while using the cheat engine.

last but not least :
i also noticed some distorted graphics on the level select screen, which were most definitely not caused by dirty contacts. (only in home mode)

tested with :
mv-1fz, mv-2f & mv-4ft

Click to expand...

The first 2 are caused by the cheat for sure (i'll try and find a better invinceable cheat). The last I'm not sure about, any way you can take a shot with a digi cam or something?

btw I havent forgot about your PM request, I'm waiting on my wife to borrow the HW again from work.

Raz

I've just had similar experiences with my Pulstar in euro aes mode (bios 1.1), but simply put it down to the cheats I had turned on... might just be that this game is particularly sensitive to being messed about with.

no problem. i'm actually quite busy atm.

as for the distorted graphics :
maybe "distorted" isn't the right word. it basically looks like a duplicated and moved part of the bg of the level select screen. it doesn't appear every time, but it's always in the lower right corner and it's always the same "duplicated" part.
hard to explain ... i'll try to take some pics.

Good god, please tell me that a fix is in the works for us poor unfortunate MV-1xx owners!!

I yearn to play my ROTD mvs cart on my MV-1F with my home Neo AES sticks! HOw much will the improved BIOS cost if a fix is really found? buttrock

You've spoken to me already so you know how much I am looking to getting the new uni-bios... can't wait man, really can't wait

Kaz

Yeah man, only one problem: I now have to find a new person to burn me the ROM file to EPROM as my old hookup isn't really available to me anymore.

About when do you think that this new version will be available?

JHendrix:
Yeah man, only one problem: I now have to find a new person to burn me the ROM file to EPROM as my old hookup isn't really available to me anymore.

About when do you think that this new version will be available?

Click to expand...

Can't you take it into an electronics store, as some of them offer a service where you can take the image on a disk and they will burn it for you. No-one where I live does this unfortunately, but you might be able to find someone. Otherwise, just order one from Raz

Kaz

I've seen that level select screen glitch on an mvs cart running normal bios and also under emulation. Has nothing to do with Raz's bios

Am I the only person who thinks its pretty bad for such bugs to exist in the first place?

If they'd sorted it out, it would be credible of them, but naw.

I have an MV1-FZ and my copy of ROTD seems to be OK. Does this mean I have a newer board, I'm just lucky or I'll have the problems in the future?