MVS and saving high scores

[chewurface]

Not sure if this belongs here or on the General board...

Anyway, for some reason two of my games don't save their high scores. I turn the machine on, play and set some high scores then power it off. The next day or so I turn it back on and notice all my scores are gone. This is only happening with 2 out of the 20 some MVS carts I own. The two games not saving scores are Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando (both are 100% original carts). Is this normal for these games or is something else going on?

I'm playing them in a MVS-2-25 BigRed cab with the stock BIOS. All soft dip settings are retained (even for the games not saving scores), and scores are retained for all of my other games.

Also, the credit display soft dip for Ninja Commando appears to do nothing. I set it to "Off" (or "Without") and the credit display still shows. Is this normal for Ninja Commando?

 

[Xian Xi]

Try clearing your backup ram and see what happens. If the games still aren't saving then it could be something failing.

 

[chris1]

Kinda sounds like you have a dead or failing battery on board..

 

[chewurface]

Hi, thanks for the replies.

So, I'm gathering from your posts that both TSS and NC should be saving high scores? Hmmm...

If it was a problem with the system battery failing, why would it still retain the soft dip settings for those two games and scores for other games?

I'll think about clearing the backup RAM, but I've got some high scores in there I'd hate to lose as I'd have a hard time achieving them again. Would swapping carts around until TSS "falls off the list" accomplish the same thing, or is a complete clear required? Ninja Commando hasn't been in the cab for a while now, so it's already off the book keeping list.

If it's not the battery, what other things could possibly be causing this issue? A problem with the system board or a problem with the game carts? It's highly possible that the system battery is on its way out. I doubt it's ever been replaced and the cab is pretty old. How long are they suppose to last, on average?

 

[Xian Xi]

Could be failing RAM, possibly corrupted memory. This is why I recommend a clearing of the ram.

 

[chris1]

I don't own Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando anymore to be sure on the save score...I'm not even sure they dsabe score,
I need someone to verify..

After reading the issues your having again....
I too agree with clearing the back up ram as I've had so many issues cleared up via doing that..

Ir's worth a shot nonetheless.
If that doesn't fix it then this one will go down in the books as a weird problem..

 

[chewurface]

I don't own Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando anymore to be sure on the save score...I'm not even sure they dsabe score,
I need someone to verify..

Good point...can anyone verify whether or not Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando are supposed to save high scores?

Also, anyone with Ninja Commando, does your credit display soft dip work?

 

[chris1]

Good point...can anyone verify whether or not Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando are supposed to save high scores?

Also, anyone with Ninja Commando, does your credit display soft dip work?

As far as I know.. My credit display soft dip worked Ninja Commando..Because this is the first thing I turn off in the soft dip settings for all games..
I have the cabs set on free play and don't want to see the credit displays on.plus I don't want to get any type of burn in on screen..

Since I always turn the credit display off ir must of worked for me or I'd remember coming hwre to ask why it dosn't work..With the cart I'd remember the problem and I don't....

I started to do some online searches for saving score with Ninja Commando and didn't come up with anything yet..
All I want to see written is that it saves score..
I think the answer is out there I just haven't had the chance to look deep into things I find..

Something about..Twinkle Star Sprites....
I'm not sure if that game actually saves score...
Does it have a screen to put your initials in?


.
Al;so try running the cab for awhile..play those games and leave the cab on to charge the battery...

 

[chewurface]

I give up....forum won't let me post what I need to here anymore...too bad my problem is not solved.

 

[madman]

Giving up easily is definitely the best way to resolve any and all problems.

 

[chewurface]

It's just frustrating that every time I try and post what I actually need to post in this topic, the system won't let me. When I try and insert what I need to post in to a previous post via editing, the whole post gets deleted in less than a second.

Long of the short of it is, I need someone who owns both games to confirm if their copies retain the high score list after the cab has been powered off.

 

[Koopa64]

Well I can understand not many people owning a TSS cart because it's rare/expensive, but why not something relatively common like Ninja Commando? (Or was that Ninja Combat? Either way, it doesn't make sense)

Sorry to see your issues haven't been solved yet Chew, it'd really suck if you had to wipe the backup RAM on your mobo.

 

[Xian Xi]

Well I can understand not many people owning a TSS cart because it's rare/expensive, but why not something relatively common like Ninja Commando? (Or was that Ninja Combat? Either way, it doesn't make sense)

Sorry to see your issues haven't been solved yet Chew, it'd really suck if you had to wipe the backup RAM on your mobo.

Ninja Commando isn't very common either. I dont know many people who have a copy. I've only seen two on ebay in the past 2 years.

 

[Koopa64]

>.>

Yeesh, that's weird. You'd think there'd be at the very least, one or two members on here that have either one of those games, if not both of them. :S

 

[chris1]

>.>

Yeesh, that's weird. You'd think there'd be at the very least, one or two members on here that have either one of those games, if not both of them. :S

There most likely is..but they don't post in tech

Me>I I played the crap out of Ninja Commando...then I got an excellent offer for it so I sold it..
That cart was actually not the easiest to come by..

 

[not sonic]

when you change the carts out, do they still appear in the big list of recently played games?

ill check my tss later if it saves high scores. i dont remember one way or the other to be honest.

i assume youre not having problems with other games and know that stuff gets deleted after a certain point right? (whats it hold, like 8 games?)

 

[chewurface]

when you change the carts out, do they still appear in the big list of recently played games?

ill check my tss later if it saves high scores. i dont remember one way or the other to be honest.

i assume youre not having problems with other games and know that stuff gets deleted after a certain point right? (whats it hold, like 8 games?)

Yup, when I swap carts Ninja Commando and Twinkle Star Sprites remain in the list of recently played games, and if I put them back in, their soft dip settings will be the way I set them the last time I played, so that part is being saved, just not the high score tables.

I'd appreciate it if you would check your TSS for me, not sonic, thanks! Perhaps if I cannot find someone with NC here, I'll make a post on the general board about it.

TSS and NC are the only games I'm having this problem with, all my other games retain their high score lists (20+ other games), and yeah, I know game data gets deleted once you've swapped carts around enough and not put the game in question back in (you are correct, it holds data for 8 games).

I recently put NC back in my cab to test out the score thing again (still not saving), and it had been a while since I had last played it so its previous data had been erased (which I thought may have been corrupt since the first time I put the cart in I had a real hard time getting it to work [contacts were filthy] and it got a corrupted name in the game list...but like I said, that data had long since been deleted).

It did occur to me that both games were made by ADK...seems to be the only common factor between them.

And yeah, for a game rated as "common" Ninja Commando is sure a tricky one to find (and it's really underrated too, IMO).

 

[Koopa64]

And yeah, for a game rated as "common" Ninja Commando is sure a tricky one to find (and it's really underrated too, IMO).

No no, I just got it confused with Ninja Combat. I also am aware that Ninja Master's is a really rare game, it's just I wasn't sure about NCommando, I figured if one, earlier Ninja game was common and the other late and really rare, I figured NCommando would have been uncommon/semi-rare. =/

 

[chewurface]

Coincidentally, Ninja Combat, Ninja Commando, and Ninja Masters are all rated as “common” on the MVS price guide here.

Still looking for confirmation on Twinkle Star Sprites and Ninja Commando saving scores (or not).

 

[Xian Xi]

It's a guide not a bible. There are some mistakes on it.

Ninja Commando had a large print run compared to some games this is why it's said to be common but either people are not selling theirs or all the Ninja Commando carts are in a warehouse somewhere we have not yet discovered.

 

[Koopa64]

Well at the very least, a price guide should be kept up to date every so often. Though maybe since there are so few new Neo fans these days, the users in charge of the price guide can't justify keeping the guide up to date. =/

 

[Xian Xi]

The prices ARE up to date.

If we update the price guide to reflect "showing" of carts it's not a price guide anymore. 1 person could horde all of one cart and raise the price that way, that's not right.

 

[chewurface]

Got some new carts...both are retaining their high score tables after the cab is powered off.

Still looking for confirmation on TSS and NC.

 

[chewurface]

Small update...

I've swapped enough carts around in my cab now that the TSS data finally "fell off the list" and was erased. I popped the TSS cart back in to see if it would hold its score data this time around. I played a game, set a high score, then powered off the cab, but only long enough to reseat the other cart in there as the music was acting weird. Anyway, turned it back on and the high score was still there, so I figured it was working. Finished playing for the day and shut it off again, turned it back on just a few minutes ago and all the default high scores are back again. So, it seems that it held the TSS data for a short, couple of minutes power off, but not overnight...yet all my other game data and high scores for other games are still there, and the soft dips remain the way I set them for TSS. Very odd...

 

[chris1]

Man that's crazy..


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I'm srill thinking something is weak with the on board battery..