Pranslation (MVS-->AES adapter) Info and Compatibility

[DavidG]

Sorry to bring bad news but the case isn't going to work, just not enough connector outside the case. The converter is fine its just the edge connector they used. This version was never ment to go into a case.

 

[Xian Xi]

Cut the hole around the connector, not flush mount it.

 

[Billkwando]

Sorry to bring bad news but the case isn't going to work, just not enough connector outside the case. The converter is fine its just the edge connector they used. This version was never ment to go into a case.

Yep. That's pretty much exactly what I was afraid would happen. It's funny cos when you look at the pics of the other one in the case, they pretty much look the same, dimension-wise, but having seen the board outside the case, the connector definitely looks longer.

Cut the hole around the connector, not flush mount it.

That would be awesome, as long as it didn't just cause the converter to rattle around inside. I wonder if the case would be structurally sound enough? Where's this guy when you need him?

I was really hoping the cart case thing would work out. Was kinda jokingly thinking of seeing if I could get the cart label that goes with this:

...and then I'd have a Princelation!

 

[DavidG]

It's not going to work. To cut a hole large enough for a mvs cart to fit you would leave only one clip at the top to hold the case together. Now we need glue.

If the converter boards were aes shape that would have helped but because they are short we need the hole to be exact to help hold it in place.

I can swapped the slots for the right kind but it's costly and I don't think the boards could handle the stress of being taken apart again.

 

[Billkwando]

I can swapped the slots for the right kind but it's costly and I don't think the boards could handle the stress of being taken apart again.

Yeah, screw that. It'll stay naked, as God intended.

The only thing I'm worried about is the wires getting squished up against the board by the cart, or possibly getting snagged by something. Should I try putting some hot glue over the solder joints or masking taping it or something?

Anyway, I really appreciate you taking the time to work on it and figure out the issues. I'm sure Billy Pitt and whoever else has one of these converters are firing up their soldering irons, if they haven't already (or bugging somebody else to do it for them).

You da man, David.


Edit: It woulda been cool if sram saving could be added, but having some high scores isn't worth adding the possibility of an exploded or leaky battery to the works, as unlikely as that may be. Plus I assume it would only hold a small number of scores, and push out the old ones, MVS-style.

 

[Billkwando]

Bump in the spirit of curiosity. Namely mine.

 

[El Capitan]

This thread took a turn for the good...

I have a Pranslation like the one in KitKit's photo, and I also have the ChangeAEG model from BigBear's picture.

As mentioned earlier, the one you have looks different (shape and layout), and it's impressive that DavidG has done so much with it. I think the fix the Fakk2 knew took the Meg limit up to about 400Meg - DavidG has upped it all the way.

If I ever get time to get the soldering iron out, I might have to see if I can get it working like this.

 

[Billkwando]

This thread took a turn for the good...

I have a Pranslation like the one in KitKit's photo, and I also have the ChangeAEG model from BigBear's picture.

Yeah it's surprising how many different models there actually are. Any way you could crack yours out of the case and take some pics?

Mine never had a meg limit per se. I've played Metal Slug 3 on it, which is 708megs, RBFF2(539)and Shock Troopers 2nd Squad(514). It just didn't like the really new games.

 

[DavidG]

The only thing I'm worried about is the wires getting squished up against the board by the cart, or possibly getting snagged by something. Should I try putting some hot glue over the solder joints or masking taping it or something?

Nothing to worry about, I've used it for a week now and its fine. The cart doesn't touch the wires at all, far from it. If you need to cover the wires then I would recommend some tape.

 

[Billkwando]

Nothing to worry about, I've used it for a week now and its fine. The cart doesn't touch the wires at all, far from it. If you need to cover the wires then I would recommend some tape.

Awesome.

Tape of the electrical variety?

 

[DavidG]

That depends on you. Once you test it out and it works well and you're sure no changes are needed then I would use something much stronger. 3M makes some very stong tapes that won't come off on their own.....ever.

 

[Fakk2]

This thread took a turn for the good...

I have a Pranslation like the one in KitKit's photo, and I also have the ChangeAEG model from BigBear's picture.

As mentioned earlier, the one you have looks different (shape and layout), and it's impressive that DavidG has done so much with it. I think the fix the Fakk2 knew took the Meg limit up to about 400Meg - DavidG has upped it all the way.

If I ever get time to get the soldering iron out, I might have to see if I can get it working like this.

The problem is, we own Pranslations which were meant for games under 100 meg to begin with. My fix was just to bank higher to get more compatibility. However, the converter that DavidG fixed already could play all games up to Captain Tomaday on the Master List. The only games that converter had trouble with were the encrypted games. The Pranslation has trouble with all games above 100 Megs without modification. I will break open the Pranslation and see if I can make any more modifications using DavidGs pics, but I think the layout of the cart is different. It would be great to see it work though.

Good work DavidG on that other converter though. That is cool to know there is another choice than the SMVSC II.

Can this modification enable to play Fast Striker and Pink Bullets though? That's my biggest concern.

 

[Billkwando]

The problem is, we own Pranslations which were meant for games under 100 meg to begin with. My fix was just to bank higher to get more compatibility. However, the converter that DavidG fixed already could play all games up to Captain Tomaday on the Master List. The only games that converter had trouble with were the encrypted games. The Pranslation has trouble with all games above 100 Megs without modification. I will break open the Pranslation and see if I can make any more modifications using DavidGs pics, but I think the layout of the cart is different. It would be great to see it work though.

Good work DavidG on that other converter though. That is cool to know there is another choice than the SMVSC II.

Can this modification enable to play Fast Striker and Pink Bullets though? That's my biggest concern.

Starting to wonder if mine's a reality storm, and I just blocked out the dumb name. Seems unlikely that I'd forget.

 

[Fakk2]

Starting to wonder if mine's a reality storm, and I just blocked out the dumb name. Seems unlikely that I'd forget.

I once nearly purchased that converter in an auction. The name Reality Storm doesn't sound familiar to me though...

And before I hit the sack I wanted to say, I cracked open the Pranslation and the layout is a bit different. I can take some detailed pics tomorrow and post them. Perhaps DavidG can modify them further just by looking at the pics. After glancing at the boards, Billkwando's MVS converter is definitely more up-to-date compared to the Pranslation. Pranslation needs more wires thrown in.

 

[DavidG]

While working on this converter there are a few things that stood out. I don't think the designer knew what each pin was ment for - it looks more like this was a copied design from 2 other converters. Perhaps it was a Pranslation plus your mod and one or two more pins added. We will never know for sure but if someone took the time to learn the system to the point they could make this converter then they wouldn't have made the mistakes they did.

The converter was also designed to use a connector system close to what a 4 slot uses so you could split the boards without any trouble. That would be around $6 per connector x 8 so I can see why they went with the $3 option. The pins were solder on an angle so the second board wouldn't fit. They didn't fix the pins, instead they just forced it into place which cause the two boards to be off by quite a bit. I fixed all of that when I finished the mod.

There are a few pins still not connected on this converter which no game to date uses and I don't see any in the future that will. The multi-carts use fewer pins then the last few SNK games which is why they worked with errors before the mod.

If you can take some pictures I will try to make a list of what needs to be done. In the end if we run into any issues you can send it here and I will do the same thing I did for Bill's. I think it would be great to get a detailed post for every converter made.

I still have to post about the Phantom-1 - thats a large post as there are 4 colors, 3 chips used and slight revisions done within each. BTW the Phantom-1 is the only converter to date to address every pin on the AES system. Even the SMVS2 is missing at least 1. Again I don't think the last few will ever be used but you can tell who put the work in and who didn't .

 

[Fakk2]

If you can take some pictures I will try to make a list of what needs to be done. In the end if we run into any issues you can send it here and I will do the same thing I did for Bill's. I think it would be great to get a detailed post for every converter made.

I stripped the Pranslation apart last night and took some pics of it. If you need more let me know. I also took before and after pics of the wires added and the boards clean. I will post them in a few hours but right now I'm in the middle of doing some things.. If you can detect anything I can fix then I will certainly try it out. And if you need the converter in your hands just tell me where to send it to and it will be done. I would love to see the first ever Neo-Geo MVS-AES converter get upgraded to be able to play games higher than 400megs.

 

[Billkwando]

I stripped the Pranslation apart last night and took some pics of it. If you need more let me know. I also took before and after pics of the wires added and the boards clean. I will post them in a few hours but right now I'm in the middle of doing some things.. If you can detect anything I can fix then I will certainly try it out. And if you need the converter in your hands just tell me where to send it to and it will be done. I would love to see the first ever Neo-Geo MVS-AES converter get upgraded to be able to play games higher than 400megs.

David sent my converter back already, so I'll have it soon to test out. Also, the plane with my 161-in-1 cart (from HK) flew into New York today. Can't wait til they both get here so I can try them.

Now I'll get to hear my MVS games out of both speakers! I'm such a dork.

 

[Fakk2]

David sent my converter back already, so I'll have it soon to test out. Also, the plane with my 161-in-1 cart (from HK) flew into New York today. Can't wait til they both get here so I can try them.

Now I'll get to hear my MVS games out of both speakers! I'm such a dork.

Sounds awesome! Let us know how well it works on all your games when it arrives.

Meanwhile I have some pics for you to look at (DavidG). Let us know of what you find.

PRANSLATION Converter

Board 1 Side A Unmodded

Board 1 Side A Modded

Board 1 Side B

Board 2 Side A

Board 2 Side A View 2

Board 2 Side B Unmodded

Board 2 Side B Old Mod

Board 2 Side B Old Mod view 2

Board 2 Side B New Mod

Thanks for taking a look, and helping out fix these old converters David!

 

[Billkwando]

Oh wow, the boards are detachable. That's pretty cool.

It's a very clean design. I bet David will be able to tell you what to do with it from just the pictures.


Edit: I tried scanning that symbol/logo with Google Goggles, but I didn't come up with anything interesting.

 

[DavidG]

A much better design over all. Clean and they took their time right down to the gold plated edge board. Giving us the extra 0.25" above the gold contacts helps a lot when it comes to upgrades. The Phantom-1 has this as well and it works well for testing.

The B16 on the MVS gfx board is missing which you will need for sure to run any game with a CMC chip.

Whats the newest game this works with - or the highest meg game?

 

[DavidG]

Well some good news is that this converter can be made to run all games. All you really needed was all 50 pins on each side of both boards and a CTO.

Where it becomes a problem like with Bill's converter is which lines run under the CTO and which ones are under the MVS cart connectors.

I can upgrade this converter in less than an hour but I would require it here to do it.

 

[DavidG]

I don't have a MVS so I couldn't test but I seriously doubt there's anything wrong with a like-new MS4 kit. Its weird that Kof2003, RotD and Matrimelee but MS4 doesn't. Please test MS5 with the SMVSCII when you can.

MS4 and SS5 both start. Both games have sound issues and SS5 has gfx issues both foreground and background. Kof2k3, CvS and MS5 work fine. I've tested the SMVS2 on a first gen, 3-4 and 3-6 and it takes several tries to get any game to start. On my first gen the slots are as far gone as you're going to get but AES games run no problems and the phantom-1 runs most of the time, when there is a gfx issue I just move it forward and hit reset and we're good. After taking a good look at it I think most of the problems come down to the edge board connector - I don't think the system is making a good connection with the converter.

Sadly there is little you can do about it. On my near new 3-4 system with perfect cart slots I have to plug the converter in and pull up on the left side a little to get the games to run.

 

[Fakk2]

Well some good news is that this converter can be made to run all games. All you really needed was all 50 pins on each side of both boards and a CTO.

Where it becomes a problem like with Bill's converter is which lines run under the CTO and which ones are under the MVS cart connectors.

I can upgrade this converter in less than an hour but I would require it here to do it.

Wow that's awesome! I will send it to you asap so we can see what to do with this converter! Just PM me on where to send her to and shes yours to check out!

However, I will need to add one more pic, (or a few), in a bit as I forgot to replace 2 wires last night, (it was nearing 8AM when I got done messing with it), so I forgot to mod Board 1 Side B. And I will admit, I'm not sure the 2 wires I added in Board 1 Side A are needed or not. I just copied BigBears picture of Converter "MVS Change AEG" and hoped it might add something.

To answer your question of whats the highest meg game it can play, that would be Fatal Fury RBS as stated in the first post. 394 Megs, so 400Megs would be the limit as anything above gives graphical errors, and encrypted games that are low in meg count like Ganryu, Zupapa, Sengoku 3, Nightmare in the Dark etc.. don't play properly. Last I recall I hear music and sound but get a black screen. I no longer have most of those carts so I can only test out NITD later tonight to see what happens after I put the other 2 wires back in the Pranslation.

 

[Billkwando]

Did you unsolder the wires just to take the pictures?

 

[DavidG]

If you're going to try NITD then you should connect pin 56 of the CTO from the bottom side (solder side) to B16 of the gfx board before doing any test. There is a good chance the game will run with minor gfx issues. It might work fine. Some of the newer games that are lower meg count still use the larger mask roms which is why they may not start. But with B16 not connected the CMC will not work at all.