can MVS Converter pins be fixed/replaced?

Noisepurge

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Thanks for the info :D Sounds pretty bad, and i have no knowledge in telling if a chip is busted or not. Ive always just found the screwdriver-adjustment to be quite weird, why does it need one and why doesnt it have a more easy to use interface, i mean come on. A screwdriver? Why no knob or a lever or something :D

Based on this info i might concider trying to find an low-serial japanese AES.

joe8:
The MVS converter 2 is one expensive piece of plastic, so if i were you i'd propably sell it if you have an MVS around :D
 

Bestwald

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Noisepurge, I have to jump in and tell you that I don't think a low serial AES will fix the scaling problems that plague some games when using the Super Converter II.

Over the last few years I have been able to test the SCII with 4 different AES consoles with ranging serials and mods. All four consoles, including an unmodded 11xxx Japanese AES exhibited the scaling problems. Two other consoles with a Neobitz also showed no improvement with scaling. I’m almost certain this problem is routed in the converter, not your console.

But there are a few things you should know: KOF 98 and Metal Slug X will only work with the SCII on my earlier 5V consoles, and won't play on my 66xxx AES that requires the PRO-POW E adaptor. Also, when using my earlier 5V consoles, one setting on the SCII’s “screwdriver dial” is good for nearly all carts, unlike my 66xxx which requires me to tamper with the dial nearly every time I change a cart (which is annoying).

Another issue with the SCII is that a few games might not play if your console is equipped with a UNIBIOS 2.2 or 2.3: Last Resort, Baseball Stars 2 and League Bowling will all give you an ‘illegal instruction’ message shortly after booting. However these carts will function fine with the SCII when using a standard Jap or US Bios (I’m not sure about the debug bios). I’ve read that Sengoku and Galaxy Fight also have this ‘illegal instruction’ problem but I can’t confirm that myself.

With all that said I’d actually still recommend the SCII. I agree with many others that when the scaling problem occurs it looks terrible, but it’s just a small handful of games that are affected, mostly fighters:

Samurai Shodown series (when zoomed out)
Last Blade 1 & 2 (when zoomed out)
Fatal Fury series (when fighting in the back plane)
Art of Fighting series (when zoomed out)
Super Sidekicks 2-4 (all over the place)
Super Dodge Ball (when zoomed out)

The vast majority of MVS carts (nearly all shooters, puzzle and sports titles) work flawlessly with the SCII and are without the irritating scaling issues. And although many will still write this product off, remember that not all consolized boards have a memory card reader. So if saving stage data is important to you, the SCII could be quite useful.

I’ve done some thorough testing with the SCII so anyone should feel free to ask any questions…
 
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joe8

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Another issue with the SCII is that a few games won’t play if your console is equipped with a UNIBIOS: Last Resort, Baseball Stars 2 and League Bowling will all give you an ‘illegal instruction’ message shortly after booting.
League Bowling played fine on my AES & Unibios(60xxx PAL system 9V). KOF98 and Metal Slug X also worked fine. From reading the main thread on the SCII, am I wrong in saying that results are all over the place?
I have encountered some "illegal instruction" messages when using it in conjunction with the Unibios.
I guess the SCII is something you'd have in addition to an MVS or CMVS.
joe8:
The MVS converter 2 is one expensive piece of plastic, so if i were you i'd propably sell it if you have an MVS around
How do I sell it for much if it's not working properly? I can't sell it and I can't figure out how to fix it. The SCII seems like a mysterious device- can't contact the makers, no real manual came with it, probably the makers don't want people to know much about it, I'm not even sure where the makers or their website are based- I think I heard somewhere it was Hong Kong.
most consolized boards don’t have a memory card reader
one of the most common to be consolized is the MV-2F(because it has the reader, headphone jacks, joystick ports).
 

Bestwald

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joe8 thanks for that good info. I was sure that the KOF 98 & Metal Slug X problems were voltage-related. I'll edit my post and be a little more precise.
 

Neo Alec

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Thanks for all your research, Bestwald.

Another issue with the SCII is that a few games might not play if your console is equipped with a UNIBIOS 2.2 or 2.3: Last Resort, Baseball Stars 2 and League Bowling will all give you an ‘illegal instruction’ message shortly after booting.
I got the "illegal instruction" error consistently with Crossed Swords.

With all that said I’d actually still recommend the SCII. I agree with many others that when the scaling problem occurs it looks terrible, but it’s just a small handful of games that are affected, mostly fighters:
I maintain that the problem runs much deeper than that. It may be less noticeable on the non-fighters, but I think there are graphical problems in almost every instance of scaling. The small ones are less noticeable. And that's just unacceptable.
 

Noisepurge

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Thanks for the info bestwald, this problem seems to be quite permanent then.

My AES uses the 11V power adapter, no additional power has to be used with the converter. Standard bios.

And yeah the whole converter is an obscure piece of plastic. Cant really expect it to have a hotline phone number where people can call and ask for tech support :crying:
 

Neo Alec

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"Hello, this is Sue at the Super MVS Converter II help line, may I help you?"

"Scaling issues? Try turning the screw."

"Not working? Try turning it again."

"Did you try the special AC adapter?"

"Well, I'm out of ideas."
 

Bestwald

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I think you guys are being a little harsh. As rappers like to say, "don't hate the converter, hate the game." If your console has a Neobitz and a cart IS working properly with the SCII, it really looks great. It's as if you own the home cart of that title, getting all the benefits of your sleek & sexy AES.

And yeah, it's not just Crossed Swords but a bunch of those early ADK games that may be totally incompatible with the SCII: also Thrash Rally & World Heroes 2. I didn't mention it in my earlier post because I wasn't sure if my carts were bad. Unlike some of the games I listed as working with a standard bios, I can't get these to function at all with any of my systems. But I don't get the illegal instruction message, I either get a looping self-reset or a solid blue screen depending on the console I use. And then again, there are other early ADK titles like Ninja Commando & WH2 Jet that work fine... I'd be interested for someone to test Magician Lord & Ninja Combat if they've got 'em, or any of the older carts that have "alpha" written on the far right side of the label.

And to add to the confusion, I have two copies of Baseball Stars 2. Both of them give me the illegal instruction message when using in conjunction with a Unibios 2.3, but one will work with a standard US bios while the other just loops the intro screen. I also have 2 carts of Last Resort and the same discrepancy occurs... Very weird.

So it seems that the problems with the SCII are not just title to title or console to console, but cart to cart. The truth is, I've been in the market for a consolized 2-slot with a card reader for over 2 years now. It seems that unless I monitor these forums or ebay like a hawk, I'll never find one. The SCII came out just as I was beginning my neo journey and at the time I wasn't aware of its shortcomings. It has served me pretty well but I think I'm ready to move on...
Over & out
 

Neo Alec

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I didn't have any trouble finding a 2-slot board on ebay for about $130 in 2005 when I needed one on short notice.
 

channelmaniac

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I didn't have any trouble finding a 2-slot board on ebay for about $130 in 2005 when I needed one on short notice.

Bah... I usually have have refurbished multislot boards in stock and would sell 'em for a better price than that...
 

crocchio

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hi all
i have 1 question: can woork MVS Converter II with mvs card 100in1?
i ahev seen this card on ebay, and i'd liek to buy 1,but i'm not sure that it can woork with my converter II

thanks

ps sorry my english is bad
 

joe8

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The makers of the converter say it might not work with some bootlegs. The 100in1 MVS carts are bootlegs. Maybe someone on ng.com has tried a 100in1 with the converter.
 

joe8

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Super MVS II Problem

Picture001.jpg


Here is an example of what is happening with my Converter 2. The sprites on Ryo's left shoulder and Todo's elbow are messed up. Sometimes it looks as though the messed-up parts are a case of the part of the sprite being inverted right to left.
Does anyone know what might be causing this?
 

Neo Alec

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Usually the knob on the converter will something like that, will it not?
 

joe8

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Usually the knob on the converter will something like that, will it not?
It's a problem I wasn't having while the converter had the knob intact and working. It's a different problem to the scaling problems, which basically involve the whole characters' sprites when they zoom out(scaling problems are still present). But the plastic piece covering the knob fell of, and after that the knob was soon beent in towards the PCB (from applying too much pressure trying to turn it- hard to turn it without the circular plastic piece covering it(the piece with a groove for the screwdriver).
Here are some photos of the place where I've removed the whole knob thing and added three pieces of wire (one to each hole, that the 3 wire prongs (that the knob had underneath it) were previously soldered into. I have tried to get rid of the sprite problems by just modify how the 3 wires are pressed together(they have to be pressed together, 2 or 3 together, to get a good picture/any picture). But this hasn't worked yet. The knob I removed was maybe some of slider analogue switch between the 3 wires. Don't know what it was really, maybe the advantage with that was that you could adjust the ratio (of the amount of each of the 3 wire signals) in very small amounts, unlike how I have it now, which I think is more of an on-off thing. Maybe I could try using another 3-point analogue switch, or having a couple of 2-point analogue switches between the 3 wires.

Anyone who has a Super MVS 2 Converter on this board, can they please open it and tell me what they think the adjuster knob device is?
I was thinking maybe it's also a resistor?-maybe it has some resistance to it.

this i the back of the PCBs: (wires are soldered on back)
Picture004-1.jpg


These are shots of the front- video adjustment knob used to be where the 2 wires(touching at the ends) are now.

Picture008.jpg

Picture005-1.jpg
 
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Neo Alec

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I'm pretty sure that's your problem. When I had this converter, the knob would fix pieces of sprites overlapping/appearing in the wrong place like that.
 

joe8

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what do you think I could replace it with? Is a rotary pot the sort of thing you would use? like how superguns have 3 pots which gradually adjust the levels of each color wire- is that a similar thing to what's happening here? It has "500" written on the board where the adjustment thing was, does that mean you might use a 500k rotary pot? So "pot" is short for potentiometer(variable resistance switch)?

maybe something like these?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290285301400&_trksid=p2759.l1259
http://cgi.ebay.com/500K-ohm-Trimmer-Potentiometer-Trim-Pot-IPLE-V-30-LOT_W0QQitemZ120381672176QQihZ002QQcategoryZ58164QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/49b112ff03d17af6273fc0a87e0106e7/Product/View/R1741
 
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joe8

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I've got it working well now (with a 500k trimmer pot).
 
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