NeoGeoX Hacking and Mods

RabbitTroop

Mayor of Southtown, ,
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 26, 2000
Posts
13,852
This is some really exciting stuff. As a happy 337 owner, I should see if I can help out. Very cool, guys. You've done some amazing work already.
 

SSS

neo retired
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Posts
10,771
I'm even more disappointed with this thing after playing with it a bit.

There's audio lag. Tried a handful of games and sound effects are trailing action on screen. Audio is breaking up on Metal slug.

There's scaling issues with Sam Sho 2. When the screen zooms out, the top layer above the health bars isn't there on front layers of the backgrounds. On hanzo's stage it's just a black bar where sky should be. Not to mention the screen tearing and blurry filter.

I haven't tried most of the games, but I imagine there's more emulation issues.

Also even on the brightest settings, the screen is a bit dim. At least the action isn't blurry.

Hopefully some hacking will change some of the video settings. But out of the box this thing's kind of a turd. :(
 
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geodude

n00b
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Posts
13
Can anyone give me insight on how to change the boot_sels I can try to boot from the SD card? I'm not very savvy when it comes to hardware stuff :( but i'd be more than willing to try things.
 

Spoonman

Enemy Chaser
Joined
Jan 14, 2004
Posts
1,163
Well I highly doubt Tommo will change anything for the better on this, but has anyone been letting them know about these problems?
Wrong resolution use
Video tearing (no VSYNC)
Controller sticking
No AES/MVS switching (Censored games)
Maybe if enough people complain...

Also, if people need SDCards (For whatever reason.. *hmm*)

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SSS

neo retired
Joined
Sep 27, 2002
Posts
10,771
Add dim screen
Audio delay
Emulation issues to that list.

This thing is a huge let down. I doubt they are gonna do anything about it though, move whatever stock they have before shit hits the fan. Any left over will see price cuts. Just a hunch
 
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NeoCverA

RevQuixo. Who He?,
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
Posts
6,691
How a tutorial on making changes, etc?

What programs needed?

Instead if it being the same two, bust out the instructions for the rest of folks.
 

Phexe

Quiz Detective
Joined
Aug 28, 2011
Posts
83
Anyone tried mounting the SDCard image in Linux and creating a symlink or hardlink from the original rom directory to a directory on the ext Memory card? You'd need to copy all the fba files to that directory before you turned it on or it might crash.

ie./

Code:
ln -s /original/roms /media/mmc_ext/ngroms

?
 
Last edited:

SlickDizzy

Mr. Big's Thug
Joined
Jul 20, 2004
Posts
202
How a tutorial on making changes, etc?

What programs needed?

Instead if it being the same two, bust out the instructions for the rest of folks.

Problem is, the pros leading the effort are still figuring out what exactly to do! As far as I know all that has been figured out so far is to swap one ROM for another on the SD card and possibly edit the game art, and there are instructions on how to do both earlier in the thread. (If the instructions make no sense to you then you can wait for a proper crack like everyone else!)
 

nerdstick

Crossed Swords Squire
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Posts
183
1) Download A380 Dingoo NeoGeo conversion tool
2) Swap the asia-s3.rom file inside of it's neogeo.zip folder with a renamed unibios
3) Convert NeoGeo roms to FBA format using this tool
4) Mount microSD on Linux, swap out the games with their now-unibios counterparts

For changing images, they're stored in local/snk_desktop/main_theme or so.

There's a number of disassemble tips:
*) Must be low revision (337, maybe 357)
1) To pop off back cover after unscrewing, slide a credit card or other flat object around it first, then gently pry up.
2) To pop off the stick (to free the miniboard inside), pop off the pad from the front using same flat object. It's the same as a NeoGeo CD pad.
3) Once PCB is entirely unscrewed (two on the right side underneath the miniboard) use a small screwdriver to gently pry up the PCB on the top while pulling the port plastic away so that the ports come out of their slots. Once for each port until it's freed.
4) Be careful with the Start/Menu buttons, they seemingly can be put in upside-down and will feel weird and if done wrong the Menu button on the dock won't work.
5) Be careful with the glue under the microSD. One pried the card out, I personally had to pierce a bunch of holes in the glue using a small knife. Don't damage the PCB. A small pair of pliers will come in very handy for pulling it out the first time.
6) Be careful with the Springs on the triggers. Lose one and you're in trouble.
7) Be very careful to try and keep the start/menu buttons from falling out. Don't turn the screen side front-side-up while the PCB is out.

Overall once you know how it's done it's fairly easy. The only difficult steps are the one-time glue removal and dealing with the springs on the triggers.
 
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geodude

n00b
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Posts
13
1) Download A380 Dingoo NeoGeo conversion tool
2) Swap the asia-s3.rom file inside of it's neogeo.zip folder with a renamed unibios
3) Convert NeoGeo roms to FBA format using this tool
4) Mount microSD on Linux, swap out the games with their now-unibios counterparts

For changing images, they're stored in local/snk_desktop/main_theme or so.

There's a number of disassemble tips:
*) Must be low revision (337, maybe 357)
1) To pop off back cover after unscrewing, slide a credit card or other flat object around it first, then gently pry up.
2) To pop off the stick (to free the miniboard inside), pop off the pad from the front using same flat object. It's the same as a NeoGeo CD pad.
3) Once PCB is entirely unscrewed (two on the right side underneath the miniboard) use a small screwdriver to gently pry up the PCB on the top while pulling the port plastic away so that the ports come out of their slots. Once for each port until it's freed.
4) Be careful with the Start/Menu buttons, they seemingly can be put in upside-down and will feel weird and if done wrong the Menu button on the dock won't work.
5) Be careful with the glue under the microSD. One pried the card out, I personally had to pierce a bunch of holes in the glue using a small knife. Don't damage the PCB. A small pair of pliers will come in very handy for pulling it out the first time.
6) Be careful with the Springs on the triggers. Lose one and you're in trouble.
7) Be very careful to try and keep the start/menu buttons from falling out. Don't turn the screen side front-side-up while the PCB is out.

Overall once you know how it's done it's fairly easy. The only difficult steps are the one-time glue removal and dealing with the springs on the triggers.

just want to add, if you lose one of the springs on the triggers you can break open a mechanical pencil or a pen and cut the spring inside it down to the same size as the other springs and use that instead. I lost one of the springs and had to find a work around, but I think it actually works better with the new spring! If you can't cut the pencil spring ( I couldn't, don't have the tools for it) get something else with clicky buttons like an unused mouse and take the springs out from those. Hopefully they will be the same size.
 

nerdstick

Crossed Swords Squire
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Posts
183
just want to add, if you lose one of the springs on the triggers you can break open a mechanical pencil or a pen and cut the spring inside it down to the same size as the other springs and use that instead. I lost one of the springs and had to find a work around, but I think it actually works better with the new spring! If you can't cut the pencil spring ( I couldn't, don't have the tools for it) get something else with clicky buttons like an unused mouse and take the springs out from those. Hopefully they will be the same size.

Another scare: One of the small plastic tabs on the backplate snapped off seemingly when I was putting it back on, but so far hasn't seemed to affect the unit at all once it's screwed in. Phew! Don't want to break another though. I hate creaky handhelds.
 

xarcade

Quiz Detective
Joined
Dec 3, 2009
Posts
86
Are the SD slots on on the Neo X able to read SDHC cards or not? They might have skimmped to save money and used the old non-SDHC format in which case no SDHC cards will be recognized.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2012
Posts
30
I've been looking into options of dual booting with another version of dingux or other similar os but came to the sad realization that I don't have the tiny USB cable. I have several of the psp charger size but not the next step down. I guess I'm off to the store tomorrow.

I don't know if this is even possible yet.
 
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distropia

SouthTown StreetSweeper
10 Year Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2010
Posts
1,075
For those with v.370, shouldn't it be as easy as removing the chip and soldering a TF card reader? maybe some jumper wherever and that's it?
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2012
Posts
30
I was about to get a few cp2 roms to run without any video and horrible sound. emulation was running and i could still access volume/brightness controls and exit back to the menu.

I'm not making anymore videos because brings to much attention.
 

mr_e

Tarma's Gun Polisher
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Posts
108
Wild speculations.

The dock is USB OTG capable, and the handset has native host mode drivers. Meaning that you can plug things into it. Things like thumb drives, USB hard drives, wifi adapters, other controllers.
Code:
cat otg_handle_key.txt 
Product_num=2
vendor_product_id=1f4f4,12924e47,
otg_handle_keywords=Neogeo_handle_controller,Neogeo_handle_controller,
Key_num=15
#SONY directory act:292,294,295,293,
#SONY key act:44,46,47,45
#X,B,A,Y,L,R,L2,R2,SELECT,START,UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT
Sony_desk_type_controller=300,302,303,301,298,299,296,297,288,291,44,46,47,45,
Blazepro_handle_controller=288,291,290,289,292,293,294,295,296,297,1,2,5,0,
Neogeo_handle_controller=307,305,304,306,308,309,310,311,312,313,17,17,16,16,
Coupled with the version of mplayer that lives in /usr/local/apps, you got a pretty tits portable media center.

Creating symlinks in /games to the apps that live in /usr/local/apps might make them show up in the menu.

you might be able to change the emulator screen size in snk.conf
Code:
more snk.conf 
Themesname_host=./config
Themesname_mac=/usr/local/snk_desktop/config
#Themesname_mac=/mnt/memory/config
Screenwidth=480
Screenheight=272

Left_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_LEFT
Right_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_RIGHT
Confim_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_A
Skip_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_X
Though that might just effect the menu system.

tvout_mode_value= in /usr/local/snk_desktop/config should be tampered with.
 

geodude

n00b
Joined
Dec 23, 2012
Posts
13
Wild speculations.

The dock is USB OTG capable, and the handset has native host mode drivers. Meaning that you can plug things into it. Things like thumb drives, USB hard drives, wifi adapters, other controllers.
Code:
cat otg_handle_key.txt 
Product_num=2
vendor_product_id=1f4f4,12924e47,
otg_handle_keywords=Neogeo_handle_controller,Neogeo_handle_controller,
Key_num=15
#SONY directory act:292,294,295,293,
#SONY key act:44,46,47,45
#X,B,A,Y,L,R,L2,R2,SELECT,START,UP,DOWN,LEFT,RIGHT
Sony_desk_type_controller=300,302,303,301,298,299,296,297,288,291,44,46,47,45,
Blazepro_handle_controller=288,291,290,289,292,293,294,295,296,297,1,2,5,0,
Neogeo_handle_controller=307,305,304,306,308,309,310,311,312,313,17,17,16,16,
Coupled with the version of mplayer that lives in /usr/local/apps, you got a pretty tits portable media center.

Creating symlinks in /games to the apps that live in /usr/local/apps might make them show up in the menu.

you might be able to change the emulator screen size in snk.conf
Code:
more snk.conf 
Themesname_host=./config
Themesname_mac=/usr/local/snk_desktop/config
#Themesname_mac=/mnt/memory/config
Screenwidth=480
Screenheight=272

Left_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_LEFT
Right_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_RIGHT
Confim_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_A
Skip_key=DINGOO_BUTTON_X
Though that might just effect the menu system.

tvout_mode_value= in /usr/local/snk_desktop/config should be tampered with.

That's some really nice stuff! I like the commented out PS1 controls :shredder:
 

topher

Tesse's Maintainence Man
Joined
May 8, 2004
Posts
2,904
So in theory, we could load roms straight from a thumbdrive plugged into one of the dock controller ports!?!?!
 

VRC-SID

Cheng's Errand Boy
Joined
Feb 17, 2009
Posts
112
Have we 100% confirmed that all handhelds with 370 lack the micro SD card? I haven't seen many people open the machines AND list their version.
 

mr_e

Tarma's Gun Polisher
Joined
Sep 24, 2012
Posts
108
So in theory, we could load roms straight from a thumbdrive plugged into one of the dock controller ports!?!?!

Maaaaaaaybe?

They have bits like this
Code:
go to  udc  mode!
/usr/bin/udc_connect.sh
/usr/bin/udc_disconnect.sh
go out udc mode!
%s%s
/mnt/mmc/card_game/
game_card_configure.conf
game card config path is %s
%s %d game card conf init ok
src/tfcard_cartoon.c
card_game_number
card_game_work_path
%sgame%d.fba
%sgame%d.png
/usr/local/snk_desktop/main_themes/tfcard_alpha_game_pic.png
tf_enter_step
tf_enter_speed
Calling this shell script
Code:
more udc_connect.sh 
#!/bin/sh

USB_STATE=`cat /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc.0/uh_cable`
if [ $USB_STATE == "usb" ]
then
	/bin/sync
	MMC_STATUS=`cat /proc/jz/mmc`
	MMC_NAME=`cat /var/MMCNAME`

	if [ $MMC_NAME != "no" ] && [ $MMC_STATUS == "INSERT" ]
	then
		umount -f /mnt/memory
#		umount -f /mnt/mmc
		echo /dev/mmcblk0p4 > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc.0/gadget/gadget-lun0/file
#		echo /dev/$MMC_NAME > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc.0/gadget/gadget-lun1/file
	else
		umount -f /mnt/memory
		echo /dev/mmcblk0p4 > /sys/devices/platform/musb_hdrc.0/gadget/gadget-lun0/file

	fi
fi

In the code they wrote, which makes me think they planned on loading legit or other media from USB at some point.

This would be alot easier if I actually had one of these to test with.
 

NeoTurfMasta

DANCE DANCE KARNOV!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Posts
4,229
For those with v.370, shouldn't it be as easy as removing the chip and soldering a TF card reader? maybe some jumper wherever and that's it?

Here's my contribution. Found easy pinouts for the micro SD slot. Would be easier to just disable or put a switch on the onboard memory and wire a new micro SD slot to these pads. These pads are located on the opposite side of the board where the battery lives. Once we get pics of the updated pcbs we can see what jumpers, if any, they use.

1Zh5I.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1Zh5I.jpg

EDIT: updated photo with correct pin numbering.
 
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douglie007

n00b
Joined
May 5, 2012
Posts
27
opened mine came from gamestop and its a 370...I am not seeing the audio lag that you are complaining about... what games are you seeing it in?
 

NeoTurfMasta

DANCE DANCE KARNOV!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2001
Posts
4,229
Was bored and decided to relocate the internal SD to the External SD slot. This will work great for testing new image files and not force me to constantly open the system. Basically you remove 7 smd jumpers and solder the pads directly to the SD slot. Works great. I lose the ability to play Ninja Masters from the SD slot, but its easily removed if I care to.

UErb7.jpg
 
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