Piforce Tools Support Thread

TravistyOJ

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Buyers are getting their hands on their Raspberry Pi Netboot kits, and the questions are starting to roll in. Rather than keep using the sale thread, I thought I would create a dedicated support thread. If you have general questions that other users might be able to help with, feel free to post here. It helps me out a ton to offload some of the support to other kind volunteers.

Very basic instructions are found here: http://capane.us/piforcetools
 

300wins

Conan The Librarian,
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So after the initial game loads, when I try to switch to another game, it just hangs at "sending..."
Nothing happens after that. Anything I can try?
 

TravistyOJ

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I noticed this with some games, and it also happened for me when I used triforce tools by typing in the command. Is it for all games, or just some? Also, what BIOS are you using?
 
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300wins

Conan The Librarian,
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I noticed this with some games, and it also happened for me when I used triforce tools by typing in the command. Is it for all games, or just some?

I've only managed to test it so far with 3 games (Fist of the North Star, Dynamite Deka EX and Dolphin Blue) and they all hang. So my guess is that it is with all games?

Even if I unplug the Raspberry Pi and plug in the power again, it won't switch. Only way to switch games is to turn off my cab.
 

TravistyOJ

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If it wont even send after resetting the Pi, it sounds like the Naomi was left in a weird state, like its connecting, but not receiving data. I can work on this, but I think this issue existed with the triforce tools script too. I wonder if conversions are more problematic with it.
 

TravistyOJ

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Can you attempt to reproduce this issue with MVC2? I never had this issue with that game, and Id like to know if the problem is game specific.
 

300wins

Conan The Librarian,
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Can you attempt to reproduce this issue with MVC2? I never had this issue with that game, and Id like to know if the problem is game specific.

Okay, I will try later tonight with MvC2 and let you know.

FYI - I am using a Naomi 2 motherboard and a 512 meg net dimm with 4.02 firmware.
 
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leonk

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I've only managed to test it so far with 3 games (Fist of the North Star, Dynamite Deka EX and Dolphin Blue) and they all hang. So my guess is that it is with all games?

Even if I unplug the Raspberry Pi and plug in the power again, it won't switch. Only way to switch games is to turn off my cab.

It might be a limitation .. all those games are Atomiswave games if I'm not mistaken. The netboot scripts out there send a Naomi reset command via net dimm before loading the game. It sounds like either the reset command is not sent/received, or naomi ignoring it when it plays atomiswave games.
 

300wins

Conan The Librarian,
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It might be a limitation .. all those games are Atomiswave games if I'm not mistaken. The netboot scripts out there send a Naomi reset command via net dimm before loading the game. It sounds like either the reset command is not sent/received, or naomi ignoring it when it plays atomiswave games.

Dynamite Deka EX isn't an Atomiswave game.
I haven't had a chance to test out MvC2 yet.
 

sparksterz

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MvC2 worked for me as well. I only encountered the issue on a few games, the only one I remember though was Melty Blood: Act Cadenza. For me, triggering service mode and exiting allowed the net dimm to pick up on what was being sent again.
 

aoiddr

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For the Atomiswave games to play, does the Naomi have to have a Supercapacitor installed on the motherboard (I've removed mine)? I read that not having one isn't a problem with normal Naomi games, but wasn't sure about any others.
 

leonk

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For the Atomiswave games to play, does the Naomi have to have a Supercapacitor installed on the motherboard (I've removed mine)? I read that not having one isn't a problem with normal Naomi games, but wasn't sure about any others.

I have mine removed, and the converted games play fine on my Naomi 2 via CF adapter.
 

aoiddr

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Finally got my Net Dimm to update and have been playing around loading a few games. Works great from what I've seen so far. ^_^


Not really loader questions, but more Naomi game ones in general...

- Is there a way to actually make a game Typing of the Dead or Lupin III The Typing playable? Like, can you wire a dreamcast keyboard to the CN6 port?

- What about Monkey Ball, any way to get that to work without a banana joystick?


(Fyi, I've got a Capcom I/O in a Sega Astro City.)
 
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d7onr8

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For the Atomiswave games to play, does the Naomi have to have a Supercapacitor installed on the motherboard (I've removed mine)? I read that not having one isn't a problem with normal Naomi games, but wasn't sure about any others.

I thought the removal of the supercap was causing Atomiswave games to not load on both my Naomi 1 and 2 but then realized that the Atomiswave games weren't loading because I wasn't using the Capcom I/O. Using the Sega I/O would cause FOTNS and Dolphon Blue to load straight to the Game Service Menu but would never boot to the actual game.
 

d7onr8

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So after the initial game loads, when I try to switch to another game, it just hangs at "sending..."
Nothing happens after that. Anything I can try?

This would also happened to me if I tried to send a game while one was already loaded. I found that I would have to reboot the Naomi and then hit the Service button. If I send the game at the Service Menu, it would then load.
 

kaicer

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I have the Sega I/O ver.2 and I never got problem with the atomiswave maybe is the ver.1.
 

d7onr8

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I should have clarified; my setup wouldn't load Atomiswave games if I used the the Sega JVS to Jamma Converter [838-13683-02]. Mine was Rev A if that makes any difference. Capcom I/O loads them fine.
 

aoiddr

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It's weird how the Naomi can play some games fine with one i/o and not with another.

I had the opposite problem tonight. I tried to play "Puyo Puyo Fever" earlier and found that it has messed up/transposed controls when using a Capcom I/O. Found a post from last year that mentions the issue, but no solution (other than using a Sega i/o instead):
http://www.neo-geo.com/forums/showt...lem-with-CAPCOM-IO-and-Puyo-Puyo-fever-GDROM!
 
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Tyranix95

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From what I understand, some sega I/Os map the extra buttons different.

And some games expect certain extra button map (layout).
 

aoiddr

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Would that explain why the joystick mapping is turned 90 degrees though (making left/right into up/down)?
 

300wins

Conan The Librarian,
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After doing some more test, it everything does seem to work properly. The Atomiswave games don't seem to reset the netdimm, but most of the other games seem to reset it just fine. Maybe there might be some way around this. But I guess beggars can't be choosers.
 

kuze

Akari's Big Brother
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Not exactly related to Piforce Tools, but I in another thread someone else with a Piforce Tools setup had the same error 33 issue as me.

I had been having the same 'Error 33: Gateway not found' issue with my 512mb netdimm and a netboot zero key PIC. The PIC had been tested in a friend's 256mb netdimm and confirmed working, but the only way I could bypass error 33 is with the naomi_boot ping loop.

I just found out that using a legit WCCF netboot key allows me to bypass the error, even though it is not a zero key.
 

FreedomGundam

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Not exactly related to Piforce Tools, but I in another thread someone else with a Piforce Tools setup had the same error 33 issue as me.

I had been having the same 'Error 33: Gateway not found' issue with my 512mb netdimm and a netboot zero key PIC. The PIC had been tested in a friend's 256mb netdimm and confirmed working, but the only way I could bypass error 33 is with the naomi_boot ping loop.

I just found out that using a legit WCCF netboot key allows me to bypass the error, even though it is not a zero key.
That was probably me. :)
What version is your NetDIMM firmware? Mine was 3.17, and I was recommended to upgrade to 4.01 or 4.02. I still haven't done that yet, because I still haven't gotten my PIC back, but that should be any day now.
 

kuze

Akari's Big Brother
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That was probably me. :)
What version is your NetDIMM firmware? Mine was 3.17, and I was recommended to upgrade to 4.01 or 4.02. I still haven't done that yet, because I still haven't gotten my PIC back, but that should be any day now.

Mine was on 3.17 and after I had issues I updated to 4.01 with Naomi_boot. That didn't help though, only thing that did was using the plastic official netboot key that came with my netdimm. No idea why it doesn't like the zero keys.

Someone with the time and skill could probably patch the netdimm bios to not require a key at all. But since the zero keys work for most, I doubt anyone has the motivation.
 
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