PCM Sound & Stability Fixes Multicarts - 120 in 1, 138 in 1, 161 in 1 and others.

MayhemJB

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Very interesting! Does look like they revised the 138 in 1 and added Metal Slug X, then removed those two plus versions you mentioned. I wonder if they fixed NAM, League Bowling and Cyber Lip VROMs? I doubt it! Would be interesting to see if they put caps and regulator on there - again I doubt it!

47uF caps for smoothing will be OK, larger is better though.

What's wrong with those games? I thought there were fixes for those games? or do you mean you wonder if they work straight from the factory.
 

GadgetUK

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What's wrong with those games? I thought there were fixes for those games? or do you mean you wonder if they work straight from the factory.

NAM has a sample missing from the title music - Same on all multicart releases from what I am aware. Same story on League Bowling and Cyber Lip - a couple of missing intro samples. On Cyber Lip its some narration on the intro (first page or two of text I think), and on League Bowling the 'Arghhhh' and 'League Bowling' samples are missing from intro. The games work OK without them and unless you had seen the intros before you probably wouldn't notice.

EDIT: Whilst we are on the subject of games that have dodgy ROMs in these carts, here's a few more:- Sam Sho 1 and 5 Special have missing frames of animation (just for one character) on the 161 in 1 and 120 in 1, but NOT on the 138 in 1 (OK on that cart). KoF 98 (or is it 97 I forget) on the 161 in 1 and 120 in 1 is missing sample on title music, but again that game is fine on the 138 in 1. Blazing Star on the 161 in 1 and 120 in 1 is not playable past level 4 (I think its the boss there where it crashes out), but Blazing Star on the 138 in 1 is OK. That crash on the 161 in 1 and 120 in 1 occurs when I tested with cheats in Unibios - it might be related to that but I think its the P ROM. Overall the 138 in 1 is the better of the carts but needs the most work regards capacitor etc in order to make it half decent.
 
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SmokeMonster

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Does anyone know anything about this new 138 in 1 cart?

I can't tell if anything is missing yet but It does have all the Metal Slugs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and X also 6 if you count that. But I'm pretty sure that is just a hack am I right?

I'm a noobie to this thread so I don't want to put a link up and get anyone mad or thinking i'm trying to sell something. But if you look at Alibaba and search 138 in 1 you will find a green super 138 in 1 that has different games, the same company sells the regular version we've all seen.

I'm going to do some more research and see what is all there and what is missing. I'll post here when I do, unless someone beats me to it.
Awesome find, thanks for bringing this up here.

Very interesting! Does look like they revised the 138 in 1 and added Metal Slug X, then removed those two plus versions you mentioned. I wonder if they fixed NAM, League Bowling and Cyber Lip VROMs? I doubt it! Would be interesting to see if they put caps and regulator on there - again I doubt it!
It's interesting that they released a changed version of the 138-in-1. Has anyone noticed any other differences? Is anyone ordering the new version to test out for us? :D
 

GadgetUK

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Yes, very strange just swapping a couple of boots for Metal Slug X! I guess the positive is that cart has all the Metal Slugs on it now. On a separate note I found another corrupt VROM in these multicarts today - Puzzle Bobble (when played in US mode as Busta Move) - The title music is incorrect. The game works fine and sounds fine in game, and also sounds fine in European mode. Interestingly I get the same issue on the 161 in 1, 138 in 1, and 120 in 1 for that particular game. On the 60 in 1 it sounds perfect. Would be interested to know if anyone else gets incorrect title music for that game when played in US mode on any of those carts?
 
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GadgetUK – Loving your YouTube Vids and tutorials. For someone who has a very basic understanding of electronics I have learnt a lot from watching your vids alone. I have subsequently carried out the 161 in 1 PCM sound fix successfully and my 138 in 1 has just arrived which I will also use your guidance to fix….plus attach my dipswitch I was able to create thanks to you.

I have one question though - I’m not sure if its related but since adding the two caps to the 161-1 (which runs like a dream now!) I have had problems with my system memory losing high scores along with the calendar date and time. I had previously carried out the CR2032 button battery mod which was working flawlessly until of late. I have checked the solder connections and renewed the battery and it saves for a few hours but 24hrs later the data is lost… any ideas??
…I have a MV-1fs with unibios 3.2.
 

GadgetUK

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Regards the backup RAM issue - it's definitely not related to you adding those caps! If it is loosing the backup RAM after a few hours that means the battery circuit is NOT connected to the SRAM. What is keeping the saves for those few hours are the capacitors on the board. I have no battery in mine and mine will hold backup RAM for approx 2 hours like your does now. I suspect a component in between the battery and the RAM is faulty, or perhaps a trace is damaged somewhere.

I suspect that you will find no voltage getting to the SRAM when it has been off for 2 hours and you've just plugged the battery in and measured VCC pin on SRAM whilst the MVS is still powered off. If you have good connectivity to the battery it should measure ~3v when the battery is connected and the unit has been left for a couple of hours. Another point to note here is that I believe the 161 in 1 blanks the backup RAM at various points!!! That's what I am lead to believe (I am not sure if it does it with the menu, or whether it was part of protection hacks to some games on the cart) and I have seen the same thing before, so maybe you don't have a fault and its just the 161 in 1?
 
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Thanks for this. I'll dig out the voltmeter and have a poke around. Would the 161 in 1 blanking the back-up ram affect the calendar and clock also? I was also under the impression that the soft dips would reset after playing a high volume of games on the 161-1 with the oldest played game dips being overwritten…I have yet to experience this. All my dips are still unchanged which I found strange.
 

GadgetUK

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I think certain games in the 161 in 1 blank the backup RAM completely. The way normal carts work is you play a cart, it saves its state etc and I think it supports up 8. Then on the 9th game it overwrites the 1st game you played. Most of the multicarts just wipe the backup RAM at various points. I just don't know which games do it, or whether its the menu. I have like you found at times the backup RAM is unaffected. But then I play a specific 161 in 1 game and bam - it is all wiped. I am not sure about the time and date, they could be held in the backup RAM? Have you enabled the hardware test mode in unibios options to make sure you've not got a backup RAM problem?
 
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Yeah but when I click Hardward test in unibios I get to the crosshatch screen but cant seem to get beyond that. I've tried clicking directions but I only have the option of selecting (B) = soft reset or (D) = Mem viewer.
 

GadgetUK

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I mean in the settings there theres a cross next to the bit that disables the hardware test. Make sure its not disabled. Once enabled it boots as normal (no cross hatch) but will tell you if there's a problem with backup RAM.
 
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...ahhhh pressing 1p start moves it to the next screen with the last screen being the motherboards clock and calander (which I've never set). I have been setting the calander/clock via the Hardware test main menu - does this make a difference?
 

GadgetUK

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It doesn't make a difference where you set the time and date. It does seem to be stored in backup RAM from what I can tell. Probably a connection issue between backup RAM and battery I think.
 

GadgetUK

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Back on the subject of some of the issues with these multicarts I thought I would post a few more discoveries here. I previously mentioned that Blazing Star crashes on one of the higher rounds (round 4 or 5 I think when fighting the boss just before the last level) - that appears to not happen when running in MVS mode. I played through previously a few times on the 120 in 1 version and the 161 in 1 version in AES mode and it always crashed at that point. Testing in MVS mode on the 161 in 1 and it works all the way to the end.

Another interesting discovery is that someone mentioned they didn't get sound on Blues Journey - I can support that by saying I've noticed that on the 161 in 1 (possibly other carts too) if you boot the cart from cold and go straight into Blues Journey there's no sound - this is some kind of intialization bug. If you boot the 161 in 1 from cold and go into any other game, then hold reset to go back to the menu, and then go into Blues Journey - the sound works fine on that game.
 

SmokeMonster

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Another interesting discovery is that someone mentioned they didn't get sound on Blues Journey - I can support that by saying I've noticed that on the 161 in 1 (possibly other carts too) if you boot the cart from cold and go straight into Blues Journey there's no sound - this is some kind of intialization bug. If you boot the 161 in 1 from cold and go into any other game, then hold reset to go back to the menu, and then go into Blues Journey - the sound works fine on that game.
Great find! I've been considering Blue's Journey unplayable until now.
 

PSICODROMO

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Back on the subject of some of the issues with these multicarts I thought I would post a few more discoveries here. I previously mentioned that Blazing Star crashes on one of the higher rounds (round 4 or 5 I think when fighting the boss just before the last level) - that appears to not happen when running in MVS mode. I played through previously a few times on the 120 in 1 version and the 161 in 1 version in AES mode and it always crashed at that point. Testing in MVS mode on the 161 in 1 and it works all the way to the end.

Another interesting discovery is that someone mentioned they didn't get sound on Blues Journey - I can support that by saying I've noticed that on the 161 in 1 (possibly other carts too) if you boot the cart from cold and go straight into Blues Journey there's no sound - this is some kind of intialization bug. If you boot the 161 in 1 from cold and go into any other game, then hold reset to go back to the menu, and then go into Blues Journey - the sound works fine on that game.

In my 120 in 1 Blazing Star crash in MVS mode in the boss of the 6 stage. Tested in a MV1FZ and MV2F.
 

GadgetUK

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In my 120 in 1 Blazing Star crash in MVS mode in the boss of the 6 stage. Tested in a MV1FZ and MV2F.
Very interesting! It must be a bug related to timing or something - possibly due to number of enemies on the screen or something similar. There is a bug in level 2 on those carts that can cause a crash there. Strange how I managed to get to the end there in MVS mode on my 161 in 1. I am using an MV1-FZ at the moment. Maybe the problem is more related to the 120 in 1 - although when I originally tested I created the problem on both the 120 in 1 and the 161 in 1. Only the version on the 138 in 1 worked all the way to the final boss for me. There's a possibility another cap might be required on one of the PRG address lines to fix that issue. I have seen similar things on some original and boot carts where a single bypass cap has been added to one address line. That might explain when that one game sometimes seems to work on the 161 in 1. To be fair there are few games that seem to have issues that totally spoil the game on the 161 in 1. Sam Sho is the other game on there that in my mind is not really playable due to one character animation being incorrect.
 

PSICODROMO

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I also have found this other error in the 120 in 1, in Metal Slug 4 the music is muted randomly in the last boss. Perhaps the sound\music issues are corrected with your board fixes.
 

GadgetUK

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I think that random muting probably is due to the caps missing, since I've beaten Metal Slug 4 a few times and not noticed any music issue there I think. I will double check tomorrow and play it to the end again!
 

SmokeMonster

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I can confirm that Blue's Journey boots with sound after loading any game and then returning to the menu (hold P1 start for 5 seconds, as long as a memory card isn't inserted) to start it.
 

GadgetUK

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Another update here on a game on 138 in 1 carts. Supersidekicks - protection code stops controls responding after ~1 min 45. I think my original Supersidekicks has a chip related to protection, and since 138 in 1 CRC for that game is correct I am pretty sure they just put the original protected ROM onto the cart without disabling the obvious protection.
 

GadgetUK

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I also have found this other error in the 120 in 1, in Metal Slug 4 the music is muted randomly in the last boss. Perhaps the sound\music issues are corrected with your board fixes.

Just a quick update - I tested Metal Slug 4 a few times (end to end) on the 120 in 1 and 161 in 1, no sound issues.
 

PSICODROMO

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with the sound fixes, or without? Without sound fixes the music is muted randomly in the last boss (second part of the boss), tested in diferent MVS boards.
 

PSICODROMO

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Then this confirm that your board fix works great, and solve the sound issues. I will do your sound fix soon in my 120in1.
 
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