Metal Slug 2 slowdown reduction patch

BIG BEAR

SHOCKbox Developer,
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Very Cool. Thank you.
I was thinking Fatal Fury Special is really in need of a TURBO MODE if possible...
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Razoola

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I'd actually like it to be kept standalone for a few reasons.

No problem, If you change you mind in the future please let me know. Don't expect the multicart makers to be so understanding.

Can you confirm you will be keeping the game ID at 0x0941 in case you make future changes so I can tie that ID in the unibios to the standard MS2 cheats? Ohh and for high score saving also.
 
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xsq

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Razoola

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I have looked at this a little more now in relation to unibios feature support only and I would suggest you do not change the game ID from 0241 to 0941. Although I can see your logic and understand the reason for changing it there is one factor you may not be aware of as a consequence of this change.

An updated unibios supporting this game ID is required if you want to be able to correctly play this version on an AES in Arcade mode. All Metal Slug games have this same issue (apart from MS1) and the unibios works around it but it expects an ID of 241 for Metal Slug 2 and not 941.

I can easily add 941 to a future unibios version to fix this issue (and add highscore saving and cheats) but it may be easier to simply keep the ID at 241 so people will not require a new unibios.
 
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SmokeMonster

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I'd actually like it to be kept standalone for a few reasons.
May I ask what the reasons are? Having Unibios support would bring this to so many more people, especially if it works with multi-carts. It would also save all of those physical copies of MS2 that have to be operated on for the fix.
 

Razoola

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May I ask what the reasons are? Having Unibios support would bring this to so many more people, especially if it works with multi-carts. It would also save all of those physical copies of MS2 that have to be operated on for the fix.

for me that's not really important, it may not even be possible anyway I don't know.
 

Atro

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This is excellent.

System11, you should reconsider Raz on the Unibios thing.
That would avoid tons of MS2 to be modified.
I understand you have your concerns, but at least think about it ;)

Plus ( altough it's just a small minority ) , AES carts would benefit from that too as nobody would want to "ruin" their copy.
 

Xian Xi

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If I modified mine it would have both versions with a digital switch via reset.
 

system11

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An updated unibios supporting this game ID is required if you want to be able to correctly play this version on an AES in Arcade mode. All Metal Slug games have this same issue (apart from MS1) and the unibios works around it but it expects an ID of 241 for Metal Slug 2 and not 941.

Ah now this is a valid issue, I'll have a word with trap about it. Until that number was changed (under mame at least) it was refusing to pick up the cart name change unless the number changed too.
 

Razoola

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Ah now this is a valid issue, I'll have a word with trap about it. Until that number was changed (under mame at least) it was refusing to pick up the cart name change unless the number changed too.

Yes that would happen and normal because the backupRAM only saves the name the first time its stored, if there is already a MS2 store in backupRAM it won't update. If you clear the backupRAM from test mode however it should then pickup the new name. That new name will stay even if a original MS2 is added back.

It gets a little complex but its not a good idea to compare in emulation backupRAM related situations because emulation does not treat it in the same way as real hardware. MAME saves a separate backupRAM for every game. Real hardware only saves backupRAM for a possible 8 games and I would say that it is unlikely someone will use your patch and the original ms2 together in normal situations on real hardware unless its simply to compare.

Personally If I had done the patch I would have left the game ID and game strings the same and instead maybe have something drawn on the title page to show its your turbo version.
 

fremen

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Hi,

Thanks system11 for this improvement and Raz thank you very much in advance for the future change in the Unibios support.

Un saludo
 

kuze

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Anyone got a link to an appropriate socket for this?

Edit: nvm looks like they are a standard pitch, just ordered some off fleabay.
 
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aha2940

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Anyone got a link to an appropriate socket for this?

Edit: nvm looks like they are a standard pitch, just ordered some off fleabay.

Be aware that it may be difficult to close the cart if you put a socket in the board. You may have to trim some of the plastic from the shell.

Regards.
 

kuze

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Be aware that it may be difficult to close the cart if you put a socket in the board. You may have to trim some of the plastic from the shell.

Regards.

Yeah I saw system11 mentioned that in his blog post. Fine by me, I'd rather have a socket so I can swap in the original ROM easily if I feel like it.
 

shadowkn55

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Yeah I saw system11 mentioned that in his blog post. Fine by me, I'd rather have a socket so I can swap in the original ROM easily if I feel like it.

You can install the turbo patch into sockets ep1 and ep2 if you remove the jumper that connects p1 /oe to ground and tie it to +5v.
 

BladeDancer314

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Nice, so it did have something to do with updating, just not game logic. From the comparison vids it's like night and day. Is it true that in the PS2 MS Anthology version of MS2 that SNK just super over clocked the game to try and fix the slowdown?

Not sure how they did it but ms2 on the ps2 has no slowdown.

It does feel like it's just overclocked tho.
 
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aha2940

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You can install the turbo patch into sockets ep1 and ep2 if you remove the jumper that connects p1 /oe to ground and tie it to +5v.

So, by using this method it is also possible to switch between the turbo/regular chips, by switching...OE I think?

Thanks!!
 

shadowkn55

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Not sure how they did it but ms2 on the ps2 has no slowdown.

It does feel like it's just overclocked tho.

I don't know about the ps2 version but the wii is like that. I messed with the wii version and it had the ms2 roms in it unaltered.


So, by using this method it is also possible to switch between the turbo/regular chips, by switching...OE I think?

Thanks!!

Yes.
 

Razoola

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@System11,

I have another suggestion for you. If you are still set on trying to find a way to keep the ID at 941 another option would be to include patches to patch out the game protection. This is related to writes and checks to address 0xD00100 (used for backupRAM protection). Doing that would solve the issue I mention above as the unibios would not need to work around that protection any longer with your mod.
 

mjsaville

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I for one have MS2 on a couple of Multi-Carts, and would love the increased frame rate, etc.

However if the patch cannot be tied to the UNIBios then a lot of people will not justify purchasing the MS2 cart + EPROM programmer just for the slight performance increase. I personally would be gutted too.

The other side of the coin is - I'm off to buy up all the MS2 Carts on ebay :glee:, as a price increase must surely be around the corner when people rush to buy them to modify. This I think would be sad though....

In short, I hope "System11" reconsiders so it can be tied to the UNIBios, the UNIBios has come so far over the years it is the logical place for storing fixes and patches like this.
 
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