Help Verifying Heavy Metal Geomatrix NAOMI version

I'm looking for someone (or multiple people) with Heavy Metal Geomatrix NAOMI carts and the ability to read EPROMS.

Long story short I have a cart that is not marked as Rev A or Rev B and I'm trying to determine which version it actually is (to buy another one for cabinet linking). I have downloaded MAME roms that are labelled as both rev A and rev B, but all of the files in both zip files have identical checksums, which leads me to believe only one version is actually dumped and in MAME, and that one of the rom zip files is mislabelled.

When I dumped my own eprom (there's only one in the cart, it's inside the case) I got the same checksum as the MAME rom, but that doesn't tell me which version mine is or which version is actually in MAME. I suspect it's Rev A in both cases, but if someone has a cart (preferably one labelled Rev B) and can dump the M27C322 eprom on it, I'd be very appreciative. I don't need the actual rom dump, just the CRC / SHA1 hash.

I suspect if this game is anything like Dead or Alive 2 (which can be changed to Millennium simply by changing out the M27C322) that the EPROM should be different between the revisions.

I've posted this at AO and klov, but since it's a long shot, I figured I'd ask here too. If you can help dump this rom, or even let me borrow a cart that's labelled Rev B (I'd cover shipping both ways if you don't have an eprom burner), I'd be quite appreciative.

If you get a new one for linking that doesn't match/work, you could just update the new cart to Rev B (or vice versa).

kuze said:

If you get a new one for linking that doesn't match/work, you could just update the new cart to Rev B (or vice versa).

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That's only if the only difference is on that EPROM. There may be other differences. Since only one version appears to actually be in mame... who knows.

I've got one that has two Rev. B stickers on it, my XP machine w/LPT port that I normally use for my burner is waiting for a HD replacement, I'll see if I can dig up an old laptop with an LPT port and dump the EPROM for you.

madman said:

I've got one that has two Rev. B stickers on it, my XP machine w/LPT port that I normally use for my burner is waiting for a HD replacement, I'll see if I can dig up an old laptop with an LPT port and dump the EPROM for you.

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That would be awesome man, I really appreciate it. If you need an IDE HDD I have a couple laying around but they're probably only 80GB drives.

skate323k137 said:

That would be awesome man, I really appreciate it. If you need an IDE HDD I have a couple laying around but they're probably only 80GB drives.

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I've got the replacement, it's just I can't remember which one is dying and haven't had the time lately Worst case I've got an old Win 98 Libretto that'll get the job done. I'm off tomorrow so I should have time. There isn't any CRC ROM check or anything in the NAOMI test menu, is there?

Update: Looking at the docs for the software, this baby doesn't support 32bit EPROMs. It's a bit of a dinosaur, but BITD it was the tops. Of course that was about 20+ years ago. If nobody else bites, I can ship you the EPROM in a tube so return shipping will be cheaper.

We might be able to check it in test mode. There is a rom board test, and I know it will do byte/word sums, but not sure what alg it uses. The EPROM is checked 1st and doesn't give a GOOD/BAD (just ----) so it may hold the checksums for the other roms, as they all return GOOD (well, on a good board anyway).

I'll pop it in and see if it says Rev B in test mode and I'll post the byte/word results too. Might be time for me to buy an EPROM programmer made in the 21st century...

madman said:

I'll pop it in and see if it says Rev B in test mode and I'll post the byte/word results too. Might be time for me to buy an EPROM programmer made in the 21st century...

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I don't think test mode will say the rev in the game title, but a picture of the ROM BOARD TEST results might get the job done

The byte/word results for IC22 are F276/90D8. It's just called "HEAVY METAL JAPAN" in the test modes, nothing about rev, nor on the title screen. Before it boots it says something like 10606 on the screen at some point, no idea if that means anything.

Thanks, I'll have a look at mine later. Usually that's the date for capcom games like on CPS2 hardware. See http://cps2shock.emu-france.info/gamelist.html if you're curious

"As each game starts up you are presented with a screen which shows the game title, revision date and country of release, looking like this;

S T R E E T F I G H T E R Z E R O
9 5 0 6 2 7
J A P A N

The game title is always on the top line and revision date is on 2nd. Above it's 950627 which translates to 27th June 1995 (numerical date backwards). Country of release is on the last line"

Ah, cool info. Anyway, if the numbers don't match up and you want me to send this EPROM with your carts so you can upgrade to rev. B just shoot me a PM.

My EPROM may be the same as yours. Here's what I'm getting on the unmarked cart. If you can take a similar picture, and we can get someone with a cart marked rev A to do the same, we may be able to get to the bottom of this and see what the difference is. Thanks for your help.

They're all the same and that date was 010606.

Alex, I have another cart w/a REV B sticker on it - I can send it to you - PM if you're still looking to troubleshoot this.

Thanks Steve. Mike, I really appreciate the offer and I'll let you know if I need to borrow it. At this point either there is no difference between the revisions (which would be odd) or mine is a rev B since Steve's cart seems to match. If someone with a rev A cart can run the rom test to see if it differs from my pic that should (hopefully) get us to the bottom of this.