CPS3 Dead Cart - Green blocky garbage

Hi all,

Had a working CPS3 setup until a few days ago. It's on loan from a friend and I don't know much about CPS3 as opposed to 1 and 2 so wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction.

First, a bit of backstory: The setup was being used for Third Strike with no issues. It currently has an SF3 New Generation cart and some custom CD in the drive. If you booted the game you didn't see the Darksoft menu that I'm familiar with on other setups. How exactly does this work?

The reason I ask is that now on boot I immediately get green blocky sprite garbage. Using the SF3NG on another working boardset results in the exact same garbage. Swapping the cart from that working Darksoft boardset that has the custom SH2 and SuperBIOS I can boot into the Darksoft menu with no issues on my motherboard. However using the original CD, it complains of an invalid CDROM. Using the CD from the working Darksoft setup also does not work.

What's the easiest way to get everything working again? Thanks in advance.

Ok tell me this, was the SF3 New Generation cart still alive and battery powered.

There are many iteration of the cps3 revival hack, this is what you must be aware of. There are many iteration of the cps3 hack

It has been a while and I can't remember every iteration of his work. The first revision of his hack relied on exploiting Street Fighter III 2nd Impact to run 3rd strike. What I can't remember is if you could use a living cart to do this. What I know for sure is it did run on a zombie cart. A zombie cart is a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact that runs on stock bios but the key difference is you must remove the battery from the cart.

When your setup was running did it boot directly into 3rd strike on power up or did you have to select a region first.

If your setup uses a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact to run a 3rd strike and will not boot anymore than your SF3 New Generation might had originally been alive but is now dead. Can the SF3 New Generation boot at all, is it still alive, this is important.

The original method used to run 3rd strike with a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact cart involved using 2 cd's and swamping the simms around only during the install process. Was this method used with your setup. This method did not have any special menus on boot up, it just booted directly to game and used one of the two special cd's to do this. You have to provide feedback, you can't respond by saying you do not know.

If your cart started off as alive a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact but is now dead you simply need to remove the battery to get it going again, but be sure that it is dead as you don't want to kill a living cart. I would try this before you moved on to just using that second cart with the custom bios.


If you want to just get it up and running with the special bios cart you must first know which version bios the cart is using. Here try burning and using this cd with the special bios cart. This works with the stock SH2. If the bios is compatible you will need to re write the game first FROM THE CUSTOM MENU not the Capcom rewrite menu. You can not simply just hit play, you will need to re write first.

I have two cps 3 setups

One uses the old 2 cd's stock bios method which is what I suspect you are using. My other setup uses the custom bios setup that only needs one cd and allows you to play all the cps3 games.

I like the old 2 cd's setup because it boots directly into 3rd strike without having to see that region select menu.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/95505515/UniCD-CPS3_for_custom_SH2_V5.7z


If your cart started off a living SF3 New Generation then it was indeed originally alive and used a different hack that required you to use a custom tool to create the Iso for the CD. The only solution in this case is to reflash the bios chip to the multi bios.

There is also the old ass way that I have for my JOJO HFTF CPS3,darksofts first crack at cps3 iirc. Basically you need any battery powered cart except SF32I (iirc) and you need to make custom ISO's with his converter tool.

mainman said:

Ok tell me this, was the SF3 New Generation cart still alive and battery powered.

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I honestly have no idea. The board is not mine and I know no details of how it got to the state it's in now.

When your setup was running did it boot directly into 3rd strike on power up or did you have to select a region first.

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Straight in.

If your setup uses a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact to run a 3rd strike and will not boot anymore than your SF3 New Generation might had originally been alive but is now dead. Can the SF3 New Generation boot at all, is it still alive, this is important.

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I do not own a 2nd Impact cart. The New Gen cart is not working. It has been tested on a separate working board and shows the same garbage sprite pattern.

The original method used to run 3rd strike with a Street Fighter III 2nd Impact cart involved using 2 cd's and swamping the simms around only during the install process. Was this method used with your setup. This method did not have any special menus on boot up, it just booted directly to game and used one of the two special cd's to do this. You have to provide feedback, you can't respond by saying you do not know.

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The CD in the drive has CD1 written on it, if that helps. The board is not mine as I said, and the owner is a fighting game guy more than an arcade tech guy so I have literally no idea what was done to it.

If you want to just get it up and running with the special bios cart you must first know which version bios the cart is using. Here try burning and using this cd with the special bios cart. This works with the stock SH2. If the bios is compatible you will need to re write the game first FROM THE CUSTOM MENU not the Capcom rewrite menu. You can not simply just hit play, you will need to re write first.

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The 3rd Strike cart from the other working board with the custom SH2 and SuperBIOS will stay with that setup. I was only using it for testing. I need to find out what's wrong with the New Gen cart that's displaying the garbage sprites or find an alternative method.

One uses the old 2 cd's stock bios method which is what I suspect you are using. My other setup uses the custom bios setup that only needs one cd and allows you to play all the cps3 games.

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I imagine this is true as well. I have zero interest in playing games besides 3rd Strike, so no need for the custom setup.

Thanks for your help thus far, I appreciate the level of detail.

ChuChu Flamingo said:

There is also the old ass way that I have for my JOJO HFTF CPS3,darksofts first crack at cps3 iirc. Basically you need any battery powered cart except SF32I (iirc) and you need to make custom ISO's with his converter tool.

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Sorry for double post but I just heard back from the owner and he was actually able to dig up the seller's description. Making separate post for clarity.

The seller said that it was a "hacked New Generation" so it sounds like it might be the method described above. Are the converter tools still available? I assume my cart is dead. I would need any living cart besides 2I then?

ebinsugewa said:

Sorry for double post but I just heard back from the owner and he was actually able to dig up the seller's description. Making separate post for clarity.

The seller said that it was a "hacked New Generation" so it sounds like it might be the method described above. Are the converter tools still available? I assume my cart is dead. I would need any living cart besides 2I then?

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Here is your problem. The method that your mobo uses to run 3rd strike off a new generation cart needs a living new generation cart and by the sound of your description your cart has died. You are beating a dead horse and the only way that mobo is coming back online is to reflash the bios with a custom bios or a 2nd impact bios.

Yes any living cart besides 2nd impact in combo with creating a new Cd's with the tool will get you back online

I still have the tools despite never using them

Got it, thanks for the confirmation. Does the region of the living cart matter? Would a different region necessitate a different CD?

ebinsugewa said:

Got it, thanks for the confirmation. Does the region of the living cart matter? Would a different region necessitate a different CD?

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I actually do not know as I have only ever worked with U.S carts on top of the fact I have never used this particular hack as it is super primitive and dependent on a living cart.

Why don't you make your life easier and just reflash the bios on that cart, I can do it