Xeno Crisis coming to Neo Geo

NeoCverA

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Anyone that's received it - do you get the music from left channel only? If I test any other MVS cart everything sounds normal, but it seems the game is outputting music to only left channel. Sound effects and everything else is correct between both channels.


It's annoying because it sounds worse than the Megadrive version that way...

Also noticed a bank switching issue (I think) - tiles messed up.

Cleaned edges a few times. Test any other MVS cart and they all work perfectly. I suspect the graphical thing might not glitch on other MVS models - it could be 1FZ related. I've got tonnes of other MVS to test against later, including other 1FZ if I need to. I think the graphical thing is board layout related tbh. No reply from the developers yet.
Is this the only USER video of XENO CRISIS in action on MVS? -
 

Neo Alec

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Hmmm... I dont know about that. For such a small setup, they went to great lengths to get every variant of the mobo's for testing. I doubt they were careless enough to leave the switch on mono. Fingers crossed its a dodgey cart, I have no doubt they will replace it for you if that is the case.
Maybe they weren't using all of those setups anymore when they tested the final build. The project was in limbo for a long time before they got the cartridge hardware all figured out and ready to go. Perhaps it can be fixed for the rom release, but everyone who bought the cart might be f---ed.
 

GadgetUK

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Yeah that chap with it running in the Blast City got back to me to say his is left only too. I also had people on Twitter saying their AES version is the same. I haven't heard from anyone that hasn't got the issue yet, so it probably applies to all AES and MVS.
 

GadgetUK

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Maybe they weren't using all of those setups anymore when they tested the final build. The project was in limbo for a long time before they got the cartridge hardware all figured out and ready to go. Perhaps it can be fixed for the rom release, but everyone who bought the cart might be f---ed.
It depends on the cart - if it uses encryption and there's no way for someone to re-program say the V ROMs or M1, then the only people that could do it at this point are BB themselves. But if it's not encrypted and the ROM is released (fixed), the community could fix the carts.

That of couse assumes its not a CPLD on the cart that is the problem. But if the jed was made available and its JTAG (likely) we could fix that too.
 

GadgetUK

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If anyone else tests theirs and is unhappy with the "mono" music and slight noise on right channel. Please tweet about it. So far it's looking like they are trying to avoid topic. It takes 2 minutes to test this and work out they f****** up at their end, but nothing today other than "hearts" on people posting photos.

For anyone testing AES - note most AES cables are mono, you wont notice it. But headphone socket will reveal the problem.
 

ggallegos1

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If anyone else tests theirs and is unhappy with the "mono" music and slight noise on right channel. Please tweet about it. So far it's looking like they are trying to avoid topic. It takes 2 minutes to test this and work out they f****** up at their end, but nothing today other than "hearts" on people posting photos.

For anyone testing AES - note most AES cables are mono, you wont notice it. But headphone socket will reveal the problem.
I ordered the AES version, if it has the music issue I can just unplug the headphone cable from the SCART and go from there. I really don't feel like shipping the game back to the UK for a chip swap to ship back, it if they're funding it i can manage with the ROM on my NeoSD
 

GadgetUK

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Just an update - I've talked to BB and they are investigating the audio problem and trying to work out best cause of action. It sounds to me like there will be possible options based on your region, in terms of a possible update to the cart by someone in the country you are based. Of course that's not guaranteed to be the fix yet, maybe there's some other simple mod that can resolve this, we need to give them time. I will be returning my cart when they are able to accept it / look at it. And take things from there. The graphical issue I showed in that video clip seems only to apply the 1FZ. I didnt see issues on the 2 slot, 4 slot or 6 slot.

EDIT: If you do see the graphical issue (wrong / flickering tile set), or the left only music bothers you - let them know, and perhaps let others know. Just so we can work out the scale of the problem.
 

bubba966

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So... My copy hasn't left customs yet and basically already needs to get returned bc it's defective? Great....
 

Neo Alec

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I'm assuming my MVS and CD versions will take a while to get here. I will post on Twitter or something when I get them.

Some people are posting that they're happy with theirs. Some just won't be bothered by this, and others are playing on a mono setup. It is quite an oversight for a $300 cartridge though.

Sad that it's happening to such a small operation that seems to have made it just for the sake of releasing a new Neo game. They already shipped basically every preorder, so if they made a mistake with what went out, that's very unfortunate. We should all try to be patient and not kick them when they're down. I'm sure they need time to figure this out and come up with a plan.
 

bubba966

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With all the trouble it seems they went to for testing on I think every possible mobo/console version you'd think something this obvious wouldn't have happened.

Already waited years for my copy so what's another wait for it to get sorted out?
 

GadgetUK

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I suspect the CD (not tested mine yet) is probably fine - I would expect the music there to be perhaps red book audio?
 

Neo Alec

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I suspect the CD (not tested mine yet) is probably fine - I would expect the music there to be perhaps red book audio?
I would expect a recording of the Mega Drive music. They sell the soundtrack on CD and vinyl, so the NGCD should be an easy win as long as the volume levels are decent. Hopefully they were able to fit all or most of the voices and sfx in the NGCD's memory.
 

The Chief

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I gotta admit fellas, what I'm reading here is discouraging. I'm big on sound and the MVS is a stereo system. I mean the soundtrack is part of the experience. I'm not one of those guys who can put on a Pink Floyd album and play Metal Slug. It's hard to believe this made it past the final testing phase. Hopefully they do right and offer up a fix.
 

yagamikun

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I gotta admit fellas, what I'm reading here is discouraging. I'm big on sound and the MVS is a stereo system. I mean the soundtrack is part of the experience. I'm not one of those guys who can put on a Pink Floyd album and play Metal Slug. It's hard to believe this made it past the final testing phase. Hopefully they do right and offer up a fix.

I agree, I'm very disappointed. I'm sure BB is as well, given how long it's taken them to get around to releasing this. It's hard to believe they missed this big of an issue in testing unless they didn't run the sound at all through the AES stereo headphone jack and only ran their MVS boards via jamma without MVS stereo. Seems like a big oversight, but one that I could see happening.

You know, on second thought, scratch that. The Genesis model 1 has stereo through a headphone jack, so yeah - I'm giving them some grace here as I know they went through an ordeal to make these carts and port the game. It's just sad that after all this waiting, this is what we get. Oh well - hopefully they'll offer some sort of fix/refund/etc. Makes it even worse for folks outside of the UK, though - especially for us in the US. The USPS sucks right now and they shipped via Royal Mail rather than FedEx or another more reliable/faster service.
 

Neo Alec

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I gotta admit fellas, what I'm reading here is discouraging. I'm big on sound and the MVS is a stereo system. I mean the soundtrack is part of the experience. I'm not one of those guys who can put on a Pink Floyd album and play Metal Slug. It's hard to believe this made it past the final testing phase. Hopefully they do right and offer up a fix.
Agreed, which is why unless there are some significant upgrades to gameplay, I was going to suggest just playing the Mega Drive version anyway, even if the Neo Geo version was working 100%. The fidelity of it playing from the original sound chip beats a low sampling rate ADPCM recording of the same.
 

ysselcneogeo

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Agreed, which is why unless there are some significant upgrades to gameplay, I was going to suggest just playing the Mega Drive version anyway, even if the Neo Geo version was working 100%. The fidelity of it playing from the original sound chip beats a low sampling rate ADPCM recording of the same.
I think it absolutely blows that we couldnt get a damn arranged sound track. Like im so glad they offered a cd version and I bought it but I don think making an arranged ost is hard work. I've been involved with 2 commercial genesis releases and working on a 3rd. We finished out ost in a month and the cost was virtually nothing. Music is the absolute cheapest part of game development. There are most talented retro composers than there needs to be making the pay unfortunately very low.
 

TMOSteel

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So yeah, as already posted, no music from right channel whatsoever, also initial intro audio is left channel only as well (music, voices etc.) Hopefully it's a software issue that can be patched, and that's if they included an SD slot like NG DEV carts.
 
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bubba966

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My LE is supposed to show up today. Don't have any of my Omega's setup currently so I won't be testing mine today unless I hook one up.
 

GadgetUK

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So yeah, as already posted, no music from right channel whatsoever, also initial intro audio is left channel only as well (music, voices etc.) Hopefully it's a software issue that can be patched, and that's if they included an SD slot like NG DEV carts.
I don't think they fitted an SD slot or USB port - From what has been mentioned, the solution maybe someone in each region that will update the carts. I did wonder about the possibility of them developing some small board that could be used with a Raspberry Pi or something. If they did that, it would allow many people to be able to update their own, and help out others in their region. I would assume there is a programming header of some kind on these boards - its just a case of getting something to talk to them correctly and updating with a new ROM file (or files).


You can see the boards here (I don't imagine they changed much) - https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ame-for-the-sega-genesis-mega-d/posts/3193877

And below that photo is what looks like a programmer or something perhaps?
 

TMOSteel

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I don't think they fitted an SD slot or USB port - From what has been mentioned, the solution maybe someone in each region that will update the carts. I did wonder about the possibility of them developing some small board that could be used with a Raspberry Pi or something. If they did that, it would allow many people to be able to update their own, and help out others in their region. I would assume there is a programming header of some kind on these boards - its just a case of getting something to talk to them correctly and updating with a new ROM file (or files).


You can see the boards here (I don't imagine they changed much) - https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ame-for-the-sega-genesis-mega-d/posts/3193877

And below that photo is what looks like a programmer or something perhaps?
Well, that's not good. They should have incorporated an SD slot for patching in the event anything came up after release (bugs, glitch, no sound - oh, wait...). No way 2+ people can play test better than 100+ customers. I don't like the idea of having to send anything to anybody once it's in my hands.
 
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