Dion
Known Scammer, NeoGeoFreak Co-Founder
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2000
- Posts
- 2,070
PLEASE USE THE OLD THREAD FOR DRAMA SHIT.
Ok. It was necessary to set up this thread for any potential tech support needed for the CPS2 Multikit that is now shipping. I am just one man but I will help the best I can to start and I'm sure some other owners will be able to help troubleshoot once they get more time with their kits. Darksoft is the technical mind behind this kit so there will be some concerns I will need to pass to him and return with the solution so bear with me.
Besides tech support questions I also want to see success stories and pictures/videos of these kits in action!
I will repost one post from the old, dilapidated thread that I feel is very informative:
I have personally offered tech support for many people and have not been unable to get anyone's working. The first guy with a problem almost caused a sky-is-falling mentality. Keep in mind any project will hit bumps. We will fix any bumps that happen. No one will be left out to dry. That is not how i roll. And that's even though I have no financial stake and receive no financial gain from this project. Here is a breakdown of problems encountered so far:
1. Yes, bent pins in shipping. Really this is a two part issue. One part is we decided to order different pins that are smaller so they are more fragile. This was to protect the integrity of the sockets themselves. And trust me, the thicker pins were SOOOOO HARD to install. Took me 45 minutes to install the proto. It is a trade-off but it was the right call. We are thinking of sending some extra pins just in case. Also, the packaging is being reinforced a bit with more filler to keep everything stable in shipping. A lesser problem is that the pins are all hand soldered and it seems some were not soldered completely flush with the pcb. That is an easy fix going forward. Also, we have ordered reinforcement pcbs to guide and keep all pins stable on the main kit pcb. These will auto ship with all orders going out in the next batch. (starting in two weeks)
2. Scrambled sprites or sound. This has been fixed in two ways. One---the kit was not installed correctly, either misaligned or just not pushed in enough. Two---the user didn't watch my prep video and didn't have the jumpers or PAL set up correctly. Easy fix. Watch the video people and when you install the kit take your time but use firm pressure to secure the pins in the sockets.
3. Solid screens on boot. The kit will say flashing the game and then playing the game but the screen is just a solid color. Sometimes white, sometimes red or orange, etc. This USUALLY has come down to incorrect writes of the rom the the SD card. But it also can come down to the old problem with encryption bits causing the decrypted code to not run, even if boards dead for years. In that case, shorting the EXC5 component, just as you would with your B-board with phoenix roms installed from time-to-time, has fixed this issue several times. As for the SD card writes, if you use IDCs sets he released and just copy it to the root of the card you should be fine. You should have the card formatted in FAT32, a 'GAMES' folder should be in the root. And the folders for each game should be in the 'Games' folder. Each game should have a 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 file in it's folder. (NOTE: Some games do have files .01 - .12)
One other problem with the cards seems to be exclusive to the MAC user as a member of AO helped troubleshoot. It seems the MAC OS writes some unnecessary files to the SD card which confuses the write process causing the roms to load incorrectly and not boot. Here is his advice to you MAC users:
If you install the small interconnect pcb backwards the kit will act like this also since the program data will be read incorrectly from the kit.
Keep in mind we don't want anyone suiciding their pcb but we already know it is happening some. If you do not let the encyption data expire then the kit will not boot. It does not die immediately after removing the battery.
Also, if you do receive your kit damaged where it can't be used then get up with us. We WILL get you fixed up one way or another.
Take your time installing the kit. If you have any problems then just contact me. I will do my best to troubleshoot with you. Thanks to those of you who have faith in me/us and don't believe libelous statements blindly. Anyone who has done business with me knows I am a man of character. I will not be involved in anything that will screw people out of their money, including this project. Thanks again.
Hope this has been informative and has eased some minds.
BTW---there are some beautiful pictures/videos of this kit working for happy customers on AO.
Ok. It was necessary to set up this thread for any potential tech support needed for the CPS2 Multikit that is now shipping. I am just one man but I will help the best I can to start and I'm sure some other owners will be able to help troubleshoot once they get more time with their kits. Darksoft is the technical mind behind this kit so there will be some concerns I will need to pass to him and return with the solution so bear with me.
Besides tech support questions I also want to see success stories and pictures/videos of these kits in action!
I will repost one post from the old, dilapidated thread that I feel is very informative:
I have personally offered tech support for many people and have not been unable to get anyone's working. The first guy with a problem almost caused a sky-is-falling mentality. Keep in mind any project will hit bumps. We will fix any bumps that happen. No one will be left out to dry. That is not how i roll. And that's even though I have no financial stake and receive no financial gain from this project. Here is a breakdown of problems encountered so far:
1. Yes, bent pins in shipping. Really this is a two part issue. One part is we decided to order different pins that are smaller so they are more fragile. This was to protect the integrity of the sockets themselves. And trust me, the thicker pins were SOOOOO HARD to install. Took me 45 minutes to install the proto. It is a trade-off but it was the right call. We are thinking of sending some extra pins just in case. Also, the packaging is being reinforced a bit with more filler to keep everything stable in shipping. A lesser problem is that the pins are all hand soldered and it seems some were not soldered completely flush with the pcb. That is an easy fix going forward. Also, we have ordered reinforcement pcbs to guide and keep all pins stable on the main kit pcb. These will auto ship with all orders going out in the next batch. (starting in two weeks)
2. Scrambled sprites or sound. This has been fixed in two ways. One---the kit was not installed correctly, either misaligned or just not pushed in enough. Two---the user didn't watch my prep video and didn't have the jumpers or PAL set up correctly. Easy fix. Watch the video people and when you install the kit take your time but use firm pressure to secure the pins in the sockets.
3. Solid screens on boot. The kit will say flashing the game and then playing the game but the screen is just a solid color. Sometimes white, sometimes red or orange, etc. This USUALLY has come down to incorrect writes of the rom the the SD card. But it also can come down to the old problem with encryption bits causing the decrypted code to not run, even if boards dead for years. In that case, shorting the EXC5 component, just as you would with your B-board with phoenix roms installed from time-to-time, has fixed this issue several times. As for the SD card writes, if you use IDCs sets he released and just copy it to the root of the card you should be fine. You should have the card formatted in FAT32, a 'GAMES' folder should be in the root. And the folders for each game should be in the 'Games' folder. Each game should have a 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 file in it's folder. (NOTE: Some games do have files .01 - .12)
One other problem with the cards seems to be exclusive to the MAC user as a member of AO helped troubleshoot. It seems the MAC OS writes some unnecessary files to the SD card which confuses the write process causing the roms to load incorrectly and not boot. Here is his advice to you MAC users:
I've figured it out!! I use a Mac which uses lots of invisible files for indexing with names like ".DS_Store" which I presume confused the board when it was writing the flash memory.
In case anyone else has this issue: put the SD card back in the mac, open the terminal application and type:
Code: Select all
dot_clean /Volumes/CPS2
where CPS2 is the Volume name of the SD card.
This will remove all the hidden dot files and allow your games to flash properly
If you install the small interconnect pcb backwards the kit will act like this also since the program data will be read incorrectly from the kit.
Keep in mind we don't want anyone suiciding their pcb but we already know it is happening some. If you do not let the encyption data expire then the kit will not boot. It does not die immediately after removing the battery.
Also, if you do receive your kit damaged where it can't be used then get up with us. We WILL get you fixed up one way or another.
Take your time installing the kit. If you have any problems then just contact me. I will do my best to troubleshoot with you. Thanks to those of you who have faith in me/us and don't believe libelous statements blindly. Anyone who has done business with me knows I am a man of character. I will not be involved in anything that will screw people out of their money, including this project. Thanks again.
Hope this has been informative and has eased some minds.
BTW---there are some beautiful pictures/videos of this kit working for happy customers on AO.
![[OCEAN]](/forums/data/avatars/m/3/3230.jpg?1616271689){kind=avatar}
