Problem with a repro/pirate

[chowder]

Hi guys,

I've been given a copy of Crystalis in a God Slayer cart - it works fine on the title/intro screens, but then the CHR data is all messed up in the game after you enter your name.  A famiclone gave better results (you can get in to the first town) , but some tiles were still wrong, as well as the colours.

Anyone have any idea what's going on?  I could provide pics of the PCB if that would help.



Edit: Clarified some details

[xIceMan]

Definetely looks like CHR ROM was soldered bad.
Pictures of PCB helps.

[chowder]

OK, hopefully the pictures are clear enough...

[xIceMan]

This is a chinese pirate cartridge. Most likely to work on a NOAC NES only. I have the same cart with another game that isn't booting. Will check mine, too. Probably just a few traces that need to be changed. Will let you know, if there's anything new.

[chowder]

This is a chinese pirate cartridge. Most likely to work on a NOAC NES only. I have the same cart with another game that isn't booting. Will check mine, too. Probably just a few traces that need to be changed. Will let you know, if there's anything new.

Thanks!

I did try it on a Subor (NOAC) clone - it makes it further in to the game, but it's still glitched and some tiles seem to be using the wrong palette.  The PCB is quite thick, I wonder if it's causing connection problems?

[xIceMan]

Thickness isn't a problem here but rather how CHR is wired. I'm pretty sure that /OE and /CE were mixed or it includes some kind of magic to work.

[chowder]

I take it the glob top is the pirate MMC3?  I wonder if that is to blame, I know Crystalis uses mapper IRQs pretty heavily to swap CHR banks.  Have you ever seen a pirate version of God Slayer/Crystalis before?  It seems strange they'd sell it when it doesn't work, unless someone tested it as far as the title screen and just assumed it'd be fine

[xIceMan]

Yea, mine's MMC3 at least. They do have to work somehow but I haven't had the time to check any further yet. Definetely will do tomorrow!
Post Merge: December 05, 2015, 03:04:57 am
Checked the pinout and it's confusing.

PRG A13/A14 and /CE went into the glob top.
CHR /CE was connected to cart #17.

It will most likely require some rewiring at all but no guarantee that it will work better afterwards.

[chowder]

I might try dropping the chips in to a cheap MMC3 donor cart...  I'd quite like to have this working, I love Crystalis

Thanks for looking in to it!

[xIceMan]

Good luck, if you do!

[chowder]

Good luck, if you do!

Thanks!

I think this should be a suitable board:

http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/profile.php?id=3528

[xIceMan]

Yeah, TKROM should work for it.
Just keep in mind to solder CHR and PRG accordingly:

PRG socket:
Bend up pins 1, 2, 24, 30 and 31 (or cut tracks 2, 24, 30 and 31)
Solder pin 2 to hole 24 (A16)
Solder pin 24 to GND (OE)
Solder pin 30 to hole 1 (A17)
Solder pin 31 to hole 2 (A18)
CHR socket:
Bend up pins 1, 2, 22, 24, 30, 31 (or cut tracks 2, 22, 24 and 30)
Solder pin 2 to hole 24 (A16)
Solder pin 22 to hole 31 (CE or CHR /A13)
Solder pin 24 to hole 2 (OE or CHR /RD)
Solder pin 30 to hole 1 (A17)

[chowder]

Thank you for the pinout, it matches the one I have

Looking at the board I have, the chips are mounted the other way - should I put them in the donor "upside-down"?

[xIceMan]

Huh? Pictures of your donor would help. Usually ANY TKROM board's ICs are mounted with Pin 1 to the right.
Why would you need to put them upside down? o_O

[chowder]

The donor's on Bootgod's site linked to above.  Here it is:

http://bootgod.dyndns.org:7777/imagegen.php?ImageID=9089&width=525

The orientation of the chips is different on my pirate cart:

http://postimg.org/image/r94s9asav/