Sega Racing Hero - big problem after RAM CLEAR

[ChrisMarquee]

Heyhey,

I just fixed my Racing Hero cab (Sega X Board) with the KIT from Sega Resurrection and it worked perfectly!

I completed every stage... no issues.

The next day i started the TEST MODE (crt adjustment, input test and stuff).

Stupid me... i enabled the BACKUP RAM CLEAR.

[font="Roboto, arial, sans-serif"]It should have cleared the highscore and booking stuff but it messed up the hole game....[/font]

Now the motorbike is stuck in the middle of the road. All the inputs still work. I can accelerate, slow down, i see the animation for steering left and right but i cant swap lanes. A ghost has taken control and leads me arround corners... while im stuck on the middle of the street (like a carrera race circuit for kids).

Why i enabled BACKUP RAM CLEAR? I hate my life...

Maybe someone has an idea?

(sorry for that english)

 

[Ace`]

I don't know this game but it sounds like you have it set on easy, or some other setting needs changing. The problem sounds to weird to be a fault or corrupt settings.

 

[dj_yt]

Just guessing but it *could* be a bug with the decrypted rom set you are using, relating to the state of backup ram.

Have you tried the decrypted romset on MAME to see if you can replicate the behaviour? If you leave the board off for long enough, so the saved ram resets to its default state, does the problem go away?

dj_yt2017-01-05 23:56:12

 

[ChrisMarquee]

Have you tried the decrypted romset on MAME to see if you can replicate the behaviour? If you leave the board off for long enough, so the saved ram resets to its default state, does the problem go away?

With my romset for MAME i wasnt able to replicate it. I uploaded a clip now. It shows the MAME emulation first and how it suposed to be and after that my Cab with the bug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h078tXxkIDg

ChrisMarquee2017-01-06 11:20:02

 

[Ace`]

Looks like a calibration problem but the game doesn't seem to allow you to calibrate, I cannot find a manual to confirm this though. If you've got an eprom programmer and some blank eproms it might be worth trying the decrypted version on www.jammarcade.net.

 

[ChrisMarquee]

Unfortunatly its not just a calibration problem. I cant crash into the side of the road. A Magnet is holding me back to the middle of the road.



[font="Arial, sans-serif"]I dont have a eprom programmer and i just recieved decrypted eproms and the fd1094 from sega resurrection.[/font]

I should send the board to someone skilled i think.

ChrisMarquee2017-01-06 11:35:38

 

[dj_yt]

That is really strange.

I would personally suspect a software problem, given you can see the controls registering in the test menu.

What is the deal with Sega Resurrection? Do they just pinch porchy's roms and sell them for profit?

 

[ChrisMarquee]

That is really strange.
What is the deal with Sega Resurrection? Do they just pinch porchy's roms and sell them for profit?

This guy (Chris) is doing this for over 10 years i think. He said its the second KIT (2 eproms and the 68000-12) for Racing Hero he ever sold + shipping from New Zealand is 13.45 dollar. Its a hobby and not for profit i think.

I kind of swapped the FD1094 with a 680000-12 cpu without suicide battery. It worked fine but now...

Just hard to contact him. I hope he replies soon and can help.

 

[Ace`]

They're his own decrypted roms, different to the ones porchy is hosting. The problem with the sega resurrection roms is that they won't be as well tested as the free ones because obviously a lot more people download and use the free ones.

I'm sure if you email Chris he will sort it out, he used to be a member here I don't know if he is now though.

 

[porchy]

Yes Chris has been supplying his own ROM's for many years.

Runik's decrypted ROM's were created because he had trouble getting a reply from segaresurrection when he wanted to buy a set.

As far as I know he was the first to do this too.

 

[dj_yt]

It would be interesting to compare Chris' roms with Runik's ones - maybe there's a difference?
(Side note: Too many people called Chris in this thread, including myself!)

To the OP: It might be worth investing in a cheap EPROM programmer and programming one of the ROMs on http://www.jammarcade.net

You can buy a programmer very cheaply these days.

 

[martin8or]

Backup ram clear is a switch or jumper that you activate to clear battery backed non volatile ram?
If so when did you clear the ram, when the machine was switched on?

It could be that you have corrupt data in there. Switch the machine off and clear the ram, then put the switch/jumper back how it was and power it up.

If there's no obvious calibration routine then maybe powering up with a certain button pressed would access something like this?
Sounds like it's in a demo mode of some sort. If there was something wrong with the roms I would be very surprised if it would work at all.

 

[ChrisMarquee]

Backup ram clear is a switch or jumper that you activate to clear battery backed non volatile ram?
If so when did you clear the ram, when the machine was switched on?

I used the option CLEAR BACKUP RAM in the TEST MODE menue while the mashine was switched on.

There is no switch for this on the board.

I already changed difficulty settings for time and game but it didnt solved the problem.

You can buy a programmer very cheaply these days.

I have no idea about this, do you suggest a programmer for 32 pin eprom on ebay? Do you have a link?

ChrisMarquee2017-01-07 14:14:46

 

[junofirstman]

Hi guys. (Said in my best Marvin voice)

Been a while since I posted on ukvac. Good to see some familiar names still posting.

I've been away on holiday so I've only just seen Chris's post and email. (It's summer on the other side of the world).

I'm back tomorrow so will get to the bottom of it them.

One of the interesting things about Racing Hero is the original coder put in some checks in case the Sega name or the programmers name got changed. It plays normally but the palette for the road,etc gets randomly changed. Very psychedelic. (This isn't what's happening though). The region variable is a string that's either megadrive or genesis.

I doubt there's an issue with the decryption, as these fd1094 games all have data/code markers built in rather than being hand decrypted.

If there is a fault with the code I'll send Chris new eproms.

Chris (yeah, confusing ain't it)

 

[dj_yt]

Hi Junoman! Interestinng to hear about those protection mechanisms you mention.

Programmer... I recommend something like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/High-Speed-TL866CS-Universal-USB-MiniPro-Programmer-EEPROM-FLASH-AVR-GAL-ect-/171381826934?hash=item27e7272576:g:2I0AAOSwo8hToWix

I wonder if there is some additional protection to disable the controls in-game in some circumstances. Sega have done weird things like this before, like the 'free extra life' in Space Harrier when the protection was disabled. I didn't notice it when patching it first time round as MAME was broken also and exhibited this behaviour.

 

[ChrisMarquee]

I've been away on holiday so I've only just seen Chris's post and email. (It's summer on the other side of the world).

I didnt wanted to put stress on you (but thanks for the fast replay^^). Enjoy your holidays and the summer (damn its snowing HORIZONTAL right now in berlin...)

I doubt there's an issue with the decryption, as these fd1094 games all have data/code markers built in rather than being hand decrypted.

If there is a fault with the code I'll send Chris new eproms.

Everything was working fine for the first 2 days till i decided to enter test mode and to enable backup ram clear. It doesnt make sense.. or could the RAM somehow cause this problem ?

Chris(toph^^)

 

[junofirstman]

I just tried both Dion/Porchy roms in mame and also my decrypted ones and I can't get the issue to happen in mame.

The only differences between my version is a difference of opinion on one byte data vs code, (nop after the end of a subroutine so doesn't matter), and different ways of handling the rom test crc values, so that puts that issue to bed.

It's definitely strange what the board is doing. The game should auto calibrate the max and minimum steering values.

When you go into the test mode and check the inputs, what are the values for full left and full right on the steering?

edit: Just watched the video and see that's what you have done...... investigating....

edit2: The steering *is* working, that's why the bike is changing to left and right. Check the dip-switch screen. Maybe there is a debug dip-switch you've accidentally changed.

Chris

Junoman2017-01-16 09:26:20

 

[junofirstman]

There's a hidden/service/secret input that makes the game center the bike. Fire up mame and TAB, then Input (this game), and assign a key to the 'Center' input.

When you hold that down while playing the bike will stay centered like the video.

So, it's not the decrypted roms, rather more a input issue. Something is grounding the pin used for the usually disconnected Center input. Its on the same port as the Service and test button. Maybe the connector was moved off by one when Christoph was going into the service menu.

Check the connectors, both outside and inside the cage.

Chris (Juno)

 

[junofirstman]

Best way to diagnose the issue is using the Afterburner schematics and the Thunder Blade manual since there are no Racing Hero manuals online.

Thunder Blade

After Burner

The IO is on the 50 pin IDE connector which goes to the cage and connects to the buttons via a 20 pin JST connector on the outside of the cage. Check that is seated correctly.

Chris

 

[dj_yt]

Some good detective work there!