TECH: New Zealand Story

[mikenemonic]

Hello all teckies,

I have just got hold of a NZS board set consisting main board + daughter board approx. 1/3 size of main board. 2 ribbon cables connect the two boards. There are 2 Z80 CPU's.

Q1. Is this an original board or bootleg ? There are no manufacturers markings.

Q2. Does anybody know a link to the manual on the web

Q3. Same as above for schematic.

The board seems to work ok but the lower two bits of DIP switch A are always read as on. This is most inconvenient as this inverts the screen. My monitor doesn't like being mounted upside down. Is seems that the DIP switches are read through a port on the Yamaha sound chip YM2203? If this is the case then it looks like it needs replacing. The sound system seems to work OK so the data bus must be good

Are there any NZS experts out there ? Any useful comments? Can any other games run of this hardware ? RSVP

Mike Mnemonic

01327 842803

 

[PaulSwan]

Re: [ukvac] TECH: New Zealand Story
Mike,

Check the DIP switches are actually working (with a multimeter). They
may be the cause of the problem.

Regards,

Paul.

> Mike Mnemonic wrote:
>
> Hello all teckies,
> I have just got hold of a NZS board set consisting main board +
> daughter board approx. 1/3 size of main board. 2 ribbon cables connect
> the two boards. There are 2 Z80 CPU's.
>

<snip>

>
> Mike Mnemonic
> 01327 842803

 

[mikenemonic]

Mike,

I have a NZ Story board that sounds the same as yours (It is a bootleg), Far bigger than the original that I also have. Funny thing is the screen is flipped on mine too as well as the sound being distorted.

Hello Cliff.

I've been robbed. It is a bootleg. The 'broken DIP switches' have a track on the PCB that joints the two sides of the switch. PCB error I thought. I cut the tracks. DIP switches now read OK. But the bastards haven't implemented the logic for the display inversion. Nearly works but not quite. Argh.





Mike Mnemonic

01327 842803

 

[d-type]

RE: [ukvac] TECH: New Zealand Story
Mike,

Can you get around this by putting some big switches between the monitor
chassis PCB and the coils around the tube? Some of my Hantarex's have these
already fitted, and using them I can invert/swap about any game PCB picture
to fit.

(Tip: Don't switch these over whilst the monitor is ON, it hurts.)

Phillip Eaton (D-Type/Flip-Flop)
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[cliff_poole]

Mike,

I have a NZ Story board that sounds the same as yours (It is a bootleg), Far bigger than the original that I also have. Funny thing is the screen is flipped on mine too as well as the sound being distorted.

Cliff.