Bacteria's multi-console system project : UNITY

Here it is:

 

Psycho Pinball is indeed an amazing game!

You should be able to remove any jailbars if you have them, by lifting pin 50 on the VDP.

 

Oh, thanks a lot. Yes, there is a faint showing of jailbars still, tried using capacitors, composite instead of C-Sync for the RGB, didn't help.

Which is the VDP chip please? I presume it's the one middle top in picture or middle below - or is it the long chip on the right under the blue wires?

I'll try this later and if it cures the issue i'll give a "like".

 

No problem. It's the one called 315-5313

More info with screens here:
http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/megadrive-1-cxa1645-mod.32194/page-10

 

Nice progress on the system. Let's hope you won't need a day one patch for it, like Assassins Creed Unity

 

Lifted pin 50, had a very thin needle which did the job. It didn't seem to make much difference but I think did make a marginal difference. I'm not getting vertical jailbars at all, just very slight and faint diagonal lines, not that noticeable. On the Wii, can't see any issues at all so shows I must have enough grounding presumably. Mind you, hard to be critical to that degree, after all the hardware is nearly 30 years old, and designed for far smaller televisions, and CRT too; the fact one can get such a crisp image using a cheap HDMI upscaler on a modern television using an old console is pretty great IMO.

Gave a "like", I appreciate help when offered, so thanks.

 

You're welcome. I haven't seen diagonal lines on my Mega Drive, so I can't offer much help there. I would suspect it to be a grounding issue, but if you're not seeing it on the Wii, then maybe not. Perhaps your Mega Drive needs a cap change soon?

 

I would also think it is grounding, I had to add better grounding as the Wii originally gave considerable diagonal lines on the video, which I cured with an additional console>HDMI grounding wire. It didn't make difference to the MegaDrive but made a huge difference to the Wii. It may well be capacitor therefore although none seem to be leaking or bulging so nothing visible, and there are loads of capacitors so hard to know which one it would be. Image is 95% great, so can live with it quite fine.

 

General update.

Installed the Wii into a cartridge, it's 40mm tall instead of 30mm as per all the other systems; unavoidable - it was either 30mm tall and 30mm wider or same width and 10mm taller, so took that option. The front of the cartridge needs making as I need to make various holes including for the disc. Installed fan holes for air-out, need to put on the cartridge top and install fan on top for air-in. I will then test the system to make sure it all works not only for the game (Wario) in the system at the moment but also for Wii Fit as that's what my wife wants to use, and that's a good test for the wifi too.

With any luck i'll be doing that over the weekend, if all works fine then i'll be able to post a video back end of next week hopefully.

 

I had the Wii balancing on its side while doing some work and the console dropped onto its back. System didn't work after that. Turns out when i'd removed the voltage line from the motherboard and damaged the top trace in the process, which i'd sorted, the solder joint wasn't as strong as it should have been, so the voltage line to the ceramic capacitor was severed. Rigged up another wire to resolve and the Wii kicked into life again.

Tested the Wii cartridge then in the base unit on my main 65" television, the graphics look lovely. Spent an hour and a half playing Wario Shake Dimension. The fan i'd installed above the heatsinks certainly shifts the air around, fan makes a bit of a noise but went quieter after a while, probably as the fan I used hadn't been used for years so needed to lubricate.

So, my wife can play her Wii Fit now.

 

Are you using the emi sheilding on the Megadrive

 

What/where is the emi shielding? If you're referring to shielding needed for the RF box you get on many old consoles, I remove the RF boxes anyway as not needed.

 

He's talking about the shielding that covers the entire mobo.

 

The original shielding was required by FCC but can be removed and left off in 99% of the cases.

 

Indeed, the shielding is more down to regulations than anything useful. I do remove RF sections if on a board though.

 

The Japanese Mega Drives doesn't have this shield either. I've tried adding one from a European Mega Drive, just to see if it made any difference in picture quality (back before we had the jailbar fix), but of course it didn't

 

you are having something interfere with the upscaler...
FCC laws are there for this very reason, "device should not cause interference with other devices".... among other reasons

more than likely the shielding won't help in this case but you can't disprove something because you think you know better.. :/

You have a whole bunch of lines (wires) crossing each other, you may have to rewire or re-rout and maybe use shielded wire for everything to do with video (the thin coax used in laptops for WiFi is great for this kind of thing)

 

I'm using shielded cable for the video lines; using a controller cable from a PlayStation which has plenty of wires inside and also a metal stranded shielding around the casing; both ends are connected to ground on the motherboard. The only part which isn't shielded is the 3cm length between the connections on the JAMMA board and the HDMI upscaler.

The fact the faint lines reduce after the console is on for a short while probably indicates old capacitors (otherwise it would be consistent), however all look fine, no leaks or bulging; so no idea which ones might be the issue. It might be the MegaDrive 2 is better than MegaDrive 1; not sure; but had the board already prepared so used it. The lines are faint so ok.

Not getting any interference with the other consoles used so far; however the MegaDrive is the oldest system in Unity at this point, although there will be consoles older which are going to be installed soon in the system. (The old Project Unity shakes at this point as it knows its imminent fate, lol).

 

Having to make casing a bit more differently to the others as i'll need to get the front portion off in order to do any future repairs if needed; also having to accommodate the DVD insertion area to the case front. Taking longer to do than anticipated, also been installing an artificial hedge on our terrace, which is also taking longer to do than anticipated (which is causing a delay on finishing the Wii). I have made half the Wii video, will do rest next week and upload it.