New Master System Mod: Use Start as Pause, IGR and much more

Well, I must admit I expected a bit more enthusiasm . Is everyone on holidays? Too hard to install?

 

I'm really reammy sorry but my work weeks gone like hell (6AM to 8PM, 14 hours a day).
So is my week-end, as i have to do all what i can't do the week (i have wife, children, garden, and house to take care of).
But i can assure you that i have great regard for you and your work (and your attention 'bout picky people like me ^^)
I have the Master System, the nano, just have to free some spare time...

 

same here, I monitor the thread but had some serious issues to deal with the last month or so... I'll get back on track once cooler days come once again, soon
really interesting to install this, just need a clear mind to do so

 

OK OK, no problem!

I was just afraid that the release announcement had gone unnoticed among the other messages. No real hurries, I must relax a bit too, anyway!

 

I too am extremely interested and thankful for the work you've put into this. However, I've been waiting for others to test and figure out the installation due to my lack of time at the moment and lack of experience with the arduino platform.

This is huge...it's just going to take a little while to take off.

 

Yeahn that's 'bout the same for me. I need to clear some other matters before, in order to stay focused while setting up your mod

 

Well, Arduino is "microcontrollers made easy", so there's really no reason to be scared of it . As I've already said elsewhere, it all boils down to: 1. Get a board, Nano is ideal for this application; 2. Install the Arduino software; 3. Load my sketch; 4. Connect the board; 5. Hit Upload. Then it's just a matter of soldering all the wires.

If you don't know which Arduino to get, post some links where you can get it from and I'll tell you if they're good or not. You can either use an original Nano or get a clone for less than 2€/$2!

 

'llo here !
I finally took time to play a bit with your work.
First i wanted to say that i REALLY like your work. This Arduino system is so easy to use and tweak... a pleasure !

I wanted to add for newbie (like me that to be able to flash your Nano, you must choose the good COM port in the "Tool" menu. It may seem obvious for some, but 'twas not for me.

So i tweaked my MegaDrive first, change the color to match my taste (red for US, yellow for JAP and green for EUR), dimmed the red for the yellow to be more yellow. So easy with Sukkopera's code

Then i set up my MasterSystem... and the issues begun...
I did all the trace cut, wired all the pins... once i was 'bout doing the traces (IC pins), i realized that my IC was not the same. Its reference is 315-5216 ( http://www.smspower.org/Development/IOCtrlPinouts ) instead of 315-5237 ( http://www.smspower.org/forums/7981-3155237TechnicalLong ), and it doesn't have the same pinout (not even the same pin number).
Ah... bad luck...
Reading the two internet pages above, i could find most of the pins i had to connect, with a bit of doubt for the 515-5237 pin33 (noted as *VCC in the 515-5237 pinout, i choose the 32 one for 515-5216... don't laugh).
Once everything was soledered, checking the nano pinout, i realised that i didn't use some pads :
- Pause/Reset IN, but i choose this way
- Controller Type Out... bwhere the hell is it going ? i didn't find out... we'll see

Time to turn on the beast.. black screen :/
i'll be short 'bout the troubleshooting that took too much time for what it needed... it appears that pin32 is not the good one. When it's soldered back to its nomral set up, the console works great, with the mod enabled. GoOod !

So my summary :
- i couldn't find the Controller Type Out connection... i may have missed something.
- i could do almost the whole mod, i mean i have the Pause function (yeah) and the 50/60Hz mode (yeaAAah). All the function of the controller works normally.
- when i use the pin32 of my IC4 for the reset function, i have a black screen.
- i used a Sega MEGAFire controller (offical turbo pad for MegaDrive) for my test. Everything worked as expected.
- i couldn't use a Master System controller. When i use an original MasterSystem controller, the controller is not working normally, and it was as if the Start button (button 1) was still pressed (the Start screen of Sonic is skipped, and Sonic jump once). The "Up" direction, and the two buttons don't work ; but Left, Right and Down work.
- when the console is turned On without controller, it behaves as if a Button Start (button 1) was pressed (i mean, Start screen skipped, Sonic jump once).

And i wanted to add that i drilled a hole for my fancy dual LED... LIKE IT !

I'll tru to investigate a bit more 'bout my work.
See ya later

EDIT : i forgot to add that at first i used a capacitor's legs to power the Nano... it didn't work. I use now tha transistor's leg.

A few pics of the install :

 

So that's an SMS2 with a different I/O controller... Weird, I thought they all had the 5237, judging from what I'd read around. It might be an early SMS2, since the 5216 should be the chip that was used in the original SMS. EDIT: Uhm, no: your console has a date of 15/5/93, mine says 11/8/92!

Because of this difference, you should have stopped and asked here before doing any work, though!

Nevermind, I'm going to review what you did and will report back. Just a few quick notes:
- Controller Type Out does not need to be connected anywhere at the moment . It's there for a future update that will support the Sports Pad too.
- Pause/Reset In allows you to change the video mode from the Pause/Reset button. It's not mandatory if you don't want to be able to do that.

Here are more notes:

- Your led is wired weirdly: you have a resistor on the red pin (0) and one on the ground pin. The latter should be moved to the green pin (1).
- The wires you soldered to the 5216 for the controller outputs are correct.
- It seems that pin 32 is where the 5216 takes its power! Some people mention in other posts that the reset pin is pin 22: could you please try that one?
- This is something I have to put on the wiki in bold, since I don't think I ever mentioned it: the controller type is only detected when you turn on the console. So you cannot switch between a MD pad and an SMS pad without turning the console off. Can you please try that again, making sure to power cycle the console after you have plugged in the SMS pad?
- You took power for the Nano from the voltage regulator (which is not a transistor ), which is perfectly fine.

 

hey, you're around
A few answers :
- my LED is wired as follow : a 220Ohms resistor for the middle pin just like this description :http://assemblergames.com/l/threads/megadrive-new-switchless-region-igr-mod.61273/page-3#post-885845 i must admit i don't know why there is this resistor. The other one is a 390Ohms for the Red line to dim it a bit (and i think i'll add more resistance as it's a bot too bright, like the green ).
- correct 'bout that pin32 (that's why i asked people not to laugh... in the 515-5237 description, the pin33 you use is noted as " *VCC", meaning it's tied to VCC, but not it's must be the VCC input, like i ddi for my setup. I'll try the pin22, hopefully today but not sure (and those damn pins are so painful to desolder :/)
- i already tried with the Master System controller connected BEFORE turning On the console. I made many mods (well, by made, i mean set in my console, not invented ), and i'm aware of those kind of no-issues.
- thank you for the detail : a power regulator. So don't take power from a capacitor !

 

- As I mentioned in the MD++ thread, it's not a good practice to put a single resistor on the GND (cathode) line. You should have two resistors on the two led anodes. This way it's also easier to balance the colors.
- Yup, I understand why you chose pin 32, the way it's written on the 5237 page is a bit misleading. Hopefully pin 22 will be the correct one. Note that since on that page it is mentioned to not be connected to anything (NC), you don't even have to desolder it from the board, but please check that it's true .
- So it does NOT behave correctly when an SMS pad is plugged in since power-on. This is very very weird. Would you please try again, just to make sure that the problem persists?
- Well, you can also take power from a capacitor if it's connected between Vcc and GND, but not all capacitors are used like that. If you get power straight from the regulator you can't be wrong .

Do you mind if I use some of your pictures (with credits) to make a new page on the wiki for your board revision?

 

GOOD FOR THE 22 PIN ! Yeaahhh !
But i cut it flush to mobo, and didn't make more test.
Do I have to remove the common resistor ?
i tried again with a SMS controller and still the same behavior : it seems that the button 1 is pressed, the intro screen is skipped and Sonic jump once. Left, Down, Right work normally, Up and both buttons don't.
No problem for the pics

 

Ok, great for pin 22! This also helps A LOT in getting SMS++ working on the original SMS too, since it should always have the 5216!

Well, if the led works fine for you, don't touch it, but keep it in mind for future installations. I usually use 220 ohm for the red leg and 680 ohm for the blue leg.

I will try and understand what's going on with the SMS pad. Can you keep your SMS open so that I can send you some firmware updates for the Nano for you to test? Do you have your PC close to the SMS, so that you can keep it connected through USB while you turn the SMS on?

PS: Thanks for the pics!

 

Yeah, it could be possible, but maybe not this afternoon

 

Definitely not this afternoon... It's quite late here in Italy, actually .

So, here's a wiki page with details on the installation on IC BD M4Jr.2M: https://github.com/SukkoPera/SMSPlusPlus/wiki/IC-BD-M4Jr.2M.

Thanks a lot @MoockyLoock, it wouldn't have been possible without your effort. By the way, where are you from? From a PAL or NTSC region?

I will look into the SMS pad issue ASAP.

 

'llo here !
I'm from France, so PAL zone; and even SECAM for real oldies :]

 

My target platform range is wider. That might not be the case for them all. I found an octal switch with SPI control that makes switching all 7 lines to passthrough easy with only a few pins.

I'm looking at removing the filters and connecting the mod to the main board with a few rows of pins. It would require tweaking for some models but would mean a lot less wires to solder. I don't see it so much as easier as cleaner but maybe something to consider.

 

What do you mean with that? What other platforms are you interested in? Also, would you mind sharing the part number of the octal SPI switch?

Removing the filters would avoid having to cut the traces, but I don't see how that would reduce the number of wires to solder. There will still be one wire per controller port pin, and one wire per I/O controller pin. Maybe you mean that soldering pins is easier than soldering wires, in that case I can agree, but it also makes the mod somewhat more prone to accidental disconnections, plus you need a lot of jumper wires!

I'm also unsure how that would work with the needed inline resistors since, IIRC, those are after the filters.

@MoockyLoock: Ohhh, bonjour . Does your SMS2 have native RGB output? I think that is a requirement in France!

 

Yes, most of the console here were available with RGB / SCART cable, sometime as an option ; since NES ages (well, some older console like Colecovision had SCART RGB) to WiiU/XBOX360 (don't know for XOne, or PS4).
NES had real SCART but not RGB, N64 had RCA/CINCH through SCART.
Since, well, GameCube, those RGB cable were sold seperately (money...)

EDIT : if wanted/needed, i'm connected on IRC all work day (well, currently, it's 'bout 6AM to 19-20PM).

 

Nice, here in the '80s the most common way to hook consoles and home computers up to the TV was via the antenna cable, which was very crappy. The only alternative often was via RCA composite video, but even that was not so common, since it often required special cables that weren't easily available on the market.

The SMS2 is pretty lame, since it ONLY has an antenna output. Luckily the RGB signals are easily available on the video chip, so it's only the matter of adding a proper connector, but still it requires a mod :/.

I'll try to get in touch with you on IRC tonight when I get home from work, if I'm not too tired .