Star Ocean

I have this wierd issue with Star Ocean, first I thought I didn't burn the rom properly but luckily I had a second Snes already hooked up and it works fine on it.

I start the game on the affected Snes, Enix logo comes up as it should, then the Tri-Ace then I get this (see attached image) and no sound. The game freezes on that screen.


I guess the next step would be to open up both consoles and check the CPU model, etc but I thought I'd ask if anyone else has come across this issue.

I cannot test this game on a US-Snes Jr. as I have already converted it to PAL by lifting PIN 82 and connecting it to VCC on the S-DD1 chip and the Action Replay M3 doesn't work with this game, even before I started modding it.

Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the affected Snes can play any other game I throw on it, and never had any problems with it so far. Been playing Super Mario RPG on it, Yoshi's Island 2. I tried with both SCART and Composite cables too

 

A PAL SNES has a slightly slower system clock than the NTSC SNES. I know that the game shows glitches if you try to play it on a PAL SNES.
(Side note: a 50/60Hz modded 1Chip-PAL-SNES has the system clock of a NTSC SNES in 60Hz mode, where 3Chip-SNES does not change the system clock with 50/60Hz.)

 

Appreciate your input
I was expecting some irregularities as the game was meant to be played at 60 Hz, but we're talking two unmodded PAL Snes consoles, one works fine other one doesn't

 

The problem isn't the clock. The problem is the 50Hz vertical interrupt which disturbs the ratio of VBLANK time the game engine expects to have. That cause synchronization errors. But of course that only matters if the game is programmed with a "chase the raster beam" mentality. Which is not the case with most games.

 

I tested this a long, long time ago. Let me guess, this is a 1CHIP board you're testing with, right?

It's a DMA issue that effects certain revisions of 1CHIP main-boards, but not all of them. Something in that translation..

1CHIP:


2PPU:

 

That's interesting to know.

 

Star Ocean is one of my fav games on SFC. Played it in japanese back in the days. Also tested on a SNES jr with bortis mod, work perfect. Start playing the ps4 part, not bad...

I remember that it only works on 1chip PAL with a fire adapter and 60Hz mod.

 

Many thanks voultar!
For some reason I thought I didn't have a 1CHIP but based on your video the freeze is in the exact spot and looks the same too!
Going to have to open up the console and check.
I have never played the game before but looking forward to it. Tales of Phantasia is one of my favourite games on Snes and seeing how Star Ocean uses the same engine makes me want to play it even more

 

Confirmed, it is a 1CHIP Snes

 

Indeed it is.

 

No problem with this game. It works fine on a first revision SFC and several PAL SNES, including 1Chip revisions. (The 1Chip had a SuperCIC mod.)

 

Can you be more specific, you have more than one 1CHIP Snes and all of them work or just the SuperCIC modded one?
I am talking about a reproduction here not the original Japanese version

 

There aren't any compatibility issues with the OG Japanese ROM.

There's something in the English translation. A funny write to memory somewhere that flogs it up on certain 1CHIP revisions.

 

Thanks for the clarification voultar

 

Ah, this is what you meant. It's a problem with the translation patch ;p
@Pikmin One console has a S-CIC fitted, the other I think I just cleverly bypassed the CIC protection.
It was a hack just like lifting and grounding CIC Pin 4, just way more involved.

 

I went back to this one and had another go. Ended up using a 22uF tantalum cap but still freezes on 1CHIP Snes. Then by accident when I was swapping the caps the GND on the vreg wasn't actually connected, however the cap was still going from VOUT to GND.
To my surprise the game now works fine. Should I be worried that GND is not connected?
I played it for 30 mins without any issues

 

You mean the SNES 7805 isn't grounded? That would be a big problem for your console. It can't stay like that.

 

Did you convert a NTSC-J cart with a 3.3V EEPROM?

 

I'm not talking about the console voltage regulator but the voltage regulator for the MX eeprom
http://www.mmmonkey.co.uk/star-ocean-translated-cart/
zzattack yes, I was following the guide above

 

From my experience, the 1117 doesn't give as clean of a Vout as some other regulators. There's some kind of spike which I think is attributed to a sound effect at the point where your game crashes. That, combined with using a 3.3V part where the supply pins get 3.3V but data lines still operate on 5V seems to glitch the EEPROM, causing the game to crash.
I've had 100% success with my method using a TC1262 and small 10uF cap on Vout (but to be honest my sample size isn't very large, maybe 10 pcs), for what it's worth.
Better still would be to use an adapter for a 27C322 or use a 100% new board instead.