Best of luck, looking forward to the final results.
That is awesome. Do you know if this would work for 3rd strike boards as well? I know there are a lot of dead ones floating around…
On a side note: Is there any type of scene in the Pittsfield area? When I was up there in October for the first time in 8 years or so, the best I could find was a broken DDR machine at the mall. 
I’ll probably be up in North Adams again this summer for a couple weeks.
This particular method will not work for SF3 or any CPS3 board. I’m sure its possible though, as the same folks have made it so 3S, etc will work in MAME - so they’ve managed to break it down somehow. I just need to figure out which end is up. Maybe I’ll pick up a dead CPS3 to play around.
Side note response:
Oh nice! I work in North Adams. In fact, I’m sitting here right now. There isn’t any scene that I know of. I used to be in the thick of it back in the 90s, when it existed. The Berkshire Mall arcade is where my cabinet for SF2T came from when I worked there. I used to frequent the Hampshire Mall in Hadley near UMass Amherst for a change in competition and to play things like any of the Alpha series.
When you’re up in North Adams, PM me. We should get some games in.
Very nice work! This can potentially be a great alternative to sending chips overseas to Raz. I can verify that at least a partial version of this method does work, as one of my chips was cracked when Raz returned it. So I had a buddy with access to one of those programming machines make a new chip to replace it with the ROM in question and all was well after that.
Looking forward to completion of the project, as I’d love to phoenix a few of my CPS2 games. :tup:
Congrats man, looks like it will work out for you in the end.
Reburned the new blank chip and VOILA. Phoenix capable, I am. I now have one perfectly working XMen VS Street Fighter arcade board. Woot. Next projects include an MvC and Alpha3!
A couple of questions if you don’t mind:
-If you had to buy another EEPROM burner for this purpose, which one would you get?
-Did the planter’s bulb work okay for you, or would you recommend a proper UV erase setup?
-Is there an available copy of MSHvsSF phoenix set?
Lastly, if you figure out how to repurpose the boards, please get ahold of me ASAP. I’d really like to make my dead MSHvsSF play something that’s actually fun.
The burner I bought just for this purpose was a Willem design, but a no name Chinese manufacturer. It was a Willem PCB3 with the DIP40 adapter, which supports less total chips for read/write than the newer ones which are apparently up to PCB5 now. Willem site does not exist anymore and the domain name is held by a squatter, so I went this route because I could find more information on it. It works fine for my purposes so far, and it was nice and cheap.
The bulb was a germicidal bulb which is not a planter’s bulb as far as I’m aware. Its much more dangerous and is used for sanitizing medical equipment, water, etc. A proper one would be much safer, but for the price I chose the germicidal type. A planter’s bulb might work, but I know for sure the germicidal type works.
As for the phoenix set for Marvel VS Street Fighter, I’ll have to check.
One thing that is holding me back from repurposing a game is the object ROMs are DIP42 and I do not currently have an adapter for this chip. I also know very little about the object ROMs but they are not the UV erase type. I have done a brief search for the part numbers listed on the chips, but came up empty handed. What I will be able to do soon though, is swap entire chipsets from board to board to test that way. Do you happen to know what revision your B board is? If you have opened it already, I’d love to see a picture or a text representation of the ‘dip switch’ solder spots.
It seems to me that all CPS-2 boards have 2 sound processor chips, up to 8 27C4096-12 program ROMs (DIP40 UV type, EPROM, XMen VS Street Fighter only has 7) and 10 object ROMs (DIP42 non UV, hopefully EEPROM) If we control the contents of the program ROMs and the object ROMs, we can put different games on in theory, provided we know the needed dip switch settings for each board.
I’ll gladly compare notes with you. I’d like to perhaps solder my board’s dip switches to match yours and try MHVSSF on mine to test the theory.
Not trying to step on anyone’s toe’s but if anyone in the UK has any CPS-2 games that need “phoenixing”, I can do it for a small fee. I’ve already done several of my own. You can either post me your dead EPROM’s and I will flash them and send them back or I can just ship you some ready flashed EPROMs to replace your old ones. PM me for price if anyone’s interested.
Since this thread is about cps2 and the phoenix process, does anybody know how to change the region settings?? Is there a hidden menu I don’t know about?
I just got a phx’d MSH and can’t find a menu like that anywhere.
Press the Test button when you see the Capcom Phoenix Edition logo to get the menu.
Neither of my boards (or the mame Phoenix roms) actually have other regions stored, so I guess this is something that has to be specially requested when it’s made? Or am I missing something?
Just tested it with my MSH board and got the Japan version running now. Dont know why yours doesn’t have the region options.
I just finished resurrecting an Alpha 3 board. This is addictive. I’ve got MVC on the way as well. Soon I’m going to attempt a full game swap to see how the slightly varying boards handle it, with different dip switch settings and with correct dip switch settings.
Most CPS2 games have the data for all regions in the ROMs, so changing regions for most games is possible with some hacking.
I personally never saw a CPS2 game that didn’t have data for all regions in the ROMs.
I think I’m starting to get this, but I want to be sure.
There is just one CPS-2 Game I always wanted to buy and collect due to the fact there has never been a real official port (and probably never will) from Capcom themselves due to so much licensing conflicts and costs. I think you know which CPS-2 game I’m talking about. It’s Alien vs. Predator.
I do not know how to Solder nor am I interested in replacing the Battery every 5 years or so just to keep the B-board operational.
Anyways, cut to the chase. From what I’ve read here so far about reviving a dead X-Men VS. Street Fighter CPS2 board, and I’m trying to figure out and learn how to do this right before I spend any money at all.
So these are the requirements for making a CPS2 Suicide Free board, and correct me if I’m wrong, I did pay attention to almost all of the details mentioned:
-EPROM Burner (You used the Willem PCB3 with a DIP40 adapter if I recalled you mentioned it earlier)
-EPROM Eraser (You said UV rays from sunlight or an UV bulb would do fine)
-additional Blank EPROMs (In case some are bad or have other misc flashing issues, probably wouldn’t be necessary, but good to get a few just in case?)
-the Phoenix edition roms for reflashing the B-Board’s original EPROMS. (These aren’t legal to distribute freely so I’m NOT asking where to find and download these)
There is just one thing confused me when I researched Phoenix Editon roms for the CPS2 game.
Since I live in the US, I’m only interested in USA revision of CPS2 boards.
However, from what I’ve read about over at LogiqX’s Catalogue of Arcade Emulation Software
http://caesar.logiqx.com (Don’t worry this
website have no copyrighted material).
Most of the Phoenix versions are of the Euro region according according to Logiqx’s catalogue.
So does that mean you would need the correct region specific version USA phoenixed CPS2 rom for an original USA CPS2 EPROM?
Any idea on this one or it wouldn’t matter at all? Or are they universal? I’m guessing they are universal because I keep reading it has a Region switch so all regions of the same game is supported?
I.E. a suicided Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams USA Revision B-Board would still use the Euro 950727 Phoenix Edition files to fix, as I don’t see a USA revision listed anywhere in his catalogue.
Other requirements you never mentioned is you would also need a way of disconnecting the EPROMs from the board.
I’ve read that an IC Puller should do the job but I don’t know how much it would cost.
And of course a computer and the EPROM flashing software, and the original CPS-B Board of the game you want to make Suicide-Proof, but that’s common sense.
I don’t want to steal the thunder from the OP, but Jammaboards is selling a consolidated board of CPS-2 games, including AvP. I have one of these and I’m loving it so far. The roms are all phoenixed and I can confirm that region setting is supported for every title I’ve tried it on so far. If you’re willing to spend a few bucks to pick up a bunch of otherwise impossible to find games, this could be a great option.
I have just been playing with one myself as I already have all the required hardware but have run into problems.
The board is an Asia Marvel vs Capcom. I removed proms 03 04 & 07 and flashed then with the USA Phoenix Edition roms which verified fine… but no joy still blank green screen on power up.
Do I only need to do those 3 proms, as they are all thats included in the set and will the USA version work on the ASIA board, using the region settings on the phoenix edition ?
I have also read about removing batteries,cutting tracks and linking +5v on the encryption chips… when does this come into play ?
Oh so tempting and it solves so many of the problems I have with buying CPS-2 games on their own! I’m concerned about dead boards and worn out PCB’s. An all-in-one is the way to go.
You sir have earned (in the words of my broadcasting school instructor) an “A” for the day!
Thanks much for pointing out this deal.
The Marvel games and Alphas are faves. Darkstalkers 2/Nightwarriors is my favorite and so nice to see it on the list!
It only lacks Marvel Super Heroes. God knows that game and X-Men: COTA never had arcade-perfect ports! The other Capcom CPS-2 games got excellent/arcade-perfect ports on the Saturn and Dreamcast.
(I’m finding that the PS3 port of MvC2 is also excellent – go for the Dreamcast/Naomi version for perfection, though.)
I hope you purchased the images off Razoola honestly. As he is the one that figured out the Encryption on CPS2 and is the founder of the Phoenix coding. He will sell people Phoenix Images showing proof of legitimate ownership of that actual game as he has not himself shared them for free at all. The ones dumped in MAME are not from him.
Razoola offers a Phoenix Service, the money goes towards all the effort and money he put into the process. So others offering these services unless having full permission from Razoola are just taking away from his work. Also not all those Phoenix dumps in MAME are correct.
Converting a CPSII game is retarded… Why you ask? Those 42pin Roms are Masked, aka one time burn. The replacement Eproms are too expensive and not worth converting. Which is why most of the boots out there are Progear no Arashi.
There is more to the conversion process than ppl think and I’ll leave it at that.
There’s my 2 cents take it as you will…
Sorted… Got my Xmen vs Streetfighter all up n running now.