Dragon's Lair quirks and Dexter Ghosting on video

mikelee74

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I was able to get my Dragon's Lair back from teh dead after 20 years of owning it. As I finally got it to boot up, I noticed some odd quirks now. I'm playing this off a small 13" monitor sitting on the floor since my brand new K4900 had a cracked neck tube out of the box.

1. I first used the LDV6010A that worked back in 2004 but now has an odd issue of dropping the audio after random intervals. I was just playing the disc to check for laser rot and player functionality when I noticed the audio drops. The video keeps playing, but if I hit the play button, the audio comes back but will drop out randomly. Hitting the play button will bring it back.

2. My two LDV8000 do not want to spin up, not even standalone. I would venture to guess either the servo is shot or the power supplying them are shot. Either way, it's strange and a bummer that all 3 of my players are essentally dead.

3. I did purchase a Dexter back in 2016 during it's initial run and decided that may be my option for getting my DL up and running. I was able to get it to boot my RevC board, but it would not play nice with my original RevA unmodified board. The strange thing about my Dexter, after running it through the main board, the video is ghosted and not clean, like it's doubled/shadowed behind itself. When I powered it up outside of the cabinet to do teh initial setup of the Dexter OS and it played the video footage, it was clean. I remember seeing a post about this but cannot find it to save my life. I know support for this is no longer a thing as I asked Matt already about different things but wanted to see if anyone recalls that post?

4. The next very odd thing is the game itself. It's a RevC running a 4 chip romset. The odd thing about this is that after teh attract mode finishes up, it says "insert 4 coins for x Dirks." These roms aren't even supposed to have 4 coins as an option for the DIPs. I can get it to flip from 3 Dirks to 5 Dirks with the DIPs but nothing changes it from the 4 coins. I suspect maybe gummed up ROMs or something. I'm game to swap the DIP packages but don't think it's that.

5. The next odd thing is with the above and Dexter, the Attract mode is playing the DLE footage with that one eyed pig and plays the drawbridge scene when starting a new game, which it should not be doing. NOTHING I do can get a correct response to pass the stage. Again, suspect bad ROMs.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
 
I was able to get my Dragon's Lair back from teh dead after 20 years of owning it. As I finally got it to boot up, I noticed some odd quirks now. I'm playing this off a small 13" monitor sitting on the floor since my brand new K4900 had a cracked neck tube out of the box.

1. I first used the LDV6010A that worked back in 2004 but now has an odd issue of dropping the audio after random intervals. I was just playing the disc to check for laser rot and player functionality when I noticed the audio drops. The video keeps playing, but if I hit the play button, the audio comes back but will drop out randomly. Hitting the play button will bring it back.

2. My two LDV8000 do not want to spin up, not even standalone. I would venture to guess either the servo is shot or the power supplying them are shot. Either way, it's strange and a bummer that all 3 of my players are essentally dead.

3. I did purchase a Dexter back in 2016 during it's initial run and decided that may be my option for getting my DL up and running. I was able to get it to boot my RevC board, but it would not play nice with my original RevA unmodified board. The strange thing about my Dexter, after running it through the main board, the video is ghosted and not clean, like it's doubled/shadowed behind itself. When I powered it up outside of the cabinet to do teh initial setup of the Dexter OS and it played the video footage, it was clean. I remember seeing a post about this but cannot find it to save my life. I know support for this is no longer a thing as I asked Matt already about different things but wanted to see if anyone recalls that post?

4. The next very odd thing is the game itself. It's a RevC running a 4 chip romset. The odd thing about this is that after teh attract mode finishes up, it says "insert 4 coins for x Dirks." These roms aren't even supposed to have 4 coins as an option for the DIPs. I can get it to flip from 3 Dirks to 5 Dirks with the DIPs but nothing changes it from the 4 coins. I suspect maybe gummed up ROMs or something. I'm game to swap the DIP packages but don't think it's that.

5. The next odd thing is with the above and Dexter, the Attract mode is playing the DLE footage with that one eyed pig and plays the drawbridge scene when starting a new game, which it should not be doing. NOTHING I do can get a correct response to pass the stage. Again, suspect bad ROMs.

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
On the dexter, net to the different laserdisc names printed on the board, there is a button. If you hold it down, it should automatically determine the correct LD. If you have the wrong one selected, it will do things like play scenes back to back etc. Maybe give that a shot.
 
Thanks! I'll give that a shot later. The odd thing is that it played perfectly clear without it being attached to the mainboard via the disc player cable.
 
It wont hurt anything if you disconnect the data ribbon during game play. It really should not have any effect on video, but pull it off and see if the video clears.
More likely it's a solder joint on the BNC connector or something with the video cable.

Yes, Like Khatru311 said, you should hold down the MODE button for 5 seconds to put Dexter into auto-detect mode. It will then auto configure to V1000 or 7820 mode. Also be aware of switch B3 must be ON for 7820 operation.
The problem with a lot of Rev-A boards was that many of them were converted for V1000 operation. So, try B3 both ON and OFF.

There is a 4 coins per credit setting on earlier Rev-A ROM sets, but not with DLE.
So it's likely a search to frame # error. You may have a bad cable, or bad port IC, or yeah, a glitch in the ROM.

The prototype game is set by switch B7: ON is Proto, OFF is normal.
If changing that switch does not set it to the normal attract, then it's the switch bank.
(note, the game switches are A0-A7 B0-B7, and the switches themselves are marked 1-8. adjust accordingly) :)

If you decide to purchase all new EPROMs, consider getting a Merlin instead.
 
I tested it out, couple funny thigs to mention.
I ran the Dexter disconnected from teh game and the video was clean, but I had to cycle through the modes a couple times for it to start playing. But once it stared playing, the video was clean and did not play the enhanced footage with the pig throwing the spear.
As soon as I connected the LD player cable and it reset, video quality went to crap and the piggy footage played. The switch at B7 was on and as soon as I set it to off and rebooted, video cleared up and no piggy.
It seems like it is playing off a DLE romset, but it doesn't explain the 4 coins thing, since that setting was removed in the roms.
I do have a few spare 2764 EPROMs but am considering a Merlin-DX since I do have a full Space Ace kit too. I was going to build a cabinety for itself but after this DL build, not something I want to undertake again lol.
I have video footage of the above if anyone is interested in seeing that video quality, though it may be hard to tell on cellphone video.
 
I'd have to see it to be sure, but know that the "piggy" prototype attract video is just that.. prototype.
It was never cleaned up for final release, so it's not as sharp as the normal attract video. That said, it shouldn't have any ghosting or distortion to it.
Check the scoreboard immediately after powering on. If it's DLE, you will see "0LE-21" scroll through the score.

The 4 coin thing is odd. There is a problem there. The display of coins/dirk is a frame on the laserdisc. These are hard coded in the ROM. Either the base frame number has been corrupted, or a low data line on the connection to Dexter is bad (D0, D1 or D2). For instance, if D3 was held high, it was always search to a frame number 4 frames too high on the disc.

How many coins do you actually have to drop to get the credit?

I hope you do decide to go with a Merlin-Dx. It will not only solve any ROM issues, but will give you Space Ace, DL2, Cliffhanger and Super Don, all at no extra cost.
I'll also be happy to look your board over for free as part of the deal (if you like).
 
I ran a quick test and it did show DLE-21 on the scoreboard when it booted. I have a logic probe, I can check the centronix pins to see if they are stuck high.
As for the actual coins, it needs 4 actuations from the coindoor to register the credit.
I need to sell off some of my spare parts to be honest. I dropped a chunk to get this rebuilt. Lumber costs, having to buy 50 feet of vinyl to replace the old stock I had that dried out. Buying the replacement 19" WG LCD to replace the busted K4900.
I still have your Lasercon and a LaserAce that probably will never be used since my players are broken too.
 
It's been a long time since I've looked over the DLE switch charts.
to my surprise, there is a 4 coin setting.

Here is the complete settings chart...

DLE 2.x DIP switch settings chart:
···············································································
A. Attract Mode Sound
Always on ································ B0=ON, B1=ON
Plays every 8th time ····················· B0=OFF, B1=ON
Always off ······························· B1=OFF
Attract sound includes narrator voice ···· B4=ON (ORIGINAL FOR STANDARD)
Narrator voice muted* ···················· B4=OFF (ORIGINAL FOR PROTOTYPE)

B. Number of Coins Required for One Credit
1 ········································ A0=OFF, A1=OFF, A4=ON
2 ········································ A0=ON, A1=ON, A4=ON
3 ········································ A0=OFF, A1=ON, A4=ON
4 ········································ A0=ON, A1=OFF, A4=ON
2 credits at all times/free play ········· A4=OFF

C. Number of Dirks Per Credit
3 ········································ A5=ON, B2=ON
5 ········································ A5=OFF, B2=ON
Unlimited Dirks for testing purposes ····· B2=OFF

D. Playtest and Diagnostics
Normal operation ························· A3=ON, A7=ON
Playtest for engineering use ············· A3=OFF
To run diagnostics, set A7 to ON, and power up the game. After you hear two beeps, turn A7 to OFF.
Turn A7 back to ON to end diagnostics. ················· A7=first ON, then OFF

E. Game Mode
Standard ································· B7=OFF
Prototype**······························· B7=ON

F. Pay-As-You-Go Play Options
Pay-as-you-go disabled. The game ends when won. ······························ A6=ON, B5=ON
Pay-as-you-go disabled. The game starts again from the beginning when won. ····· A6=ON, B5=OFF
The player must deposit 1 or 2 coins (depending on A2) to continue playing
once, after 2/3 of the game is finished. The game ends when won. ················ A6=OFF, B5=ON, A4=ON
The player must deposit 1 or 2 coins (depending on A2) to continue playing
two times during the game, and may deposit more coin(s) to continue again
from the beginning after the game is won. ··································· A6=OFF, B5=OFF, A4=ON
The player receives one additional Dirk after depositing coin(s) to continue
(during the first game only). ·········· B6=ON
No extra Dirks are awarded. ·············· B6=OFF
The price to continue is 1 coin. ········· A2=OFF
The price to continue is 2 coins. ········ A2=ON

G. Disc Player Model Selection***
Pioneer PR-7820 ·························· B3=ON
Pioneer LD-V1000 ························· B3=OFF
···············································································
 
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Thanks Shaun! If I can get some of this stuff sold off and have extra cash, I'll let you know about the Merlin. With 2 kids now, the wife is more sentitive to things we spend money on. She's been really dogging on me to sell this for the last 5 years since my son was born.
 
I fully understand Mike.
Merlin is nice to have for the multigame, but getting you machine working right is first priority.
Hopefully getting your switch settings right will solve all of the problems.
 
My next issue is the controls are not working. The previous owner decided it be a good idea to solder all the spade connectors on the leaf switches but the ground for all switches are a mess. The switches do not pull to ground when depressed, so it looks like i will need to redo all the connections on the panel.
 
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