Official Pole Position Clone/Multigame status thread.

[ajcrm125]

Official Pole Position Clone/Multigame status thread.

Things are progressing nicely so I figured it's time to just create an official thread for this project. Not all of those interested follow the development blog (http://ppclone.blogspot.com) so hopefully this thread will help relay status to you guys.

Primary development goal is to get the game to boot and display correct video . After that, get the sound working and finally, add PPII into the hardware for multigame support.

FAQ:
Q) How much will the finished PPC cost?
A) No price has been set yet. Price will depend on volume, final build of materials, assembly costs, etc.

Q) When will the final board be ready for sale?
A) No date has been set either. Working full-time and juggling family life takes up most of my free time.

Q) Is there a signup list?
A) Not officially but Mark has been nice enough to start an unofficial one here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=403927


Customs Status:
02xx - Done!
03xx - Done!
04xx - Done!
06xx - Done!
07xx - Done!
08xx - Done!
09xx - Done!
10xx - Done!
51xx - Done!
52xx - Done!
53xx - Done!
54xx - Done!
PAL at 5C/2N - Done!
PAL at 7C - Done!

Development Videos:

===================== Status Updates ==================
1/15/17: Sounds now working 100%

6/17/17:
Prototype boards have arrived and are being assembled. I've also been working on the menu system for the game selection, feature enablement, etc.

9/30/17:
First prototype in hand! Working on general hardware bringup, game loader firmware etc.

10/7/17:
Basic bringup on the proto going well. Power, SD card access and FPGA programming from SD file are completed.

 

[whammoed]

Cool, more than halfway done on the customs.

 

[ajcrm125]

Just finished 03xx

 

[Ghostnuke]

I am super psyched about this project, and I don't even have a Pole Position.

 

[Cartouche]

I got a PP project this week because of this.

 

[KenLayton]

Is this so that new reproduction PP boards can be made to replace corroded, dead, or missing original boards? If so, I thought that licensing problems from Namco were holding it up?

 

[ajcrm125]

Is this so that new reproduction PP boards can be made to replace corroded, dead, or missing original boards? If so, I thought that licensing problems from Namco were holding it up?

No this is so people can s#!t-can their corroded or dead boards and get a single board FPGA based replacement.
I still have to think about the ROM licensing aspect of it. If it turns out to be a hassle I may just have to engineer a way to import the ROMS doing boot via an SD card or something. That way I can ship boards with no licensed ROM images in them and leave it to users to grab ROM images from other sources.

I haven't gotten that far yet.

 

[Phetishboy]

Damn this is awesome. This will go nicely with the new Cockpit Toppers that I vectorized recently. Are you including both Pole I and Pole II on one board? If so, it may be time to start making Pole II Cockpit toppers complete with all 4 tracks.

 

[ajcrm125]

Are you including both Pole I and Pole II on one board?

Yep that's the plan.

 

[Brentradio]

Damn this is awesome. This will go nicely with the new Cockpit Toppers that I vectorized recently. Are you including both Pole I and Pole II on one board? If so, it may be time to start making Pole II Cockpit toppers complete with all 4 tracks.

That would be cool. You could put one of each on both sides.

I really want to see this project completed.

Anyone up for sending in paypal donations to keep Adam motivated?

 

[wolfeel]

Bad Ass!!!

 

[mikeatsparkys]

i'm super into this. I'll be keeping my eye on this thread for sure.

 

[blkdog7]

Awesome, Adam! Can't wait!

 

[andy251203]

Yea, this is seriously an awesome project. I wonder how hard it would be to go the extra mile and make an unofficial Pole Position 3? Imagine having 8 tracks, choosing your car color, and all sorts of other cool things that could be done.

I have to ask, haven't all of the custom chips already been properly decapped and implemented in MAME? Can't you just use the mame code and custom chip dumps instead of having to reverse engineer from scratch?

 

[KenLayton]

Will this have a JAMMA edge connector?

 

[MikeyDee]

My Pole Position II boards just died last week.

I hope to get them working again, but this sounds like a great replacement board.

 

[animesuperj]

Also throwing in how awesome this project is. Nice work so far on it!

I might hold off getting my board repaired to see how things progress here. It's at least playable, but has some weird graphic issues and the sound is too high pitched for some of the music. I can at least play it, so not a huge loss waiting.

Again, awesome project, keep it up!

 

[retroACTIVE]

Awesome! When the day comes... this will go into my brand new PP upright.

 

[FlashbaxArcade]

i'm in..............

 

[ajcrm125]

I have to ask, haven't all of the custom chips already been properly decapped and implemented in MAME? Can't you just use the mame code and custom chip dumps instead of having to reverse engineer from scratch?

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=204010