Hey,
Well, in anticipation for my arcade party, I decided I really wanted ALL the games to be on free play... of course some don't have free play available (either stock, or already hacked), so I spent the last few nights hacking them for free play. I did these very quickly, and the goal was just to not have to coin them up... I didn't make any nice modifications like going out of my way to keep attract mode, change "credits" to "freeplay" or anything like that (so some sit at a burn-in inducing "press start" screen), or to make it selectable w/ a dip switch.
Here they are if anyone's interested, along with some notes... feel free to use these as a starting point if you'd like to improve them as well:
Ice Cold Beer - Already posted here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1304691
Bagman - Attached. There's two versions... _a and _b. I believe _b is the common one (it's the main set in MAME), which I hacked first, then burned the ROMs, but realized that I had set _a. So, _b is untested on hardware, but I did basically the same hack to _a, which did work... so I think it'll work. Let me know if you try it out. This one makes the game think there's 2 credits and sits at a screen waiting to press start. It needs 3x 2732 chips.
UPDATED Bagman Freeplay - http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=1516196&postcount=42
Frenzy - Attached. This keeps the game thinking there's always 2 credits, but it still goes through a normal attract mode. I believe there's only one ROM set for this. It needs 1x 2732 chip.
Kickman - Attached. This always keeps 2 credits in the game, and sits at the "press start" screen. It needs 2x 2532 chips (or adapt a 2732 to a 2532 socket, or restrap the board for 2732 chips and reburn all 6 ROMs).
Star Castle - Attached. This doesn't actually do anything to the number of credits in the game, but makes it think that there's sufficient credits. So, this sits at the "press start" screen, but it does change between two screens (like it normally does when there's credits), so it's less burn-in inducing. This is hacked from the ROM set that was in my board, which I believe is different than any in MAME (it's also attached in the folder orig_dump). There's only two ROMs changed from the original, but unless you have this same set, you'll need to burn all four ROMs. It needs 2x (or 4x) 2716 chips.
NOTE: I had problems using 2716 chips (game didn't boot and would output loud sound), but burning to 2732 chips made it work. The chip is a direct drop-in into the PCB, though you should double the ROM file to fill the 2732. I'm guessing the PCB is touchy about ROM speed.
Also, for completeness... in case anyone's looking for other hacks than these, here's two sites with other free play hacks (which I did use on some of my games):
http://www.arcadecollecting.com/hacks.html
and
http://users.rcn.com/jenison/mars/romhacks/
And I'm not looking for any compensation for these, or to sell any of the chips... I did them for myself, and figured I'd share. If you need them burned and don't have a burner/chips, http://www.hobbyroms.com/ should be able to take care of you. I've never used them, but it they seem to have a great reputation, and the prices are pretty good.
BTW, I ran these hacked ROMs all day today and had no noticable problems, but of course I can't guarantee that there's no bugs/problems, or that they won't damage your games.
DogP
Well, in anticipation for my arcade party, I decided I really wanted ALL the games to be on free play... of course some don't have free play available (either stock, or already hacked), so I spent the last few nights hacking them for free play. I did these very quickly, and the goal was just to not have to coin them up... I didn't make any nice modifications like going out of my way to keep attract mode, change "credits" to "freeplay" or anything like that (so some sit at a burn-in inducing "press start" screen), or to make it selectable w/ a dip switch.
Here they are if anyone's interested, along with some notes... feel free to use these as a starting point if you'd like to improve them as well:
Ice Cold Beer - Already posted here:
http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?p=1304691
Bagman - Attached. There's two versions... _a and _b. I believe _b is the common one (it's the main set in MAME), which I hacked first, then burned the ROMs, but realized that I had set _a. So, _b is untested on hardware, but I did basically the same hack to _a, which did work... so I think it'll work. Let me know if you try it out. This one makes the game think there's 2 credits and sits at a screen waiting to press start. It needs 3x 2732 chips.
UPDATED Bagman Freeplay - http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showpost.php?p=1516196&postcount=42
Frenzy - Attached. This keeps the game thinking there's always 2 credits, but it still goes through a normal attract mode. I believe there's only one ROM set for this. It needs 1x 2732 chip.
Kickman - Attached. This always keeps 2 credits in the game, and sits at the "press start" screen. It needs 2x 2532 chips (or adapt a 2732 to a 2532 socket, or restrap the board for 2732 chips and reburn all 6 ROMs).
Star Castle - Attached. This doesn't actually do anything to the number of credits in the game, but makes it think that there's sufficient credits. So, this sits at the "press start" screen, but it does change between two screens (like it normally does when there's credits), so it's less burn-in inducing. This is hacked from the ROM set that was in my board, which I believe is different than any in MAME (it's also attached in the folder orig_dump). There's only two ROMs changed from the original, but unless you have this same set, you'll need to burn all four ROMs. It needs 2x (or 4x) 2716 chips.
NOTE: I had problems using 2716 chips (game didn't boot and would output loud sound), but burning to 2732 chips made it work. The chip is a direct drop-in into the PCB, though you should double the ROM file to fill the 2732. I'm guessing the PCB is touchy about ROM speed.
Also, for completeness... in case anyone's looking for other hacks than these, here's two sites with other free play hacks (which I did use on some of my games):
http://www.arcadecollecting.com/hacks.html
and
http://users.rcn.com/jenison/mars/romhacks/
And I'm not looking for any compensation for these, or to sell any of the chips... I did them for myself, and figured I'd share. If you need them burned and don't have a burner/chips, http://www.hobbyroms.com/ should be able to take care of you. I've never used them, but it they seem to have a great reputation, and the prices are pretty good.
BTW, I ran these hacked ROMs all day today and had no noticable problems, but of course I can't guarantee that there's no bugs/problems, or that they won't damage your games.
DogP
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