DogP

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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
 

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  • kickman.zip
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  • star_castle.zip
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  • bagman.zip
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  • frenzy.zip
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Here's more of a mechanical hack for "almost free play" that should work with any game. I did it originally on my Super Pac cocktail.

I simply wired a leaf switch to the connectors of the coinbox microswitch., Then I mounted the leafswitch so that the inside end of the coin return button closes the leafswitch when pressed. Want more credits? Just hit the coin return! This is pretty easy and cheap to do, and easy to remove as well.
 
Yep... there's lots of good hacks like that one, and the P2 start wired to the coin switch... the reason I don't like them though is that you have to explain to everyone how to add credits.

It's nice if you're just looking for a way to keep the door closed while you play them yourself, but the majority of people aren't gonna think to press the coin return button or 2P start to add credits. Some people don't even get the idea of "adding credits"... they just want to press start and play.

DogP
 
Frenzy free play was done several years ago and was released in conjunction with the m multi game kit...

Was it available for download somewhere? When I searched for it, I didn't come across anything. That was probably the quickest hack I did anyway though... I had just finished Bagman (at ~3:30AM), and decided I still had time to look into something else, and was done, burned the chip, and tested by 4AM.

And yeah... I'm up for buying one of your multi game kits if you make them again.

Oh... BTW, I looked closer at the Star Castle ROM set... it's actually the starcast set. And something odd I've seen w/ Star Castle is that it seems to have problems with some 2716s (even though that's whats already in there). When I burn them to 2732s it works just fine (with the ROM doubled up of course).

DogP
 
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Okay... I just tested my Zeke's Peak hack on ICB... it works the same as the ICB one. It's attached to this post.

DogP
 

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  • ZP23_FREEPLAY.zip
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but the multigame kits are not available (and if they are, I'll take one!)

Free play roms were also released...

I did find the kits recently though... but my berzerk died, so I need to fix it before I can build kits, and I've gotta fix other people's stuff before I fix my own :)
 
After quickly putting together a bunch of free play hacks, I'm hoping to slowly change them to nicer ones, with attract mode and stuff. The one that annoyed me the most was Space Duel... so I spent a little bit of time hacking that this weekend.

The attached hack basically runs the attract mode like normal, but when you press start, it adds one credit and takes you into the select screen. I took out the maximum credit checking (used to limit to max of 18 credits) and replaced it with this code, as well as adding the flashing start button LED during attract. The checksum is correct, so self-test should pass.

You need to set your DIPs correctly... see the readme in the zip. It needs to be on 1 coin/1 credit, and charge by game.

It only needs to replace chip R1, which is a 2532. It worked fine on my machine and in MAME, though of course I can't guarantee anything. Let me know if you try it out and if you have any problems.

And if anyone knows where to change the text for "1 COIN 1 GAME", let me know... I'd like to change it to "FREE PLAY" or "PRESS START", though it wasn't immediately obvious what to change to make that happen, and it's not that big of a deal, so I didn't spend the time to track it down.

DogP
 

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  • space_duel_free_play.zip
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VERY cool of you to post all of these. I've been waiting for years for a Space Duel hack that allowed attract mode. Thank you very much....I'm sure if you posted your paypal id, you might pick up some donations that would pay for beer...or perhaps some school supplies!
 
I've done a few Freeplay hacks for people over the years. I haven't bothered to make any webpages for them yet, except for BurgerTime (which is part of the high score save). One of these days I'll put them up on my site (whenever I get around to doing that site redesign I've been talking about for years :rolleyes: ). Anyway, here's the list:

BurgerTime
Journey
Wacko
Satan's Hollow
Sega Turbo (you must be running the unencrypted ROM set)

I charge $10 per chip, shipped. The only one that isn't a singe chip mod is Satan's Hollow, which requires 2.

I've done a couple other quick'n'dirty freeplay hacks just to get a game ready to play for a party. Maybe I'll clean them up and post them... perhaps with source to add some educational value. :)
 
It would be nice if someone had a master site that pointed to all the different free play mod locations and could host ones without a home. Not sure it would be worth the time for anyone... NOT IT :)
 
It would be nice if someone had a master site that pointed to all the different free play mod locations and could host ones without a home. Not sure it would be worth the time for anyone... NOT IT :)

I would host them. Maybe this will force me to get off my ass and make a page for my stuff. :D
 
Hmmm... Satan's Hollow you say... :)

BTW souzilla... I'm doing your Moon Patrol ROM hack tonight... brought the board to work with me to replace the RAM during my "lunch break" so tonight all I have to do is burn an EPROM and I'll be set. Thanks for posting the low-cost alternative to your full blown kit. :beerchug:
 
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Great, let me know what you think of it. It only saves the main high score, no leader board.
I should update the website to reflect that

Hmmm... Satan's Hollow you say... :)

BTW souzilla... I'm doing your Moon Patrol ROM hack tonight... brought the board to work with me to replace the RAM during my "lunch break" so tonight all I have to do is burn an EPROM and I'll be set. Thanks for posting the low-cost alternative to your full blown kit. :beerchug:
 
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Great, let me know what you think of it. It only saves the main high score, no leader board.
I should update the website to reflect that

Pretty sure you already have it updated with that information. I knew it'd only remember the top score, I really want it for the free play hack but I couldn't *NOT* do the NVRAM part. :)
 
VERY cool of you to post all of these. I've been waiting for years for a Space Duel hack that allowed attract mode. Thank you very much....I'm sure if you posted your paypal id, you might pick up some donations that would pay for beer...or perhaps some school supplies!
I'm glad it's appreciated... I'm really not looking for any donations though. I do this all for fun, and usually for myself... though if there's something I can easily do to help out, I'll give it a shot. I've certainly gotten a lot of help from the community as a whole over the years, so hopefully giving this little bit back helps others.

It would be nice if someone had a master site that pointed to all the different free play mod locations and could host ones without a home. Not sure it would be worth the time for anyone... NOT IT :)

Yeah, I was hoping to find a site like that, but I didn't... so I figured a thread on a forum is as good as any place to make sure it's easy to find.

DogP
 
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