ToToTEK.COM

Tomy · Site Admin Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Posts: 427

You can load GB file ?

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

Tomy, how come your picture shows a fix blue background, have you managed to get rid of the god damn "scrolling flags" for good? Very Happy

I can dump the bios of my super pro fighter x turbo 2 (not clone) if you're interested, let me know.

My dream PFXT bios has always been :

- Always blue brackgroud (no flags!!)
- Never prompt for automatic goldfinger code. (If i want codes, I apply manually.)
- no "piracy warning" screen at boot (boot staight to copier menu).

Could this dream ever come true? Cool

See you,

TSR

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

TSR, there used to be a site w/a DPF BIOS analysis that showed how to disable the copy protection. I know on the DPF it used Z80 code to run the menus. You could probably dump your PFX BIOS and disasm it for the 65816 code and look for the routine that pops up the piracy screen. If the BIOS loads in an emu (I've never tried) you could use a built-in debugger to find the routine much easier.

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

madman, yeah, the page is now 404 though:
http://www.ipc-tokai.or.jp/~ytanaka/megadrv/dprobios.shtml
Anyway, thanks to a post from Thall from another thread:
http://www.tototek.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1398&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
It seems it was a matter of hexediting:
At offset 0BC5, change 3E 2A to 18 14
I looked for this value (3E 2A) in Riko78's S1 & S2 dumps but found nothing.
I've yet to dump my own bios with Tomy's awesome "PFXT bios dumper" and do it the hard way. (copier currently in storage)
I realise that this is not the thread's goal at all, sorry Riko78, I will open a new thread dedicated to hacking the PFXT bios in due time.
Later,

TSR

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

That value won't be in PFX dumps as the code will be in 65816, not z80 such as on the DPF. If I get bored this weekend I'll screw around w/it.

NorQue · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 70

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

I'm not sure a new thread is required, i'll post here.
So I took the copier out and dumped the BIOS.

Running the dumped files on the copier (S1 or S2) give a blackscreen so I guess there won't be an easy way to debug.

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

I haven't looked at it yet, but I imagine the utility that Tomy posted dumps the BIOS in 2 chunks which need to be joined together to form the entire BIOS.

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

Tomy, could you teach how to rebuild the bios properly from S1 & S2 so we can try to run it after modification?
In the event of a successful bios hack, would it be possible via the TOTOTEK store to flash it and sell the chips?

I looked at it a little.
It seems the Goldfinger "automatic apply code" feature works based on the game name. (the internal name in the rom header).
Am I right in assuming that if I replace all the game names at the end of the S2 file by 00s, I would never be prompted for automatic code anymore?

The toughest modification I reckon is making the background "fixed blue" directly at startup instead of the current "USA scrolling flags"...
Maybe the "usa scrolling flag" is just an image stored in the bios, therefore it should be possible to overwrite it with just the code for the "fixed blue" image and be done with it?

Later,

TSR

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

Arg, is Tomy on holidays or something?

I tried to join S1 & S2
I tried to join S1 & S2 less 512bytes header from S2
I tried a lot of stuff but can't get the dumped BIOS to boot :/
Any idea guys, while waiting for Tomy ^^;
Later,

TSR

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

Yea, you have to strip the header from both. I can't get it to boot in an emu. It loads fine, but it appears there is some weird mapping going on. It gets stuck repeating a set of instructions that don't occur anywhere in the file. So CCL must've done something tricky on this BIOS.

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

Hi madman,
I'm not sure they did anything tricky with it, since Tomy was able to run all dumped BIOS on page 1 of this thread, with pictures too!

So he certainly knows how to make a valid BIOS out of S1 & S2. ^^
Just need to wait, I guess.. His last post on the board was on the 15th.
Later,

TSR

Tomy · Site Admin Joined: 02 Aug 2005 Posts: 427

What I do is, cut off 512 bytes from both S1 & S2. Then join both files. Burn to 27C512 EPROM and put it into Pro Fighter X Turbo. All backup bios work fine on my PFXT. But of course can not run on emulator. Because bios is not normal game format.

TSR :
If you want to do hack on the bios, I think open other thread is better.

madman · Joined: 07 Jul 2006 Posts: 598

TSR...Tomy loaded it on an actual PFX. That is different than loading it in an emu. As he just pointed out...

TheShadowRunner · Joined: 09 Mar 2007 Posts: 84

madman & Tomy, thanks for your answers.

I actually did try on the real hardware, but I was loading it like a game, from disk! (such shame Embarassed

)
No wonder it didn't work..
Anyway, I have opened a new thread here for BIOS hacking/talk:
http://www.tototek.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=10609

As for Riko78 original issue with loading Gamegear games to Smartcard, I can only suggest what has been already said:
- Format the disk from copier, not windows, then try to copy the rom to it again.
- check if GB games work. If they do, it would mean a problem with GG rom header, probably.
- keep the rom filename as small as possible, DO NOT mix uppercase and lowercase in filename.. (all UPPERCASE is OK)
Later,

TSR