Universe Bios V1.3 Released

[James]

http://bios.cps2shock.com/

 

 

WHATS NEW IN VERSION 1.3

------------------------

 

AES support (nuff said).

 

some AES notes.....

 

Region settings are saved to the memory card, however if no card is available on

power up the system will default to EURO / CONSOLE operation.

To do a hardware check hold buttons A+B+D during power up this will keep the system

looping through a hardware check until all buttons are released.

When in ARCADE mode devmode is enabled and cannot be disabled.

There is no attract mode sound for some games in MVS mode. This is beacuse they

read the demo sound soft dip from backupram (which the aes dosnt have)

instead of the adjescent RAM location (this problem exists on the DEBUG bios also).

Some early games (nam75 for example) will have currupted 'how to play' screens.

This is because the AES does not have the needed character font the MVS has.

When in USA mode some games will have a currupted 'winners dont use drugs' screen.

This is because the AES does not have the needed character font the MVS has.

The Test Mode menu is not availabe for use.

 

Additions

 

The NeoGeo/ProGear logo now displays only once at the beginning when in console mode

to match bios on AES.

New entry method to access the in game menu, START+A+B+C. Old access methods are

still usable.

Ability to abort the game cart crc check while its calculating.

Ability to exit from slot selection screen (multislot hardware only).

Enabled the AES controller test, access via holding player 2 A+B+C+D during power on or

splash screen.

68000 exception handling. Instead of games reseting they will stop and the current 68000

status will be displayed.

Simple memory/vram viewer that can be accesses from the hardware error screen.

 

Changes

 

Exiting the jukebox or crc check on multislot HW now restores the initially used font.

Added a shadow to bring out the NeoGeo logo in the splash screen and main menu.

Made the Red color used in the Splash Screen and main menu a little darker.

Improved the hardware check so you only see a couple of flashes on screen at power on

instead of lots of green garbage.

Improved the hardware error screens to make them look nicer but I'm sure you will never

want to see these.

Changed the test mode hardware test so that the test memory card section no longer looses

any data on the card. This problem affected the original BIOS also.

Changed some very bad English in the card manager including one point where the word 'no'

should actually be 'yes' when it comes to confirming data delete. This problem affected

the original BIOS also.

 

Fixes

 

Fixed an issue that caused some hardware error messages appear darker or distorted.

Fixed the 'gameselect' option being lost the first time the UNIVERSE BIOS is used on

multislot hardware.

Fixed button (A) not responding when trying to continue from failed HW check when using

a joypad.

Fixed credits from 2nd coin shoot not showing but still registering in VS-MODE when the

game dosent support it.

Fixed the select buttons not registering in the testmode input test when in console mode.

Fixed testmode input test so that the input crossing feature does not take effect while

testing buttons.

Fixed a problem in the memory card manager that stoped the letter 'o' visually showing when

selecting a card name. This problem affected the original BIOS also.

Fixed a clicking sound that sometimes happened during boot if the hardware check was disabled.

Fixed a soft dip issue that could cause confusion (because we force softdips to display in

English). Basically in some games the language softdip setting is different depending on

region. For example the kof games default language now reads 'Japanese' instead of 'English'

when in Japanese mode. There could be issues like this in other games too, if you find any

please let me know.

 

Game Fixes

 

Fixed Sengoku 3 language not changing when swapping region in arcade mode.

Fixed many menu problems in the official kof2001 mvs cart when in console

mode (there are still problems though).

Fixed a Matrimelee font problem in menus on multislot hardware and in the

jukebox / crc check on slot1 hardware.

Fixed Pochi and Nyaa sound distortion in the jukebox if the game is not

allowed to run first.

Fixed missing font in crc check, jukebox, and ingame menu for KOF2003.

 

New and Updated Cheats

 

SNK vs Capcom

Samurai Shodown 5

Metal Slug 5

King of Fighters 2003

Pochi and Nyaa

Zintrick

Samurai Shodown 2

 

New original/hacked game CRC's to database

 

SNK vs Capcom

SNK vs Capcom (bootleg cart)

Samurai Shodown 5

Metal Slug 5 (MVS and AES)

Pochi and Nyaa

King of Fighters 1997 Plus

King of Fighters 2001 (alternate set)

King of Fighters 2002 Plus

Metal slug 4 Plus

Metal slug 5 Plus

SNK Vs Capcom Plus

SNK Vs Capcom Super Plus

King of Fighters 2003 (MVS and AES)

King of Fighters 2003 (bootleg cart)

Top Hunter: Roddy & Cathy (set 2)

 

 

http://bios.cps2shock.com/

[James]

These are the known problems with 1.3

 

 

 

As of version 1.3

 

MVS only issues

There are problems in console mode with some games when trying to use the coin switches as select buttons (pressing a coin switch won't pause a game). This is due to games accessing the ports directly and not via the BIOS. Games affected include;

 

3 Count Bout Metal Slug 3 Strikers 1945 Plus

Andro Dunos Metal Slug 4 Super Dodge Ball

Art of Fighting 2 Metal Slug 5 Temco World Soccer

Art of Fighting 3 Money Puzz Exchngr The Last Blade

Ganryu Rage of the Dragons The Last Blade 2

Magical Drop 3 Sengoku The Super Spy

Matrimelee Sengoku 2 Voltage Fighter

Metal Slug 2 Sengoku 3

Metal Slug X Spin Master

 

 

 

As a work around you can use JAMMA pins '26' and 'd' as player 1 & 2 select buttons. You can also link JAMMA pins '26' to '16' by soldering a wire from one to the other. Doing this will make 'coin 1' also 'select' when used (link pins 'd' to 'T' for player 2). *** DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK ***

 

Resetting the backup SRAM via the hardware test section or test mode (backup clear using A+B+C) will cause the splash screen (if enabled) to show twice the next time the system boots.

 

When in console mode some games may not use the correct language even though the system is running in the correct region. This situation will happen if the region is changed after the game in question has data already stored in the backup SRAM. Games affected can have the language set manually by going into the games options (most require you to experience 'GAME OVER' before the new settings are permanently saved).

 

The text font is sometimes different in the gamecart check, jukebox and in game menu. This is basically a hardware limitation to get correct functionality.

 

Some games in the 'Metal Slug' series (Metal Slug X and up) may not work correctly in console mode until after you have set up the controller config and lives in the options menu (after starting a game). This problem is due to the games not setting up the initial backup ram data correctly for console mode if the game is first run on the system while it is in ARCADE mode.

 

The games 'King of Fighters 98', 'Real Bout 2', Neo Geo Cup 98', and 'Breakers Revenge' will cause gfx glitches and even possible system resets if you insert a coin during the 'winners don't use drugs' screen (USA arcade mode). This is a bug with game code and not the UNIVERSE BIOS, the same problem happens when using an original USA region SNK BIOS.

 

On 4 or 6 Slot hardware fonts will be missing in the UNIVERSE BIOS menus and splash screen if you have the game 'King of Fighters 2003' in SLOT 1. To fix this simply place a different game into SLOT 1 and KOF2003 into any other spare slot.

 

To my knowledge the game 'Irritating Maze' is not supported.

 

MVS and AES issues

Using the in game menu can cause bad colors on parts of the game area still visible (once the menu is closed colors will be fixed). There is no possible fix for this issue.

 

Accessing the in game menu will not pause game music. This causes music to go out of sync with graphics during a timed sound to graphics piece (like in many attract mode sequences). There is no possible fix for this issue.

 

Not all cheats have been tested so it's quite likely some may not work. As I become aware of these I will try and fix them.

 

When in Japan or USA region some Soft DIP settings of certain games may have no effect (language setting for example). This is because we force Soft DIP's to always display in English.

 

AES only issues

There is no attract mode sounds for many games when running in MVS mode. This is because they read the demo sound soft dip from the backup SRAM which the AES doesn't have (this problem exists on the DEBUG bios also).

 

Some early games like Nam1975 for example will have corrupted 'How to Play' screens when in arcade mode. This is because the AES does not have the needed character font built in that the MVS has.

 

When in USA arcade mode some games will have a corrupted 'Winners don't use Drugs' screen. This is because the AES does not have the needed character font built in that the MVS has.

[Agozer]

I was going to post that release info too, but you beat me to it.

Oh well, at least it's posted now.

[James]

I was going to post that release info too, but you beat me to it.

Oh well, at least it's posted now.

hehe i was not sure if it was posted before.since the site was down and lost posts so i posted it to make sure.