Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???

[pobtastic]

[ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
Hey all, I got another 'I feel really stupid' question....

I've bought a Pleiads board which was apparently working 100% when I bought
it, I've built the loom okay- well, I suppose so, the game is playable.
There's a few things wrong with it though.... (

Not all the sounds are present, noticeable is the lack of ship explosion
sound when you get hit.

The warp button doesn't seem to work, although this is a Tehkan board and I
noticed MAME doesn't have a button for warp for this version either, so
maybe theres not one.

Some colours are strange or missing. Like the PLEIADS on the title screen
is not quite right... And the aliens on the first screen are only a black
character mask and a couple of eyes!!! Also, there appears to be a kind of
white smudge down the right of the screen.... Like magnetic distortion, but
I'm only guessing....

Right! Now my question is... The manual says 'this board operates best at
+5V' or something like that anyway.... without a board plugged in my
supergun reads +5.03V with the board connected +4.71V.... I haven't got a
clue about electronics I was only able to build the supergun with dot-to-dot
instructions so bear with me.... Would adjusting the voltage correct any of
these problems??? I would just do it but the screw is really
inaccessable!!!

Help appreciated...!

Paul

PS. Regarding the colours, they're all connected properly as the ship is
red, the hills in the background are green and the galaxy thing in the sky
is blue.... Any ideas???



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[P-Man]

Re: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
> Hey all, I got another 'I feel really stupid' question....
>
> I've bought a Pleiads board which was apparently working 100% when I
bought
> it, I've built the loom okay- well, I suppose so, the game is playable.
> There's a few things wrong with it though.... (
>
> Not all the sounds are present, noticeable is the lack of ship explosion
> sound when you get hit.

probably dead 555 timer.. or... read on...

> The warp button doesn't seem to work, although this is a Tehkan board and
I
> noticed MAME doesn't have a button for warp for this version either, so
> maybe theres not one.

i think this is related to the explanation i will give below :

> Some colours are strange or missing. Like the PLEIADS on the title screen
> is not quite right... And the aliens on the first screen are only a black
> character mask and a couple of eyes!!! Also, there appears to be a kind
of
> white smudge down the right of the screen.... Like magnetic distortion,
but
> I'm only guessing....

Apart from the white smudge distortion, you have described to me Pleaides
running on Phoenix hardware .

I had a board that did the exact same things, and i've seen another board do
this too.

I can't remember precisely, but something tells me there was no ship
explosion either. I also couldn't find the warp button. This i think is all
related.....

some of the mame guys could tell us for sure, but in my opinion, i think
that the button is mapped from elsewhere, and the sounds don't trigger
properly because the game is trying to talk to sound hardware that isn't
there, or isn't in the place it thinks it should be

> Right! Now my question is... The manual says 'this board operates best
at
> +5V' or something like that anyway.... without a board plugged in my
> supergun reads +5.03V with the board connected +4.71V.... I haven't got a
> clue about electronics I was only able to build the supergun with
dot-to-dot
> instructions so bear with me.... Would adjusting the voltage correct any
of
> these problems??? I would just do it but the screw is really
> inaccessable!!!

4.71 measured on the board when plugged in sounds ok, if you can turn it up,
do so, it wont solve your colour problems, it more than likely wont solve
your sound problem either, but i can't say about the white smudge problem,
maybe.

> Help appreciated...!
>
> Paul
>
> PS. Regarding the colours, they're all connected properly as the ship is
> red, the hills in the background are green and the galaxy thing in the sky
> is blue.... Any ideas???

pleaides romset on phoenix hardware

you need to get a new colour PROM burned (i would be able to do that when i
get my new programmer in a few weeks time..)

or do as i did and turn the bloody board back into phoenix that will run
perfectly hehe

Andy



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[pobtastic]

RE: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
Hmmm.... I don't like the sound of that.... How can I tell if I've an
original board or not??? I bought it from a dealer on ebay who I should
think you all know....

I'm a worried man.... I paid a little more for that board than I should
have done because I thought it was working and original. Although, turning
it back into a Phoenix sounds like a great idea!!!

Paul

 

[d-type]

RE: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
Get +5.1 volts _at_the_PCB_ when running. Low volts on the board can cause
loads of wierd problems.

Phillip Eaton (Forth-79/D-Type/Flip-Flop)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tel: +44 (0)1536 268424/504434 Fax: +44 (0)845 334 8195
Email: d-type@phillipeaton.com Mobile: +44 (0)7775 726366
Web: www.phillipeaton.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------

>

 

[P-Man]

Re: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
trust me,

what you described is EXACTLY what i had, and have seen since.. pleaides
running on phoenix hardware.. they are VERY similar, so it is possible...

the only other way to tell is to fire up mame and listen to the tune that is
played when you start Phoneix. Phoenix and pleaides have different tunes...
these are held on the melody chip.. (mame doesn't have the pleaides music
tune in the driver yet it appears).. but listen to Phoenix and see if it
matches your board.

If somebody did a quick and dirty romswap, chances are they didn't swap the
melody chip over, and you will here phoenix background music...

I could be wrong and they might have swapped them elody chips, but its
unlikely.

The next thing to try would be to hook up a button for 'warp' as per the
phoenix pinouts... see if it responds on the phoenix 2nd button..

I wouldn't go shouting at the seller, its an easy mistake to make, but if
you are unhappy with it, then by all means take it up with them. If not,
convert it to phoenix and think yourself lucky you got a phoenix board for
the price of a pleaides

Andy

 

[pobtastic]

RE: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
Hmmm.... I know just the guy with a Phoenix board!! I'll ask him!! I have
got one question though.... The board is marked Tehkan, would this be on
Phoenix as well?? As far as I remember, Guddlers board has Centuri on it???
And MAME doesn't have a Tehkan Phoenix??
I'll also give tweaking the power supply a go!!

Paul

 

[PaulSwan]

Re: [ukvac] Please humour me..... Pleiads Tech Question???
Paul,

Tehkan did manufacture dedicated Phoenix as well. I have a full upright
Tehkan Phoenix myself. It's likely there is a set of ROMs that had a
Tehkan copyright/license but nobody has dumped them yet (mine has a GGI
board with GGI copyright. I keep meaning to "re-create" a ROM set with a
Tehkan copyright to match my cabinet...).

Regards,

Paul.

Paul Maddern wrote:
>
> Hmmm.... I know just the guy with a Phoenix board!! I'll ask him!!
> I have
> got one question though.... The board is marked Tehkan, would this be
> on
> Phoenix as well?? As far as I remember, Guddlers board has Centuri on
> it???
> And MAME doesn't have a Tehkan Phoenix??
> I'll also give tweaking the power supply a go!!
>
> Paul



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