MAME Decapping Project is underway!

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:32 am

http://www.mameworld.net/gurudumps/decap/index.html

From what I understand from the recently updated page (june 11th?) by Guru the decapping is under way for many long awaited shmups sound MCUs.

MCUs that are now in the "In progress" list:
Fix Eight
Vimana
Fire Shark
Macross
Gun Nail

MCUs that are still wanted (I'm surprised he doesn't have all from toaplan)
this also means these wont be decapped in a while:
Batsugun
VFive (V-V)
Dogyuun

antron · Post by **antron** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:53 am

what's decapping?

hotcoke · Post by **hotcoke** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:02 am

Good!!

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 2:02 am

using sulfuric acid on a chip to see and decrypt the protected "bits" (ROM) that are not dumpable through conventional means.

It's long, hard and costly.

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 4:50 am

After seeing videos of Fire Shark's Japanese version with full sound, and after listening to the game's soundtrack long enough, I'll be happy if they can pull this off successfully.

bitkid · Post by **bitkid** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:53 am

Decapping is crazy down and dirty physical process. The lengths the MAME team goes to in order to emulate these old game is astounding and awesome.

Basically they take chips which they can't dump through normal means and etch the casing off with acid, then take magnified photos of the actual die of the chip and record the logic of the circuit from there.

See here: http://www.mameworld.net/gurudumps/decap/index.html

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:11 am

That page was already linked to in the opening post.

I like the photos of ROMs, actually. The bits are all there clearly visible and all.

gamingjustin · Post by **gamingjustin** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 5:53 pm

This is astounding news. Finally, Toaplan will be heard! Say, Bloodreign, would you happen to remember where you saw those Fire Shark videos? Perhaps recall where you found the soundtrack?

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:32 pm

Too bad we won't have Vfive sound anytime soon though. I don't care as much for Dogyuun or Batsugun.

how much is a Vfive (V-V) PCB?

.

trivial · Post by **trivial** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 6:56 pm

I hate how that linked page makes dissolving the cap seem like the demanding part of this job. You can buy a fume hood at some thrift stores I've visited.

What's done with the photos is the part I find very cool.

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:19 pm

it's more than a fume hood....

They have to be very carefull with this. They have to go very slowly, thin layer at a time not to burn the actual chip and lose the precious information (lose a few bit and it's over).

But I admit reading those chips one bit at a time must be insanely long and though.

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 8:17 pm

gamingjustin wrote:This is astounding news. Finally, Toaplan will be heard! Say, Bloodreign, would you happen to remember where you saw those Fire Shark videos? Perhaps recall where you found the soundtrack?

Nico video has the Fire Shark videos, you have to join to see the videos, and use the Same! Same! Same! kana to find them there. As for the soundtrack llauoykcuf has them uploaded somewhere (I'll PM you the link), it sounds a bit more vibrant than the Genesis version, though I won't knock the Genesis version as I absolutely love it.

Edit: Never mind on the upload from the guy, it's no longer up.

lgb · Post by **lgb** » Wed Jun 18, 2008 9:04 pm

Cool. Maybe they could do this for Raiden II.

gamingjustin · Post by **gamingjustin** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:28 am

Thanks bloodreign-- 'bout high time I got an account there anyway.

innerpattern · Post by **innerpattern** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:54 am

great! MAME team is badass!

too bad no toaplan though.

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:39 am

Vimana, Fire Shark, Fix Eight = Toaplan

innerpattern · Post by **innerpattern** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:40 am

I thought I knew every toaplan game! They have a lot of games

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:41 am

YES.

Shame that V-Five and Dogyuun aren't immediately on the list but the others are great news all the same :D

A non-bootleg version of FixEight, omgggg

D · Post by D » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:10 am

Wow, I had no idea, this kind or work was being done.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:57 am

D wrote:Wow, I had no idea, this kind or work was being done.

It was planned since the fourth quarter of last year (at the latest), and they said they had a significant discount from the company doing the work (a company that does chip security). At the time it seemed to me like a lot more money was needed to scrounge up their fees but apparently that's been met now.

kengou · Post by **kengou** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 12:52 pm

That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!

Jockel · Post by **Jockel** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:09 pm

kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!

Lawsuits by Cave, i guess.

MX7 · Post by **MX7** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:13 pm

Jockel wrote:
kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!
Lawsuits by Cave, i guess.

More liek because it's a rock hard task, and the bloke who's doing it doesn't even like Ketsui

Doesn't really matter, we have the port ever on its way.

burnsro · Post by **burnsro** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:18 pm

kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!

whoa. calm down. by the time you save up the money for a japanese x360, a 65 dollar ketsui game and shipping it still won't be decapped.

Geezer · Post by **Geezer** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:24 pm

kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!

Because these games are more important than Ketsui at this point in time.

moozooh · Post by **moozooh** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 1:27 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke

kennyrh · Post by **kennyrh** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 3:58 pm

This is great news after all this time . . .MAME really is an amazing piece of work.

Does that mean all they need are the donated boards for Dogyuun and V_Five ??

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:24 pm

kennyrh wrote:This is great news after all this time . . .MAME really is an amazing piece of work.

Does that mean all they need are the donated boards for Dogyuun and V_Five ??

Yeah, but then "they" need donated money to actually decap the MCUs and a lot of time.

Bloodreign · Post by **Bloodreign** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:47 pm

kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!

These Toaplan games are long overdue to be fixed, they've not had sound for ages, Ketsui can wait for awhile.

nimitz · Post by **nimitz** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 1:19 am

Bloodreign wrote:
kengou wrote:That's nice and all but why aren't they focusing all their energy on getting Ketsui running, damnit?!
These Toaplan games are long overdue to be fixed, they've not had sound for ages, Ketsui can wait for awhile.

AMEN