SEGA SYSTEM 32 CONVERSION PAGE
Started by Guru on 12th October 2017. This Page Last Updated: 13th April 2018.
This page contains the replacement ROMs for Sega Sonic on System 32 to fix a dead PCB
caused by a suicided FD1149 module. Obviously the number of people who would want to do that is quite low because the original board is pretty rare.
More on that further down...
The full archive of Sonic ROMs, including the decrypted ROMs can be downloaded here <--file updated 27th January 2018.
Update 27-1-2018: Here's ALL of the Sega System 32 games fully decrypted. Just change the encrypted ROM(s) with the file(s) in the archive.....
Sega_System32_ALL_Decrypted.zip
Some years ago some of the S32 games were decrypted using info in MAME and sold/hoarded. These are NOT those files, those files are still being hoarded.
But they are no longer needed now so forget that hoarding loser and move on. These files linked above were provided by 'Apocalypse' at arcade-projects.com
To fix a suicided Sonic The Hedgehog PCB, remove the FD1149 and program the two ROMs at IC8 and IC17 to 27C1024 EPROMs.
Plug them into the correct locations IC8 & IC17 and then the game will work.
To convert some other System 32 board to Sonic The Hedgehog, you need ROM board "837-8393-01 SYSTEM32 16M ROM BD"
This ROM board is found on the following games....
Alien 3 The Gun
Dark Edge
Golden Axe 2
Arabian Fight
F1 Super Lap
Burning Rival
Soreike Kokology Vol. 2
and maybe others?
You may be thinking these games are pretty good and why would you want to convert them? Well the idea is that these boards are now DEAD and
do not work, so converting it to a working game is a good thing. Then there's the morons who complain that good working games are being
converted and rare ROM versions are being lost. Errr, those people are obviously just stirring up shit because there are NO rare undumped System 32 games, there is only an increasing
number of dead System 32 boards. Also, to put the game back to the original one only requires plugging in the original ROMs. The conversion
process is not destructive, it's just changing a bunch of EPROMs. To those morons who think this is a bad idea I say... please crawl back under the rock you were under and
leave the technical stuff to the experts who own real arcade PCBs and know what is really going on.
So anyway, get the correct ROM board type, remove all the ROMs, program all the files in the zip archive to EPROMs using the types listed as
per the file names and put them into the correct locations. Power on and the game will work.
The PAL on the ROM board is 315-5552 at IC23. This is available on the net. I have mirrored it here.
Your board will probably already have the correct PAL on it. If not, program the JED file to a GAL16V8 and plug it into the socket at IC23.
The ROM board jumpers are.....
JP1 2-3
JP2 2-3
JP3 1-2
JP4 1-2
JP5 1-2
JP6 1-2
JP7 1-2
JP8 1-2
JP9 2-3
JP10 1-2
JP11 2-3
JP12 1-2 |
JP13 2-3
JP14 1-2
JP15 2-3
JP16 1-2
JP17 2-3
JP18 1-2
JP19 1-2
JP20 2-3
JP21 1-2
JP22 2-3
JP23 2-3
JP24 2-3
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The game uses a trackball and requires an I/O board that is impossible to find now, but it will work with the Analog I/O
board used on Sega System 16. Just plug it in and you can use two trackballs (NOT 3 like the original). I guess if a 3rd D4701
IC, RA1 and the filters were added to the board, it would probably work with 3 trackballs.
Update 29-3-2018: Someone emailed me and confirmed that adding the missing parts allows it to work with 3 trackballs.
The original I/O board is 837-8685. The replacement I/O board is 834-6180-01 or 834-6180.
When compared to the original System 32 I/O board, it appears identical other than the parts are in different places.
A similar but not compatible I/O board containing a couple of D4701's is used on System 24 on the driving games.
 
This board will soon be reproduced (by me) and made available so anyone can make their own Sonic Hedgehog board.
Here's a sneak preview.....
  
Note the 3D View was created using a web site '3dbrdviewer.cytec.bg/board'
This is because Eagle CAD doesn't have a built-in 3D viewer. The 3D site allows uploading a standard Eagle .brd file and then generates a 3D
view using standard parts. Unfortunately not all of the parts are available in the viewer (it's definitely not a finished and fully usable
professional product) so the connectors are not quite right, but you get the idea ;-)
Update: Unfortunately the 3D Board Viewer site is no longer free (from ~March 2018) for any board larger than 100mm x 80mm. This board is
larger, but since this is a free hobby project, I will not pay for the 3D board viewer service, so there won't be
any further 3D board view updates here. Pity :-/
Update: I wanted to make the board slightly smaller anyway to save on the total cost, so I squeezed the PCB size to 99.5mm x 79.75mm (size
is now limited by the hole positions) and it still says my board is over 100x80 so that site is just a scam to get you to go there and pay
for a 3D render. Pity :-/
The actual board is 3.92" x 3.14", has support for 3 trackballs and is made to fit a System 32 PCB.
Note this is a quick and rough auto-route using Eagle. It is not fully wired up yet. I still need to remove some parts and do some tracing
and then I can copy the board layout exactly so it will look close to the original. The above PCB layout is a 'work-in-progress' and is
incomplete but this is to show it is coming along nicely :-)
Update 14th March 2018: Now basically complete. Size of PCB changed to suit System 32 main board and added holes in the correct locations so it
will fit onto a System 32 PCB using the existing holes in the main board....
 
Update 19th March 2018: Fixed a few routing mistakes (there are probably more). Changed the trackball connector to use modern and common 6
pin JST connectors which are available on ebay in male+female pairs with wire attached for 0.20c each. I hate those silly flat cable AMP
connectors....
 
Update 26th March 2018: Squeezed the board to 99.5mm x 79.75mm to save on the cost of the PCB manufacturing. Saving ~14mm on the length took $10 off the price of the PCB ;-)
Then I did a quick and dirty auto-route to prove concept and got some quick auto-generated Osh Park PCB pics....
 
Update 13th April: Completed the final version of the PCB. I fixed a few more serious errors too... OOPS! It's all good now though :-)
I also put the silly 26 pin AMP connector back on the edge of the PCB in case there's someone with the original trackball setup so it'll
just plug in directly. For everyone else use the JST 6 pin connectors which are available on eBay for a few cents each.
You can check some final version fully completed and assembled PCB pics on my main news page 9th June 2018
and pics of the board working with System 16, System 18 and System 32 on my main news page 6th July 2019.
Pictures.....
 
 
 
So why is all this here, you may be asking?
As you may be aware, scumbags have taken freely-available info from MAME (i.e. ROMs and info from MAME source code etc) and are selling
converted Sonic boards on ebay for high dollars. Previously the decrypted ROMs were hoarded and sold thus allowing the scumbags to flourish
and keep selling converted boards without anyone else being able to do it themselves. This public release is here to *educate* people about
where this stuff really comes from (i.e. MAME) and will hopefully reduce the number of scumbags selling these boards on ebay for high prices
since now anyone can convert a S32 board for the cost of a few EPROMs.
Of course there will still be scumbags who take this info and make a board and sell it on ebay, but that is the case with just about any
kind of wanted item, so that is "normal". The point of this is if you have the capability to convert your own board, now you can do it
instead of being bent over by scumbags on ebay. This also gets some use out of a suicided board that would normally be tossed on a pile
of other non-working junk. These boards are pretty nice and should be kept running for as long as possible. Put your foot down and give a
big "NO" to Sega's System 32 suicide strategy and a big "NO" to the scumbags profiting from it!
If you use this info, please link back to my site from your site or forum post, or where-ever you are. Basically just spread the word and let me know about it :-)
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