Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
- From: someotherguy <someotherguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:28:56 -0500
Well I have to say, I'm surprised there's not more chat about this modification
that Oliver has developed! Maybe because I hid it under a "TECH" heading,
everyone is afraid to read it. ; )
I completed the mod the other night after a few fights with my cheesy eprom
burner, and installed the version of the roms that add the 7 digit scoring,
skill shot, and multiball goal. Firepower is a great game and I was far from
bored with it even after 7 years of always having this title in the collection -
but this mod adds a lot more flavor. The skill shot is tricky and having a
multiball goal kicks ass! I didn't intend on installing these when I started
out, but the more I read over it, I decided to give it a try - it doesn't change
gameplay if you don't want it to, so why not?
It took maybe 3 total hours of work including installing a System 7 MPU (I did
this mostly because my 6 board was having a little trouble and it was easier for
me to throw a 7 I had ready, instead of replacing scanbe's on the 6), drilling
the holes in the insert board, throwing the displays on there, and burning some
new eproms. The only real snag I hit was the default high score was showing as
5,500,000 !!! Just an oversight of mine, I had left the batteries in and needed
to clear the CMOS as suggested by Oliver. Working fine now w/default of 500K.
A highly-recommended mod for an already great game. Thanks again Oliver!
Richard
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:59:28 -0500, someotherguy
<someotherguy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:19:50 -0400, "seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx".
<seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
someotherguy wrote:
On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:50:18 -0400, "seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx"
<seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
someotherguy wrote:
A couple extra screw holes for the credit/match display and the displaySee if you can get an insert board from an Alien poker, that would work
controller don't bother me at all, but chopping holes for display cables does.
siimilarly to the original and you don't have to chop it up.
Or maybe just make a new insert board, seems more time consuming than
anything else (assuming you have a saw extra sockets, etc.)
I'm using the /10 roms in my FP but considered the oliver mod, until I
needed the 7180s off the spare board for the BK2k. I still have most of
the parts to do it, I like the display blanking feature. Not a fan of
the extra skill shots & rules changes, FP is good as it is.... although
I played it the other day and it's in my "bored of for now" column.
-scott CARGPB#29
I hear ya... I'm not interested in the rule changes either; and I'm glad he
offers the older version of the 7 digit code without the other stuff added.
I don't know if I could sacrifice another game, even a one-baller like AP just
to swipe the insert board. Good catch on noting the similar layout though; all
the important stuff is in the same place. I've got a spare BK cab and its
insert board is nowhere near the same, so no chance of using it without a lot of
mods. I could rip it up, sure, but would rather keep it intact.
I'm thinking the longer cables are the answer, but will wait on hearing some
opinions on why/why not, before I go to the trouble.
I parted out an AP (cabinet toasted) but didn't save the insert board
(it was warped a little bit, too)
I'd probably go ahead with making a new board just to keep the original
intact, but my firepower has a beat cab anyway so if I ever do it in the
future I might just hack it up a bit. I don't see any probably going
with longer cables, what's the longest BK has for instance, that one has
to go through from the back all the way to #2 or #4.
If you do pull out the insert to mod or make a new one paint it bright
white, amazing how much even the lighting is without the smoke stacks
most games of that era have.
-scott CARGPB#29
Eh, after wondering whether I should make up longer cables or not, hack another
insert board, blah blah I just decided "screw it and do it" - I took a good look
at where the free space was for drilling the cable thru-holes and figured I
could make 2 holes with a 3/8" boring bit, join them in the center with another
hole, and knock out any excess easily with the bit. I placed the holes *under*
the edge of the display so that they're invisible with the displays in place.
I've got the insert board modded, displays mounted, controller mounted,
everything hooked up. Only had to very slightly re-route one GI wire to clear
where I drilled the cable hole for the P4 display. I did end up having to move
the display controller since I didn't test-fit all the cables before deciding
where to put it; due to the cable length it's placement is pretty crucial.
All that's left is to burn new EPROMS and clean up the harness routing a little!
http://www.someotherplace.com/fp7digit1.jpg
http://www.someotherplace.com/fp7digit2.jpg
http://www.someotherplace.com/fp7digit3.jpg
Richard
- References:
- Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
- From: seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx
- Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
- From: someotherguy
- Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
- From: seymour-shabow@xxxxxxxxxx
- Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
- From: someotherguy
- Re: TECH: Oliver's Firepower 7 digit hardware mod
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