Millipede Disassy

[Blue Azure]

Anyone ever seen a complete CX5248 Millipede disassembly? I looked and can't find it. I'm looking to make a new version.

 

Either the disassembly or MILLIPEDE.asm will work for me. THX, Blue

[+Allan]

I've been around for a while and have never seen one. If you are going to do a dissassembley of a 5200 game it would be great to do one of the half finished 5200 prototypes in hopes that someone might finish it. Games like Blackbelt, Battlezone, Frisky Tom (just needs some small adjustments), Spitfire or Jr. Pacman(needs a small bug fix which is fixed on the 8-bit version.)

 

Just my two cents.

 

Allan

[MIKE5200]

I've been around for a while and have never seen one. If you are going to do a dissassembley of a 5200 game it would be great to do one of the half finished 5200 prototypes in hopes that someone might finish it. Games like Blackbelt, Battlezone, Frisky Tom (just needs some small adjustments), Spitfire or Jr. Pacman(needs a small bug fix which is fixed on the 8-bit version.)

 

Just my two cents.

 

Allan

 

I would like to get Battlezone to play on my USB cart or make it into robot tanks...That's would be even cooler!

[Blue Azure]

Thanks to Allan for his 2 cents (wow, I'll say you've been here a while, since the beginning of AA) & Mike52 for their responses. I haven't looked at BATTLEZONE or SPITFIRE for decades. I suppose I still have them on file and they are probably the same version you have. No, as stated, my focus is on MILLIPEDE. SORRY to disappoint. And what a game MILLIPEDE is…here's a video of the gameplay as I like it…

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BilyLE46Xg

 

Meanwhile, I was searching the internet and found a schematic of the MILLIPEDE arcade game I happen to have sitting in my livingroom. I find it's 6502 based. Are you kidding me? So I disassembled the machine to disassemble the code. But got those old 2532 EPROMs in there and my programmer doesn't do those things. Wired a kludge to rewire A11 and such and was able to read the 4 x 2532s and stitched them to a single 27128 16K format. Now I will rewire the unused ROM0 slot to accommodate the 27128 and pull the 2532s, permanently. EPROMs can fail eventually, so why wait? So now I'm off doing an arcade mod, when I was looking to do an improved home-based Atari console version.

 

MILLIPEDE ARCADE schematic

Millipede Arcade Schematic.pdf

 

Here's the stitched binary for the MILLIPEDE cocktail version. Anyone have the MILLIPEDE upright version? I'd like to check the diffs.

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_16K_7252.bin

 

Here's the raw disassembly of the MILLIPEDE cocktail version. It's not usable for the average person, but who's average here?

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_16K_7252_Disassy.rtf

*CAUTION* this is 172 pages, depending on your computer settings, if you think you want to print this thing.

 

Anyone know an arcade designer who can tell me what this code is doing? I can read assembly, but would like to know things like how to make player 1 = 99 lives and invincible versions. And where are the sprites located, or maybe more specifically how is the display list managed? Maybe someone will PM me if they don't want certain aspects posted publicly. I'm doing this work for me, and if no one answers these posts, I'll just post my results as I like to share what I'm doing to save someone else the grief later. This is a lot of work we do and definitely not worth repeating.

 

I have the 32K MILLIPEDE 5200 version dated 03-15-2001, checksum=5D9C. I think it came from the AtariAge archives. Not sure what that version is, or if it works. Anyone know? I haven't tried it on hardware or emulator yet. I'd like to do a raw disassembly on that, too.

 

I understand this should probably post this on hacks, apologies, but there seems to be much more activity on this main forum.

 

A good week to you all. ///Blueman///

[+Allan]

As far as I know the 5200 version on AA is the one that's floating around the Web. It seems to be the final version. There are no reported bugs that I'm aware of (except for the ones that are suppose to be there ) .

 

Allan

[+Allan]

I think there is a hack out there of the 5200 version with unlimited lives. I'll have to look to see if I can find it.

 

Allan

[Bakasama]

I don't know if this helps but here's the MAME cheat code from the cheat.dat file

 

; [ Millipede ]
:milliped:20800000:4D84:00000038:FFFFFFFF:Invincibility
:milliped:20810000:4D85:000000EA:FFFFFFFF:Invincibility (2/2):Change "cmp #$0A" to sec, nop to force the following BCS to branch
:milliped:00000000:005D:000000B9:FFFFFFFF:No Spiders
:milliped:00000000:00F9:00000000:FFFFFFFF:No Beetles
:milliped:00000000:002C:00000000:FFFFFFFF:Ants & Earwigs can't move
:milliped:00000000:005C:00000000:FFFFFFFF:No Mosquitos
:milliped:00000000:13F0:00000000:FFFFFFFF:No Inchworms
:milliped:00000000:00C3:00000000:FFFFFFFF:Lower Spider Sound
:milliped:00000000:00C9:00000000:FFFFFFFF:No Ant or Earwig Sounds
:milliped:00000000:00B3:00000006:FFFFFFFF:Infinite Lives PL1
:milliped:00000000:00B4:00000006:FFFFFFFF:Infinite Lives PL2

 

I used to hack arcade ROMs some time ago. Sometimes it didn't work because of the ROM check failed.

[Blue Azure]

Geez guys, thanks for all the rapid responses...I've never modded an arcade game, so don't know there's a "rom check". Hmmm, maybe I can maintain the same checksum to fool the rom check, but there's only one nop and maybe a few FFs not used, but not sure. I'll be looking at this.

 

So I assume the Millipede 52 runs at $4000-$BFFF, and off I go to raw disassembly on that. THX all. ///blueman///

[MIKE5200]

Geez guys, thanks for all the rapid responses...I've never modded an arcade game, so don't know there's a "rom check". Hmmm, maybe I can maintain the same checksum to fool the rom check, but there's only one nop and maybe a few FFs not used, but not sure. I'll be looking at this.

 

So I assume the Millipede 52 runs at $4000-$BFFF, and off I go to raw disassembly on that. THX all. ///blueman///

 

That's great news for 5200 console. I seen you did a few games in 7800 forum. I like to says Thanks Btw we all would like to see Zoo Keeper for the 5200.

[Bakasama]

I should mention some arcade games that don't a CRC check during boot up, Ms. Pac-Man (bootleg), can have cheats added from the MAME cheat.dat to make trainer ROMs without CRC problems in-game but games that do a CRC check during boot up won't work unless you can add modifications into the ROM to fool the CRC check.

[Blue Azure]

Holy bat-wing bakasama (et al). I looked at your listing of the MAME cheats and I can't say I can decipher all of the codes, but the top part where it shows $4D84 (EPROM $0D84) and $4D85 (EPROM $0D85) is a bingo. Looking at my raw disassy there is $C9 $0A (CMP $0A) which is mentioned in the description, and replace with SEC ($38) and NOP ($EA). So I did. This is the binary with the two bytes changed for those who like/want this stuff.

 

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_16K_INV_72A1.bin (this is NOT a 5200 game)

 

This changed the checksum from 7252 to 72A1. I will change one of the $FF if I have to, to make the checksum match. I think it would be something like change a $FF to $FF-$4F=$B0 but I really should double-check my math. The "INV" in the title suggests this arcade game will be invincible, but it has NOT been tested.

 

Some day I'll plug it in and see if it works, The challenge facing me is (a) my programmer doesn't program 2532s so although I kludged it to READ 2532s it doesn't WRITE 2532s yet; I have to pay attention to the Vpp; the voltage and the pin has to be right, and (b) if I want to run with a single 27128 (16K EPROM), then I have to wire the change and that takes time to design and build, and bring up, etc. Obviously the optimum is to program a spare 2532 which I think I have in my stash of old parts, and erase and program and plug-in.

 

I would be interested to see if Allan can find the 99 lives version of 5200 MILLIPEDE.

 

I would also like to pull an old 5200 Millipede and see what the diffs are between this latest (2001) version and an original (1984?) version. Maybe it's invincible, but I doubt it.

 

In a few days I should have time to kick out the raw 5200 MILLIPEDE disassy, which of course will be fully uncommented and mostly useless except to a seasoned PAM Programmer. My attitude is, if someone actually picks up this disassy and does something with it, then I could build disassemblies of BATTLEZONE and SPITFIRE, et al. As long as someone eventually does something with it, that's a goal.

 

Enjoy all, ///blueman///

[Bakasama]

It's nice that bit of code useful even if you can't read it completely.

 

What ROM file is that suppose to replace. I looked at the ROM files for there's 16 files. I might be able to run this on MAME.

[Blue Azure]

Not sure how to answer that one. The modified 16K binary is a single file, if used as a single file. I don't know "MAME" other than it's an emulator used to play arcade games. If you were to try to replace ROM1-ROM4 in the arcade hardware, then you'd have to break the code into 4 x 4K files which is an easy thing to do, if you know what you're doing with an EPROM programmer. Otherwise, I'm sorry I can't support MAME questions as I don't know anything about it. ///blueman///

[Blue Azure]

So here it is, the Millipede disassembly in text format. Half way through I found that the code was repeated, so the first 16K = the second 16K. The good news is I need 32K of space, so I just gained 16K. This is identical to what Bobby D. said years ago about Space Invaders - the code was repeated twice so that game is actually 8K instead of 16K.

 

MILLIPEDE_5200_5D9C_DisassyFinal.rtf

 

There's a lot of projects that could be done with this, more lives and invincibility. Cursory checks I didn't find anything obvious. Anyone have some clues about how this game can be altered? By the way, this is the 03-15-2001 version of 5200 Millipede. Examining the 02-22-1984 version is quite different. Both work, but the gameplay functional differences are beyond me at this time.

 

And on the Millipede Arcade... I was looking to find loose 2532 EPROMs and to my surprise I found none. But I did find a couple of programmed ones which I can erase and reuse. They are labeled as follows:

 

R322G-11.RevA CENT. LO A049

CENTIPEDE_ARCADE_4K_LO_A049.bin

R322G-11.RevA CENT. HI CF69

CENTIPEDE_ARCADE_4K_HI_CF69.bin

 

"CENT" generally means CENTIPEDE. Anyone know if these are arcade or A800?

 

Now I need to finish wiring my 2532 to 2732 kludge to program 2532s to work in the Millipede Arcade and see if it runs invincible. It's just 3 wires, so it's simple, and both 2532 and 2732 program at 24vdc so no changes required there.

Again, apologies that this should probably be in the programming and/or hacks section, but I think this topic gains more attention here.

Enjoy all, ///blueman///

[kamakazi]

I was under the assumption that Millipede for the 5200 was complete...it just never seen a production run. The rom floating around works great on emulation as is so I would enjoy getting to try that version on a cartridge.

[Tempest]

I was under the assumption that Millipede for the 5200 was complete...it just never seen a production run. The rom floating around works great on emulation as is so I would enjoy getting to try that version on a cartridge.

It is. Millipede was developed on the 5200 but never released on that platform. It was then ported to the Atari 8-bit which was released. Games were not ported to the other system (5200 or 8-bit depending on which system the development started on) until they were finished.

[Bakasama]

Not sure how to answer that one. The modified 16K binary is a single file, if used as a single file. I don't know "MAME" other than it's an emulator used to play arcade games. If you were to try to replace ROM1-ROM4 in the arcade hardware, then you'd have to break the code into 4 x 4K files which is an easy thing to do, if you know what you're doing with an EPROM programmer. Otherwise, I'm sorry I can't support MAME questions as I don't know anything about it. ///blueman///

Oh now I see what the problem is. The ROMs that MAME uses for Millipede are dumped from the individual ROM chips. I recall there's six binary files that MAME reads for Millipede. The ROM you posted seems to be all the seem all the information from the ROM chips packed into a single binary file. I don't think MAME will able to read it unless the MAME driver for Centipede/Millipede rewritten to read that.

[Blue Azure]

Sorry for the delay I'm on a 7-day-a-week work binge right now.

 

However, here it is, more information than anyone will ever need. The good news: IT ALL WORKS. The bad news: I CAN'T GET PEOPLE TO QUIT PLAYING THE GAME. We were up until 4AM playing the invincible MILLIPEDE. It's quite a different game now. But still really hard to play. It's a amazing. I beat my original high score of 500K+ on the first try.

 

On the 2532 vs. 2732 programming, the kludge works. I can program 2532s now on a present-day programmer. Here's the wiring list. It's easy.

 

PIN1 THRU PIN24 PIN-TO-PIN WIRING EXCEPT FOR:

2532 2732 (PROGRAMMER)

PIN18 to PIN21 (A11)

PIN20 to PIN18 (/CE)

PIN21 to PIN20 (VPP)

 

I used a 24-pin wire wrap socket soldered to a standard 24-pin DIP socket with pins 18, 20, 21 cut on the wire wrap socket and three jumper wires added as shown above. Both the 2532 and 2732 program at 24VDC so no diode drop needed for the 2532.

 

There's been some discussion about "EPROM files". Yes there are 6 EPROMS in MILLIPEDE. Here they are:

Program code:

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM1_CE95.bin

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM2_1203.bin

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM3_7A4B.bin

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM4_176F.bin

 

Picture code:

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM_5P_D37D.bin

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM_5P_D37D.bin

 

ROM1 with two bytes changed to make MILLIPEDE invincible:

MILLIPEDE_ARCADE_ROM1_INV_CEE4.bin

 

MANY THANKS TO BAKASAMA FOR YOUR HELP IN THIS PROJECT.

 

Still hope to see an invincible 5200 Millipede. PM me if you only want me to have a copy.

 

I also have a Crystal Castles cocktail arcade in my livingroom. Does anyone have the cheats for that one?

Enjoy all, ///blueman///

[Bakasama]

I'm glad I could help.

 

I do have some cheat codes for Crystal Castles

 

Here's the MAME cheat codes:

 

; [ Crystal Castles (version 4) ]
:ccastles:00000000:0097:00000012:FFFFFFFF:Infinite Credits
:ccastles:00000000:840A:00000008:FFFFFFFF:Infinite Lives
:ccastles:00000000:862E:000000FF:FFFFFFFF:Invincibility
:ccastles:00100001:006C:00000000:FFFFFFFF:Finish this Screen Now!

I hope you can read this one.

 

The "Invincibility" cheat is just has Bentley wearing Magic Hat forever. However, you can't kill the Gem Eaters. Still, it makes doing the second warp a lot easier. There could be a cheat where Bentley doesn't need the hat to be invincibile but I don't think anyone has found it yet. I checked the cheat codes for the other versions of Crystal Castles and they're all the same.

 

Also, there's 11 EPROMs. I believe there are some binary files that just deal with defining the color but I'm not too sure about that.

 

022-403.bin          | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(81471ae5)
022-404.bin          | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(820daf29)
022-405.bin          | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(4befc296)
ccastles.102         | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(f6ccfbd4)
ccastles.101         | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(e2e17236)
ccastles.107         | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(39960b7d)
ccastles.106         | Good.  Length: 0x00002000  CRC(9d1d89fc)
ccastles.108         | Good.  Length: 0x00000100  CRC(6ed31e3b)
ccastles.109         | Good.  Length: 0x00000100  CRC(b3515f1a)
ccastles.110         | Good.  Length: 0x00000100  CRC(068bdc7e)
ccastles.111         | Good.  Length: 0x00000100  CRC(c29c18d9)

[Blue Azure]

Right on, Bakasama. It may take up to 2 weeks (or beyond?) to try the Crystal Castles "fix" but I'll get there. No urge for me to do the full disassembly on this one. I can dump the hex and search for the appropriate bytes and program the new 2764 it looks like it uses. I see the listing for 11 EPROMs, but 4 of them say 100 bytes, which guess is a typo error, but maybe it's referring to something else. When I crack open the machine I'll know. Oops, I hope I can find the keys for this one, I've never been in there.

 

Reading through this thread I noticed there was a possible concern for a "rom check" on Millipede. But I changed the code and no need to fuss with the checksum...

 

Another responder mentioned the interest to possibly get a 5200 Millipede cartridge.

 

I believe you can get one here, by selecting the binary & artwork (if available) of your choice:

http://atariage.com/store/index.php?l=product_detail&p=951

 

You can see what is available here, and it looks like AAA (Albert's AtariAge) doesn't have the artwork for this title, but someone else might...just ask around and see...

http://atariage.com/software_page.html?SoftwareLabelID=785

 

Enjoy all, ///blueman///