impossible mission

[+Propane13]

I tried what was supposedly the fixed version and it still didn't work. There might be another one I haven't tried...

 

Where did you get it? I have played the fixed version and beaten it. You can download a working version from my website.

 

Mitch

 

Hi Mitch,

 

Is that the version I put together?

If so, that version definitely works. I have a screenshot from the end that I took as proof.

 

-John

[+Mitch]

I tried what was supposedly the fixed version and it still didn't work. There might be another one I haven't tried...

 

Where did you get it? I have played the fixed version and beaten it. You can download a working version from my website.

 

Mitch

 

Hi Mitch,

 

Is that the version I put together?

If so, that version definitely works. I have a screenshot from the end that I took as proof.

 

-John

 

Yes, the one on my site is the one you worked on. There was another one posted in these forums a couple years ago that was not completely fixed.

 

Mitch

[Trip_Cannon]

Yeah, it was a couple years ago... That must have been the one I played...

[jedijeff]

Just ask someone to burn you the corrected ROM and replace it into a IM cart.

 

If that's all there is to it then I just need to find someone to burn the ROM.

That would be soooo sweet to have the fixed version on cart.

[+Propane13]

I have an EPROM burner if you want to talk about it.

Been awhile since I made my fixed "Possible Mission" cart, so I'd need to do some homework.

I believe I cannibalized a Jinks cart to get it to work.

 

-John

[+Propane13]

I have an EPROM burner if you want to talk about it.

Been awhile since I made my fixed "Possible Mission" cart, so I'd need to do some homework.

I believe I cannibalized a Jinks cart to get it to work.

 

-John

 

Or, maybe someone would be interested in this service (assuming the info was provided for how to do it)? Maybe ResQSoft?

 

-John

[+Mitch]

I have an EPROM burner if you want to talk about it.

Been awhile since I made my fixed "Possible Mission" cart, so I'd need to do some homework.

I believe I cannibalized a Jinks cart to get it to work.

 

-John

 

Or, maybe someone would be interested in this service (assuming the info was provided for how to do it)? Maybe ResQSoft?

 

-John

 

I think Lee was getting out of the 7800 repro business. There are a few other people that can make 7800 repros though.

Jinks makes an excellent donor cart!

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Or, maybe someone would be interested in this service (assuming the info was provided for how to do it)? Maybe ResQSoft?

 

-John

I've got a bunch of Jinks carts (NIB) as well as an EPROM burner, so I'm sure I could do it if I had the info. I've already made myself repro carts for several systems, including the 7800.

[+Mitch]

Or, maybe someone would be interested in this service (assuming the info was provided for how to do it)? Maybe ResQSoft?

 

-John

I've got a bunch of Jinks carts (NIB) as well as an EPROM burner, so I'm sure I could do it if I had the info. I've already made myself repro carts for several systems, including the 7800.

 

Well, the first step is to get yourself some 27C010 or 27C100 EPROMs.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Well, the first step is to get yourself some 27C010 or 27C100 EPROMs.

 

Mitch

I've got a bunch of those too, and a UV eraser.

[+Mitch]

Well, the first step is to get yourself some 27C010 or 27C100 EPROMs.

 

Mitch

I've got a bunch of those too, and a UV eraser.

 

I think I have the instructions floating around on my hard drive, I'll see if I can dig them up. I might have posted them to the forums at one point a few years ago as well.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

I think I have the instructions floating around on my hard drive, I'll see if I can dig them up.

Thanks, that would be great! I haven't been able to find them myself, and my last attempt at figuring it out on my own didn't work out. Edited November 17, 2006 by jaybird3rd

[+Mitch]

I think I have the instructions floating around on my hard drive, I'll see if I can dig them up.

Thanks, that would be great! I haven't been able to find them myself, and my last attempt at figuring it out on my own didn't work out.

 

Which EPROM are you going to be using? The instructions are slighly different depending on the EPROM.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Which EPROM are you going to be using? The instructions are slighly different depending on the EPROM.

 

Mitch

The 27C010.

[+Mitch]

OK, assuming that Jinks is your donor cart and that it is using the C300565 board; the first step after disassembling the cart is to remove the game ROM located at U1.

Unsolder the cap at C1 and the resistors at R2 and R4, now resolder them back in on the other side of the board. Cover the bare solder points with a small piece of electrical tape. You are making room on the top of the board because the EPROM is longer than the original game ROM.

Burn the game to a 27C010 EPROM and then bend up pins 1, 2, 24, 31 and 32. I usually snip off part of the bent up pins so that theres not a lot of excess. Don't snip off too much as you will need to solder jumpers on to them. Solder the EPROM in at location U1 with pin 3 of the EPROM going into hole 1 on the board. All of the holes for location U1 should be filled except hole 22. (under bent up pin 24)

Now run jumpers from the following locations:

 

pin 24 to pin 16 (ground)

 

pin 2 to hole 22

 

Pins 1, 31 and 32 to pin 30 (+5v)

 

At this point you should have a jumper on all of the bent up pins and all of the holes at location U1 should be filled.

Note: I usually use wirewrap wire for the jumpers but any higher gauge wire should work fine.

 

Give a double check to your solder work and if it all looks good, plug it into your 7800 and have fun.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Thanks so much for that information! I tried it tonight and it works great! Impossible Mission looks much better running on the real thing than in an emulator (at least to me).

 

One issue I encountered with the '565 board: the jumpers have to be set properly (W1=open, W2=closed, W3=closed, W4=open, W5=open, W6=open) for 128K PROMs for this modification to work. I believe these are the factory settings for Jinks, but I had opened W3 and closed W4 because I was using my board for testing 64K EPROMs. That confused me for a few minutes until I remembered that I had changed the jumpers.

[Shawn]

Just ask someone to burn you the corrected ROM and replace it into a IM cart.

 

 

EDIT: Mitch aleady explained it.

Edited November 18, 2006 by Shawn Sr.

[+Mitch]

Thanks so much for that information! I tried it tonight and it works great! Impossible Mission looks much better running on the real thing than in an emulator (at least to me).

 

One issue I encountered with the '565 board: the jumpers have to be set properly (W1=open, W2=closed, W3=closed, W4=open, W5=open, W6=open) for 128K PROMs for this modification to work. I believe these are the factory settings for Jinks, but I had opened W3 and closed W4 because I was using my board for testing 64K EPROMs. That confused me for a few minutes until I remembered that I had changed the jumpers.

 

Cool, I'm glad you got it working! Now you just need to beat it.

 

Ah yes, the solder jumpers, I was assuming you were using a new Jinks board but you seem to have figured it out yourself.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Cool, I'm glad you got it working! Now you just need to beat it.

 

Ah yes, the solder jumpers, I was assuming you were using a new Jinks board but you seem to have figured it out yourself.

 

Mitch

Beating Impossible Mission is easier said than done ... from what little I've played of it so far, this game is HARD! It's a very nice addition to the 7800 library; it's just too bad the NTSC version was shipped before it was fully debugged. I posted the jumper info mostly in case somebody out there wants to use games other than Jinks as donors, as the '565 board might be set up differently for those.

 

Well, now that I have the procedure worked out, I've got plenty of Jinks carts and EPROMs for anyone wanting a copy of the debugged Impossible Mission on a real cartridge! Let me know if you're interested!

[+Mitch]

Here's a hint if you want to beat it the easy way. The first level is always the same when you turn it on, if you hit reset it is randomized. With a map of the first level it is much easier to beat.

If you use a converted Jinks board your first level should be the same as this.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Here's a hint if you want to beat it the easy way. The first level is always the same when you turn it on, if you hit reset it is randomized. With a map of the first level it is much easier to beat.

If you use a converted Jinks board your first level should be the same as this.

 

Mitch

Aha! That will certainly help make things easier.

 

I'm curious ... does this method of putting a 128K EPROM on a '565 also work with other games? I tried it with the Klax BIN, for example, and it didn't seem to work (the graphics were scrambled and the game froze after the intro screens). I tried it on boards with 8K and 32K SRAMs, and on one without RAM.

Edited November 19, 2006 by jaybird3rd

[+Mitch]

I'm curious ... does this method of putting a 128K EPROM on a '565 also work with other games? I tried it with the Klax BIN, for example, and it didn't seem to work (the graphics were scrambled and the game froze after the intro screens). I tried it on boards with 8K and 32K SRAMs, and on one without RAM.

 

Klax should work fine with that board, it doesn't need the RAM but I can't remember if I ever tested it with RAM installed.

Though if you tested it without RAM that's probably not it. Other than the RAM, everything else should be the same. There is a bug in the startup code that seems to only affect a few 7800s, you can grab a copy of a patched version here.

It is also possible that the EPROM is flaky, I had that happen one time with a different game.

 

Mitch

[jaybird3rd]

Klax should work fine with that board, it doesn't need the RAM but I can't remember if I ever tested it with RAM installed.

Though if you tested it without RAM that's probably not it. Other than the RAM, everything else should be the same. There is a bug in the startup code that seems to only affect a few 7800s, you can grab a copy of a patched version here.

It is also possible that the EPROM is flaky, I had that happen one time with a different game.

 

Mitch

Hmmm ... I'm not sure what I could be doing wrong. I've tried a few EPROMs, I've tried the patched version you linked to, and I even tried stripping the A78 header out of a copy of Klax that I was able to play in an emulator. Maybe it's the '565 board that I'm using: I removed the SRAM from it some time ago so I could use it with another project, and maybe I damaged a trace or something.

 

Now that I think about it, since Klax doesn't require RAM, the best option might be to get one of Bruce Tomlin's mini-Ultracart boards. In the meantime, I'm just happy to have the chance to play a fixed version of Impossible Mission on my 7800. Thanks again for all your help, and thanks to Propane13 for putting together the patched version!

Edited November 20, 2006 by jaybird3rd

[+Propane13]

Here's a hint if you want to beat it the easy way. The first level is always the same when you turn it on, if you hit reset it is randomized. With a map of the first level it is much easier to beat.

If you use a converted Jinks board your first level should be the same as this.

 

Mitch

 

Actually, I think it depends on what sort of RAM chip you've got.

If I were to guess, the first board is pulled by grabbing states of RAM on power-up.

IIRC, my first scene was way different. But, it was still beatable.

 

This might be a fun thing to experiment with, if anyone has some different RAM chips from different manufacturers.

 

-John

[GrizzLee]

I have an EPROM burner if you want to talk about it.

Been awhile since I made my fixed "Possible Mission" cart, so I'd need to do some homework.

I believe I cannibalized a Jinks cart to get it to work.

 

-John

 

Or, maybe someone would be interested in this service (assuming the info was provided for how to do it)? Maybe ResQSoft?

 

-John

 

I think Lee was getting out of the 7800 repro business. There are a few other people that can make 7800 repros though.

Jinks makes an excellent donor cart!

 

Mitch

 

Correct you are Mitch.

 

I am waaaaay tooo busy at work anymore.

 

I would like a Possible Mission cart if anyone wants to sell me one :-)

 

I should play this on my CC2, but nothing like a cart to love and to hold :-)

 

Regards,

-Lee