Thursday, October 30, 2014

Dance Dance Revolution DDR - Setting up a Dual Display - Setting up an External VGA Monitor


DDR Machine Video Info
DDR Machines offer an external monitor output on the back of each machine. To the untrained eye, it may seem like a normal VGA port that you can stick any PC monitor into. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
If you take a look inside the machine itself, you'll see that there are 2 sets of video signals leaving the Jamma loom. One heading to the arcade monitor itself, and the other, heads towards that external back plate towards the bottom right of the machine. Each of this signals are one of the same and carry the same signal frequency to it's destination.

DDR Machine External Output (from backplane of bottom-right)
Video Connector Type: DSUB 9-Pin
Video Signal: 15khz RGB Signal
Audio Output: RCA LR audio line-out

How to Connect a VGA PC Monitor to the External Socket
The standard frequency for a VGA PC Monitor is 31khz. You will need a small card which converts the 15khz RGB signal to a 31khz VGA signal. You can purchase these cards for roughly $25 on eBay. Simply connect the card to the back of the machine, then the cards output VGA port to a PC Monitor!

These converter cards can typically handle the following tasks:
Latest & official HD9800V.4 HD-Converter Board use SAMSUNG IC.
Supports CGA/EGA/VGA/YUV Component Signal Input
Supports VGA Output (640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, 1360 x 768)
CGA/EGA/VGA signal auto scan (15KHz, 24KHz, 31KHz)
YUV Component signal auto scan (480i, 576i, 720i, 1080i, 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080p)
On Screen Display (English and Chinese)
Supports image position control & image zoom control
True digital 24-bit A/D converter for true 16.7-million color conversion.
Supports ALL types of VGA monitors (CRT, LCD, PDP, Projector, etc)

LCD Monitors and Processing Delay for Arcade Gaming


Current "gamer LCD monitors" have an input delay caused by the overdrive of about 2 frames (30ms), older LCDs have a more blurry picture, but no input lag (Since 2011, you can find monitors with 1 frame or less of delay (15ms)). LCD and Plasma TVs have a common delay caused by the deinterlacing, scaling and processing of the input signal of about 30-50ms. Some TVs come up with 100ms delay (Samsung A6 series with 100/120Hz), some TVs have a gaming mode which reduces the lag to 10-20ms. If your deinterlacing device adds a delay of it's own now (e.g. 50ms) to an already slow LCD television, things get pretty unplayable. You won't be able to hit your arrows in Dance Dance Revolution, you won't be able to perform your combo moves in Street Fighter and you won't be able to dodge bullets anymore in DoDonPachi. As a player you'll be able to adapt to a certain delay, but you should nevertheless try to keep the delay as low as possible.

Dance Dance Revolution DDR - Error 114 - You are using an incorrect CD-ROM...


Error: Error 114 (Can also appear as error 119 on other mixes)
Message: You are using an incorrect CD-ROM. Replace the CD-ROM to XXXXXXXX and turn on the main power. (Where XXXXXXX is the CD Code for the DDR Mix. I.e. B20-JA-A02 is 7th Mix)
Reason: This error message usually presents itself when the 573 expects a disc for a game (I.e. Max 2) but the disc inserted is different.
Tips: If you are trying to install a new mix, try flipping DIPSW 4 to change the 573's boot mode and try again. Check that the disc inserted in the CD-ROM is correct for the game installed on the 573.

Dance Dance Revolution DDR - Error 119 - You are using an incorrect CD-ROM...


Error: Error 119 (Can also appear as error 114 on other mixes)
Message: You are using an incorrect CD-ROM. Replace the CD-ROM to XXXXXXXX and turn on the main power. (Where XXXXXXX is the CD Code for the DDR Mix. I.e. B20-JA-A02 is 7th Mix)
Reason: This error message usually presents itself when the 573 expects a disc for a game (I.e. Max 2) but the disc inserted is different.
Tips: If you are trying to install a new mix, try flipping DIPSW 4 to change the 573's boot mode and try again. Check that the disc inserted in the CD-ROM is correct for the game installed on the 573.

Dance Dance Revolution DDR - Compatible CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs for 573


Compatible CD-ROMs
The 573 is quite picky about what CD-ROM drive it will work with, especially when running analog games. The following is a community-made list of drives that are confirmed working in the 573:

Compaq 179137-701
LG GCR-8523B
LG GDR-8164B (confirmed great for analog mixes and super discs)
LG GH22NP20 Multi DVD Rewriter
Lite-On LH-18A1H (confirmed working for analog mixes and super discs)
Lite-On LTD-163
Lite-On LTR-40125S
Lite-On XJ-HD166S
Toshiba XM-5702B
Matsushita CR589B (this is the stock drive; works with analog mixes)
Matsushita SR8589B
MITSUMI CRMC-FX4830T
NEC CDR-1900A
Panasonic CR594C
SONY DRU-510A
SONY DRU-810A
LG GDR-8163B (confirmed working with analog mixes)
TEAC CD-W552E

Make sure you have the jumper on these drives set to master.

The following are eBay searches for two of the best drives found to work:
GDR-8164B
Lite-On LTD-163

Note: The DDR SuperDisc will only work with a DVD Drive as the image is a DVD Image.

Dance Dance Revolution DDR - Error 104 - CD-ROM Initialization Failed (Bad Drive or Disc)


Error: Error 104
Message: CD-ROM Initialization Failed
Reason: Error message usually occurs when a bad disc is being read or the CD-ROM in the 573 has gone bad.
Tips: Try a different disc, if that fails, replace the CD-ROM (Ensure it's compatible with the 573)

Friday, September 12, 2014

FIX - Elder Scrolls Arena lags in DOSBox


Before you run the game in DOSBox, enter the following commands...

Code Snippet
  1. core dynamic
  2. cycles 37000
End of Code Snippet