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No progress on a game for years - where to ask?
#320517 - 01/18/14 10:27 AM
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Is there a proper place where I could ask if someone with the knowledge would kindly try to continue to improve the emulation of a game?
Specifically I am talking about Taito's Pit & Run from 1984. It's been like 10 years since they have included the game in MAME and the game still lacks proper sound.
Thank you.
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| CTOJAH |
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Re: No progress on a game for years - where to ask?
[Re: Tomas Mikeska]
#320518 - 01/18/14 12:27 PM
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Judging by the MAME community rules here, it's better to NOT ask at all, but than again, 10 years is huge amount of time so You could try to buzz Haze or R.Belbont - both of them are kindly responsive to all of us peasants and our ignorance.
By the way, Pit & Run is a pure crap, also ruined by its lousy system of commands/controls and completely unplayable "game", so maybe You could try to ask what happened with Raiden 2 instead 
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Re: No progress on a game for years - where to ask?
[Re: Tomas Mikeska]
#320519 - 01/18/14 01:28 PM
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I cant be 100% sure but from a quick read of the driver, it looks like this game has discrete sound. This makes it hard to emulate (and in some cases impossible without the PCB).
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| gregf |
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Re: Pit n Run
[Re: jonwil]
#320529 - 01/18/14 10:19 PM
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>I cant be 100% sure but from a quick read of the driver, it looks like this game has
>discrete sound. This makes it hard to emulate (and in some cases impossible without the
>PCB).
I see the driver was done many years earlier. I guess this is one that the hardware audio output may have been noted as to what address the various audio sounds are generated/played. I only looked at the single file (below).
--
src/mame/drivers/pitnrun.c
TODO:
- analog sound
writes to $a8xx triggering analog sound :
$a800 - drivers are gettin into the cars
$a801 - collisions
$a802 - same as above
$a803 - slide on water
$a804 - accelerate
$a807 - analog sound reset
--
Fortunately the manual "conversion kit for Pit and Run Universal Kit".pdf
does show schematics for the audio board and shows a couple sounds "reset" and "stop".
It might be possible to refer to the manual in case a complete pcb can't be located. I suspect that a couple of the chips off of the audio board might have to be created as separate working devices (components) first before any audio work can begin with the game.
I haven't tried the game before so I am not sure if it has regressed over the years since it was first supported. I believe both Dox and Reip have moved on.
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| gregf |
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Re: No progress on a game for years - where to ask?
[Re: Tomas Mikeska]
#320530 - 01/18/14 10:41 PM
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>Is there a proper place
This is the correct place.
>where I could ask if someone with the knowledge ...and the game still lacks proper sound.
That's the problem. The discrete related stuff (video or audio) is an area that very few are fully knowledgeable with analog components. There were a few former devs (most have left) that might have been able to get one or two sounds working, but the game uses a separate audio board and a specific audio sound might be specialized to the point where it would take hours spent to get only one audio sound properly playing.
It was easier to get the generic components of audio sounds working first such as crash sounds for 1970s era Atari games since those were all the same. That's why many of the Atari and Midway games (some still missing audio) were worked on first.
There are quite a few other games (Sega games, Gremlin/Sega games and a several Taito games) that use analog components for generating very specific audio sound effects where many hours are required to get a single sound working and they have not been worked on either. Some could still use external audio samples, but that is only limited to specific sound effects such as a single play sound effect like a "crash" sound. Many other analog sound effects require more than an external recorded audio sample.
Don't expect audio work for quite some time. If Pit n Run is still playable, even though audio sounds are missing, consider that fortunate enough.
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Re: Pit n Run
[Re: gregf]
#320538 - 01/19/14 02:00 AM
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> It might be possible to refer to the manual in case a complete pcb can't be located.
> I suspect that a couple of the chips off of the audio board might have to be created
> as separate working devices (components) first before any audio work can begin with
> the game.
if it's going to need discrete work then there is only one person that is currently working on that type of thing and he's busy, but it might be worth bringing it to his attention when he's got further through.
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