MAMEWorld Forums - News - Re: Vampire (1983) PCB

> > Which was unfortunately ruined once Smit started fundraising for Shou, and people
> > were promised things that were never delivered, but instead mostly only the 'lower
> > interest' material ever released.
>
> I cannot speak for individuals or what was promised by who. Or even what happened
> 'back in the day' but Shou hasn't been an active member of the DU for quite a while
> now...
>
> But that statement seems to be over simplified and a complete discounting of what the
> Dumping Union is and what we have contributed over the years.
>
> The DU is an autonomous group of individuals with various talents and sources. A
> group of individuals who believe in the preservation of arcade games and history. We
> have been one of the single most prolific sources of information and new games and
> clones. Sometimes, it's documentation or correct clock measurements for components
> but we continue to try and help improve MAME in our own ways.
>
> It was one of our members that generated a nondestructive way to dump the MC68705
> MCUs that could used by "non dumpers". This enabled a lot of games, some quite rare,
> to become fully emulated and get rid of various protection simulations. It's our
> members including TeamEurope that has decapped and dumped around 40 8751 MCUs. All in
> an effort to better the emulation and allowing owners the ability to repair their
> boards. Our members are still working on sourcing different MCUs and trying to get
> them dumped.
>
> Not everyone has the same interests. I wanted to get as many 8751 MCUs dumped as
> possible. I even remember back in the day you suggested to me that dumping the MCU
> for CAPCOM's 1943 series was a waste of money or at least funds should be spent on
> acquiring undumped PCBs because the protection was minimal and was fully understood.
> But it was my money and my interest so the MCU was dumped and added to MAME. Fast
> forward several years and with Klaus' help we have been successful in removing lots
> of incomplete protection simulation in favor of actual emulation. Not to mention that
> Klaus has figured out nondestructive ways dump dozens of different carts for several
> different consoles. His methods have allowed lots of rare carts to be safely dumped,
> preserved and emulated.
>
> The DU, like devs focus on what interests our individual members. We mostly self fund
> what we do. As far as I know the DU hasn't had a public fund drive in a few years.
>
> The bottom line is there are 100s of rare titles and a few prototypes that have come
> from DU members and our sources. And we continue to find, buy or source new items to
> include in MAME.
>
> I'm not suggesting this is a "the good outweighs the bad" situation. I'm sure you can
> point out several short cummings in the past, but I certainly don't think the "mostly
> only the 'lower interest' material ever released." comment is fair, accurate or
> indicative of what the DU has done and continues to do.
>
> Not looking to start a "fight" as it's just my opinion.
>
> BrianT

No, I agree the DU has done a lot of good over the years, and I work with quite a few people on it.

I also know it had some issues with people on there being more interested in creating bootleg conversions, and the Shou thing I mentioned.

There was a bunch of carrot dangling, for things that ultimately didn't get released.

That is what talking to some people outside of the DU, whom apparently contributed financially to the project and/or DU typically brings up.

It is also incredibly difficult to give anybody a contact point for the DU these days, which has also made some suspicious when I suggest it as a way of contributing.

The resulting situation has not really been the best, and has tarnished the otherwise good work that often gets done.