Home Page Forums MAME MAME Monaco GP Emulation

Update on current progress - I am currently writing the schematic for assembly A or 97091-P and I noticed that there appears to be some differences from my ROM set when compared to the two that are listed in the Monaco driver. Mine appears to be a combination of the two ROM sets. My board was made 1980 May 31st. Serial number 0149. I am thinking that my board might have been produced in between the other 2 sets, buts that's just a guess at this point. Is it possible to get some pics from the other 2 sets, so I can compare them and confirm whether or not we have a new set? Also, wondering if MAME devs prefer these updates to be placed in a new thread or if it is preferred to keep them all in a single post. I will post some pics when my phone is charged.

I still need to verify all of this information is correct, but here are the differences on my board set. I assume the code is the same as the others and that it's just a board variation but again this is just an assumption at this point.

ROM SET C <type MB7132E, 24 pin & type 7641, 24 pin>
Board 97091X
ROM ID IC#
PRc-01 (identical to PRb-01) IC59
PRc-02 (identical to PRb-02) IC65
PRc-04 (identical to PRb-04) IC71
PRc127 (identical to PRa127) IC77
PRc-03 (identical to PRb-03) IC84
PRc129 (identical to PRa129) IC91
PRc130 (identical to PRa130) IC98
PRc132 (identical to PRa132) IC111

PRm-39 <All Sets type 6331-1, 16 pin> IC105
PRm-38 <All Sets type 6331-1, 16 pin> IC115

Board 97092X
ROM ID IC#
PRc140 (identical to PRa140) IC12
PRc-12 (identical to PRb-16) IC17
PRc-10 (identical to PRb-10) IC30
PRc-11 (identical to PRb-11) IC51
PRc-05 (identical to PRb-05) IC64
PRc-08 (identical to PRb-08) IC99
PRc-07 (identical to PRb-07) IC106
PRc-06 (identical to PRb-06) IC113
PRc-09 (identical to PRb-09) IC120

There is no code in the ROMs for Monaco GP, they're all graphics patterns I believe.

Yes, I am aware of that. When I said code, I just meant that the Byte code is most likely the same. I haven't dumped the ROMs yet to verify this yet.

I've been reversing stuff for probably 20 years so If you need specific help with reversing the board contact me directly and I can help you. For simple 2-layer boards like that one you won't need to remove the chips. Look at each chip individually one by one and stay on that chip until you have traced all connections to/from it. Then move to the next chip. Do not randomly jump around the board tracing random parts. Start at the top left corner and make the schematic with the pins you can see and always beep out each pin using a multimeter. For chips where pin connections are unknown use a very bright LED torch (typically one powered with an 18650 lithium-ion battery) and shine it through the board from the bottom side pointed up to the top side. Now look closely sideways at the chip pins at an angle using a magnifier (an 8X stamp magnifier works well) and you will see the inside edge of the chip pins under the chip. If the pin has no trace connected to it then it's a no-connect and mark that on the schematic. Otherwise visually note where the trace is going and use your multimeter to trace it to the end point. Correctly identifying no-connect pins is very important to ensure you have got every connection and are not wasting large amounts of time looking for a connection that isn't there. Making a schematic of that game would probably take a long time and unless you're like me and retired early it will likely not be done. If there is schematics of a board already just emulate that one first. But note schematics can be wrong so expect things to not work 100% even if the netlist is correct as per schematic. In that case you would have to purchase a board that matches the schematic version and verify the trace connections on the board vs schematic or make a schematic for your board. First option will possibly be difficult and expensive to obtain and the 2nd option will likely be months of work.

Thanks for the advice and information. Fortunately, my board set has the power rails running underneath the ICs, so I do not have to worry about finding any connections that go underneath the IC's. I know initially we spoke about removing all of the chips would make it easier to do, than if they were left in. But after looking at the board I decided that leaving the chips in would be ok just like you mentioned in your most recent post. The schematics available for download on this game suck and I can't find one that matches my board set and like you mentioned they most likely have errors which means I will have to hunt down the errors which will be time consuming as well. That is why I want to just redo the schematic and go that route. I know it will take a long time to get it done but I think it will be worth it in the long run. I wish I was retired as that would increase my chances of success. When I started this project, I told myself time would be my biggest challenge. Please check the PM I sent you earlier.

Does anyone have photos of the Set A or Set B of Monaco GP or know where the dumps and info came from? Yorkfire1 has a set that's a mix of A and B, and I got photos from Kevin Escbach of his set. But Kevin's set matches Yorkfire's, also a mix of A and B

Anyone have a rom dump for Monaco GP set B? All I can find is set A.

Hi,

signed up to let everyone here know that I'm working on reversing the Monaco GP boards (and others) publicly on GitHub:

https://github.com/stonedDiscord/MonacoGP

Right now i'm close to done with the Main Board and started with the Video Board.

The plan is to eventually export a SPICE netlist, convert it using the MAME netlist tools and finally get this ancient game working.

The pictures in the repo should match the ROM set.

Pull Requests are difficult with KiCad projects, if someone wants to help out the LED, Score and Sound boards are still up for grabs.

I hang out on the MAME Discord a lot, my name there is 岩 無秩序 ((it's an inside joke))