Cannot Load "Lords of Thunder (USA)"

[morgoth]

I've spent considerable time trying to get "Lords of Thunder (USA)" to work. I used the bios_getter script to plop the "official" bios (as cd_bios.rom) into: /media/fat/Games/TGFX16-CD/

The game freezes after hitting "push run button!"

The bios I am using (as per the script) is: Super CD 3.1.pce >>> renamed to cd_bios.rom

Note, all other games I've tested load/play just fine.

As per the official PCE mister website, certain CD games will not work with the wrong bios. So I'm assuming that is the problem here. What caught my eye is that, for the US bios, it apparently needs to have a certain size and the copyright string at the end shouldnt be legible for it to work! (See attached screenshot)

bios_warning.PNG (41.79 KiB) Viewed 10262 times

. So what I did, was use the two US bios files (i.e. those grabbed from the script), one after the other, placing them INSIDE the Lords of Thunder directory (see attached screenshot)

LoT directory.PNG (10.61 KiB) Viewed 10262 times

. This should apparently allow this bios to override the bios one directory up. In other words, I placed them here:

/media/fat/Games/TGFX16-CD/Lords of Thunder (USA)/

These are the bios I tested (I renamed each to cd_bios.rom):
TGX CD System Card 2.0.pce
TGX CD Super System Card 3.0.pce

I am still not able to load this game.

Interestingly, when I look at the last line of the bios (see attached screenshot), the text appears legible, meaning that this "official" US bios is not the correct dump! At least that's how I interpret all this, and unfort. no hash is given to verify what the correct dump is.

bios_last_line.PNG (43.22 KiB) Viewed 10262 times

I am using the newest RBF (= TurboGrafx16_20230102.rbf).

Thanks,

[morgoth]

Note: @aberu mentioned that the bios_getter script wasn't fetching the correct bios here:

viewtopic.php?t=2323

He noticed the exact same thing I have with the last line being legible...
If this was indeed a bug, it doesn't appear that it's been fixed yet...
Also, what's this about a v3.01 bios???

[Retro-Nerd]

Lords of Thunder (USA) works perfectly fine for me (with Super System BIOS 3.0 US). Maybe the core doesn't like your Clone CD image. Try the version from the Redump collection.

[ItalianGrandma]

Lords of Thunder (USA) is working fine for me as well with the Japanese Super CD-ROM 3.00 BIOS. I am also using a CHD rip of the game. Your rip appears to be in a non-supported format as the Github says this:

CD-ROM images must be in BIN/CUE or CHD format, and must be located in the TGFX16-CD folder

You should probably try getting a different image in either CHD or BIN/CUE and then perhaps try using the Japanese Super CD-ROM 3.00 BIOS as that's also what the Github recommends for maximum compatibility.

[neogeo81]

Yeah looks like you are just simply using the wrong format

[morgoth]

Thanks all that have chimed in. I found a BIN/CUE version of "LoT (USA)", plugged in the Japanese Super CD-ROM 3.00 BIOS, and now it's working.

That being said, can anybody please share the hash of the "correct dump" of the US BIOS, aka the version that has the NON-legible last line of copyright info? As I mentioned, the bios_getter script doesn't seem to be grabbing this version. Or if the info on the github is incorrect in this respect, could that be fixed there? As it is causing some confusion; other users on Discord mentioned the same thing. Thanks for all you devs do!

[SwedishGojira]

According to this:

Attention about US BIOS: MiSTer requires original dump of US BIOS to work properly. It needs to be of 262144 bytes. If you can read copyright string at the end of US BIOS file, then it's not correct dump! It's already pre-swapped for emulators. While it will work on MiSTer, some CD games will refuse to start. Correct US BIOS file is when copyright string is not readable.

And regarding the hashes:

I think the correct BIOS should be this --> [BIOS] TurboGrafx CD Super CD-ROM2 System V3.01 (USA).pce - CRC32 = 9759A20D - MD5 = 98D43A097A165B03DF170FD5C2AD2C2F

[neogeo81]

Thanks all that have chimed in. I found a BIN/CUE version of "LoT (USA)", plugged in the Japanese Super CD-ROM 3.00 BIOS, and now it's working.

That being said, can anybody please share the hash of the "correct dump" of the US BIOS, aka the version that has the NON-legible last line of copyright info? As I mentioned, the bios_getter script doesn't seem to be grabbing this version. Or if the info on the github is incorrect in this respect, could that be fixed there? As it is causing some confusion; other users on Discord mentioned the same thing. Thanks for all you devs do!

I would go with CHDs and for that just look on archive.org for:

CHD - PC Engine CD - TurboGrafx CD (Redump)
Autor: ChadMaster

[morgoth]

@SwedishGojira, that link to the github with the hashes is super useful!

But I must say, it also mirrors why users find this so confusing! On that github, the claimed correct file is named:

[BIOS] TurboGrafx CD Super CD-ROM2 System V3.01 (USA).pce (with MD5 = 98D43A097A165B03DF170FD5C2AD2C2F)

but as per the fix:

"BIOS pack has been updated with a new TG16 CD Bios zip."
Super CD 3.1.pce (md5sum 98d43a097a165b03df170fd5c2ad2c2f)

How does BIOS V3.01 become BIOS V3.1??? Doesn't that seem to mix up the version (i.e. 3.01 to 3.1)???
Thanks,

[ItalianGrandma]

@SwedishGojira, that link to the github with the hashes is super useful!

But I must say, it also mirrors why users find this so confusing! On that github, the claimed correct file is named:

[BIOS] TurboGrafx CD Super CD-ROM2 System V3.01 (USA).pce (with MD5 = 98D43A097A165B03DF170FD5C2AD2C2F)

but as per the fix:

"BIOS pack has been updated with a new TG16 CD Bios zip."
Super CD 3.1.pce (md5sum 98d43a097a165b03df170fd5c2ad2c2f)

How does BIOS V3.01 become BIOS V3.1??? Doesn't that seem to mix up the version (i.e. 3.01 to 3.1)???
Thanks,

Probably just a typo

[limi]

How does BIOS V3.01 become BIOS V3.1??? Doesn't that seem to mix up the version (i.e. 3.01 to 3.1)???

As long as the MD5 checksum is the same, you can assume it’s the correct file.

(…and yes, I know MD5 collisions are theoretically possible, but for all practical purposes it’s good enough for this use case)

[morgoth]

All righty, sounds good. Thanks all