Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

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SkinnyV
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by SkinnyV »

Nah, it won't do you any good if there's extra protection checking for the video frequency. All it would do is allow the cart to boot on your NTSC Snes but as soon as the game code will check the video frequency it will give you a ''Not designed for your region'' type of screen.
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nintendo2600
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by nintendo2600 »

SkinnyV wrote:Nah, it won't do you any good if there's extra protection checking for the video frequency. All it would do is allow the cart to boot on your NTSC Snes but as soon as the game code will check the video frequency it will give you a ''Not designed for your region'' type of screen.
I really wish there was a way to patch the binary for smurfs and smurfs 2 then cause it's a real PITA that I have to use a moded console to pay the carts. I'd rather mod the carts themselves and have a stock console.
SkinnyV
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by SkinnyV »

Well there's always flash cart or you could make a patched repro if it's a game you like a lot.
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nintendo2600
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by nintendo2600 »

SkinnyV wrote:Well there's always flash cart or you could make a patched repro if it's a game you like a lot.
My knowledge of how the snes makes the check and how to get around it with alternate code is not great enough to make a such an edit or patch or I would already have made one and shared it with the rest of the smurfs fans out there :(
Hias
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by Hias »

You can use Ucon64 to remove common copy protections. After you did that, it does not matter which CIC is installed on the board. You still need the correct CIC key for the CIC lock in the SNES though.
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nintendo2600
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by nintendo2600 »

Hias wrote:You can use Ucon64 to remove common copy protections. After you did that, it does not matter which CIC is installed on the board. You still need the correct CIC key for the CIC lock in the SNES though.
I don't think Ucon does the frequency check removal. I believe it's more complicated than that. I'd love to hear I'm wrong on this though
so if someone knows different please do tell me so! :)
SkinnyV
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by SkinnyV »

If you could describe the earliest point where the game's protection kick in/what it does exactly and I'll at least take a look at it. Thanks

Update: Ok, I looked at both games. The Smurfs seem to use the basic PAL protection while The Smurfs 2 doesn't seem to have any protection at all (beside the lock-out chip of course). I obviously didn't finish the game and only played for about one level so it's not 100% but I'm confident this particular protection won't kick in later in game . You can remove the protection from The Smurf using an hex editor. Open up the rom in your Hex editor, go to offset 00000BF4 (or offset 00000DF4 if it has a copier header) and replace the following 3 bytes ''AD 3F 21'' with ''A9 10 00''. If you are scared of Hex Editor, I made you a patch for you to try:

http://www.skinnyv.com/misc/The_Smurfs_SNES_PAL_Fix.rar

This patch is for the rom included in the No-Intro set (Smurfs, The (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It).sfc).
I encountered some GFX bug on the ACT 1 banner but I also got them on the un-patched rom so it is not caused by the patch. I tested it on a old Tototek flash cart that doesn't apply any kind of fix by it self contrary to newer cart like the SD2SNES does. Let me know if you have any issue.
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nintendo2600
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal consol

Post by nintendo2600 »

SkinnyV wrote:If you could describe the earliest point where the game's protection kick in/what it does exactly and I'll at least take a look at it. Thanks

Update: Ok, I looked at both games. The Smurfs seem to use the basic PAL protection while The Smurfs 2 doesn't seem to have any protection at all (beside the lock-out chip of course). I obviously didn't finish the game and only played for about one level so it's not 100% but I'm confident this particular protection won't kick in later in game . You can remove the protection from The Smurf using an hex editor. Open up the rom in your Hex editor, go to offset 00000BF4 (or offset 00000DF4 if it has a copier header) and replace the following 3 bytes ''AD 3F 21'' with ''A9 10 00''. If you are scared of Hex Editor, I made you a patch for you to try:

http://www.skinnyv.com/misc/The_Smurfs_SNES_PAL_Fix.rar

This patch is for the rom included in the No-Intro set (Smurfs, The (Europe) (En,Fr,De,Es,It).sfc).
I encountered some GFX bug on the ACT 1 banner but I also got them on the un-patched rom so it is not caused by the patch. I tested it on a old Tototek flash cart that doesn't apply any kind of fix by it self contrary to newer cart like the SD2SNES does. Let me know if you have any issue.

I will try this and thank you SOO much for helping.
MaskRomz
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by MaskRomz »

Can anyone help me with this problem? I got a snes with the cic chip damaged and I dont have another one to replace it, so I will try to use this supercic. All I need is a replacement for the damaged one. no need for 50/60htz mod and all other stuff, only a replacement, the most basic rewiring possible, just for test my broken snes. thanks!
lidnariq
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by lidnariq »

You only need the "lock" CIC in the console if you want to play one of the specific games that have a CIC inside the processor on the cartridge - this is the SA-1 games and the S-DD1 games.

Super Famiclones often didn't include the CIC, and it should be possible to modify a SNES to just bypass the dead CIC instead of replacing it.
MaskRomz
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by MaskRomz »

when you say "bypass the dead cic" you are talking about lift the pin 4? the problem is the cic was broken and I need to remove it from the board. so there is no cic on the board to bypass. thanks
lidnariq
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by lidnariq »

No, I mean fully bypass, in the same way that we have various other ways of bypassing the NES's CIC, not just lift pin 4.

I think the specific modification will depend on whether your mainboard is one with a separate 4MHz ceramic resonator or one that uses the 3MHz clock from the sound hardware.
MaskRomz
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by MaskRomz »

the board is a snes cpu gpm-01 with the blue ceramic cristal.
lidnariq
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by lidnariq »

Hm, ok.

First question: Why do you believe it's the CIC?

Second question: Try this "one wire" bypass before we try anything else. (That's pin 10 to pin 1)
MaskRomz
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Re: Supercic 12F629 in SFC cart? (make it play on pal console)

Post by MaskRomz »

I dont have the cic chip anymore, it was broken and I need to removed it from the mother board.
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