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Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 11:31 am
by Wizboy
Dear Pinball 2000 fans, dear Nucore team.

I am a really big enthusiast and lover of the Pinball 2000 system. Beside the two retail pins (rfm and swe1) I own a Wizard Blocks prototype with the original developer flash prismcard. It works, plays and sounds amazing! Maybe some of you have seen my videos on youtube...
Before you say it is the game from the TPF Expo 2016? or 2017?, no it is not! Mine don't have RGB leds! Mine don't use special modified beacon flasher!
Mine is like it was planned and designed in 1999, so it is a complete different game and use of technique (1999 vs. 201x)

I tried Nucore as primary system because flash is finite and to get one of those flash prismcards back again it is like to win the jackpot in lottery...

So I put the WB roms in the Nucore system and fired up the machine. Nucore thinks it starts Star Wars but in real it starts Wizard Blocks. It works but the sounds aren't used as they should do! Nucore don't use the regular sound roms U109 and U110 that is the reason why it is running with wrong sounds... I think the sounds are converted from the sound ROMs 109 and 110 in "swe1_14f.cpu" or "swe1_nucore.bin" for Star Wars or "rfm_nucore.bin", "rfm_u109.bin", "rfm_u109.bin" for Revenge from Mars?


It would be very nice to use Nucore completely and to get the option not to overwrite Star Wars for Wizard Blocks rather than have the possibility to switch between RFM, SWE1 and WB in Nucore system!

I don't want and need any ROM files for any game only the possibility to use them right. I appreciate it alot for any support from you.

Proof of concept video: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Regards
Wizboy

Re: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:00 am
by Wizboy
Not much feedback and interest as I had hoped :|

Re: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:55 am
by jbrove
Hey,

That is really cool. I think many people would be interested but parts of this forum have stagnated over the years. Most likely not many people have seen this. It should come around in the near future since the developers are releasing new versions again.

As for the sounds - I believe the developers indeed moved/consolidated the sounds into the .bins and don't use the roms for this purpose. Probably because reading on the fly from two 16-bit roms interleaved to 32bits (in an odd format too) wasn't feasible. You could try sending Chuck a private message to ask about getting ahold of whatever conversion tool they wrote internally.

Might I ask how you came about this machine in the first place? I had thought there was only one in existance.

Best,
J

Re: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:27 pm
by Wizboy
Video of Wizard Blocks running on original/old hardware with developer Flash-prismcard: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on old hardware with developer flash-prismcard

Re: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:14 pm
by Wizboy
jbrove wrote: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:55 am Hey,

That is really cool. I think many people would be interested but parts of this forum have stagnated over the years. Most likely not many people have seen this. It should come around in the near future since the developers are releasing new versions again.

As for the sounds - I believe the developers indeed moved/consolidated the sounds into the .bins and don't use the roms for this purpose. Probably because reading on the fly from two 16-bit roms interleaved to 32bits (in an odd format too) wasn't feasible. You could try sending Chuck a private message to ask about getting ahold of whatever conversion tool they wrote internally.

Might I ask how you came about this machine in the first place? I had thought there was only one in existance.

Best,
J
Thanks for the reply J.
I think it is not in their interest to provide further games like Wizard Blocks or Playboy because there is a to little usergroup...

There are a few Wizard Blocks out in the wild. I am not sure how many prototypes Wiliams build maybe 7-10?

Re: Pinball 2000 Wizard Blocks running on Nucore

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2018 10:58 pm
by mjmmx
nice job with the wizard blocks. glad to hear one exists that is that far along in both hardware and software.