Wargods CF and Boot Rom

[BladeZX]

Hi guys
I just got a working War Gods pcb but no hard drive
I know this is a little old but what is the best way to get a hard drive image from mame onto a CF card. I tried a CF card and wrote the img file to it but it will not boot with it

Appreciate some guidance
Thanks

 

[ekorz]

@BladeZX current process, but good luck finding compatible CF cards: https://www.arcade-projects.com/threads/wargods-cf-and-boot-rom.3561/page-8#post-238341

I will say now that I know what’s going on it’s mildly tempting to poke around in the bios and see if it’s patchable, but I don’t think I’ll try that anytime soon

 

[SummittArcade]

I still have some Wargods CF cards left that I made, hit me up if you decide to just buy one

 

[BladeZX]

@ekorz
Thank you for the guide - I was able to set the HPA on a SSD I had laying around and write the war gods chd to it
Now I just need the ribbon cable I ordered to test it out

 

[Mitsurugi-w]

Do any of the tools in the guide allow you to change the model or serial number of the SSD drives?

 

[ekorz]

Take note of the correct orientation for the cable. The key is backwards compared to some flash modules i have used. Very confusing.

 

[ekorz]

Do any of the tools in the guide allow you to change the model or serial number of the SSD drives?

I don’t recall anything like that in hdat2 or in their cookbook https://www.hdat2.com/files/cookbook_v11.pdf

 

[stj]

ALL the toolz.
https://www.usbdev.ru/files/

just dont blame me if you brick your drive!

 

[BladeZX]

Tried the SSD but still no luck

It says disk is ok but then I get this error

FILE LAUNCHER ERROR!
Error loading start.out
Error code: 1
File system init error.
Cannot continue

 

[ekorz]

All I can say is those steps worked for me. Are you sure the device supports that SETMAX command? Did it save OK? I would think a new SSD would be ok but I’m out of other ideas. I guess just double check your settings and try writing the chd again.

 

[BladeZX]

@ekorz
I did a diskpart clean on the drive before I did the SETMAX on it
Can u tell me if that is what u did?

Also, which CHD did you use?
I tried with this one ---- wargods_10-09-1996.chd

This the command I used:

chdman extracthd -i wargods_10-09-1996.chd -o \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 -f

 

[ekorz]

I have wargods_11-07-1996.chd, that one is old so if you used the newer chdman that might be the problem. I am not sure if they repacked these files but it’s worth a shot.

the dispart clean step shouldn’t matter, I don’t think. Most important was SETMAX and just having it save that setting. Does the drive report the correct size after the SETMAX process? Really I think you’re probably doing that part OK, I don’t recall that error happening with an improperly built disc.

I also think the chd command Is right.

 

[BladeZX]

Got a war gods CF from @SummittArcade - great guy

Now can someone please tell me how to disable all of the diagnostics every time I turn on this game
I hope there is a way

 

[stj]

if you mean the drawing of a pcb where the chips turn green one by one - you cant, all williams/midway games do it.
if it's checking the drive then it is probably an option.

 

[BladeZX]

Looks like I can hit P2 start to skip it, then it does hard drive check and game starts
That will do

 

[davesarcades]

Looks like I can hit P2 start to skip it, then it does hard drive check and game starts
That will do

yup - that's the ticket - LOVE war gods. I main as Vallah. You guys?

 

[BladeZX]

Yes I like Vallah as well

 

[rativiv]

I still have some Wargods CF cards left that I made, hit me up if you decide to just buy one

Hi SummittArcade, Do you still have any Wargods CF left at this time?

 

[SummittArcade]

Yes I think I have two left

 

[DRAGONKZ]

If you still have any left I’d be interested