Namco System 246/256
#1
Hello.

I will get judged by asking this particular request but...*sighs* it's worth trying...

Recently, I heard that the MAME developers have difficulty bringing the Namco System 246/256 to life on MAME, and that they will probably never emulate them.

Is there a possibility for the PCSX2 development team to implememt support for the Namco System 246/256 hardware? If I am correct in my assertion, they are virtually the same hardware. The only difference is that the MagicGate security dongle is what holds the executable of the game...If I get anything wrong, then I do apologise....

If they can do it, I would be over the moon, since I am dying to try the arcade versions of Soul Calibur II/III and Tekken 4/5. I am not sure if this has been requested before but if it has, then I deeply am sorry for being such a greedy pig...Can the PCSX2 development team make this experiment successful?

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95
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#2
As far as I know, Magicgate hasn't been cracked, or is very difficult to do, so it's unlikely we will ever do it.
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#3
The bios of the 246 I think it is boots somewhat in pcsx2, not only that but awhile ago like a couple of years ago I remember a thread where a guy managed to make a utility that made good dongle files out of the split ones.
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#4
(11-27-2017, 01:37 AM)refraction Wrote: As far as I know, Magicgate hasn't been cracked, or is very difficult to do, so it's unlikely we will ever do it.

Forgive me for being such a nuisance...but I have seen a video on YouTube that shows the System 246 bios being able to work with the PCSX2 emulator: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=k9mZFZ16H1E

And there have been discussions about the system on a different thread: https://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-PCSX2-wo...m-246-BIOS

From what I see, certain individuals are attempting their best to emulate the system. I am curious if any such progress has been made or if they have passed on anything to the development team....But if the MagicGate is very difficult to program, then I totally understand...This is my greedy self kicking in so I really need to shut up now...

Thank you for replying.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95
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#5
Oh boy...everyone's going to be pissed at me for bringing this dead thread back to life or even mentioning the Namco System 246  Sad but I want you to bear with me here, as I do have some interesting information to share.

I have recently found a datasheet, which I am sure is for the dongle for the Namco System 246. It contains the features, schematics, how each component interacts with each other etc. I will attach it to this thread.

Considering this, I am wondering if it's possible for the development team behind PCSX2 to create a plugin for the System 246 dongle so we are able to boot into the games properly. I don't think it's the fact that the dongle and the game files that are encrypted, I believe it's because the PCSX2 emulator isn't able to interact with the hardware of the decrypted dongles and the files uncompressed from the CHD files. The rest of the specs for the System 246 are identical compared to a PS2, so I think we just need to examine the dongle. But this could be me just speculating.

I am expecting some people to rage at me but...I am interested to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks for your time.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95


Attached Files
.pdf   K9F6408Q0C_datasheet.pdf (Size: 497,18 KB / Downloads: 653)
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#6
I can't tell exactly, I'll need to read this in more detail later, but I'll say this.

If the dongle uses the same serial port as a memory card, it can be plugged into a PS2. If so, it's possible to then dump it's decrypted contents to a USB, and then MyMC can be used to load it onto a PCSX2 memcard file and then in theory loaded, in some fashion, into PCSX2. I have no idea if I'm on the mark or not, but that's my shower thought. I'll have to re-read later.

Edit for clarity after re-reading your last post, if the files are still encrypted, that's the problem. PCSX2 makes no effort to work with Magic Gate, because no one knows how it works and memcard dumps from a PS2 pass through the encryption stage before hitting the destination USB device.
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#7
(02-03-2018, 03:49 PM)pandubz Wrote: I can't tell exactly, I'll need to read this in more detail later, but I'll say this.

If the dongle uses the same serial port as a memory card, it can be plugged into a PS2. If so, it's possible to then dump it's decrypted contents to a USB, and then MyMC can be used to load it onto a PCSX2 memcard file and then in theory loaded, in some fashion, into PCSX2. I have no idea if I'm on the mark or not, but that's my shower thought. I'll have to re-read later.

Edit for clarity after re-reading your last post, if the files are still encrypted, that's the problem. PCSX2 makes no effort to work with Magic Gate, because no one knows how it works and memcard dumps from a PS2 pass through the encryption stage before hitting the destination USB device.

Thanks for replying pandubz. I will need to see if the System 246 dongle does indeed use the same serial port when compared to a PS2 memory card. I have heard that they are both the same hardware, it's just the way they function is what the difference is, and the fact that they use different encryption keys. So it would make sense to create a separate plugin for the dongle.

If I had to guess based from what I have seen in the HXD Editor, it looks like the dongle files when reversed engineered from the MAME development team have been decrypted since I can see some of the game content contained in the dongle (i.e. in the Soul Calibur III Arcade Edition dongle, I can see the characters names, announcer's dialogue, the game modes etc.). Again, this is just me purely guessing. If I had the original hardware and the dongle, I would be able to give more details of how the system operates.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95
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#8
(02-03-2018, 03:49 PM)pandubz Wrote: I can't tell exactly, I'll need to read this in more detail later, but I'll say this.

If the dongle uses the same serial port as a memory card, it can be plugged into a PS2. If so, it's possible to then dump it's decrypted contents to a USB, and then MyMC can be used to load it onto a PCSX2 memcard file and then in theory loaded, in some fashion, into PCSX2. I have no idea if I'm on the mark or not, but that's my shower thought. I'll have to re-read later.

Edit for clarity after re-reading your last post, if the files are still encrypted, that's the problem. PCSX2 makes no effort to work with Magic Gate, because no one knows how it works and memcard dumps from a PS2 pass through the encryption stage before hitting the destination USB device.
So from what I remember the Dongles are literally modified memory cards that have the encryption keys on them, the biggest issue we have with them is that the dongle rips we have are oddly split and thus not whole files. other than that though it's a very strangely modified memory card / reader in a format when made whole that pcsx2 neither recognizes nor reads. https://www.arcade-projects.com/forums/i...onversion/&pageNo=1&s=80b0a1f926fff9d69ebc1e491e2f689b7942d6ce a good forum with ton's of game info and such linked in the doc on the first post the biggest issues besides the dongles are game compatibility between revisions which the document lists.
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#9
(02-05-2018, 03:55 AM)kenshen Wrote: So from what I remember the Dongles are literally modified memory cards that have the encryption keys on them, the biggest issue we have with them is that the dongle rips we have are oddly split and thus not whole files. other than that though it's a very strangely modified memory card / reader in a format when made whole that pcsx2 neither recognizes nor reads. https://www.arcade-projects.com/forums/i...9b7942d6ce a good forum with ton's of game info and such linked in the doc on the first post the biggest issues besides the dongles are game compatibility between revisions which the document lists.

Ah. I now understand why the development team are having such difficulty with implementing the system. Thanks for that kenshen. 

I am not sure if this is allowed to be discuss on the forums, but can anyone point me in the right direction of purchasing a System 246 unit? I am from the UK, and it is really tough to acquire this arcade system. 

Much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95
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#10
(02-06-2018, 06:49 PM)AnimeFan95 Wrote: Ah. I now understand why the development team are having such difficulty with implementing the system. Thanks for that kenshen. 

I am not sure if this is allowed to be discuss on the forums, but can anyone point me in the right direction of purchasing a System 246 unit? I am from the UK, and it is really tough to acquire this arcade system. 

Much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Kind regards,
AnimeFan95

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NAMCO-system-...SwsYpaMoqx - somthing along the lines of this? you also don't need to worry about what "Game" it is like other arcade machines as it's literally a ps2 with a few modifications, ie. Find disk / dongle plug in and play, remeber though it had multiple revisions with different "Compatiblities" between games / machines. Hell it'd almost be easier to make a mame pcsx2 thing to emulate just the revisions of the super system also if this is your first time owning an arcade machine look up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82UCADhV-PY https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NAMCO-I-O-TO-...SwB3BaIZZs
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