Author Topic: DK Remix service menu and hardware features  (Read 7982 times)

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Offline Sock Master

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DK Remix service menu and hardware features
« on: January 11, 2016, 11:08:50 am »
I'm starting this thread to cover things about the DK Remix board's service menu and hardware features.

The two versions of the board have slightly different menus. The Remix+Deranged+DK version has extra selections for DK Deranged options.

POWER-ON GAME: Lets you choose which game to boot when the power is turned on.  Options are DK Remix, Donkey Kong (and optionally DK Deranged on the +Deranged model.)   You can set your cabinet to DK like normal if you want to.

SETTINGS MENU: This selects how you can get back into this service menu.  Holding down the service switch, or holding down P1+P2 start buttons while powering up.  The P1+P2 option is there if your cabinet does not have a working service switch.  Disabling the P1+P2 option is there for cabinets in public locations where you don't want any passerby being able to change the settings.

GAME SWITCH:  Options are HOLD JUMP or DISABLED.  The board lets you switch between the different versions of DK by holding down the jump button for 4 seconds while a game is in attract mode (not during gameplay.)   Game switching can be disabled if you want the cabinet to simply stay in the default power-on game.

SAVE SCORES:  ALL, 1ST ONLY or NONE.   You can choose whether all 5 scores are saved, only the 1st highest score, or none like normal DK.  If there are already saved scores and you switch it to NONE, it does not erase the scores - your existing saved score(s) will come back if you change the settings in the future.   Setting it to 1st only will erase positions 2-5 once a new score is saved.  Each game remembers it's own set of high scores.

ERASE SCORES: selecting this lets you erase the scores that are currently saved.


Individual game settings:
-----------------------------
DIP SWITCHES:  You can select whether each game loads it's DIP switch settings from selections made in the menu, or directly from the DIP switches on the DK PCB.   This option makes it possible to have unique settings for each game, as there is only one set of DIP switches on the DK PCB.

If PCB DIP switches is selected, the following menu items will display what the current DIP switch positions correspond to but will not allow you change their values from the menu (you have to flip the DIP switches to do that.)

JUMPMEN:
The number of Jumpmen you start a game with.   3,4,5 or 6 for DK.  3,5,7 or 9 for DK Remix and Deranged.

DIFFICULTY:
(DK Remix only) Normal or Hard.  In hard DK Remix's internal difficulty goes up to 7 instead of the standard maximum of 5.  Things get faster and more aggressive at internal difficulty 7.

BONUS AT:
Bonus Jumpman is awarded at...
(for DK Remix) 10,000 pts only.
                      15,000 pts and every additional 150,000 pts after that.
                      25,000 pts and every additional 250,000 pts after that.
                      35,000 pts and every additional 350,000 pts after that.

(for DK & DK Deranged)   7,000 pts only.
                                    10,000 pts only.
                                    15,000 pts only.
                                    20,000 pts only.

COINAGE: Lets you set the coins per play or plays per coin.   DK Remix has fewer combinations of coin options because one of the dip switches was sacrificed to allow the Normal/Hard difficulty option.   DK Remix also has a free-play setting.   Enabling free-play for DK Remix also automatically enables free-play for the other DK games (regardless of their previous coin settings.)


SAVE AND EXIT:
Select this when you are done changing settings.   If the cabinet is turned off before selecting SAVE, any changed settings or even score erasures will not actually take effect (something to note if you have are really nice high score and accidentally pressed the erased option.. it's not actually erased YET.)
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weiwovaseiba

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Re: DK Remix service menu and hardware features
« Reply #1 on: January 12, 2016, 03:50:40 am »
small question:
Is it possible to use d2k in combination with remix.
and if so, whitch one comes first. d2k onto remix board and remix in the dk board or the other way around.
just wondering so i don't have to switch the z80 chip to much.

Offline Sock Master

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Re: DK Remix service menu and hardware features
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2016, 09:26:18 am »
Quote
Is it possible to use d2k in combination with remix.
and if so, whitch one comes first. d2k onto remix board and remix in the dk board or the other way around.
just wondering so i don't have to switch the z80 chip to much.

Nobody's tried this yet.  I don't have a D2K board either so I couldn't test this.

In theory, it should work.  I have tried two Remix boards on top of each other (one Remix, one Remix+Deranged) and that worked.

When the board runs Remix, it's running the ROM off the Remix board.  When you switch to regular DK, the board becomes a pass-through which will run the ROM off the PCB below it.

So, if you had a D2K board plugged into your DK PCB, then plugged a Remix board into D2K, what ought to happen is that it'll boot like a Remix board.  When you switch to normal DK, what will actually happen is that it'll switch to D2K.  Then D2K also has it's own game switching, from which you can then switch to it's version of regular DK.

A full "stack" would theoretically allow you to:
Boot to DK Remix.   Switch to DK Deranged.   Switch to D2K.
D2K will allow you to switch to DK and then back to D2K.
(There'll be no way to get back to DK Remix because the D2K board doesn't know about Remix.  It would take a power cycle to get back to DK Remix.)

The Remix board can also be configured (in the menu) to boot straight to DK, which in this case means booting straight to D2K and running as if there is no Remix board plugged in.

I'm very curious to hear from the first person to try this out, to see if it all works like I think it should.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2016, 09:29:52 am by Sock Master »
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weiwovaseiba

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Re: DK Remix service menu and hardware features
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2016, 12:42:37 pm »
i couldn't fit the z80 chip in manually, so i ordered a IC insertion tool.
when it arrives i'll try to install and let you know what happends.
 

Offline Sock Master

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Re: DK Remix service menu and hardware features
« Reply #4 on: January 12, 2016, 12:58:22 pm »
I'm thinking I'm going to begin pre-stretching the contacts on the socket before sending them out.  It's really difficult to get the chip in the first time, but easier every time after that.
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