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atari/bzone.cpp
ID Category [?] Severity [?] Reproducibility Date Submitted Last Update
07376 Misc. Major Always Jul 14, 2019, 23:31 Jul 19, 2019, 13:50
Tester skquinn View Status Public Platform MAME (Official Binary)
Assigned To Resolution Open OS Linux (64-bit)
Status [?] Confirmed Driver
atari/bzone.cpp
Version 0.195 Fixed in Version Build 64-bit
Fixed in Git Commit Github Pull Request #
Summary 07376: redbaron: corruption of EAROM/high scores
Description The EAROM gets altered just by switching to service mode, not pressing any buttons:

$ hd earom ; mame redbarona ; hd earom
00000000 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000040
Average speed: 85.45% (43 seconds)
00000000 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 00 00 00 08 00 00 |................|
00000020 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
*
00000040

This causes the high scores to no longer load because they fail some type of checksum validation. I will see my previous high scores flash by in the high score slot but the high score goes back to "00" immediately after.
Steps To Reproduce 1. Back up the existing earom file for Red Baron if it contains high scores you want to keep.
2. Start MAME with either the redbaron or redbarona ROM sets
3. Hit F2 for service mode
4. Don't press any buttons or move the joystick at all
5. Watch "9 1" and possibly "9 2" or "9 3" come up, indicating an EAROM error per the official Atari manual
6. Hit F2 to exit service mode and notice if you had high scores before, they aren't valid anymore
Additional Information Supposedly this bug still happens in 0.211. I can't find a package for 0.211 for my OS or I would try it.
Github Commit
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Regression Version
Affected Sets / Systems redbaron
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Notes
4
User avatar
No.16659
NekoEd
Senior Tester
Jul 15, 2019, 09:11
 I tested this, and it counted up to "9 6" in 0.211; also, every time the game is started, the high score will add Fs up to "FFFF00", and do this three times before staying at 00. Something is definitely not working correctly here.
User avatar
No.16669
skquinn
Tester
Jul 17, 2019, 02:40
 This is actually worse than I thought. I just now started up Red Baron and my top two scores flashed by before the third one stayed on as the new "high" score, without ever going into test mode. I have not been able to produce the "FFFF00" score yet, however.
User avatar
No.16670
skquinn
Tester
Jul 17, 2019, 02:46
 Current, corrupted EAROM:

$ hd .mame/nvram/redbaron/earom
00000000 00 00 3e 12 00 08 00 00 04 00 00 04 8c 03 00 00 |..>.............|
00000010 00 8f 58 13 3a 2a 36 08 30 11 3a 2a 36 00 36 09 |..X.:*6.0.:*6.6.|
00000020 3a 2a 36 08 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |:*6.............|
00000030 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 |................|
00000040

I should have high scores of 13580, 11300, 9360, all with initials SKQ. None of them "stick" now.
User avatar
No.16675
AJR
Developer
Jul 19, 2019, 13:50
 The program is writing some strange and unexpected values to the EAROM latch. Maybe this works on real hardware due to some lucky coincidence; maybe it doesn't.