Help about upgrade a ddr extreme

Hi, i have some questions about this, i hope some of you can help me.

In one of the location that i play, there is 2 DDR Extreme. One of these will be upgrade.

Question 1 : I wonder what upgrade kit can be used on an ddr extreme ? (Is that possible to have for exemple SN1 or SN2? Even the technology is the not same.)

Question 2 : The owner of the arcade has heard about DDR Extreme+. I was surprised becasue i didn't know about this. After 30min of researsh on internet, i just this :


So i think this sucks. No new songs and incresed tempo of the song witch damage a lot the CPU.

If any of you have an idea to what is the best to do, or some advices, tell me

Thanks

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SN1/2 run on a PS2 hardware if I'm right. A convertion kit is the best choice I think.
However, just get a SN2 imported dedicab.

But please, do not use this bootleg x) !

T'es dans quel coin pour avoir 2 EX xD ?! M'en moque, on a une SN2 max unlock à Lyon :p
(Where in France you are to get 2 EX xD ?! Ahah! We have a Sn2 max unlock here in Lyon :p)

I know this bootleg is bad xD

Yeah SN1/SN2/fusion run on a kind of PS2 hardware? Extreme and older on the 573 thing.
But i don't know if upgrade an extreme to SN2 will be expensive.

Les 2 Extreme sont sur Metz. Sur Lyon ? Donc il n'y en a pas que a Toulouse de SN2? je pense que seulement quelques personnes le savent.
(The 2 Extreme are in Metz. On Lyon ? So there is not only SN2 at Toulouse ? I think only few people knows about that.)

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If I were you I'd downgrade it to 4thMIX PLUS or 5thMIX. There are a lot of older, no longer used songs that you can play there. 4thMIX PLUS has a soundtrack about as large as EXTREME. There are still kits floating around and they work on the 573 analog or digital boards so you only have to change out the disc and the ROM cart and it's done. And the banner if you don't want to confuse everyone.

If you want to upgrade go for SuperNOVA 2 which basically has all of SuperNOVA and a lot of other really good stuff, plus just about every single Konami Original song from EXTREME.

I also say DO NOT USE EXTREME+ or MEGAMIX bootegs, they hurt the hardware and don't give you anything extra.

Ask your arcade owner to his supplier about a conversion kit and the compatibilty. It should be not so expensive due to same hardware. Dedicab will be more expensive.
DSE2/FUSION/EXTREME -> SN1 can exist in Europe (due to Euromix2/Fusion ps2 based hardware) , DSE2/FUSION/EXTREME -> SN2 not for Europe, due to some european law conflict about SN2 hardware.


Toujours là ces 2 bornes Extreme <3 ! J'ai envie de rejouer à beatmania THE FINAL x) !
En plus, c'est une vraie SN2 japonaise, on a le lecteur de carte mémoire PS2, mais bien sûr pas le e-amusment system x).
(Always here those Extreme machines <3 ! I want to play beatmania THE FINAL again too x) !
We have a true japanese SN2 machine, with PS2 memory card on it, without e-amusement system for sure x))

Due to what W1p3out and AeronPeryton says, i think a kit for an old mix could be nice.
+ i already saw on the board that 4mix+ is awesome.

+ 4mix+ has Shooting Star for exemple

But this mix is old. Do you know how to get this ?

*I just phone the owner*

The extreme is broken (error 151) he make some calls and this seems to be some hardware from the kit (the ROM card maybe).

He has trouble to get kits for arcade (nobody reply to him). If you have some good website for buy kits or dedicab, that could be nice :p (for information the DDR EXTREME is japanease).
Also, he is thinking about maybe buy a SN2 dedicab instead. This depending of the cost of the arcade + taxes.

DDR SN2 dedicab or at least 4mix+ would be awesome.

EDIT : Eh ta une bonne SN2 alors :p Oui elle y sont toujours ! Beatmania THE FINAL aussi. Dit moi si tu y va un jour, je viendrai avec toi si tu en as envie.
(Eh you have a good SN2 so :p Yeah still there ! Beatmania THE FINAL too. Tell me if you go there one day, i come with you if you want.)

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For the error 151, try re-initialize the Flash card.

(I can't go to Metz actually ... only when I'll get some vacation, not now ><)

How do you do this ? Is there a button ?

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http://www.channelbeat.com/ - Exclusively music games
http://www.coinopexpress.com/ - Another good arcade distributor


Operator menu, top red button behind the coin door.

Thanks for the links. I already know for channelbeat but not for the other one.

Eh ok. I will phone him tomorrow i think and told him about that.

Thanks AeronPeryton and W1p3out

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4th mix plus has 150ish songs, Extreme has 240, nearly over 50% more songs. However, 4th Mix plus has nearly 90 songs on it that no longer appear on DDR today. 5th mix has song good stuff but they cut a lot of songs (omg you mean Konami has done song cuts before?!? NO WAI!) ahem, anywho, be wary, 4th plus runs at 30 FPS. I'd almost go for the 5th mix for the 60 FPS and long versions ;)

salut, en fait j'ai eu le meme probleme avec mon extreme (ca fait qqs mois). c'etait enfin vraiment un probleme du flashcard). tu peux la initialiser mais il te faut "booter' dans le jeu car ca se fait dans le operator's menu. ou tu peux l'acheter (ca coute chere) et puis reinstaller Extreme (ce que j'ai fait...).
si tu veux je peux te dire plus mais sur MSN.

EDIT:
hey, actually you've got the same problem as I do. It was really a problem with the flashcard. You need to reinitialize the card but that can be only done from the operator's menu so you actually need to boot the game. Or you can buy a new card and reinstall Extreme.

SuperNOVA 2 upgrade kits are from SuperNOVA only - they require a Python 2 main board (this is the one used for SuperNOVA).

SuperNOVA upgrade kits are hard to find (I've never seen one for sale), expensive, and to be perfectly honest, older cabinets are not really well suited for this anyway (it will output in low-res 15kHz video instead of the native 31kHz video for one). Fusion upgrade kits do not exist, AFAIK.

Channelbeat sell predominately bootleg/pirated upgrade kits that require slight hardware modification (replacing the boot ROM) - if you are going to do this, just find the media and do it yourself (HI BEMANISO.WS), don't fund piracy. Media exists to re-flash Extreme to 3rdMIX JP/ver.Korea 2, 4thMIX PLUS, 5thMIX, MAX, MAX 2 or... EXTREME - without hardware modification.

The European distributor for Konami products is now Electrocoin (a UK company - it used to be Avranches before them). They are expensive, that's all I can say about them.

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Maybe it's because I played DanceDanceRevolution (Asian) for a long time and started DDR on a 3rdMIX but the frame rate difference takes about one and a half songs for me to get used to again.


I find that hard to believe when there are SuperNOVA 2 and X's in Japan that used to be EXTREMEs. Obviously since Konami doesn't acknowledge EXTREME in the US (And won't release upgrade kits to arcades that still have a US DDR or USA machine) you'd have to buy a Japanese kit.

Most SuperNOVAs and SuperNOVA2s in Indonesia are used to be EXTREMEs or below...

some of them are upgraded from 4th or even 3rd mix... (this is not a joke, THIS IS POSSIBLE )

Our DDR X cabinet color also Black (not the new red one)

so it is possible to upgrade Extremes into SN/SN2s or even Xs

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Perhaps you have missed the implication of me saying that SuperNOVA 2 was an update from SuperNOVA only.


...upgraded from a machine that was previously a SuperNOVA-upgraded Extreme, sure - at no time was I disputing this.

However, there was no official SuperNOVA 2 upgrade direct from Extreme or below, you have to go the long way by getting the SuperNOVA one first (unless you happen to like significantly modifying your machine and hunting down missing parts, or happen to have parts from a 573 Digital->SuperNOVA upgrade kit), or else all you'd have is a hard drive, security dongle and some nice artwork to go on your cab in the form of control panel, cardboard POP and marquee (and the installation instructions, natch).

And the same with X - the upgrade kits are from SuperNOVA/SuperNOVA 2, and I highly expect the upgrade to X2 (or whatever it may be called) will be from X only.

This is also why you sometimes see Python 2 motherboard+marquee+control panel kits on Yahoo Auctions Japan (thanks to the fact that arcades have upgraded to X - I should know, I've bought one), but you don't see "upgrade kits" - ever.


FYI, there is ZERO substantive difference in hardware between 3rdMIX (all regions), 3rdMIX PLUS, 4thMIX, 4thMIX PLUS, 5thMIX, MAX, MAX 2, EXTREME and EuroMIX 2. All use exactly the same GX700-based motherboard with a Digital I/O daughter board.

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system 573 niggaaaaaaa

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In addition to that, 3rdMIX to 4thMIX PLUS can be installed on a 573 analog as well. The first DDR game to require the digital hardware was 5thMIX. One of the reasons I recommend 4thMIX PLUS over 5thMIX is that it's hardware ambiguous. Useful to know when up/downgrading.

What are you talking about? This is total nonsense. I own 573 hardware (as well as Python 2, hence why I was adding the information about that), including an original 3rdMIX disk and security cassette keyed to my setup.

Unless you have some kind of crazy hack job (which - for the record - I've never heard of before and I'm pretty sure doesn't exist), it most certainly CANNOT be installed on Bemani System 573 analogue *without* changing the I/O board - aside from the total lack of the required 32MB flash card needed for 3rdMIX-EXTREME, the analogue setup streams audio direct from the CD (as red book CD audio - you can even play the game CD in a normal CD player), whereas the digital setup decrypts the step charts and music from files, fundamentally different. There's a reason why no mix above 2ndMIX is playable in MAME - it's the digital I/O board.

And if you swap out the analogue I/O board for the digital I/O board... guess what? You have Bemani System 573 digital (and thus 5thMIX and above will work too), and 1st mix and 2ndMIX (and all the other ones that use the hardware) will no longer work.

There was a significant game engine change with 5thMIX, sure. However, there was also significant game engine changes with 3rdMIX - the 5thMIX changes were just more obvious (640x480 non-game screens, 60Hz gameplay).

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Having worked with an Asian 2ndMIX before (573 analog), and having been told that it can be upgraded up to 4thMIX PLUS without needing a board change, that is what I believe.

Edit: I was in a hurry and had to leave when I was responding and re-reading what I wrote sounded vague so I shall clarify:

I've been an arcade attendant before a few times and one of those times I was charged with the upkeep of two DDR machines; a DDR 1st (Asian) (that used to be a 2ndMIX) and a DDRMAX (new cab directly from Japan). The owner wanted me to see about upgrading the old one which he had previously attempted to upgrade to 5thMIX and failed which is why it was then downgraded to 1st. After doing research I found out that his upgrade kit consisted of the ROM cart and the disc only and the reason the upgrade failed was because the board was analog, and 5thMIX required the digital board. I talked with some friends and a couple of arcade suppliers and was told over and over that the latest DDR game that an analog board could be updated to was 4thMIX PLUS. Months later I found out that the digital machines started with 3rdMIX but upgrade kits up until 5thMIX would work on either. Else you would have to get the board replaced during the upgrade to keep upgrading.

That's what I've always been told and that's what I've always known... you are the first person to say otherwise, Chi. So instead of calling what I say stupid could you provide me with some evidence to support your claim?


Only DDR MEGAMIX and EXTREME+, but that's neither here nor there. The analog and digital boards are essentially PSOnes. And the PlayStation has always been able to play both Redbook audio and digital audio files. Some of the first PSOne DDR games used Redbook and the later ones used different compressed audio formats. The analog board contains the same audio decoder chip found on a PlayStation system so it certainly can support other audio formats aside from CD audio. What changed with 5thMIX what that the upgrade kits required the ROM cart to be flashed to take advantage of what the digital boards had that the analog boards didn't, which is why it has a higher resolution and a better framerate (even though, the analog board supports video resolutions in excess of 640x480). Yes, 3rdMIX and up had these higher capacity flash chips but it seems that 5thMIX was the first version that actually required it.


That is not true, I know for a fact that EuroMIX 2 is playable on MAME. And that machine also used the digital board (It was released between 7thMIX and EXTREME)