- Joined
- Jan 24, 2007
- Posts
- 8,152
The edge of the left side of the screen extends off the monitor - like the picture is not centered correctly.
Someone may have already explained that tho......
Pandora Box 3 Multi-Game 520-1 PCB
- Thread starter Zerrminator
- Start date
The edge of the left side of the screen extends off the monitor - like the picture is not centered correctly.
Someone may have already explained that tho......
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Posts
- 7,170
Just got in my Pandoras Box 4 - pretty bummed. Most games have a shitty mame filter on them to make them "HD". It's awful, and I doubt there is any way to turn that shit off. I should've known better than to give China another chance with this crap. At least R-type Leo is playable, albeit a bit blurry.
If you could just adjust the damn video settings it could be a neat piece of kit.
For those wondering about Cave games on here...they aren't awesome. I've owned pretty much all the PCBs and the emulation here has a frameskip and runs a little too fast. However, they'd be good training tools for the real thing because of this.
If you could just adjust the damn video settings it could be a neat piece of kit.
For those wondering about Cave games on here...they aren't awesome. I've owned pretty much all the PCBs and the emulation here has a frameskip and runs a little too fast. However, they'd be good training tools for the real thing because of this.
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
- Posts
- 27,750
Was this via CGA or VGA?
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2003
- Posts
- 7,170
VGA
Thank you for your explaition. I see.
And i tried my PB4 with CRT, very sad, maybe my PB4 has been damaged.
Green line has no signal, and I tuned my CRT for a long time, I can't get a stable output.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Sounds like it's not really worth the "upgrade" unfortunately. Let me know when the PB5 is out then.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2004
- Posts
- 459
Just plugged mine in a few minutes ago. I'm on a CRT, looks like the left hand cropping issue with Capcom games has been resolved. In what games I tried I didn't notice a filter issue right away, but the CRT I have it hooked to for the time being is a 30+ year old dog turd with massive burn in.
Also, pillarboxing still present on CRTs. Fuck.
When you pick a game, it plays this few second 8-bit ditty at the loading screen, then once the game starts it plays the excited female announcer from KoF '96 saying "READY? GO!" on every game. Not a game breaker but can get annoying.
Looks like SFIII runs a bit smoother, but only tried the first version and only for a few minutes. Donkey Kong is still missing sounds. Double Dragon 1 played very well, which shocked me since usually that's a bugger to get working. I did notice Desert Storm (Data East shooter, goes by the name Thunder Something on here) has some bad frameskip since I've sunk some time into my original PCB.
Up 40+ hours so I'm running on fumes and must crash soon but I'm hoping to put an hour or two into it right now. I will dig into the SD card issue also, also pics of the boards. I don't care a bit to check on game specific issues if need be. Some games, like a lot of vertical shmups, I have little or no experience with so my initial opinion may be like chickenshit on a pumphandle ie: useless.
Also, pillarboxing still present on CRTs. Fuck.
When you pick a game, it plays this few second 8-bit ditty at the loading screen, then once the game starts it plays the excited female announcer from KoF '96 saying "READY? GO!" on every game. Not a game breaker but can get annoying.
Looks like SFIII runs a bit smoother, but only tried the first version and only for a few minutes. Donkey Kong is still missing sounds. Double Dragon 1 played very well, which shocked me since usually that's a bugger to get working. I did notice Desert Storm (Data East shooter, goes by the name Thunder Something on here) has some bad frameskip since I've sunk some time into my original PCB.
Up 40+ hours so I'm running on fumes and must crash soon but I'm hoping to put an hour or two into it right now. I will dig into the SD card issue also, also pics of the boards. I don't care a bit to check on game specific issues if need be. Some games, like a lot of vertical shmups, I have little or no experience with so my initial opinion may be like chickenshit on a pumphandle ie: useless.
raziel2001au
n00b
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2015
- Posts
- 46
Based on the above, it does sound like the PB4 is not made by the same guy, as I theorised earlier in the thread. I mean, switching from FBA to mame is quite a big change... Surprised to hear you say SF3 runs better than the PB3 though. As far as I know, FBA is the only emulator optimised enough to handle it smoothly on an arm processor...
Can someone confirm the SF3 thing? May be worth picking up just for that. Especially third strike. Is it faster, and is it in English?
Around altering the game list. What do you mean?
Can someone confirm the SF3 thing? May be worth picking up just for that. Especially third strike. Is it faster, and is it in English?
Around altering the game list. What do you mean?
Last edited:
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
- Posts
- 27,750
That's what I was thinking as well. I don't think the makers of the PB3 would abandon FBA for MAME.
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2004
- Posts
- 459
They're definitely made by the same company. It still uses FBA, it only uses MAME for some of the new additions on the PB4. As Saran mentioned earlier the games that use the MAME core take a bit longer to load than the FBA stuff.
I ended up getting called to work again so I only got to put in about an hour of random hodgepodge testing. I also apparently fucked my PB3 by trying to remove the SD card It has a smear of hot glue above the holder and I don't know if I cut a trace or knocked a component loose but now it won't boot. Next stop: tech support forum.
Here's some random things:
Pros
- Left hand cutoff issue with Capcom games is fixed
- Some new games work really well
- SFIII (all versions) and Martial Masters runs better
- Stick controls work alright for Centipede, Millipede, Breakout, etc
- Looks to be less screen tearing (I'm pretty sure, at least those I played)
Cons
- New intro movie shows games not even on here, including KoF XIII (!)
- Smooth/blur/whatever filter on all games that can't be turned off, guess that's a personal taste though. I'd imagine on VGA it might be OK if you don't like things super crisp/sharp, but IMO it's overkill on CRT. Due to this classic vertical games especially look like you're playing a modded Xbox via RF on Granny's old floor model
- Slightly annoying loading song and sound clip
- Black bars on left and right when using CRT just like PB3, doesn't use the whole screen. Not an issue if using VGA.
- Beyond improvements with SFIII and Martial Masters, no other game fixes (but I might be wrong and just didn't get to them yet). Games with missing or fucked sound like Gun.Smoke, Donkey Kong, etc are still fucked up. Edward Randy still goes apeshit on the train level. I'd assume TMNT II wigs out and whatever other games that have graphical or sound glitches that make them unplayable still are. In fact, the only games with any improvement beyond screen tearing I saw were Martial Masters and SFIII. You'd think whatever horsepower improvement they did would apply across the board but Growl and everything else I was familiar with didn't improve at all.
- Some new games vary in choppiness; Altered Beast skips around a bit, Metamorphic Force skips a lot, and the 2nd to last game on the list (a 2005 IGS fighter) is Game Elf level unplayable.
- Still no consistency in sound levels. People in the next county heard Ghosts & Goblins fire up. Like the PB3 the volume knob has about a cock hair adjustment between mute and deafening.
Overall I'm glad I got it even though I already have a PB3 (which is possibly fucked now anyway). To me it was worth upgrading to get rid of the left hand cutoff on Capcom games and improved SFIII/MM, and quite a few of the new games I had my eyes on work well enough. The fake HD filter does suck and might be a deal breaker for some, but I'd assume it doesn't look nearly as bad on VGA. Stupid as it is an option with nothing but negative aspects by its implementation.
Hell, it's 60 bucks.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
...waiting on the King of Vertical review, sounds like a cool gadget.
raziel2001au
n00b
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2015
- Posts
- 46
Okay, that makes sense...
If you don't mind, can you try a couple of things for me:
1) Street Fighter III Third Strike, is it in English this time? (With the PB3, it was in Japanese, despite the other III's being in English).
2) 368 Dodonpachi Dai <- which *Dai* variant of the game is this? Is it Dai-Ou-Jou, or DaiFukkatsu, or SaiDaiOuJou, or DaiOuJou Black Label, or what?
3) Can you check if the _cabinet_ test switch lets you access the game service menus now, I assume it wouldn't, but worth knowing.
Thanks,
Raz.
West
Mr. Big's Thug
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2014
- Posts
- 205
Agreed. Wish they put a few more CAVE shooters on there though. Espgaluda should have made it on. Guess we have to wait for the King of Air 4.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
DOJ raziel, no way it's DFK nor SDOJ, now it could be vanilla or black if it is DOJ and not a hack of DDP...
raziel2001au
n00b
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2015
- Posts
- 46
Espgaluda is listed on the PB4's game list, #372
Yeah, that's why I'm hoping to get a certain answer to this, I also doubt it'd be one of the first ones, but the point I was trying to make is 'Dai' doesn't really tell us which one it is.
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2004
- Posts
- 20,259
I agree, so which Dai is it guy? What about that PGM DOJ Damashi?
about the king of air
only 51 games , all are shooting game,
its display is vertical, full screen, include game select ui.
many games is with mame filter
add autofire option.
and only support vga
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2005
- Posts
- 27,750
If it doesn't, it's an easy thing to add with a single wire.
mikemann
Quiz Detective
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
- Posts
- 85
Just got my two boards: PB4 and King of Air. I purchased them on Aliexpress. Paid $182 shipped for the pair.
The King of Air must only support VGA. I tried it on three different JAMMA cabs and it will not produce any image. Despite the fact that the seller lists it as supporting CGA. In fact I even specified in the notes on my order that I wanted the CGA versions to cover my butt. I even got a reply on my ordering saying it would in fact work with CGA. So we'll see what happens with the seller.
So my background, I have owned a PB2 at one point. I really liked it other than the lack of a true freeplay option. I also currently have a Blue Elf 619. Some of my impressions and notes -
- I also can confirm - Left hand cutoff issue with Capcom games is fixed
- I am not having the black bar issues. I'm running it on a NAC Candy cab and I'm able to adjust the width to fill nearly 99% of the screen.
- Not having a PB3 or having my PB2 recently...it sure seems to have alot of screen tearing to me. On Ghouls-N-Ghosts for example, there is significantly more compared to the Blue Elf. But the Blue Elf just plays too slow
- The loading song and sound clip is slightly annoying...but not nearly as bad as I was worried about when I heard about.
- What's more annoying to me is the new intro movie. It comes across more as an advertisement of the PB4 compared to the PB3. But either way, I'd prefer instant boot.
Bottom line....it's not for me. If anyone wants this one, hit me up.
I have a video uploading soon to share
The King of Air must only support VGA. I tried it on three different JAMMA cabs and it will not produce any image. Despite the fact that the seller lists it as supporting CGA. In fact I even specified in the notes on my order that I wanted the CGA versions to cover my butt. I even got a reply on my ordering saying it would in fact work with CGA. So we'll see what happens with the seller.
So my background, I have owned a PB2 at one point. I really liked it other than the lack of a true freeplay option. I also currently have a Blue Elf 619. Some of my impressions and notes -
- I also can confirm - Left hand cutoff issue with Capcom games is fixed
- I am not having the black bar issues. I'm running it on a NAC Candy cab and I'm able to adjust the width to fill nearly 99% of the screen.
- Not having a PB3 or having my PB2 recently...it sure seems to have alot of screen tearing to me. On Ghouls-N-Ghosts for example, there is significantly more compared to the Blue Elf. But the Blue Elf just plays too slow
- The loading song and sound clip is slightly annoying...but not nearly as bad as I was worried about when I heard about.
- What's more annoying to me is the new intro movie. It comes across more as an advertisement of the PB4 compared to the PB3. But either way, I'd prefer instant boot.
Bottom line....it's not for me. If anyone wants this one, hit me up.
I have a video uploading soon to share
Last edited:
mikemann
Quiz Detective
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
- Posts
- 85
Oh I also want to add, it appears that they have they addressed the free play option now - but it doesn't work. So in free play mode, you can select any game without having to add a credit to get into the menu. And then when the game loads...it just starts trying to pile on as many credits as it can. With this turned on...you really notice it on MVS games. Metal Slug will load and then credit up like crazy till you start the game.
West
Mr. Big's Thug
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2014
- Posts
- 205
Yup, but I want it in vert mode, not with pillar boxing. That's why I said we'll probably have to wait for the PB King of Air 4. It's not on the currently released version.
mikemann
Quiz Detective
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
- Posts
- 85
FinalbossNYC
Zero's Tailor
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2015
- Posts
- 557
All that info was much appreciated as well as the video, So its safe to assume that in free play since it "credits up" that attract mode on games won't be running before or after game play as it will be waiting to start/continue. If thats the case like you said free plays kinda useless.