Paprium: The Official Thread Mk 2

[Phantar]

Nah, I would rather put my Paprium cartridge inside an aluminium foil Faraday cage and insulation tape the hell out of the expansion slot prior to recurring to any of that.
"Alternate Engineering" FTW.

Considering the amount of sealing and blister packing that went into the packaging, and the state of the hardware issues in return, I'm halfway convinced that the whole thing is more intended for shelving than for actually playing anyway. 😂

[majinga]

...if you don't have the MCD connected, does the problematic MD passes the copyright screen or not?

No, they get stuck at the copyright screen.

And it's running at 50Hz, right?

Yes, 50Hz

Please, could you give us the serial number of your MD that is having issues?

They are three 1601-18 models.
The serials are:
420040699
220059509
220051216
I don't remember the motherboard revision.

[CrossBow]

Considering the amount of sealing and blister packing that went into the packaging, and the state of the hardware issues in return, I'm halfway convinced that the whole thing is more intended for shelving than for actually playing anyway. 😂

I got the standard edition of the game in the Megadrive packaging. So mine came in a standard clamshell with the cart in a standard black shell as well. But like many others, the DM cluster cap was loose so I affixed it back on using double sided scotch tape and it seems to hold on for now. I will do more testing today since I'm not technically having to work from home and can dedicate a bit more time. I will only focus on my MD1 va6 that doesn't get past the copyright since the rest of my consoles all seem to play the game correctly and only my va6 requires the 32x or SegaCD to be attached to work.

Something else I have noticed in playing the game a bit. If I have the console connected to the SegaCD, the access/power light on my model 2 SegaCD will still light up occasionally during game play for a second or so. I know it comes on and stays on when you select a CPU assisted player 2, but found it odd that it is still being used apparently when attached even if you don't have a CPU assisted player helping out. And I could be imagining things, but I think the enemies might be easier without the SegaCD attached so it makes me wonder if some code is being executed on the SegaCD during game play related to assets or AI of the enemies even if you aren't using a second player? Could it be these instances I noticed of the SegaCD being accessed that is also the source of in game lockups if you don't have the SegaCD attached?

In short, while the game should work without any attachments, we know it is detecting them. The first secret room right outside Dice's apartment will show a Euro 32x box instead of a trashcan in that room if you have the 32x attached so the game is even aware of you having a 32x on the thing.

[Barone]

No, they get stuck at the copyright screen.


Yes, 50Hz


They are three 1601-18 models.
The serials are:
420040699
220059509
220051216
I don't remember the motherboard revision.

Noted. Thanks a lot.

A few suggestions:
- I know that this game has some specific 50Hz options that control the size of the screen and whatnot. Changing them doesn't affect the crashing behavior at all?

- What about the attract demo sequence? If you leave it looping endlessly, does it freeze at some point?

- If you pause the game right at the beginning of the first stage and leave it there for, let's say 10-15 minutes, when you try to unpause it, is the game already crashed or not?


The bug could be in this additional code specific to 50Hz; since it relies on hardware interruption, a slightly difference in these models could be causing it.
I noticed yours were all manufactured in 1992.

[sengoku 2]

About core combat, on neo geo snk tried different gameplay. Even those that have capcom feeling as burning fight, there is in for this game a third button for kick. Mutation nation has same feeling with POW ( prisoners of war, bta of snk in 1988 ) when enemies made a skygluding with we punch them.
Sengoku has transformation system, robo army has a more direct punch system, no combo because we hit robots and it would not be real to combo robots.
Alpha denshi with ninja combat made more a "shoot them up ". ( distance shooting )
And noise factory with sengoku 3 made a combo-juggle system combat.

[majinga]

- I know that this game has some specific 50Hz options that control the size of the screen and whatnot. Changing them doesn't affect the crashing behavior at all?

No difference.

- What about the attract demo sequence? If you leave it looping endlessly, does it freeze at some point?

You mean the intro? It run once, then it freeze.

- If you pause the game right at the beginning of the first stage and leave it there for, let's say 10-15 minutes, when you try to unpause it, is the game already crashed or not?

I can't. It don't reach the first level, it stuck just after the loading.

[majinga]

...
I noticed yours were all manufactured in 1992.

Yup. The MD was pretty popular in my town back in the days.
Most of us (me and my friends) have one when we was teens.
Later i gathered some of them from my friends.
That's why most of them cames from the same period.

[Barone]

No difference.

You mean the intro? It run once, then it freeze.

I can't. It don't reach the first level, it stuck just after the loading.

Thanks for your patience and for reporting back.

It's interesting that it crashes even when running the intro. The intro is mostly scripted so it takes some stuff out of the equation IMO.
I think it could be the display routines that are somewhat buggy at 50Hz or some bus concurrency/bus abitration-related issues that could be caused by some slightly difference in the behavior of these MDs.

I still lean towards 50Hz-specific bug 'cause not a 60Hz-related report like this so far and because the game runs on some cheapo clone hardware whose bus behaviors should be all over the place and, despite some minor glitches and performance issues, the game code seems to be robust enough to deal with them. Also, the Columbus Circle clone which is compatible with Paprium is obviously clocked at 60Hz too.

[Xonticus]

Been having fun since it came in yesterday. Been playing on my Genesis Model 1 1601, Sega CD Model 1 and 32x using OSSC.

I recorded a bit of the packaging, first impressions and gameplay. I kept finding new things to admire about this game graphically and in the sound design.

If anyone cares to check it out, here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahJ7_0txCUg

Here's where I streamed the game to capture the footage:
https://youtu.be/qJU-MYQqHoE

[SEGA-Jorge]

is there a version of the City Map online? Not feeling having to use the map included...

[otobo]

is there a version of the City Map online? Not feeling having to use the map included...

There's one earlier in this thread, posted by Nihilblack iirc?

[Barone]

Something else I have noticed in playing the game a bit. If I have the console connected to the SegaCD, the access/power light on my model 2 SegaCD will still light up occasionally during game play for a second or so. I know it comes on and stays on when you select a CPU assisted player 2, but found it odd that it is still being used apparently when attached even if you don't have a CPU assisted player helping out. And I could be imagining things, but I think the enemies might be easier without the SegaCD attached so it makes me wonder if some code is being executed on the SegaCD during game play related to assets or AI of the enemies even if you aren't using a second player? Could it be these instances I noticed of the SegaCD being accessed that is also the source of in game lockups if you don't have the SegaCD attached?

The behavior you reported (although not assuring it) is a potential gameplay bug: even without having select the CPU-controlled 2P, the game is still branching to use 2-player AI due to the Sega CD being connected and powered on.

[CrossBow]

The behavior you reported (although not assuring it) is a potential gameplay bug: even without having select the CPU-controlled 2P, the game is still branching to use 2-player AI due to the Sega CD being connected and powered on.

It is obvious when it happens because I changed out the power/access LED on my model 2 to a diffused blue LED about a year ago. So when standing up the play, I see it from the lower portion of my view pretty easily. I need to pay more attention to see if I can see exactly when it was doing this. I recall though that it did appear to do this when loading in assets perhaps between level scrolling and boss encounters. But I would need to confirm. In any event just having the SegaCD attached causes the game to access it from time to time during gameplay even if you aren't using a 2nd player assist. I don't know if that is because it detected it being connected when loading up and then decides to use it sometimes or if the game is trying to look for and access the SegaCD at certain times during game play regardless.

I have an idea. I have the means to capture game play so what I will try and do, is set up my camcorder pointed at the console and SegaCD and capture the game play at the same time. This way, I can go back, sync the two up and that will give a better understanding of what might be happening when the SegaCD lights up occasionally as related to the game?

[Barone]

I have an idea. I have the means to capture game play so what I will try and do, is set up my camcorder pointed at the console and SegaCD and capture the game play at the same time. This way, I can go back, sync the two up and that will give a better understanding of what might be happening when the SegaCD lights up occasionally as related to the game?

Have you tried putting an audio CD in there? Or, better yet, Pier Solar's CD?

IDK, maybe at one point they were planning on having a CD for this game as well.

[nihilblack]

There's one earlier in this thread, posted by Nihilblack iirc?

Not by me, but there's an scan of the map in this thread for sure. Don't know the page number tho 😅

EDIT: Found it! It was posted by Devil N.

https://imgur.com/gd2R1qk