I've been looking into the P-ROC and FAST boards because I want to fool around modding my machine but here's what you need to "MOD" a System 11 Game. This was taken from an Earthshaker project over on the pinballcontroller.com forum.

P-ROC - $329
Mark's System 11 Interface Board - $225
Jim'a Alphanumeric Interface Board - $80
Computer - ~$400
Windows 7 OS - $100
Audio Amp - $30
Scott's CSSC - $60
Stern Autolaunch Mech - $60
Misc cables and wiring

Total - ~$1,284

Now I don't want to add a DMD, I'm not planning on adding any switches or solenoids (The launcher is on there because if I did go this route, I'd definitely add a launcher) I basically just want to do what the machine does now, just in a different way.

Is it possible at all to reprogram the game using a ROM? Couldn't someone make an interface that connects to the ROM sockets and has flash memory or something that you could use to control the existing boards?

Sorry if this question has been asked, I do know a bit about electronics but this is a bit over my head and I'd like to have a better understanding of the limitations and what's possible.

Thanks!

So, There's no way to modify the ROM?

I can't imagine they developed these machines by burning a ROM every time they wanted to test code, Are these P-ROC and FAST boards the only way to modify an existing game?

Thanks!

Thanks for the reply.

I wish I knew more about how it all works, hacking something like a system 11 board is way beyond my current skill level. It just seems a shame not to use the current hardware as that's what's already controlling everything. I have a notebook full of BK2K gameplay ideas but I don't have the money to buy all the boards.

I guess I'll start in Visual Pinball and work my way up to the real game from there.

Hey, I was thinking..(oh shit)..

I could modify the rom on the visual pinball version using PinMame somehow, I imagine. If that's possible, could I then take that modified ROM, burn it, and run it on a real Sys11 board?

I really want to learn more about how I can reprogram it. When they were developing these games back in the day, I have to think that they were somehow able to run the code from a computer, to make a new ROM to test each change doesn't seem like how it would have been(though it may have been).

If we could reprogram using the existing hardware we could update the games. I like the idea of the FAST boards and PROC etc. but I already have a working machine with driver boards and sound boards and processor boards, how can we update the ROM or can we attach the headers to an interface and emulate the ROM on the computer?

Does the system 11 board have a PC/serial interface?