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View topic - Getting Light Phaser to work with a adapter hooked up to SMS Controller Link Cable

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  • Joined: 16 May 2020
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Getting Light Phaser to work with a adapter hooked up to SMS Controller Link Cable
Post Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 7:39 am
Good morning, I am very very new to modding for the SMS and game gear. I used to do a lot more back in the early 2000's and 90's. Anyway, I bought a modded Game Gear since mine was dead from storage. The mod had the McWill Mod and TV out without controller ports. I have a cable to goes to HDMI and converts back to Composite via a converter box to a CRT.

Anyway, I have tried to follow a Video for a project to get a light phaser working from my Game Gear without opening it up by making a custom adapter that allows it to work.

Search "Ultimate Sega GameGear - Light Gun and 2nd Player Ctrl" in youtube to find the link.

It's unclear in parts of the video how things are wired up and I am JUST NOW becoming more interested in learning about electronics. Attempted to replicate the process. For parts I bought a 7805 Voltage Regulators (some extra for good measure), Female Mono plug to bare wire, universal power supply (mine can do up to 12v and has a 9v setting also)

How it goes is: 1st. Power -- > 7805 (red positive wire from mono plug bare wire to 1st pin INPUT on 7805 (left pin) and Black wire from mono plug bare wire to ground (middle pin on 7805) -> Black wire 30AWG from GROUND on 7805 to GROUND PIN 8 (DB9) (RED wire from Output of 7805 (right pin) on 7805 to PIN 5 (top rightmost pin) on male DB9 (DB9 male and female are soldered together) and ground running from middle pin of 7805 to ground Bottom row second in from the right on male DB9 - > light gun plugged into male and special cord from female to EXT port on game gear - games patched and still doesn't work on TV out.

I attached a picture to try and illustrate to what I did based on what I thought was going on in the video.

What am I doing wrong!? lol

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  • Joined: 22 Apr 2018
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Post Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 3:10 pm
I don't know whether the pinout is correct, this reply is instead concerning the video signal. However my naïve assumption about controller port is that light phaser couldn't work, exactly as on Sega Mark III, due to missing controller port interface circuitry. Also as mentioned in the video if you connect through the Gear to Gear port you need to patch the game to use a light phaser on the second controller port rather than the first

I would not expect this to work with HDMI conversion steps and TV unless the converters and TV are all specifically known not to introduce any lag, the horizontal sync signal component is 15 kHz, and it's actually generated within the Game Gear. McWill mod can indeed be installed to allow and configured to produce 15 kHz video, but I don't know whether it can work with a light phaser. Of course this requires an SD CRT too but perhaps you have that already?
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  • Joined: 16 May 2020
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Some more information
Post Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 10:31 pm
Thank you for your reply! I am new here so hope I am following forum rules okay.

I think was shown in the video (phaser adapter with DB9s and 7805 VR) I mentioned in the OP, but I'm not 100% sure if it's wired up correctly or he had the right pinout (even though he showed it working and I tripple checked my solder joints and multimeter shows continuity and power (pretty crap solder job I know, but I just like to get the concept and prototype working first before I clean everything up.)
The pinout seemed right from what he said in the video and on one of the pinouts, however there was some conflicting information - someone stated in one of the pinout revisions, that all pins (except ground obviously) get a small amount of power (what's that? 5v? or something lower or the connector is good enough?) Others are using the TH Pin 7 I guess? Differest hack and mod to enable the phaser to work I suppose. I need to learn how to read schematics lol. I am such an old man and newb to this after all these years.

I was wondering if it was the Video signal too just because there is an intermediary. I don't really understand how the video when outputting to the CRT TV (in my setup) can even know where the gun is pointing, I'm wondering if the rest of the pins need to be soldered to receive 5V? AND maybe I just need a direct VGA-15pin to composite cable (Game Gear TV OUT ---> Composite on CRT )

Yeah my modded game gear has the McWill Mod but it can output the signal through the VGA 15 pin and I use a VGA to HDMI cable. Thought I might be able to convert it back to Composite. It doesn't seem to have any lag at all with normal games but I wonder if that HDMI cable just doesn't allow the phaser to know there is a TV even there...It just flashes when I pull the trigger. Also I went ahead and patched the games via the IPS patcher and downloaded known working IPS files from this site and put onto the GG Everdrive from Krizz. I also tried some others out there and tried multiple games. I also tried another known working Light Phaser.

My TV is a Panasonic CT-27G7DF-1 (Model), MB2322001 (S/N), November 2002, TP363 Chassis

I attempted to look inside the game gear to take a photo but it's glued together :(... I wish they didn't do that, but I may be brave enough and carefully figure out how to do that so I can see how it's wired.

I suppose it's just a standard VGA-15 PIN TV Out with McWill mod (what the listing said when I purchased the unit), I did reach out to the seller, but I didn't hear back from him yet about specific's.

Any further thoughts? :)
adapter.jpg (1.12 MB)
adapter.jpg
converter.jpg (1.16 MB)
converter.jpg
TV out on CRT.jpg (1019.39 KB)
TV out on CRT.jpg

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Post Posted: Sat May 16, 2020 11:10 pm
Nice! I believe others already made progress here, did you see this prior thread? https://www.smspower.org/forums/16031-GameGearLightPhaserAndSoftReset

If you're able to adjust the McWill mod to output 15 kHz analog RGB this could possibly work. One of my McWill modded Game Gears can do this using a contrast knob adjustment and a repurposed VGA port. I don't know whether that TV model does upscaling, but if not then it could be fine. You'll still need a way to convert the rgb video signal into something that TV accepts, likely S-Video or NTSC composite video, with zero latency. A standard video encoder IC of the sort used in many Sega consoles should be capable of this, though possibly requiring signal voltage level adjustment. Alternatively you might be able to modify the TV to accept RGB, but I am ignorant there and don't recommend it unless you're able to safely work in high-voltage electronics while reverse-engineering (most likely, and in the optimistic case) the TV's on-screen display circuitry

I think with any HDMI step it's likely to not work, and likewise with any other signal than a 15 kHz one, and likewise with any display other than a "simple" unbuffered 60 Hz CRT.
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Post Posted: Mon May 25, 2020 9:03 pm
Hey,
Lemme try to help
1. All McWills output 15khz RGB if properly installed
2. I developed an add on board to add CVBS/ S video to the McWill with PAL/NTSC. Contact me if you want to order a prototype.
3. I dont follow, why do you need a 7805?
4. The key to getting this working is grabbin pin 7 (TH) from player 2 inside the GG (grab from EMI fliter prior to EXT plug). Master Gear cables will NOT work for this (missing +5v)
5. You need a flash cart and reprogrammed ROMs by Calindro here to play light phaser GG games (cause only P2 works).
6. Wire up to DB 9 and youre good to go.

Note: neto (brazillian genius) developed a circuit for 2x light phaser support on GG. I plan to make a install PCB of this in the near future.
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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 7:35 am
Thank you for the Reply!

1. I will need to open up the GG to check if the mod was properly installed since it came from a random ebay seller so im not sure but I would hope it would output 15 then, I wasnt aware. (I can get some pictures of the install in the next day or so and post them here for reference).

2. Yes! I would love to support that and give it a try.

3. I followed a youtuber. I cant post links yet but search youtube "Ultimate Sega GameGear - Ligh Gun and 2nd player Ctrl" I attempted to copy what he did in the video to supply +5 volts to the top rightmost pin (not sure if its the right pinout) and ground. The adapter is a variable 12v adapter that I assumed needed the regulator to bring down the voltage to 5v to supply that pin so the diod could be powered. The youtuber did reply to my comment stating that someone else approached him saying they also could not get it to work. The youtuber then said it worked for him but maybe plugging it into an old PC monitor would work. I tested in my garage and it didnt for me.

4. So by grabbing the TH pin before the EXT port you mean I would solder to that pin and bring the wire from there and then get the other side of the wire soldered to the pin on the db9 (TH7 according to the correct db9 pinout) and two db9 would be soldered like I did in my picture above? I learn usually best by diagrams, schematics and pictures so sorry I may not be understanding right. I failed most reading comprehension tests in school lol jk. My wife blames my ADHD... probably true sometimes.

5. Got it (GG Everdrive) and went through the patching ROM process. I followed the same youtube video but referenced forums here mentioning where to get the patches.

6. Pretty much already have this just some modificstions with removing the wires on there now and having just the one on the TH7

7. Thats really cool about the pcb board for 2x light support. That is great! I think I saw that and it went over my head a bit but very cool and I look forward to that.

Thank you very much for the guidance to both of the responders here. It means a lot!
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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 8:02 am
Pretty sure you mean this video:


The guy didnt even bother to mention or thank me or calindro for developing the mod. Sigh...

Hes doing it in a different way thay is not as good imo. If youre building in your own DB9 then you dont need the LDO regulator. GG already has +5 inside

I should make another quick video explaining everything. Ive been meaning to make a follow up to my old one, it will help you do the mod, and Ill be able to complain about this guy LOL.
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Post Posted: Wed May 27, 2020 3:27 pm
Lol yep thats the one. Always give credit where credit is due. :)
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Post Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:13 am
OK here you go!



That should explain everything, but let me know if you have more Qs.
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Post Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 4:55 am
Haha OmG thank you! :) Especially love the video thumbnail. I'm doing some work work right now but cant wait to watch the video in full. I'm sure like always I will have questions but its noce to have clear looking video and sound yay!
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Post Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 5:08 am
"clear looking"
lol, sorta. Im master of the shakey camera! ;D
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Post Posted: Thu May 28, 2020 5:32 am
Cannon has some good stabilization when I do free hand stuff for random videos. I am a fan of Voultar for soldering but have no idea how he gets his shots its crazy good and yeah probably through a scope and dslr Mark3 or something. Nobody has money for that, and that is why I need to fix shit! Its clear for my liking anyway.

Okay I had to stop work to watch for a bit and its like you channeled my wife's brain when she has to explain something to me...basically talk to me like i'm 10 and show lots of images, videos and pictures. I watched some entry level "How to read schematics" and trying to relearn some basic stuff again to help jog my old brain. It was thorough and ridiculously helpful to me! I have my mcwill mod gamegear with the VGA out as previously stated, a stock gamegear, sports edition, and yellow one in storage somewhere in storage from the recent move. Basically I have some options to try some different mods on and love the idea to have some stock recapped and my do everything mcwill. I wouldnt touch my yellow no no its getting pulled out and going on the rosegold stand.

Anyway let me know about the prototype board and I would be interested in that :) I am 10 Levels of happy
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