Driver:Seibu SPI

The Seibu SPI System uses interchangeable game cartridges. After installing a new game, or if the backup battery dies and you replace it, you need to complete an "update" process to allow the game to run. You'll have to complete this process the first time you run a game in MAME, or if your NVRAM files get removed/lost/corrupted or you remove the machine's cfg file.

Affected Games

All SPI cartridge sets need the update procedure to be followed.

• Battle Balls (batlball, batlballa, batlballe, batlballu)
• E-Jan High School (ejanhs)
• Raiden Fighters (rdft, rdftj, rdftja, rdftjb, rdftu, rdftam, rdftadi, rdftau, rdftauge, rdftit, rdfta)
• Raiden Fighters 2 - Operation Hell Dive (rdft2, rdft2j, rdft2a, rdft2ja, rdft2aa, rdft2it, rdft2t, rdft2u)
• Raiden Fighters Jet (rfjet, rfjetu, rfjetj, rfjeta, rfjett)
• Senkyu (senkyu, senkyua)
• Viper Phase 1 (viprp1, viprp1k, viprp1u, viprp1ua, viprp1j, viprp1s, viprp1h, viprp1ot, viprp1oj, viprp1hk)

Note that single-board versions do not need the update procedure (ejsakura, ejsakura12, rdfts, rdft2us, rfjets, rfjetsa, rdft22kc, rfjet2kc).

Update Procedure

Launch the machine in MAME. One of three things should happen: the game will boot to attract mode, it will display hardware error 81, or it will display the game logo on a black screen with a message about updating. If the game boots to attract mode, there's no more to do and you can start playing straight away. If not, read on.

If the game displays hardware error 81 on startup ("HARDWARE ERROR. 81" or "ハードウェアエラー８１" depending on region), you need to remove the NVRAM files. This can happen if you exit MAME or reset the emulated machine partway through the update procedure. If you see this message, exit MAME, and look inside the "nvram" folder for a folder with the same name as the driver name of the game you're trying to run (by default, the "nvram" folder is in the folder you run MAME from). The driver name is the same as the name of the ROM set, e.g. "rdfta" for Raiden Fighters (Austria). Delete the contents of this folder (e.g. delete the contents of the "rdftau" folder inside the "nvram" folder if Raiden Fighters (Australia) is displaying hardware error 81), then launch the machine in MAME again.

If you see the the game logo and message "NOW UPDATING. PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT." or "更新中です。しばらくお待ち下さい。" you need to bring up the OSD menu (tab key by default), select "Machine Configuration" (or the equivalent in your UI language), and ensure "JP1" is set to "Update". A counter will appear at the bottom of the screen and count down from 999 to 000.

Wait for the counter to reach zero (000). If you reset the emulated machine before the counter reaches zero, you will need to remove the NVRAM files and start the update procedure again (see above). It takes a few minutes, but you can speed up the process by holding down the fast forward button (Insert key by default on Windows builds, or Page Down key by default on SDL builds).

When the counter reaches zero, the game will display a message telling you the update has completed ("UPDATE COMPLETED." or "終了しました。" depending on region). Bring up the OSD menu (tab key by default), select "Machine Configuration" (or the equivalent in your UI language), and set "JP1" is set to "Off", then select "Reset" (or the equivalent in your UI language). The game should boot to attract mode, and on subsequent launches it should boot directly to attract mode.