[Feb/23/98]

Espial
European version (?) Bootleg (?)


These ROM images are taken from my board set of ESPIAL. This game was
found in France, and among its 10 ROMs, only four of them are same as
their US equivalents. Since there are no copyrights on the boards, I
don't know if this game is a bootleg version or not.
However, the copyright messages still appear in the game, but in a
different way: "1983" and "THUNDERBOLT" don't appear on the same line.


All the EPROMs have a yellow label on which is written a single digit.

File Name   Board   Part Nb
---------------------------
2732.1      Main    4N
2732.2      Main    4R (This EPROM contains some Z80 assembly source !!!)
2764.3      Main    4F
2764.4      Main    4H
2732.5      Main    4H
2732.6      Main    4N
2732.7      Other   4A
2764.8      Other   4B
2732.9      Other   4D
2732.10     Other   4E


Comparison between this ROM set and the US one:

 US ROMs   These ROMs   Comments
----------------------------------------------------------------
ESPIAL.1    2732.1      Very close (only 22 bytes differ)
ESPIAL.2    2732.2      First 2048 bytes same, rest is different
ESPIAL.3    2764.3      00E0-022E same, rest is different
ESPIAL.4    2764.4      Different
ESPIAL.5    2732.5      First 3069 bytes same, rest is different
ESPIAL.6    2732.6      Different
ESPIAL.7    2732.7      Same (*)
ESPIAL.8    2764.8      Same
ESPIAL.9    2732.9      Same
ESPIAL.10   2732.10     Same

(*): On a ROM set which can be found on several internet archives, the
     image of this ROM contains a wrong byte at 41F. Normally, it should
     be 00. On the wrong ROM, it is 02. This will not affect the game
     ifself as this ROM contains only graphics data. The only difference
     I noticed was a additional blue pixel on a graphic character...



The board set:

There are two superposed boards of the same size.
The main board has no letter/digit location references, whereas the other 
board has the letter/digit location references.

The main board has:
    - The 2*22 pin connector (joysticks, video, sound, etc...)
    - The EPROMs 1 to 6
    - Two Z80A processors (one for sound code, the other for game code)
    - An AY-3-8910 sound chip (part 3J)
    - Two 2114 RAM chips (parts 2R and 2P)
    - A 6116 RAM chip (part 2K)
    - A NEC C118H (audio chip ?, part 2A)
    - Two 8-switchs DIP-switchs (parts 3D and 4D)
    - A 18.432 MHz crystal

The orher board has:
    - EPROMs 7 to 10
    - Two 2016 RAM chips (located at 2J and 2K)
    - Two MB7052 chips (located at 1H and 1H)
    - Two 93422 F chips (located at 3F and 3H)
    - A 2114 RAM chip (located at 4K)
    - A 8114 RAM chip (located at 4J)
    - A 12MHz crystal


Text hidden in a ROM:

    The EPROM 2732.5 contains some text coded by character number (i.e NOT
    ASCII). So here is the text found:

                            1UP
                            2UP
                            TOP
                            FOE
                            EXP
                            MILE
                            REM
                            CRE
                            INSERT COIN
                            PLAYER ONE START
                            PLAYER TWO START
                                                1983
                            GAME OVER
                            ONLY ONE PLAYER
                            ONE OR TWO PLAYER
                            PUSH START BUTTON
                            THUNDERBOLT COMPLETE
                            YOU ARE NICE PLAYER
                            GIVE UP
                            SCO TRADING CO, INC LICENSED BY ORCA CORP
                            E N D
                            Z X C V B N M
                            A S D F G H J K L
                            Q W E R T Y U I O P
                            NAME REGISTRATION            


Source code:

    There's something quite strange with the sound EPROMs (2732.1, 2732.2).
    One of them (2732.2) contains some assembly source of the main code,
    which is different to the sound code. This source code is shown at the
    end of this document.



Here are the aspects of the boards. Please do not pay attention to the
sizes, these draws are just here to show how these boards look.


Main board:

     _______________________________________________________________________
    |                                                                       |
   ___                    ______                                   ______   |
  |   |        [ 2114 ]  |2732.2|                                 |2732.6|  |
  |   |                  |______|                                 |______|  |
  |   |        [ 2114 ]   ______                                   ______   |
  |   |                  |2732.1|                                 |2732.5|  |
  |   | <- Connector     |______|                                 |______|  |
  |___|    to the   ____________                      ______       ______   |
    |      other   |  Z80A CPU  |                    | 6116 |     |Empty |  |
    |      board   |____________|                    |______|     |______|  |
    |                                                              ______   |
    |               ____________                                  |Empty |  |
    |              | AY-3-8910  |                                 |______|  |
    |              |____________|                                ________   |
    |                                                           | 2764.4 |  |
    |                                                           |________|  |
    |                                                            ________   |
    |                                                           | 2764.3 |  |
    |            [ DIP-8 ]  [ DIP-8 ]                           |________|  |
    |                                                                       |
    |                                                                       |
  __|                                                        ____________   |
 |==|                                                       |  Z80A CPU  |  |
 |==|                                                       |____________|  |
 |==| <-- PCB connector                                                     |
 |==|     to joysticks,                                            ____     |
 |==|     audio, video...                                         |XTAL|    |
 |==|                                                             |____|    |
 |__|                                                                       |
    |_______________________________________________________________________|


     _______________________________________________________________________
    |                                                                       |
   ___                                                                      |
  |   |                                                                     |
  |   |        ______                                                       |
  |   |       | 2016 |                                                      |
  |   |       |______|                                                      |
  |   |        ______                                                       |
  |___|       | 2016 |                                                      |
    |         |______|  _____                                               |
    |  [7052]          |93422|                                              |
    |                  |_____|                                              |
    |  [7052]           _____                                               |
    |                  |93422|                                              |
    |                  |_____|                                              |
    |                                                                       |
    |                                                                       |
    |                                                                       |
    |                                    ______                             |
    |                                   |2732.10                            |
    |                                   |______|                            |
    |                                    ______                             |
    |                                   |2732.9|                            |
    |                                   |______|                            |
    |                                  ________                             |
    |                                 | 2764.8 |                            |
    |                                 |________|                            |
    |                 ____               ______                             |
    |                |XTAL|             |2732.7|                            |
    |                |____|             |______|                            |
    |_______________________________________________________________________|



Source code included it EPROM 2732.2:

NEW COORD.
JR  NC,CLO120   ; IF NOT LOWER LIMIT
LD  HL,80FFH    ; CLEAR
JR  CLO130

CLO120   EQU $
AND 06H
RLCA
RLCA
RLCA
LD  C,A
LD  HL,CLCTBL
ADD HL,BC   ; GET CHAR. TABLE

CLO130    EQU $
EX  DE,HL
LD  C,(HL)
INC HL
LD  A,(HL)
INC HL
LD  B,(HL)
EX  DE,HL
;
;   YADRCA  ( AC -> DE )
;
SRL C
SRL C
SRL C
RLCA
RLCA
LD  D,A
AND 0E0H
OR  C
LD  E,A
LD  A,D
AND 3
OR  YRMSTR.
LD  D,A
;
LD  C,03H
CALL    MOVE    ; VRAM SET
POP DE

CLO140   EQU $
INC DE
INC DE
INC DE
POP BC
DJNZ    CLO110
;
;
;    VRAM SHIFT PROCESS
;

VRMSFT EQU $
LD  A,(SHIFTX)
LD  C,A
LD  B,2
LD  HL,CRMTMP+27*2

VRMS10   EQU $
LD  A,(HL)
ADD A,C
LD  (HL),A
INC HL
INC HL
DJNZ    VRMS10
LD  HL,COLFLG
LD  (HL),01H    ; SET SHIFT CHANGE FLAG
LD  HL,CRMTMP
LD  B,27
LD  A,(TAGFIG+1)    ; GET X COORD.
AND 0E0H
RLCA
RLCA
RLCA
CP  (HL)    ; SAME ?
JR  Z,VRMS30    ; IF YES

VRMS20 EQU $
LD  (HL),A
INC HL
INC HL
DJNZ    VRMS20

VRMS30   EQU $
;
;   BOMB SET
;
CALL    BOMB
RET


;
; CLOUD SPEED TABLE
;
CLSTBL  EQU $
DEFB    2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1
DEFB    2,1,2,1,2,1,1,1
DEFB    2,1,1,1,2,1,1,1
DEFB    2,1,1,1,1,1,1,1


;
; CLOUD 1ST XY COORD. TABLE
;
;       SPEED*8,CHR*32,Y,X,WIDTH
;
CLITBL   EQU $
DEFB    00H*8,0*32,025H,040H,2
DEFB    01H*8,0*32,04AH,0B0H,2
DEFB    03H*8,0*32,06FH,060H,2
DEFB    00H*8,0*32,094H,030H,2
DEFB    02H*8,0*32,0B9H,0C0H,2
DEFB    01H*8,0*32,0DEH,070H,2


;
;  CLOUD ATTACH TABLE
;
;      COUNT,TAG#*5,SPEED#*8,CHR#*32,Y,X,WIDTH
;
CLATBL    EQU $
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,030H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,070H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0B0H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,020H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,080H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0A0H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,040H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0E0H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,090H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,060H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0C0H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,050H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0D0H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,010H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,080H,2
DEFB    26H,00*5,00H*8,0*32,0DFH,0B0H,2
DEFB    END


;
; CLOUD CHAR. TABLE
;
CLOTBL  EQU $
DEFB    CCLO+0,CCLO+1,END
DEFB    CCLO+2,CCLO+3,END
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END
DEFB    CCLO+4,CCLO+5,END
DEFB    CCLO+6,CCLO+7,END
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END ; DUMMY
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END
DEFB    CCLO+8,CCLO+9,END
DEFB    CCLO+10,CCLO+11,END
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END ; DUMMY
DEFB    END,END,END,END,END
DEFB    CCLO+12,CCLO+13,END


Document last revised on 23/02/1998



[Aug/24/97]

Espial 1983 Thunderbolt/Orca

CPU is Z80
Sound is Z80 and AY-3-8910



[Apr/25/2006]

Espial (conversion from Net Wars - bad) (Orca)  
  
CPU on sound board:
1x MK3880N-Z80CPU
1x AY-3-8910

on main board:
1x NEC D780C
1x oscillator 18432

on lower board:
1x oscillator 12000  
ROMs on sound board:
2x M5L2732K (1,2)

on main board:
1x HN482764G (3)
1x M5L2764K (4)
1x M5L2732K (5)
2x empty socket

on lower board:
2x M5L2732K (8,9)
2x empty socket  
Note 1x 22x2 edge connector
1x trimmer (volume)
2x 8 switches dip

----------------------------
it looks like some eproms are missing (as well as a ram).
Using my prom dump in Espial gives the Orca logo on title screen (but BG is missing).
------------------------------
Update 20060427 from Brian A. Troha:
"Looks like it's a bad conversion from Net Wars to Espial.... the roms match those from Espial (Euro) when checking the CRC32 values, but the color proms match Net Wars. When I plug in those color proms, it's clearly wrong as most of the graphics go black.
So you can pull it off (or updated it as the Euro version and state it's already emulated) as it will not get added as a new clone."
"The color proms for Espial black out colors 0x1c & 0x1d. These are the colors the Orca logo is drawn in. For netwars these colors point to blue and pink and you see the blue & pink Orca when using those proms."  

Dumped 25/04/2006

-



[MAME]

Espial memory map (preliminary)

MAIN CPU:

0000-4fff ROM
5800-5fff RAM
8000-800f sprites code (bits 1-7) and double height (bit 0)
8010-801f sprites X
8400-87ff Video RAM
8800-880f sprites flip x (bit 2) and flip y (bit 3)
8c00-8fff Attribute RAM
9000-900f sprites Y
9010-901f sprites color
9020-903f column scroll
9400-97ff Color RAM
c000-cfff ROM

read:
6081      IN0
6082      IN1
6083      IN2
6084      IN3
6090      read command back from sound CPU
7000      ?

write:
6081      ? - written to twice when the text during the self-test is drawn onscreen
6090      write command to sound CPU
7000      watchdog reset
7100      NMI interrupt acknowledge/enable
7200      flip screen

Interrupts: VBlank -> NMI.
			IRQ -> send sound commands to sound cpu. Runs in interrupt mode 1

SOUND CPU:
0000-1fff ROM
2000-23ff RAM

read:
6000      read command from main CPU

write:
4000      NMI enable
6000      write command back to main CPU

Interrupts: IRQs are triggered by writes to the sound_command location 0x6000 - im 1
			NMIs occur regularly to process and play the sounds

I/0 ports:
write
00        8910  control
01        8910  write
A ?
B ?

-
