Konami Hornet¶
Konami's late-90s 3D hardware (1998): PowerPC + a 3dfx Voodoo accelerator, for real textured 3D. Silent Scope, Gradius 4, Thrill Drive… A GD-ROM/ROM base per game, JVS I/O.
Identification¶
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Konami |
| Year | 1998 |
| Type | textured 3D (PowerPC + Voodoo) |
| I/O | JVS |
Architecture¶
| Block | Chip | Role |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | IBM/Motorola PowerPC 403GA | game logic |
| GPU | 3dfx Voodoo | textured 3D rendering |
| Sound | Konami customs (+ DSP) | music/SFX |
| Media | ROM board (+ variants) | game data |
Konami adopts PC components (Voodoo) like others (Taito, Sega) at the time — solid 3D
at lower R&D cost. Emulated in MAME (konami/hornet.cpp).
Notable games¶
Silent Scope (1999) / Silent Scope 2, Gradius IV: Fukkatsu (1999), Thrill Drive (1998), NBA Play By Play, Teraburst, The Road of the King…
Faults & repair¶
| Symptom | Likely cause | Lead |
|---|---|---|
| No 3D / corrupt textures | Voodoo / texture RAM | GPU diagnosis; rare board |
| Freeze | PowerPC / RAM | CPU diagnosis, RAM test |
| No sound | sound customs / DSP | Sound-stage diagnosis |
| Controls / scope dead | JVS I/O / harness (Silent Scope rifle) | JVS diagnosis |
| No image | Power, contacts | Base diagnosis |
Modernisation & mods¶
The common ground for every JAMMA board
Video, power, control panel and upscalers depend on the cabinet rather than the board: everything is centralised in Modernising a cabinet. To run the board outside a cabinet (at home, on a display): supergun.
- Optical storage 🟡: the drive is the number-one wear part. Modern routes: an ODE, netboot, or replacement by flash storage depending on the platform → PCB preservation hub.
- Scan rate 📺: ~15.73 kHz / 60.0 Hz AND ~24.84 kHz / 58.0 Hz depending on configuration — varies by board/configuration, ⚠️ identify your variant before choosing a monitor — a tri-sync is the safe bet → tri-sync and upscalers.
(Computed from the MAME sources —
konami/hornet.cpp— pixel clock ÷ htotal.) - FPGA / emulation: see the Emulation & FPGA section below.
Repair (technician)¶
- 3dfx Voodoo (3D): corrupt/absent 3D = the Voodoo board / its RAM → test the graphics board separately.
- Security via the game's ROM board: boot ROM in flash/EPROM; 3D data in mask ROM.
- PowerPC 403 CPU + sound/DSP customs: silent sound = DSP / customs.
- Capacitors: recap. ROM-board contacts: clean.
→ Methods: PCB fault-finding · Recap · EPROM · Traces & vias
Expected clocks — measurement table ✅¶
Values extracted from the MAME sources for this platform. On a scope or frequency counter, a clock that is missing or off-value points straight at the crystal, the divider or the chip at fault — the fastest starting point on a dead board.
| Component | Expected clock | Role |
|---|---|---|
| M68000 | 16 MHz | main CPU |
How to read this table
Several values for one component = several board variants in this family (or several instances of the chip clocked differently). These frequencies are those of the clock signal at the component's input, not of its original crystal — on many boards the clock is divided down from a single master crystal.
Original manuals for games on this platform ✅¶
Manufacturer manuals for games running on this board. Beyond the instructions, they very often carry the full DIP settings, the connector pinout, the test procedure, the parts list and the expected voltages.
- Silent Scope — original manual (PDF)
→ Full catalogue: service manuals, wiring & game manuals
DIP settings ✅¶
5 games on this platform, settings extracted from the MAME sources (INPUT_PORTS_START blocks). The Position column gives the switch's physical reference on the board (SW2:!3,!4 = bank SW2, levers 3 and 4) — which is what lets you set it up without the paper manual. Games are sorted by MAME set name.
DIP settings — MAME set gradius4
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Skip Post | SW:1 | On · Off |
| Screen Flip (H) | SW:2 | Off · On |
| Screen Flip (V) | SW:3 | Off · On |
| DIP4 | SW:4 | Off · On |
| DIP5 | SW:5 | Off · On |
| Harness | SW:6 | JVS · JAMMA |
| DIP7 | SW:7 | Off · On |
| Monitor Type | SW:8 | 24KHz · 15KHz |
DIP settings — MAME set hornet
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Skip Post | SW:1 | Off · On |
| Disable Machine Init | SW:2 | Off · On |
| DIP3 | SW:3 | Off · On |
| DIP4 | SW:4 | Off · On |
| DIP5 | SW:5 | Off · On |
| DIP6 | SW:6 | Off · On |
| DIP7 | SW:7 | Off · On |
| DIP8 | SW:8 | Off · On |
DIP settings — MAME set nbapbp
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Cabinet Type | SW:7 | 2 Player · 4 Player |
DIP settings — MAME set sscope
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Disable Machine Init | SW:2 | Off · On |
DIP settings — MAME set terabrst
| Setting | Position | Options (default in bold) |
|---|---|---|
| Disable Machine Init | SW:2 | Off · On |
Check against your own board
These settings apply to the game and revision described by MAME. One title may have several DIP sets depending on region or revision, and some systems use soft-dips (settings in memory, via the test menu) rather than physical switches. In case of a discrepancy, the board's silkscreen and the test menu are authoritative.
See also: DIP reference · game manuals
Emulation & FPGA¶
- Emulation: MAME (
konami/hornet.cpp). - FPGA / MiSTer: no core (PowerPC + Voodoo, out of budget).
EPROM repair¶
PowerPC 403 program (3D games: NASCAR, GTI Club) on a ROM board + 3dfx Voodoo. Boot ROM in flash/EPROM; 3D data in mask ROM. Security via the game's ROM board.
Lineage¶
After the GX (2.5D); Konami then moved to Viper (PC), the System 573 (Bemani, PS1) and Firebeat. See also Konami GX / Viper converts.
Photos / assets¶
(To add: Hornet board, PowerPC, 3dfx Voodoo, JVS I/O.)
Sources & attribution¶
- MAME —
konami/hornet.cpp(PowerPC 403GA, 3dfx Voodoo, games) — https://github.com/mamedev/mame - Wikipedia — Silent Scope / Konami Hornet — CC-BY-SA — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Scope
Review & corrections
How this space is used
Spotted a wrong value, an outdated procedure, a chip reference that does not match your board? Say so here, with what you observed (model, board revision, serial number, measurement). Every report is cross-checked against a source before anything changes — an unverifiable correction is published as “reported by …, not cross-checked” rather than silently applied.
Reading is open to everyone; posting requires signing in with Discord. Reports from the wiki's declared reviewers are handled first; anyone else's are read too, but go through a human before anything is changed.