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NEC TG-16/TE/TurboDuo => TG-16/TE/TurboDuo Discussion => Topic started by: Necromancer on December 28, 2007, 02:55:59 AM
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I came home yesterday to find a beautiful, new flash cart stuffed in my mailbox (thanks bt, you da man!). I anxiously opened 'er up while my computer was booting, and then the fun started. It seems that the Slim Loader IV is installed properly (it shows up and is properly identified in the Device Manager anyway) and the utility is installed, but the dang thing keeps telling me that it 'cant find any cartridge'. Are you f*cking blind? I'm looking at it right now!
Long story, short: I'd greatly appreciate some step by step instructions on how to get some roms loaded on this puppy (I can't wait to play Bubblegum Crash and Tongueman's Logic on my Duo). Please keep it simple and type slowly (or use crayon), so that even an idiot, such as myself, will understand. Thanks in advance.
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According to the USPS tracking page mine was delivered yesterday.
However, it was not in my mailbox. :|
I'm slightly worried/upset/disgruntled. It was not exactly cheap. I'm going to check again today and see what's going on and take further action if necessary.
If it shows up I'll let you know how I get on.
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Do you have the flash cart plugged in before you launch the utility? If not once you plug it in be sure to click on "Get Machine Status" so it recognizes that the cart has been connected. Once you get it to recognize click Choose Directory to tell it where your ROMs are, then highlight a ROM and click Add to add which ones you'd like, and when your all ready to go click Write. When you do this it will ask if you want to format it for TG16 or PCE.
Let me know if this is helpful or if you need some more detailed info. It took me awhile to get mine working correctly, especially since it doesn't like to work on my region modded Duo at all. :(
Aaron
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According to the USPS tracking page mine was delivered yesterday.
I have not recieved mine nor a tracking number, so you are 1 step ahead of me. I hope you are able to track down your card today though. :cry:
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According to the USPS tracking page mine was delivered yesterday.
I have not recieved mine nor a tracking number, so you are 1 step ahead of me. I hope you are able to track down your card today though. :cry:
PM sent.
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Thanks, schnuth. I'll follow your directions when I get home and post an update tonight. I tried every possible permutation to connect this thing (connect reader, attach cart, launch utility; connect reader, launch utility, attach cart; attach cart, connect reader, launch utility; launch utility, connect reader, attach cart; and launch utility, attach cart, connect reader), all to no avail.
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Ok, nat and I got it sorted out (for me). Mine will be arriving today and as long as you don't need to have it hooked up to a PC-E to write to it at the same time as the USB, I will try it out.
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Thanks, schnuth. I'll follow your directions when I get home and post an update tonight. I tried every possible permutation to connect this thing (connect reader, attach cart, launch utility; connect reader, launch utility, attach cart; attach cart, connect reader, launch utility; launch utility, connect reader, attach cart; and launch utility, attach cart, connect reader), all to no avail.
You might also want to make sure you have the flash cart seated all the way into the Slim Loader. Mine is a pretty tight fit the first few times using it, and I had to really snap it in there. Besides that mine works no problem under XP. Good luck!
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So I just got my cart and wrote a file to it. You do have to really push it into the weite like schnuth said! I connected the card to the writer, the writer to the usb, installed the driver and then I was able to use the software for it without having to do anything but add a file and click write.
Very easy, but it doesn't tell you how much memory it can hold, how much free space, etc. It's also faster writing than some led me to believe.
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Mine showed up. I'm f*cking around with it now as we speak. All I get is "Connection fault" so far. The red LED is on, however, so I know it's getting power. Will update.
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Got mine, installed the program, then the driver on the card, and now all I get is the same "Can't find any cartridge" error Necromancer is seeing.
wtf
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I had to run the "NEO Power PC-E V1.0.exe" software not the "NEO Power Kit" software. It seems to sometime corrupt the .pce files when adding it but it could just be my rom set. Also, I got the Super CDROM2 bios file running from the neo flash but the Super System 3 bios boots the game and it says it's a super cdrom 2 card... Has anyone successfully booted a Super-CD using the NEO?
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I had to run the "NEO Power PC-E V1.0.exe" software not the "NEO Power Kit" software.
That worked.
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I had to run the "NEO Power PC-E V1.0.exe" software not the "NEO Power Kit" software.
That worked.
Newbie's rock!! :dance:
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I used the NEO Power PC-E V1.0.exe as well. I never do auto installs.
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Thanks folks, I think I got 'er working now; and just for nat, I loaded up Deep Blue. It's still the worst TG-16 shmup.
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So If someone has the CD-Attachment can you try the Super CD-Rom System card 3 .pce and tell me if it boots your Super CD's?
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So If someone has the CD-Attachment can you try the Super CD-Rom System card 3 .pce and tell me if it boots your Super CD's?
The system cards have ram in them that I'm sure the neo flash cart lacks. it would not work.
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OK, so how did you all get the actual driver for the USB Slim Loader loaded up into Windows? What a f*cking chore.
I've wasted an hour and a half on this but finally got it working.
This is what I had to do:
a) Allow Windows New Hardware Wizard to identify the "USB PACK".
b) Choose "Install from my own driver/location."
c) Go into the directory "USB_Driv\DD03_-_S" on the CD.
d) Choose XGSSlim.inf
e) Now Windows is looking for SlimLoaderV4.sys, which doesn't exist anywhere on the CD.
f) On a hunch, copy off SlimLoad.sys and rename it SlimLoaderV4.sys
g) Run through the whole process again, this time pointing to my newly renamed driver.
This was after screwing around with the "NEO Power PC-E V1.0.exe" for 45 minutes and not getting anything but "Connection fault".
Could they have made it ANY HARDER to get the Slim Loader driver off the disc? Someone who doesn't know anything about how Windows works would probably have found it impossible and given up. God this is why I f*cking hate Windows. But it's also partly the "Neo" team's fault for not writing their driver .INF file correctly. The program "UPDATE_U.EXE" does absolutely nothing, BTW.
For Mac users out there, this setup works perfectly on a Mac if you can figure out how to actually install the driver. The only catch is you're going to need a copy of XP installed either in a virtual environment (Parallels) or in a separate partition (Boot Camp) to run the flash software. I have XP under Parallels and it works great.
A couple of notes about the package in general:
1. What's with these dinky little CDs? My everyday 2GHz Mac has a slot-loading DVD+RW drive so I can't insert this disc into it. It just disappears into the slot and doesn't do anything. I had to use a paperclip to pry it back out. Then, I had to go boot up the ol' PowerMac 6300 (which has a tray CD-ROM) and copy the contents of the CD over my LAN to the new Mac. After I removed the little piece of crap disc, a huge chunk of the reflective foil just ripped off in my hand! I couldn't believe it. Talk about cheap. Luckily I got the files off in time. I can at least burn them to some real media now. Did they really save that much by putting the support files on these tiny discs? I've never even seen these for sale anywhere. It almost seems like you'd spend more time and money seeking out these small CD-Rs than if you just used crappy regular media that comes pennies a piece. Jeez.
2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.
3. What the hell is with this reset button? Talk about a bad idea. After loading up the cart and testing the first ROM on the SuperGrafx I went to hit the reset button to go back to the main menu. When my finger was closing in about a half inch away, a spark jumped from my hand to the metal casing around the button! Or maybe it was the other way around, I will never know for sure. Either way, I thought my cart was fried. Luckily it is not. But believe me, that is the last time I will attempt to use that button. What a joke.
Beyond that, I guess I can't complain. The software does it's job once you get it installed. The cart works perfectly as it should. I will undoubtedly get a lot of use out of it in the future. But what an episode.
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So If someone has the CD-Attachment can you try the Super CD-Rom System card 3 .pce and tell me if it boots your Super CD's?
The system cards have ram in them that I'm sure the neo flash cart lacks. it would not work.
I've got a System 3 card on the way but I thought it was interesting that the System 2 bios worked fine. Guess that one doesn't have any RAM in it.
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So If someone has the CD-Attachment can you try the Super CD-Rom System card 3 .pce and tell me if it boots your Super CD's?
The system cards have ram in them that I'm sure the neo flash cart lacks. it would not work.
I've got a System 3 card on the way but I thought it was interesting that the System 2 bios worked fine. Guess that one doesn't have any RAM in it.
System 1, 2 will work fine.
System 3 & Arcade will not work because they have additional RAM chips.
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OK, so how did you all get the actual driver for the USB Slim Loader loaded up into Windows? What a f*cking chore.
In my win2k I selected the CDROM for the driver with the windows automatic install and it found the right driver and installed it right away. It's good you got yours though :)
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OK, so how did you all get the actual driver for the USB Slim Loader loaded up into Windows? What a f*cking chore.
In my win2k I selected the CDROM for the driver with the windows automatic install and it found the right driver and installed it right away. It's good you got yours though :)
Ah, OK. I guess the fact that I couldn't load the CD up directly on this computer made it more difficult. I copied the contents of the CD into a folder over the LAN.
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So I had it on the computer and had a handful of ROMs to load up. Tried just Tongueman's Logic, wrote to the card fine.
Then I try a list of ROMs. Got an error during the load, some typical address issue thing you get with Windows (I'm a Mac guy, this is my work computer). So I try again. Now it doesn't see the cart and I get "Faulted to Open BIOS!" errors when trying to write to the card.
Jesus H. Christ.
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Found that the cart was fine but the program was screwed up. Deleted it, ran directly from the CD and it seems to work now.
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OK, so how did you all get the actual driver for the USB Slim Loader loaded up into Windows? What a f*cking chore.
Windows automatically installed my Slim Loader just fine, and SlimLoaderV4.sys is on the disc under X:\USB_Driver\DD03 - Slim loader 4.
1. What's with these dinky little CDs?
I have no problem with them using a mini CD-R, as most drives are capable of playing them (Apple is just about the only company that uses slot loading drives that can't handle minis). If they want to look professional, then they should spend a couple extra pennies and buy quality media with silk screened labels - mini or full size.
2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.
Your wear sounds excessive to me, but they supposedly test drive each flash cart before shipping. Mine came preloaded with 1941, but for some reason it didn't work. :roll:
3. What the hell is with this reset button? Talk about a bad idea.
It's to keep you from having to turn your system on and off repeatedly, and it wouldn't be necessary if the cheap bums at NEC had included a proper reset button. Quit shuffling your feet on the carpet or ground yourself before touching your precious Duo. :lol:
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2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.
Your wear sounds excessive to me, but they supposedly test drive each flash cart before shipping. Mine came preloaded with 1941, but for some reason it didn't work. :roll:
I took some 409 to the back of the cart and it looks almost brand new now. Most of the "scratches" were apparently just dirt tracks. Are they testing these carts in a mine or something?
3. What the hell is with this reset button? Talk about a bad idea.
It's to keep you from having to turn your system on and off repeatedly, and it wouldn't be necessary if the cheap bums at NEC had included a proper reset button. Quit shuffling your feet on the carpet or ground yourself before touching your precious Duo. :lol:
Yeah, I know what the point of them is. I was being somewhat facetious in that rant. Really, my point is that they should have made the button casing plastic instead of metal. That metal is attached straight to the PCB. They are just begging for trouble.
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Glad to hear you guys all got your flash carts working. Are any of you using a region modded Duo by any chance, and your flash cart works? For the life of me I can't get the cart to work with a region modded Duo-R I bought from D-Lite, but it works just fine with my stock Turbografx. Has anyone had any similar problems?
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I had the same kind of problems when I had mine, 2 years ago.
When you install/plug the freeloader, make sure that the cart is not inserted. Once the program and the loader are installed, you can insert your cart as you please.
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Glad to hear you guys all got your flash carts working. Are any of you using a region modded Duo by any chance, and your flash cart works? For the life of me I can't get the cart to work with a region modded Duo-R I bought from D-Lite, but it works just fine with my stock Turbografx. Has anyone had any similar problems?
I've been testing the flash cart with various setups and I've found that it's buggy with the region mod, at least in TG burn mode. On either a DuoR set to US (pin #29 grounded) or a TG16 set to US (no pin #29 mod). And I've tried both with the PCB based region mod, which is switched electronically, and the 8PDT, which is hardware switched, and both have issues running some games. Magical Chase runs mostly OK, but the sound is distorted, kinda slow sounding. I'm going to try again, running in PCE mode today. There's
I guess you could say it's the price of playing R0Mz.s ;)
At least a Core is cheap as the flash cart gaming system.
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One more thing that I need to say is that this cart has allowed me fully enjoy Tongueman's Logic. It's just some awesome work.
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I guess you could say it's the price of playing R0Mz.s ;)
At least a Core is cheap as the flash cart gaming system.
Thanks for checking Dean. I just wanted to make sure it wasn't just my card. So no ROMs in S-video for me. No biggie. The only game I ever got working on the flash cart with the region mod was Devil's Crush. All the others either had some graphical issues or would not play at all.
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It could just be some of the roms themselves not being perfect, try alternative ones. What is this about no S-video with the flash cart mention? Does it not work? Plus my system is region modded with the mini pcb from grahf. I am thinking of getting one of these carts for games like Magical Chase, Bonk 3 and some rare and obscure PCE titles.
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It could just be some of the roms themselves not being perfect, try alternative ones. What is this about no S-video with the flash cart mention? Does it not work? Plus my system is region modded with the mini pcb from grahf. I am thinking of getting one of these carts for games like Magical Chase, Bonk 3 and some rare and obscure PCE titles.
His S-Video modded Duo also happens to be his region-modded Duo.
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Man I'm sorry everyone has been having so many problems with their flash cart. I was thinking about ordering one of these months ago, but wanted to search for more feedback before shelling out the dough. Here's a question that I have. Will this work on my US Duo? I figured I'd have to use my Kisado ver.B converter, but the flash cart seems a bit long. I'm not sure it will fit.
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geise, it will work 100% fine in your US Duo.
You don't need a converter, either.
You can set the region of the flash cart when you put the ROMs on it. You can change it any time.
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1. What's with these dinky little CDs? My everyday 2GHz Mac has a slot-loading DVD+RW drive so I can't insert this disc into it. It just disappears into the slot and doesn't do anything. I had to use a paperclip to pry it back out. Then, I had to go boot up the ol' PowerMac 6300 (which has a tray CD-ROM) and copy the contents of the CD over my LAN to the new Mac. After I removed the little piece of crap disc, a huge chunk of the reflective foil just ripped off in my hand! I couldn't believe it. Talk about cheap. Luckily I got the files off in time. I can at least burn them to some real media now. Did they really save that much by putting the support files on these tiny discs? I've never even seen these for sale anywhere. It almost seems like you'd spend more time and money seeking out these small CD-Rs than if you just used crappy regular media that comes pennies a piece. Jeez.
2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.
Aye! We just received ours and indeed the mini-CD is totally covered in oily dirt and scratched to the point where you'd think it was rubbed in a pile of nails. And what do you know, a strip of foil also got stuck on my brother's hand when he was handling the disc! It's a miracle the CD still read - I instantly made a backup .iso of the CD in case it decides not to work later (wouldn't be surprised at all). My brother's CD drive didn't read the disc at all, either - good thing there's more than one computer in the house.
Secondly, you're right about the cart looking used, ours too looks like it's been "tested"... whatever that means. :shock:
I got the same errors others have had, but strangely enough the peripheral works fine on my brother's computer. The only difference in our installation method was that he ran "Update USB Driver.exe" where I didn't bother with it. Who knows...
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1. What's with these dinky little CDs? My everyday 2GHz Mac has a slot-loading DVD+RW drive so I can't insert this disc into it. It just disappears into the slot and doesn't do anything. I had to use a paperclip to pry it back out. Then, I had to go boot up the ol' PowerMac 6300 (which has a tray CD-ROM) and copy the contents of the CD over my LAN to the new Mac. After I removed the little piece of crap disc, a huge chunk of the reflective foil just ripped off in my hand! I couldn't believe it. Talk about cheap. Luckily I got the files off in time. I can at least burn them to some real media now. Did they really save that much by putting the support files on these tiny discs? I've never even seen these for sale anywhere. It almost seems like you'd spend more time and money seeking out these small CD-Rs than if you just used crappy regular media that comes pennies a piece. Jeez.
2. Does anyone else's setup not look new? The back of my flash cart has lots of those scratches HuCards get after being inserted and removed a zillion times from systems. It even has a 1/2" dirty smudge on it. It was the first thing I noticed when I took it out of the package.
Aye! We just received ours and indeed the mini-CD is totally covered in oily dirt and scratched to the point where you'd think it was rubbed in a pile of nails. And what do you know, a strip of foil also got stuck on my brother's hand when he was handling the disc! It's a miracle the CD still read - I instantly made a backup .iso of the CD in case it decides not to work later (wouldn't be surprised at all). My brother's CD drive didn't read the disc at all, either - good thing there's more than one computer in the house.
Yeah, Neo Team's packaging/documentation/driver skills need some SERIOUS work. It's a good thing they know how to make a good flash cart otherwise I'd be extremely pissed off. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's the worst overall packaging job I've seen in 20 years (and I'm not talking about the plastic package itself).
Secondly, you're right about the cart looking used, ours too looks like it's been "tested"... whatever that means. :shock:
Apparently Neo Team's testing regimen includes a game of rugby, using the cart as the ball.
I got the same errors others have had, but strangely enough the peripheral works fine on my brother's computer. The only difference in our installation method was that he ran "Update USB Driver.exe" where I didn't bother with it. Who knows...
That's funny, I ran that program like 65 times and it didn't do a f*cking thing.
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The only thing iffy about my card package is that the card itself has 50% dirty contacts. I have no idea what is on them, nor how to clean it off. It is some kind of substance which makes the contacts look milky. It is only on the half of the contacts which would be the most outside parts of them if it was inserted into a NEC system. I am guessing it was glue from the manufacturing process, but I'm not sure.
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The only thing iffy about my card package is that the card itself has 50% dirty contacts. I have no idea what is on them, nor how to clean it off. It is some kind of substance which makes the contacts look milky. It is only on the half of the contacts which would be the most outside parts of them if it was inserted into a NEC system. I am guessing it was glue from the manufacturing process, but I'm not sure.
It's most likely glue or some of the white paint that covers the exposed pcb. I'd take it off with 60 grit aluminum oxide on a belt sander. Don't use a orbital sander, as it's best to keep the scratches going in the same direction as the contacts. :wink:
Seriously though, are you having any usage problems, or is it just an aesthetic issue? If everything works fine, I'd just leave well enough alone.
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This is one of the better threads on here. It's been very informative reading through what you all have experienced in installing the drivers onto your computers. Hopefully, I won't have as many issues when I decide to order mine.
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Seriously though, are you having any usage problems, or is it just an aesthetic issue? If everything works fine, I'd just leave well enough alone.
I won't know until the Core Grafx II arrives in a few weeks, but I also don't want to get the gunk in the Core Grafx II if it comes off with use. No pin is covered 100% though, so I am guessing it will work.
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when I got mine, it was in new condition. Maybe his work ethic has gone down hill :?
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when I got mine, it was in new condition. Maybe his work ethic has gone down hill :?
I don't think that is it. My guess is lack of clean facilities to produce the cards and some of the CDs might have been exposed to heat. Because of what people said, I have tried on purpose to get some of the foil to go on to my hand and I cannot. There was a tiny bit of something black on the card as well, but it cleaned right up by lightly wiping it with a towel. I really don't think it is used product though being sold at new.
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I really don't think it is used product though being sold at new.
I agree. I picture an overweight nerdy guy sitting in a room full of empty pizza boxes and half-eaten meals strewn about. Intermingled with all the trashy mess are heaps of those little POS CD-Rs and freshly assembled flash carts, all ready to be packaged up. Between bites of three day old pizza he seals up the driver CD-Rs into those little plastic baggies without bothering to wipe his hands. A few lucky recipients (such as Paisa and myself) get grease encrusted driver discs and carts that look like they were on the front lines over in Iraq.
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maybe that dude that wholesale ordered them did it to them :-k He may have wanted to test them before sending them out.
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Haha, no way, BT is a great guy. I wouldn't have opened the offer to forum members if I couldn't personally vouch for his integrity.
Besides, the amount of grime on my card and that CD far exceeded what could possibly be picked up by a simple test. It looked like it had been "tested" no less than 72 times while simultaneously weathering a stampede.
In the end though, all is well that ends well. I got the drivers installed, the cart cleaned up nicely (actually looks brand new after a 409 bath), and it works great. Despite all my complaining, the cart itself really is a great product. Those Neo guys could afford to take a course in presentation, however.
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Between bites of three day old pizza he seals up the driver CD-Rs into those little plastic baggies without bothering to wipe his hands. A few lucky recipients (such as Paisa and myself) get grease encrusted driver discs and carts that look like they were on the front lines over in Iraq.
(http://www.smokingtree.net/images/monkey2.JPG)
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...and here's one, for the evil grey monkies that haunt meeee!
One thing I would like to note though that makes me giggle is that I have loaded some homebrew programs made by this mysterious man, BT. If he tested the cards, he should have loaded his own programs on them for the test :D I hope having a flash card gets him back into homebrew production since the last program I have seen from him is dated in 2000.
I'm always happier with a tested product as well.
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I hope having a flash card gets him back into homebrew production since the last program I have seen from him is dated in 2000.
BT's company, MindRec, is currently working on two new Turbo games.
PC Gunjin:
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/showthread.php?t=39373
As you can see by the date on the thread, the game has been in production for a number of years now. It's getting closer to completion, however.
Xymati:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6344
Only a single screenshot in this two year old thread, but I know much more work has been done since then. We might see a release in '08 if we're lucky.
As for other games already released since your 2000 program, check out MindRec's two commercial releases:
Implode (2002):
http://www.mindrec.com/?main=pce/implode.php
(Formerly available from Turbo Zone Direct, but you can order it direct from the link above. It's actually one of my favorite puzzle-type games for the Turbo. On a professionally pressed CD in your standard Turbo SuperCD packaging.)
Meteor Blaster DX (2004):
http://www.mindrec.com/?main=pce/meteordx.php
A game that was based off of, and greatly improves upon, the classic Asteroids. Again on CD and formerly available at TZD. Worth picking up for sure.
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:o that gunjin one looks like metal slug :mrgreen: