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Tech and Homebrew => Turbo/PCE Game/Tool Development => Topic started by: gameofyou on June 12, 2012, 11:38:47 AM
Title: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 12, 2012, 11:38:47 AM
I wanted to make a seperate topic, so that we can help each other out with any issues concerning the low-cost Flash HuCard. Hopefully, it will be a place to capture common problems, concerning the hardware, PC software, and running certain games.
The first source of information is the 3 page instruction sheet (Flash_HuCard_USB_Setup_Instructions_V10.pdf), which is included in the software download package. The next souce of information is to read through my web page (http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/Flash_HuCard), especially this page http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/Flash_HuCard/rom_tips.html.
After that, post the questions here, and hopefully either myself or others can answer!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 13, 2012, 05:56:39 AM
Well, mine just arrived in the mail today, so I'll be sure to post any questions resulting from my experiments here.
OK, so Vista x64 keeps deciding to go on-line and find the drivers I need for me. This may be why I keep getting a communication timeout message that instructs me to connect the flash card device even though it is properly connected and purportedly recognized.
Any guidance how to circumvent this?
Provided drivers don't like Vista x64. Using the ones from the web site. Played with the COM settings and I can't seem to get anything that works just right.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 13, 2012, 10:26:12 AM
Just realized this card had its own thread. I ordered one last night and I had this question:
Since you can't (I assume) fit it into an official cart...is there any way to make it more "official" looking rather than plugging in an electronic board with all the circuitry exposed? It scares me thinking if I forget to ground myself or something and grab this.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 13, 2012, 11:36:51 AM
Well, mine just arrived in the mail today, so I'll be sure to post any questions resulting from my experiments here.
OK, so Vista x64 keeps deciding to go on-line and find the drivers I need for me. This may be why I keep getting a communication timeout message that instructs me to connect the flash card device even though it is properly connected and purportedly recognized.
Any guidance how to circumvent this?
Provided drivers don't like Vista x64. Using the ones from the web site. Played with the COM settings and I can't seem to get anything that works just right.
Does Vista itself recognize the card when you plug it in? You should get a solid green light, and the PC should assign it a COM value (you can check this in device manager).
Another way to check is by opening the Downloader software and go to File...Configure. When you do this, does it show any COM ports in the pulldown?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 13, 2012, 03:25:11 PM
Yes. Vista recognizes it. It is COM7 and the light is green. I even tried playing with the settings in the Device Manager. Still won't talk, though.
Just got everything set up on my wife's laptop running XP 32-bit and it's largely the same. Drivers install (this time from the download with the software), set up a USB COM port (COM4 on this laptop), and the light on the card is green. But in the downloader, trying to send data, I get the error message that it can't communicate. I'm wondering if I got a dud.
My suspicion is that there's something wrong with the flash chip or the soldering job with the flash chip, because it seems the USB controller stuff is working alright.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 14, 2012, 06:03:07 AM
Yes. Vista recognizes it. It is COM7 and the light is green. I even tried playing with the settings in the Device Manager. Still won't talk, though.
Just got everything set up on my wife's laptop running XP 32-bit and it's largely the same. Drivers install (this time from the download with the software), set up a USB COM port (COM4 on this laptop), and the light on the card is green. But in the downloader, trying to send data, I get the error message that it can't communicate. I'm wondering if I got a dud.
My suspicion is that there's something wrong with the flash chip or the soldering job with the flash chip, because it seems the USB controller stuff is working alright.
I do fully test each card before shipping it. But, you could be right. Maybe a cold solder joint, and it got bumped during shipping. You can send it back to me & I'll ship you a replacement. I'll let you know what I find.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 14, 2012, 07:57:45 AM
if you have it in the system it will timeout as well. please only connect the USB with it not inserted in the console
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 14, 2012, 10:13:21 AM
I haven't inserted it into the console, yet. I have no reason to. I can't get any content onto it.
I'm out of computers to test it on, but it has thrown the same error on both a Vista 64-bit desktop and an XP 32-bit laptop.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 14, 2012, 10:54:56 AM
Since you can't (I assume) fit it into an official cart...is there any way to make it more "official" looking rather than plugging in an electronic board with all the circuitry exposed? It scares me thinking if I forget to ground myself or something and grab this.
It is good practice to ground youself before handling the card. But really, it's no more succeptable than when you touch the contacts of a commercial HuCard. Just handle it by the edges, whenever possible, and you will be fine.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 14, 2012, 11:00:26 AM
I haven't inserted it into the console, yet. I have no reason to.
Unless the power for the chips comes from the pce connector..... Maybe, just guessing.....
Power to the chips is from the USB connector when programming it. Power to the chips is from pce connector when playing a game. You should never plug in both at the same time.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: soop on June 14, 2012, 10:43:12 PM
Don't cross the streams...
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 15, 2012, 10:13:22 PM
I've managed to install all the software and transfer a ROM across to it with no issues, but when I insert it into either my white PCE or DUO-RX, all I get is a white screen. I've removed the headers, and tried it on homebrew roms but still no success.
OH wait....more info incoming soon....
OK, some success. I've had to swap the bits for a Japanese rom on a Japanese machine to get it to work.
So far I've tried Cyber Core and Out Run, both being unplayable due to graphics corruption. I'll try some more now.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 15, 2012, 11:19:28 PM
Not working - Cyber Core, OutRun (4 roms tried), Parasol Stars, Ninja Warriors (2 roms tried).
All these non-working roms run fine in an emulator - can I assume that there's something bad in the rip that stops it working on a real PCE? Also, is it likely that th utility to remove the 'SNES' header could be removing something it shouldn't?
Because some are working, I am hoping it's just a ROM thing and the hardware is fine. My main reason for getting this is to test out homebrew games on real hardware anyway.
One thing I can't get working is US games on Japanese Duo, tried swapping and not swapping the bits with no success - only tried Magical Chase and China Warrior so far, white screen both times.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 16, 2012, 02:23:18 AM
to run us roms on JP hardware you either need to change the check bit in the rom or ground pin 29 on the 6280
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 07:17:35 AM
Just got mine in the mail, thanks for the fast shipping! It works perfectly!
I already had the FTDI drivers from using an arduino so no issues on windows 7. I know they also work on Vista because that's what I used until about 6 months ago and the FTDI drivers still worked.
Transfer is a bit slow, but I don't mind, thanks!!
Not working - Cyber Core, OutRun (4 roms tried), Parasol Stars, Ninja Warriors (2 roms tried).
All these non-working roms run fine in an emulator - can I assume that there's something bad in the rip that stops it working on a real PCE? Also, is it likely that th utility to remove the 'SNES' header could be removing something it shouldn't?
Because some are working, I am hoping it's just a ROM thing and the hardware is fine. My main reason for getting this is to test out homebrew games on real hardware anyway.
One thing I can't get working is US games on Japanese Duo, tried swapping and not swapping the bits with no success - only tried Magical Chase and China Warrior so far, white screen both times.
Make sure you're using headerless roms or removing the headers before you try. Everything I've thrown at it has worked on my US duo.
EDIT:
Ok, I just tried Parasol stars and there is a graphical glitch:
I know the rom is good, it's from the No-Intro set, has no headers and this is the USA version. These artifacts also show up when using the (J) version. It plays fine but there are artifacts on a lot of of the sprites. I hope you can test this yourself gameof and find the problem.
Outrun (J) works fine for me.
Ninja Warriors (J) doesn't work for me, its got major graphical corruption.
Cybercore (J) also has major graphical corruption like Ninja Warriors. Unplayable.
All the roms I use are from the No-Intro set and verified in CLRmamepro using the no-intro dat file. So they are headerless and known good dumps. They also work fine in all pce emulators I've tried (Bizhawk, Pce-jin, mednafen, MagicEngine) if that means anything
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 08:53:43 AM
I will try out Parasol Stars, when I get a chance, & see if I get similar results.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 08:57:17 AM
One thing I can't get working is US games on Japanese Duo, tried swapping and not swapping the bits with no success - only tried Magical Chase and China Warrior so far, white screen both times.
To run USA games on a JPN system, there is a secondary region check. See my web page here (http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/Flash_HuCard/rom_tips.html) & try the procedure described. If I get time, I will test these.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 09:39:12 AM
Ok cool, I hope you check the other games I listed that have major corruption as well.
Also, your FAQ page, the link to Windhex doesnt seem to work, or at least Zophar's doesn't have it anymore. You can find it here though:
http://www.romhacking.net/utilities/291/
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 16, 2012, 10:08:23 AM
Sounds like you're having the same issues with Parasol Stars and the others I mentioned. I got the no-intro set today so will try these out also.
I looked at the secondary region check when trying to get Magical Chase US to work, but I couldn't understand it. If anyone has a screenie of exactly where in windhex I need to change it, please post.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 10:41:54 AM
Sounds like you're having the same issues with Parasol Stars and the others I mentioned. I got the no-intro set today so will try these out also.
I looked at the secondary region check when trying to get Magical Chase US to work, but I couldn't understand it. If anyone has a screenie of exactly where in windhex I need to change it, please post.
Outrun (J) worked perfectly fine btw. That one may have been a bad rom on your part maybe??
EDIT:
You search the file for the hex sequence "78 54 A9". If you get mutliple addresses with that sequence of bytes, you need the one that has 'NEC' in ascii at offset 0x15 starting from that sequence (that's not fifteen, thats 0x15 in hex). If you see that 'NEC' there, that's the correct offset for the region. For Magical chase its right at the beginning of the rom. Here is a screen shot of the byte you want to change in magical chase (this has no header) it's at offset 0x17 in the ROM:
(http://snag.gy/UgNEW.html)
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 10:57:03 AM
Thanks ConHuevos! I was just about to post the same thing.
I know its kind of a pain to do the conversion of a USA game to a JPN system. Hopefully, I can work all that stuff into my own software so that we don't need to use WindHex32 in the future.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 16, 2012, 11:18:04 AM
Thanks ConHuevos, that worked perfectly.
I still can't see the sequence 78 54 A9 in there...am I just being completely blind?
Also, I notice that for every rom, regardless of Japanese or US, I always have to check the 'Swap Data Bits' to get it to run on my Japanese Duo. The instructions lead you to believe that you only do this when a rom does not match the country you are using it with, which is not correct, unless every Japanese rom I have has been hacked to US region....unlikely.
Anway, just want to say how grateful I am to gameofyou for producing this awesome bit of gear!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 11:29:09 AM
The sequences starts at offset 0x0C in the ROM, + 0x15 from that is the 'NEC' string.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 11:31:02 AM
Thanks ConHuevos! I was just about to post the same thing.
I know its kind of a pain to do the conversion of a USA game to a JPN system. Hopefully, I can work all that stuff into my own software so that we don't need to use WindHex32 in the future.
I can help you with that if you'd like to release the source to the software. It's written in VB I assume since it requires an .OCX?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 16, 2012, 11:48:00 AM
Also, I notice that for every rom, regardless of Japanese or US, I always have to check the 'Swap Data Bits' to get it to run on my Japanese Duo. The instructions lead you to believe that you only do this when a rom does not match the country you are using it with, which is not correct, unless every Japanese rom I have has been hacked to US region....unlikely.
I supposed that could depend on the source of your ROM files. The No-Intro set might have been adultered a little bit, not just to remove the header but also to set all the ROMs to the US region.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 12:20:32 PM
No-intro set has no altered roms, that's kinda the point of why No-Intro exists, they basically got fed up of all the dumps containing unnecessary headers and data. Unless you're saying something else modified his roms? Nothing is modified in the no-intro set and is just the original rom.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 12:23:04 PM
Also, I notice that for every rom, regardless of Japanese or US, I always have to check the 'Swap Data Bits' to get it to run on my Japanese Duo. The instructions lead you to believe that you only do this when a rom does not match the country you are using it with, which is not correct, unless every Japanese rom I have has been hacked to US region....unlikely.
The instructions are correct. As unlikely as it seems, your Japanese ROMs have apparently already been converted to US region. It is the only possible explanation.
...and you're welcome!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 01:07:44 PM
I will try out Parasol Stars, when I get a chance, & see if I get similar results.
I have tried Parasol Stars, & I get the same result (graphic glitches). I'm not sure of the reason. But if any commercial games have extra circuitry (logic, decoders, ram, ...) other than ROM memory, then the Flash HuCard will not be able to play them. As long as the commercial game contained only ROM chips (up to 8Mbit), they should work on the Flash HuCard. But there are bound to be some games that won't work because of these reasons. Hopefully it will turn out to be a very small percentage.
If anyone has any further insights, let us know.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 16, 2012, 01:16:48 PM
I guess this is where we implore someone to try out Parasol Stars on one of the older generation flash cards to see what happens there.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 01:41:50 PM
I will try out Parasol Stars, when I get a chance, & see if I get similar results.
I have tried Parasol Stars, & I get the same result (graphic glitches). I'm not sure of the reason. But if any commercial games have extra circuitry (logic, decoders, ram, ...) other than ROM memory, then the Flash HuCard will not be able to play them. As long as the commercial game contained only ROM chips (up to 8Mbit), they should work on the Flash HuCard. But there are bound to be some games that won't work because of these reasons. Hopefully it will turn out to be a very small percentage.
If anyone has any further insights, let us know.
Overall, I'm pleased with the compatiblity, it's the only US game I've encountered with any problem. The other games mentioned, Ninja warrior and Cybercore are far worse at the glitches! You literally only get opaque boxes on the screen.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: Aladar on June 16, 2012, 02:21:11 PM
I think the problem is the /WR signal. Years ago I discovered that the HuC6280 generates spurious writings during the START and RESET sequences. More info tomorrow, I'm going to sleep.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 02:23:38 PM
I (mostly Vec) has indentified the problem, he's the author who wrote the TG16/Duo emulation core for Bizhawk!
All the roms that are 384KB in size require special loading code for some reason.They need to be laid out as a 640KB rom file. So you need to mirror the rom data.
You basically insert the first 256KB of the rom at the beginning... and then start over, the last 128KB are not where you would normally expect them to be.
So it would be:
[1-256KB][1-384KB] = 640KB rom file.
Here is the C# code he provided that he does in his emulation core, and can easily be added to your software gameof:
if (rom.Length == 0x60000) { // 384k roms require special loading code. Why ;_; // In memory, 384k roms look like [1st 256k][Then full 384k] RomData = new byte[0xA0000]; var origRom = rom; for (int i = 0; i < 0x40000; i++) RomData[i] = origRom[i]; for (int i = 0; i < 0x60000; i++) RomData[i + 0x40000] = origRom[i]; RomLength = RomData.Length; }
So as you can imagine, the system is looking for rom data to load that isn't present which is why the artifacts occur.
Just tried this and neutopia booted up fine!
Parasol stars also works without artifacts now!
Cyber core works with this.
And....So does ninja warrior.
Thankfully this is not a hardware issue!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 02:46:15 PM
That is an awesome bit of detective work, ConHuevos !!
Maybe this is also something that can be added to the PC software: To automatically format the 384K games correctly, before initiating the download.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 02:49:06 PM
Yes, it's a very simple fix.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: cabbage on June 16, 2012, 02:51:42 PM
Yes, the problem with 3Mb games is also present on the Neo Flash carts. There have been some tools posted on the neo flash forums that can mirror them and output a new ROM that will work.
I just tried that with Parasol Stars and got both US and JP version working on a neo flash in a duo-r. First I stripped headers from both, then for the US version I ran it through ucon64 with --pce -nint -f (to fix region for my unmodded duo-r), and finally mirrored them both with neopcepad.exe. The resulting files were 6Mb each and seemed to work just fine, while the originals were heavily glitched.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 16, 2012, 02:53:55 PM
I can help you with that if you'd like to release the source to the software. It's written in VB I assume since it requires an .OCX?
It is written in an older version of VB (VB6), which is just the tool I happen to have. I don't have any problem sharing the source code with people. It's probably not something I will post online (it was written quite quickly), but I can provide it to anyone interested, just shoot me an email.
In fact, I would like to get the software eventually ported to MAC and Linux, also. So if anyone has the skills/tools to take that on, let me know :)
I would actually appreciate the help. I am getting overwhelmed, just trying to keep up with assembly.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: Aladar on June 16, 2012, 06:57:56 PM
I think the problem is the /WR signal. Years ago I discovered that the HuC6280 generates spurious writings during the START and RESET sequences. More info tomorrow, I'm going to sleep.
Oops, I was wrong... but still can be a problem.
Any news on the reset button?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 16, 2012, 09:35:53 PM
Also, I notice that for every rom, regardless of Japanese or US, I always have to check the 'Swap Data Bits' to get it to run on my Japanese Duo. The instructions lead you to believe that you only do this when a rom does not match the country you are using it with, which is not correct, unless every Japanese rom I have has been hacked to US region....unlikely.
The instructions are correct. As unlikely as it seems, your Japanese ROMs have apparently already been converted to US region. It is the only possible explanation.
...and you're welcome!
I am rethinking this now, & you may be right. You might have to swap bits, only if you're playing on a JPN system. I don't have a USA system to try it on, but if this turns out to be the case, then I will change the instructions. Thanks!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 17, 2012, 04:21:15 AM
Works brilliantly. Tested Parasol Stars and plays with no glitches so far.
It would be awesome if the flashcard software could be updated to combine this and the header removal features.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 17, 2012, 06:08:37 AM
Works brilliantly. Tested Parasol Stars and plays with no glitches so far.
It would be awesome if the flashcard software could be updated to combine this and the header removal features.
That is definately the plan. Along with the Secondary protection feature (changing the 0xF0 to 0x80).
ConHuevos has volunteered to help me out with these PC updates, while I complete the hardware builds. I think we should still allow all these new functions to be deselected, though. Since the initial purpose for this card was for homebrew, I don't want the software to automatically jack up someone's 384K homebrew, without them knowing it.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 17, 2012, 11:54:12 AM
Ya, I'll work on it a bit tonight, I'll need some more information from you about the serial port data and how the card expects the upload gameof, if you've got a skype that would be a great way to discuss, just PM me, e-mail me, or post it here. In the mean time, I'll start writing up removing the header, fixing 384KB roms, and the bit swap.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: NightWolve on June 17, 2012, 12:35:22 PM
Hm, I wonder if Krizz (http://krikzz.com/) knows about this 384KB issue and took it into account with his upcoming HuFlashCard. I'm gonna link him this thread to be on the safe side - it's now or never. So basically, emulators have always known to do this, to double the first 256KB of data then append the remaining 128KB of data to force a 640KB size ?? I guess the simplest way would be to ask Krikzz if he tested his card with Neutopia, Parosol Stars, Cyber Core, etc. and if not, to quickly grab a ROM that's 384/385 KB in size and try it!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 17, 2012, 01:44:04 PM
Ya, I'll work on it a bit tonight, I'll need some more information from you about the serial port data and how the card expects the upload gameof, if you've got a skype that would be a great way to discuss, just PM me, e-mail me, or post it here. In the mean time, I'll start writing up removing the header, fixing 384KB roms, and the bit swap.
It's a pretty simple program. We can probably handle any Q/A thru email. If it helps (for the serial data), I have done a writeup of its operation here: http://www.gamingenterprisesinc.com/Flash_HuCard/Flash_HuCard_PC_Protocol_V10.pdf
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 17, 2012, 04:53:43 PM
I got most of the items done, just need to do the COMM transfer bit:
(http://snag.gy/hG89B.html)
Everything is functional except the transfer button. I'll play around with that tomorrow if I get some time!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: roflmao on June 17, 2012, 05:00:25 PM
This community is unbelievable! I'm hoping a check I'm expecting will arrive tomorrow so I can order one of these tomorrow. Very cool stuff!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ccovell on June 17, 2012, 05:44:25 PM
Did you test this out with 3Mbit and 6Mbit hu-card games? IIRC, they have an odd way of mapping their banks.
If you can give me any specific game titles, I can give them a try. It sounds like if there is an issue, that it could be addressed by an update of the PC software. There is enough flexibility in the existing communication protocol for placing a gap (or gaps) in where the rom code is located in the flash memory of the HuCard.
;-)
I just got the flash card today and though the COM port seems to be mapping fine (COM4), the software again times out... (on my Win XP SP2 machine.) Time to try with a Windows 7 machine...
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: burn_654 on June 18, 2012, 12:30:25 AM
Just got this in, going to try it tonight! Exciting stuff!
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ooPo on June 18, 2012, 12:53:34 AM
This may be helpful:
http://pcedev.wordpress.com/downloads-and-links/
Specifically the 'PCE cribsheet page 2 (ver 1.0.4)', this part in particular:
(http://i.imgur.com/lqqmk.png)
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 18, 2012, 01:58:18 AM
that is helpfull, and explains the mapper
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: NightWolve on June 18, 2012, 05:00:23 AM
Good news (or no news), false alarm on Krizz's Turbo Everdrive flash card! He said he already detected this and pointed out that Batman, which he loaded in his , was a 384KB game, which I verified (yup!), so looking good...
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 18, 2012, 05:10:59 AM
Uhm... guess you forgot about this issue in the other thread 2 months ago:
I just got the flash card today and though the COM port seems to be mapping fine (COM4), the software again times out... (on my Win XP SP2 machine.) Time to try with a Windows 7 machine...
You are correct, I forgot. I have about a million irons in the fire right now. :)
If you can't get your setup working, send me an email & we can try a few things.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 18, 2012, 05:32:34 PM
I'm having issues with my serial port right now and may need to send this card back to gameof, so I can't finish writing/testing the COMM connection portion. I can however add a write rom function so it can convert the roms for you automatically, but you'll still need to use the original card software to upload.
Right now, when I try to upload, it'll only sometimes erase the data already on the card.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 18, 2012, 09:20:51 PM
I can't work on this further until I receive my card back, in the mean time here's the other portions I had already written and slightly modified so that it saves to a file rather than uploads. It will strip the rom header, mirror the rom, and remove the region protection on USA roms (all options are optional), it'll also notify you if the rom doesn't require modification. It does not flip the bits on the ROM file, you still need to select that option (If you need it) using Gameof's Hucard uploader.
I thought they already had programs like this on the NeoFlash page, lol.
Or maybe I am hallucinating.
No idea...never go there :P. This also didn't take very long to make.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: Arkhan on June 19, 2012, 08:17:33 AM
Agreed. I just could have sworn there were some already.
To be fair here, it's hard to even check, because NeoFlash's site structure is a mess and you can never find the most recent crap.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 19, 2012, 09:19:05 AM
In all honesty, I'd rather have more than one tool to solve a problem floating around anyway, especially since this new one is basically generated within this community and should be easy to change or adjust if needed.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: burn_654 on June 20, 2012, 07:37:47 AM
With the combination of ConHuevos's tool and the Hucard flasher things are working brilliantly for me, Win 7 x64 :) My system is a region switch modded PCE-Duo.
The first game I tested, Ninja Gaiden (j) worked just fine after a header removal. Although strangely, in the 'American' mode of the switch. Perhaps my rom was encrypted to run on American consoles? (for instance I use this mode of the switch to play the english ver. of Military Madness) I've done the internal pin-lift as well.
Regardless it seems to be working well for me, very easy to use! Cheers! :clap:
P.S. If at all possible I'd make a popup/note after it's finished flashing that it's safe to unplug the card...I figured it out after the Transmission bar was full but it'd be nice to have the reassurance.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 20, 2012, 08:55:57 AM
Which switch didn't work? Pretty sure I tested that game specifically with the removed header and it worked fine. This was from the 'Good' set of roms. Since those are the only roms for the duo that I have that contain headers. People should really be looking for the no-intro set when they get ROMS though, they contain no headers.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: burn_654 on June 20, 2012, 10:48:50 AM
Apologies, I meant the American position of my physical mod switch. I have a japanese console. Ninja Gaiden was burned after removing the header with ConHuevos' tool (fairly sure mine is from a GoodSet), but only works when the physical console switch is in the American position.
It works, it's just odd.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: sunteam_paul on June 21, 2012, 05:47:42 AM
Would it be possible to have the software detect what country the ROM is for and display that?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 21, 2012, 08:51:57 AM
Sure, but it would only work if the region protection is on every single USA game. The roms contain no region information, but only the USA roms have the region protection.
EDIT:
Just thought about this...if you modified the region protection, the next time you load the rom there would be no way to tell it's not a USA rom with the protection removed....So I guess this wouldn't be practical.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 21, 2012, 10:04:58 AM
P.S. If at all possible I'd make a popup/note after it's finished flashing that it's safe to unplug the card...I figured it out after the Transmission bar was full but it'd be nice to have the reassurance.
There is a popup, after download is complete. Does it not come up on your system?
Apologies, I meant the American position of my physical mod switch. I have a japanese console. Ninja Gaiden was burned after removing the header with ConHuevos' tool (fairly sure mine is from a GoodSet), but only works when the physical console switch is in the American position.
It works, it's just odd.
This is something I'm still trying to figure out also. My instructions for the 'Bit swapping checkbox' may be wrong. I'm starting to think that the box needs checked if you are playing on a JPN system (regardless of whether it is a USA game or not).
Hopefully, we can come to a concensus on this as people report back what they are finding on their systems.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ccovell on June 21, 2012, 01:18:08 PM
Perhaps obviously, the wiring of the flash on the Card is set up the same as the US-style card? Thus the contents of the flash are of course NOT bit-swapped, but since the data lines are US-style on the card (I presume) the game will appear bit-swapped on a JP console. That's my guess.
gameofyou, first of all, what data line wiring did you use to the Hu connector, US-style, or JP-style?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 21, 2012, 02:35:05 PM
This is the HuCard pinout that I used. I could never find clear confirmation if this was the Turbografx or PC-Engine. I believe, based on the results, that it must be a USA pinout.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: cabbage on June 21, 2012, 05:52:44 PM
steve- you could just use ucon64 (http://ucon64.sourceforge.net/) for region-patching. it's open source and well-ported. nice tool worth having in this hobby.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 21, 2012, 06:12:47 PM
This is the HuCard pinout that I used. I could never find clear confirmation if this was the Turbografx or PC-Engine. I believe, based on the results, that it must be a USA pinout. So does that mean the bits need to be flipped for both USA and JPN games on a PC-Engine? It appears so.
Confirmed, your pinout is the US-style pinout. You can see both pinouts here: http://wiki.pcengine.info/pmwiki.php?n=HuCard.HuCardPinout
US/JP games do not matter; The ROM data should, ideally, be unscrambled, even for US ROMs (makes hacking, HES ripping, etc easier). With unscrambled ROMs on a US Turbografx, users will not have to do any bit-swapping, right, since the Flash chip->pinout is what the US Turbo expects.
The PC-Engine expects the reverse bit order, so us PCE users will have to swap the bits every time.
This is probably what sets apart your flash card from all previous ones: Tototek, etc cards were developed to run on PCE hardware primarily. Yours is expecting Turbo hardware. It's up to you to say whether that's a good thing or bad. ;-)
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: spenoza on June 22, 2012, 03:35:05 AM
It's up to you to say whether that's a good thing or bad. ;-)
Considering how easy this is to fix I'm not sure good or bad comes into play.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 22, 2012, 05:00:19 AM
Glad that's figured out. So basically we'll just have the change the description to that option depending on the system you're going to run the ROM off of, not the ROM itself. Right?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 22, 2012, 05:44:16 AM
Glad that's figured out. So basically we'll just have the change the description to that option depending on the system you're going to run the ROM off of, not the ROM itself. Right?
It seems like this is the case. Thanks everyone for the input. I will modify my instructions, to make it more clear for people.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 22, 2012, 06:15:56 AM
By the way, ConHuevos, your converter tool is awesome. I played around with it last night. This will make it a LOT easier for people to get up and running with commercial games. I have added a link to it from my website.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: burn_654 on June 27, 2012, 03:34:18 PM
Just wanted to say I've been enjoying your flash hucard quite a bit! Been running US and Japanese roms (and some homebrew tests) successfully!
All this is in the 'US' position of my mod switch, strangely, but that doesn't bother me. The aforementioned clarity of what options should be set for what console would help that out I would think. Maybe a wizard/option at the launch of the program? "What region console are you using?"
Oh! The message stating that the flash finished did show up - it must have been a fluke that first time. :-"
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 27, 2012, 03:42:32 PM
for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip. then it worked in US mode
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: ConHuevos on June 27, 2012, 06:43:40 PM
for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip. then it worked in US mode
Region protection wasn't removed perhaps?
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 27, 2012, 06:54:56 PM
for the most part i have been able to use any rom as US or JAP mode the exception is neutopia, which didnt work in either till i checked bit flip. then it worked in US mode
Region protection wasn't removed perhaps?
wouldnt matter, as pin29 is grounded
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on June 28, 2012, 02:18:02 AM
Just wanted to say I've been enjoying your flash hucard quite a bit! Been running US and Japanese roms (and some homebrew tests) successfully!
All this is in the 'US' position of my mod switch, strangely, but that doesn't bother me. The aforementioned clarity of what options should be set for what console would help that out I would think. Maybe a wizard/option at the launch of the program? "What region console are you using?"
Oh! The message stating that the flash finished did show up - it must have been a fluke that first time. :-"
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you are up and running.
Now that I have completed the build of the first 48 boards, I am actually getting to play around with the card, myself. I was finally able to try out Bloody Wolf & it is awesome. It has been on my purchase list for a long time, but the JPN version is surprisingly difficult to track down. I will definately be buying it, when I find one.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: owen2471 on June 30, 2012, 10:22:10 AM
i have tried several roms. they seem to transfer fine. but when inserted into my pc engine i just get a pale blue screen.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: thesteve on June 30, 2012, 02:36:33 PM
bit flip them
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: esteban on July 04, 2012, 03:41:12 AM
Well, in the past two months this project has reached fruition! Yet one more thing to try and budget for...
gameofyou: how many Flash HuCards do you have left? Thanks in advance... (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html)
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: gameofyou on July 04, 2012, 03:52:34 AM
Well, in the past two months this project has reached fruition! Yet one more thing to try and budget for...
gameofyou: how many Flash HuCards do you have left? Thanks in advance... (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html)
I still have about 10 left from this first batch. I'm not sure when I'll get time to make more, but I will make some more to keep on hand, when these sell out.
Also, I have made a very small update to the PC software. The text-tip for the checkbox is changed to be less confusing. Also, there is text stating when it is safe to disconnect the HuCard from USB (after download is complete). For people that have already installed the original version, you can just copy the new "HuCard_8M.exe" over the original one.
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: esteban on July 04, 2012, 04:14:08 AM
Well, in the past two months this project has reached fruition! Yet one more thing to try and budget for...
gameofyou: how many Flash HuCards do you have left? Thanks in advance... (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html)
I still have about 10 left from this first batch. I'm not sure when I'll get time to make more, but I will make some more to keep on hand, when these sell out.
Also, I have made a very small update to the PC software. The text-tip for the checkbox is changed to be less confusing. Also, there is text stating when it is safe to disconnect the HuCard from USB (after download is complete). For people that have already installed the original version, you can just copy the new "HuCard_8M.exe" over the original one.
Thank you for the prompt response. (http://junk.tg-16.com/images/pcgs.html)
Title: Re: 8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ
Post by: Dreamstate on July 04, 2012, 05:09:55 AM
Thanks for everyone's hard work on this stuff. Facinating to read through.