8Mbit Flash HuCard FAQ

[thesteve]

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

[ConHuevos]

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!!

Here's my report so far:

I've got working - Circus Lido, Psycho Chaser, Soldier Blade & Tongueman's Logic

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

[gameofyou]

I will try out Parasol Stars, when I get a chance, & see if I get similar results.

[gameofyou]

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.

[ConHuevos]

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/

[sunteam_paul]

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.

[ConHuevos]

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:

[gameofyou]

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.

[sunteam_paul]

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!

[ConHuevos]

The sequences starts at offset 0x0C in the ROM, + 0x15 from that is the 'NEC' string.

[ConHuevos]

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?

[spenoza]

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.

[ConHuevos]

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.  

[gameofyou]

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!

[gameofyou]

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.