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Post by Mairtrus on Jan 10, 2011 12:56:05 GMT -5
I suck at soldering too, but make a PCB isn't so difficult as it seems: I fried all only 2 times before get it(and only because I got help ) but using DIP sockets is a very good idea (I also put these). About the ROM dumping and the hotswapping... You can actually hotswap carts, thanks to the GG. Just be sure you aren't actually accesing to the ROM's space, turn off the GG, and change the cart, since the GG seems to tie the /CART signal by default. I created a small program for dumping cartridges using only the LAKABAJO cable and a small VB6 program (yeah, Visual Basic 6, as you readed), sending bit per bit (slooooooow), but the info starts to come corrupted after a few bytes :S ... @devster: I'm curious, where should be located the diode, and what actually prevents(or enhaces)?
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Post by Mairtrus on Jan 8, 2011 21:45:32 GMT -5
Stupid $1.000.000 idea #3: Combine LAKABAJO with a cheap homemade flashcart (like in "replace your MaskROM with a Flash IC or something on your Sonic cart"), and some in-console cart flasher: - Make homebrew barebones flashcart - Use LAKABAJO + [vulnerable game] to upload and run the console-side flasher - Hotswap the bootcart with the flashcart, then "Press any button to flash" - Have some custom PC app for doing the actual ROM flashing (sort of MoD's Transfer Suite-alike) No need for not-so-cheap Hong Kong or soviet carts Or would i require more and more hardware for this? So, you mean something like the MegaFLASH?
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Post by Mairtrus on Jan 7, 2011 19:55:40 GMT -5
Will a 2 meter cable work? That's the measured distance between my development laptop with parport (this old HP, P4M-2.8G) and my Genesis (Model 1-VA6)... and i can't bring them more together I'm the living proof that it will work. My LAKABAJO(why always in upper-case?) has a 2 meters cable, and it works like a charm in my 3.6 GHz PC, but sometimes the uploader hangs in my 800MHz PC(I blame the procesor's speed, no the cable). My only "vulnerable" game is Sonic 1 - i suppose that mine is REV00, as it's the original "NOT FOR RESALE" cart (damn Gamebits!) I run it with my Sonic 2 cart in my CrappyClone(R) PAL JAP Model 1. My Sonic 1 cart is a crappy chinese copy who doesn't have the word SEGA no where, so the SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGA screen never executes. Hope you have better luck than me. And, oh, i'm planning to do my LAKABAJO stuff with BEX, so don't forget updating it if required! If you don't care about the interrupts, the BEX code will works EXACTLY like in emulators...
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Post by Mairtrus on Jan 4, 2011 17:18:24 GMT -5
Yeah, it is down since long time ago (last year's august?), but don't worry since not all is lost: www.fileden.com/files/2007/11/30/1616239//LKBJ.zipThere, is a copy of the PDF who contains the schematics for making the LAKABAJO, plus 2 PDFs of the two ICs (isn't really necessary to have them, but...). Two pictures of mine taken with my W5's blurry cam: (I know isn't really noticeable, but a Sonic's contour and the 'LAKABAJO' word written in SEGA's font are present in this picture...) (... and here says 'Mairtrus' at the middle left cupper's block) Remember that all what you need is 2 0.1uF capacitors and the 2 ICs. If anyone is interested, I have the schematic converted to a PCB Wizard's file.
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Post by Mairtrus on Oct 18, 2010 7:32:58 GMT -5
There is a small trick that nobody uses: the pallettes function has an extra parameter who allows you to "shift" the pallete's offset: In you case, it should be something like:
for i=0 to 7 pallettes MyPals,0,0,16,32*i next i Since each line of colors is composed by 16 colors, and each colors is 2 bytes long, there is where comes the 32.
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 11, 2010 17:39:25 GMT -5
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 10, 2010 10:17:01 GMT -5
It's so awesome! It looks really cool and the music is really nice! Too bad my poor gaming skills aren't enought to pass away from the second level without savestates...
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 10, 2010 10:09:46 GMT -5
Off topic: Holy shit, this thread has over 4.000 views! And that's not all: Acording to the FileDen bandwith usage, was downloaded 94.5 MB, and since there is no chance other shit was being downloaded from my account, seems like more that 6000 people have downloaded it!! EDIT: I hate doubleposting, so check the first post to download the new version.
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 9, 2010 20:05:51 GMT -5
Today I saw this:
Just remember guys: Sega does what Nintendon't, no matter what happens...
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 9, 2010 19:25:19 GMT -5
That's strange, since it is the same what the SMPS engine does. Maybe SEGA never knew what was doing?
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 7, 2010 16:24:05 GMT -5
Nope. It set the master reg to 0 to silence all the channel. Also, is strange in the title screen is quiet, since here all the channels are muted using the same routine that silence the channels when the game is paused...
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 6, 2010 17:06:21 GMT -5
LocalH: I like more the YUB pallete. The RGB isn't bad (it's more accurate IMO), but it's too bright. BTW, I already put the interlace cheat. tascodlx: man, you was ABSOLUTLY right about the mising sprites in the castle levels. The reason was the same as I explained why some things doesn't work as it's supossed. evildragon: Awesome video!! I think those bugs will not be in the revision I have ready to be launched... when localh send me the new palletes. And about the sound, yes, it's the PSG, since in the YM2612 I'm mutting all the channels setting the L/R flags to zero, but in the PSG I only put the min volume in each channel without setting another frequency. Should I put a zero frequency on each one?
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 4, 2010 21:19:09 GMT -5
Yeah, the first 2 lines are part from the checksum routine. I think I will cut that off, brings more problems than it solves... About the second ones... what are wrong with them? I'm setting an illegal value or something? LocalH: PM sent.
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 4, 2010 18:00:51 GMT -5
TheMVRules: I'm not really sure if the mappers are used for get more data or more core, because if is for more data, is really simple to simulate a mapper usage: create an offset adder, which will "bankswitch" between the differents datas Last night, I was reading the Metroid disassembly and all the code is really well structured, making east to quickly figure how should be recreated. exdeath: sorry, but I have no plans to make another conversions, that's why I will release all the tools I created for this project, and the code for the I/O functions, so people with more time can create more ports. About the mappers support, they are a sort of I/O functions, that's why I think it should not (in theory) simulate them. The translator is usefull for translate all the other code. But, I repeat, I have no idea if mappers were used to handle more code or more data... riff: don't worry, each future version I will release (until I change the graphics) will be in 2 palletes versions. LocalH: I'm not sure about why the minus world locks the game. I inever could did the trick to jump across the wall, so I can not compare the values loaded in the original value with the ones in my port... About the coin tiles in 2-3/7-3, I knew this since the release. Seems to be a problem with the bridge handler, but it's strange, since the bridges are objects like pipes, and both are handled and drawed by the same routines. I think that, and some other bugs (like the Cheep-Cheeps oscillating) are by the same reason: since the 6502 uses A LOT the stack to save temporary values (it has only 3 registers), I tried to save space and get more speed by avoiding those stack accesses saving some values in d3-d7, but those registers are used as auxiliars registers in some instructions that need them, so maybe that is what are hanging some parts of the code. Since I'm emulating the PPU, is IMPOSSIBLE to reach the sprite limit in the MD, but maybe the NES sprite list comes to the bounds. I don't know, I need to check it. But sometimes, the fireballs (the ones that Mario shots, or the ones from the firebars), tends to randomly dissapear... About the pallete... it was the first thing I convert before starting with the code (lot of time ago, the first time this project started, in january 2009!!), so yes, I need help. Here is the original NES NTSC pal: And here is the mine (image taked with KMod): which has the followings values: $0666, $0820, $0802, $0A02, $0604, $0404, $0206, $0026 $0020, $0042, $0040, $0240, $0420, $0000, $0000, $0222 $0CAA, $0C40, $0E42, $0C44, $0A28, $0608, $042A, $0048 $0044, $0064, $0080, $0282, $0860, $0222, $0000, $0000 $0ECC, $0EA4, $0E86, $0E88, $0E6C, $0C6E, $0A8E, $048C $00AA, $04CA, $04A6, $06A4, $0CA4, $0422, $0000, $0000 $0ECC, $0ECA, $0EAA, $0EAC, $0E8E, $0EAE, $0ECE, $0CCE $0ACE, $0AEC, $0CEA, $0CCA, $0EC8, $0CCC, $0000, $0000 P.S.: I'm not worried about Nintendo, they must be occupied combating the piracy around the Wii P.S.S: Tom, don't worry. I have plans to create a multilanguage page. I'm learning PHP for that purpose...
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Post by Mairtrus on Jul 1, 2010 20:08:52 GMT -5
Wow, I never expected so much feedback for this!! In the the Sega-16 forums, the thread reach the 5 pages... Thank you for all your comments, guy. I'm really proud of my "product" and, hopefully, in a near future I will add some features like: - Rewrite all the VDP access sections (write tiles, the sprites list, etc) to make it more "Genesised". The necesity of emulate the PPU access are a royal pain in the ass! - Rewrite the maths section. Since this is based in a 8-bit cpu, exists a super intensive abuse of the Carry/eXtended flags, and that really bothers me... - Implement a fully usage of the 5FM+DAC+2PSG+NOISE to make the music sounds better. - Change the graphics (the actuals are the originals 2BPP graphics). - Fix the pallette. The current seems to be inaccurate for the fanboys. - Implement a 2 players co-op mode. - And more! And now, answering to yuor questions: The levels look and feel exactly like the real thing, and the sound is... weird But i love it - the "underground" level music now has some metal tone that i like it That's because, as I say before, all the original data was used for the game: the tiles arrangement, the sprites positions, gravity forces, etc. Strange you said the underground music, because I tryied to give that sound to the Castle music. The original ROM was only 40KB, so certainly this sounds like a nice proggy for LAKABAJO owners Hope that you can do it (and hope that i can buy that pesky GameGenie somewhere in the future, if i don't get that Everdrive cart first ) Yeah, my dream is play it on my real genesis, but still cannot find the flip-flop I'm missing... How the hell i should use the Level Select cheat? I press A+START, then soft-reset, but nothing.... Actually, you need to keep them pressed until the main screen apears, since the cheat is tested on the begginning, but is ocurrs so fast that is impossible to reset the game THEN press the buttons... I think the only noticeable bug I found was that Mario can't slide, which I assume has to do with the way the joystick code handles diagonals. Other than that, it plays well. Slide? What are you talking about? Please give us the convertor! We need Metroid! Haha, at the middle of the project, I start thinking on Metroid as a good game to be converted. Maybe someone will make it reallity some day... However, the YM2612 is better at making square waves. I attached a square wave for TFM Music Maker, but sounds more like a TI PSG than the 2A03 squarewave generators. Change MULT of operator 1 to simulate pulse width. A triangle can be made perfect with YM2612. The sound was the last thing I programmed, and initially I attempted to do all in the PSG, but the 2A03 is by far more complex than the SN76489, so I keeped it for the sfx and started to create the music in the YM2612, but as I could not create "perfect" square or triangle waves, I put some instruments stoled from the amazing instruments gallery from TFM. As for the 6502 asm "translator", does it translate the source code or the binary? Either way, it seems like a cool idea. sasuke: Since there exist disassemblies of this game, I'll bet on source code. This. Wow! Great job on that. Like the others, I'm also interested in the converter... lots of 6502 games out there that could be converted. I need to touch it a bit, since I made it for this specific disassembly, it doesn't recongize (yet) not dimensioned variables (EQUs and those...), but sure I will release it. However, all you need to know that doesn't give a "ready to be compiled" source code, since the imposibility to translate "as is" 2 or 3 instructions which need to translated by the hand, but is a short job, and in less than a week, you can have a fully playable game. Good job Mairtrus, handling the PPU and APU stuff on the fly Onyl the PPU is emulated on the fly. For the APU, I create an enviropment in BEX (just ot made it fast) to simulate the APU conditions. The sound engine was write from scrath, but the new music data was done using the original music data. Do you think you can make more? After seeing Paul Lee's Berzerk for the Genesis, I've been dying to see Donkey Kong or Popeye. Both have good NES cart versions. Maybe even Mappy or Zelda! Sure more games can be done, but I have no time to make them, that's the reason I will release the tools used for made this one (once I tweak it a bit, as I said before). About the games you mentioned, didn't Zelda or Mappy use a mapper or something? Because that's something I never readed how are managed in the NES. Hey mairtrus!! GREAT!! incredible port, this is the project you tell me months ago?i think yes... jaja, incredible Now I understand why you was missing this time...!!!! Yeah, that was... Actually, I spend more time fixing the idiots error I mistake during my attempt to fit all in 64KB or less (3 months for this one, and only 1 week translating the "untranslatable" instructions) I think is a great idea make a web page, if you want i can make one for you, if you don´t have One of the projects in what I will spend my time in this winter holydays(summer for you, north hemisphere people), is a creation of a web page. I hope Devster's offer be still available when I finish... Gracias che, en serio, lo malo, que esto me obliga a mejorar todos mis proyectos!! jajajajaj despues de esto, es patetico lo que programo...jejeje Seee, pero esto es ensamblador puro, ahi esta la gran diferencia, y tengo planeado algo todavia más grande PD: I i found a small bug in the second level.... Isn't that bug present in the original game too? I swear I see in YouTube lot of time ago a bugs compilation where this happens mm.. sorry if my idea is absurd, but there is a way to compile for MegaCD? jeje, i like to burn, and play in the megacd... like a original game! I want to do this too, but I doesn't fully understand the SegaCD docs who explains the structure of a SegaCD ISO. There are some compiling projects on the RetroDev, but I didn't tried them yet. Maybe tomorrow... Can someone explain why this will not work on a real Genesis? I'm not 100% sure, but seems to be a problem with the VDP initialization routine (writes illegal data)
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