Help with USB EPROM Writer Posted: Wed Mar 11, 2015 8:41 pm Last edited by TheSegaDude on Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:24 pm; edited 1 time in total Hi guys, I'd like some advice. I have a loose cart for both the SMS Phantasy Star and the Japanese Mega Drive Phantasy Star (Fukkokuban). I want to replace the ROM on each with an EPROM containing the SMS Power English translation. I would like to be able to do the work myself (at least try). Could someone recommend an appropriate USB EPROM Writer and the name of the EPROMs I would need? Maybe I'll even take this step further and dump the ROM myself instead of just applying the IPS patch to a downloaded ROM. In that case could you guys also give me a few pointers on dumping the ROMs?
I just got it, tested it out on my Emulator, works fine, reloaded a few times seems peachy. Havent had a chance to Test it on my R4 card yet seeing as its still not here, (Damn the royal mail and there postage strikes) Anyone here playing it on a R4 card? Click to expand.
My soldering skills are very limited but recently I have installed four new EL Panels into my Neo Geo MVS Cabinet and installed a FM Sound unit into my Master System so I think stand a chance at doing this. Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 5:06 pm For EEPROM write I suggest the.
I use this extensively on my projects. As for the EEPROM, or Flash I should say since this is mostly likely what you'll end up using. You will probably not find something that matches the pinout of your Phantasy Star cart. Furthermore, a lot of SMS games had the Mapper and ROM combined in a single IC.
See in the Development section for more information about this. You'll have to find a suitable game which has the Mapper and ROM in seperate ICs, AND, supports save features (for Phantasy Star).
I'm working on building a with all these features, I'm nearing completion and hopefully will be able to make an announcement soon. Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2015 7:47 pm Hi db-electronics and Maxim!
First off, thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I know I lack a lot of knowledge for this kind of thing and I really do appreciate you taking some time to explain things. I'm sure it can be frustrating sometimes when chatting with newbies like me:) db-electronics I'll take your advice and purchase a MiniPro USB TL866CS Universal Programmer. But first I want to be sure I can purchase the ICs that I'll need. Where can I buy an EEPROM that will work for the Phantasy Star cart? (for the SMS cart and for the Mega Drive version) What's the name or model of an EEPROM that will work for this?
Can something compatible still be purchased these days? Do you know the name of a good online store that I could ask? From Maxim's reply I'm getting the impression that I just need a EEPROM to hold the ROM and everything else (mappers and SRAM) is already on the board. Is this true for both the SMS cart and Mega Drive cart? Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2015 7:45 pm So I checked out the guide Maxim linked to: This leaves me to think that I cannot just solder in the new IC (SST39SF040) and have it work.
From Charles' Guide he states that Pin 1 and Pin 31 are: Original ROM (MPR-11711AT 4882-D955 9014EBI) Pin 1 = N.C. Pin 31 = A18.Is there a full mapping somewhere? Do I need to check every Pin to the new IC SST39SF040?. Where as the IC that I have ordered (SST39SF040-70-4C-PHE) is: Pin 1 = A18 Pin 31 = VDD Again from Charles' guide I think Pin 31 needs to be bent out (not soldered to the PCB). And it sounds like Pin 1 needs to be bridged to PIN 31 with a wire.
I'll admit I'm confused here. @ichigobankai When you say 'choosing 27c0 in your eprom burner' does that mean these modern ICs can have their pinouts written to them just like ROM software? So that I don't have to worry about the Pin outs after having the writer tell the IC what to 'emulate'? Again, thanks guys for taking the time to educate me! Posted: Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:00 pm ebay, you say?!:) I did end up buying the MiniPro USB TL866CS and UV eraser from ebay. The chips I found cheaper from other sites.
One being your recommendation from I'm very excited about this little project! All I can do at the moment is prepare the ROM. I know I can use Lunar IPS to apply the patch to the ROM but does anyone have a recommendation for how to verify the ROM in Windows?
This is what I've read: The original, unmodified game has the following characteristics: Size: 512KB (524,288 bytes) CRC32: 6605D36A MD5: DFEBC48DFE8165202B7F002D8BAC477B I have not been able to find a utility for Windows that can check CRC and MD5. Thanks again guys! I would be totally suck without your help! Posted: Tue Mar 17, 2015 2:19 pm I'm going to check out HashCheck Shell Extension first.
Thanks for the pointer! What type of solder would you guys recommend?
I've have 1.2mm 60/40 Rosin Core solder. The label says it's for PC Work. Which I thought implied working with PCBs? Of all Rosin Core solders does anything really matter other than the diameter? Is there any reason why I should use flux with non-Rosin Core solder instead?
So far I've received the two flash ICs (one is spare) for the Mega Drive Phantasy Star. They have the correct number of pins and the spacing of the pins is almost an exact match to the old IC. It's so close that I don't think I'll have any trouble inserting it on the board. I wont remove the old IC until I've copied the patched ROM to the new IC (baby steps).
What type of solder would you guys recommend? I've have 1.2mm 60/40 Rosin Core solder. The label says it's for PC Work. Which I thought implied working with PCBs? Of all Rosin Core solders does anything really matter other than the diameter? I stay away from Rosin Core solders as they tend to be corrosive in the long-term. I also dislike 60/40 solder because it doesn't solidify at a single temperature point.
This can cause all sorts of problems in your solder joints. Really, everyone should be using eutectic solder (63/37).
For certain proportions an alloy becomes eutectic and melts at a single temperature; non-eutectic alloys have markedly different solidus and liquidus temperatures, and within that range they exist as a paste of solid particles in a melt of the lower-melting phase. In electrical work, if the joint is disturbed in the pasty state before it has solidified totally, a poor electrical connection may result; use of eutectic solder reduces this problem. The pasty state of a non-eutectic solder can be exploited in plumbing as it allows molding of the solder during cooling, e.g. For ensuring watertight joint of pipes, resulting in a so-called 'wiped joint'.
As for core, I always recommend No Clean solder because it's just that - no cleaning required. Rosin and Water-Soluble solders MUST be cleaned. Rosin core is very difficult to clean and from my experience water-soluble can have very negative effects on the electrical performance of your circuit. Tl;dr use 63/37 no-clean solder. Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 1:05 am OK, so my first attempt is a fail.
When I power on my Genesis I get nothing. No SEGA logo. Nothing but a black screen with no sound. I received the Universal Programer and flash IC for the Mega Drive Phantasy Star so I started with Phantasy Star Fukkokuban. I did not dump my own ROM.
I'm still not sure how. I downloaded the Japanese ROM from some random site as well as from the pscave.com.
The MD5 checksum was the same for each. I then download the already English translated ROM from pscave.com and compared it's MD5 checksum to the Japanese ROM that I patch myself. Both checksums were identical. Translated ROM MD5: a0f63493e3a3339bc85586 Japanese ROM MD5: dfebc48dfe8165202b7f002d8bac477b Does anyone know if these are correct? Is my ROM good? I believe I loaded and wrote the ROM to the IC correctly but I'm so new at this I could have messed something up.
The next big variable is my solder skills. It seemed to have gone OK but I just don't have the experience to know for sure. Would you guys have some advice for me?
I would like to try again!:). Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:29 am you've completely forgotten 1 thing: 39SF040 is not 100% compatible with a master system maskrom pinout! Find the 39sf040 pinout and compare it to a 27C4001 (or 27C040) which IS a master system maskrom pinout (pinout where you have a mapper which handle at least 256ko) short version: - lift pin #31 (/WE) - solder pin #32 and #31 together (VCC + /WE) to inhibit write feature. solder pin #1 (A18 on 39SF040) to hole 31. You can leave pin #1 soldered on maskrom because in this place nothing is connected PS. You must verify checksum through maxim's Header Reader soft and correct it with an hexadecimal editor before soldering anything.
If the checksum is wrong the game will never boot up on real hardware. Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:16 pm Hey ichigobankai. I was so pleased to see your reply! What a huge step that I overlooked! I've been told before that 39SF040 is not 100% compatible but I still forgot.
Thank you very much for the details. I'm going to look up the pinout for both 39sf040 and 27C4001so that I can follow the steps you listed. I'll also use maxim's Header Reader to check my ROM. I should have a chance to try again this weekend. I'll post again when I've made my next attempt. Not many options.
You could take a mapper from another game and try to add it in, but the connections would be nightmarish. Did Sega ever repair carts with EPROMs? Would it be possible to hunt down a windowed IC that is identical to PS1 Mega Drive IC? Thanks to everyone for sharing your knowledge here. Even if it ends up that it just can't be done I'm already very pleased that I've actually made an attempted. I've taken something past the 'day dreaming' phase and with your help I have made an attempt! And I'd like to try again.
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:51 pm Small update. I fixed my UV eraser. It needed a new switch so I could turn it on. I'm able to read and write to the flash IC that I now know will not work with the Mega Drive Phantasy Star because there is no integrated mapper. I moved onto the SMS Phantasy Star. I bought two 27C040 ICs and my writer can not see either of them.
![Phantasy Star Iv Rom Editor Software Phantasy Star Iv Rom Editor Software](/uploads/1/2/5/6/125621100/283131072.jpg)
I cleaned the legs just in case the ICs weren't making good contact. Then I put one IC into my UV eraser for 15min. The IC still could not be seen. Could both my 27C040 ICs be bad? I'm too inexperienced to know how to figure that out.
So I'm going to get someone who knows what there doing to burn the ROM for me. When I receive them I'll solder one into the SMS PCB and try it out. Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 5:23 pm Success! I now have the SMS Power Phantasy Star on a dedicated cart for my Sega Master System. I wanted to post again and thank everyone here for the help you gave me.
There is no way I would have been able to get this done without you. My MiniPro IC programmer seems to read some chips and not others so I ended up have Fox1 over at the neo-geo.com forums write the EPROM for me. When I received it I solder it into the Phantasy Star PCB and it's working! I recorded about 1 hour 20 minutes of it and posted here: Thanks again everyone! I'd still love to be able to do the same thing to the Mega Drive version but maybe it's just not possible. If anyone has any ideas please let me know:).
PLEASE NOTE: This guide's Sections I, II, III and IV were written before SEGA launched the new emulator on April 28, 2016 and before a bundle with all Mega Drive games existed here on Steam! These Sections basically cover questions and tips for the old emulator which is still available, called 'Simple Launcher'. Important: I'm not responsible for any damage caused by any of the software I refer to in this guide. Use at your own risk!
Tip of the day (for the new 'virtual room' emulator): 'If you're using an xbox 360 controller (and with some luck an xbox one controller), try holding LB when you press A to launch a game.' - Chris Budden. Does it mean I have to click through my entire collection if I want to swich from game #1 in my list to game #50?Unfortunately yes. Alternatively you can disable unwanted games and only keep the ones you currently play. Your Steam client shows which games you own for the emulator - simply uncheck the checkbox for the DLC (=game) you don't want to play for now and the game will be removed from your hard drive. To bring the game(s) back, just check the checkbox and Steam will donwload the DLC again. Attention if you used Peroxide's file renaming tool: 1.
If you created save state files before you used the renaming tool, and want to retain your save states after renaming, also use GENESISSaveSort.bat or MEGADRIVESaveSort.bat, depending on how your folder is named. The save state location should be: C: Users USERNAME Documents SEGA Mega Drive Classics or C: Users USERNAME Documents SEGA Genesis Classics 2.
Also, be aware that disableing unwanted games / enableing games as proposed above will not work properly anymore. Use this tool wisely! ESC You can change the button to key mapping for both players in the emulator by going to 'Options/Input Configuration' or switch from the keyboard to controller(s). Emulating keyboard with a controller Some USB controllers are supported by this emulator, others are not.
I didn't have any issues with generic controllers that look like PS2 controllers, while my wireless xbox360 controllers would not be recognized. If your controller is not recognized, a turnaround to make it work for this emulator is to use a tool that will bind your keyboard's keys to your controller. There are several programs that emulate keyboard and mouse input with a gamepad such as JoyToKey, Xpadder, Pinnacle Game Profiler and Enjoy2. I've been using joytokey.net for free ever since and was able to bind all keyboard keys to my xbox360 controller, even the quick save/load keys (F5/F9) and the 'quit to menu' key ESC, which allows me to navigate through the Sega emulator without having to use the keyboard at all. Of course all the above mentioned tools can be used for any game that natively lacks joystick/joypad support, not only for this emulator. 6-button controller support While most games from this collection get by with a 3-button Mega Drive controller (A, B, C buttons), others support the usage of 6-button Mega Drive controllers (with the extra buttons X, Y, Z). The buttons X, Y, Z (Q, W, E keys on your keyboard if you use the default settings) are useless for the games that don't support 6 buttons.
This is not much of an issue nowadays since most PC controllers have enough buttons, but in case your are using a controller that has less than 6 buttons, you might not be able to play 6-button supported games properly. There are only a bunch of games in this collection that support the 6-button contoller: - Beyond Oasis - Comix Zone - Eternal Champions - Streets of Rage 3 - ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron - Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master - Virtua Fighter 2 (activate in options, e.g. For 'Defence+Punch' used in some moves) You can play these games with 3 buttons anyhow, although it is not recommended for Eternal Champions. Mode button The Mode button is more or less useless. It was initially used to make the Mega Drive / Genesis console recognise a 6-button controller as a 3-button controller, because some games didn't work properly with a 6-button controller.
Thanks to Steam user for the information on the Mode button and list of 6-button supported games. Update 2016-03-01 - PscdPack:Steam user cyanic created a program called PscdPack which lets you easily extract roms from.pak archives and import into.pak archives. GitHub: Downloads: Extracting ROMs. Run the program. Click on 'New/Open'.
Browse and select the.pak to open. Click on 'Extract ROM'.
Save the ROM somewhere Importing ROMs. Run the program. Click on 'New/Open'.
Navigate to the emulator's data folder, and type a file name. The file name should be in the format of 'gXXXX.pak', where each 'X' is a digit. The emulator will be looking for this naming scheme. Click 'Replace ROM'. Browse to the ROM you want to load.
The ROM should be in BIN format. If it's in SMD format, you will need to convert it to BIN first.
The program will automatically fill out the fields. You should adjust the settings if needed, such as adding in the proper SRAM/EEPROM info or forcing a region.
Please see the readme for more information on on-cartridge memory config options. Click 'Save'. Click 'Close' or 'Exit'. My original post about Quick BMS (this tool only lets you extract ROMs) If you ever wondered whether these games can be played on a different emulator of your choice then the answer is yes. It is possible to play the roms on any MD/GEN emulator, though some work has to be done beforehand. The rom files in this collection come as.pak files, which is a compression format. No other emulator supports reading from pak archives, hence you need to extract the roms first.
There is this tool by Luigi Auriemma, called QUICK BMS, which lets you extract the rom files from the pak archive. UpdateWith the update on May 29, 2018 alternate versions of some games can be played. Here's a list of their represenive files in the data folder of Sega Classics. In the Simple Launcher they appear at the end of the game list (games 58 to 71). G9001.pak - Alien Soldier (JP) g9002.pak - The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis) (FR) g9003.pak - The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis) (GE) g9004.pak - The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis) (SP) g9005.pak - The Story of Thor (Beyond Oasis) (JP) g9006.pak - Dynamite Headdy (JP) g9007.pak - Landstalker (EN) g9008.pak - Landstalker (FR) g9009.pak - Landstalker (GE) g9010.pak - Ristar (JP) g9011.pak - Bare Knuckle II (Streets of Rage 2) (JP) g9012.pak - Streets of Rage 3 (EN) g9013.pak - Bare Knuckle III (Streets of Rage 3) (JP). On April 28, 2016 SEGA updated the Mega Drive Classics here on Steam by adding a new fancy emulator and the ability to play Mods, but the old emulator (now known as 'Simple Launcher') didn't get any update and Workshop Mods are not accessible via the launcher naturally. However, there is a fiddly workaround to launch Mods on the Simple Launcher.
Subscribe to a Mod in the. The Steam client will download the Workshop Mods to your Steam directory: 'C: Program Files (x86) Steam steamapps workshop content 34270 '. Go to the directory and search for your Mod in a subfolder. It should be a.bin file. Copy that file to some other place on your hard drive, to compress it to a.pak archive.
Read section III of this gudie about Importing Roms. After you put the.bin file into a.pak file as decribed in Section III of this guide, rename the file properly (e.g. G1001.pak for your first mod) and put it into the data folder of your Sega Classics collection: 'C: Program Files (x86) Steam steamapps common Sega Classics data ' It should appear at the end of your game list in the Simple Launcher and you should be able to play it now. I admit this is very tedious but that's the only way to launch mods from the workshop in the Simple Launcher. The Steam interface will not let you write a review for Sega Mega Drive games.
The reason is simple, people need to have at least 5 minutes of play time in any game to be eligible for writing a Steam review. The problem here is, all Mega Drive games are DLC and Steam will not count play time for each DLC.
While Valve fixed the problem for 'normal' games on Steam, the Mega Drive games still cannot be reviewed. I think that everyone who owns and uses any product on Steam, should be eligible to write a review, hence I will show you a workaround to write your review, which is kinda dodgy but well.
What you need is: - The game / DLC in your Steam library - A software which I will neither call out nor link here. Some hints though: It starts with S, has an A somewhere in the middle and ends with M - just let us call it MAX for now and remember, google is your friend. Use this application wisely, I do not recommend using it for anything else. Use at your own risk!
Download MAX 2. Open your Steam client 3. MAX comes with 2.exe files, Game.exe and Picker.exe. Open the Picker. In the application, enter the App ID of your game in the input field and press Enter. For this example we will be using, you can find the game's App ID in the Steam Store URL of your game, which is 34276 here.
notice my typo for the App ID in the screen shot:) 5. Now the game title appears below, double click it.
A new window will pop up, just wait for at least 5 minutes before closing it again. Now visit the Steam Store page of the game and write your review. Make sure to close the application entirely again before resuming to play any games! I wish there was a better way to do this and I'm happy to remove this section again if this changes. Until then there is really no other way around. Happy reviewing. Here's a list of interesting facts, that Steam user submitted to me to include in this guide.
Thanks for the heads up buddy. 1) Since the launch of the new Hub emulator, all purchased Mega Drive games on Steam are also stored in the 'Uncompressed ROMs' folder in the Sega Classics directory. In order to use them on a different emulator, their file endings must be renamed from '.68k'/'.SGD' to '.bin' or '.gen'. Some games even come with extra roms, like a Japanese version, e.g. Beyond Oasis, Dynamite Heady, and Streets of Rage 3. 2) Some of these games actually were slightly edited similar their Virtual Console versions, mostly to avoid any legal trouble.
Example: The red cross icon in Phantasy Star 2 was replaced by green 'H'. 3) Alien Soldier is played at incorrect speed in new emulator. The Alien Soldier version that is included on Steam is the European PAL version, which had music optimized to correct the speed for 50Hz, while gameplay is a bit slower than intented. The new Hub emulator runs this PAL version at 60Hz, thus music is way too fast while the gameplay speed is either the same as in Japanese version or a bit faster. (Foxysen's tip: just use the Japanese version from workshop) 4) Alien Storm has a 'duel' mode that is accessable only if game detects only one controller. Since both emulators (Simple Launcher and the Hub) here on Steam always assume that both controllers are connected, it's impossible to play this mode.
5) Beyond Oasis actually makes use of mode button. Pressing Mode+B allows you to quickly switch weapons. Also used in some cheat codes, I heard. 6) Columns 3 actually supports up to 5 players multiplayer. Both Mega Drive emulators only support 2 players. 7) The 2 Players Mode in Golden Axe 3 is disabled in the Simple Launcher.
8) The Simple Launcher uses an older revision of The Revenge of Shinobi, where Godzilla and Spider-Man are still present (they were replaced in later revisions). 9) Sword of Vermilion doesn't support in-game saving in the Simple Launcher. You must use the emulator's save states in order to keep your progress.
10) There is a bug in the Simple Launcher. If you create a save state with the emulator and re-load it, it causes the emulator to fail writing in-game saves from that point. You are basically forced to use the emulator's save states in order to keep your progress after you loaded a save state from the emulator. Hello, I had a problem, the fact is that in December 2016 I bought sega mega drive classics with sega games, played for a whole month, the game worked perfectly, Then I stopped playing it. This year I decided to install this game again and it runs only through the Simple Launcher, and here is why suddenly, through the sega mega drive classics mode, I do not see the image on the TV, and then the sega mega drive classics does not respond and then flies out, together with the steam program. The product is very dear to me, if you can not help me, I will write in general support for steam.