OSX flashcart tool with a GUI.. beta 1

[Spa8nky]

I own a UK PAL Turbo Grafx 16 (yes it's a PAL one  )

If I can be of any assistance with testing then please let me know. 

I will need to order a flash cart first but I have OSX and Windows 7.  I presume the flash carts will work with all Turbo Grafx 16s, regardless of the region.  Is that correct?

[mr.spiv]

I own a UK PAL Turbo Grafx 16 (yes it's a PAL one  )

If I can be of any assistance with testing then please let me know. 

I will need to order a flash cart first but I have OSX and Windows 7.  I presume the flash carts will work with all Turbo Grafx 16s, regardless of the region.  Is that correct?

The flash cart itself is "region free".. depends how you program stuff into it whether the ROM then actually works on TG16 or PCE.

[goldenegg]

I just tried 0.3 on a US Turbografx 16 and it wouldn't load any ROMs.  In the software, I chose ...

128M Flash
Build in Menu
TG16

When powering on the system, the menu displays successfully.  You can press up and down to scroll through all the games.  When pressing I or II, the menu simply resets itself and goes back to displaying the first entry.  This problem happens with both USA and JAPAN ROMs.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention that it still asks if you want to patch USA ROMs when TG16 is selected.

[mr.spiv]

Excellent, thanks for testing!! The patching part is as planned, the program always wants to patch away the region detection.

If the menu shows up it means the flashing part works. I'll send you some more stuff/instructions offline to test.

[goldenegg]

Excellent, thanks for testing!! The patching part is as planned, the program always wants to patch away the region detection.

If the menu shows up it means the flashing part works. I'll send you some more stuff/instructions offline to test.

I'll have access to the TG16 for about two weeks. After that, not until December.

[markwolfe]

any update on this? I've just been trying it and while it does flash, I can not get any games to run. same issue as others have reported. it just resets the menu. I was not able to get any games to run, I tried with menu. without menu, a single game. I had a JP game on there and it did not work, not sure how others got a JP game to run, none of mine run.

Intel Powerbook Pro
OSX 10.5x
US Turbo-Duo
128M NEO PCE w/ SAV

I'd really love Mac support for this. firing up my PC is a pain. I'm happy to test Betas so bring 'em on.

[mr.spiv]

any update on this? I've just been trying it and while it does flash, I can not get any games to run. same issue as others have reported. it just resets the menu. I was not able to get any games to run, I tried with menu. without menu, a single game. I had a JP game on there and it did not work, not sure how others got a JP game to run, none of mine run.

Intel Powerbook Pro
OSX 10.5x
US Turbo-Duo
128M NEO PCE w/ SAV

I'd really love Mac support for this. firing up my PC is a pain. I'm happy to test Betas so bring 'em on.

Hi. Thanks for testing. And I will for sure have use for a tester. I have worked on the background and reversed the USB protocol again. It seems PCE cart flashing procedures have changed considerably since I last time dumped the protocol, heh.  So far I have not been able to spot where things go wrong because the values I poke into the menu program seem to be the same Neoflash PC program does. A funny discovery was recently that most ROMs I have fail to run if I flash them using XP and the most recent versions of the Neoflash program (they reset back to menu or got other glitches).. There is something fishy going on.

To make things worse, the other 64M cart of mine died.. Anyway, I hope to get a hold of a TG16 to have a proper gear at home for testing and stuff. Folks just ask insane prices for those.

[mic_]

I hope to get a hold of a TG16 to have a proper gear at home for testing and stuff. Folks just ask insane prices for those.

Consolegoods has new/boxed PAL TG16s for 49.90 GBP, or 69.90 if you want it pre-fitted with a region switch.

[mr.spiv]

Interesting. Does the PAL version have any specific compatibility issues? I mean, PAL screen refresh is 50Hz where as NTSC is 60Hz..

Consolegoods has new/boxed PAL TG16s for 49.90 GBP, or 69.90 if you want it pre-fitted with a region switch.

[mic_]

I don't know. I've played both Japanese and US ROMs on my PAL unit, but it's not like I've tested the entire PCE game library.

[ChillyWilly]

I've thought of getting a TG-16 (I'm a US person) and a NeoFlash card for it. Maybe for xmas...

These systems are fairly expensive given how old they are - they sell at much higher prices than a corresponding Genesis or SNES... and forget about trying to get a CD unit!     

[markwolfe]

I just got a PC Engine LT so I am going to be testing. the OSX software again using that console

hope to get a new version of the software soon that addresses the bugs reported but i understand the hurdles you're dealign with.

I will report back with testing results.

[markwolfe]

initial tests are good with the osx app in PCE mode on an LT.... this is great and very easy for me to go back and forth with.  more detailed tests soon.

update1: weird issue with a multi-rom menu setup where choosing Raiden which is bnext to last in a list of about a dozen roms, launched another rom when I tried to start it, 1943 Kai, that was the first rom in the menu. very odd.

does anyone know how to make Neutopia US run on the PC-Engine LT?  I've tried Ucon64 region fix, header strip, etc and nothing works. I got Neutopia II to run using an overdumped file and the overdump on  Neutopia 1 named "Neutopia US [o1][h1]"  it seems to launch but does not, yet it runs on my turbo duo when I flash the card with the windows software in  tg16 mode, while none of the other dumps work.

very stubborn rom that I would love to have on the flashcart and not have to use my original hucard for

update2: got it to work. converted from Magic Super Griffin/MSG to Multi Game Doctor (2)/Multi Game Hunter/MGH, then I stripped the header, that did not work, then I changed the region code.... keep in mind I tried all of these in various combinations and this finally did it, in this order...  just fyi to future users.


update3:  Ucon64 for the mac and the front-end gui also for osx is really the best thing you can use if you are a mac user with any flash carts. this got all my roms working for the most part.
last night I flashed 36 or so games using slimgui for osx and they all worked fine on my LT. I think the glitch I had where raiden launched the first game on the cart was due to the fact that the program does not know when the data exceeds the flash ability so it cuts off the last games but still lists them in the menu. this causes wacky glitches.

can anyone tell me what the total size in MegaBytes is for the 128 Megabit card?  knowing that in advance would help when flashing so it does not go over.

all we need now is for this program to work with US systems.  My turbo Duo is ready and waiting when a new version of the software is ready. please message me when you have it for testing.

[markwolfe]

hmm, it seems I can not get any games with a sav feature to save.  is there a trick to this? I tried starting with A and then with B buttons and no luck. the game Neutopia can not find the "File Cabinet" after i retrieve the book of saving

is this due to the multi-menu or something?  or does the rom have to be in the first position to use the sav?

update1: holy **** I just realized I've been using beta 1 and beta 3 has been sitting in this thread in the middle. may I suggest updating the first post in the thread ?  gotta test all over again now. my bad completely. I even read the entire thread before but missed that the first post did not have the updated download link

update2: well, this is odd. got the save to work now with beta 3 launching with the I button for save on but Neutopia is glitching. when I use the wings to return to save it froze and when I ran out of health i froze, but my guy was waving his sword and the enemies were still roving, but no buttons worked and I had to reset to restart.

this sucks and I do not know if this is the software or the rom or what. 

anyone have any experience using games that save with this software?

I can confirm that the custom menu created by mic_ does not work with beta3 either on the LT. when you chose a game it just resets. a real shame because that menu is really nice

[mr.spiv]

hmm, it seems I can not get any games with a sav feature to save.  is there a trick to this? I tried starting with A and then with B buttons and no luck. the game Neutopia can not find the "File Cabinet" after i retrieve the book of saving

is this due to the multi-menu or something?  or does the rom have to be in the first position to use the sav?

I don't have a cart with save feature, thus I cannot really offer any support for it.. Maybe later when the agon^H^H^H^HXmas season is over and my balance stabilized, heh.