Help with USB Load and Saves

[Caliban]

Hi,

I just received my Neo Myth MD and it's really a great cart. I was able to do everything well up to now.

I can burn roms and play them, 32X works well, SMS too. But I understand that you cannot play SMS games with the 32X plugged.

Now I wish to try to upload roms directly from the computer to the card using USB cable, but I cannot succeed.

I plug the card in the MegaDrive, I plug the USB cable in the computer. I start the Neo Myth Menu application,
then I turn on the MegaDrive. I press Start to go to the USB Menu, and then A to activate USB mode.

Then I go to Link on the computer application, I choose No Save, I also choose the game, and then Upload.
But at this point, the MegaDrive freezes, the game does not launch, and the controler does not respond.

What am I doing wrong ? I am using the program given on the CD, which is 2.94 and the Menu for the MD is 1.0b5

Also some translated roms does not seem to work, Monster World IV in french. I need to find a japanese rom, and an IPS patch I presume ? Rather than the already tranlated rom. Same thing for Langrisser II in english ?

Thanks 

Edit : okay now the MD Menu is different, it is 2.23.
I press Start, load the game, and then C.
It loads 32 MB of data, but then nothing happens.

[madmonkey]

upgrade to the latest menu http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,6020.0.html
also try to update neo ultra menu, maybe new version will work - http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,6058.0.html
langrisser2 works, mw4 english version works, not sure about the french version, you can send me the rom through pm and I will try it.
what you mean by "does not seem to work"? they do not load? loading freezes half way through? you get black screen?

[Caliban]

Thanks for answering.

I am now using the 3.02 application, and the Neo Ultra Menu 1.2b1

I still have problems using the USB Link. I start the MegaDrive with the Neo Myth MD, I press Start to go the USB Link screen. Here I press A to activate USB. Then I go to the Link tab in the application, upload the game. Everything seems to go well here. But on the MegaDrive, the menu is frozen at this point.

Read-me file :

While the MD Myth is inserted into the MD and on, you may connect a USB
cable to the MD Myth and send a program to it to run. This only works when
the menu is on the USB Link screen and the USB Link is active.

Works !

Press A to activate the USB Link. The menu will activate the USB and then
wait. During this time, connect the MD Myth to the PC and send a ROM to
the MD Myth.

Works !

Once done, press A again for the menu to continue. Info about
the ROM you just sent will be shown on the display.

I can't, there is no response when I press A, or another input. It stays on the Menu screen with USB active written.

[madmonkey]

you will have to wait for ChillyWilly to answer.
I never used usb link, so I cannot help here.
the only thing that I know about it is that it writes to flash at offset 0 - maximum 4MB - so if you had any roms written there, you don't have them anymore. maybe that's the reason some of your roms don't work.

[Caliban]

Well in fact, Langrisser in english and Monster World IV in french work fine with the most up to date program.

I would have simply liked to use the USB link function to try games without having to burn them each time in the cart.

But for now it's okay, the most important part is working.

I am also having trouble for games with saves. If I play Sonic 3 or Crusader of Centy, and save in the game, when I go back to Neo Flash Menu and launch the games again, the saves have been lost. But when I burnt the games in the cart, the right kind of save had been selected automatically (64k, ou 256 k). I don't understand...

[madmonkey]

I am also having trouble for games with saves. If I play Sonic 3 or Crusader of Centy, and save in the game, when I go back to Neo Flash Menu and launch the games again, the saves have been lost. But when I burnt the games in the cart, the right kind of save had been selected automatically (64k, ou 256 k). I don't understand...

just to be sure what the problem is, if you run sonic 3, start the first level with saves - reset and immediately load sonic 3 again - save will be there, right?

in either case, you may try this:
new neo myth programmer, buggy beta
install libusb filter driver first:
http://libusb-win32.sourceforge.net/#downloads
if you're on vista or win7, set compatibility mode with xp on driver installer executable before installation.
then format cart from the app - add roms.

see if that solves problem with saves or not.

[Caliban]

just to be sure what the problem is, if you run sonic 3, start the first level with saves - reset and immediately load sonic 3 again - save will be there, right?

Nope, the save will be lost as soon as I reset.

I installed all the software you told me here, and I am now trying to see if it works.

Strange thing : when I formatted, the first block failed (0001).

Well I tested again, and still no save after I reset the game.

And what must I do with the USBfilter ? It simply displays info, do I have to launch it before using the Neo Menu application ?

DLL version:   0.1.12.2
Driver version:   -1.-1.-1.-1

bus/device  idVendor/idProduct
bus-0/\\.\libusb0-0001--0xffab-0xdd03     FFAB/DD03
- Manufacturer : GENERAL
- Product      : USB POWER KIT
- Unable to fetch serial number string
  wTotalLength:         39
  bNumInterfaces:       1
  bConfigurationValue:  1
  iConfiguration:       0
  bmAttributes:         80h
  MaxPower:             50
    bInterfaceNumber:   0
    bAlternateSetting:  0
    bNumEndpoints:      3
    bInterfaceClass:    255
    bInterfaceSubClass: 255
    bInterfaceProtocol: 255
    iInterface:         0
      bEndpointAddress: 81h
      bmAttributes:     02h
      wMaxPacketSize:   64
      bInterval:        0
      bRefresh:         0
      bSynchAddress:    0
      bEndpointAddress: 02h
      bmAttributes:     02h
      wMaxPacketSize:   64
      bInterval:        0
      bRefresh:         0
      bSynchAddress:    0
      bEndpointAddress: 03h
      bmAttributes:     02h
      wMaxPacketSize:   64
      bInterval:        0
      bRefresh:         0
      bSynchAddress:    0

Edit : I tried Phantasy Star II, the game told me that the saves are all broken at the launch of the game, and I cannot save at all. Does it help ?

[madmonkey]

Nope, the save will be lost as soon as I reset.

then it's probably not what I think it is.

you do nothing with the usb filter, it's just the app to test whether driver works or not, and it looks like it works.
just use the app from the thread.
first block probably failed due to the problem it has with some carts, I'll update it in a day or two, but it doesn't matter anyway for md myth.

so it works or not?
it it doesn't, chances are you have a dead battery in your gba cart, try to re-solder a new battery.

[Caliban]

so it works or not?

I can play games, but not save.

it it doesn't, chances are you have a dead battery in your gba cart, try to re-solder a new battery.

I bought this brand new on the ic2005 shop a few days ago, and the battery is already dead ? And I have to solder a new one ? I don't even have anything to do this... It's too small, I opened it to look at it, I don't have the material to do this, I am going to break something if I begin doing things... 

Is there a way to check if the battery is dead ? In order to be sure...

[madmonkey]

you cannot save in all games? or just some of them?

you can try 1 more thing
make sure you're using this menu http://www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/topic,6020.0.html
it should say 1.2b1 on the rom selection screen
highlight sonic3, press a
select
save: sram
save size 64Kb
save index 0
press b
start first level, reset
repeat previous steps(set options, run game)  - is the save still there?
if it is, it's a pc side software problem, if not it might be cart.

try to run attached test_sram.bat file(unpack archive first) - it will create file report.txt - both lines are the same? - then sram is working fine
lines are different? open read_sram.bin in hexeditor - it contains the same pattern repeated over and over? then there is some problem with sram.

if there is a problem with the cart you can return it for exchange, but first make sure it's not a software problem.

[Caliban]

I cannot save in all the games I tried so far.

I did what you told me. Here is report.txt :

3FDB7614 11912D2FFC1A4C042207CDE87ADF7345 00020000 read_sram.bin
33E520A0 D9E236016387CC4A3983A9B4336E0CAE 00020010 write_sram.bin


When I opened read_sram.bin in hexeditor and had things like that :

00000000:47 8b 47 8b 5c 93 5c 93 7b 57 7b 57 21 11 21 11    G‹G‹\“\“{W{W!.!.
00000010:4e 36 4e 36 76 14 76 14 ec e5 ec e5 8d 0a 8d 0a    N6N6v.v.ìåìå�.�.
00000020:9e 4f 9e 4f 1b 6f 1b 6f f4 3d f4 3d fc 23 fc 23    žOžO.o.oô=ô=ü#ü#
00000030:72 db 72 db 76 98 76 98 d7 07 d7 07 fe cb fe cb    rÛrÛv˜v˜×.×.þËþË
00000040:ef 73 ef 73 99 07 99 07 f9 98 f9 98 c3 89 c3 89    ïsïs™.™.ù˜ù˜Ã‰Ã‰
00000050:96 74 96 74 ed df ed df 51 20 51 20 87 2b 87 2b    –t–tíßíßQ Q ‡+‡+
00000060:b1 2e b1 2e 9f 25 9f 25 da db da db 07 f9 07 f9    ±.±.Ÿ%Ÿ%ÚÛÚÛ.ù.ù
00000070:c4 13 c4 13 15 ec 15 ec fe 40 fe 40 ed dd ed dd    Ä.Ä..ì.ìþ@þ@íÝíÝ
00000080:ff ea ff ea 5a 86 5a 86 0c 2f 0c 2f 3f 9d 3f 9d    ÿêÿêZ†Z†././?�?�
00000090:aa fd aa fd 8e b6 8e b6 a4 26 a4 26 d4 03 d4 03    ªýªýŽ¶Ž¶¤&¤&Ô.Ô.
000000a0:9a 47 9a 47 59 db 59 db 28 6e 28 6e c2 13 c2 13    šGšGYÛYÛ(n(nÂ.Â.
000000b0:9a a8 9a a8 58 27 58 27 2d 4a 2d 4a cb 36 cb 36    š¨š¨X'X'-J-JË6Ë6
000000c0:e4 15 e4 15 90 c9 90 c9 eb 29 eb 29 cf 6e cf 6e    ä.ä.�É�Éë)ë)ÏnÏn
000000d0:8a c4 8a c4 da 20 da 20 aa d5 aa d5 3e 83 3e 83    ŠÄŠÄÚ Ú ªÕªÕ>ƒ>ƒ
000000e0:e7 5d e7 5d 58 e9 58 e9 35 a3 35 a3 86 33 86 33    ç]ç]XéXé5£5£†3†3
000000f0:12 2f 12 2f df 73 df 73 4b a3 4b a3 82 68 82 68    ././ßsßsK£K£‚h‚h
00000100:4d 59 4d 59 6d c9 6d c9 0b d3 0b d3 ed 5d ed 5d    MYMYmÉmÉ.Ó.Óí]í]
00000110:72 ff 72 ff 95 e7 95 e7 68 48 68 48 ce da ce       rÿrÿ•ç•çhHhHÎÚÎ

Does not seem to repeat much to me...

[madmonkey]

well, there is some pattern here, like byte[i+0]==byte[i+2] byte[i+1]==byte[i+3] for every 4 bytes, so I'm going to say there is some problem with your gba cart.
you can try to replace the battery and see if it works(I'm not sure if this will void your warranty or not), or you can exchange it for another cart from where you bought it (probably you only need another gba cart).

[Caliban]

I am contacting the website where I bought it (ic2005).

A good solution would simply be to send me another GBA cart that works if I understand.

[Dr.neo]

try to use alcolho to clean the golden finger, i think it's the connection issue only.
if the battery dried, it should can keep the save IF you don't pull it out from the socket, it's unreasonable that's battery make everything can't save 

[ChillyWilly]

That was a lot of posts in a short time. 

I'll have to check on that USB issue. As mentioned, remember that the USB upload overwrites (up to) the first 4MB of flash. That may cause issues with games since the Ultra Menu app STILL doesn't reserve that first 4MB of space. What I'd recommend if you really want to use the upload feature is to format the cart, write a 4MB game, but name it "RESERVED". After that has been written, then add any other games. However, I think the upload feature is one thing most folks never cared about. Why would you want to rewrite a single game on the fly when you can just write them all once and be done with it? 

I seem to remember that some versions of the Ultra Menu app had trouble with the SRAM settings. If in doubt about the settings, look at the MD menu - I print the game's offset in the flash, it's size, the sram size, and the sram bank. If you press A and go to the options screen, you can override the sram size and bank setting. I added that because of the issues with the Ultra Menu people reported. Games need different banks to avoid writing over each others saves. Remember that larger banks overwrite more area: e.g., bank 0 with 128Kb size overwrites both bank 0 and bank 1 with 64Kb size. If you use the option screen to set the sram settings, you'll need to do it with the same values each time you start the game. For example, if you use the option screen to set a game to 256Kb sram bank 1, the next time you play it you'll need to go into the option screen and set it again to 256Kb bank 1.