YOu'd have to ask BennVenn. When I wrote this 4.7.3 wasn't quite the latest then either.

Most likely, until there's a major feature increase, no. But do you really need it?

Any luck getting this to work with the latest lsdj?

Okay, as promised I had a go at writing a guide for anyone else who might have this problem. Hope it helps someone and saves them all the time I spent trying to work it out!

The file that I refer to is here: https://mega.nz/#!205TjTJb!iK73-HB0Fg4p … 9_HC_Czrfs

I did this because there are 3 different downloads floating around which are relevant to this, with only a few files which are still relevant, so I repackaged them, hoping to make the process easier.

=====================

# Guide to using LSDJ and game roms on BennVenn 256M

## Intro

I had a lot of obstacles getting these cartridges working properly with LSDJ!

Most GB games use SRAM (save game memory) of 32K as default. Very few want/need more than this. LSDJ however is writter to use 128K for it's save memory. It *can* be used with 32K, but then you can only have one song at a time.

So here's a guide to save someone else the time that I had to spend! I hope this gives you an A to B guide to setting up and using LSDJ on your BennVenn 256M.

You will need:

- A Joey joebags reader/writer - available from BennVenn (the manufacturer) and other Gameboy websites.
- A 64M or 256M BennVenn flashcart (also available from various sites)
- A copy of LSDJ 4.7.3.

(If you just want to use the 256M for games and non-LSDJ programs, then this guide will not be of much interest to you - you can look at the BennVenn Setup.pdf thats available alongside the download links on Benn's website.)

## Software setup

1. If you haven't already, buy LSDJ (it's donation-ware, so dead cheap!) and download 4.7.3.

**At time of writing (02/17) 4.7.3 is the only version that can be used. This is due to complex save calls being made from/to the LSDJ rom, which takes some time to write. To be fair though, there are no major feature differences between 4.7.3 and 4.8.0 (latest at time of writing).**

2. Get latest Joey Software from Benn's download page: http://bennvenn.myshopify.com/pages/downloads

3. If you want to use Python script (or are not on Windows), you need to install Python, Tcl and pyUSB. This varies from system to system.
    - For Windows:
        - Not strictly necessary - there is a windows build that comes with the software (in the /dist directory). Stop here.
        - If you just *have* to use the python script (?!), download and install latest version of Python, ActiveTcl (which installs Tcl on your system) and pyUSB.

4. Install xpsXP-111 using the xpsXP-111-setup.exe that's included with this download, or by finding the relevant version for your system (easily googled I think).

## Process

Before flashing LSDJ 4.7.3 to the cart, make sure you're done all kit patching and save building that you want to do.

### Patch the LSDJ rom.

1. Double click on LSDJ_SRAM_MOD_Linker.ips. This should be associated with ipsXP and open the program.
2. Navigate to the lsdj.gb rom you want to patch and select it.
3. Your original rom will be renamed to lsdj.gb.bak, meaning that the new lsdj.gb is the patched file.

### Run it through the LSDJ builder

It helps to keep the file window where your lsdj.gb rom is in view to watch the file size.

1. Open up LSDJBuilder.exe
2. Click 'Patched LSDJ file'. Navigate to the newly patched lsdj.gb rom.
3. Click 'output file'. You can select the very same file so that it's just overwritten.
4. Click 'Generate 64M LSDJ file'. (ignore the fact it says 64M - this was a smaller precursor to the 256M). You should see the size of lsdj.gb jump from 1024KB to 8192KB.

### Building the menu for the cart.

Now we need to add roms to the menu system and build them into a format the cartridge can understand for multibooting.

IMPORTANT: Before doing this step, make sure that all your roms and Menu.gb are in the same directory. My advice is to copy all the roms you want to use (including our newly patched and built LSDJ), plus Menu256_LSDJ_Fix.exe to the same directory.

1. Run 'Menu256_LSDJ_Fix.exe'. This is an alternative version of the standard menu builder program.
2. Click 'Find File'. Navigate to where your newly patched and built LSDJ is and select it.
3. BIZARRELY, DO NO TICK THE 'SAVE?' BOX FOR LSDJ!!!!!
4. Click 'Add Rom'. You'll know it's going fine if the block size of this LSDJ is 256. If it says 32 then you've missed a step.

Repeat all this if you have more versions of LSDJ (i.e. if they have different kit setups or different save files) to load. You can have a maximum of 3 on the 256M cart, though keep in mind this leaves you little to no room for anything else.

Now you can add other roms, such as games or other music programs. If a game (e.g. Pokemon or many others) require a save game file, then check the 'Save?' box BEFORE clicking 'Add Roms'.

5. When you've finished, click 'Generate Compilation'. This will create some files in the same directory where this builder and all your roms are, called Output.gb and Output1.gb, Output2.gb, and maybe Output3.gb and Output4.gb, depending on how much you're wanting to flash to the cart.

### Flashing the cartridge.

1. Start up the joey reader/writer software.
2. Click on Cart Type >> BennVenn256M >> Block1 >> Flash ROM.
3. Navigate to your recently generated Output1.gb and select it.
4. Follow instructions for removing and replacing cart from the program and it will start to write to your cart.
5. Follow the instructions when the writing process has completed.

Repeat these steps for as many banks of data/output files as you have, but flash output2.gb to block 2, output3.gb to block 3 and output4.gb to block 4 - as many as necessary.

It is not necessary to flash all four blocks unless needed. If there's only 2 output files that you made, then just do blocks 1 and 2.

### Play!

Your cartridge should be all ready to go. You pop it in your gameboy, then select an item from the menu. It will then reboot the gameboy into that program.

If you want to know more about flashing and dumping save files etc., then see the .pdf guide that's on Benn's website.

Have fun!

Okay, so 4.8.0 doesn't work with those patch files (as expected), but since there aren't any major feature differences between 4.7.3 and 4.8.0 that's not really a problem.

Thanks for your help. Got a load of work to deal with now (since I've spent too long on this issue!) and I'll try to get to writing a guide later this week.

@zemzelett - you absolute legend! Got it working. Would appear that I needed to add the LSDJBuilder.exe into the mix.

That at least builds an LSDJ 4.7.3 with save capability. Going to try adding other roms and following same steps for LSDJ 4.8.0 now, will update....

Okay, that's all great, I'll give it a shot tomorrow when I have chance.

There *is* a guide of some sort on ninstrument.com, but doesn't have details about how to build LSDJ. But I'll have another look and see what I can come up with. The only guides I can find are the "BennVenn User guide.pdf" and the guide in setup.rar on this page: http://www.ninstrument.com/?page_id=1758.

I think Benn is busy pushing out some new products, so I've sent him a few messages on FB and just need to wait for him to get back to me I think.

My aim is to put something together where someone can patch their LSDJ rom and then compile as they like to Benn's 256M. We'll see how this goes!

Copied right out of a mail from ben:

Which verifies what i said and answers your latest question about which IPS patch to apply.

Another mail:

Ok, i did never find the mentioned guide and ben did never get around sending it to me. But maybe try out the part with not checking the Save option when adding LSDJ? Who knows. Otherwise i have no further info. Hope you'll get it to work and write the guide about it!

Maybe also try emailing Ben again.

Someone should write newer software that does the same process but easier for the user. Preferably also in Python or Javascript so anyone could use it easily on any system etc. But i think only Ben would be able to do so as it's his carts and only he knows the internals?

I wasn't sure what the LSDJBuilder.exe was for, and it seems to only take a patched file...question is which one?!

What I get when adding the LSDJ rom in the menu builder is that it's 32k, where I was expecting something larger. I know that when I used the dumps of the banks from before (when there were 3 LSDJs with full save capabilities) it shows up as 256 etc. as you say, so I kind of knew that it wasn't going to work, but had a go anyway.

Thanks for your help. When I get this sorted I'll write a readme.txt/blog post on how to patch lsdj and get it working so that someone can learn from my pain! Kind of surprised that that hasn't been done already though....

Did you also use the LSDJBuilder.exe to make 8k LSDJ ROMs prior to assembling them with the (LSDJ Fix) menu builder?

It should show you that it does not assign flash while adding LSDJ (8k version) but in the end it actually does when it compiles it. Keep in mind you can only have 3 instances of LSDJ on 1 256 cart like that. I think... (Flash locations should show you 256, 512, 768, 0 when compiled)

I had email contact with ben about a few things regarding his carts and flasher 1 and a 1/2 years back. I'll look this up this afternoon. Maybe there's some knowledge about that there.

Ah, didn't know about the LSDJ buffering thing.

I'm going to go through a few other ways of doing things this afternoon and let you know how I get on.

Thanks for help so far.

**Later Edit:**

Have tried flashing LSDJ 4.7.3 vanilla, and 4.7.3 with either of the 2 patches that are in the setup.rar from ninstruments.com.

All flashed with Menu256_LSDJ_Fix.exe and all I get is LSDJ 'one song' version.
Re: patching - have downloaded and installed ips XP 1.11.2600 and used to try flashing 4.7.3 with LSDJ_Patch_1_001.ips and LSDJ_SRAM_MOD_Linker.ips, but no luck. Just end up with LSDJ 4.7.3 with no save capability (this is on a DMG).

Am flashing to a 256M with latest (3.18c) joey software, using the python script (having faffed about with getting Tcl installed and pyUSB).

Am on Windows 10, although operating system shouldn't make a difference really.

**Later Later Edit**

Patched 4.7.3 with both patch files - same result (can only work on one song).

Am using 4.7.3 because the date of all the files in the setup.rar predate 4.8.0.

I have no Windows machine at hand today but i'll try to use my work pc tommorow to help you out with that.

Also, i thought it's a standard feature that LSDJ buffers your current song in SRAM as long as you work on it.

Ah yes - I had that when I got this gear second hand. I dumped those four banks and can write them back with no problem.

It's just that I'd like to have some control over what goes on my flash cart. I can flash back 3 copies of 4.7.3 with 128K ram because I dumped all 4 of the banks before I did anything else. But I wanted to put just 1/2 copies of lsdj plus some games on there.

I can't just add 'Dump1' to the menu builder program (it doesn't build properly) and I've tried adding lsdj is various permutations, with or without patches. None of it comes out right.

I'd also like to know so I can write an up to date guide on this to help others!

I own two 256M carts and they came loaded with 3 instances of LSDJ each as well as a 4th ROM. Each save has 128kb accessible. Sounds like a ROM configuration issue using the ROM-packer on his site?

EDIT: Suh

Will experiment with that. There are a ton of files in all these downloads, and I get the impression that some of them are just there because they *used* to be useful, but aren't now.

But no idea which is which!

Update: LSDJ 4.8.0 and the file you named above doesn't work. You have no ability to save your song AT ALL!
Update 2: Okay, so now I get it - I didn't *need* to save. I turned off the cart and turned it on later with no change in my song. So whilst it was pretty cool that I didn't have to explicitly save, obviously that means I only have 32K save and therefore only 1 song.

There's an extra Menu256_LSDJ-Fix.exe file for doing this. Is there something like that in the zip file you have downloaded? This file should assign SRAM properly.

I have no means of uploading the file i have atm. So maybe search around for it on google.